Hervé

No worries, it's just Yog Sotthoth that has taken over the internet...

Thanks for your answer, Al. The main purpose of this adaptation was to have rules as smooth and fluid as possible, while keeping combat descriptive and bloody (gritty is the word in fashion these days…). This is Sword and Sorcery, after all. I’d like to comment your answer, if you mind: It probably makes better rounded characters, allowing reasonable chances of success in untrained skills. This should also emulate the ‘heroic feel’ of S&S gaming. This seems more logical. I’ll go for it. Agility often relates to Dexterity in most players minds. Prowess was a skill category used in the old TSR Conan. And yes FOR is STR in French. These rules are a quick rough translation of my French notes. Sorry about that. That was basically my idea. But it tends to lead to all characters looking the same, at least on paper, so I kept it at reasonable length. A shortened skill list and higher basic chances would probably lead to get fewer points to distrubute. Why so? Would you cap other stats at 18 or let them uncapped? I stayed in the BRP old fashion that HP are related to CON and SIZ. STR already has an impact on combat ability and damage, I feared including it in HP calculation would perhaps make an ‘uber’ stat. On the other hand, POW could also be included in HP calculation, representing resistance to pain and sheer will to stay alive. As I wanted the characters to be less vulnerable than in standard BRP, I gave them twice the normal HPs, allowing them to really stand out in battle. You mean rolling 3d6 for each stat and splitting 40 points between them? I’ll give it a try. It seems to be a good compromise between random rolls and point buy. It’s not very clear to me, here… I guess it’s the “choose one” option… The idea of having 300 points in profession skills and 150 freebie points is basically inspired of CoC character generation, allowing characters of a same profession to be more than clones. I went for the simplest way: criticals at 1/10th skill and no Special at all. It was the case in the early versions of Stormbringer (which was, I must admit, one of the worst version of the BRP!). Well, damage in BRP is one of the things that always annoyed me. I always found rolling 1D8+1d4+1 rather clunky (and I don’t even speak about MRQ half dice bonuses !), that why I went for an OGL style fixed damage bonus. The less dice you roll, the fastest your game flows. I also find pretty ridiculous that a mace a sword or an axe could do different damage. It’s an “old school” heritage from early D&D. How did the game designers rule that? Do they test weapons on dummies before assigning damage dices? Different weapon damage ratings inevitably to minimaxing and munchkinisation, as players will invariably go for the better ones. I prefer the Warhammer RPG approach, where all weapons of a same category do the same amount of damage. It’s not the sword that kills, it the warrior wielding it. This method allows players to choose the weapon that would fit their character instead of only looking at the stats. Another thing that annoys me in BRP is that shields are rather unuseful, as you can easily dodge or parry with a weapon with little difference. Anyone that went into an armed fight (even in a LARP) could say that a shield makes a HUGE difference in combat. Do you have any idea on how I could rules that? For now, I only gave shields a better basic chance… I don’t have any fixed magic rules for now, as none of my players is playing a sorceror (who are most of the time the bad guys of S&S stories). I’m adapting so far case by case spells or rituals from the D20 Conan game. However, I agree that magic in a S&S should evil, corrupting, costly and dangerous (both for the user and the target). One last question. Would you cap skills at character creation (let say around 70%) or let players go as high as desired? Cheers Hervé

Hello there ! Here some quick notes about my current version of BRP Conan. It works rather well as is, but I'm eager to get your advice about it. Cheers Hervé CHARACTERISTICS 2 lists of 7 rolls of the best 3 of 4D6. Choose one and assign the numbers as you like. STRENGTH CONSTITUTION SIZE DEXTERITY INTELLIGENCE POWER CHARISMA Characteristic Tests: Easy: Stat x 5 % Average: Stat x 3% Difficult: Stat x 1% HIT POINTS: CON+SIZ for PCs and major NPCs. Average of CON and SIZ for goons. Major Wound Level: CON for majors characters, CON/2 for minor NPCs. CON x 3% to remain conscious. Instant death in case of fumble. Wound Penalties: -1/2 HP or less: Initiative –2, Physical Actions –10% -1/4 HP or less: Initiative –4, Physical Actions –20% Healing: -1D3 per heal per wound (only one healing attempt per wound) -Natural Healing: 1d3 per day. 1d6 in full rest. FATE: -Total= POW (MP). -Reroll skill Test : 5 points. -Soak Damage : 3 points/damage. -Replace any skill test by an average Luck Roll : 5 points -Maximum damage: maximum damage of the weapon in points. -Regaining MPs: 2 MPs per hour of rest. TERROR : POW vs Terror Factor on the Resistance Table Failure: -20% penalty to all tests due to panic. Fumble: Faint, flee or hysteria. DAMAGE BONUS Average of STR & SIZ (RD) BONUS 01-02 / -5 02-03 / -4 04-05 / -3 06-07 / -2 08-09 / -1 10-11 / 0 12-13 / +1 14-15 / +2 16-17 / +3 17-18 / +4 19-20 / +5 SKILLS -300 points in profession skills. 150 free points. -Experience: Check skills used in the adventure as per normal BRP rules. -Failure: +1d10 points. -Success: +1 point -Any fumble on a skill during play automatically add 1 point to the skill. -Specialisation skills (sp): When choosing the skill, choose an appropriate domain for it. These skills can be taken multiple times. -Each skill category has a starting chance based on your characteristics. Note that the skills followed by a (00) do not have a base. -New skills may be added with the GM ‘s approval. COMBAT (STR+DEX/2) Hand to Hand Light Weapons One Handed Weapons Two Handed Weapons Pole arms Missile Weapons Thrown Weapons Shields (STR + DEX) COMMUNICATION (POW+CHA/2) -Bargain/Fast Talk -Contacts (sp) -Oratory -Intimidation -Speak Language(sp) (00) -Seduction MANIPULATION (POW+DEX/2) -Art (sp) -Craft (sp) -Pick Lock -Disguise -Pick-Pocket MENTAL (INT) -Art of War -Knowledge (sp) (00) -Laws & Customs (sp) -Literacy/Read Write (00) -Evaluate -First Aid PERCEPTION (INT+POW/2) -Listen -Search -Navigate -Insight -Survival -Alertness PROWESS (FOR+CON/2) -Acrobatics -Drive -Stealth -Ride -Dodge -Climb -Swim PROFESSIONS Noble Weapon (sp) Art (sp) Contacts (Nobility) Knowledge (sp) x2 Language (sp) x 2 Laws & Customs Literacy Oratory Ride Barbarian Weapon x3 (sp) Acrobatics Alertness Climb Craft (sp) Dodge Stealth Survival Swim Scholar Craft (sp) x2 Evaluate Fast Talk, Oratory or Intimidation (choose one) First Aid Insight Knowledge (sp) x5 Language (sp)x4 Literacy Borderer Weapon x2 (sp) Alertness Craft (sp) First Aid Knowledge (Nature) Listen Language (sp) Ride Stealth Survival Nomad Weapon x2 (sp) Acrobatics Alertness Craft (sp) Fast Talk Language (sp) Listen Ride Stealth Survival Pirate Weapon x2 (sp) Acrobatics Alertness Climb Contacts (pirates) Dodge Evaluate Fast Talk or Intimidation (choose one) Navigate Swim Soldier Weapon x4 (sp) Alertness Art of War Contacts (military) Dodge First Aid Ride Search Thief Weapon (sp) Acrobatics Alertness Contacts (criminal) Dodge Evaluate Listen Pick Lock Pick Pocket Search Stealth COMBAT : Attacker /Defender /Résult Critical /Critical /No Damage. The Two weapons break. Free Counterattack. Critical /Normal /Defender weapon breaks. Normal damage. Armour. Critical /Failure /Max damage. No Armour. Critical Effect. Critical /Fumble /Instant death. Normal /Critical /No Damage. Attacker weapon breaks. Free Counterattack. Normal /Normal /Attack Blocked. Possible damage for Defender and his weapon Normal /Failure /Normal damage. Armour. Normal /Fumble /Normal damage. Armour. Roll Defender Fumble . Failure /Critical /Attacker weapon breaks. Free Counterattack. Failure /Normal /Nothing Failure /Failure /Nothing Failure /Fumble /Nothing. Roll Fumble. Fumble /Critical /Roll Fumble. Automatic free counterattack (no roll). Fumble /Normal /Roll Fumble. Fumble /Failure /Roll Fumble. Fumble /Fumble /Roll Fumble. -Initiative : DEX +Mod weapon/armour. Ready weapon: -4. -Criticals Hits: 10% of hit chance. Max damage. Defender weapon/shield breaks (if parried). No armour + Critical Effect: Slashing: loss of 1 HP/round. CON x1% to stop the bleeding if acting, x5% if resting. Crushing : Damage +2. CON x 3 or stunned 1d3 rounds. Thrusting: weapon stuck in victim. If the victim moves or fights, he takes half initial damage each round. Pulling out the weapon requires either a normal attack rill for attacker or a DEX x 5% roll for the victim (DEX x 1% if acting or fighting). Knockback: Total damage (before armour) vs. SIZ on Resistance Table. Failure means the victim step back 1 meter for every 5 damage. DEX x5% or be prone. +1D6 damage if victim is hurled against a wall or other hard object. -Critical Parry: Defender gains a free counterattack. -Multiple attacks: Requires a 100% + skill. Split % between your attacks. -Multiple Defenses: -30% after the first. -Parrying Damage: Damage beyond weapon resistance is taken by the defender. Parrying weapon/shield loses 1 Resistance point. A weapon reduced to half its initial Resistance or less do only half the rolled damage (RU). -Fumble: every double roll above weapon skill. 00 is always a fumble. -Heavy Weapons : -10% to parry and dodge attempts due to weapon’s clumsiness. HIT LOCATION (optional) : Reverse D100 Attack Roll or D20 : 01-10 – Head - 1-2 11-25 – Right Arm - 3-5 26-40 – Left Arm - 6-8 41-70 – Body - 9-14 71-85 – Right Leg - 15-17 86-00 – Left Leg - 18-20 Head : +1D6 damage (after damage reduction). CON x % or Stunned 1D3 rounds. Body : +1D6 damage (after damage reduction). CHARGE : +20% Attack, +2 aux damage, Knockback Effect. No Defence this round. STUNNED : - Cannot Attack. - Will only defend on a successful Insight roll. - Attack against a stunned character get a +20% bonus. - Must make an Insight AND a DEX x 5% roll to be able to flee. PRONE: - 20 penalty to all defences. - Attackers get a +20% bonus to attack a prone character. - No damage bonus (but damage penalties apply). -DEX x 5% to stand up as an action. WEAPONS & ARMOUR : Weapon /Init. /Resist. /Damage Hand to Hand /-2 /- /1d3+ STR bonus Light Weapons /+1 /6 /1d6 + STR bonus One Handed Weapons /0 /10 /2d6 + STR bonus Heavy Weapons /-1 15 /3d6+ STR bonus Polearms /+1 10 /2d6 + STR bonus Thrown Weapons /+1 / Var. /1 or 2d6 + STR bonus Bows /+0* /4 /2d6 + STR bonus Crossbows /+0* /6 /2d6+2, Armour –2 * This bonus becomes +10 if the weapon is ready to shoot. Shields /Init. /Resist. /Damage Small Shield /0 /15 /1d3+ STR bonus Medium Shield /-1 /20 /1d6+ STR bonus Great Shield /-2 /25 /2d6+ STR bonus Armour / Init. /Resist /Skill Penalty Light Armour / 0 / 3 / 0% Medium Armour / -2 /5 / 10% Heavy Armour / -4 /7 / 20% Initiatives bonuses and penalties from the three categories (weapons/shield/armour) are cumulative. If hit locations are used, take the armour penalty from the heaviest piece worn.

The "Blackjack" method is probably the easiest one, as it relies on direct dice reading, without the need of D20 style maths. The only problem with this method is that it goes completely against the general rules which state the lower you roll, the better you success, making thus this mechanic a bit out of place in BRP. The "margin of success" method fit better in the game game engine but asks for these dreaded calculations... While we're into maths, what about dividing skills by 5 and using the Resistance Table? Pretty awkward, but probably more "in the mood" of the game...

Both systems have advantages and drawbacks. The main flaws of BRP are (for me) the lack of direct relationship between characteristics and skills, which are somewhat two different game mechanics (even if some versions of BRP are using stat based bonuses for skills). There is nothing in BRP that prevents you to be a master acrobat with a DEX of 7! I don't like either the way weapon damage is handled in BRP (stuff like 1d8+1+1d4 tends to slow the game down) and I find weapon damage ratings pretty ridiculous (how could one state that an axe, a sword and a mace have different damage ratings?). In WHFRP all weapons do the same damage, although some special weapons, like two handed weapons or flails will have special traits. Strength bonus is fixed in WHFRP, which leads to less dicerolling. I tend to think that weapon damage ratings "kill" a bit roleplaying, as most players will go for the better weapons, forfeiting the ones with lousy stats. Shields are more useful in WHFRP too, as they make parrying easier (increased parrying chance, free parry). In BRP, there aren't big differences if you're parrying with a shield or a weapon. Everyone that got into a fight (even in a LARP) can tell that a shield improves very much your defence! There are too many different weapon skills in BRP, meaning you can be a killer when wielding an axe and worth nothing with a sword. Some versions of BRP evn consider each weapon as a different skill, meaning you can have 120% with a broadsword and 15% with a scimitar! Pretty strange to me... The BRP wound system is not so good either, making you either at full power or dead, whatever how many HPs you have left. WHFRP criticals add some bookeeping but are a lot more fun. Furthermore, tough characters in WHFRP (with high endurance) can soak wounds better than wimps, showing resilience and resistance to pain. WHFRP Talents make better rounded characters. They show what D20 Feats could have been if handled properly. In BRP, most charcters look a bit the same, at least on paper. I'm not a huge fan of carreer system presented in WHFRP, finding it a bit too rigid and sometimes stupid or out of place (how can I take this Sailor advancement when we just spent the last three months in the desert?). The carreer system is also not always adapted to a different campaign world than the one presented in the game. On the other hand, BRP doesn't offer much in terms of character advancement. Anyways, despite some better rules in WHFRP, I still find BRP better, if only for one thing: flexibility. BRP is probably the easiest system to tweak for your own needs. You want to make it heroic? Set HPs to CON+SIZ for PCs and major NPCs. You want Fate points? Use the MP rule from the last BRP. You want more skills? Feel free to add them. You want less skills? throw away the ones you don't like or compress different skills into a single one. And so on... BRP allows you to tailor your campaign exactly as you see it, without altering game balance or adding complex rules. Everyone can learn to play the game in less than five minutes, even when having no idea of what a RPG is... This huge flexibility is probably the main reason I'm still using BRP after some thirty years of gaming.

It looks great! Consider you have already a customer!! Will it be in pdf or printed?

Hmm... I'm not sure to get what you mean.:confused:. How do "strange sexual mores" (?) and "politically correct nonsense" stand in the same sentence? I agree thet the game would have been better if done by Chaosium. However, there would have been far less books published (the game has more than 40 supplements), and Mongoose has done quite a good job with some Chaosium heritage, like Elric or Hawkmoon. Even if Conan is using the dreadful D20 rules, it's far from the traditional DnD style. Combat is very deadly, even at higher levels and rarely lasts more than 3 rounds (mostly due to the Massive Damage rules). There are no mundane magic nor magic items to boost characters, and absolutely no magical healing. All these tiny details make the game very different from DnD. On the bad side, it is heavy, cumbersome, combo oriented just like any other D20 game... The game is rather well documented (except for the eternal problem Mongoose has with maps!), most books containing very little of the standard D20 crunchy crap. Some like Return to the Road of Kings (world atlas), Across the Thunder River (Pict sourcebook) or Ruins of Hyboria (without any dungeon!) are really a must have for any diehard Conan gamer.

I think Dark Heresy has a solid, smooth and very playable system as it is. Even if I have using BRP for more than 30 years, I certainly wouldn't use it for Warhammer or Warhammer 40.000 based games.

Mongoose announced "great things for Conan in 2010, including moving back to full colour". That's probably means a new rulebook, hopefully free of the lousy D20 rules and using MRQ. It seems that the 'Goose is pushing forward its licensed game engines (MRQ & Traveller), slowly getting rid of other systems (read D20). Slaine has gone MRQ from D20, the new Judge Dredd will be using the Traveller rules, forfeiting D20 again. I have great hopes for Conan, despite the fact that some fanboys from the forum keep on threatening Mongoose they'll never buy a Mongoose book again if they abandon their beloved D20. Hyborian gaming (not hyperborian if you mind ) deserves a decent game engine. MRQ will do.

Sailing on the Sea of Fate was a very nice (but often somewhat underrated) supplement. I remember using it a lot in my Elric games which focused heavily on sea travel. For five bucks, it is not to be missed...

Well, I'm not sure chaotic features would fit with Howard style heroes. I'd like to keep the fact that magic is corrupting and utterly evil in the Hyborian Age. There are always the Legendary abilities from MRQ, that kind of work like feats...

True. I forgot about LoN.

I don't remember a RQ edition with Feat-like abilities before MRQ Legendary abilities. Character Advantages/Disadvantages are not a bad idea as such, but they completely blew it in D20. The major problem comes from the fact they all cost the same price (ie a feat slot given by class or level), whatever their usefulness in play. Power Attack is an overbroken feat in Conan D20 (due to rule modifications from standard D20) that allows to oneshot almost any foe, but that still cost the same price as feats like Carouser or Negotiator which give meagre bonuses for alcohol resistance or social skills... An another problem with Feats in D20 is that they most of the time "rules exceptions", each having its own mechanics. The rules become very quickly burdensome. Also, there so many of them that it's a pain to handle them all for the average GM. Indeed, the D20 system is anything but smooth. The rules are what they are, but they must not prevent Conan fans to look deeper in Mongoose range, which contains some excellent Hyborian Age gaming supplements. This may be D20, but this is not D&D.

No, they never did. TSR and SJ had them. It’s still available here: RUNE - Rolistes Unis sous un Nouvel Embleme Feats suck. They are actually the worst thing in Conan D20. Forget about them. They produced good material for the setting anyway, whatever system you are using. Indeed, Vincent has finished the book but it seems Mongoose doesn’t have any plans to publish it. He toyed with the idea of printing and selling it via lulu or other internet printers, but it’s been a while since we had any fresh news. I know Mongoose is planning an independent Conan release through Flaming Cobra, but it looks like a more a collection of settings and adventures than the long awaited MRQ Conan. Mongoose seems quite satisfied with the sales of Conan D20 and it seems they’ll keep going in that direction for at least the next two years, even if they gave up D20 for most of their lines, like Slaine which went MRQ and Judge Dredd which is about to get a new Traveller version. Or maybe they got frightened by the pressure of some of the hard time D20 suckers from the mongoose forum who threatened Mongoose they would never buy a non D20 conan book… How sad… I don’t blame them for wanting to make some money out of their books. Actually, when you’re a publisher, things are quite simple: If you don’t sell your books, you stop printing them, or you’ll be waiting in the unemployment line in no time. And we poor players wouldn’t have new books anymore… And if you want to make huge profits, you don’t print RPGs at all… I still have the original Smith’s CTB buried somewhere, but I seem to remember that it’s Conan that goes into Elric’s world to fight Xiombarg along with the albino and not the contrary. But my memory may fail me (old age’s ransom…). Didn’t read this one! Who published this? Along with the GURPS version, TSR did some stuff for Conan in the eighties. There have been three hyborian modules for AD&D, CB1 Conan Unchained, CB2 Conan Against Darkness, RS1 Red Sonja Unconquered. Of the three, only CB1 is really good, the others being pretty much crappy… TSR also printed a Conan RPG back in 85. It contained some real nice ideas and a straightforward system, but the rules were pretty unfinished as they were. Three adventures were published for the game CN1 Conan The Buccaneer, CN2 Conan The Mercenary, CN3 Conan Triumphant. The first two are quite uninteresting dungeon crawls, but CN3 is an adaptation of Robert Jordan eponym novel and is quite playable. The original system is still available on the net, check it here: ZeFRS : Introduction We have to act in a more responsible way than the average D20 fanboy and give up our prejudices. Conan Mongoose proposes a real nice range of books, most being rather devoid of ‘crunch’. Actually, only a few of their books are really D20 oriented with loads of Feats, Prestige Classes, silly rules and all. Most of them focus on Hyborian Age background and are really worth the buy. If people around here are interested, I could post a list of all Conan Mongoose products with a capsule review for each one. I’ll also try to put my BRP notes in form and post my own version of Conan BRP. I’ll be interested by your advices and feedback.

Startled by Vagabond's post, I retried the Chaosium page from my home computer and the link is indeed working this time... I don't really get what happened but I guess the barriers of reality are sometimes getting thin around Chaosium. There are some things we are not meant to understand.... Anyway, thanks to everyone that proposed me some help. Be seeing you on the boards... Cheers Hervé

You might try Ancient Kingdoms:Mesopotamia from Necromancer games. The book is half sourcebook, half campaign, set in a mythic Mesopotamia. Of course, it's D20 material with its usual loads of dungeons, monsters and items, but most of the materiel remains interesting (after some adaptation, that is). It has a rather high Sword & Sorcery feel that may not fit if you plan a more "historical" campaign. I used it with Conan with very statisfying results. For those who like the author's work (Morten Braten aka Thulsa), be sure to check his Conan site at hyboria.xoth. You'll find a very nice S&S campaign, The Spider God's Bride as well some very professionally adapted old D&D modules for the Conan RPG. If you plan to ever run a Conan BRP campaign, you'll also find some nice background information there. Here's the link: Hyborian Age d20 Campaign Site - hyboria.xoth.net Yes, I know I'm ranting on Conan again, but I just can't help it...

Damage in BRP has always been somewhat clunky (like 1d8+1+1d4) when the rest of the system is rather smooth. There have been little evolution since the earliest versions of the game back in 78. We currently use a streamlined damage system in our Conan BRP game. Damage bonus is fixed, OGL style, and all weapons of roughly same size and category do the same damage, a bit like in WHRPG. I've always wondered how RPG designers could rule that a scimitar or longsword could do different damage. Do they test weapons on dummies? It goes like this: Hand to Hand: 1D3 Light Weapons: 1D6 One Hand Weapon: 2D6 Heavy Weapons: 3D6 Polearm Weapons: 2D6 Bows: 2D6 Crossbows: 2D6+2 Strength bonus for bows and thrown weapons is halved, RD. We also use Dex/Initiative modifiers by weapon type or for wearing heavy armor. Damage ratings are quite high, as we play the game in a "Heroic" way, where characters and major NPCs have CON+SIZ hps (goons keep their CON+SIZ/2 hps). We wanted our Conan BRP characters to be able to withstand tremendous amounts of damage while slashing their way through hordes of goons (That's Conan, BTW). Damage by weapon category help players focus on weapon style rather than just rely on technical stats of the weapon table. We do use the critical effects by weapon type from the last BRP though. It has streamlined combat, as there 's a bit less dice rolling. My two cents.

Hi you all ! I'm looking for the Elric conversion of the Chaosium Slaves of Fate adventure. The old link on Chaosium's site seems down. Does anybody knows if it's available elsewhere? Thanks Hervé