Modiphius Conan x2

In July 2019 we presented two all-new offers featuring the Modiphius Entertainment 2d20 RPG based on the legendary sword-and-sorcery creations of pulp master Robert E. Howard, Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of. Our Conan Essentials Bundle had the core rulebook and key supplements. Its companion offer, the Conan Hyborian Ways Bundle, added sourcebooks and scenarios that let you follow in Conan’s footsteps.

Among the foundational works of sword-and-sorcery fantasy, Howard’s Conan stories are set in a time lost to history: the Hyborian Age, a colorful era of antiquity and renewal, beauty and brutality. Kingdoms rise amid the remains of bygone lands swept away in cataclysmic upheaval. Forgotten magic lurks in the ruins of lost cities, to be conjured by the daring or the unwary at the price of their souls. Gods have flourished and been forgotten, but in the outer dark lurk cosmic horrors, evil beyond comprehension. Humanity has crawled back from savagery time and again, only to sweep away its effete civilizations in tides of blood — for barbarism is the natural state of mankind. In this decadent and violent world, adventurers seek fortune on blood-soaked battlefields and sail untamed seas to lands where no human has walked. They fight for the fate of civilization — or barbarism — on a savage frontier.

Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of was funded in a February 2016 Kickstarter, the most popular Modiphius campaign to date (4,352 backers, £436,755). It’s based entirely on Howard’s canonical stories, vetted by respected Howard authorities, and illustrated by renowned Conan artists. Conan uses the Modiphius 2d20 system (Mutant Chronicles 3E, Infinity, John Carter Warlord of Mars, Star Trek Adventures). In task resolution you roll two d20s, aiming to roll as low as possible on each die; low rolls score successes. Tasks require a specified number of successes, and extra successes become Momentum, which you can spend for advantageous effects. Characters can push their luck, rolling extra d20s to boost their chances of success and the Momentum they generate. However, each extra d20 comes from the character’s resources, such as stocks of arrows — or it adds to a pool of Doom that represents all the things that can go wrong in an adventure. The GM can spend Doom to complicate adventures and make the characters’ lives interesting.

1. CONAN ESSENTIALS

There were three titles in this offer’s Starter Collection (retail value $38) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks, including the complete Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of core rulebook (retail price $25), the Conan GM Screen and Gamemaster Toolkit, and the Conan Map Bundle.

Those who paid more than this offer’s threshold (average) price also got this offer’s entire Bonus Collection with four more supplements worth an additional $58, including the location sourcebook Ancient Ruins & Cursed Cities; the sorcerous treatise The Book of Skelos; the Horrors of the Hyborian Age bestiary; and Nameless Cults.

2. CONAN HYBORIAN WAYS

The supplements in this companion collection detailed the Hyborian world and presented different styles of play from the phases of Conan’s saga: Thief, Barbarian, Mercenary, Pirate, and the newly published Brigand. (Still ahead on the Modiphius schedule, at the time of this offer: Scout and King.)

There were three titles in this offer’s Starter Collection (retail value $38), including Conan the Barbarian (a location sourcebook for the northern kingdoms), Conan the Thief (a campaign framework), and the adventure collection Jeweled Thrones of the Earth. This offer’s Bonus Collection added three more campaign sourcebooks worth an additional $45, including Conan the Brigand, Conan the Pirate, and Conan the Mercenary.

Ten percent of each payment (after gateway fees) for these two Conan offers was donated to the charity chosen by Chris Birch of Modiphius Entertainment, Vision Rescue. Chris says, “Our goal is to raise US$20,000 for a Vision Rescue Bus, one of the projects the charity uses to help combat child slavery in India.”