Conan in BRP

[bigoune]

Hi,

I'm looking for an adaptation of the BRP system for Conan D20. Especially, I would like to have Conan magic flavor with BRP rules.

Does someone already heard af that stuff ?

Best,

[rust]

It seems that Conan BRP does exist, but to use it would require either an uncom-

mon language skill or a good translation program and a bit of work to make sense

of the program's results. Since Conan is not among my favourite genres, I never

tried to find out what exactly this Conan BRP is, but if you know someone who

understands the language ...:

http://smartfox.wordpress.com/conan-brp/

Edit.:

This is an example of the results of a free online translation program for the steps

1 and 2 of character creation:

STEP 1 it choose nation of form nation. Cultural bonuses are subordinated from choice

(election), that will be added for chosen attributes and abilities. Choice of (election of)

nation has influence (income) on professed by form religion also.

STEP 2 attributes by no means sex of form effect attributes choice (election) - choose ( not ).

It throw cases (together; times) 7 - + 6 2K6 and it record (write down) results. It allocate it

(them) according to personal preference for next following (step) attribute ( ) Strength STR,

( ) Constitution CON, ( ) Size SIZ, ( ) Intelligence INT, ( ) Power POW, ( ) Dexterity DEX and

( ) Appearance APP. You can transmit (reschedule) points among attributes 3 - including.

It can not be no of attributes greatest than 21.

While it seems possible to make sense of it and "translate the translation" into a

functioning system, it would be a lot more work than I would be willing to do.

Edited April 20, 2011 by rust

[Merak Gren]

Seriously, you are better off using the Elric! Conversion in the downloads section. Use the Mongoose books for fluff.

[GianniVacca]

I have had a look at the Professions, Part One page using Google translate (pl->en) and it wasn't that difficult to understand. The professions follow a pattern similar to the ones in the Alephtar Games supplements.

Does the following link work for you?

http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=fr&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=pl&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fsmartfox.wordpress.com%2F2010%2F10%2F25%2Fbrp-conan-profesje-cz-i%2F&act=url

[bigoune]

Sorry, but I don't find it in the Downloads section.

Where is it ?

[bigoune]

I have had a look at the Professions, Part One page using Google translate (pl->en) and it wasn't that difficult to understand. The professions follow a pattern similar to the ones in the Alephtar Games supplements.

Does the following link work for you?

http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=fr&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=pl&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fsmartfox.wordpress.com%2F2010%2F10%2F25%2Fbrp-conan-profesje-cz-i%2F&act=url

It works great in english. Awfully in french

[rust]

Sorry, but I don't find it in the Downloads section.

Where is it ?

Look at the bottom of this page:

http://basicroleplaying.com/downloads.php?do=cat&id=33&page=3

[seneschal]

Conan is less a matter of rules, more a matter of attitude. Since all your magicians are going to be bad guy NPCs, you don't really need to dope out a magic system. Just have spells take a long time to cast. Their effects are powerful, but they have such a long start-up time a guy with a sword and some moxie (your player-characters) can usually clobber the caster before a spell goes off.

Here's some thoughts on sword-and-sorcery in general to guide your campaign:

Sword and sorcery is a pulp fantasy sub-genre created virtually single-handedly by writer Robert E. Howard, who filled popular magazines of the 1930s with tales of anti-heroes such as Conan the Barbarian, King Kull of Atlantis, and Bran Mac Morn, the Dark Man of the Picts. But he was quickly joined by others, and the genre remains popular today. What set the so-called sword-and-sorcery yarns apart from other fantasy stories was the post-World War I cynicism and world-weariness that also informed the hard-boiled detective stories of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett or the grim sea and wilderness adventures of Jack London. If you sat Conan, Wolf Larsen, and Philip Marlowe down together at the same table, they’d understand one another (assuming they didn’t kill each other first). This new attitude led to certain genre conventions that were expanded by those who followed in Howard’s footsteps.

Civilization is ancient, evil, and decadent. Advanced societies (some not human) have been around for an unbearably long time, and that’s not a good thing. Civilization weakens a sentient being’s body and morals; a society’s inhabitants invariably become more and more corrupt as it becomes more powerful, until it ultimately collapses and starts the cycle of rise and decay all over again.

By extension, city-dwellers are effete, money-grubbing snobs who will betray you as soon as they finish cheating you. It is better to be a barbarian raider who steals honestly than one of those urbane hypocrites.

Magic is powerful but subtle and corrupting (like all book learning). Its study and use slowly poisons and twists a practitioner’s soul and mind until he becomes a monster, morally or physically or both. Sorcery usually involves summoning a nasty supernatural or other-dimensional creature to do one’s dirty work.

A good broadsword beats a good spell. Magic can’t be performed without long, complicated rituals. Usually in a toe-to-toe fight, a warrior can chop a magician in half before he finishes chanting his incantation. Smart spell-slingers have a brawny henchman (or three) handy at all times to prevent this.

There are no sterling heroes. Previously, fantasy literature had its noble outlaws and tricksters, but the protagonist in a sword-and-sorcery story tends to be an outsider who rejects the dominant society’s mores entirely. While he may have a personal code of conduct he adheres to, it’s a dirty world and you have to look out for Number One. If he must commit a crime or stab a colleague in the back to survive, or to follow his personal code, so be it.

Virtue, valor, and honor do not guarantee survival. Not everyone is a selfish jerk. A number of folks encountered by the protagonist are decent, hard-working, courageous people who really are trying to do the right thing. However, virtue is truly its own (and sometimes only) reward. The loyal guardsman who stays by his king’s side when all others have fallen and the stalwart farmer-settler who defends his wife and children are just as likely to die from a surprise raid or ravening monster as the slimy ex-sidekick who sold the protagonist out. Fate has no favorites.

Man is dominant. The protagonist’s foes are almost always humans whose goals conflict with his own. Typical opponents include ruthless monarchs, scheming nobles, sinister high priests, greedy bandit chieftains, and power-hungry sorcerers. All of these folks are attempting to use the protagonist to further their own agendas. They’ll promise him wealth and power while planning to discard him as soon as he finishes the task they’ve hired him to perform. Such employers will rarely be forthcoming about the true purpose of the hero’s mission.

We who were once men. A theme of degeneracy runs through many sword-and sorcery stories. Members of previous great but forgotten civilizations sometimes survive into the current era, corrupted and changed until their humanity has been lost. Non-human races are extremely rare and always hostile. They may have been men once, but that was eons ago. Any trace of mercy or compassion or compunctions against cannibalism has long since been bred out of them. Frequently, they’ve lost even the physical characteristics of mankind, becoming animalistic in form as well as behavior.

Gods and monsters, on the other hand, are as common as the ruined temples and lost cities that house them. Gods are not sympathetic, beneficent beings but harsh taskmasters anxious for the blood and flesh of their would-be worshipers. Even though it would be wiser to resort to flight rather than fight when confronted by them, these otherworldly beings can be driven off or even slain by a determined, clever human (such as the protagonist), particularly if he’s equipped with an heirloom magical artifact or weapon. Such useful tools can often be found in the being’s own temple treasury.

Easy come, easy go. The protagonist routinely acquires important jobs, magical artifacts, and treasure only to lose, pawn, break or spend them just as quickly. Live for today. Your investment banker (assuming you can find one) would only embezzle the funds anyway!

On the road again. The protagonist’s adventures and crimes force him to be constantly on the move. He’s not so much questing as escaping from the authorities, a former boss, a former wife, or the merchant prince he cheated at the bazaar.

Any woman worth looking at is worth seeing nude. Nubile temptresses are forever having their raiment removed by evil priests or shredded by hungry monsters. The adventurous life is hard on clothing, which is why the protagonist frequently wears only a loincloth.

You can’t change the world. A protagonist can improve his personal fortunes, vanquish his enemies, even win kingdoms, but he can’t effect permanent, positive change upon the world. Human nature is what it is, and the cycle of progress and decay is unstoppable. Even should the protagonist build a vast enlightened empire, all his noble achievements will be wiped out by the next Great Collapse.

Up by his bootstraps. Given the mobile nature of his lifestyle, the protagonist changes careers constantly, usually gaining slightly greater opportunities and responsibility with each new job. He typically begins as a penniless wanderer or slave, graduates to assorted types of thievery, takes over the leadership of a bandit group he’s been working with, then joins a military company sent to destroy the outlaws and eventually becomes an officer. Career advancement isn’t guaranteed, treachery and bad luck can easily send him back to the dungeon, but if he’s tough and ruthless enough, the protagonist just might make something of himself.

Historical verisimilitude. The hero frequently (but not always) undertake his adventures in a world composed of recognizable, if fictionalized, ancient cultures and countries. Whether they’re drawn from Europe, Central Asia, or Africa, the cultures presented are typically pre-Christian and pre-gunpowder, with polytheistic faiths the norm and Iron Age technology the highest available. The cultures involved need not be from the same historical era; the fantasy element glosses over anachronisms. (Howard began this trend by adding fantasy elements to straight historical adventures that hadn’t sold.)

[rust]

By the way, if you are interested in a more modern, but very "Conanesque"

example of the genre, I would highly recommend Barbara Hambly's "Sunwolf"

novels, especially "The Ladies of Mandrygin". It has all the genre typical ideas

so excellently described by Seneschal, plus a dry sense of humour.

Edited April 22, 2011 by rust

[Questbird]

If you are looking for a Conan-like setting you could check out The Savage North for OpenQuest. I haven't read it (but I'm thinking about it). It's by John Ossoway who wrote Cthulhu Rising, which I like.

[sladethesniper]

Savage Sword of Conan for "savage worlds" + Elric or Stormbringer would get you what you want. The first file is about 90% fluff and some rules for making stuff more Hyborean...the Elric/Stormbringer would be the meat of the game. That is what I am using.

-STS

[seneschal]

Hmmm, it occurs to me that RuneQuest + Call of Cthulhu = Conan. Instead of timid, elderly investigators, you've got brawny Bronze Age barbarians ready to whack 'em and smack 'em.

[Newt]

That's exactly approach John Ossoway originally took for the scenarios that appear in the Savage North

[The Venomous Pao]

Hey everyone. I just thought I'd point out Crimson Shoals, which is a Hyborian adventure for Barbarians of Lemuria that also has stats for BRP.

I'm hosting it at my blog on behalf of one of my readers (who makes good adventures), G-Man. If you're looking to take your BRP game into the land of Conan, this might just come in handy.

[Smoking Frog]

a

[icebrand]

a

b.

Ok, do you really NEED magic for conan? Conan sorcerer's scream NPC.

If you do, check the savage world of solomon kane. Magic is (DUH) very howard-ish. Also the book is amazing, the art is breathtaking and solomon kicks ass!

I cannot comment on the conan book, since i don't have it

[Vortigern]

Ok, do you really NEED magic for conan? Conan sorcerer's scream NPC.

Yes!

Why people seem to think that in the Swords & Sorcery Genre Sorcerers should only be NPCs, I just don't get. Personally that style of Howard-esque archetypal Sorcerers are what I find most compelling and interesting. Way more than a 'high fantasy' type of setting.

And, for that matter, IMO if you don't have a clear idea of how things work, and are just continually 'winging it' as a GM? That is a no-no. People eventually will catch on that magic is just a hollow plot-device without any internal consistency. And the simple fact that making it NPC only crosses a boundary of mine. NPCs are, or should be, no different than PCs. It is just who owns the character. Having artificial divisions between what is achievable between each group is bad. That artificiality is not something that fades into the background for me. It is visible, and annoying, ruining my suspension of disbelief.

GM: Alright! You guys managed to kill Tsotha-lanti, and are now riffling through his Evil Lair!

Player: Great! What do we see?

GM: Well the treasure trove is over there, the slave pens are downstairs, and the personal living quarters are positively opulent. Oh, and they have their own slave pen, if you know what I mean. Ah, yes. And the library is-

Player: To the Library! I'mma learn me some Sorcery. This is going to be 'my' Red Citadel soon!

GM: Umm. Well. There are books there and stuff. But... you can't understand any of them. Or even if you could, prolonged study will just drive you crazy and turn you into an NPC before you could ever become a Sorcerer...

Ummm. No. Bad GM.

[HierophantX]

Actually that sounds alot like how a CoC adventure I played in went... only the GM didn't give the warning about becoming an NPC...

[Vortigern]

LOL.

Well. While I will grant the whole 'Insanity' thing is kind of hardwired into CoC, the whole conversion into an NPC thing never really sits well with me.

In CoC I can understand the need to kind of enforce that dark horror and mystery of the Mythos. But I think perhaps it goes a tad beyond what is really necessary to keep things to theme and becomes often rather debilitating to characters.

And the S&S genre, while similar, isn't quite the same thing as the cosmic horror of the Mythos.

[Smoking Frog]

I recently read a collection of early Conan stories and I was struck by how Lovecraftian some of Howard's monster/gods were. (Slimy, tentacles, utterly indifferent to human well-being.) Howard was a correspondent with HPL, so it's not surprising. I think you could definitely mine CoC for some ideas of the sort of things that lurk beneath the decadent, effete cities.

As far as magic being limited to NPCs, this seems to be an issue of whether you're trying to emulate the Conan stories or the Conan setting. Obviously Conan would have no interest in a sorcerer's library, unless maybe he was out of toilet paper. But that's because REH wrote him that way. You have to cater to your players' interests, and not everyone wants to be a steel-thewed barbarian with the reflexes of a panther.

[icebrand]

I recently read a collection of early Conan stories and I was struck by how Lovecraftian some of Howard's monster/gods were. (Slimy, tentacles, utterly indifferent to human well-being.) Howard was a correspondent with HPL, so it's not surprising. I think you could definitely mine CoC for some ideas of the sort of things that lurk beneath the decadent, effete cities.

As far as magic being limited to NPCs, this seems to be an issue of whether you're trying to emulate the Conan stories or the Conan setting. Obviously Conan would have no interest in a sorcerer's library, unless maybe he was out of toilet paper. But that's because REH wrote him that way. You have to cater to your players' interests, and not everyone wants to be a steel-thewed barbarian with the reflexes of a panther.

Incidentally, in BRP a tiger has better reflexes :troll:

Back on topic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYJ8G_ou6Dc

[Vortigern]

True. The Conan setting can easily in fact to be argued to be, and often is considered, a part of the Mythos body of writing/history.

And the distinction between depicting and emulating the 'setting' as opposed to the 'stories' I think is exactly the point. Some people are quite captivated by the muscle-bound barbarian who defeats all with honest strength and good steel. While I like the Howard Conan stories myself, I'm not one of those people.

Though even the character of Conan changes with his own chronology. The later-period Howard Conan is actually quite educated and constantly depicted as being a very aware and astute King in Aquilonia. Often being nostalgic for his 'days of adventure' while constantly going through papers and accounts and such.

But yes. Most of the 'adventure' tales are of his younger days. Though even there I feel he was far from the stupid muscle-bound cretin some later authors and the seemingly common pre-conceptions people have depict him as. He was uneducated, and filled with supersititioun. But he was far from stupid, and was certainly not trying to just muscle his way through 'every' situation. ( Some he definately 'did' muscle through, I will grant. )

If you are shooting for a direct emulation of the stories, that is one thing. The stories constantly have the heroic warrior getting the drop on the nefarious sorcerer somehow. And some people really like that. Yet that seems incredibly limiting, and only so believable, to me. I'm far more interested in the 'Setting' emulation, with the group having a the freedom to make and do what they are interested in and find compelling. And I definately strive to break some of the 'classic fantasy' tropes/assumptions with my depiction of an S&S setting. For example in S&S the physically unskilled, unarmed, and therefore easily killable Sorcerer is... while depicted on occasion, hardly a hard and fast rule. Some can be quite skilled in arms as well. And since 'Conan' style magic usually isn't a battlefield art to begin with, it usually doesn't interfere in the slightest even if there 'are' rules about magic and armor or some such.