Any opinions on the New Conan RPG?

rgrove0172 · July 24, 2017, 09:07:21 PM

Quote from: TrippyHippy;977932Bigger market. 5E, in particular as a newish version of D20, could have adapted it well. The brand and setting for Conan would always be a bigger pull factor than any system-based aspect - and to be honest, the 2D20 system isn't all that special anyway.

Cubicle 7 cottoned to this with their development of Adventures in Middle Earth. Yes, The One Ring is fine, but most RPG fans play D&D, so may as well go with the flow. Ditto Conan.

Good points

Voros · July 24, 2017, 09:31:15 PM

Quote from: HorusArisen;977837If I was going to run Conan with anything it would be Mythras but I'd use the new system as a second choice based on CRkruegers thread.

Not for the love of Set would I use a D20 system.

Mythras? Hit locations, piercing and fatigue all seem very ill-suited to Conan. Seems to me a broader more heroic system would be the better fit.

Omega · July 24, 2017, 09:42:38 PM

Quote from: TrippyHippy;977932Bigger market. 5E, in particular as a newish version of D20, could have adapted it well.

Except 5e isnt anything a new d20 at all.

Try again please.

Dumarest · July 24, 2017, 10:14:08 PM

Q: Any opinions on the New Conan RPG?

A: Only that the "Doom" and "Momentum" stuff throws me right out the game world and back to the table where I'm chucking dice. Sucks me right out of any immersion when I have to track meta points my character wouldn't know about.

TrippyHippy · July 25, 2017, 12:01:29 AM

Quote from: Omega;977957Except 5e isnt anything a new d20 at all.

Try again please.

Well, if you could try to construct your sentence again properly...

5E was written comfortably after Mongoose's D20 Conan had ceased to be and is, therefore, a relatively new system by comparison. Primeval Thule is about the closest thing we have to a 5E setting for Conan style adventures, but there hasn't been any official Conan setting release for 5E D&D as far as I know. 5E is not the same as previous editions either.

Your criticism makes no sense.

EDIT: Waait a minute......this isn't somehow related to a "my hat of D02 know no limit" thing is it?

Llew ap Hywel · July 25, 2017, 03:26:24 AM

Quote from: Voros;977955Mythras? Hit locations, piercing and fatigue all seem very ill-suited to Conan. Seems to me a broader more heroic system would be the better fit.

I disagree* but in that vein you could use one of the variant BRP games. Some lack those qualities.

*not that your opinion is wrong, this is a ymmv kinda conversation

Pete Nash · July 25, 2017, 09:15:47 AM

Quote from: Voros;977955Mythras? Hit locations, piercing and fatigue all seem very ill-suited to Conan. Seems to me a broader more heroic system would be the better fit.

Hit Locations? 'And the Cimmerian came, with a desperate leap and a humming slash of his sword. The beautiful head rolled from the top of the screen in a jet of dark blood and fell at his feet, and he gave back, fearing to touch it.'

Piercing? 'Fighting as he had never fought before, straining every last ounce of effort to parry the blade that flickered like lightning about his head, Zaporavo in desperation caught a full stroke near his hilt, and felt his whole arm go numb beneath the terrific impact. That stroke was instantly followed by a thrust with such terrible drive behind it that the sharp point ripped through chain-mail and ribs like paper, to
transfix the heart beneath.'

Fatigue? 'A wind out of the west blew against his face, laden with a salty dampness he recognized. Dully he was amazed. If he was that close to the sea the long chase had been even longer than he had realized. But it was nearly over. Even his wolfish vitality was ebbing under the terrible strain. He gasped for breath and there was a sharp pain in his side. His legs trembled with weariness and the lame one ached like the cut of a knife in the tendons each time he set the foot to earth.'

Oh I think the Conan saga is very well suited indeed... By Mythras and Crom!

crkrueger · July 25, 2017, 09:38:41 AM

Quote from: Pete Nash;978062Hit Locations? 'And the Cimmerian came, with a desperate leap and a humming slash of his sword. The beautiful head rolled from the top of the screen in a jet of dark blood and fell at his feet, and he gave back, fearing to touch it.'

Piercing? 'Fighting as he had never fought before, straining every last ounce of effort to parry the blade that flickered like lightning about his head, Zaporavo in desperation caught a full stroke near his hilt, and felt his whole arm go numb beneath the terrific impact. That stroke was instantly followed by a thrust with such terrible drive behind it that the sharp point ripped through chain-mail and ribs like paper, to
transfix the heart beneath.'

Fatigue? 'A wind out of the west blew against his face, laden with a salty dampness he recognized. Dully he was amazed. If he was that close to the sea the long chase had been even longer than he had realized. But it was nearly over. Even his wolfish vitality was ebbing under the terrible strain. He gasped for breath and there was a sharp pain in his side. His legs trembled with weariness and the lame one ached like the cut of a knife in the tendons each time he set the foot to earth.'

Oh I think the Conan saga is very well suited indeed... By Mythras and Crom!

Yeah, I don't know what Conan stories people are reading sometimes. Thundarr might be a great cartoon, but Conan ain't Thundarr.

Hell, even the 2d20 system, which is more focused on narrative stuff still includes hit locations, armor piercing and fatigue (as well as reach). Brutal, descriptive combat with lots of options is part and parcel of Howard.

Too often people get the actual specifics of Howard's Conan mixed up with "general literary protagonism", forgetting how many times Conan loses, runs, or almost dies.

darthfozzywig · July 25, 2017, 11:17:54 AM

Quote from: Dumarest;977967Q: Any opinions on the New Conan RPG?

A: Only that the "Doom" and "Momentum" stuff throws me right out the game world and back to the table where I'm chucking dice. Sucks me right out of any immersion when I have to track meta points my character wouldn't know about.

Like hit points, right?

Momentum is a thing people can sense. Sporting events turn on it. Actual battles turn on it. Humans are pattern-finding creatures, and are especially sensitive in life-and-death situations.

tenbones · July 25, 2017, 11:44:27 AM

I know very little about the 2d20 system. I checked out the freebie, and it struck me that the construction of the mechanics smelled a lot like FFG's Star Wars mechanics but using a different method of dice resolution. Then I did a little more digging and realized Jay Little helped out with this system, and there it was.

I'm having some "issues" with the FFG system, the more I play it. The narrative resource-point plate-spinning is becoming a distraction for me. This system seems lighter... But HMMMM...

Teodrik · July 25, 2017, 11:50:32 AM

I would rather had seen a much more lighter and faster system. 5e or Savage Worlds could have been a much better fit for me. 2d20 have part the same problem as Conan D20: Too many freaking rules and too slow combat (no I never liked 3.5 as a whole. I am more in the OSR/neoclone camp). I went deep into the Conan 2d20 Kickstarter. But it will probably be one of those games more for the collectors (*guilty*) , but I dont think many people will actually play it. Useing the Mutant Chronicles system feels like just a pure corporate decision ( no pun intended) with complete disregard for the setting and kind of makes all the purism-hype even more stupid.

AmazingOnionMan · July 25, 2017, 12:42:41 PM

Quote from: darthfozzywig;978079Like hit points, right?

Momentum is a thing people can sense. Sporting events turn on it. Actual battles turn on it. Humans are pattern-finding creatures, and are especially sensitive in life-and-death situations.

If momentum was the only thing this game made me keep track of, you might have had an actual argument here.

darthfozzywig · July 25, 2017, 01:03:57 PM

Quote from: baragei;978089If momentum was the only thing this game made me keep track of, you might have had an actual argument here.

Hahah true enough. Not commenting on whether or not the game should be tracking Momentum as a thing on top of the other things the game requires you to manage, I'm just calling BS on the notion that momentum is any more or less metagame or valid a thing to track and manage.

darthfozzywig · July 25, 2017, 01:05:37 PM

Quote from: Teodrik;9780832d20 have part the same problem as Conan D20: Too many freaking rules and too slow combat (no I never liked 3.5 as a whole. I am more in the OSR/neoclone camp).

I about threw the Mongoose book across the room when I saw that they had a specific Feat for holding a blade between your teeth when you climb.

Jeebus, guys, sometimes more isn't more.

oggsmash · July 25, 2017, 01:12:30 PM

Quote from: darthfozzywig;978094I about threw the Mongoose book across the room when I saw that they had a specific Feat for holding a blade between your teeth when you climb.

Jeebus, guys, sometimes more isn't more.

Yeah I thought that was odd when it was along side the same rules that certain races could enter and leave fighting madness at will (which I thought was a nice touch) regardless of class. The one I really didnt get was the being flat footed when you lose initiative. This made certain classes beastly in combat, and did not represent what initiative is, instead treating every single initiative loss as surprise. Yes, Conan catches LOTS of people off guard at the start of fights with his raw speed and ferocity, but these in the literature are clearly surprise situations, not a case of winning initiative.