Sidebar: Racism and Sexism in the Conan Board Game

This post is a sidebar on the topic of sexism and racism in the Conan board game.  I'm trying to provide context on both sides of the argument (with my opinions clearly stated) to help potential gamers decide if this is a game they'd want on their table.

No disrespect intended to anyone who disagrees with this and I believe it's okay to have a difference of opinion as long as that opinion doesn't impinge on anyone's civil rights.

Review of Monolith's Conan Skirmish Game

Between the time when the oceans drank Atlantis, and the rise of the sons of Aryas, there was an age undreamed of. And unto this, Conan, destined to use jewels as both stamina and health, furrowed his troubled brow.  It is I, a random blogger, who alone *cough* along with many other better reviewers *cough*, can tell thee of his saga. Let me tell you of the days of high adventure!

The game Conan, by Monolith, has been out almost two years and the next Kickstarter is months, if not a full year out, from when I'm typing this ultra late to the party review.  With the Kickstarter version, came a full box of stretch goals, and optional purchases of three big box expansions (I discussed them here), an art/campaign book, and a lot of other add-ons miniatures.

Robert E. Howard's character of Conan was written far more intellectual than he's often portrayed in later books, comics, and movies.  In the opening paragraph of his first story, The Phoenix on the Sword, he's described as "black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth."  That emotion breadth of the character (sullen, melancholy, and mirthful) is often dismissed right along with his intelligence.  There's more to Conan and Robert E. Howard than many people pause to take note of.

To help ensure they captured Howard's essence correctly, Monolith hired Patrice Louinet, a notable Robert E. Howard scholar.

And, much like the titular character, the game could just as easily been toss aside as another 'dudes on a map Ameritrash game'.  There are some hidden gems of systems in this game (pun fully intended) and that adds to the experience and makes the game more than just another skirmish game.

Constructing a Better Dungeon

From 1st Edition AD&D DMG. 
Also a case study in why you don't split the party.

Almost nothing short of a pop culture reference can pull a game group out of the moment than a nonsensical dungeon.  Why are there orcs, goblins, giant beetles, and a wight living in these trees?  Is there a food chain or pecking order here or was this the result of randomly selected from dice rolls on a table a la the original printing of B1: In Search of the Unknown.  Oh good, the giant beetle has a magic scroll and the goblins had a magic sword that they didn't use because it's too nice?

The Evolution of Dungeons and Dragons over the Editions

1st Edition Monster Manual

Grimm and I were chatting about D&D on Twitter recently and it got me thinking about the evolution of the game Dungeons and Dragons.  I had recently commented to a friend that D&D always felt like it was designed around combat and the RPG parts were tacked on later.  I feel like this is an easy argument to make considering it's birth from the Chainmail system.

From Advanced Dungeons and Dragons and the most recent 5th Edition - what's changed?

Well, quite a lot and yet not much.

Ten Years of Age of Conan

It's hard to believe that it's been 10 years since I was stuck at load screen for two hours with a hanged game.  Despite my last doom and gloom post, the lead up to the anniversary was nice and the Saga of Zath was a neat idea.  It's also the type of thing that fits perfectly in Funcom's model for AoC (or any game on maintenance) - minimal effort for creating new assets yet still deliver the customers a fun event.

I didn't quite get to 80 on my Saga character (now if I was subbed, I would have - oh the irony) but I don't recall ever just pounding the game with one character for so long.  And I had fun trying to get him there.

The anniversary was, kind of as expected, a rehash of old events with some new vanity items for sale.  Getting log ins for 14 days over the 3 weeks to get the lion makes sense - although it's a shame it's not account wide.  I didn't check the store but I'm sure there's a way of buying something similar.  Likewise, giving loot boxes daily was a nice bonus and is one of the few times I recall getting gifts from Funcom.

While I was tempted to resub, I decided to remain F2P for now for all the reasons I stated before - I don't have time to play enough to justify the expense.

Servers like Saga of Zath won't save AoC but I think they can help get small bumps and remind people that "hey, there's still a fun MMO over here."  But, I also hope they show restraint and only do this one, maybe twice, a year.  Any more than that and it'll just get stale.  I'm not sure I'd jump on and try to level another toon before the fall under a similar rule set.  The interesting question will be - what are some other ways to generate the same buzz in a slightly different manner?  Can you make character clones, like they do for TestLive, baseline their gear and put them on a PVP server?  Do you make a higher level version of Tortage for your characters to experience again?   (Not sure how to do that without needing to create new quests/assets).

Happy Birthday Age of Conan!  Here's to the first 10 years and hopefully many more to come.

Why I'm Letting my AoC Sub Lapse...

An empty battlefield between Tortage and Khitai

People have been saying AoC is going to die since it launched.  At some point, it's even outlived at least one of the games that were supposed to kill it (Warhammer Online).  It's natural that an MMO that doesn't continue to expand will eventually close down.  Evolve or die.  Age of Conan is dying and I have a weird mix of fatalism, apathy, and sorrow about it.

Comparing Some Dungeon Crawler Board Games

In 2015 there were a lot of fantasy based dungeon crawlers on Kickstarter.  I was just getting into hobby board gaming and has just gone a little crazy on Monolith's Conan and late pledged a few of these games looking for something to occupy my time around the time my son was born.  One of my favorite things in Age of Conan, and fantasy in general, is being immersed in a world.  As a fan of Robert E. Howard, AoC was my favorite MMO both for its fun combat but also for the great stories and the characters you meet.  I was looking for more stories and interesting characters in the board game medium.  I was looking for that RPG in a box and looking for something with solo play since I don't have a dedicated game group anymore due to life.