Anyone ever play or run a game set in Hyboria? How'd it go?

>>51716676
lol nice middle earth ripoff

>>51719902
Here's the (You)

>>51716676

It was hy-bore-ia.

Are the L. Sprague stories any good? I've only read Howard's own stories.

Had high expectations for a game based in Kush

>>51720217
Lol.

Also, "Iranistan"... really?

>>51720217
>>51720850
Keep laughing, subhumans. Howard was actually one the best fantasy writers ever, on the same level as Tolkien. A great deal of RPG's tropes comes from Howard's stories.

>>51720850
Who is Iranistan?

>>51720850
The idea is that Hyboria was proto-Earth, and one of the short stories is basically how it changes after the Hyborian Age to become Earth.

Hell, you look at !India and it's even the same shape.

>>51716676
"Know, o prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the sons of Aryas, there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars - Nemedia, Ophir, Brythunia, Hyperborea, Zamora with its dark-haired women and towers of spider-haunted mystery, Zingara with its chivalry, Koth that bordered the pastoral lands of Shem, Stygia with its shadow-guarded tombs, Hyrkania whose riders wore steel and silk and gold. But the proudest kingdom of the world was Aquilonia, reigning supreme in the dreaming west. Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian; black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandaled feet."
— The Nemedian Chronicles

best introduction ever

>>51716676
Too big to be interesting. Too uninteresting and dull if you take only a small slice of it.
I prefer my setting small so I can make up bullshit on the fly when my players try to go off the rails as they often do.

>>51719958
Yes, by and large.
He cleans up Howard's original works in terms of spelling/grammar errors, and past the 3 stories put together from Howard's notes, each expand on Conan, especially as he gets older, and open up the setting.

>>51722137
>I prefer my setting small so I can make up bullshit on the fly when my players try to go off the rails as they often do.
How much traveling do your players do?
Going off the rails usually doesn't involve leaving an entire country, and somehow, you are distilling literally an entire world into "too big; not interesting".
It's the entire world, that's why you base your game in one of the nations in it, you fucking trog, yeah you pissed me off.

>>51722131
>Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian; black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandaled feet.

Players may have ruined me. To me, this just looks like another dark-haired, brooding, psychotic, thieving, thuggish murderhobo with extreme bipolar disorder and a massive superiority complex.

>>51722254
Conan was a murderhobo, but his character was pretty consistent.

>>51722277
I guess my issue is that players can't capture that sort of character very consistently or engagingly.

Not sure if appropriate but whereabouts on this map do you think the exiled lands from the new game are

>>51722283
That's because it requires the GM to also play ball on top of having a character that is mechanically capable.
Conan was also self aware, something a lot of players lack.
>>51722310
I wager Stygia or Kushan

>>51720850
>>51722089
Pretty sure the real life nation was still known as Persia for foreigners when Robert E. Howard lived.

>>51716676
Ive run two, one short adventure and one longer one. Currently planning and organising another one to start next week actually. It's gone well even though I often have to remind players that the characters they make may not be totally suited to S&S. But we work it out.

>>51722367
It was. The name Iranistan wouldn't have seemed quite as childish back then as no one called the country it was based on Iran.

>>51720884
>Howard was actually one the best fantasy writers ever
I was about to question this statement but then realized you'd specified fantasy authors. And yeah, sure, among fantasy authors he's probably almost definetly among the greatest, if for no other reason than there being no competition.

>on the same level as Tolkien
Eh. It's pretty pointless to try and compare the two as they tried to do completely different things. I will give you that Robert's work likely has been far more influencial on the fantasy genre as a whole and RPGs in particular than Tolkien's though (even if the latter get more lip service).

>>51722844
>>51722367

Yeah this. Also the dude was huge into history

Also that feel when Howard and Lovecraft were bros and actually made both their settings set in the same universe.

Later editors edited these references and such out of their works post-mortem which imo is kinda rude but damn I like the idea all the same lol.

>>51722108

Which story is that?

>>51722254
He's the original murder hobo though rather than "another".

You're having the same problem I had reading Dune. "Oh that cliche again" syndrome.

Another thing that put's people off of Conan is Arny's braindead muscle monster version of Conan. A lot of the interesting parts of the books are experiencing conans inner thought process throughout situations from considering mercy killing a woman in a desert to freeing a space elephant as an act of mercy. He wasn't a genius, but he was a living thinking character.

>>51723013

Yeah this. "cliche?" it can't be cliche bc it was written in the 30's before all the cliche wank.

Agreed with the Arny thing too. I did like the Mamoa movie though I wish they didn't make it an origin movie ugh. The flashback to the born on a battlefield was enough

>>51722367
>>51722844
This kinda makes me think what other current country names would sound mystical in the past.

>>51724754
america lol

>>51724754
Hy-Brasil
Australia

>>51720850
India used to be called Hindustan. Most countries in the Muslim world could just be called that. Like Kurdistan. Stan just means "land of the ___", so you just sub in whatever ethnicity or religion is most common there.

>>51724754
India's official name is Bharat, and I think that fits pretty well.

>>51722844
Iranistan would still be silly back then because Iran is already Land of the Aryan, Iranistan becomes Land of the Land of the Aryan.

Still not as silly as it sounds nowadays though.

I found a complete anthology of Conan stories by Howard. It's hardcover, pretty fucking big, for $30. Should I get it? I never read Conan.

>>51716676
I bought a massive Conan compendium book when Age of Conan came out back yonder.

Read almost all of them and absolutely loved the world Howard created, loved the many different kingdoms and cultures, the era, setting it in a fictional limbo between the bronze and iron age. The cosmic horrors and supernatural mysteries. They all fascinated me at the tender age of just 14.
However, my least favourite part of every conan story was almost without fail, conan himself. And I get it that people in the 1920s had different expectations, but to me the biggest letdown of every story was when Conan strangled another Stygian Stooge to death with his bear hands, or outwitted another ancient sorceror lord. I just felt like these stories could have used a whiff of Lovecraftian Narrators, as in a vulnerable viewpoint that sometimes ends badly. Instead of a impenetrable layer of plot armour.

but whatever, thr little illustrations of curvy babes in that book were some of my favourite boners. Sadly, some of the best are forever lost to me due to some cunt glueing the pages together, what a dick,

>>51724858
Yes if US version. No if UK version.
Keep in mind all his books are free online legally due to their age. You can download them without worry.

>>51725056

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Complete_Chronicles_of_Conan

It's this edition and it says the publishers are UK.

>>51724835
"Aryānam Xšaθra" is the old name that means "Land of the Aryan". Iran is basically the short version.

>>51725178
>>51725056

Also, what's wrong with the UK version?

>>51725197
Your book will come with a fish and chips smell.

>>51724835
Actually, Iran is the evolution of Eranshahr (and ultimately from the term that the other anon mentioned). The shahr part means land (kingdom) with eran being the plural of er (aryan). So the -stan suffix not only is not silly, but closer to the original.

Don't discuss etymologies when you don't know shit about them, please.

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>>51725980
Am Brit. Can confirm.

>>51724808
It's not muslim but iranic. You will never see Morocco being Marrakeshistan and specially not by the locals who would laugh at your face for saying it. Yet England is Engelestan in persian (but not in arabic or turkish).

>>51720850
>>51724754

Don't forget Zembabwei, just over the border from Iranistan.

It looks pretty bad now for the place to a lazy respelling of an actual country but it made sense at the time. (Great) Zimbabwe being ruined city that was not terribly well known and whose origins were still somewhat mysterious in Howard's time (not least because Rhodesia actively opposed the idea that it was built by Africans). In other words it sits alongside Asgard and all the other names sourced from history and mythology, and I think that Howard can be forgiven for not anticipating that 25 years after his death "Zimbabwe" would start to gain traction as a replacement name for what was then Rhodesia.

>>51724858
>>51725056
I've got the UK version so clearly I am secretly satan but;

It's a pretty good book. It's got all the stories in order of publication, an essay by Howard on the world and backstory although it's worth reading the stories first as it can be a bit of a slog and biographic afterword on Howard which also touches on the legacy of Conan. It also includes a number of unpublished stories which range from the complete but rejected to drafts in varying stages completion.

I enjoyed it, but then I got it as a gift as I was already into Conan. If you are unsure then read a story or two online to see if it grabs you. Red Nails, People of the Black Circle and especially Tower of the Elephant are some of the best works, and are good introductions to Conan.

>>51724754

Greenland.
I mean, shit, imagine you're a Roman and they tell you there's a green land between everlasting ice, next to the pole, where the sun shines at midnight.

Perhaps Japan, if you consider that the name literally is "where the sun rises".

>>51720850
Lol.

Also, "Turkestan" ... really?
stan literally just means land of. Iranistan would just be land of the Iranians, Turkestan is land of the Turks, Uzbekistan is land of the Uzbeks, etc. I mean while it wouldn't fit due to the region, you could call England Anglostan.

>>51727223
England is just Angle-land that's had it's pronunciation changed over centuries.

>>51727223

Actually in those days central Asia was under the URSS, and the -stans were something interesting: a resurgence of ancient names for new regional territories (Turkmenistan, etc.). It's a little like a communist America might have called Texas Comache-land, perhaps.

Maybe REH was inspired by this idea of the past the returned in an industrialized country, I dunno.

>>51716676
no, but i played age of conan online a lot and if it in any ways resembles the actuall setting i doubt i would like to for more than a one shot

>>51719902
Hyboria existed before Middle Earth.

>>51722927
>if for no other reason than there being no competition

I know this is bait, but I'll take it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._Sprague_de_Camp
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clark_Ashton_Smith
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Leiber
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Moorcock
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Edward_Wagner
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_R._Delany
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Jacques
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Rice_Burroughs
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_MacDonald
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Carroll
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_R._R._Martin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Machen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Yeongdo

>>51727154
I don't think anon was talking about the meaning of the words. I think he was thinking about names like California, that is the 15th century equivalent of calling a region Azeroth or Gondor.

>>51728259

In the sense of a place that is given a mythical name?

Hrm. Well, there is Thule Base.

>>51728311
Mythical sounding name that doesn't sound mythical today, basically.

>>51728250
Most of those are too garbage to be worth mentioning, especially George FAT PINK MAST Martin and Michael Moorcock

>>51725154

i prefer the version with the wilting conan clinging to her leg

>>51728364
>most of those

>still left with

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._Sprague_de_Camp
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clark_Ashton_Smith
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Leiber
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Edward_Wagner
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_R._Delany
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Jacques
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Rice_Burroughs
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Carroll
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Machen

>most

Duuude, you're not even trying, and I posted most of the popular house-hold names as well.

>>51722963
>Later editors edited these references and such out of their works post-mortem

Really? Like what. I'm genuinely curious.

>>51716676
What's the point of having two compass roses on the map?

>>51726161
>It's not muslim but iranic.

The two are often conflated. Just like everything that Arabs do is Muslim. Or everything Pashtuns do is Muslim. So on and so forth.

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>>51727223
>>51727896

>>51722927
>Eh. It's pretty pointless to try and compare the two as they tried to do completely different things. I will give you that Robert's work likely has been far more influencial on the fantasy genre as a whole and RPGs in particular than Tolkien's though (even if the latter get more lip service).

Both get a lot of play in fantasy gaming because D&D was more or less Tolkien-esque races and psuedo-Medieval trappings tossed into the Hyborean Age style adventures.

But while most settings move away from the Tolkien style Elves, Dwarves, and Hobbits, they often keep the individualistic/self-deterministic/might-makes-right aspects of the Hyborian age.

>>51728250
I mean, all of those authors are shit.

>>51734303
This map is missing Holy Island.

>>51728364
>hating on Moorcock
Remove yourself.

>>51734303
Where is the full map?

>>51728150

>playing aoc
>just started
>talk to a quest giver
>drunk ass pirate in the background of the conversation scene peeing on something

>>51728164
Yeah since about like 1932, the Hobbit was 1937. Howard wrote up a whole essay and everything

>>51719902
Low quality bait anywhere else

High quality bait for the /tg/. I approve!

>>51726892

Tower of the Elephant was what really got me into reading Conan.

>>51726131

Jesus Bourne. My sides

>>51730784

http://kingsofthenight0.tripod.com/mythos.htm

they were apart of a huge circle of writers all doing Lovecraft mythos stuff and Conan was officially apart of the Cthulhu mythos

>>51738718

Also in the 2011 movie they do fight a huge lovecraftian monster at one point.

>>51738718
>>51738732
>they were apart of a huge circle of writers all doing Lovecraft mythos stuff and Conan was officially apart of the Cthulhu mythos

I've heard that before. My question is what was edited out exactly?

>>51724754
Jermani
Merica
Yndonesic Bloc

and so forth

>>51728451
Nah, that one looks super sloppy.

>>51725154
That face looks awful.

>>51739464
You think the face is the worst thing? Come on, really?

Not the oddly bulging abs? Not the overly large legs, especially the knees? Not the fact that she has a straight sword, but a curved scabbard?

>>51739578
Those are also bad, but the face is so opposed to that of a warrior, or even a barbarian is much too jarring.

>>51719902
>Aragorn was a descendant of the Atlantean race
>He was a wanderer adventurer
>He served as a captain
>He was an incredible fighter
>He was destined to become a king
>He became a king

Aragorn is Conan

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>>51728250
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_R._R._Martin

>>51739795
Conan is more efficient.

>>51739795
Conan would have banged Eeyore or whatever her name was

>>51728364
The only problem with Moorcock is that he is kind of an asshole.

>>51716676
>Hyborean Age*

Played and run.
It went well.

System Options:
>Mongoose Conan
>Modiphius Conan
>GURPS
>ZeFRS
>Barbarians of Lemuria
>Savage Worlds
>Apocalypse World Conan.
>Pretty sure there's a Unisystem Conan hack, too.
I've used the Mongoose one. It would be my suggestion. It's d20, but it's heavily altered d20, with a different magic system and leveling system and no magic items and overhauled combat.

I could also see using GURPS, but I think doing it justice would involve assembling a custom magic system using thaumatology. Not quite "pickup and go".


Setting Books
>Mongoose
>https://www.amazon.com/Conan-Ultimate-Worlds-Savage-Barbarian/dp/B003D7JYF4
>Conan Wikia
I mostly relied on the Mongoose material. It was good, but they did fill in some blanks themselves, and included content from multiple Conan writers, sourcebooks for REH purists they are not. Useful guides for a campaign setting, however.

Maps:
Most of them are shit. Especially the Mongoose ones, unfortunately. The hyborean age is supposed to be a hypothetical earth circa 30k BCE, before the last ice age.

The REH map matches up well with Europe, and is in fact an altered tracing of a northern European map from circa 1915, using a conical map projection which was common at the time but is not common now. It does not cover the rest of the world.

The Mongoose maps, are wrong in many labels and have fucked up continents sizes, and countries in the wrong places. If you find a better Conan world map I'd love to see it.

>>51741138
Apparently when he had a contract with an RPG publisher, an RPG book for Corum (another eternal champion thing) was produced, and they didn't have permission, and supposedly he didn't get paid for it.

He and his fans are very salty about it.

Asked if it was any good one time. Got a 3 page rant about how if I paid the company for it I would be paying for theft.

I responded by pointing out the original company gets no funds for purchases on the secondary market, so that was irrelevant, and once again asked if the content was any good.

Got no useful responses.

>>51734303

>Northern Westland

>>Western Central Northern Westland

>>51741388
I mostly think he is an asshole because of the Epic Pooh thing.

http://www.revolutionsf.com/article.php?id=953

>>51739068

I'm assuming trademarked stuff

>>51741952
>Criticizes the tone of famous authors.
I found LOTR a rather dry read, myself. Tokens writing style can sort of drag on. The Hobbit was far more enjoyable, to me.

>Criticizes anything he considers "comforting" literature.
Clearly he thinks people need to be speed to action, and doesn't see escapism as valuable.

>Handle is a problematic character because he's a benevolent wise old white wizard.
This is bullshit.

Fair enough.

>>51742078
He also updates it periodically to shit on more contemporary fiction. It's basically Moorcock's shitpost copypasta.

>>51734303
>Blackpool remains exactly the same

Not going to pretend I'm surprised.

>>51742078
Gandalf, not handle. Apparently I've never tired Gandalf on my phone before.

>>51742078
Tolkien's. Fuck.

>>51742123
Yeah, he does sound kindof like an asshole.

>>51742515
Well, I still respect Moorcock as an author of fiction. Elric is pretty overrated, though.

>>51743460
Corum is better, imo. Moorcock's a huge asshole IRL but he did shake up the genre in the 70s and added the weak antihero as an archetype, so thank him for that.

Check out the new conan rpg by modipheus, its pretty baller niggaz

>>51745560
>2d20 system

What makes this any good?

>>51745670
Its fun. Its not as contrived as the d20 system. Our group really enjoys the conan rpg because its actually pretty freeform, its very equipment light which is nice and cuts on book keeping. We also really like the doom/momentum mechanic a lot of folks hate on.

>>51745670
It's got more narrative meddling, which some people go for.

Conan d20 is quite good, and not much like 3.X. Like true 20 and fantasy craft, it's a significant overhaul.