I love the new Conan RPG by Mongoose Publishing and I also love the AoW campaign arc. But has anybody used these adventures in a Conan setting? I'm extremely tempted to do so, but I'd like to get some feedback from GM's here who may have tried this already.
Obviously, significant conversions and substitutions would be required.
I have run Conan games and I am presnetly running AOW.. all I can say is.. no ressurection and easily killed PCs (due to Conan combat mods) in AOW will lead to a very short campain me thinks. A single AOW adventure would work well in Conan but look very carefully at the challenge ratings. Most of the encounters are pitched 2-3 lvs above the party and other are way off (higher).. the extreme higher ones are in the conan spirit, the continuos high lv encounters is less so. You need more hordes to be slaughtered.
Just what I reckon.
I have been thinking about meshing AP3 with Iron Heroes, if I'm the one in our group who has to run it....
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Isn't AOW deadly enough? My players already think that I'm a killer GM.
They only down side to running the AOW with Conan would be the high mortality rate. If your players can deal with that, then it could work. AOW certainly fits in with the ancient horrors form beyond (Kyuss) themes that were prevalent in Robert E. Howard's work. It certainly would require a lot of conversation work though.
They only down side to running the AOW with Conan would be the high mortality rate. If your players can deal with that, then it could work. AOW certainly fits in with the ancient horrors form beyond (Kyuss) themes that were prevalent in Robert E. Howard's work. It certainly would require a lot of conversation work though.
I agree, from what I have read here the AoW is quite deadly, and some major tweaking is mandatory. Basically, I only have the first 3 adventures so far which are fairly simple to convert at first glance. The main areas I'm focussing on are as follows:
- most conan adventures involve mostly animal or human foes. Obviously, more of these will have to be plugged in where possible.
- monsters, undead, and any other unnatural encounters will either be removed if not necessary for the plot, or replaced/tweaked (blackwall keep lizardmen get replaced by picts for instance)
- use the maps and traps as is, unless they require some supernatural means of detection or removal. Can't rely on D&D spells anymore to help bypass them.
- big bad NPC's, like Dragotha or Lashonna will be replaced with more Conan-esque creatures. I'm toying with a regular vampire for Lashonna, and an ancient Mummy sorcerer for Dragotha, possibly from the same race or nation.
I'm also planning on running the group through each adventure only when they are 1 or 2 levels higher than the adventure's recommended level. My group will all be 2nd level when starting Whispering Cairn for example.
I'm hoping this will be sufficient, but if you're interested, will let you know my progress. Thanks for the heads up guys!
Pop n' Fresh: That sounds very cool, I wish I was playing in your campaign. But I do think you'll have your work cut-out for you substituting in monsters -- the CR system is imperfect and you never know how things will fly.
But I think what you are doing is right. PCs in the Conan setting would never be able to get past the Spire of Long Shadows.
We played AoW using the Iron Heroes rules for 3 modules. It worked quite well, but after a while the lack of magic bothered several of the players and we switched to a mixed ruleset. A GM would have to modify a lot things to make the campaign work with Conan/Iron heroes because they're both low-magic (for the characters) and there is a LOT of magic required in the higher-level modules. Many of the monsters can only be harmed by magical weapons or certain types of spells, and so would have to be reworked. I'm not sure it's worth the headache unless you have a lot of free time. The Age of Worms is difficult enough as it is with normal rules; removing magic for the players would make it a nightmare.
Many of the monsters can only be harmed by magical weapons or certain types of spells, and so would have to be reworked. I'm not sure it's worth the headache unless you have a lot of free time. The Age of Worms is difficult enough as it is with normal rules; removing magic for the players would make it a nightmare.
Contrary to popular belief, there is actually more magic in Conan than Iron Heroes. It is still nowhere near D&D, but its there if needed. I believe if I can throw in one or two magic swords, staves, or mysterious artifacts that should suffice. Another good thing about Conan is they don't use the DR/magic special quality anymore. Usually demons and the like only require silver weapons to hit, which is much easier to acquire than magic ones.
Make no mistake, I fully anticipate the campaign to be brutal and tough, but I have run a couple of the initial AoW modules before, using D&D rules, and know where the problem areas are and hopefully how to fix em.
I'd be worried that the adventure path would rely too much on magic to fit a low-magic setting. I doubt I'd even try and run it in Iron Heroes.
I'd be worried that the adventure path would rely too much on magic to fit a low-magic setting. I doubt I'd even try and run it in Iron Heroes.
Well, I'm starting Whispering Cairn next week with 4-5 2nd level PC's. One is a sorcerer (scholar in Conan) so we finally have SOME magic in the group.
I'll see how it goes, but I doubt the group will make it past the first level of the cairn anyways.
I have been thinking about meshing AP3 with Iron Heroes, if I'm the one in our group who has to run it....
About iron heroes, I have no idea how my players will react when i tell them about it. I mean, they all would love to be highly skilled archers, berserker or harrier but the problem is: THERE ARE NO OTHER RACES IN IRON HEROES!!... Iron Heroes is cool and all but the majority of my players like picking a race instead of a human...I seriously don't know what to do....However, we are just starting AOW so I still have a lot of time to think about it....Can anyone give me a hand??
I have been thinking about meshing AP3 with Iron Heroes, if I'm the one in our group who has to run it....About iron heroes, I have no idea how my players will react when i tell them about it. I mean, they all would love to be highly skilled archers, berserker or harrier but the problem is: THERE ARE NO OTHER RACES IN IRON HEROES!!... Iron Heroes is cool and all but the majority of my players like picking a race instead of a human...I seriously don't know what to do....However, we are just starting AOW so I still have a lot of time to think about it....Can anyone give me a hand??
Conan is very similar to Iron Heroes is that regard. No elves or gnomes running around. Everyone is human. My suggestion is to make a few subraces of human with different racial features. I think the IH book had all starting heroes picking one or two of them? But in addition, add a quick blurb about the race's culture and physical description. Are they asian? Indian? European? Depending on how mature your gamers are, they make choose culture/style over base mechanics. I know most of mine do :)
So we finally started our Conan AoW campaign last night. The group of 5 are all 2nd level and are very combat oriented, except for the scholar is is their lone spellcaster. Even he uses a bow though.
They entered the Cairn and made it all the way down to the sarcophagus room, disposing of the wolves, beetle swarm, and mad slasher. The thief of the group actually found the trap on the sarcophagus lid too. They took some bruises and cuts, but not one of them has come close to dying yet. So far so good, but we'll see how they fair when they explore the lower levels of the cairn!
I love the new Conan RPG by Mongoose Publishing and I also love the AoW campaign arc. But has anybody used these adventures in a Conan setting? I'm extremely tempted to do so, but I'd like to get some feedback from GM's here who may have tried this already.Obviously, significant conversions and substitutions would be required.
We ran AOW in Shem (the desert). ALthough the original was set in a swamp, the conversion was pretty shallow. Actually, there wasn't much to change except to set up the cities and change the appearance of the monsters and gods. No other difficulties.
BTW, we put the arena in Zamboula.
Jh
BTW, the gods we used were:
wormgod = Tiamat
Pazuzu, Mardu (not marduk), and one other easy shem/mesopotamian god...
jh
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