Gameable Media: Savage Sword of Conan #1

I've had the good fortune to stumble upon the treasure trove that is Savage Sword of Conan. I used to read a lot of comics about a decade ago, but I mostly read modern books by Vertigo, Image, and Dark Horse, with the occaisional, exceptional super hero story. This was about 5 years before I got into TTRPGS, and had made an unfortunate judgement call about Conan the Barbarian before ever consuming any related media; muscled, half naked men with swords just seemed lame, and proper fantasy was about sprawling epics.

I fucked up.

This stuff is great. Too often does fantasy inspire me to add to my precious setting, but Conan inspires me to write gameable content.

 I'm going to attempt to read every issue of Savage Sword of Conan, and with each issue, I'll give my opinion on whether I found a story to be: 

• an enjoyable or worthwhile read
• having evocative or particularly outstanding panels of art
• inspiring for designing an adventure, dungeon, or encounter (this will be cetner-aligned for folks who just want to scan for some quick ideas)

Without further ado, my review of Savage Sword of Conan #1

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Right off the bat, this issue knocks it out of the park. The cover with Conan and Red Sonja slaying skeletons is great

Curse of the Undead Man

An adaptation of Robert E. Howard's Mistress of Death, with art by John Buscema

This story is fucking great. Go read it now. Descriptions of the art and what to steal will give away too much.

The art is top knotch. The backgrounds evoke the seediness of the setting. It's both full of a variety of background characters and cramped architecture, furthering the feeling of danger with the decadent city. The characters are well drawn and dynamic, and shadow is used very effectively. If I had to make a criticism, Buscema's closeups are inconsistent. But given the breakneck pace which old comics were drawn, this is an absolute non issue. 

If you need art to inspire your descriptions for the rough underbelly of a decadent city, or imagery of a cultic ritual chamber, give this story a scan.

As for gameable content, this story is the quintessential adventure. An attack by thugs which seeds further mystery, the party organizing in a tavern before venturing out to stop some cultists, and a solid twist which can give DMs nice opportunity for a brief recurring bad guy. Naturally, your players are unlikely to ditch a potentially valuable ring out of superstition like Conan does, so some creativity is required. Sometime after finding Costranno's body with the missing finger, I would have the players hear a rumor about someone found murdered who was trying to sell a ring attached to a finger.

Furthermore, I love the set of the final encounter. Making dynamic rooms is always a great idea, and I would just rip this room as is and put it in a dungeon. A pit with a monster is a great hazard for players to try and interact with, and the mechanism for lowering the cover is something for the less combat capable characters to interact with.

Red Sonja

I'll be much briefer with this one. The story is fine and the art definitely succeeds at presenting an oppulent palace for a decadent despot. If you like scantally drawn women, and pulp that's closer to exploitation then you'll get a kick out of it.

What I'd rip from this are the characters. King Ghannif and his albino bodyguard Trolus make for a dynamic pair. I would make the king a good source of questing opportunity, and possibly a liege for high level play. He should get on their nerves and be a bit despicable, but powerful and materially beneficial to the players. Trolus is where you maintain the sympathy. He should be capable, respectable, and likeable, enough so that his allegiance to the king makes players more likely to ally. He's the adventurer that survived some dangerous delves and military campaigns, and was smart enough to retire early into a luxurious life instead of carving his own domain.

Blackmark

If you want some inspiration for a post-apocalyptic fantasy or a sword & planet locale, this story is worth a read. It's not a full comic; more of a comic, short story hybrid. A couple of panels depict interesting environments and some unique armor design. I also like the weird mutant horse.

The Frost Giant's Daughter

Another Robert E. Howard adapatation, with art by Barry Smith.

I had a feeling that the adaptations are going to be the strongest of the stories, but this was my least favorite of the issue. While it isn't near the level of Curse of the Undead Man, it was enjoyable enough that reading it wasn't the slog that some stories in later issues are. My main complaint is the fight with the giants is a non-scene. Conan had just been in a battle, then trekked for miles through a cold vastness, and proceeds to easily cut down two giants on the same page that they ambush him. However, the strangeness of the ending sort of saves the story. 

The art seems to improve as the story progresses, with the backgrounds becoming more than just empty arctic wastes as the pages turn. It isn't nearly as dynamic as Buscema's art, but it doesn't detract from the story.

I would just straight up steal this story and use it as a wilderness encounter. After the party emerges victorious from a battle, I'd have the daughter approach the heroes and goad them to give chase, maybe saying she's been watching the bandits/orcs/etc... that the party just defeated and knows where they stash their treasure, and then proceeds to lead them into an ambush (she had been planning to lure those you just killed until your party showed up).

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On the whole, I think you should at least check out this issue, if only for the first story.

5e Features as Magical Weapons and Items - Fighter

Fighter

Heartseeker - A weapon that would rather kill than wound. It scores a critical on attack rolls of 19 & 20. (Improved Critical)

Ring of Swiftness - This ring is forged from a mercury alloy, and bestows greater speed and reaction time to its wearer. While worn on the right hand, it allows it's wearer to act more swiftly; they can take another action when they choose, which is resolved at the end of a round. This ability is lost until the ring is worn for one hour on the left hand. (Action Surge)

Amulet of the Still Wind - An ancient talisman bestowed with the Wind of Peace. Once per day during combat, when the wearer forgoes attacking and moving, they recover 1d12 hit points. (2nd Wind)

5e Features as Magical Weapons and Items - Cleric

Shield of the Sun - This shield stores sunlight and releases it an a bright flash when the bearer is in danger. When the shield is charged, the bearer can force a reroll on a successful attack made within 10 feet. (Warding Flare)

Chromatic Staff - A stave carved from the wood of the world tree; it is imbued with the chaos of uncreation. At dawn, it's bearer can meditate on one of the forces of nature, and attune it to heat, cold, or lightning. Instead of bludgeoning damage, the staff deals damage of the attuned type. (Divine Strike: Nature)

Lightning Chain - This chainmail crackles with static electricity. When struck by a metal weapon, the bearer can release the stored charge into the attacker, dealing 2d6 lightning damage. (Wrath of the Storm)

Mace of Sympathy - A mace made entirely of metal, yet incredibly light. Some legends claim that these maces were forged from the Caduceus. When casting healing spell while bearing the mace, the user is healed a number of hit points equal to the spell's level (Blessed Healer)

Relic of the Conqueror - A finger bone from Ihdon, Lord of War. After spending ten minutes in prayer holding the relic, you receive Ihdon's boon. For the next two hours, you can invoke the boon to add +10 to an attack roll of you or your allies. Each time you invoke Ihdon, it has half the chance of succeeding as the previous invocation. (War God's Blessing)

Gravedigger's Lantern - The light from this bullseye lantern is not for the living. Shining it on a creature draws it closer to death. The next attack that strikes the target deals twice the amount of damage. Once the lantern is opened and the light is shone, it loses this property until it is left for one hour under moonlight. (Eye's of the Grave)

Codex Benedictum - The blessed book of knowledge has literally countless pages. If you spend 10 minutes searching through the pages, there is a 3-in-6 chance of finding information on whatever topic you are currently trying to find. (Knowledge of the Ages)

Diplomacy and Collaberative Worldbuilding

Matt Colville's video on Diplomacy inspired what has been my favorite DMing endeavor: using a game of Diplomacy with your players to create the history of the setting.

First, pick a map to play. I recommend playing on VDiplomacy.com as they have a large variety of maps to play supporting 2 players up to 50. I chose Sail Ho II, seen below.

Next, assign characters or races to the factions. For our game: West was Dragons, North was 'Gods', East was Amazonians, South was Giants. If you wanted to go for a smaller fantasy dynamic, you could go Orcs, Elves, Dwarves, and Humans, or any other creatures/races/factions that you want to establish as players in the steady-state world. 

Once you've assigned the factions, start playing. I highly recommend playing in character. Our game had some gems like: 

When the game is over, you'll have a map showing the different factions, and their regions and control, as well as several still neutral regions that can represent the frontier.

And voila! You now have a world map with a history your players are interested in because they made the history! You may even find that players make characters allied to the faction they played as, creating an awesome opportunity for drama.

And for extra credit, you can do what I'm about to do in my next series of post: track all of the units year by year and make them into NPCs or characters from ancient myth and legend, depending on when you set the campaign in relation to the war.

5e Features as Magical Weapons and Items - Bard

I quickly burned out trying to post daily. I'm gonna aim for weekly.

Part two of this series:

Bard

[Instrument] of the Bard - Playing this instrument lifts the spirits of your allies. Once per combat, you can play a melody instead of attacking. Any ally who can hear the music gains d6 to their next attack roll. [Bardic Inspiration]

Cymbals of Distraction - When these finger cymbals collide, they produce the sound of full crash cymbals. Once per combat, when they are in your hand,  instead of attacking you can crash the symbols together to distract an enemy combatant as they attack an ally. When you do so, subtract d6 from their attack rolls. [Cutting Words]

War Drum - Beat terror into the hearts of your foes. When combat begins, you can begin playing the War Drum and forgo attacking. In doing this, each of your allies can roll a d6 and add to the damage of one of their attacks. Additionally, enemy Morale rolls are increased by your Charisma Modifier. [Combat Inspiration]

B/X - Thief Skils for Everyone

Recently, I've been reading the rules for Lamentations of the Flame Princess, and I'm quite enamored with the Specialist class (Raggi's version of the Thief). Instead of using the standard table, the system gives you 1-in-6 chance to succeed on any of your skills (Hear Noise, Move Silently, Hide in Shadows, etc...) and 4 points to increase the 'pips' on those skills. So, from the beginning, you get some say in what you specialize in, rather than just being a thief. Each level thereafter, you gain 2 more points to increase your odds of success.

One grievance about the Thief I've heard voiced by grognards and zoomers alike is that the Thiefs existence codifies these skills as only being accomplish-able by that class (some think the class and skills are pointless altogether). Later editions 'fixed' this by broadening the skill system for all classes and just giving Thieves/Rogues more skill points. However, I think I have a solution that empowers all characters without stepping on the Thief's toes.

Start with the B/X Thief Skills (Climb Surfaces, Find/Remove Traps, Hear Noise, Hide in Shadows, Move Silently, Open Locks, Pick Pockets) and some general mechanics (Searching, Find Food/Hunting). Every character has a 1-in-12 chance of success provided they have the right equipment (e.g. lockpicks) or their armor doesn't inhibit their chances (Climbing or Moving Silently in Plate Armor).

Now, instead of allocating all your experience towards leveling up, characters can put some toward these skills. By 'spending' 600 experience (half the exp needed to level up a Thief), you can increase your skills by 4 pips. For instance, you could put all 4 into Climb surfaces, for a 5-12 chance of success, or putting 1 pip in four different skills for 2-in-12 chance of success. Spend another 1200 experience for 4 more pips, 2400 for 4 more, etc... If a skill reaches 12-in-12, instead roll 2d6; rolling two 6s is a failure.

As for Thieves, you could keep them as they are with their Roll-Under percentile table, or you could adopt the LotFP specialist rules and keep the skill mechanics universal, regardless of class.

5e Features as Magical Weapons and Items - Barbarian

The lack of powers/features/feats available to characters can be quite a jarring difference between modern and old school play. To try and bridge that gap, it occurred to me to create magic weapons and items out of the many features that from 5e that can be used in B/X.

Barbarian

Axe of Bloodlust - Once per turn, an attack that doesn't hit may be re-rolled. In the round this is used, one missed attack against the wielder may also be re-rolled. [Reckless Attack]

Black Cap Mushroms - Eating one causes the character to enter into frenzy where pain isn't felt and their adrenaline is pumping. For one turn, attacks do +1 damage and damage received is reduced by 1. Eating more than one in a day causes a character to fall unconscious for 4d6 hours. [Rage]

Boots of Leaping - When activated, you have a flying speed equal to half your speed. This benefit works only in short bursts: you fall if you end a round in the air and nothing else is holding you aloft. Usable once per day. [Totemic Attunement: Eagle]

Sandstorm Hourglass - When you place this hourglass with the filled side up, a sandstorm engulfs the immediate area. In a 10 foot radius, boiling-hot sand whips around the glass, dealing d3 damage to anyone who enters or begins in that area.

Undying Amulet - When a character wearing the amulet is reduced to 0 HP, the amulet shatters, and the character is left with 1 hit point. [Rage Beyond Death]

Brutal Weapon - Critical hits made with a brutal weapon deal three dice of damage, instead of two. Costs ten times the amount of a regular weapon to purchase from a master smith.

Totem's - I'm too lazy to write them all out, but all the Aspects of the Beast make great magic items.

Next installment will feature Bard-y items