Conan RPGs

I was looking at Monolith's new Conan RPG, and the book and rules look nice. They went rules-light with this system, and I like that approach. Getting people to even try a new game outside of 5E is impossible these days, so you need to go rules-light, 5E-like, or OSR, or forget it.

The system is a "roll a die and add a number" system, not a d20 system, so it is very easy to learn. There is also a stunt die rolled alongside checks, like a Savage Worlds wild die. Monsters are engineered to be easy to handle, with minions mostly going down in one or two blows. Record-keeping is minimized.

For Conan, this feels right.

I liked the 2d20 game, but the system was too heavy for me for sword and sorcery. The Modiphius Conan game is a memory, the license is done, and the company moved on. The new game may be a better fit; just grab some dice, quickly create characters, and go. Do I need a rule system hundreds of pages long for Conan, with talent trees? Deep character builds, and tons of rules support? Not really.

I liked that this attempted to do so and commend them; and many still enjoy this system. The art is also amazing. It just did not feel like "what Conan means to me." When I play a savage swords game, the rules should not be something that takes months to learn.

The entire genre is based around "action now, talking later," as Conan would say.

But I do like the cover of the 2d20 version of the game the best. Conan and a Frazetta heroine are front and center. The new game's cover isn't bad, and it has an "adventuring party" vibe more than a solo hero feeling.

It sucks when companies lose licenses, and we lose the ability to collect and purchase books.

We have games in this genre that do it well, including the excellent Hyperborea. This is a spiritual successor to one of the best Conan games of all time, the 3.5E version of Conan, and it still rocks hard today. This has evolved into a wider, genre-inspired entry in the savage gaming sphere, mixing Conan-inspired elements with science fantasy, and it holds up well.

I will exclude the "wannabe" Conan games that are "close, but no cigar," which include a fighter or barbarian option, and focus more on the traditional kitchen-sink fantasy options that all games deliver. Sure, you have Conan art for the barbarian. Still, you are not a Conan game with all those parrot people, frog people, fox people, and other Richard Scary cozy character races tromping around in the default assumed setting.

DCC is a borderline Conan game, taking inspiration from it and delivering on the genre's tropes, but at times I feel it's more of a throwback tribute to late-70s and early-80s RPGs, mixed with satire of the hobby and era. It is a fun game, but calling it Conan at this point feels like a bit of a reach, given how much more it delivers. DCC started in the swords & sorcery genre but found its own identity beyond it.

GURPS Conan is a lot of fun; if you are into GURPS, this is worth checking out. I love the GURPS realistic combat system, and the characters are incredible to design and play with. This one is worth a mention, and you can still get the PDFs for this, along with a few solo adventures.

Tales of Aragosa is also a strong contender for a modern Conan-style game, and its rules, classes, and vibe fit the genre. This is 5E-like and a successor to Low Fantasy Gaming, and it delivers a great, savage sorcery and blood-spattered battles feeling. There is no science fantasy in here, and it is all just gritty, steel and sorcery, blood-spattered battles, and crawling into the dark bowels of the Earth to battle ancient evils sort of gaming.

Aragosa goes as far as to rename the classes to fit the mood. You aren't a cleric; you are a cultist. I love this thematic rebranding of the concepts and the way it marries the savage mood to the game's language. If you are not theming your game's writing to its genre, making the language fit the mood, what are you doing writing games?

Gygax knew the art of language needed to match the art of the game.

Too many games deliver an AI-powered, business-language style that's quite boring, with everything sanitized and too clean. Even the word "barbarian" gets censored as "culturally insensitive," and we end up with role-playing games that sound like Microsoft wrote them for Fortune 500 companies using Copilot AI. If a game is supposed to inspire our imaginations and take us into new worlds, why are you writing this with business-neutral PowerPoint presentation language and boring the audience to sleep?

Today's games ship with evocative, beautiful art, but writing that bores me to tears.

Also, if you put the word Conan on your game, you'd better have some Frank Frazetta-like art on there and not censor it. Sorry, this is Conan. You don't get to deface greatness and insult a legend. Pay your dues and be brave; otherwise, cowards do not deserve to walk the field of battle with Conan.

I am following Monolith's new game and may check it out.