The ''Conan Role-Playing Game'' was published by
TSR, Inc. in 1985.
Contents
This boxed game was designed for players age 10 and up contained a full-color map, a 32-page rule book, a 16-page reference guide of talents, weaknesses, and charts, and a 48-page notebook about the land of
Hyboria
The Hyborian Age is a fictional period of Earth's history within the artificial mythology created by Robert E. Howard, serving as the setting for the sword and sorcery tales of Conan the Barbarian.
The word "Hyborian" is derived from the le ...
plus two 10 sided dice.
Game mechanics
The game's main rules are adapted from the ''
Marvel Super Heroes'' rules, a role-playing game first published by TSR in 1984 and mainly designed by
Jeff Grubb
Jeff Grubb (born August 27, 1957) is an author who writes novels, short stories, and comics and a computer and role-playing game designer in the fantasy genre. Grubb worked on the ''Dragonlance'' campaign setting under Tracy Hickman, and the ...
, although
Zeb Cook
David "Zeb" Cook is an American game designer, best known for his work at TSR, Inc., where he was employed for over fifteen years. Cook designed several games, wrote the '' Expert Set'' for ''Dungeons & Dragons'', worked as lead designer of the ...
brought some help, as stated by Grubb himself. The system refers D100 dice rolls to a resolution table. Mark Krawec, a member of the
RPGnet
RPGnet is a role-playing game website. It includes sections on wargames, tabletop games and video games, as well as columns on gaming topics.
RPGnet was founded in 1996 by Emma and Sandy Antunes, Shawn Althouse ( etrigan) and Brian David Phillip ...
community, recovered the system from the past in 2007, named it ZeFRS (Zeb's Fantasy Roleplaying System) and published a free PDF document where the game mechanics had been completely expurgated from any licensed Conan material. Two years later, in 2009, a ZeFRS paperback book was printed and distributed.
ZeFRS' physical edition
as mentioned in RPGnet
Supplements
The series produced three adventures, each based on novels from the Conan series.
*''Conan the Buccaneer''
*''Conan the Mercenary''
*''Conan Triumphant''
Reception
Mike Dean reviewed ''Conan RPG'' for '' Imagine'' magazine, and stated that "In conclusion, this game has some interesting concepts but is lacking in certain respects, notably the magic system and the slant towards the younger gamer."White Dwarf
A white dwarf is a stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very dense: its mass is comparable to the Sun's, while its volume is comparable to the Earth's. A white dwarf's faint luminosity comes ...
'' #69, giving it an overall rating of 7 out of 10, and stated that "It's a great shame. With a bit of care it could have been a very good product. Most of the errors are essentially cosmetic and even with them I still prefer it to ''AD&D''."
Reviews
*''Different Worlds
''Different Worlds'' was an American role-playing games magazine published from 1979 to 1987.
Scope
''Different Worlds'' published support articles, scenarios, and variants for various role-playing games including ''Dungeons & Dragons'', ''Rune ...
'' #45
See also
* Conan Unchained!
''Conan Unchained!'' is a 1984 adventure module for the '' Dungeons & Dragons'' roleplaying game that centers on an adventure of the fictional hero Conan the Barbarian
Conan the Barbarian (also known as Conan the Cimmerian) is a fictional swor ...
* Conan Against Darkness!
''Conan Against Darkness!'' is a 1984 adventure module for the first edition of the ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy roleplaying game, set in the Hyborian universe of Robert E. Howard's character Conan the Barbarian. It is designed for fo ...
* GURPS Conan
''GURPS Conan'' is a sourcebook and a series of solo adventures for '' GURPS''.
Publication history
''GURPS Conan'' was one of the earliest products from a licensed property produced by Steve Jackson Games. The company, after launching GURPS i ...
* Conan: The Roleplaying Game
* Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of
References
{{Conan
Fantasy role-playing games
Role-playing games based on Conan the Barbarian
Role-playing games introduced in 1985
TSR, Inc. games