31 Days of Christmas Conan, Day 27 - Natara

 On the 27th Day of Christmas Conan, I present to you Natara. Daughter of the Shadows

31 Days of Christmas Conan. Day 25. Mirra

Merry Christmas everyone. I hope, Crom was good to you all this year, and you did not receive any DOOM from him this year! Today, I introduce Mirra.

31 Days of Christmas Conan, Day 24. Nicolas - Crafter in the North

 On the 24th day of Christmas Conan, I introduce you to Nicolas, Crafter in the North

Play By Poll: Page 3 - The Ruins of Re' Shar

Hey all,

It was either cross the ford or take the path. They were the options presented and it was a tie. So I had to head to the comments on the blog and sure enough, there was one more vote to take the path behind the water falls.

So here we go.

2D20 Conan Home Brew Creature Feature: The Supplicant of Ne' Rogh

Its been awhile since I updated any of my creatures. I stopped just after I heard about the demise of Google + . But, I am back again with another creature of horror spawned from the depths of inspired sword and sorcery readings.

I present to you: The Supplicant of Ne' Rogh

This unholy terror summoned from the very bowels of hell is a horrific encounter to deal with. Usually entering from the shadows, it appears to be a person with its head lowered and crawling on its hands and knees, keeping its true identity hidden until the last moment,  rears up like a cobra and strikes with its hidden tentacles, arms and rows upon rows of tiny needle sharp teeth. It will try to surround its victim in a cloak like embrace to be devoured slowly over time.

Few have ever escaped its embrace. 

Art by: bogdanrezunenko

Horror: D3 to Summon
Nemesis

ATTRIBUTES
Awareness   Intelligence   Personality   Willpower

8                 10                  8                   8

Agility       Brawn Coordination

10(2)         8(2)      8

FIELDS OF EXPERTISE

Combat (2) Movement (2)

Fortitude (1) Senses (3)

Knowledge — Social —

Stress and Soak

Stress: Vigor 11 Resolve 9

Soak:  Unnatural Skin 2 Morale: Hell Spawned 2 

ATTACKS

Inhuman clicking: The many clicking teeth of this horror from hell is enough to stun anyone, and once heard is known to drive the few who survive insane.

5CD, Range Close, Area Piercing, Persistent 2, Stun, Fearsome 2 and Intense 

Flailing Arms and Tentacles:

5CD Reach 3: Grapple, knockdown, Fearsome 2, 

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Fear 2

Feed upon Fear

Inured to fear

Inured to Pain

Dread Creature 4

Inhuman Brawn 2

Inhuman Agility 2 

Keen Senses (Hearing, Touch)

Night Vision

DOOM SPENDS AND SPECIAL ABILITIES

Envelopment -2 Doom: If the supplicant either knocks down or grapples a target, it may spend 2 doom to envelope the target and do the listed damage below. (Much like how a person would wear a cloak) As a free action sink its spiny teeth into the poor soul and slowly devour him. When ever the Supplicant activates, it may use this doom spend to roll its damage on a target who is already enveloped as a minor action.

5CD, Piercing 4, Persistent  2, Unforgiving. 

A target is considered grappled at this point and must have a contest of skills to escape its grip. Supplicants Athletics vs Targets Athletics or Acrobatics to escape it grip

Immobile: Once a target is enveloped, the supplicant may no longer take a move action of any type until the target is no longer enveloped. 

Stealthy: It my add 2 momentum to any successful stealth check or ambush/surprise attempts. 

Hidden in plain Sight: This creature appears as a naked person crawling on its hands and knees with its head lowered until it strikes. It will require a D3 Insight roll to see what true horror this is. If you pass, the target will can take a fear check 1 when it is revealed.

Demon Spawn: This creature is immune to pain and fear. And can track its targets with an uncanny ability in all at all levels of lighting.

Do not get to close - 4 Doom: On a successful parry, it may spend 4 doom to immediate enveloped its attacker.

Play by Poll RPG: The Ruins of Re' Shar Page 2

Page 2 of the Ruins of Re' Shar

You duck back into the treeline to observe the figure standing by the waters edge. You notice that the figure is dressed in a long hooded cloak and has been standing motionless for sometime, if it was not for the breeze created by the water falls causing the robs to stir, you would almost think that the figure is a statue standing with it's arms crossed.

But after sometime, the figure suddenly turns and starts to walk towards the water falls, you catch a slight glimpse of its dark face, but you are unable to tell if it was male or female or even human! But it quickly disappears behind the cascading flow.

It is while you were watching the figure that you notice that in the ford, a motion underneath the waves, as if something is swimming just under the surface. The wake appears to move against the current and back towards the waterfalls. And while watching this unnatural wake move, you also realize that several of the boulders that are in the water are also remnants of old statues or carvings.

You are now left with the decision. Do you take the path which leads behind the waterfalls or do you cross the ford?

Do you:

A) Cross the ford?
B) Take the path?

Skill 10
Stamina: 18
Luck: 9
Provision: 2
Leather Armor.
Long Sword.

Play by Poll RPG: The Ruins of Re' Shar

The cool mist from the falling water has soaked you to your skin. But you find it refreshing after a week long journey it took for you to get to the valley where fabled ruins of Re' Shar rest.

The rumor has it that these ruins contained unimaginable wealth for those who are willing to dive deep into its depths. You, a young adventurer, unafraid of what fate may have in store has decided to accept this great quest and explore darkest secrets of this subterranean complex.

As you descend into the lush valley, you can see the great water falls from the distance. This landmark indicates that the entrance to the ruins of Re' Shar is nearby. You walk for another several minutes and as you round the bend in the path, the forest clears enough to see the great carvings of the Great Horned Death Beetle on the escarpment wall. You have indeed found the location of the entrance to Re' Shar.

You are still some distance away from the entrance, but you can see that there is a lone solitary figure standing near the waters edge, this cloaked figure seems to be standing and watching the pool of water before its feet.

The path diverges nearby, with one path leading the large waterfalls. The other, leads down to the river ford, which will take towards the cloaked figure and the entrance.

Do you:
A: Cross the ford and head towards the figure and the entrance?
B: Stay back off the path, and observe the area?
C: Duck out of sight, and head down the path to the waterfalls?

Skill: 10
Stamina: 18
Luck: 9
Provisions: 2
Leather Armor
Long Sword

Leave your comments or questions below.

If I was to play 2D20 Conan: Calacorm

Hi all,

Growing up, I am sure all of us "Gamers" had a character that they always played, a character that they always envisioned as they wanted to be like in real life.

I was no different. In fact, I am sure, like many others. That I was not the only who would write up full stories and backgrounds about this one particular hero. No matter what game they played, as long as the setting matched the background of that character, they made the character based on that vision.

In fact, even today I find myself tempted to create that character in the various rules and settings that are more then abundant today then it was back when I was a teen.

So I decided to sit down and make the hero that I created way back in the 80s, and pop him into Modiphius's 2D20 Conan ruleset. Given that the Conan character creation mechanic places a large focus on story telling, I was able to use this system to get what I think is an accurate creation of how Calacorm would play out as in this world.

The concept of Calacorm was that he was never a "super" hero type or someone who would be able to handle everything that was thrown at him. But more of a character who would persevere through hardships, someone who was flawed and failed things on the first try. But would succeed at things in the long run, by being smart, disciplined, a healthy dose of daring and being a team player. The last thing I wanted was to have a character who could always succeed at anything he did.

More resolute then strong.

Hence where the idea of Calacorm was born. So with out further adue, I would like to introduce to you. Calacorm Udrathed.

As an added touch of nostalgia, I searched for the Ken Kelly image that I used on my cover, when I wrote my first story about him and submitted it in my school's short story competition.

HOMELAND	Nemedia
ATTRIBUTE ASPECTS	Dexterous & Strong and Resolute
CASTE	Born Soldier
ARCHETYPE	Veteran
NATURE	Professional
EDUCATION	Educated on the Battlefield
STORY	The Promotion of the Fool
TRAIT	Realist
WAR STORY	Stranded in the Wastelands
SOCIAL STANDING	1
GOLD	9
FORTUNE POINTS	3
VIGOR	10
RESOLVE	13

AGILITY	10
ACROBATICS	1	1
MELEE	3	3
STEALTH	1	1

AWARENESS	8
INSIGHT	1	1
OBSERVATION	2	2
SURVIVAL	1	1
THIEVERY	1	1

BRAWN	8
ATHLETICS	1	1
RESISTANCE	2	2

COORDINATION	10
PARRY	1	1
RANGED WEAPONS	1	1
SAILING	0	0

INTELLIGENCE	8
ALCHEMY	0	0
CRAFT	0	0
HEALING	1	1
LINGUISTICS	1	1
LORE	0	0
WARFARE	1	1

PERSONALITY	7
ANIMAL HANDLING	0	0
COMMAND	1	1
COUNSEL	0	0
PERSUADE	1	1
SOCIETY	2	2

WILLPOWER	11
DISCIPLINE	2	2
SORCERY	0	0

TALENTS

Cosmopolitan Sentry Vagabond Veteran No Mercy Bind Wounds Sixth Sense

EQUIPMENT

Brigandine jacket (Armor 2: Torso/Arms) Cheap riding horse Cheap clothes with military insigna of dubious origin Mace Broadsword Battlefield Honor Shortsword A magnificent drinking horn with metal cup A brilliant scarlet cloak, made in the dreaming west Large Shield , a gift from a fallen dog-brother.

LANGUAGES

Nemedian Ophirean Aquilonian

Crown of Flames, A Conan 2D20 Adventure. Scene 2 - Escaping over the Tundra

Scene 2 (A) Escaping over the Tundra

Granite Lake is a town located in the northern portion of the Border Kingdoms, known as the Great Salt Marsh, which is a large foul smelling, fly infested, stagnate water filled bog hole. And Granite Lake sits just north of this bog of eternal stench. (Anyone able to guess that reference? 😉)

In the high summer months, the water levels are much lower, the flies are maggoty! And the temperatures are fairly high. In the fall and spring, these temperatures are much more comfortable, but drop off steeply in the evenings, and the flies are not so bad. Problem is, with the Fall rains and the spring melt, travelling over this marsh is full of bog holes and leg breakers. In the winter time, this area is cold, windy and unforgiving. Travelling in this area at this time of year can be one of two things. Really good.. or one hellish slog! But the frozen flat ground offers great access to just about anywhere in the area, but the open flat ground grounds provides little shelter from the harsh cold winds!

In this scenario, I planned it for a early spring. There is still some snow, although a little wet, lots of fresh bogs and muck. But its easy enough to change it to suit what ever time of year you want it to be.

Assuming that the players escaped with Attalus in the group. They are now fleeing from the battle at Granite Lake.

Read this to your Players

The smoke from the burning town behind you can be seen rising over the horizon, the sounds and screams of the dying village can barely be heard now, except if the wind blows the sound in the right direction. But it appears you have managed to avoid any barbarian patrols so far. But the going is tough as almost every 5 steps you are up to your knees in muck. 

GM TIP
To set the mood of tramping over this desolate land, have each player make a D2 Resistance check. Failure will result in 4 fatigue damage (no soak). If you succeed, any momentum used will reduce the fatigue by 1 point for every 2 momentum.

It is after this that the GM can assume they have been moving away from the town for some time. The players may decide to post a watchman, or keep an eye out to see if anyone is following them. The group can nominate a player to make an D2 Observation roll, with people assisting as they see fit. A success will cause the players to spot, what looks like to be a barbarian patrol in the far distance.

The GM can inform the players that they have roughly a 5 hour lead over the patrol if they choose to keep moving.

The party is going to be doggedly followed and tracked.

NPC's
Barbarian Hunters - Use Conan the Barbarian

This scene assumes that the group has just escaped out of the town and are now on the run.
The story has the group being captured after several days, but they can be captured much sooner if they get silly. Ultimately the group can be tracked down and caught by the hoard. Have the players select the lead character (high survival is best) , and ask him to make a D4 Survival Roll, anyone else can assist with their own survival skill. If a person passes this roll, they will managed to get a 6 Day lead on the horde. They can spend momentum on the roll, for 1 momentum = 1 extra day lead. If they fail the roll, they will be caught in 6 days, and for each dice that shows as a failure, subtract 1 day from that total of 6. This will be their head start that they have.

GM TIP:
A dash of railroading: To make this scenario work, the party will be captured. Which seems kinda unfair. I try very hard to allow the players to do as they want in my games, but as a GM to tell a story that is both fun for Player and GM there needs to be a small trip down the railway. To make it fair, although they can not stop being captured per say, they can effect when they are captured and what they do till then. But here is the kicker, during the roleplaying sessions at the camp and interacting with Attalus, they may decide to turn back towards the horde. Bypassing the plot point of being chased all together!

Now that the total number of days have been determined. Its time for the trek. Have a the leader of the group from above, make a D4 Survival Roll, others can help as usual. If they fail the roll, they loose a day's lead and if it reaches 0 they are captured. Also if failed, all players take 2 Fatigue. For every two momentum, you may lower the result on the below table by 1, for each dice that shows as a failure, increase it by 1. A complication, increase it by 2

Regardless if they pass or fail the roll, have them roll 1D20 and have them refer to the chart below (adding any of the modifiers).  This chart will be the progress of the current day, and any encounters they may have during it. Each day will technically be a new scene, so the group may recover from stress as per normal each night, unless otherwise noted.

Any fatigue not caused by sickness can be recovered, Difficulty equal to the number of days they are currently on. (Up to a Max of 5) by use of a survival role.

1. You manage to find a easy path to follow, gain 1 fortune point  (up to your max allowed) and are immune to any roll for fatigue in the next phase only.
2. You find a good place to camp, and may ignore 2CD worth of fatigue effects rolled on the next roll.  
3. You find an abandoned cabin, with meager supplies left as a cache. Find 1+1CD worth of Rations  
4.  You come across a survivor of the horde attack. A successful consul skill (D1) will reveal the horde searching for a stolen relic from a holy site.
5.  You discover a body of a fallen survivor, you find 1 provision, and 2 reloads of arrows and 1 short bow.
6.  You find a ruin of some sort. (Roll an the encounter table)
7.  You spy 2 Barbarian Hunters (Toughened) in the distance, have they seen you? Group Struggle!
8.  You start to feel ill, Each player may make a D2 Resistance roll, Failure is 1CD Fatigue
9.  (SICKNESS) You are both sick, tired and cold from the harsh country, each player takes 2 Fatigue
10.  You come across a old weather worn statue. One it are strange markings. You have seen markings like this before. On the relic
11.  You have an encounter in a large open field. (Roll on the encounter Table
12.  It seems like sickness is spreading in the group. All take 2CD worth of Fatigue
13.  (SICKNESS) Strange boils and welts appear on a PC. Randomly determine who is effected. That person receives 2 Fatigue from sickness 
14.  A sudden and unexpected snow shower strikes the group. All Physical related rolls are raised +1D roll an encounter, 
15. You encounter a group of 5 Hunters, they have ambushed you. They are considered to have completed an exploit action on the group.
16.  (SICKNESS). 3CD per player. You each suffer that much fatigue.
17.  You have an encounter near a rocky outcropping. (Roll an encounter)
18.  While in camp in the middle of the night, long tentacles reach out from the murky bog waters. 
19.  The going is tough and slow, Make a group survival roll at D3. Failure results in 2 Fatigue
20. (SICKNESS) You get totally bogged down in the muck and lose time! Loose a 1 day lead, gain 2 Fatigue, lose 1 fortune and suffer 4 points of Despair. Roll an encounter!

Encouter Table (1D6)

1 - 2 Large Toughened Bears
2 - You stumble across a old battle scene. 2 Mobs of Minion Skeletal warriors, and 2 Toughend rise up from the broken ground
3 - Slavers taking advantage of the displaced refuges from the horde attacks. 2 Slavers and a 4 Mobs of Minion Savages, They see you
4 - You hear the sound of Wolves. You encounter a pack of 3 Minion Wolf Mobs of 5 lead by 1 Alpha Wolf
5 - You are attacked by a Forest Devil.
6 - A broken stone circle sits on a crest of a hill and makes a great camp for you to rest inside. But living in this once holy place, a Malign Plant sits and waits!

When the days finally reach zero, this will result in the party ultimately being captured by the hoard. Which will be covered in our next segment.

Life, and a little bit of perspective.

Hey everyone,

Its been a while since I really posted any real new content on my blog, other then updates to my 2D20 Conan extension. And I wanted to keep this site active, as it seems in the last several months my viewership has increased, both on Twitch and on Twitter. With those numbers going up steadily, I want to make sure there is something here of note for my readers to follow.

The other thing, is dealing with the shutdown of the Google Plus pages. I have been struggling with the loss of G+, as I thought it fit my style of social media perfectly.  I recently moved my social media needs to MeWe, which is an OK site, but it doesn't quiet feel right, not yet anyways. I have been so busy with life in the last 6 months, to fully explore MeWe has been something I have not really had the chance to do. So I plan on getting back on track with that.

Life Status.

The end of 2018, ended on a real sad note for me in my personal life. Since my accident in 2016, I have been dealing with my recuperation of a totally shattered ankle, one large metal plate and a dozen or more surgical screws. Which effectively put my main hobby of Hiking/Climbing in a semi permanent state of hold. When one door closes, other doors open, so I spent a lot of my time focusing on my other Hobby, running RPGs.

2017 and 2018 saw a steady growth in my gaming. Starting with trimming the fat down in my online associations. When I had this done, I started to slowly build up a network of people who had actual similar interests in gaming, and gaming alone. Along the way I developed a really good friendship, with a person who I could count on for real solid advice, support and someone, who more importantly I could trust. Thanks @ionfarmer! I mean it! You are a real talent in the RPG world, and having you as a friend has been awesome!

Then in 2018 my gaming ramped up in a way I never could have thought was possible. Being a person, who can only game every 3 weeks due to my work, I was flooded with games in my time off. With 2 or 3 games every weekend, and asked to host other games through out the week. It was total madness and I loved it. I reveled in it! I put every ounce of my creative processes into it and I was telling more stories then I ever thought possible.

Overtime, and with some investments into online streaming, software, and other hardware in late 2018 I was about to really make a move into a whole other realm of  gaming. I was in my prime when it came to roleplaying. Everything had lined up perfectly.

And then disaster struck.

Late November, my wife's health which has been marginal since 2007 after a very serious car accident, took a turn for the worse. In mid - late December my best friend of 16 years, Jack, collapsed suddenly and passed away in my arms when he was brought low by a degenerative heart condition. For those who do not know, Jack was not a person, he was much more. He was my Dog. Jack was my outdoor companion, he hiked with me, he hunted with me, he went with me on rock climbing trips. Jack and I were inseparable. Jack was by my side, for more then 3 months as I recovered from my fall. Having him suddenly ripped away from my life, and the impact that had on myself and my already ailing wife was more then anyone of us have ever dealt with before.

So I shut down. Emergency re-set required. Cancelled all my remaining games for my time off, put away all my books, stopped writing. Just one total full stop!

When I got back from from work Mid January I decided it was time for my wife and I to take a short break away from it all. To get away from the pain and memories of the last several years. We decided to go on a trip.. in total, 13 days! Seeing I am only ever home for 21 days, this was a large chunk of my time. It was great. Warm waters, hot sands, and bright sun! It gave me a chance just to re adjust to the way things were going to be going forward. It allowed me to put things into perspective.

I got home from the trip with just 3 days to spare before having to head back to work for another 3 weeks, I am totally exhausted. By the time I do actually get a chance to run a game again it will be roughly 10 weeks since I last played anything. But I am excited about it.

I may have lost some momentum with a campaign I was running that was just short of a year in length when December struck. But that is OK, I am sure I will slowly build it up again.

Two systems this year I am really hyped with. 2D20 Conan and Coriolis. Man, I love those settings and I love those systems.

This year, I am going to be focusing on Coriolis a little bit more. And maybe run a campaign game for it. As the mechanics of the system is super slick, fast and very fun. Furious even! (A little dig towards you Savage's out there)

I am going to keep running the 2D20 Conan. But I am going to run it more on a game by game basis, which will allow me to run more Conan One Shot games and let me be more flexible in allowing players to jump in and out of the game.

My twitch channel is slowly getting more exposure too. Even with this recent setback of missing several weeks of gaming momentum. I am confident I will be able to get that back on track.  Having managed to receive some tips and advice from a real life audio studio recording professional, I am eager to put my new found skills to use and produce for everyone some super gaming content over the next year.

So stay tune, subscribe and buckle up for some great fun, original content and raucous behavior.

Best regards.

Jolly!

A Crown of Flame: A 2D20 Conan Adventure. Scene One

I have decided share one of my Conan 2D20 One Shots with all of you. Feel free to play it through, offer feedback good or bad. I tried to leave many of the details vague, to allow the user more flexibility to jimmy this into their current campaign. Feel free to change the locations to suit your needs. Bare in mind, that when I write my own adventures, the structure below is not even close to how I write it if it was just me. So this is my first attempt to write a structured adventure that is meant for others and not just me.

The thing I like the most about this 2D20 Conan system is the fact that this game is designed to play much like the stories written by Robert E Howard, which is episodic in nature. This allows GMs to get players quickly involved in a story. Each session is run as an individual episode and after several sessions, you can look back and see a series of short stories as if you were reading the Conan short stories that you had written yourself! Its a pretty cool feeling if you ask me.

A Crown of Flame

Somewhere in the northern portion of the Border Kingdoms near the border of Cimmeria in an area known as "The Great Salt Marsh" The player characters will find themselves in a small outpost community called Granite Lake which is under attack from a Cimmerian raiding party.

The starting scene opens as the village is under attack and the players are caught up in the life and death struggle from the raiding Barbarians!

During this time, Attalus,  a relic hunter who has been exploring the various ruins in the area approaches the players and ask them to help him escape from the village and head south towards Nemedia, protecting him and the strange but very important artifact which he found during a recent expedition of some old ruins found deep inside the great marsh. It needs to be studied and he offers a reward upon his return to safety.

After escaping from the village, the party finds themselves hounded and pursued day and night, by the very barbarians that attacked the village. The barbarian warlord that is leading this attack is in search of the very artifact that the Relic Hunter has "stolen"

This warlord is searching not just for the artifacts but for its rumored contents, a strange but powerful Lotus Powder which can give powerful visions to the user.

The problem being, is the artifact itself is made of a strange material, which causes a sickness to all those who touch or who is in close proximity to it over a period of time. And the cure to this malady can be found back at the ruins in which the artifact was found.

Do the players try and bring the item to the borders of Nemedia or do they try and solve the curse they find themselves under, and return to the ruins to find a cure?

 The landscape around this small village although beautiful in nature, is a desolate and brackish wetlands, with many bogs and  lots of open tundra. This small settlement of roughly 300 people makes a living of the lands collecting alchemist herbs and chemicals.  (Lowering the difficulty level for searching for ingredients by 1) Its main source of food is waterfowl and large game. (Caribou, Bear and Moose)

Read this to the players

In what would barely pass as a full fledged tavern in the more populated areas of the world, the old grey bearded individual, who introduced himself to you as Attalus, slams his mug down on the table and grins. "So we have a deal then! We shall leave here in two days and you will escort me to Belverus! Take that time, to gather what ever supplies you can from this damp and wretched town and we shall leave here the morning after next!"  He reaches under the table and draws a plain looking leather pouch "5 gold per person the day we leave, and 10 more each upon arrival" He shakes the pouch and you all can hear the clink of gold inside the bag.  

The players can then spend the rest of the day, shopping for equipment or gear. What every they want. Having all the rarities of equipment moved up by 2 difficulties, to the max of 5. Remember though, that all alchemist supplies are easier to find and are reduced down by 1 difficulty.   After what ever shopping and roleplaying the players do is done. Have them note down where all of their equipment is currently kept. Including any horses, carts or other forms of transportation is. (stables, etc) Thing to remember is if the players decide to carry all their gear on them at all times. Do not forget the encumbrance penalties. 

Read this to the players:

It is early the next morning, you are all awakened to a loud scream from outside of their current lodgings. "To Arms! To Arms! We are under attack!" The sound of trumpets are blaring, and the clashing of steel can be heard clearly from outside of the building. Sounds of impacts can be heard striking the outside of your lodgings. 

Doom Spend: Spend 3 doom, to force a player character to make a D2 dodge as a flaming arrow crashes through the window. Flamming Arrow: 2CD, Incendiary 2 , Persistence 2.  D2 to dodge.

Read this to the players:

The acrid smell of smoke stings your nostrils as you clamor outside carrying what ever belongings you could. The visual site is one full of chaos and death. Heavy fur cloaked beings are pouring through the town gates and into the square. The town militia are all but overwhelmed. Numerous fires are burning uncontrollably!  All around you, people are locked in mortal combat as they fight off the invaders. But your instincts tell you, that due to the swiftness and the ferocity of the attack, Granite Lake is already lost and the defenders just do not know it yet.

Give your players sometime to figure out what they are going to do. Their horses are still in the stables, and belongings could either still be back in the now burning inn or stored with their horses as well.

When the players decide to act. Read this to them.

 "Over here!!" You hear the yell over the din of combat! Looking across the small town square, you can see your current employer slumped up against a side of a small building. He seems to be holding his side with blood dripping through his fingers.

If the players decide to head over to Attalus, have them nominate a leader to lead the group over to him. After the person is nominated have him make a Group D2 Observation Skill Check. I would recommend not telling the players what skill is required till after a leader is picked. (of course, after finding out what skill is required, they can assist as normal) A failure of this roll will have the party come face to face with a group of savage warriors, hell bent on killing them. (The GM may then spend doom as per the normal rules at this point allow the hoard to attack first. Which I recommend)
If the party succeeds, they can spend momentum to reduce the over all total of the barbarians. Two Momentum per Berzerker. (Conan the Barbarian Source Book or Conan Core)

The party will face 4 Toughened Berserkers.

GM TIP

The GM at this point should really use as much doom as he can in the fight to really put the players on their heals. The town is lost and will soon be over run by the horde. Having this fight with the bersekers should install a sense of urgency to leave the town in all haste. There is a high chance that the berserkers will place a few wounds onto the players.

If the group decides not to head over Attalus, or takes to much time trying to make a decision. They will notice that Attalus has disappeared in the chaos, and they have drawn the attention of the attacking barbarians. They will end up facing 2 mobs of  5 Barbarian Minions (Use the default Savages Minions from the Core Book. But arm them with Battle Axes, Medium Shields and Short Spears)

If the players do decide to head to Attalus, (I used the stats for Kallian Publico from Conan The Thief Book, pg 83) But have his current Vigor marked down to 6 and his Resolve 4 to represents the his wounds.  After making their way over cross the street and facing the Berserkers. (Kallian is a Toughened NPC, with Max 12 Vigor, Max 8 Resolve and can take 2 wounds.

Read This
"By the gods! you must get me out of here" Attalus said, holding his side tightly, blood dripping from between his fingers. "If you get me out of here and to my destination ill throw in a purse full of gems!"  (Value of 50GP) He coughs weakly, blood spit out as he used his free arm to wipe his face.  "Quickly, we must hurry before we are discovered!"

It is now that the players have a choice to try and escape.

There could be several locations in the town that they decide to go, if they have their gear spread out. But to get to each location the group will need to make a D3 Group Observation Check (With people assisting if they want) to be able to navigate there way to each location. Or individual players can do a D3 Stealth check. But if you do a stealth check, no one can help you and you can not assist others. Any failure will result in running into 2 mobs of 5 savages (minions) for every complication, rolled. tack on one Berserker with the initiative.  Momentum and can be used to reduce the minions on a 1 for 1 basis, while two momentum will remove a Berserker.

GM TIP: Some suggestions on where the group can go.

Stables: to get their horses and travel gear. Or steal some horses perhaps?
Lodgings: If they needed to run back to their lodgings, if its not burned to the ground (GMs call)

If they lost sight of Attalus, they can go search for him. Same rules as above but is now a D4 Observation check. If they find him, he is currently being dragged off by a mob of 5 savages. Momentum to reduce the number of those savages is a 1 for 1 basis. And Attalus will also now have sustained 1 wound.

They will have time to check out one location before they will be ultimately surrounded and captured. They could split the party and try to get to multiple locations at once.

GM TIP: 

Stress to the players that time is running out. Stress that if they stay to long, they could very well become surrounded and captured. Use doom, to make them loose items, or throw barbarians at them.  

North or South Gates: To sneak out of the gates they will need to make a group stealth roll, as they are being watched by the hoard on the outside. Pick a leader to make the roll, others can assist as the GM see's fit. But if they get spotted, they get spotted by 2 Mobs of 5 Savages who are outside the gates
Jump the wall: Less people watching the walls. This is a D2 acrobatics check per person. Failing here, the person will fall and will suffer 3CD damage with stun.
GM TIP 

Doom or complications can be used to bring up a minion or two on the wall.. 

At any point, the group can surrender. Doing so will result in them being captured by the Horde. If they lost contact with Attalus already. They will end up being tied up with him and become the the barbarians prisoners.

Various Doom Spends/Complications
3 - A mob of 5 savages.
2 - A single berserker.
3 - A random flaming Arrow. (see above)
1 - A fleeing horse, D2 to dodge, 2CD with knockdown.
1 - A character drops an item.

If they escape the town with Attalus, they will begin the next stage of the adventure. If they did not escape with Attalus, they could attempt to rescue him. Maybe? who knows what the players will come up with!?

But all of that will be in scene 2.

Adventures In An Age Undreamed Of. My thoughts on writing adventures for 2D20 Conan.

Hi all,

So I have been playing 2D20 Conan by Modiphius pretty constantly since the books were first announced on the kickstarter. And I need to say, its been a wild ride.

Overall, I am very happy with the books, the rules and the feeling of satisfaction that I get when I write an adventure for my current group of R.E. Howard Conan players. First, let me clarify something with you all. I am not one of these self proclaimed R.E. Howard scholars who knows what he was thinking or, what he meant with his massive amount of  prolific writings. What I am though, is a fan of his ability to write separate, individual adventures, and tie them all together in a way that makes each story a part of a great overall setting and world.

And this is what I think makes story telling for 2D20 Conan different then many other RPGs out there.  The rules system in how it is written is designed to capture that same feeling of these individualized stories but then tied as a whole after. And it is after you have several of these games under your belt can you look back and see the great world you are adventuring in.

2D20 Conan is a great system to play with. But for the fans of light, baby biscuit rules systems, 2D20 is not for them. Its just not.  I am not going to pull any punches here, but if you are one of these people who shows up and plays in a few games expecting it to be just a hack and slash style games you are not going to really see what the hype is about. Then there are those people who moan and groan over the complexity of the rules, and their inability to really enjoy it. Sadly this system is not for them either.  I feel, that to get the most bang for your buck, a player needs to invest some time to learn the basic rules. But this is also its strongest aspect. If you have players who invest a small amount of time in learning the rules in how it relates to their characters then it pays dividends in the enjoyment of 2D20 Conan as a whole.

The stories told by REH of Conan and his adventures are unique in the way that he never (to my knowledge) wrote a novel about Conan, but independent short stories. You start to read a story about Conan, and its takes place in a setting, just moments away from when the action was going to take place. The daily hum drums of walking through the market, looking for things to buy was just not mentioned other then in afterthoughts by the characters of the story.

2D20 Conan is designed to work in a similar way as the stories told by REH. In such that each adventure for a campaign is setup to run in a episodic nature. Even the GMs toolkit is designed with just that in mind. You write the adventure with the intent of capturing the feeling of playing in a story written by REH. What the players are about to experience is a snap shot in time, usually moments away before the action takes place. The setup to the adventure is primarily left to the GM. He sets the stage, and the players act it out.

The design of 2D20, strongly encourages the use of episodic play similar to the story telling of REH. The very nature of the mechanics makes this happen. In games that are strung out (for lack of a better term) sessions end, XP is handed out and then the next session begins usually right where you left of. This is not the case with 2D20 Conan. In Conan, adventures are separated by "Life In Between Adventures" This is also the time the player characters heal. Ill go more into this later. Where your characters get trained, get rumors, get fame and re equipped. What many people do not fully appreciate , this time period could be considered days, weeks and or months long. It is not the next morning. In 2D20 Conan, you can get yourself wounded during an adventure. And you can get yourself healed, but its only a temp fix. Until you character is given the proper time to heal during the between phases, any wounds your receive can potentially come back and bite you, and bite you hard.

Unlike most RPGs where you get wounded, you can not just drink a healing potion and get back into the action. Wounds in Conan are only patched up, until you get a chance heal properly. Essentially, if in a game session, you get your self wounded, you start to face negative modifiers. In the short term, you can get your self patched up again. BUT if you  take a wound again, you open up all previous wounds. The only way to get rid of the chance of these wounds re opening is healing during your down time. This adds to a very gritty nature of life in REH's Hyborea. Essentially, if you go out and get the crap kicked out of you on day one, then its in your best interests to take a few days off and heal up before getting right back into the thick of things.

It is also during this downtime that the player characters still have some adventures, but its not in the forefront at the gaming table.  This provides ample material to develop the characters back story and to give you the feeling that even when not fighting evil sorcerers, the characters are still living a life full of fun and adventure. Not only does this provide a chance for players to develop their characters on a personal level, but it allows GMs to use this information to develop their next adventure and to help capture that feel of a "new episode" for the player's enjoyment.

To help capture the feel of playing in one of REH's adventures. The GM should use the information provided by in between phase as potential story elements in his adventure. For example, in one of my recent sessions, a scrawny character managed to get caught up in a brief but torrent love affair with a noble, only to have it ended when she was spirited away. It was a story that was formed based on the outcome of the in between stages. Just background fluff he wrote to help give his character a sense of invested interest. Now, taking that information, I designed a scenario where a person matching the description of his love interest was about to be executed in the public square. The player suddenly found that his character's background story was front and center in that weeks current episode. Of course, there was a twist in typical REH fashion at the end which I was very proud of, much to the chagrin of my players.

So, when you take bits and pieces of every characters in between adventures you can really develop a episodic feeling in your sessions which mimic very well the spirit of REH and his writings.

This allows a GM to start off the adventure essentially any where he or she wants, and it doesn't have to follow some procession from the last weeks game. You were is the capital of Argos one session, the next you could be up to your knees in stagnate swamp water in the jungles of the back coast the next. But to tie the adventures together, you use the information provided in the In Between stage to get you to that point.

And this is what I mean when I say that 2D20 Conan is different when it comes to other sword and sorcery systems. 2D20 Conan is not just a system to play sword and sorcery, its a system to allow you to "capture" the feel of playing in REH's stories of high adventure.  And it captures this feeling of being played in an episodic nature very well.

I strongly feel, that a group will short change themselves on that feeling, if the GM and the Players do not utilize the "Life in between" portion of the rules. It really is a very important tool to capture that feeling.

In my design phase of writing my adventures for my group I try very hard to capture that feeling of being in an actual story in REH's world.  And I would like to think that I do that, but you will have to ask my players that one.

My closing statement is this..

If you just want to play a sword and sorcery game, then maybe 2D20 Conan is not for you. But if you want to play in a game that captures the feeling of being in a story written in the fashion of REH, then this is indeed for you. Do not design your adventures as long strung out stories, but design each session to be a short individual adventure to be experienced by your player's characters at a specific point.

Use the "life in between" portion to fill in the gaps. When you do this, and run a few games with a steady group, when you look back.. your story is going to consist of snap shots in time that captures the high (or low) points of the characters, with all the gaps filled in, and you make a great story filled with lore, laughs, and most importantly adventure that you can look back on.


Regards

 Jolly

Writing, Bullet Journals and Summer Campaign

Hi all,

I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend! I know I sure did, from Thursday evening till Tuesday morning I did very little other then play in a session 0 game of  Castle and Crusades game hosted by  +Perry Chalmers from My Own Little World. My first time ever to play using that system, and a very long time since I played anything OSR based. It was a blast to try it out, and I look forward to playing it again in the future!

Other then that, I spent nearly my whole time off, writing. Something I have not really been able to do in the last several months; I have been to busy hosting games! Essentially really since last spring, Almost a full year of weekly games! Madness I tell you!

I am going to share something about me, something which I have been dealing with since a very young age. I will be the first to say this, my writing, even on this blog is full of errors, typos, poor grammar and punctuation. This is due to dyslexia. I am not ashamed of having it, nor do I care if people know I have it. But being someone who always enjoyed telling stories it has always been something I have been struggling with. Its been holding me back from doing something I always wanted to do, write adventure modules for some well established gaming publisher. That's the dream anyways.

It is a well known fact, that I am big on three main genre's; Hard Sci Fi Horror, Weird Wars Horror and Sword and Sorcery Fantasy. And it is also a well known fact that I also dove into the deep end when +Modiphius announced its Conan Kickstarter a while back. So, starting last spring in order to shake the rust of my S&S gaming. I started to run a long series of contained One Shot games of Beasts and Barbarians (For Savage Worlds) until a more solid version of the Conan Rules game out. Basically what I was doing, was testing out a few of my ideas in the setting. I had a lot of fun.

Anyways, about 3 weeks ago; although I have been writing a bucket load of one shot adventures for several different systems. I realized that I have not really sat down and taken the time to organize a long standing campaign adventure. In fact, its been years since I really broke out my journal and started writing.

I needed away to start to capture everything I was thinking and doing. When I dragged my old journals out of storage and started to look at them, I realized that I am the most disorganized (and reminded once again of my Dyslexia) person in the world. Pouring through my books I used when I was in high school everything was jumbled and a mess. Which just re-enforced my fear of not being able to write. I am much better at telling stories then I am writing them down.

Just recently, I hosted a #coriolis One Shot for #fg-con and, I had received several requests if I could send my story notes to individuals, as they would like to run that adventure in their group. As much as I wanted too, when I looked at my notes, I realized again, that my story notes are a complete mess, a series of paragraphs, with lines drawn to other paragraphs with no sense of structure, symbols scattered every where. Nothing but a blob of written characters. Even if I did send it, it would make no sense to anyone. This made me realize two things; I need to get better at recording my ideas, and that maybe some people would actually like to use my adventures in their own games. But I need to find a way to over come this dyslexia which I have had for many many years.

Then I stumbled across +Victor Diaz and his community page called Bullet Journal for GMs The concept of the Bullet Journals intrigued me, and after having a in-depth conversation with +Daniel McLaughlin about it, and having it explained to me how it works, I realized that this could be very well what I have been looking for. Basically the way its designed to work; feeds directly into a structure that my dyslexia understands. Its in bullet form, it uses symbols and it allows me to write everything down in a way that I can go back and read it later and it actually makes sense! So I spent most of last week learning about Bullet Journals, I started three separate logs, one for writing adventures, one for chronicling games, and one for use at my work.

Using this technique I sat down and wrote. I wrote for several hours, and the Bullet Journal allowed my brain to stay engaged with my ideas instead of getting totally frustrated. I wrote everyday I was off over the holiday, and I am loving it! I feel like now, with help from my editor. Yes, I actually do have an editor lined up. I am hoping to attempt submitting my writing in the coming months!

I have loved GM'ing games for years, but I could never share my ideas with others outside of the players in my games. Hence why I enjoy broadcasting my games on YouTube and Twitch. It allows me to share my ideas with more then just my players, but with those who listen to my games.

So, what I am going to work on. Well, I am in the process of "writing" an actual campaign set in Hyborea which I plan to run during this Spring/Summer! Ill make an announcement when I start looking for players, but its going to be a small group.. most likely 3 players, and definitely no more then 4. But I am really looking forward to this.. Its gonna be epic!