Savage Sword of Conan Volume Nine

Dark Horse comics did fantasy fans, as well as comic fans, a huge service when they brought the old Savage Sword of Conan back into print. The only thing I question, as I usually do, is the choice of cover. It's not that this is a bad cover but rather that this volume includes a cover by artist Joe Jusko.

If I was publishing this? Oh yeah, that cover full color straight on.

Volume Nine has over five hundred pages of bone crushing action. Ernie Chan and John Buscema bring the Hyborian age to life like few before of after them. John in particular renders wide scenes that bring the reader fully into Conan's world.

While last volume introduced readers to the Devourer of Souls, here he makes his return. He is a glutton for turning men into worms so that they are easier to devour. His insatiable lust for souls thought, isn't his primary motivation. Rather, he desires to bring his people, a whole race of soul eaters, into Conan's world. The world that the Devourer of Souls hails from is low on this precious resource.

It's a good trick. To showcase someone hoarding something that they don't normally have access to. To show people who might have once been poor to eke out ever copper piece they can. To do work that others might not, even though they can afford not to do that work.

In this volume, the Devourer does manage to bring several of his kin to Conan's world. But even then, the Devourer himself stands different. It is he that wears the armor. It is he who has the winged helm and cape. It is he who uses magics to turn men into worms that may be devoured by his people.

He even names himself as Wrarrl of the Demon Helmet.

But whereas in the previous fight, Conan won through luck, this time, even as Conan initially is beaten down again by the Devourer, this time Conan actually has a plan. This time Conan is able to use deception to make the Devourer lower his guard.

There are also a few other colorful characters. While we get no Red Sonja and Conan this volume, we do get the Snow Raven. While mainly a thief, she's also no slouch with sword or bola and manages to get the upper hand on Conan not once, but twice in matters of thievery. Still, the last and final laugh of the issue goes to Conan who switches a bag of gems for a bag of stones.

While many of the standards here here, Conan being stronger than any man has a right to be, lasses and lords aplenty, there is some amusing banter as well.


"Good steel is scarce here! Give us your sword!"

"You've a fine sense of hmor Kushite! I admire that in a man!"

Then there's this little gem.

There are also numerous bits where Conan is working for one person, and the other people working for that person, are working against Conan's new employee and so Conan winds up facing double and sometimes triple betrayal as the person he's working for, seeing him kill the traitors, doesn't know that those were traitors and so casts Conan out!

There are also some reminders that Conan's era is far from civilized.

"I am but a poor priest of the Zambolian mysteries... why kill me?"

"Why not? You are old and blind and of no use to anyone!"

Yeah....

Be that as it may though, it does bring up some interesting scenarios. In one, Conan is offered a job as a palace guard but must "displace" one of the current members. Sounds almost like some of the old 1st edition Monk or Druid bits where there can only be so many of each rank.

To do this, Conan and another guard fight with staff on a stone bridge over a pit of long spears. To fall into the pit, the "Well of Spears", is to die. Suffice it to say it's not Conan who is knocked into the pit.

John Buscema, as usual, brings us into the world of the barbarian in it's vast scope. For example, the Temple of the Lion. The people who come it as mere ants before it's epic size. Men astride horses far far away form the temple and still, the temple looms like a mountain off in the distance.

As usual, there are a few choice bits for adventuring seeds that I think I'll steal.

Conan brings a fence an item of some small worth. The fence needs light to see it and appraise it right? Turns out that light in the window is an alert to guards who come by to capture those that the fence sells out in exchange for turning a blind eye to other things the fence does. That whole candle in the window bit is classic but I'll be damned if I've used it more than a handful of times in 20+ years of role playing.

In another tale, Conan's and his shipmates are lost at sea and tossed onto land. Here they come across a wicked queen whose cruelty to her people inspire rebellion. In exchange for plunder, of course Conan and his men are all too happy to help.

On one hand, the queen indulges the worst aspects of her court. There are orgies, gladiatorial combat, both against man against man, and man against beast, as well as outright slayings of people to savage apes.

On the other, the queen isn't actually human and those who've supposedly laid with her, well, they've been turned into demons that were ready to turn the town into a bloodhouse before Conan gets there and seals them in the labyrinth.

The use of illusion and other magic to take the form of an appealing enemy is a simple one. It's one I've used quite frequently because I swear despite almost everyone in my group being 40+ years old they still think they're in high school.

That use of illusion though goes both ways. For example, in one story, when Conan is washed upon shore, he is asked to kill a sorcerer who is keeping Kiriandra, a sorceress prisoner. Turns out that sorceress thought, isn't a real woman, but rather, a thing that the sorcerer created so that when Conan kills the sorcerer, she returns to a state of inhumanity

The Savage Sword of Conan is always a nice visual feast. At it's 500 pages, it's a great bargain. It's inclusion of monsters from various parts of the world into its own mythology to craft monsters powerful enough to challenge Conan, entertaining. If you're a fan of fantasy and a role player, these classics may not all have aged well, but there's a lot to find enticing about them.

Savage Sword of Conan Volume Eight

The Savage Sword of Conan Volume Eight brings further adventures of Conan's time at Marvel as a magazine back into print thanks to the efforts of Dark Horse Comics.

The physical version clocks in at 500 pages. Yeah, it's a lot of barbarian in black and white for the money. We get art from many of the classic masters of the time including Gil Kane, John Buscema, and Ernie Chan among others.

Speaking of Ernie:

Ernie captures Conan quite well and I wish he'd been able to do more work in the main body of work itself. Still, I'm not going to look down on John or the others for their fantastic efforts.

This volume has a little something extra to it for me. On one hand, it's Conan. You know that it's going to have a lot of the standard features:

1. Conan is going to get sucker punched and knocked out at least once.

2. Conan is going to get captured and escape, at least once.

3. Conan is going to have many amorous companions.

But push past all that, and we actually have a thing rare for Conan. Enemies who survive more than one encounter with the barbarian.

This volume introduces us to the Devourer of Souls. This is one character that Marvel thought so impressive, that they brought a major storyline around him in the regular comic. He's also one of the few people to simply beat Conan down.

The bad news here? Is Conan is saved by outside agency. This to me defeats the purpose of Conan being overwhelmed by his foe because he is not responsible for saving himself. He doesn't have a trick. He doesn't have a plot. He doesn't use brain or strategy. Instead he essentially gets lucky.

It's like if the Game Master was like, "Man, I've rolled a lot of 20's here... The villain decides to move on and finish you off later!"

This is quite the contrast to Conan's encounter with Darius. With Conan's assistance, Darius finds three magical items, Gauntlets, Armor, and a Bow. All are vastly powerful. With them, Darius turns on Conan and almost kills the barbarian. In the rematch, Conan does use wit and maneuvering to finish off Darius. That's a nice change of pace.

Another new foe introduced, who we will see again, is Konar. The 'flip' to Konar is that he's Conan, or at least, a Conan or another world. The 'real' Conan finds himself dragged through the multiverse through a gap and when he arrives in his new world, much like one of the old Planetary Romances, is under a world with different suns. The country this Konar rules? Aquiloria. Sound familiar?

Conan fits in well but his counter eventually returns and the two battle. Conan sees no profit in fighting Konar to the death and retreats.

It's another case where the authors use outside influence to make things easier for the barbarian. I can see the player's and GM going, "Is this getting lame or is it just me? Alright, let's get back to the standard setting."

Surprisingly another villain returns. THis time it's Captain Bor'aqh Sharaq, a barachian corsair. Last seen being dragged into hell. He manages to escape and bring with him a powerful weapon but this being the Savage Sword of Conan not the Savage Sword of Sharaq, while it proves useful, it does not grant him that victory. Still, it was nice to see a foe make a series of returns. It gives a little more sense of continuity to the series.

One of the things I enjoy about this mammoth volumes, is that they often have a lot of ideas that would make for great adventurers.

The Gamesmen of Asgalun: Two 'brothers' are addicted to gambling and set the barbarian off on a wild goose chase to see if he'll succeed or die on their bet. Much like Trading Places in its simplicity.

Isle of the Hunter: Conan is taken to an isle guarded by a monstrous defender and is then hunted by the lord of that island for sport. Another commonly used theme seen in such as The Most Dangerous Game. This adaptation is made more complicated by those who hunt Conan from the mainland in addition to twins. Nothing is ever easy for the barbarian.

Savage Sword of Conan Volume Seven

Again, as I read through these old classics, I have to give a nod of thanks to +Dark Horse Comics . Not only did they make buying these long out of print magazine compilations possible, but they also put out a huge digital package that made buying all of them affordable.

This is another huge volume, collecting issues 72-84 with art by the likes of John Buscema and others. John's art tends to be larger than life and it's another excellent example of an artist who shames a lot of the current crop in the field these days.

Don't misunderstand me, that's not even a 'good' full page spread by John, but it's another example of how John was able to make so much of the setting pop for the casual reader.

In terms of the cover, I hate to say it, but AGAIN I think Dark Horse blew it. When you have not one, but TWO covers done by Joe Jusko, what the hell would you pick the one they did for? I mean look at this one.

Now that's a Conan at his barbaric level. Axe dripping blood, shield overflowing with arrows and that look? Oh yeah, that's not a look you want coming after you.

And the art in and of itself, with all of the covers reproduced internally, although only in black and white, is one of the best reasons to own the book. It provides a lot of visual inspiration.

The 'bad' news of this volume? Like previous volumes, it's only the Conan direct stories that are printed. Some of the covers hint at some of the other material that was included in the magazines but alas, those sections have been lost to the ravages of licensing.

Many of the stories within are so 'simple' that they could easily work as one shot adventures. For example, Conan seeks to steal the treasure from a temple. The statue is of course alive!

Conan seeks out the lost heir for a throne. Turns out that one he was lead to is nothing more than a cat's pawn to lead people away from the true heir!

Conan seeks out some female company in an Inn (several times) and it leads to violence!

Conan comes across a member of an elder race that is drying! Can Conan survive the intrigues of such a creature?

Conan helps fulfill a dying king's wish by collecting a variety of components for a statue. Each of which is guarded by a unique monster!

As always, some of the stories are stronger than others. There is an effort made to give Conan a recurring foe but it feels weak, especially when we've seen this sort of thing done before. Conan's enemy is defeated by a hand other than his, and look! That son of a bitch is still alive issues later!

One of the most interesting things about Conan though, in terms of world building, is that the authors really don't care.

I don't mean that like anything at all is possible, but there are scenes where Conan meets a pair of cyclops and it's like, 'Yeah, no big. I'm Conan after all'.

Other situations involve him fighting against an alien race that is out to feed his blood to giant mount sized vampire bats and again, it's like, "Well, these aren't the first aliens I've dealt with."

And still others Conan meets some weird creature that appears to be one of a kind and it's often, "Wizard did it."

It's a good sign that perhaps when building up these worlds and settings that fun is more important then internal consistency.

Savage Sword of Conan Volume Six

This is the last of book of the Savage Sword of Conan that I own in physical print as well as digital copy. Dark Horse did a fantastic sale not too long ago on the Savage Sword of Conan where the whole bundle was a little under $90 bones for like sixteen volumes of black and white nostalgia.

This volume, like many in the series, is a massive tome that clocks in at well over five hundred pages. Roy Thomas, Michael Fleisher and Bruce Jones are the main writers this time around, and included the Conan gold standard of artists, John Buscema, as well as Gil Kane, Ernie COlon, and one of my favorites, Ernie Chan.

This volume collects issue #61-#71 and retails for $19.99, although Amazon has it for $14.04. Those who want to see a free preview of this collection, can check out the Dark Horse website.

This volume tends to be heavy of the 'solo' stories with done in one tales. These usually pit Conan against the wizardry or military might of someone who thinks they know better than the barbarian and well, they usually don't live to regreat it. Some of my favorite bits that come through the title, tend to overlap with material I'm looking at in terms of RPG gaming right now.

For example, in one of the tales, Conan is sent to seek out the secrets of the sorcerer Tamar-Shar Khun. He is sent there because the sorcerer is supposed to "devised a means of making both crops and beasts grow swiftly to sizes most wondrous." And that's needed because the king conan is serving is in a country where famine is upon the land. That whole bit could easily be from any Dungeons and Dragons campaign.

But in terms of gaming, I'm reading the sourcebook, Seclusium of Orphone of the Three Visions, a sourcebook for Lamentations of the Flame Princes, and it's about wizard's domiciles. Kind of reminds me of the old bits from The Complete Wizard's Handbook back in the day. But it reminds me of it because of some of the things that Seclusium talks about, correspond to what happens in the lair of Tamar-Shar Khun. There are magic and mundane traps, guardians of supernatural and standard variety. It's a nice pace and it's done in one issue! Great stuff.

Similar but of more 'high magic' is when Conan is part of a caravan bringing gifts to the alien entity Giyune of the Three Eyes. Here is another ancient power with his own unique lair and unique aspects of the lair that can challenge even the most resourceful characters.

Another thing that occurs, is that the 'bit players' are there to essentially die in order to warn Conan of danger. For example, Zerbo is a giant of a man, but a terrible fighter. When he fails to kill Conan over jealousy, he warns Conan that the queen is after his life and shortly dies thereafter. Next up, Conan's love at the time, is also cruelly handled and dies of torture, but not before affirming what Conan already knows.

Slogans: This is one I've hit before. I've mentioned that a good battle cry is a signature for characters and is often used in super hero comics ranging from Avengers Assemble to It's Clobbering Time to the more simplistic Hulk Smash. Here though, it seems that the gods are the ones to call on. This ranges from Favors of Kilili, By The Holy Eyes of Mitra, Merciful Mother of Mitra, Loins of Ishtar, to.. well, let's just do a quick table:

1. In Crom's Name
2. Crom's Devils
3. Crom and Mitra!
4. By The bones of Crom!
5.By the bears of Crom!
6. By Crom!

Thee are probably a few more I could have grabbed but I thought those sufficient.

One of the most interesting things to me, is that the authors have no problem abandoning a storyline before it's conclusion. Conan, as a pirate leader, takes a merchant vessel's cargo, and one of the ladies of the ship, tells Conan that she knows where there is treasure to be found. Before that story goes anywhere, the crew mutinies and the ship is sunk and Conan, in the same tale, is off to an ancient tribe of immortal Amazon's. Perhaps that tale picks up later but I found it interesting. It was like the author said, "Are people enjoying this? Nah, let's move the action."

There are also some bits that Conan never learns, but that the author is kind enough to provide the reader. For example, Black Cloaks of Ophir, features two military groups, the Black Cloaks and the Iron Maiden Corps. They seeks to have power over the people like Thanus, the Hyborian who first founded Ophir. Turns out that Thanus was buried alive and became a huge ghoul, feeding off the family as they were buried in the same crypts that he was. A neat little twist to things that Conan never learns, but the reader is cued in on.

Some writers will also talk of 'killing your babies'. Find something in the setting and smashing it. Conan is responsible for the destruction of an Amazon society, and does damage to a group of man bat's society. Both are fantastic and fit into the 'weird' aspects of the sword and sorcery age, both isolated from the rest of the world by distance or special means. Both easily added to any game and just as easily destroyed.

Again, for the art and for the various bits that can easily be lifted for any role playing game, I highly recommend the Savage Sword of Conan.

Savage Sword of Conan Volume Five

Just an FYI, I'm probably going to hit all the volumes of the Savage Sword of Conan compilations. I own the first six physically and all of them electronically. Dark Horse did a sale not too long ago on the whole bundle where you got the entire run for under $100 bones. Personally I'd rather have the physical copies, but due to the sheer size of the books, I stopped at volume six. Just no where to put them. As a matter of fact, as I've been reviewing them now, I've been putting them into a box to take to storage. Ah, if only I had massive wealth to spoil myself with a massive house with massive basement for physical storage of such products.

As in previous volumes, there are a plethora of artistic giants in this volume. Many of the tales are illustrated by the master of all things comic Conan, John Buscema, but we also have some by Kerry Gammill and Tony de Zuniga among others.

This is another massive volume that collects the Savage Sword of Conan, at least the Conan tales, from 49 to 60. It clocks in at 544 pages, but the last few are ads for various comics and busts and other bits of Conan miscellanea. Amazon has this one for under $15, clocking in at $14.96.

One of the longest tales, lasting several issues, is an adaptation of Conan the Liberator and a few more issues dedicated to Sword of Skelos. These were comics I read back in the Frank Fazetta cover days of Ace Publications. Well, let me amend that. I bought them second hand in the early eighties as I think the original covers were well before my time.

I know that historically that the add ons to the Conan mythos get a lot of flack but for my original reading? It fit like a glove and worked well. It keeps the whole series together up to the twelfth volume, at which point future volumes dropped the Fazetta covers and wandered all over the place despite having the same numbering. Like looking at my shelf, I can see The Sword of Skeleos is Volume 15.

In terms of inspiration, well, the art in black and white, is very powerful and very old school. It's also very ancient in terms of how it depicts everything. Most buildings appear to be rough cut from rock and barely made habitable. The time it takes people to learn things from afar is weeks, months, or never. Reputations may follow a character from town to town, but nation to nation? Perhaps...

For the cover? Dark Horse, in my opinion, dropped the ball here. If you flip it over, you see the back cover which has part of the cover where Conan has bloodied sword in one hand and crown in that other. It's very powerful and would've been a better choice for this volume.

Like many other compilations of Conan, the chronology only follows the current story. There's no guarantee that the next issue in the volume will continue on with that pattern. Instead it reads like some broken account of Conan's life but usually they'll preface it with something along the lines of, "And here's a tale from Conan's days as a XXXXX."

In terms of my bullet point lists?

1. The Wheel of Destiny is not kind: During the adaptation of Conan the Liberator, Conan suffers many setbacks and loses his army, yeah, an army of ten thousand strong, to traps and magic and spying and betrayal. It's a good look at how even someone as powerful, well known, and respected as Conan can suffer setback after setback and still move forward. If you're players are so sensitive to defeat and temporary setbacks, you have to ask yourself if that's the group for you.

Mind you, the game system has to take part of that blame too. For example, I've been playing a lot of Warhammer FRPG and I've mentioned that it's got a lot of swing in it's combat. I've mentioned that it's a little easier in second edition as opposed to first edition due to the use of Fortune Points. Part of that is counted because xp doesn't buy as much as it used to and the ultimate safety net of Fate points is still around.

If Conan were in Warhammer FRPG, he'd have burnt through several Fate points. For example, there is one scene where he's poisoned by Alcina, a 'wench' he picks up at a local tavern, and left for dead. Poisoned and left for dead. Only magic and a skilled healer manage to save him but it's a perfect example of Fate points in use in the comics medium.

But why mention that it's a matter of game system? Again, all my opinion here mind you. In basic, first, and second edition of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, magic items didn't necessarily come by the level to assure that the players had power levels of X, Y, and Z. This built the expectation in 3rd and 4th that the characters have to have such items and means at their use. It was so ingrained that there were optional systems to strip the magic out by making the characters MORE inherently powerful. This is the expectation.

Mind you, in a group of friends and close acquaintances, you can do whatever you want, but if you don't let people know that expectations X, Y, and Z don't apply to your world, being captured and sold into slavery even if only for a brief time and stripped of their items, especially for say the Mages, as opposed to the Monks? Grumbling may be heard around the table.

2. Know Your Setting: One thing I didn't like about the whole Liberator thing? The full blown introduction of Satyrs as a race, harvested for their 'magical' blood. In say, the world of Elric, Corum, or any of the numerous Dungeons and Dragons setting, I would't have batted an eye. In the Conan setting? It jars. If you're skilled enough as a game master or have a group open enough not to care that much about cannon, then run with whatever you want. The interesting thing? I don't recall any reference to the Satyrs in any other Conan story, even those after his crown is achieved.

3. Big Stakes Big Risks: Conan notes that if he fails in his whole liberation thing, he's done. Too many people at this point have heard of Conan whose been everything from a general in several armies, to a pirate, to a leader of numerous bandit groups both in the desert and in the city. By taking up arms and leadership against a king, Conan is putting his name out there in such a big way that failure will result in him, even if he fails but survives, having no where to run when its over.

4. Flawed Villains: Right now I'm reading the first book in the Dragon King Saga by Stephen Lawhead, in the Halls of the Dragon King. One of the villains is actually laughing at his own evil plots. Oh the inhumanity of the cheese there. Here, we have several skilled villains in opposition to Conan but they are not perfect. For example, the assassin who tries to poison Conan didn't bother to check to see if he was dead? That assassin's master doesn't count on Conan's long history with magic and a trap designed to kill Conan fails. It's okay to have formidable foes, but make sure that they have their own failings.

5. Satisfying Conclusion: Now this could just be a result of where this adaption ends and that it takes off not into the life of King Conan, but the wizard whose working behind the throne, Thulandra Thuu, after several issues and attempts on Conan's life, runs away with magic. It's like if the players were using Teleportation to escape a battle and then next adventure was just into a completely random dungeon. "Man, glad we escape the lich and his minions. Oh well, into the dragon's lair!" It was entirely unsatisfying to me as a reader to see the build up of Conan and the gathering of his allies only to have the pinnacle fight end on, at best a draw.

6. Respectable Reputations: One of the reasons Conan is able to do so much as a general against a king, is that he has a reputation that stretches back decades at this point. Those in the army who may look at him and initially see 'a barbarian' then recall that oh yeah, this guy has done A, B, and C. It's said that he's fought against sorcerers many times so if he says there's something wrong in the pass up ahead, I'm not arguing with him. Having the Non-Player Characters respect the profession of the players and the reputation that they've built up in game is a great way to showcase the player's impact on the world. Sure, when they started off it may have been brawls in the tavern when someone questioned their competency, but now? People are listening to them and adjusting their own plans based on what the players are saying.

7. Crazy Town: In an old Warhammer FRPG adventure, I think it's Night at the Three Feathers, the characters are at an Inn and there are a random number of things that the characters can get involved in and it can be played several different ways and manners. In the Sorcerer and the Soul, adapted from Conan and the Sorcery by Andrew J. Offutt, Conan, after one of those bar brawls, is on a ledge and hears of a planned robbery of an item of great importance, the Eye of Erlick, and thinks to go ahead of them.

But as he leaves, he doesn't hear them change the time and date that they're going, and Conan runs into them, and other thieves as well. It makes for a nice chaotic mess and winds up more chaotic then initially thought possible for a 'simple' job. It also winds up with Conan tasting Fate's harsh lash again as he loses his soul to a wizard who then uses this leverage to get Conan to do his dirty work.  Try to mix it up when the players think that they have all the answers.

8. Non-Player Characters are people too: Conan is joined in his rebellion against the king by the king's own elite personal guard, the Black Dragons, because the King is insane and has sacrificed the captain's daughter to try and gain immortality but hey, no harm no foul right? Not quite. Giving NPC's family members that they will seek to avenge, their own passions and their own goals, allows the players to have more of an insight into the world and more options to interact with it. Allied with some henchmen and cast fireball into a crowd at market time and kill those henchmen's family members? Yeah... sleep with one eye open!

Again, while I know that black and white comics, and non-canonical tales of everyone's favorite barbarian aren't for everyone, the low price point, the massive page count, and the 'romp' of different eras and takes on Conan make it well worth reading.

Savage Sword of Conan Volume Four

This volume collections material from the Savage Sword of Conan the Barbarian #37 to #48. The Savage Sword of Conan Volume Four is strangely an even $15.00 from Amazon right now and is 536 pages. That's an amazing amount of black and white sword and sorcery per page there. 

Like many collections of Conan, at least in the magazine, there is little overall continuity. For example, one tale ends with Conan in chains, captured b y the undead legions of Hyperborea. Dropped completely for the next story as that one takes place at a different point in Conan's life. For people used to reading today's hyper dense continuity comics, it may be a little jarring but I didn't have any issues with it.

One of the strange things, for someone whose read a lot of Conan as I have, and much of it by different authors, is that some of the same stories are repeated with changes. For instance, I picked up some of the collections of the Robert E. Howard library that included the Black Stranger. Here, that tale is told as The Treasure of Tranicos. Strangely enough, it works well in the comic despite the many changes, because it fits more into the continuity of the story in the comics. I'm sure purist would gnash their teeth at that. 

As always, the Savage Sword of Conan continues to provide with tons of ideas, if only visual inspiration, for running more 'primitive' games. Rare is the appearance of any type of armor, and full plate and knights? Even rarer if at all. 

Art: This book boasts some great artists again. One of the main streams is John Buscema who work on the comic and the magazine gave it a tremendous feel and power. The man was ahead of his time and back in the day, if a comic had him, George Perez, or John Byrne on it, that was a good indication that it would be a comic I would read. Having said that, Ernie Chan did some full page spreads for the interior and man, if there is an artist who's been undervalued in my time, it would be him, among many others.

Hordes vs Heroes: Conan is often times surrounded by a crew of pirates or units of soldiers. These lead to massive fights, often against greater odds, as he battles other pirates or other soldiers from foreign countries. However, there are many times, often within these same tales, where Conan is, due to his specific background and skill set, the only one able to perform a certain task. This puts him at the center of the action. 

The Hordes are often sometimes monsters that are easily killed such as freshly awakened vampire ghouls that don't move quickly or an army storming a ruined keep that are held at bay through the few openings by the defenders. Think of the movie Willow and Mad Martigan's fight at the keep. Providing numerous weaker enemies while giving the players an advantage that limits the number of attackers can make the heroes giants among men, but keep in mind that it takes time to roll the dice and even the 'heroics' of mass slaughter can get boring quickly.

Skill Challenges: There is a scene where Conan is attacked by a stone toad with gem eyes. It's impervious to physical harm. Conan leads it along a cliff and dodges out of the way when it attacks and down into the sea it goes, sinking to the bottom because of it's stone hide. In some great scenes, the hero wins not by slashing and hacking, but by sound tactics. For example, the end fight of How To Train Your Dragon? Where our young hero and his dragon are, in terms of sheer power clearly outmatched but still manage to achieve victory? 

Rivalries: One of the things that breaths detail into the setting, is that not everyone gets along. For example, when Conan and Sigurd, a blonde bearded Vanir meet, Conan and he know of each other's other past ventures. In this case, one a barachan, a type of pirate, the other a buccaneer. Those two 'professions' are rivals and the Cimmerians and Vanir are also rivals. But in this instance, because the two individuals fought closely, it allows them to look past those things and forge a strong friendship.

Slavery: Conan winds up a slave several times but I think only once in this volume. The problem with this type of captivity though, is that it often requires players to give up their equipment. In games like Dungeons and Dragons 3rd and 4th edition, where the math is branched at the characters actually having those items, it can make this type of scenario more difficult. If using slavery, insure either that the enemies are of a lower level than the players would be by standards, or that the players have opportunities to pick up other material to compensate for it. Providing players with options to escape the slavery quickly can also move the game along for groups that dither about things.

Named Items: Much like I've mentioned with naming gemstones to give them a unique feature, names are powerful things in providing detail and background to items. With one certain Stygian Priest of Set here, we're introduced to the Cobra Crown, the Black Ring, and the Book of Skelos. These items have tremendous value, but often only to those that actually understand what it is they are looking at. For example, a pirate is knee deep in gem and coin and the priest pushes past him, "did you not notice the book beneath the sacks-- its cover bound in the hide of some great reptile such as walked the earth eons ago!?"

With over five hundred pages of reading material and art to please the eye, if you can't find any inspiration from the Savage Sword of Conan you're doing it wrong.

Savage Sword of Conan Volume Three

I've mentioned it before, but again, Dark Horse did the world of comics and fans of sword and sorcery a huge service by bringing out the old black and white Savage Sword of Conan in these massively oversized compendiums for a great price. The works have been out of print for decades and while it's disappointing to see that it's only the Conan tales appearing in these volumes, for example, some covers reproduced inside boast of Solomon Kane or Red Sonja, we only get the Cimmerian.

But that's okay. At this price point and for material that's hard to get ahold of otherwise? It's a great deal.

This volume brings several classic adaptations from novel to comic format as well as many flashback pieces. One of the interesting things about the Savage Sword, as opposed to save, the Marvel Comic running at approximately the same time, is that the Savage Sword isn't necessarily being told in order. Many of the tales are done in one or at best, two shots and then its onto the next one. This volume for example, even does the Scarlet Citadel, which features Conan in his King mode.

For those keeping track, this volume includes 25-31 of the Conan stories. It has illustrations by some of the greats of the comic genre too ranging from Barry Windsor-Smith, John Buscema, Alfredo Alcala, Jim Starlin, Al Milgrom, Pablo Marcos, and Walter Simonson among others. No offense to Dark Horse's modern take on the comic, but this is one of the reasons why it's sometimes looked at like a pale image of it's former glory days. Walter Simonson? John Buscema? Jim Starlin? Some of these are STILL big names in the industry.

The volume is 554 pages with a cover price of $19.99, although Amazon has it on sale for $14.24.

Below I'll be hitting some of the things I continue to enjoy about these tales and why the Savage Sword of Conan acts as such an 'Appendix N' hit for me.

1. Named Gems: One of the longer tales in this collection is the Jewels of Gwahlur. Another is The Blood of the Gods. Each a set of gems that are priceless and unique. These named gems give the setting more character and history as each of the gems have their own stories associated with them. 

2. Recurring Foes: Olgerd is a foe of Conan who makes his third appearance in this volume. In his previous one, the 'Sleeper of the Sands' took him down into the desert hell with him. We never learn how he escaped. It's almost 'super hero' like in that if there's no body, don't assume that the foe is dead. 

3. Languages: The authors rarely fail to make mention of the numerous languages that the people speak in the setting. There are times when speaking with one faction they'll try to hide their true intentions by speaking to their own allies in another language. This brings further depth to the reading and can be a great use in any campaign. The only problem is that usually languages take some heady resources that are often better spent on fighting ability as opposed to something that can just be picked up.

4. Change Meetings: In Hawks of Shem, the tale starts when Conan is accused of following a soldier who turns and attacks him thinking that Conan is an assassin. The real assassins attack shortly thereafter and the two become allies. Having characters be mistaken for someone else is a good way to keep the characters on their toes. In one Dungeons and Dragons game I ran, the party had a Necromancer from the Diablo book with bone armor. They approached a fort that, unknown to the party mind you, had recently come under attack by ghouls, skeletons, and other undead horrors, so they immediately started firing on the characters until the characters could convince them that they were not there to fight. 

5. Quick Change: Tribes, armies, cities, and gods rise and fall at the drop of the hat in Conan's world. A king may think himself an actual god and try to fly. An entity that has lain dormant for thousands of years may rise and devour a city. Armies are betrayed by their generals. Things are constantly in a state of flux.

6. Amara: That's Conan's pirate raiding name, "the lion". It's a name that Conan is associated with only by those in the know while others only know of one or the other and when they put the two together, it's not always a good thing for Conan. Having an alias, especially one that lasts for a while and has specific meaning to a group of people, provides characters with further bits than just their original name. Elric for instance, outside of being known as a Kinslayer, is often called the White Wolf.

Savage Sword of Conan Volume Two

Dark Horse comics have long brought new life to Conan. I'm old enough to remember the many times the Conan stories have fallen out of print and when there were no new Conan books nor comics. In their revival of Conan, Dark Horse did something that hasn't been done in decades. They've taken the older Marvel Comics material, and made it available again.

These reprints have taken two forms. The old color comics were collected into graphic novel sized trades while the old magazines, the darker, more violent, more adult material? Reprinted into the Savage Sword of Conan. Volume Two has a host of excellent artists and fantastic covers. For a preview, the Dark Horse site has one available here.

It's always a pleasure for me to read these old trades. Their done up like the Marvel Essential titles in that they're huge thick volumes on 'newsprint' style paper but that's not the joy. Rather it's seeing some of my old favorite artists, most notably John Buscema. This volume collects 11-24.

There are always nifty bits in the series that are perfect for nicking for your RPG. I'll be discussing specific spoilers below so if you'd rather not have your knowledge of ancient tomes of Conan ruined, read no further!

Because it's such a meaty volume, I'll be going easy on how many tales I'll pick this time around. I'll limit it to the first two. The volume starts off with Abode of the Damned, based off the story The Country of the Knife by Robert E Howard.

1. The Abode of the Damned requires specific methods of entry outside of the obvious sneaking or storming. The first is to be vouched for someone who is known in the Abode. The second is to kill an armed person of the city. The third is as a slave. Conan manages the second quite easily. Not only that, the Abode is a special type of place, one for rogues and outlaws whose sword skills or other talents may be in high demand. Locations like this are perfect for those out of the way spots on your maps that don't have any information on them.

2. Hidden Identity: When Conan meets those going to the Abode, he claims to be someone else. this allows him to easily enter into the city and perform his business until his true identity is learned. Having hidden identities isn't something that should just be limited to villains. If the players can reasonably do it, such as being in an area where their names are known but not their likeness? Or those descriptions of them are wrong? But even as Conan goes about hidden, so does one of his foemen who if his true identity were known, would result in him losing power and prestige due to the racial enmity between the various factions of the land.

Having different ethnicities in a campaign can add a lot of complexity and if the game is merely about plundering dungeons, such details may be unimportant. But if the players can gain leverage by pointing out the differences in tribes and politicians and even religious beliefs, they can force one side or the other to come to them for assistance.

3. Timer: The Abode has an ancient planet consuming alien disguised as a gem stone. Three strangers come to the city to destroy it. The unsatisfying thing about this from a RPG prospective is that the characters don't really learn about this fact until nearly the end. In a role playing game, you can put a timer up and see if the players take any special action. I've read reports where the GM did this and every time the timer hit zero, a PC's head exploded. Provided lots of motivation to them.

4. Destroy your Idols: The writers had no problems destroying the cities and landscapes of the setting. By having a rough idea of what the city is and what its purpose is, the GM isn't necessarily going to ruin a lot of work by destroying it. By the end of the story, the Abode of the Damned is crushed below its foundations by powers from outside space and time to stop the alien menace inside it.

Next up is the Haunter of Castle Crimson.  This story is adapted from The Slave Princess by Robert E. Howard. The comics never had a problem borrowing from the Robert E. Howard library and liberally applies those ideas and concepts to the character of Conan.

1.Start the action! The book opens with a city in its death throes. A group of raiders have taken the city and are busy slaying the last of those alive in it. Into this maelstrom of death and carnage comes Conan who thanks to his own sword skills and abilities, is able to take from the takers including jewels and a specific slave. If you start the adventure off with the players in a situation that they have to act, it brings them to the table much faster as they have to figure out how they're going to interact with the mayhem around them.

2. Old Friends: Conan is made welcome at Castle Crimson because he knows the lord of it from olden days. Assuming the players don't murder and mutilate all that they come in contact with, provide them quick updates from time to time on where their old contacts and associates are. For example, if you've run an Adventure Path and the players initially took work from some merchants or low ranking nobles at one time, have those characters show up later either further up the ranks of their profession or fallen on hard times and looking for assistance to win back their former glory. They make good methods of adding adventure side quests or providing the players places to hide.

3. The Big Swindle: Conan saved the slave from the falling city because she looks exactly like a missing princess who is promised to someone who is offering a lot of money for her return. Conan's plan is to get the money and pawn the slave off as the princess. This falls into the pattern of the writers of using one person's identity, false or not, to hide the true personage. If the players meet people that appear to be of no importance, having one of them turn out to be of great importance later that have seen the players at their 'true nature' could come back to haunt them. Then again, there's nothing preventing the players from doing something similar themselves, especially if they have hirelings and or henchmen.

4.Complications: Ah, that brilliant plan of Conan's is cut short when his old ally and friend falls in love with the slave and is willing to kill Conan to keep her. Conan though valuing his friends more than money merely defeats his friend and doesn't kill him. In role playing games, such a fate might not happen and the GM should be ready to have any complications he throws into the game go multiple ways.

5.Secret Passages: The Castle Crimson is old and it has secret tunnels through its bones. Having secret manners and methods to enter such a place may allow the players more freedom than others might have. Such locations also make good ambush points since if the players weren't supposed to know of them, who can they go to for help without revealing themselves?

6. The Antechamber of Hell! While assassins sneak off with the slave pivotal to Conan's trade, Conan hunts the assassin down and finds him in a sunken cell where bones have been laying for over twenty years. This bone filled chamber does a few things here. The first is that amists the bones are weapons. This could allow players to find new items if for some reason they have lost their own, or if they have fallen behind the 'tread mill' in games like 3rd edition and 4th edition of Dungeons and Dragons where items of X power are assumed at Y level.

The second is that the bones come to life when blood is spilt upon them. In a fight with others, say bandits or other attackers, for every round that edged weapons are used and successfully draw blood, more skeletons could be activated, attacking the person whose blood awoke them. This could cause the players to shift tactics quickly or to maneuver themselves out of the chamber and allow the undead to overwhelm their enemy.

7. The Big Swindle Undone: Turns out the slave girl Conan thought was a princess is actually a princess. The case of mistaken identity works to Conan's advantage though as the complication from earlier is turned to his advantage. When having cases of mistaken identity, don't be afraid to reveal that it is no mistake. Or is she? For example, the slave girl is actually a slave girl but takes to the role so well that even the girl's father is fooled.

An inexpensive collection with some fantastic art from the greats of the 70's of comics, Amazon has this available in Kindle format for $9.99 here or in paperback version for $14.05 here and it is Prime eligible.

The Savage Sword of Conan Volume One

As I'm going through my books, some reorganized, some being boxed up in case I have to move, one of the series I've gone through again and again, is the black and white compilations of the old Savage Sword of Conan reprinted by Dark Horse Comics. At a cover price of something like $17.95 when I bought it, probably cheaper through Amazon, you would be hard pressed to find a better visual deal.

When I say visual, I mean that it has a lot of well known comic artists ranging from Barry Windsor-Smith, John Buscema, Jim Starlin, Al Milgrom, Walter Simonson and others. The cover itself is an old Boris image and probably not one of his better ones. While the background and skeletons and material look fantastic, Conan himself looks like he has some intenstinal problems and the lady looks like she's just turned her head to avoid seeing something.

But the stories inside also contain a wealth of inspiration both visual and written. Some of it drawing on Robert E. Howard's original material but much of it new. Well, new at the time eh?

So what could a role playing GM take from it?

Atali: In the first story, one I believe reprinted from the comic proper, and one done up by the master himself, Conan meets Atali, the First born of Ymir, the Frost Gian't daughter. While she has no combat role in the encounter, she does lead Conan into an ambush and is whisked away from trouble by her father before Conan can have his way with her. Seemingly innocent people leading characters into ambushes is an old favorite of Robert E. Howard and he's used it in many situations. In some instances, the person leading the ambush doesn't even have to be 'innocent' looking but may have something that the players need.

Red Nails is the next story up. It showcases Conan and Valeria of the Red Brotherhood against a decadent city of savages who've fallen from their once timeless strengths. Some try to sacrifice Valeria for the promise of everlasting youth. Some Conan because he's simply too dangerous to keep around. There is an ancient item that in D&D would act as a wand of disintegration or something along those levels. The war between the internal factions also makes a good set up for a good 'hex crawl'.

Another bit here is the fate of the horses. The characters aren't in visual range of their horses, but they hear something happening to them. "Horses in terror and agony and mingled with their screams, the snap of splintering bones." It also showcases that in isolated regions, some strange monsters may pop up as Conan winds up fighting a dinosaur in this far off region.

Among the old adages here, Conan comes into contact with more treasure that he could ever possess or take back. "Precious jade? Surely not in such quantities!" The walls themselves are covered with it. If as a GM you put in vast decorative wealth, don't be surprised if the player's try to steal it. On the other hand, it is a common trope in Sword and Sorcery settings.

In another yarn, The Secret of Skull River, the inhabitants of a small town are poisoned, turning into horrid mutant things suffering from boils and a leprous appearance. This is a byproduct of magic being done at a nearby tower. In addition to the poisoning effects, the wizard has turned brothers into what can be described as either hill giants or ogres. This method allows the GM to put some monsters that might not fit into a standard Sword & Sorcery campaign by using magic to turn normal people into limited monsters that may never show up again but can fit the bill at the time. One interesting twist here, is that Conan winds up befriending one of the giants, Grandall, who only seeks to be human again.

This isn't necessarily another 'standard' but even in some of the old fantasy video games, when you beat an enemy, you can 'befriend' that enemy or use them in your party. The GM can set up the character to have a 'health bar' that resets on the players side if the players beat the monsters but do so in a way that brings the monster to their side. This can be as simple as communicating with it, some odd ritual if they need the monster or something else that fits he campaign.

Curse of the Undead-Man starts off in a manner that some games can use. For example, if your players have been like mine, at times they may have too much freedom. They may be pondering things to do. They may be debating and discussing and the game may not get started for hours. That's when you bring the game to them. Curse starts off with Conan merely walking down the street and having first one group running into him seeking to escape from some pursuers, and then another group, this one armed and waiting to deal death, seek them out and in doing so, run into Conan. It also brings in Red Sonja, who at this point, we've not seen as readers before, but knows Conan. The recurring NPC or the 'guest player' make a good fit here.

Black Colossus is a story I've covered in a different post. This one is a single issue as opposed to the five issues that Dark Horse took to tell it in the graphic novel. This one benefits tremendously from John Buscema's art in its showcasing of 'cyclopean blocks and shattered stone images amid the sheer breath taking sweep of the naked desert beyond." It also brings in the hand of the "railroad" in that a princess in dire need seeks wisdom from the temple and her god Mitra bids her "Go you forth alone upon the streets of your capital and place your kingdom in the hands of the first man you meet there." Who of course turns out to be Conan. Another example of the story coming to the characters.

A Witch Shall Be Born has a few goodies to yank. The first being 'the evil twin'. The second being 'the mark'. Mind you in this case the evil twin has the mark so it's one and the same here. In other settings though, having a birth mark of a certain type can put the characters in a position of notoriety or fame. The evil twin can have many implications. For example, if the players are new in town, they may be mistaken for someone else. They may be the 'evil' twin so to speak.

The Savage Sword of Conan has many unique monsters with great visuals. The black and white ink work showcases the Cimmerian age well.