15 replies to this topic

[terryallenuk]

Once again, GURPS fans will be able to explore the world of Robert E. Howard's barbarian hero. Beginning in February, five titles originally published in physical form by Steve Jackson Games will be re-released in PDF format through its online store, http://e23.sjgames.com.

The long out-of-print GURPS Classic: Conan, based on the world envisioned by Robert E. Howard, will kick off the five-week-long release schedule on February 9. This supplement details Hyborian history, magic, monsters, religion, geography, and more. Four Hyborian Age adventures will then be released, one a week, in the order they were originally published.

These titles have been unavailable for nearly 20 years. Originally designed for GURPS Third Edition, they remain incredible resources for would-be Hyborian heroes.

Face Picts and the great witch-doctor, Zogar Sag, in GURPS Classic: Conan Beyond Thunder River, and the sequel, GURPS Classic: Conan – Moon of Blood. Explore the haunted ruins that lie on the Zarkheba River in GURPS Classic: Conan and the Queen of the Black Coast. Face down a snow demon in GURPS Classic: Conan the Wyrmslayer.

"Pack your sword and fur pelt – you’ll need them as you go adventuring in the Hyborian Age with GURPS Classic: Conan. We’re glad to make these classic Conan products from Steve Jackson Games available again," said Joakim Zetterberg, Director of Publishing at Paradox Entertainment/Conan Properties.

For more about GURPS Classic: Conan, visit http://gurps.sjgames.com/conan.

http://www.sjgames.c...uary&y=2012&d=9

[PaulMc]

Pretty neat. I mean, I never played the game, and it appears that it might be heavily pastiche influenced, but I think it's great to have it digitized and available for a reasonable price.

I might just get it for fun and potential future use.

[Taranaich]

Well, this was from back in the days when pastiches were included in the "official" Conan canon.

[Officer Aggro]

The long out-of-print GURPS Classic: Conan, based on the world envisioned by Robert E. Howard, will kick off the five-week-long release schedule on February 9.

Nice! I still have my original copy that I found in a discount bin back in the mid 90's. It has pretty decent artwork, and even though I never ran a Conan game, it was good for reference/ideas for other RPGs like D&D.

[constantine]

I'm curious to see if this reprint is actually close to Howard's Hyborian Age. The original was heavily, if not mainly, influenced by the pastiche, even having an introduction by LSdC. Of course, this was considered a bonus in those days...

[Kane]

Even if they are influenced by the pastice material, I'm getting them.
As a gamer who has yet to see a system that can do justice to REH's creation,
I'm more about getting as much source material and mining it. So the more the better.
What I can then do is cherry pick the best and then adapt it for the systems I do like.

[Gulbrand]

Thanks for sharing this. I must admit I probably own more GURPS books than the number of times I have played GURPS, but I always found the books to be great reading for dark winter nights in the mountains. Definitely gets the imagination going. I am experiencing some problems with the sjgames.com site, though. Perhaps all Conan fans have come out of the woodwork and and caused a server overload, hehe.

[PaulMc]

GURPS Classic Conan, Beyond Thunder River and Queen of the Black Coast are available now.

I didn't realize until I got them that Beyond Thunder River and Queen of the Black Coast are "solo" adventures and can be played stand-alone without a group. (good for me, because I probably won't get around to gaming group for a few years yet.)

There is also GURPS Lite book for free, if you don't want to dive all the way in on the core rulebooks just yet. (I don't know if it will work with this, but figure I'd start there.)

[deuce]

I'm curious to see if this reprint is actually close to Howard's Hyborian Age. The original was heavily, if not mainly, influenced by the pastiche, even having an introduction by LSdC. Of course, this was considered a bonus in those days...

About as close as the average TOR pasriche from the same time period. The term for proto-Stygians, "Khari", originated in GURPS. It's a term I hate less now than previously. I've always been a (mild) fan of Jackson/GURPS.

[Kane]

Like a lot of source/setting books I've been picking up lately, I'll do a bit of conversion.
Gurps: Conan should adapt over easily to the Savage Worldsn system. Or Barbarians of Lemuria.

[PaulMc]

Man, did this fall through already, or was the window really that short?

I grabbed the first three, never saw Moon of Blood or Wyrmslayer go PDF (I might have missed them, I forgot to check back frequently) but now none are listing the PDF versions for sale anymore.

edit: I see they have a Twitter feed. I might ping them tonight & see what they say.

[RJMooreII]

I love a lot of the GURPS setting books. They're usually useful whether you're using GURPS or not.

[PaulMc]

I never heard back on my Twitter ping.

HOWEVER...

Last night I received emails from SJGames stating that there had been issues with the original files, and they have been corrected and I was able to re-download the three I had purchased. Those PDFs are listed again now and can be ordered.

Wyrmslayer was just released, too.

That just leaves Moon of Blood to be made available.

[RJMooreII]

GURPS works very well for sword & sorcery in its nitty-gritty, without much modification. The Conan books are pastiche influenced, but provide a handy resource (you can always ignore 'unHowardian' things), and mix well with the GURPS historical books.

I think GURPS Conan and an appropriate GURPS historical book would allow you to play a REH-inspired game quite well, whether it's Conan or Bran Mak Morn.

[PaulMc]

Moon of Blood has been made available now, too.

Moon of Blood, Conan GURPS.

[Tarib]

Thanks for the info guys (although I am late to the party, I know)! I only had "Beyond Thunder River" as a hardcopy. Really glad to get the actual rules and three other adventures to complete that line.