Robert E Howard Conan Reviews

This page serves to consolidate the reviews of Conan short stories by Robert E. Howard that I am slowly working through.

Gods of the North & Tower of the Elephant 

Rogues in the House

Black Colossus

Queen of the Black Coast

En5ider Reactions Issues 12-14

Issue 12 of En5ider is titled Fantastic Times & Librams, by Russ Morrissey. A d100 list of titles of books, with authors, physical description and an optional rarity, price, and page count. I really love this article because I love books and it provides an easy way to include mundane books in adventures as loot or flavor. Not much else to the article than this, but the books are creative.

Image is property of ENWorld Publishing

Fire of the Mind, in Issue 13, is by James Abendroth. 

I am including a content warning for discussions of trauma and mental disorders for this discussion of the article.

This article discusses real world mental disorders and their potential applications for a 5e game. The discussion is generally understanding and treats those who suffer from these disorders in the real world with respect. However, I personally don't see a great need to gamify elements of mental disorders. The proposed player options mostly focus on roleplaying (like most mental effects in 5e). There are some mechanical suggestions for penalties or impacted skills, which could be used if you are playing with the optional sanity mechanics for 5e. However, I largely don't see a need to have player characters use this type of material in the 5e system. The GM advise is slightly more helpful in providing options of how to incorporate some of the behaviors descripted into their adventures through NPCs. Some care is needed to make sure to be sensitive in the course of gameplay though. Overall, it doesn’t break much new ground and it’s not likely that I’ll personally use this particular article.

Issue 14 is Strands of Life, by Giltônio Santos is an interesting article. It reminds me of the style and tone of articles I've seen in old issues of Dragon Magazine. The article includes a brief discussion of different classes capable of healing in 5e. Then various strategies of healing or preserving allies hit points are outlined. These are quite interesting. This includes a brief discussion of damage mitigation spells, direct healing, and noting that gradual healing spells are lacking in 5e compared to previous editions. Then it proceeds to address this and the gaps in healing capabilities in 5e. These spells aren't all worth including in your game, but I might test a few out with the Life Cleric in my current Ptolus campaign.

Ptolus Campaign: Shurnas’ Diary

This lore book was written for my Ptolus campaign. It was found in the lair of a cultist who murdered a colleague of his who also worked at the Imperial University as a lecturer.

Shurnas’s Diary

This small notebook contains scribbles and doodles of the symbol of the Ebon Hand and the Tolling Bell. It contains entries by date. Some discuss Shurnas’ visits to the Temple of the Ebon Hand, including a garbled description of a “maze of confusion” where he found the way guided by “faith in the Ebon Hand, until he obtained its blessing.” It is unclear what this references. 

It speaks further of hearing the true word from someone called "Wuntad," and the word sounding like "the call of the Tolling Bell, signaling the passing away of this realm and the rise of the Galchutt."

Other entries complain about work and colleagues, with particular ire for someone named Uvalius. The entire grow darker in their imaginings off various modes of Uvalius' death. The most recent entry simply states "The job is finally finished," with a large stylized bell.

Addendum to EN5ider Issue 3 Reactions

Several months ago I examined the first four issues of EN5ider, ENWorld’s long running Patreon magazine for 5e D&D. In my Empire of the Ghouls campaign, I finally had a chance to use issue three, which provided a framework to run an archery contest. I reskinned it as an axe-throwing contest during a beer fest for the goddess Ninkash in the Ironcrag dwarven canton of Gunnacks. It went phenomenally.

The players enjoyed the flavor I added through describing the contest, and of course got a laugh out of the constant rounds of beer the dwarves served (“We get to day drink and throw axes?”) I also threw in a churlish rival—the cousin of an ally NPC they’d met upon arriving in town. There was never any threat of violence, but it added dramatic tension as they advanced through the contest. I will note that I chose the region column on the table and it did seem like a lot of rounds to get to the finals, particularly when they get three shots a round to attempt to score three points and advance. They both were eliminated in the sweet sixteen round, but made a good lucky run of it. It did seem like if I hadn’t added the fun descriptive elements and if my players weren’t as engaged that it could have fallen flat though.

On the broader topic of festivals in games, I really enjoyed this first foray. I think it’s a cool idea to have some interesting mini games that riff on core mechanics which the players can choose to engage with or note. Describing the event can add flavor and world building (for instance, I had them attend a banquet in the temple of Ninkash the night prior. As a goddess of hospitality, they were given free room and board there. Lumbering keg golems moved around the tables, providing beer to them and their dwarven hosts).

Reading Gods of the North & Tower of the Elephant

Artwork from the Marvel Comic's adaptation of Tower of the Elephant. 

The first Conan story by Robert E. Howard I ever read was the Tower of the Elephant, based upon Matt Colville mentioning it in a video. That was an early influence as I first started playing RPGs, but I think that short story would be highly recognizable to any player. Reading these stories helps show the influences that resulted in our current games and media, and perhaps some themes, ideas, and atmosphere that we reinject to change up our games (what’s old is new again). Mild spoilers follow...

The set up of this scenario is certainly seen in how most D&D campaigns and quests are framed. It begins in a tavern or gathering place in an interesting city. Exposition identifying a fantastic location (in this case the mysterious tower) is provided. A hero has an initial fight, which demonstrates his cunning and strength. He even falls in with another adventurer who is doomed to an untimely death--though it could just as easily been Conan! The twists and the turns show me that you can set up a treasure of MacGuffin hunt, and still be flexible and offer some agency to player characters who may change the adventure (as when Conan mercy-kills the tower's sad prisoner, then follows its desires to destroy the tower and the evil mage who rules it).

The Gods of the North struck me with how similar it seems to some of the ideas I had long prior to reading it in the game I had with a single player (the saga of Hurkaz the mighty). Conan essentially is running through a similar land of cold and ice, and finds himself face to face with fantastic foes. I especially loved the descriptions of the frost giants. I think their description is certainly part of how our own frost giants developed.

Looking forward to chewing further through the collected stories of Conan and considering how they have impacted both our fantasy stories, and our fantasy roleplaying games.