The Gaming Den

"Know, ye thieves and warriors, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of Conan II to the throne of Aquilonia, 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 on the pastoral lands of Shem, Stygia with its shadow-guarded tombs...aye, Stygia! And before Stygia-was-Stygia there was Acheron, heir to the Giant Kings...and before them the histories, already half-legend, slink away into dark and foreboding myths of those prehuman entities that warred and struggled long before any of the races of man or man's gods came to this earth. They say Father Set knew them in the dawn times, and the Old Serpent has shared some smattering of that lore with his sorcerer-priests, the fabled Black Ring.

Yet the power of the Black Ring has been broken for a generation. Thoth-Amon's final incarnation slain by King Conan's hand, his fabled ring lost, and with him fell the flower of Stygian sorcerers, so for decades acolytes have reigned where high priests once stood, and ancient scrolls crack and fade without being read or copied, and they who would have been among the least now consider themselves great. Yet there is one among them, Kasetshusept by name, who makes up for power with cunning. Though he has not yet progressed to that rank in the priesthood of Set where he should learn of the Great Old Ones, who are and were and ever shall be, yet somehow he has...and worse, with this imperfect knowledge and without the dire warnings that accompany the usual instruction, he has set out to find and master their pre-human sorcery, and in so doing reconstitute the Black Ring, with himself as its master. Should this come to pass, the world will tremble, not at a sorcerer's ambitions but at what he may unwittingly unleash..."

This is the call-for-interest page for a mash-up game, using the Conan d20 and Call of Cthulhu d20 rulesets. The setting is the Hyborian Age, and the characters typical 3rd-level player characters...thieves, barbarians, scholars, nobles, etc. and using the rules from Conan (Atlantean Edition) and the Scroll of Skelos magic supplement. In addition, certain rules from the Call of Cthulhu d20 book will be used - specifically Sanity rules, Mythos tomes & magic, monsters, and the Cthulhu Mythos skill; the Psychic feats in that book are available to PCs but will not be used for NPCs.

Players can use other Conan d20 books as they wish, and possibly other books if the other players agree - with the caveat that as Mister Cavern, I get to use anything in the book as well. The rules systems between Conan d20 and those sections of CoCd20 I'm using are fairly compatible - the major houserules are as follows:

1) Corruption reduces maximum Sanity in the same manner as Cthulhu Mythos rating. However, this is not cumulative with the maximum sanity loss from Cthulhu Mythos skill.

So if, for example, a character has Corruption 5 then their max Sanity is (99 - 5 = 94). If they then gain Cthulhu Mythos 5 without affecting their maximum Sanity.

2) Where Conan d20 and Cthulhu Mythos magic subsystems interact, all terms in common apply. So if a Conan d20 spell provides a bonus to all spells, that includes Cthulhu Mythos spells; and vice versa.

3) Cthulhu Mythos spells that affect targets other than the caster or inanimate objects require a roll to hit, and the character's Magic Attack Bonus (if any) applies as if casting a Conan d20 spell.

I welcome any questions or rules discussions, and any changes/additions to the houserules will be posted here.

So, I'm basically looking for 3-6 players interested in a Hyborian Age adventure with Mythos elements in it, using a hybrid ruleset. Anybody interested?
We've got a full complement of players!

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Books in Play
Conan d20 (2nd Edition)
Secrets of Skelos
Stygia - Serpent of the South
The Warriors Companion

Call of Cthulhu d20

Roll of Heroes
Isandro de Salduva, M Zingaran Noble 2/Soldier 2 (Whipstitch)
Karlus Rabbit-Hewer, M Hyborian Barbarian 1/Soldier 3 (Korgan0)
Velasco, M Zingaran Pirate 3/Thief 1 (Kurama314)
Taotieh, Khitan Martial Disciple 3/Thief 1/Scholar 1 (OgreBattle)
Lord Kamoses-ak-Ankh, M Stygian Scholar 5/Noble 1 (Prak Anima)
Neb-Ema-Khet, M Stygian Scholar 4 (Nebuchadnezzar)

Roll of the Fallen
TBD

I don't have time for this myself--at least not for another month--but to anyone who's on the fence about joining this game: do it. AH runs games that are insane and awesome and insanely awesome, and you don't want to miss out on this one.

Hey, even if you don't join, the IC threads should make for pretty interesting reading.

Have fun with your game!

I'm down. I have time now for another game because reasons.

I'd love to join this, but I don't have any of the relevant rulebooks.

I'm pretty thoroughly familiar with the d20 rigmarole, though, so if you could hook me up?

I cannot provide you with the books, though I assure you they are available. If you have a character concept in mind I can work with you to stat out your character.

Man, I am so down it hurts. If you'll have me, I'd be super hyped to play some kind of gruff mercenary type, but since I just started reading Conan stuff I don't know a huge amount about the world- what kind of adventure were you thinking of?

I'm unfamiliar with the Conan rules and have very little experience with Cthulhu d20, but I'll get myself sorted pretty quickly.

To the rest of y'all, AH is, by a long shot, the best DM I've ever played with. I can't recommend him highly enough.

Gruff mercenaries are most welcomed, and there will be much work for a strong sword-arm in this game. In play the adventure is going to have more the feel of a Conan adventure from one of the old Marvel comics than straight Howard - a mix of sword 'n' sorcery adventure with elements of Call of Cthulhu style investigation.

And thanks for everyone's high praise!

I'm probably going to be a zingaran noble or scholar with the most luxurious 'stache you've ever seen. I'm talking about something that would make a lesser dictator like Saddam weep, and would inspire a slow, respectful nod, as between men, from Joseph Stalin.

I'm in. Not sure what type of character yet but once I go through the rules I should be all set.

Well I got the books and after some reading I'm leaning towards a Zingaran pirate/thief if that works.

Are there any good martial-focused supplements for Conan d20?

The Warrior's Companion springs to mind. Also Argoes and Zingara has some additional rules/bonuses for Zingaran-style fencing.

Zingaran pirate/thief

Sure. Remember, characters for this game are 3rd level and characters can multiclass freely, so there's a lot of possibilities open.

Also, were you planning on this being run via IRC/Roll20 or as a PbP thing like in the Crypts?

PbP, like Crypts. It is easier for me, since my schedule is often not quite as set as I'd like, and I can check and respond to the thread from different computers.

Having just scanned the rulebook, my one concern is with hit points, and the seeming problem with having 3.5-standard hit points in a setting as low-powered as Conan. I could be completely wrong, though.

Feel free to take maximum hit points per level.

I was thinking the reverse, actually, that having hit points scale so quickly would have high level characters basically invulnerable, which wouldn't fit the feel of the universe.

Not going to be an issue, I think.

Uh, yeah, hewing isn't a problem in Conan D20, like, at all. The massive damage rule seriously kicks in at 20 damage. If you take a charge from some burly asshole with a lance you can expect to bin your sheet.

I'm in.

I really love the 1984 film and Howard's books, and my most enjoyable D&D games are the ones at a Conan level of power. I'm not familiar with how magic works in Conan d20 though. Do warrior-types have the same problems as in D&D3e, are there certain 'traps' we should avoid? Like is two weapon fighting a bad idea, or do they have their own feats that make it its own thing.

The Parry/Dodge divide is also interesting, lets STR dudes not worry as much about Dex. And I see Finesse isn't feat taxed either. I'm really like what I see!


So what are the character generation rules? Stats, wealth, equipment and so on.

Roll 4d6 for each attribute and discard the lowest one. You're characters are level 3 and multiclass without penalty, so any legal combination of race and class is acceptable. Characters get the normal starting wealth and equipment for their character class, plus 500 sp to buy additional equipment - enough to kit out characters but not clothe them in plate and arm them all with Akbitanian weapons. That's 500 sp in addition to any monies that come from class features, like the Noble's Wealth, natch. Any equipment in Conan d20 is fair game, even alchemical or minor magical items if you could afford any of them.

...I'm having a really hard time deciding on whether to put that extra 5 hundo into a sweet horse or like, 3 high-born slave babes.

I was looking up info on the Warrior's Companion and it mentioned what sounded like a new base class: Martial Disciple.

I'm interested in what they do, they sound like the 'LAW' alternative to 'CHAOS' barbarian.

It's basically a Conan version of a D&D monk in many ways.