13 replies to this topic

[finarvyn]

Goodman Games is currently going though a Beta playtest of their new Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG. The intent is to scale back a RPG to the early days, and to take a parallel development route to the current game. Instead of following the "power game" fantasy stories being written now, the DCC aims to emulate adventures from "Appendix N", which was Gary Gygax's list of inspirational literature that inspired D&D. (Appendix N was in the AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide, if you aren't aware of the source.)

So, where does Conan come in?

Well, Robert E. Howard is on the "Appendix N" list, and specifically the Conan stories. The DCC game hopes to bring back the spirit of old time pulp fantasy where wizards were evil and heroes had to battle all kinds of dark, shadowy monsters. The adventures that I've run through are very Conan-like so far, and I'm thinking that this game may really appeal to the Conan crowd. I'm thinking of running some Mongoose Conan adventures, since conversion from 3E to DCC seems pretty simple.

I think the free Beta playtest download can be found at:
http://www.goodman-g...DCCRPGbeta.html

If anyone has any questions I'll try to answer them.

[finarvyn]

Here's the Appendix N list, by the way.

The following authors were of particular inspiration to me. In some cases I cite specific works, in others, I simply recommend all of their fantasy writing to you. From such sources, as well as any other imaginative writing or screenplay, you will be able to pluck kernels from which will grow the fruits of exciting campaigns. Good reading!

Anderson, Poul: THREE HEARTS AND THREE LIONS; THE HIGH CRUSADE; THE BROKEN SWORD

Bellairs, John: THE FACE IN THE FROST

Brackett, Leigh

Brown, Frederic

Burroughs, Edgar Rice: "Pellucidar" series; Mars series; Venus series

Carter, Lin: "World's End" series

de Camp, L. Sprague: LEST DARKNESS FALL; THE FALLIBLE FIEND; et al

de Camp & Pratt: "Harold Shea" series; THE CARNELIAN CUBE

Derleth, August

Dunsany, Lord

Farmer, P. J.: "The World of the Tiers" series; et al

Fox, Gardner: "Kothar" series; "Kyrik" series; et al

Howard, R. E.: "Conan" series

Lanier, Sterling: HIERO'S JOURNEY

Leiber, Fritz: "Fafhrd & Gray Mouser" series; et al

Lovecraft, H. P.

Merritt, A.: CREEP, SHADOW, CREEP; MOON POOL; DWELLERS IN THE MIRAGE; et al

Moorcock, Michael: STORMBRINGER; STEALER OF SOULS; "Hawkmoon" series (esp. the first three books)

Norton, Andre

Offutt, Andrew J.: editor of SWORDS AGAINST DARKNESS III

Pratt, Fletcher: BLUE STAR; et al

Saberhagen, Fred: CHANGELING EARTH; et al

St. Clair, Margaret: THE SHADOW PEOPLE; SIGN OF THE LABRYS

Tolkien, J. R. R.: THE HOBBIT; "Ring trilogy"

Vance, Jack: THE EYES OF THE OVERWORLD; THE DYING EARTH; et al

Weinbaum, Stanley

Wellman, Manley Wade

Williamson, Jack

Zelazny, Roger: JACK OF SHADOWS; "Amber" series; et al

The most immediate influences upon AD&D were probably de Camp & Pratt, R. E. Howard, Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance, H. P. Lovecraft, and A. A. Merritt; but all of the above authors, as well as many not listed, certainly helped to shape the form of the game. For this reason, and for the hours of reading enjoyment, I heartily recommend the works of these fine authors to you.

I've read quite a few of these and like most of them. My "top five" are probably:
* Robert E Howard (of course!)
* Fritz Leiber
* JRR Tolkien
* Michael Moorcock
* Roger Zelazny

[Xaltotun]

Is the Goodman Games ruleset d20-based or something else? If they are indeed looking to App. N for inspiration, I would heartily praise that effort, but I'm not sure if d20 is suitable for "OS gaming".

When I first started playing d20 in late 2000/early 2001 I was dismayed by how complicated it is and instinctively started to houserule my own 'd20 Lite' version, but, sadly, that required more work than just going back to an earlier version of D&D.

Honestly, the "Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser" stories by Fritz Leiber are MUCH more "Old School D&D" than REH, and REH was a much greater inspiration than LotR.

My 2 cp.

[Boot]

When I first started playing d20 in late 2000/early 2001 I was dismayed by how complicated it is and instinctively started to houserule my own 'd20 Lite' version, but, sadly, that required more work than just going back to an earlier version of D&D.

I felt the same way about d20 when I first picked it up (my first d20 game is Mongoose's Conan RPG, which is a bit different than standard 3.0/3.5 D&D), but after having played with it a bit, I have come to recognize that it truly is a superior rule set. That's probably why games like Pathfinder are still going strong even after 4E has come out.

If you insist on a lite d20 game, don't reinvent the wheel. There's several out there, from homebrew to True20. Just do a Google search. You'll find a stripped down version of d20 in no time.

[Xaltotun]

Quite a few people that I've read over the past five or so years speak very highly of another game called Savage Worlds and have professed success when using it for their own Hyborian campaigns. However, I know naught about the ruleset. Whatever works for you and your gaming group!

[Reaver]

Quite a few people that I've read over the past five or so years speak very highly of another game called Savage Worlds and have professed success when using it for their own Hyborian campaigns. However, I know naught about the ruleset. Whatever works for you and your gaming group!

I have Savage Worlds, and there's even a free downloadable conversion for the Hyborian Age (maybe more than one). Personally, I don't care much for the SW system (it uses die-types as stats, basically), but I have a lot of friends who like it. My preference is D&D 3.5 or Pathfinder.

But I would like to try Wizards & Warriors, which is a fantasy variation of the system used in Mutants & Masterminds. My favorite d20 derivative.

[BluSponge]

Quite a few people that I've read over the past five or so years speak very highly of another game called Savage Worlds and have professed success when using it for their own Hyborian campaigns. However, I know naught about the ruleset. Whatever works for you and your gaming group!

I'm one of those Savage Worlds fans. Its been a great system for me and my game group. We're currently playing through the second leg of our ongoing Solomon Kane campaign. Great fun.

I've checked out the DCC beta and it is...interesting. I guess my biggest hangup would be the random spell potency. But I haven't played it, so maybe that won't slow things down as much as I might think. I hope to get to sit in on a game eventually. While it uses OD&D as a foundation, it really does run off in wild different directions.

Tom

[Reaver]

Didn't Goodman give this away at Free RPG Day this year? I think I picked it up...

[witchfire]

dragon age's AGE engine also has a free "age of Conan" dowloadable rule suplement

[finarvyn]

Didn't Goodman give this away at Free RPG Day this year? I think I picked it up...

Goodman gave away a free module as part of the "Free RPG Day" experience. The link I provided is a rules set to go with the module.

[finarvyn]

Just a little update. The release date of the RPG has been moved to February, 2012, with the intent of "getting it right" instead of meeting an artificial deadline. Joseph Goodman has something like eight modules on the docket for fast release once the RPG hits the shelves and there are several 3rd Party Publisher companies working on materials of their own, so there should be a flurry of stuff coming out in the spring.

Fighters get some cool heroic actions they can do and magic is dark and corrupting. While it's not set in Conan's world, I think that Howard's fiction clearly has a big influence on the design (as does other "Appendix N" authors such as Smith, Merritt, and Leiber) and running a Conan-like swords & sorcery game should be pretty fun.

[darthgall]

Cool stuff!
I looked up the magic stuff out of curiosity, and it has really cool rules about spells behaving differently when being cast by different people, and magic manifesting differently, which is a neat idea to me. Also, the chapter on magic has a concept called "spellburn" where a character can give up ability scores to guarantee a spells success... the quote heading that rule segment is:
"Blood aids great sorcery."
Not an exact quote, but a prominent line from Conan paraphrased...
Also, for those looking for rules-lite D20, I'd suggest the beta rules of this game, and also Castles & Crusades.

[finarvyn]

Okay, so here's where I look like a moron:

Just a little update. The release date of the RPG has been moved to February, 2012, with the intent of "getting it right" instead of meeting an artificial deadline.

A few days after posting this, I found out that the deadline has been moved again. Goodman said that in order to make his Feb deadline the manuscript would have to arrive at the printers right about now, and it's not done yet.

I've seen the manuscript as it stands now ... still in proofreading and with most of the layout in place ... and it looks simply amazing. Even folks who aren't sold on the RPG as a game should at least look at it in a game store to drool over the "old school" artwork. (You can find some previews on the GG website.) It looks fabulous and plays well, too!

Anyway, the timeline is now probably set for late March or early April.

[finarvyn]

Another update for anyone interested -- customers who pre-ordered the RPG got links to a PDF in advance of the general public. The game is essentially done. On the Goodman Games boards, Joseph Goodman posted a picture of some of the test pages he got back from the printer. The rulebook should be going to press soon with an end-of-April date being tossed around. Dunno how close that date is or not, but clearly this game should be hitting the shelves in the near future.

Again, it's not Conan per se but is inspired by the Swords & Sorcery fiction of REH among other authors. (I think the "Appendix N" list is in a post I made earlier in this thread.)