Conan vs Barbarianism

 One of the themes that Robert E. Howard returns to again and again in his Conan tales, is the idea that civilization is a temporary thing that must be wiped out by barbarianism.

That's nonsense, even in his own writing.

Conan on the other hand?

Well, as the protagonist, even when he should be dead multiple times over from a wide variety of sources, he changes the tide and sets the course.

If barbarianism had been the superior way, Conan would've died multiple times over because as often as he's written in the bowels of deep civilization, he's also against those with whom he shares more in common.

And because he's the protagonist, he's better at almost every single thing they do than they are.

Conan is a Cimmerian. It's hill country.

Try telling that to the dozens if not hundreds of Picts Conan has killed. Doesn't matter if he's ambushing them in the woods, his own hunting and woodcraft far outstripping 'barbarians' whose lifestyle Conan is emulating, or just outrunning them over open terrain and avoiding them shooting at him as he's climbing up a ledge and casually pulling arrows out of his legs.

It doesn't matter if he's on the frozen plains fighting against the Vanir. He's better than the Vanir at everything they do.

It doesn't matter if he's a Pirate off the coast and raiding countries that no civilized people even know about when he's fighting with and for the Kushites.

Barbarianism isn't the answer to civilization.

It's Conan.

Conan Is Not A Hero

 One of the things that I've debated with others about is the difference between Conan being the protagonist and Conan being a hero.

Sometimes herosim can be a difficult thing to define.

For example, Conan often has a sense of honor and a sense of fair play. It's rare for him to betray someone even if he knows that person is going to try to do him in.

And Conan meets a lot of fellow rogues and slayers and he trusts them because of the whole honor among thieves.

Because Conan is the protagonist, this works well for him. Things don't even well for the Prince of Thieves here.

But here's the thing.

Conan is here breaking into someone else's place. Mind you, those who try to cast Conan as a hero often note, rightfully so mind you, that those Conan steals from, are often the worst of the worst. In this case a wizard necromancer who tortures and enslaves others.  Whose wealth and power give him full domination over the city and its rulers.

But we have to be clear.

Conan isn't doing it to rid the city of the necromancer. He'd rather not even meet the necromancer if possible.

This doesn't count other times where due perhaps to his nature, Conan repays those wrongs done to him even if those wrongs were done while helping Conan. For example, in A Witch Shall Be Born, ther'es a scene where Conan is nailed to a tree. It was made popular in the movie, but it took place in this story first.

This is another one of those things where Conan should've been dead but he gets saved by an outside force. But when he's saved, his savior does not do it gently and Conan suffers a bit for it. As soon as he's well, he repays that saving by crushing the dude 's wrist and banishing his savior from his own band of rogues.

There's another story where Conan drags himself out of the Sea into a boat, ingrains himself into the crew, follows the Captain ashore, and literally murders him. And note, since we're talking Cimmerian September, I'm just sticking with Robert E. Howard stories.

Again folks, Conan is no hero.

One could argue that in the world of Hyborea, where Conan is an adventurer, there are no real heroes, and today's allies may become tomorrow's enemies. 

These things are true.

But those elements don't fit into D&D and its nine alignment systems. Conan commits great acts of savagery and also acts as a savior. He's almost never a casual murderer and does not go after women and children.

When looking at the idea of inspiration for your TRPG games, try to remember, games like GURPS and Hero, where one can take disadvantages that indicate one's personality, like 'Honorable Strong' or 'Fears Magic' etc... are more likely to be useful than D&D where it boils down to "What's your alignment?"

Conan is the Choosen One

 So I've mentioned it before, but Conan, the barbarian, is saved through all sorts of things or just doesn't die when he should.

He falls further than he should be able to survive but hits something that saves him.

He's overcome but his enemies leave him for dead.

He's about to be killed, but unexpected allies show up.

He's about to be killed, but unexpected enemies show up.

He's about to be hunted down, but his enemies realize he's on sacred ground or something similar and leave him alive.

One could argue those are all just bad writing plot devices. They are and these examples all happen under Robert E. Howard's pen. If you were going to add other writers the list would be nearly endless. The list of Conan being a chosen one would be near endless too,

But for Howard himself? Yeah, Conan is still the chosen one.

Here's a princess literally being told by the servants of Mitra in Black Colossus, available in The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian https://amzn.to/4dYywVh, to place the kingdom in the hands of the first man she meets.

It's Conan.

And that's fine.

But it's another showcase that Conan, even under the hand of his original author, is a chosen one.

He'd kinda have to be since the very first story of Conan is him as a king.

There's no worry that he's going to be killed ahead of that eh?

So when you see the Bro OSR chest thumpers talking about how the old school is the best school because it's sword ad sorcery origins give it a more fatal scenario of how characters live and die, know that they either haven't read the original Appendix N books or they're ignoring the heroes of those books to utilize the old school rules as a club to kill characters.

Conan, Dungeons and Dragons, and Surviability

The difference between Inspiration from a source of material, even one found in Appendix N, and game play itself, can be vast.

One of the things that cracks me about personally about some of the 'Bro OSR' or the hardcore OSR players, is that it's too hard to die in 5th edition and the character death is needed to make the stakes real.

Those folks either ignore all of Appendix N or decide it's inspiration was in the monsters and dangerous bits.

Even the blood soaked savage Conan is saved often through sheer nonsense.

In the first tale of Conan ever penned, The Scarlett Citadel, available in this collection, The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian (Conan the Barbarian Book 1) https://amzn.to/3TfFPzI , Conan is saved from certain death by some dude we as the readers have never heard of before.

It's literally the first time this sort of hand waving to save Conan occurs, but it's far from the last time it happens. There are times when Conan is left for dead, as happens in The Hours of the Dragon (available The Bloody Crown of Conan (Conan the Barbarian Book 2) https://amzn.to/3X5GdBX ). Heck, a re-read of Hour of the Dragon shows it happens several times including once when he's left in a field where ghouls try to eat him and he awakens 'luckily' enough in time.

If you've ever seen some of that 'hardcore OSR talk', you'll know what I'm talking about. Stabbing downed enemies and mounting their heads on pikes and that sort of stuff. and other times when some other unlikely circumstance saves him.

Elric, Corum, and others in the original Appendix N all have similar moments.

When deciding what the fatality levels of your campaign are, don't feel too bad if you push them to not be as strict as the original 1st ed AD&D where death at -10 is something mentioned in the DMG but not the Player's Handbook. You're staying true to the source material that inspired the game.