''Conan Against Darkness!'' is a 1984

adventure module An adventure is a playable scenario in a tabletop role-playing game. These can be constructed by gamemasters for their players, and are also released by game publishers as pre-made adventure modules. Different types of designs exist, including ...

for the first edition of the ''

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Several different editions of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') fantasy role-playing game have been produced since 1974. The current publisher of ''D&D'', Wizards of the Coast, produces new materials only for the most current edition of the ga ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and drama ...

roleplaying game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal ac ...

, set in the Hyborian universe of Robert E. Howard's character

Conan the Barbarian Conan the Barbarian (also known as Conan the Cimmerian) is a fictional sword and sorcery hero who originated in pulp magazines and has since been adapted to books, comics, films (including '' Conan the Barbarian'' and '' Conan the Destroyer'') ...

. It is designed for four player characters at character level 10-14 and uses some minor rule variations in an attempt to recreate the setting's atmosphere. It was publicized as containing a "journey of epic proportions".

Plot summary

''Conan Against Darkness!'' is an adventure that takes place while Conan was King of Aquilonia and features a battle against

Thoth-Amon "The Phoenix on the Sword" is one of the original short stories about Conan the Cimmerian written by American author Robert E. Howard and first published in '' Weird Tales'' magazine in December 1932. The tale, in which Howard created the chara ...

. The adventure requires the use of some variant rules specified in the publication. These include "Fear", a faster healing rate, and "Heroism". The publication includes four new monsters (Winged Gaunts, Crawler in the Dark, Serpent Folk, and Fire Guardians), several new magical items, and game statistics for the four suggested player characters - Conan, Pelias the Sorcerer, Nzinga the Amazon, and Prospero the General.

Publication history

''Conan Against Darkness!'' was written by

Ken Rolston Ken Rolston is an American computer game and role-playing game designer best known for his work with West End Games and on the computer game series ''The Elder Scrolls''. In February 2007, he elected to join the staff of computer games company B ...

, with art by Jeffrey Butler and

Jeff Easley Jeff Easley (born 1954) is an oil painter who creates fantasy artwork for role-playing games, comics, and magazines, as well as non-fantasy commercial art. Early life Easley was born in Nicholasville, Kentucky in 1954. He spent time drawing as ...

, and was published by TSR in 1984 as a 32-page booklet with an outer folder. Its module code is CB2 and its TSR product code is TSR 9124. The module was edited by Anne C. Gray, with graphic design by Elizabeth Riedel and cartography by "

Diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine ...

Reception

Jez Keen of '' Imagine'' magazine gave it a mixed review. He praised the cover and the overall "attractive package" of the module. However, he noted that the game could only be played effectively as Conan and his companions. Criticisms included the "disjointed and sometimes purposeless" gameplay, mundane and overwritten encounters, and that the "extreme violence and lack of clerics" made survival difficult.

References

External links

The "CB" modules
from The Acaeum Dungeons & Dragons modules Role-playing game supplements introduced in 1984 Role-playing games based on Conan the Barbarian {{D&D-stub

Plot summary

Publication history

Reception

See also

References

External links