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Post by jeffb on Oct 6, 2022 19:49:55 GMT -6
*Link Deleted*
Based on the old 80s Conan game from TSR.
I'm not familiar with that game, I 'll have to put this on my BDay Wishlist for Amazon.
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Post by tdenmark on Oct 6, 2022 20:07:41 GMT -6
I couldn't get that link to work, but I did find this:
*Link Deleted*
Looks like it uses his ZEFRS system, which I'm not very familiar with.
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Post by jeffb on Oct 6, 2022 20:19:56 GMT -6
Yep thats it. I C&P'ed the link from a post on MeWe, not sure what happened. I'll try to fix. Thanks!
And I'm not familiar either.
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Post by Finarvyn on Oct 7, 2022 4:35:01 GMT -6
I have a copy of the original Conan RPG by TSR. Been a while since I played it, but I think it was all skill-based and without classes at all.
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Post by rredmond on Oct 7, 2022 6:53:15 GMT -6
I remember Conan being all percentile based, right? But I read through the ZEFRS stuff a bajillion years ago. You can get it still for free here: sites.google.com/site/zefrsrpg/Also ravenheart87 resurrected a Conan/ZEFRS thread, because of this very book, here: Recently a game called Savage Swords & Sorcery surfaced on Amazon. It is written by Zeb Cook and uses ZeFRS as its core. Is there anyone who read it and can tell us if it's worth having? |
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Post by tdenmark on Oct 7, 2022 12:54:17 GMT -6
Reminds me of how TSR was embarrassed by D&D's class and levels system and kept trying to design skill based RPG's that always flopped, regardless of how good they were. Not understanding that D&D was the best RPG and classes and levels are the best mechanic. TSR's Conan was an interesting experiment but I recall being disappointed by it and no one else was interested in playing it when we could just roll up a Barbarian in D&D and play.
My evaluation of TSR's Conan is probably different now if I were to read and try to play it again.
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Post by Mordorandor on Oct 7, 2022 13:43:59 GMT -6
I remember Conan being all percentile based, right? Same with the Indiana Jones game they made around about that time too, no? I remember the percentile craze. |
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Post by jamesmishler on Oct 7, 2022 20:38:40 GMT -6
Hey everyone, I just contacted Zeb Cook and he says this is just another unauthorized edition of the Conan system, and that he has no relation to it whatsoever. Whoever is publishing this is doing so using Zeb's name as author and publisher without permission.
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Post by rredmond on Oct 8, 2022 6:03:46 GMT -6
That’s a bizarre turn of events.
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Post by jeffb on Oct 8, 2022 7:25:49 GMT -6
Hey everyone, I just contacted Zeb Cook and he says this is just another unauthorized edition of the Conan system, and that he has no relation to it whatsoever. Whoever is publishing this is doing so using Zeb's name as author and publisher without permission. What the ...? Screw that...un-wish-listed. Thanks for the FYI, James. |
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Post by jeffb on Oct 8, 2022 7:42:17 GMT -6
Reminds me of how TSR was embarrassed by D&D's class and levels system and kept trying to design skill based RPG's that always flopped, regardless of how good they were. Not understanding that D&D was the best RPG and classes and levels are the best mechanic. If all your gaming revolves around the shoot, loot, and scoot D&D mentality, then I would agree they got it right with classes and levels. However, not all RPGS are played with the same mentality/intention as D&D and class/level systems are a poor choice. I think that was the reason you saw TS, SF, GB, and other TSR games going with a class/level-less D100/D10 system- of course many others as well outside of TSR. Additionally it's much cheaper for the business to throw in a pair of D100 (or D6) than it is a set of 5+ dice, and easier for new players with no RPG experience to grasp the concept of percentages (or the very familiar throw of 1 or 2d6 from the boardgames people grow up with). |
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Post by tdenmark on Oct 8, 2022 12:46:20 GMT -6
Reminds me of how TSR was embarrassed by D&D's class and levels system and kept trying to design skill based RPG's that always flopped, regardless of how good they were. Not understanding that D&D was the best RPG and classes and levels are the best mechanic. If all your gaming revolves around the shoot, loot, and scoot D&D mentality, then I would agree they got it right with classes and levels. However, not all RPGS are played with the same mentality/intention as D&D and class/level systems are a poor choice. I think that was the reason you saw TS, SF, GB, and other TSR games going with a class/level-less D100/D10 system- of course many others as well outside of TSR. Additionally it's much cheaper for the business to throw in a pair of D100 (or D6) than it is a set of 5+ dice, and easier for new players with no RPG experience to grasp the concept of percentages (or the very familiar throw of 1 or 2d6 from the boardgames people grow up with). There are only two games systems: D&D and Call of Cthulhu. All RPG's are just variations of those two games. I'm not suggesting there is no merit to skill based games or percentile dice. I think a lot about TSR's bankruptcy and how they mismanaged their core business by constantly publishing competitors to D&D. Imagine Microsoft creating competing operating systems to Windows or Apple making iPhone competitors. It makes no sense. If those games like Star Frontiers, Gamma World, Boothill, Gangbusters, Conan, etc. had been built with D&D it would have helped the whole ecosystem of D&D. The only one that would not have worked was Marvel Super Heroes, what they did with that was brilliant. (Though my Guardians game shows you can make a compelling superhero RPG with D&D). Anyways, we did kind of get that in 3rd edition when Wizards made all kinds of different genres with d20 so maybe it wouldn't have worked. But I think that was too little too late. |
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Post by jeffb on Oct 8, 2022 13:07:14 GMT -6
If all your gaming revolves around the shoot, loot, and scoot D&D mentality, then I would agree they got it right with classes and levels. However, not all RPGS are played with the same mentality/intention as D&D and class/level systems are a poor choice. I think that was the reason you saw TS, SF, GB, and other TSR games going with a class/level-less D100/D10 system- of course many others as well outside of TSR. Additionally it's much cheaper for the business to throw in a pair of D100 (or D6) than it is a set of 5+ dice, and easier for new players with no RPG experience to grasp the concept of percentages (or the very familiar throw of 1 or 2d6 from the boardgames people grow up with). There are only two games systems: D&D and Call of Cthulhu. All RPG's are just variations of those two games. Of course you mean D&D and Runequest. No RQ, no Call of Cthulhu. And FWIW- Chaosium did exactly what you suggest TSR should have done- RQ, Worlds of Wonder, CoC, Stormbringer, Superworld, Elfquest, Ringworld, etc etc. |
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Post by tdenmark on Oct 8, 2022 16:33:03 GMT -6
There are only two games systems: D&D and Call of Cthulhu. All RPG's are just variations of those two games. Of course you mean D&D and Runequest. No RQ, no Call of Cthulhu. And FWIW- Chaosium did exactly what you suggest TSR should have done- RQ, Worlds of Wonder, CoC, Stormbringer, Superworld, Elfquest, Ringworld, etc etc. No, I meant Call of Cthulhu. Of course it is built on the (genius) RQ system, but Call of Cthulhu came into its own with the anti-D&D mechanic: Insanity. Where in D&D characters gain in level and power, CoC characters do the opposite and go insane. GURPS and RQ are the games that made me come to the realization of why skills are not better than classes and levels. In every way RQ is a better designed and thought out system than D&D, and as much as I love RQ I rarely play it or even get to. Finding players is really hard, and when I have played I don't find it anywhere near as satisfying as a game as D&D is. There is just something compelling about the achievement of gaining a level, where in RQ your character gets micro-improvements with small accrual of skill that don't give the same dopamine hits. And I don't even mean killing things and taking their stuff. Being a murder-hobo can be done in virtually any system, right? |
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Post by tdenmark on Oct 10, 2022 2:31:29 GMT -6
And FWIW- Chaosium did exactly what you suggest TSR should have done- RQ, Worlds of Wonder, CoC, Stormbringer, Superworld, Elfquest, Ringworld, etc etc. Right. I always wondered why they didn't do better than GURPS, BRP is a better system IMHO. And FWIW D&D was already the market leader, no one was ever going to catch them until Wizards turned their back on the fan base with 4e and Paizo nearly stole that audience with Pathfinder. Stormbringer is a great game BTW. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 14, 2022 10:47:14 GMT -6
That’s a bizarre turn of events. And scummy to boot. Imagine thinking you can get away with stealing an industry legend's name, and a living one at that. |
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Post by tdenmark on Oct 14, 2022 13:34:18 GMT -6
And FWIW- Chaosium did exactly what you suggest TSR should have done- RQ, Worlds of Wonder, CoC, Stormbringer, Superworld, Elfquest, Ringworld, etc etc. Right. I always wondered why they didn't do better than GURPS The more I think about this, part of the success of GURPS was the excellent sourcebooks which everyone used for their own preferred system, not necessarily for GURPS. I still have a stack of GURPS sourcebooks I reference all the time for different genres, but mostly just play OD&D, 5th edition, and a little bit of Call of Cthulhu. (And of course my own games, currently Gunslinger and Warriors of the Red Planet! But those are just a hybrid of OD&D in a different skin) |
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Post by Starbeard on Oct 22, 2022 13:04:01 GMT -6
Right. I always wondered why they didn't do better than GURPS The more I think about this, part of the success of GURPS was the excellent sourcebooks which everyone used for their own preferred system, not necessarily for GURPS. I still have a stack of GURPS sourcebooks I reference all the time for different genres, but mostly just play OD&D, 5th edition, and a little bit of Call of Cthulhu. (And of course my own games, currently Gunslinger and Warriors of the Red Planet! But those are just a hybrid of OD&D in a different skin) True. It helps that SJG has the resources from their boardgames and a company head who has always been interested in keeping the pet flagship RPG going despite it being nowhere near as lucrative as everything else they do. I was a big GURPS fan in its 3rd edition period, but in all that time, with only one or two exceptions, I never met in real life or online anyone who was just a GURPS player. Even the biggest GURPS dweebs like me were actually just general RPG System dweebs, of which reading and debating and theorizing on GURPS was one facet. Because of that, as far as being a group's default, go-to system to actually play, it always seemed pretty rare, despite how popular the sourcebooks were. |
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Post by Zenopus on Oct 22, 2022 13:39:08 GMT -6
I took Zeb's name off the subject line since it's clear now that he wasn't involved in this.
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Post by DungeonDevil on Oct 22, 2022 16:36:06 GMT -6
Right. I always wondered why they didn't do better than GURPS The more I think about this, part of the success of GURPS was the excellent sourcebooks which everyone used for their own preferred system, not necessarily for GURPS. I still have a stack of GURPS sourcebooks I reference all the time for different genres, but mostly just play OD&D, 5th edition, and a little bit of Call of Cthulhu. (And of course my own games, currently Gunslinger and Warriors of the Red Planet! But those are just a hybrid of OD&D in a different skin) How is Gunslinger coming along? What's the ETA? |
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Post by tdenmark on Oct 22, 2022 23:29:33 GMT -6
How is Gunslinger coming along? What's the ETA? Any day now. Or at least that is what I keep telling myself. I bit off more than I can chew, but I don't know how else this book could have developed. It is a love letter to ERB and the Western Genre, and the idiosyncratic things I like such as Wild Wild West, Adventures of Brisco County Jr., and other strange stuff. |
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