Let's Talk about Conan

stoic wrote:

Mr. White wrote: The woman's posture and submission is presented to arouse and titillate. It's as if the artist wants the viewer to want to _take_ her...

She could have a broken hip, or the ancient stone altar isn't flat, but, has a stony lump.

Yeah. No.

I played the first three scenarios with friends over the weekend. Consensus? "Wow, this game rules...except..."

I think this game may be the #1 example of why Kickstarter development sucks and hurts games. With proper development, publication, and oversight...I think this could have been THE definitive Conan game of all time. I also think it would be among the best games in this class because it is innovative where it counts and it plays out completely differently than any other dungeoncrawl-style game. The exhaustion and action selection, in a VERY roundabout way, goes back to Magic Realm and/or Mage Knight. Managing energy has been done before, but this may be the best way yet.

EXCEPT for the fact that the actions should have been set up like the OL activations, where you have tiles in a river, you pay the cost and move it to the end of the line where its cost goes up until it cycles back down. That system is genius.

There's all these skills which make it feel more robust than usual, and it's more of a skirmish combat game with adventure elements...and the Conan narrative is really strong, it looks and feels totally like you want it to. Especially on the second scenario, which is pirate thing with Belit's ship getting boarded. Total swashbuckling, jumping between ships and all that.

Charlie told me I'd like it because it was "Franco-trash", and he was right. It's another one that feels closer to Earth Reborn in its scope...except so much of the game appears to be not in the box. So many components go unused. So many skills not even present in the game. It feels like half the game isn't there. "Online scenarios" don't count in a $110 retail game. If it has pit trap tokens...there had better be a scenario with them.

The rules are garbage. We had to work out how Belit's guards because it literally does not say anywhere in the rules how they work. I mean, WTF. There are so many sloppy, lazy omissions. And there are STUPID things like how some of the icons work, which makes it confusing when you make a defense roll in particular. It's not clear what an action is, how spells are cast or maintained...this has second edition written all over it.

The third scenario seemed really iffy- I was the OL, the heroes just whomped me in like three turns. I didn't feel like I was playing badly. They blew through the demon at the door and stormed the steps before I could get anything going with activating the stone monsters.

I think my pull quote will be "the worst best game of 2016".

I don't know.... I think it might get really cumbersome if every hero had a river to manage. Does it really make sense that Conan's second axe swing should cost maximum resources?

But if had a couple of different attacks and a way to manage them...but yeah, that might work or make sense if the heavier moves come down in cost, I see what you are saying. I suppose the limitations cover that.

Encumberamce is kind of an odd thing to add, but I like how it limits skill use.

And people have been trying to use various stuff. Deck building, WHQACG style limitation, and even rondel.

I think the rulebook is shitty. It's surprisingly clear in what it explains but it's missing a lot. I believe FFG actually HELPED with the rulebook, although they probably were not intimately familiar with the game.

I'm not sure I would prefer it with the Heroes having a river. I mean, I might, but I'm pretty satisfied with the gems on abilities thing.

Also, I think the skills are fine. Many are not used in a specific scenario, yes, but it's the same as a game like Claustrophobia giving the heroes a card or two to use as a skill or special item in a scenario. They're tools for scenarios to take advantage of. The skill system as a whole works pretty well. Nothing like wrecking walls with Conan in that Pict village.

You probably won't keep the game but they are sending out a free updated rulebook in the future.

I'm impressed that all of you were able to break out, learn, and play this game so quickly. My KS version arrived and it still sits in the shipping box, even though I was really excited about it when I ordered it. I guess I need to dive into that cesspool of a rulebook for myself, and force my friends to play with me.

Gregarius wrote: I'm impressed that all of you were able to break out, learn, and play this game so quickly. My KS version arrived and it still sits in the shipping box, even though I was really excited about it when I ordered it. I guess I need to dive into that cesspool of a rulebook for myself, and force my friends to play with me.

I've actually had it for almost a month, somehow got my kickstarter shipped right away. Played it a half dozen times and already reviewed it even.

At $110, it's reasonable for people to expect a finished game. Unfortunately, there isn't much incentive for Kickstarter game designers to put in the extra effort for playtesting and proofreading.

I've just been playing nothing but it...and there really isn't that much in the retail box. I don't have all of the piles of extra miniatures that came with the KS, which apparently do not have any scenarios that use them anyway.

It's pretty easy to learn even though the rulebook is trash. The basics are nothin', it's the corner cases and details where it completely crashes.

Believe it or not, I may actually keep this one. I think I like it enough to see where it goes.

The undead were included in the King Pledge (135 instead of 90) and are featured in a couple of scenarios, so's Thog the Great Old One. There was also an additional double-sided board as a SG and they included 2 scenarios per side, but using just the basics. So we already have 16 scenarios as it is, and despite the piles of unused stuff, that was Monolith's rationale for not yet adding new scenarios online - there's plenty to do with it right now.

Finally got to play this today, and I like the game, but definitely less than The Others. I played a 2-player scenario, a 4-player scenario and two 5-player scenarios. I'm comparing them because they are the two new "ONE VS MANY" / "HEROES VS OVERLORD" games I played this year.

The Book of Skelos is very nice, but it feels a bit too euro-y sometimes. I like how it forces hard decisions, and how just spamming the 1-gem or 2-gem units isn't always the correct thing to do. Sometimes you NEED to activate that 6-gem unit.

Having the maps not be modular is nice, and it helps keep the initial setup to a minimum.

I didn't like that Conan is so overpowered. I guess the other heroes aren't boring to use, but instead of having Conan be as strong as all the other heroes combined, they should've just made him stronger. Probably easier said than done.

The game feels a bit clunky sometimes, and I really don't like that there are a bunch of heroes that can't be switched around. I guess it's really just specific scenarios.

The scenarios felt short, and there wasn't much of a build-up. There isn't an early, mid or late game to it. It's just all lategame.

That being said, there were lots of tense and exciting moments, and I am looking forward to more scenarios of this game.