Hyboria Inspired Pathfinder?

[Lord Fyre]

Hmmm ... What Pathfinder 1st adventures could be adapted to a Hyborian (Conan/Red Sonja) inspired setting? Why yes, I have been reading too much Conan (both Howard and pastiches).

I do realize that I would need to remove most of the magic, and change most humanoid monsters to humans (undead being an exception).

I'm looking for ideas.

[avr]

Skull and Shackles seems a natural fit. Curse of the Crimson Throne involves a long wilderness trek which might fit, pitting yourselves against nature and all. I don't know anything about Carrion Crown except that there's a lot of undead involved but you mentioned undead so there's that.

[Lord Fyre]

avr wrote:

Skull and Shackles seems a natural fit. Curse of the Crimson Throne involves a long wilderness trek which might fit, pitting yourselves against nature and all. I don't know anything about Carrion Crown except that there's a lot of undead involved but you mentioned undead so there's that.

True. But, like all truly supernatural horrors in a Hyborian world, they should be rare.

Most of the chapters from Skull & Shackles would work well. It isn't until the later half that a lot of magical elements appear.

But, I don't want to limit my inquiry to AP volumes. :)

[Selene Spires]

I would say Land of the Mammoth Kings woul5r be good setting for Conan-esque adventures.

[Bjørn Røyrvik]

I hope you've also been reading Bran Mak Morn, Solomon Kane and Kull stories as well. Conan gets an unfair amount of attention. I'm puzzled by the assertion that truly supernatural horrors should be rare - seems to me as though at least half the stories include some unholy abomination, magic, giants, etc.

If all you want is ideas an are willing to put in a bit of effort on your own, there are tons of good AD&D and BECMI adventures that fit right in. Howard was a major influence on D&D, after all. Things like:

The Lost City
Players get lost in the desert, find a buried pyramid which leads to a weird underground society of humans and Zargon, a large Howardian monster.

The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth
Wildnerness trek, small dungeon and a vampire queen.

[ALLENDM]

I would also suggest the World of Xoth.

World of Xoth Blog
World of Xoth Player's Guide PF1E

Published Material for World of Xoth

XP1 is 3.5, XP2 to 4 are PF1E, and XP5 and XP6 are 5E as far as adventures in the World of Xoth.

Jack

[Lord Fyre]

Bjørn Røyrvik wrote:

I hope you've also been reading Bran Mak Morn, Solomon Kane and Kull stories as well. Conan gets an unfair amount of attention. I'm puzzled by the assertion that truly supernatural horrors should be rare - seems to me as though at least half the stories include some unholy abomination, magic, giants, etc.

But, there are no "common" monsters like "Orcs." (No Elves, Hobbits, etc. either.) So while the stories feature various Horrors, Magic, etc. because these are the notable events.

Bjørn Røyrvik wrote:

The Lost City

Players get lost in the desert, find a buried pyramid which leads to a weird underground society of humans and Zargon, a large Howardian monster.

I'm not familiar with this adventure. Can you link it?

Bjørn Røyrvik wrote:

The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth

Wildnerness trek, small dungeon and a vampire queen.

This is an excellent suggestion! While it wasn't a Pathfinder product, this is a very (cutting back on some of the magic) like story.

[Bjørn Røyrvik]

Here's a review of TLC.
There is a Goodman Games edition that has a scan of the original and a 5e conversion.

Other stuff like "Rahasia" and "Desert of Desolation" should be pretty easy to adapt. Just replace any goblins, orcs, elves and whatnot with humans and you're well on your way to having a good Howardian story.

[ALLENDM]

One of the things you will want to do is take a hard look at the casters and reduce the number of them. I removed the Ranger and used the Kobold Press Spell-Less Ranger. Also used the Kobold Press Shaman. No Wizard, Arcanist, Magus, Cleric, Paladin, War Priest...etc. Witch is perfect in these settings as is the sorcerer with restrictions to specific bloodlines. You also need to filter the spell lists to remove artillery spells and super hero spells and a few other things to get the feel.

With Witch you will want add spells to the spell list.

Magical should have a corrupting effect...most Howardian stories revolve around this concept (as do most HP Lovecraftian themes).

The use of Fear is essential as well...the use of Frightful Presence with any monster or unusual animal is encountered, it
is treated as having the Frightful Presence (extraordinary
ability). I essentially use it on aberrations, monstrous humanoids, outsiders, undead and giant animals the party has never encountered before.

I also liked in the World of Xoth and how it uses the "Treasure Should be Spent" concept. It is essentially a set of training rules to improve ability scores, armor class, and saving throws. Pretty neat concepts and removes the need for magic to enhance those areas. I modified it a bit in my game with a few tweaks to equipment. There is a lot of good ideas in that players guide as well as the XP1 (which is 3.5) on magic and such.

You can use monsters like Ogres but just make them mutated humans or the outcome of horrific unions with otherworldly creatures. Think the movie "300" and the giant chained human with the Persian Immortals.

Jack