World of Conan

World of Conan is a little hack for playing in the Hyborian Age. It's basically done, but I'd like two things:

Vincent, I've used some of your exact words in my hack. Nothing extensive, just the wording from some playbooks, and some threats. Is that cool? I'm publishing the thing for free.

Anybody else, it'd be cool to get someone to proof the thing, make sure I'm describing the moves clearly, that it all makes sense, and check the layout for ugliness. Volunteers?

1) Cool.

2) Sign me up!

This hack is very relevant to my interests.  I'd totally be up for proofing if you're still looking for help.

michael(dot)harrel(at)gmail(dot)com

Hi all,

I'm kind of overwhelmed! I've recieved heaps of offers of help, and got some really great feedback already. I think I'm good for help for now.

There'll be a final proofreading pass that I might need help with again, so if I haven't been in touch with you, I may contact you later.

Thanks all!

Simon

Waah!

Also, great! I'm glad people are helping. I can't wait to see it.

-Vincent

Sounds like you're good on help, but I love both Conan and AW, so I wanted to publicly express my enthusiasm for your project!

Thanks! It's going really well. Another week maybe?

Hope I'm not to late to the party. I'd love to get in on the ground floor of something like this.

On a related note, I was browsing some Conan-related blogs and I thought these cultural archetypes might be of interest.

That's really interesting, actually!

There's a move in the hack: "Give yourself over to the inexorable urgings of your blood" that I'm still trying to get right.  At the moment it's kind of vague and general, and I think those archetypes could be an interesting way of making it more specific.

I'm kinda torn though. The core of the game is about race and what it means. Can people change who they are, or is your true nature written on your skin? Are we slaves of instinct, doomed to fall into barbarism? Is barbarism really so bad? What does it mean to be a "savage"?

It's tricky to write one move that captures that.

This sounds like a fruitful void kind of thing. If something is the core of the game, you can't just use it with one move. Instead break it down into little bits and sneak them into all the other moves and mechanics. Let it emerge organically.

Like, intimacy, loyalty, vulnerability and things like that are the core of AW, but there's no one single explicit "be close with someone" move. Just like D&D doesn't have a single "kill monsters and take their stuff" stat. Giving in to your blood is just part of the whole deal, don't worry about trying to encapsulate it into one move.

Gregor,

Fruitful void, totally.

Give yourself over kind of achieves that at the moment, but I think at the expense of being kind of vague and difficult.

Basically it's a move that gives you a small bonus when you follow your instincts. The bonus is pretty clear, but the "follow your instincts" is undefined, with the definition left to the group in play.

So, I dunno. I should probably playtest it.