Review of Conan the Pirate

Blurb from the publisher: 'Welcome to the high seas.

This book requires the Robert E. Howard's Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of corebook to use.'

What you get: Your EUR 23,99 or USD 26,99 or GBP 19,99 will buy you the, full-colour 130-page hardcover Robert E. Howard's Conan: Conan the Pirate, a sourcebook for the Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of game line, along with its pdf edition. The book boasts an integrated black cloth bookmark.

The pdf version alone costs EUR 11,99 or USD 13,99 or GBP 9,99.

The three Conan sourcebooks with the word Conan in their title that have been previously published (Conan the Barbarian, Conan the Thief, and Conan the Mercenary) share the same blueprint, and in many cases even similar chapter names. There are thus certain similarities between the present review and the reviews of those three products.

Contents: Following a short introduction by fictional characters, both in Conan's world as well as ours, the book kicks off with Pirate Characters. There are five new Pirate castes (corsair, fisher, marine, sailor, trader). I also count nine new caste talents, six Stories per caste, four character archetypes, five pirate natures, ten pirate educations, ten pirate stories, and five new Talents. New names and distinguishing features are also included, along with new gear and equipment.

The 27-page Gazetteer is the book's biggest chapter. It covers the lands related to the sea. For the world of Conan, that would mean The Main (the Western Ocean, Zingara, and Argos), the Southern Shores (Shem, Stygia, Kush, and the Black Coast), and the Northern Wilds (Vanaheim and the Pictish Coast). It contains a historical narrative, as well as information on the lands and the peoples themselves. Expect discussion of the politics, style and religion in Zingara, small paragraphs on each of the different islands of the Baracha isles, the imposing navy prowess of Argos, etc. All areas follow a similar format, even though each region focuses on what makes it different. Stygia sees two different cities described, along with The Great Pyramid of Set, while the Pictish Coast includes amongst others the treasure cave of Tranicos.

Events covers everything that affects the world of the pirate, the sailor, and any that ply the seas for trade, travel, or adventure. There's war at sea and how one can get pressed into service, privateering, campaigning against the pirates, or even leading a pirate revolution. These man-made events are accompanied by natural events like typhoon season, sea monsters, and even preternatural events like the Great Sargasso or even the awakening of a Great Old One.

Myth & Magic delves into the sea cults and their magical powers. Not all the ships that sail are manned by humans; Ships of the Dead tackles ships with a ghost crew... or worse. The chapter also discusses wrecks, as well as the Barachan Oracle.

Encounters is a 22-page chapter covering anything and everything the characters might face. There are Sea-Dogs and Hardies (3 entries), Beasts from the Depths of Sea (6 entries, including dolphins and monkeys), Monstrous Foes (8 entries, including the Kraken which by now should be released), and Famous Pirates and Others. In that last subchapter we encounter nine pirates before examining the Tigress, Conan's favourite ship. This is accompanied by N'Gora, N'Yaga, and Sakumbe, all of them relevant to the Black Coast.

Hither Came Conan is a small, three-page chapter. Like all similarly-titled chapters in the sourcebooks, it discusses the man himself and provides his stats during his piracy adventures in his late 20s.

The Way of the Pirate is about campaigns with piracy as the main theme. It explains the relevant terminology (e.g. the difference between buccaneer, corsair, freebooter etc), it discusses pirate organizations like the Red Brotherhood and the Zingaran freebooters, and delves into shipping lanes and how to pillage them, with all sorts of tables about what the cargo on a plundered ship might look like. Pirates are not however mindless brutes. They have their own sub-culture and code, with the most basic tenets explained. Also expect Doldrums and Shore Carousing events with ten different events each (like Cabin Fever and Bad Nights in the Bordello), pirate combat variations emphasizing on the disadvantage people who yield voluminous weapons have, and a table on sea weather.

Ship Combat covers 13 different types of ships of different sizes, from the kayak to the longship. Naval combat now becomes an autonomous thing, seeing how each ship has different qualities. Each ship receives a number of actions from its commander, lookout, helmsman, and marine. The only common action is damage control. From there on, each type of mariner has different actions like coordinate, assign crew, heading, target of opportunity, full sail etc. Vessels use Structure instead of Vigor and suffer Breaks instead of Wounds from the half-dozen naval artillery weapons that are included. Ships can also suffer complications like a mutiny or running fouled.

The final chapter describes Zarin the Red, an infamous pirate of enormous girth and an obsedian pendant with properties that even he is not aware of. He can be used as either a player character or an NPC.

The book ends with a one-page index.

The strong points: The sourcebooks which contain the name Conan in their title have all set the same goal: present a portion of the Hyborian world, while at the same time they discuss elements of campaigning set in distinctively different genres. Like its predecessors, Conan the Pirate tries to incorporate as much crunch and fluff as possible while keeping a certain balance. The new options for both players and gamemasters convincingly differentiate the era's pirates from its land-locked soldiers and fighters. Not all the rules are brand new, those who are however like the abstracted yet involved ship-combat, or the sea-oriented adversaries are solid. Taking the game to the liquid element should not feel like a reskinning of Conan fighting armies upon armies in deserted ruins.

As one expects in a Conan line, real practices from Earth have been artistically reimagined. Even though a newer GM might misinterpret the tone and contents of this book as relatively light, an experienced one can immediately see how with a minimum of hard information the book starts the thinking processes that can ultimately lead to memorable adventures. As such, this is a book about inception first and foremost. It is the start of a journey, a stepping stone, not detailed guidance nor the full journey itself. .

The new options on character creation and the diversified results they provide (always linked to men of the sea) are very welcome. Piracy was a long chapter in Conan's life after all.

I like seeing Conan re-statted in every book according to the needs of the narrative. The differences might not be enormous, they give however a frame of reference. Conan himself might not appear in every adventure, the inclusion however helps those of us who are not Conan scholars, and gives ideas about how a character may progress during his adventuring life.

The book's production values are of the usual Modiphius standard. The cover art is amazing, and even more so when one sees the full, two-page artwork in the inner cover. It is purposefully blurry and partially abstracted, it is however full of tenacity and action. The interior art is what one would expect in the Conan line. The bookmark has become a staple of Modiphius' hardcover books; I enjoy being spoiled, and so should you.

Support for the Conan line is very strong. This is the fourth sourcebook following a similar format, and many others are out already, covering different aspects of the Hyborean Age. Even better, another book on a similar premise, Conan the King, is expected in the future. We will visit it together as soon as it comes out.

The pdf is excellent. Everything from the table of contents is directly linked, with the bookmarks going down two levels deep. The index at the end of the book has live links. I would have enjoyed the bookmarks going three and even four levels down, seeing how much this facilitates reading, at the end of the day however I really can't complain.

The weak points: It is clear by now that the Conan-named sourcebooks are not immediately gameable when it comes to the lands they cover. They are distanced, generic, providing information that can give birth to ideas, but not much more. The gazetteer is not a fully detailed treatise of the land, nor does it include every piece of information a GM requires. They feel more like blueprints that will get the creative juices flowing. I will have criticized this more heavily in other games, in Conan however where the emphasis falls more on the plot and the personal story of perseverance instead of the surroundings, this is understood. Thankfully, the system's interaction with the rules means that it will not take aeons for the Gamemaster to create captivating landscapes that matter. Once again, I would have enjoyed adventure hooks tailored to each region, and more robust references when it comes to what Conan did, where, and when. Stuff like that really help a GM concoct his own adventures, and especially if he wishes to emulate the original stories the closest possible without having read all of them. On the other hand, when one has the adventure generation mechanics from the Conan Gamemaster's Toolkit at his disposal he only needs to change the smells and tastes of the stories, not the way they work.

What I consider to be rather enormous margins continue on this book as well. It appears to be one of the characteristics of the game line. There are also a few typos here and there, they are not however detrimental to your enjoyment of the book.

Conclusion: Conan the Pirate successfully continues the series of sourcebooks for the different lands and genres of Conan adventuring. The fluff and crunch balance themselves adequately, with the Gamemaster getting an idea about the lands, or rather, the seas that will host the heroes' future battlefields. Ship combat, while abstracted, is one of the book's main attractions, along with the new options for seaworthy characters. I would have enjoyed additional info on the lands covered, as well as more focused plot hooks, this is however Conan. The emphasis falls on the plot, not on the trappings.

For more info on Robert E. Howard's Conan: Conan the Pirate visit the Modiphius Entertainment website at http://www.modiphius.com.

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