Thursday, January 30, 2025

Fantastic Heroes & Witchery - The Hyborian Age

KNOW, oh prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the Sons of Aryas, there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars—Nemedia, Ophir, Brythunia, Hyperborea, Zamora with its dark-haired women and towers of spider-haunted mystery, Zingara with its chivalry, Koth that bordered on the pastoral lands of Shem, Stygia with its shadow-guarded tombs, Hyrkania whose riders wore steel and silk and gold. But the proudest kingdom of the world was Aquilonia, reigning supreme in the dreaming west. Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen- eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandalled feet. — The Nemedian Chronicles


"The Hyborian Age" is the archetypal Sword & Sorcery setting created by Robert E. Howard to be a backdrop for his stories of Conan the Cimmerian. Placed in our own pre-history, it is filled with a multitude of rich cultures and exotic environments ripe for adventure. 

There are many useful references that have been published over the years for this setting, notably Mongoose's Return to the Road of Kings for their d20-based Conan RPG. I use GURPS Conan for setting information, ignoring the statistics.

Here I share my efforts at adapting the rules for Fantastic Heroes & Witchery to this savage and dangerous setting. These are meant to work in conjunction with the house rules and other modifications posted here. The following documents are primarily meant for Player Characters, as I have restricted several Classes to NPCs only, in keeping with the themes of Sword & Sorcery stories.



NPC Classes: Alienist, Clergyman, Cultist, Diabolist, Fighting-Man, Illusionist, Mystic, Necromancer, Scarlet Fist, Sea-Witch, Thug, Warlock, Warrior-Monk, Wizard


No comments:

Post a Comment