Mongoose Conan Hyborean Adventures conversion into C&C

[daddystabz]

Anyone know of any already done or being worked on conversion of the Mongoose rpg for Conan into C&C? I think most of it would be pretty easy, identical in fact to conversions I have seen done for 3e D&D characters, creatures, etc. but what about how Mongoose handles armor and defense in that game? In that game you have a dodge defense, parry defense, and armor doesn't make you arder to hit (armor class)...it does what it sohuld do, which is damage reduction after you are hit.

Anyone got any suggestions on these or know where to find info? Thanks!
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[Matthew]

Yeah, when you're talking about mechaical translation, rather than just importing the flesh of the setting, there'll be a few more problems than default D20.

One possibility is the 'Parallel Armour Class' idea I keep harping on about; in many ways it is similar to the Conan D20 Parry/Block/Dodge mechanisms.

Quote:
Alternative Defences
Block

Once per Round or in place of an Attack, a Character using a Shield may declare a Block against a Missile or Melee Attack that would otherwise have hit his Armour Class. The Block provides a Base Armour Class equal to [10 + Bonus to Hit]. This is then adjusted by any other modifiers the Character may have that would normally apply to an Attack (such as from Strength or, at the Castle Keeper's option, Dexterity) and also by +2 for Small Shields and +4 for Large Shields (modified by any enchantments).
Example: Aldros, a Level 5 Human Fighter (Strength 15, Dexterity 13) equipped with Mail Armour and a Large Shield is attacked by an Orc. The Orc rolls a 16 and adds his +2 to Hit Bonus, which beats Aldros' Armour Class. Aldros declares a Block, which provides an Armour Class of 20 [(10) + Bonus to Hit (6) + Large Shield (4)] and foils the Orc's Attack. Aldros can only make another Block if he has an Attack to spare this Round.
Dodge

If a Character has one or more attacks left to make during the Round, he may in place of that Attack declare a Dodge against a Missile or Melee Attack that would otherwise have hit his Armour Class. The Dodge provides a Base Armour Class equal to [10 + Level], modified by Dexterity.
Example: Talus a Level 4 Human Thief (Dexterity 15) is attacked by an Orc. The Orc rolls a 12 and adds his +2 to Hit Bonus, which beats Aldros' Armour Class. However, since Talus has not yet attacked in the Round, he decides to declare a Dodge. His Dodge provides an Armour Class of 15 [10 + Level (4) + Dexterity Bonus (1)], which foils the Orc's Attack.
Parry

If a Character has one or more attacks left to make during the Round, he may in place of that Attack declare a Parry against a Melee Attack that would otherwise have hit his Armour Class. The Parry provides a Base Armour Class equal to [10 + Bonus to Hit]. This is then modified by any to hit Bonuses the Character may have that would normally apply to an Attack (such as from Strength or, at the Castle Keeper's option, Dexterity) and any Parry Bonuses the Weapon may provide.
Example: Merena, a Level 5 Human Fighter (Strength 14, Dexterity 14) equipped with Mail Armour and a Two Handed Sword +1 with which she has Specialisation, is attacked by an Orc. The Orc rolls a 14 and adds 2, which will beat her Armour Class. Merena decides to declare a Parry. Her Parry provides an Armour Class of 18 [10 + Bonus To Hit (5) + Specialisation Bonus (1) + Magic Bonus (1) + Strength Bonus (1)] and foils the Orc's Attack.
Variable Defences

If the Castle Keeper so wishes, he may have Player Characters and significant Monsters add 1D20 in place of 10. This creates both a chance for dismal failure and outstanding success.
Notes

The Castle Keeper must use some degree of judgement in adjudicating these sorts of defences. It is probably not appropriate to allow a Character to Parry an Ogre's Club with a Dagger and it is not the intention of this Optional Rule to allow anything that would be implausible.

Some Castle Keepers may want to have Shields or Weapons used to explicitly deflect Attacks have a chance of being destroyed. I have occasionally asked for Saving Throws for such items, but would advise only doing so under special circumstances.

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Yoshida Kenko (1283-1350)

[serleran]

I have a pdf (not written by me) that has some Conan stuff. Pretty useful, if that's what you're into.

[daddystabz]

Is it the Conan C&C pdf that is incomplete? I think it was started back in 2006. I will take a look at your mechanic ideas, Matthew.
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[serleran]

Quote:
Is it the Conan C&C pdf that is incomplete?

I don't know. I can't say with any authority, as I'm not a real fan of Conan as a game. It is one written by David Bell, as I recall. As a conversion, its pretty good.

[daddystabz]

Yup...the pdf I have is written by him too. It is really good. I sure wish I could find a completed version.
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[adaen]

daddystabz wrote:
...snip.... In that game you have a dodge defense, parry defense, and armor doesn't make you harder to hit (armor class)...it does what it should do, which is damage reduction after you are hit.

The argument can be made that armor should do a bit of both:

1) reduce the frequency of hits

2) reduce the severity of *some* of the hits

The net result should be a reduction in the number of *meaningful* hits. Ablative hitpoints combined with AC makes for more predictable combats and gives players a sense of when to look for a way out of a combat (e.g., "geeze, that last hit brought me below 1/2 my total hits...I might want to drink that potion of invisibility and get the heck out of here"). Now I'm not flat out disagreeing with you (I prefer alternatives to the hp/AC system too), but rather playing devil's advocate and point out that there are valid reasons for the hp/AC pairing beyond just tradition.

If you find a complete version of that the Conan conversion doc (or work one up of your own), be sure to let us know. You might want to check out how The Arcanum did this....its setting is decidedly very similar to Hyborea before the Ocean's drank Atlantis....

~AoB
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~Adaen of Bridgewater, www.highadventuregames.com

[rabindranath72]

I did a quite "fast and loose" adaptation of the d20 Conan books, discarding all things which do not have an immediate equivalent in C&C for the sake of simplicity (Conan d20 is awfully complex, even more than 3.x..blech!)

To use the equipment lists, I took the damage absorption of armor as armor class. The weapons I left unmodified (they are slightly more dangerous than C&C weapons, but that is OK for a Conan game).

I used the C&C classes with the following equivalence:

Soldier -> Fighter, Knight (depending on the specialisation)

Barbarian -> Barbarian (but added Scale, Conceal and Track to the class abilities)

Thief -> Rogue, Assassin (depending on character concept)

Borderer -> Ranger

Pirate -> Rogue, Fighter

Scholar -> Scholar (I designed a new class; the writeup should be in a thread here somewhere)

Noble -> I tried with a class of my design, which mixes some abilities of bard and knight (should be here somewhere, too)

The rules for magic are practically used "as-is", with the Magic Attack Bonus NOT being used, since the C&C save system already factorises a character's level into saves.

All in all it worked quite well!

[rabindranath72]

daddystabz wrote:
In that game you have a dodge defense, parry defense, and armor doesn't make you arder to hit (armor class)...it does what it sohuld do, which is damage reduction after you are hit.

Well, armor class in any version of D&D has never had the meaning of "make you harder to hit", but "make you harder to damage". That is why I think that mechanics like the one in d20 Conan are at best redundant, and only add a layer of complication which is unnecessary.

[ThrorII]

I'm actually writing a Mongoose Conan/C&C conversion, slowly but surely.

Basically, my goal is to:

1. convert the races from d20 Conan to C&C.

2. convert the classes from d20 Conan to C&C

Conan barbarian = C&C barbarian (without Primal Fury being a party killer).

Conan soldier = C&C fighter (with Combat Dominence applying to all 1HD people).

Conan border = C&C ranger (with Combat Maurader being replaced by TWF or Ranged Weapon Specialization)

Conan noble = C&C knight (because most PC nobles are knight- like. NPC non-combat nobles will just be 0-level 1HD humans). Mount rules will apply to either horses or chariots (based on character type)

Conan thief = C&C rogue, as is

Conan pirate = new C&C class

Conan nomad = new C&C class

Conan scholar = new C&C class: Sorcerer

C&C monk is retained, as is the bard

C&C wizard, druid, cleric, illusionists are dropped

3. I am replacing C&C magic with the Conan sorcery rules, converted to SEIGE mechanics.

4. I am keeping C&C weapon damage, and using Conan armor (with Damage Reduction X replaced by +X Armor Class rating).

5. I am keeping Conan's Massive Damage Rules (20 pts of damage = Con SEIGE check or -1 hp and dying).

I'm about 1/2 way through.

[rabindranath72]

Interesting! Please post your work when you are done!
I forgot about the Nomad: I used the C&C Barbarian, with a Secondary Skill of Nomadic (created according to the guidelines of Gary in his skill system), which grants some class abilities.