The Tower of Druaga

The Tower of Druaga makes great inspirational viewing for FRPGs. It's about a group of delvers who dare to climb the evil tower of the title and draws on Babylonian mythology. It's based on an arcade game from the 80s and the first episode is a comedic spoof of all the games clichés. After that it settles down to a more serious adventure yarn, but with plenty of comic elements. For example, the party's wizard, Melt, has an assistant, Coopa, who basically acts as a caddy handing him different wands she pulls out of what amounts to a golf bag.You can watch both season one and season two over at ANN.

Royal Armies of the Hyborean Age (1975)

Royal Armies of the Hyborean Age: A Wargamer's Guide to the Age of Conan is an old-school wargame. It's probably the first commercial wargame based on Robert E. Howard's hero. (The first wargame based on the Conan saga was of course also the first ever fantasy wargame, Tony Bath's Hyboria campaign.) Written by Lin Carter, who at the time was one of the editor's of the expanded Conan stories, and Scott B. Bizar, game designer and founder of Fantasy Games Unlimited, it also features a few illustrations by Roy G. Krenkle. It's a 56 page, staple bound book in Letter sized (8.5" × 11") format detailing rules and army lists. It includes as inserts a card-stock QRS and a paper map of Hyboria.

There are two introductions, one by each author. Carter informs us that he is acting as the authority on the setting, basing it on REH's work but inventing details as they're needed, mainly for things like national emblems, etc. Bizar tells us the the inconsistencies in the original tales made them difficult to quantify, so some elements have been left out. The emphasis is on playability rather than simulation.

These rules were written before standard dice notation came into use so dice are referred to as "an average dice", i.e. 1d6, which is used for combat, and "decimal dice", or d100, which are used for morale and magic. The scale is 1:20, with one model, or "casting" as they call them, representing 20 individuals. Each turn represents roughly one hour, and they recommend that games be limited to twelve turns. To simulate the time it takes for armies to ready themselves for combat, they suggest rolling a six-sided die and subtracting the result from twelve to determine how many turns the game will last.

Units are defined in a general way, as Light Infantry, Medium Cavalry, Heavy Chariots, etc. They have five formations they can assume, Line, Column, Road Column, Charge, and Forced March. The formation a unit takes determines how far it can move. Movement is pre-plotted, and takes place in two phases.

Combat takes place simultaneously. It's modified by situation and involves rolling one six-sided die, which is then multiplied by the number of troops in the unit to determine the percentage of casualties inflicted. For example, a group of twelve Bossonian archers fire on a unit of Picts, rolling a "3". That means they inflict 36 casualties on the enemy. Since each model represents twenty people, the Pict player removes two "castings". Most ancient weapons are covered, but while they include rules for crossbows they strongly recommend against using them.

Units have to roll for morale when they come into contact with enemy units, when they lose a certain proportion of their number, or when magic is used on or near them. Having commanders, heroes or superheroes in a unit will increase its morale. If the unit fails a morale roll it will fall back or may route. Heroes and superheroes (Conan) may be included in a unit, and they count as more than one person for combat purposes. Heroes count as three fighters, superheroes count as five fighters.

Magic is handled well, and involves both spell points and the chance of a backfire, two game mechanics that became staples in later FRPGs. There are ten spells listed, with a couple of special spells available in the appendix. All wizards have The Shield of Air, and Flying Spell, which are they only two that won't backfire. Examples of the spells are The Wall of Fire, Raising the Army of Ghosts, which summons a unit of light troops, and Commanding the Earth Demon, which causes landslides. One interesting detail is that all missile attacks on wizards are -1 "...due to the haze around the wizard that all wizards create prior to any battle." The spells seem well balanced and wouldn't give the army fielding a magic user an overwhelming advantage.

The game includes a point system for building armies, and some guidelines for running a campaign. They suggest artificially limiting army size to 1500 points to keep things manageable. They also don't allow for sieges, arguing that armies wouldn't risk the casualties and that troops would take to the field when faced with a siege. Each move on the strategic map represents one week of game time with a campaign length of 35 turns, so each campaign lasts one year, at the end of which troops retire to their winter quarters. When counters on the map are adjacent players go to the gaming table to fight the battle. They give general suggests that each country should be divided into provinces, but no detailed rules covering that.

The rules end with a few appendices covering the army lists for specific nations. Each nation is described, along with its point value, historical analog, and its banner and color scheme. For example, Koth relies on archers, heavy chariots and Royal Mailed Cavalry, has as a banner a yellow field with a black triangle in the center, and the troops "all favor white and off white shades with yellow as the most common trim color." There's also a break down of each army, listing units, type, class, number of figures, and percentage of the total army.

There's an appendix dealing with magic users, which lists the different groups, like the Wizards of the Black Circle, the Preists of Mitra, et al., and gives some special spells for particular groups. There's also a description of Thoth-Amon who will fight for any nation opposing Aquilonia in return for the Heart of Ahriman. "Should Thoth-Amon succeed in gaining this magical talisman, his power would be virtually unlimited so that a campaign would come to an end if this were to occur..."

This is a well done game that covers all aspects of Hyborian warfare (except navies). The rules hold up well and I could easily imagine running this game today, especially with some of the smaller armies listed. As a sourcebook for the Hyborian Age it provides some useful details, assuming you don't mind the embellishments made by Carter, et al. This version of Hyboria is probably a little closer to Marvel Comics' Conan than it is to REH's, but it's fine for wargaming. I'm not sure how many Hyborian campaigns have been fought over the years using these rules, but I sure hope they kept Thoth-Amon away from that talisman!

Cool Talislanta art

Here are a few samples of an upcoming Talislanta art book from Khepera Publishing.

Necromancer with bottle-imp

Female Thrall

Warrior before a Kaliya

Kang Warrior mounted on a Strider

Barsoomian Army Lists

This is me saving some more great gaming stuff from obscurity. In this case it's Alan Saunders' Barsoomian Army Lists for WRG's now free wargame Hordes of the Things. I've edited them a little, removing the details about the models he used and adding the sample Barsoomian armies he had on a separate page. Here's an archive of the original page from The Stronghold for comparison. As a bonus, here's the map from SPI's Barsoom game. Now, "Cry havoc and let slip the calots of war!"

Map of Barsoom by Scott Bizar via ERBzine

Barsoomian Army Lists for Hordes of the Things by Alan Saunders

Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote the eleven books that make up the Martian series between 1912 and 1950. Although the writing is up to his usual standard, the plots are repetitive and the 'science' is laughable, the series is a rollicking good read and also provides scope for a series of 'Hordes of the Things' army lists. Two lists for these books are presented in the original rules book, but they are incomplete and, in my opinion, slightly inaccurate. 'Barsoom' is the name given by Martians to their own world; Earth is called 'Jasoom'. Each of the following lists is designed to give a standard 24AP army and no more than half of the points can be spent on elements costing 3AP or more.

The eleven books in the series are: A Princess of Mars, Gods of Mars, Warlord of Mars, Thuvia, Maid of Mars, Chessmen of Mars, Mastermind of Mars, Fighting Man of Mars, Swords of Mars, Synthetic Men of Mars, Llana of Gathol and John Carter of Mars.

Peter Pig do very nice ready made Green and Red Martian armies in 15mm.

Red Martian, Yellow Martian and Black Pirate
Jed or Jeddak and Retinue Blade General @ 2AP 1
Warriors Blades @ 2AP 4-11
Assassin Sneakers @ 3AP 0-1

Helium and Allies only:
Upgrade Jed or Jeddak to John Carter or similar mighty swordsman
Hero General @ 4AP 1
Lesser Heroes Hero @ 4AP 0-1

Any but Manator and Yellow Martians:
Scout Fliers Fliers @ 2AP 0-2
Fliers Airboats @ 3AP
if Black Pirate 0-4
if others 0-2

Any but Black Pirates and Yellow Martians:
Thoat Riders Riders @ 2AP
if Gathol 0-6
if others 0-2

Only if Yellow Martians:
Apts Beasts @ 2AP 0-1
Solon of Okar Hero @ 4AP 0-1

Only if Jahar:
Phor Tak Magician @ 4AP 0-1
Cannibals Hordes @ 1AP 0-10

This list covers the majority humanoid race on Barsoom, the Red Martians, and covers all of their city states, including Helium, Ptarth, Kaol, Jahar, Dusar and so on. It also includes the less common but still humanoid Yellow Martians of the North Polar regions and the Black Pirates of the South Pole and Rift Valley. Other humanoid races either have their own lists or are not considered numerous enough to field an army. Red Martians and Black Pirates had radium rifles but preferred to fight at close quarters, hence their grading as Blades. Only the Twin Cities of Helium and their allies such as Ptarth, Kaol and Gathol seemed to produce men sufficiently super-human enough to be classed as Heroes. In the case of John Carter the element need not even have a retinue as he seems to have been virtually undefeatable even when on his own! Manator lacked the technology to produce fliers, but the Black Pirates used them extensively in their raids. The Yellow Martians protected their lands from aerial attack by use of a gigantic magnet which prevented use of fliers by them as well. Accordingly, no army opposing Yellow Martians may use fliers. Most Red Martian cities made use of Thoats for patrols and scouting; Gathol was famous for its Thoat herds and is therefore assumed to have more available for military purposes. Apts are fearsome creatures of the North Polar regions and there is some evidence for their domestication. Solon of Okar was an extremely old (even by Barsoomian standards) Yellow Martian rated by John Carter as the finest swordsman he ever faced. The city of Jahar tried to create a huge army to defeat Helium by a forced breeding program. This produced over-population in some areas and resulted in the inhabitants resorting to cannibalism to survive. Phor Tak was a master scientist who developed a number of weapons to aid Jahar against Helium, chief amongst them being a disintegration ray. Rating him as a Magician best reflects his abilities and those of his weapons.


Red Martian (Helium)

List
   Type..........................Troops......................................Cost
1 Hero General @ 4AP...John Carter, Warlord of Mars......4
6 Blades @ 2AP.............Swordsmen of Mars.................12
2 Airboats @ 3AP..........Fliers........................................6
1 Flyer @ 2AP...............Scout Flier................................2
Stronghold: None as yet.



Black Pirates

List
    Troops...........................Type.............................Cost
1 Airboat General @ 3AP...Battleship.........................3
3 Airboats @ 3AP..............Lesser Battleships.............9
2 Flyers @ 2AP.................One-man Flyers................4
4 Blades @ 2AP................Black Pirate Swordsmen...8


Red Martian (Jahar)

List
   Troops.........................Type..................................................Cost
1 Blade General @ 2AP...Tul Axtar with bodyguard.......................2
3 Blades @ 2AP..............Warriors...............................................6
2 Airboats @ 3AP............Large fliers coated in ghastly blue paint...6
1 Flier @ 2AP..................One man fliers......................................2
5 Hordes @ 1AP..............Cannibals of U-Gor...............................5
1 Artillery @ 3AP.............Phor Tak.............................................2

Notes

My fifth Martian army, and my first 'repeat' in terms of race. Jahar is a city state that goes to war with Helium in the seventh book in the series A Fighting Man of Mars. It's ruler, Tul Axtar, has two weapons at his disposal. Firstly he has instituted a forced-breeding program to boost his empire's population and supply of fighting men. This has lead to cannibalism breaking out in some provinces as the population outstrips the food supply. Secondly he has the disintigrator ray invented by Phor Tak fitted to all of his ships. This is represented in the army by giving them a fleet equal in size to that of Helium (assume it is fewer ships but armed with the secret weapon) and by fielding Phor Tak as an artillery element to provide extra firepower. Needless to say in the book his plans come to naught, but on the wargames table? Who knows?


Green Martian
Jeddak on Thoat Knight General @ 2AP 1

Warriors:
Up to 1/2 on foot as Blades @ 2AP
Rest on Thoats as Knights @ 2AP 6-11
Outriders and Scouts Riders @ 2AP 0-2
Calots Beasts @ 2AP 0-1
Warriors with Radium Rifles Shooters @ 2AP 0-4

Only if Thark:
Upgrade Jeddak to Tars Tarkas Hero General @ 4AP 1

This list covers all of the Green Martian nomad hordes that roamed the dead-sea bottoms of Barsoom. Most were hostile not only to other Barsoomian races but to other Green Martian hordes as well. Thark was an exception in that it was allied to Helium due to the friendship between their leader Tars Tarkas and John Carter. Green Martians generally fought mounted but were capable of fighting on foot if need be. Their impetuous desire to close to hand-to-hand combat whilst mounted along with their large size almost requires their classification as Knights. They were capable of shooting their radium rifles with almost legendary skill, but only tended to use them against enemy fliers. Some form of anti-aircraft artillery was also available, but since it was fairly static and used to protect a horde's current base it can be considered to be part of the Stronghold's defences. Calots are the Barsoomian equivalent of the dog, although they have more legs and teeth than an Earth canine and are the size of a Shetland pony! Although they domesticated a mastodon like creature called a Zitidar there is no evidence of Green Martians using them in war.


Green Martian

List
   Type..............................Troops............................Cost
1 Knight General @ 2AP...Jeddak on Thoat..................2
7 Knights @ 2AP..............Thoat-Mounted Warriors.....14
4 Shooters @ 2AP...........Warriors with Radium Rifles...8
Stronghold: None as yet.



Holy Thern
Holy Hekkador Blade General @ 2AP 1
Warriors Blades @ 2AP 6-11
Banths Beasts @ 2AP 0-1
White Apes Warbands @ 2AP 0-1
Plant Men Hordes @ 1AP 0-4

The White Martian Holy Therns made up a priest caste in Barsoomian society until exposed a frauds by John Carter. The vast majority of them lived near the South Pole in the Valley Dor, the Martian ‘Heaven’ where they enslaved other Barsoomians who made the pilgrimage there. The Valley Dor also contained many fearsome creatures which were used to destroy those Barsoomians not enslaved. For the purposes of this list it is assumed that the Therns had some measure of control over these creatures. Banths are the fearsome Barsoomian lion. White Apes are gigantic four-armed hairless gorilla-like creatures. The Plant Men are mindless, mobile, humanoid plant creatures with a taste for human flesh.

Lothar
Tario of Lothar Magician General @ 4AP 1
Illusionary Bowmen Shooters @ 2AP 6-8
Regrade Bowmen as Hordes @ 1AP
(2 such Hordes replace 1 element of Shooters) Up to 3/4
Banths Beasts @ 2AP 2-4

The hidden city of Lothar contained a small population of the almost extinct White Martians. Possessing amazing mental powers the inhabitants created an illusionary army of bowmen to fight their mortal enemies, the Green Martian horde of Torquas. These illusions could kill as long as the viewer believed in their reality. Tario is the Jeddak (or leader ) of Lothar, and the most powerful illusionist. The list allows Lothar to field small numbers of competent bowmen or larger numbers of lesser men or a mixture. Illusionary Banths fought alongside the troops, but a few real ones were mixed in with them as a nasty surprise and to clean up the battlefield afterwards.

Lothar

List
   Troops..............................Type............................................Cost
1 Magician General @ 4AP...Powerful Mentalist with Bodyguard...4
4 Shooters @ 2AP................Illusionary Bowmen........................8
6 Hordes @ 1AP..................Illusionary Bowmen.........................6
3 Beasts @ 2AP....................Banths.........................................6

Notes

This is the fourth of my Barsoomian armies, based on the Orovars encountered by Carthoris in 'Thuvia, Maid of Mars'. Powerful mentalists were able to create illusions of vast armies of bowmen from their distant past. The army is a mix of shooters (to reflect the effectivness of the bowmen) and hordes (to reflect their limitless numbers). The banths were a mixture of real ones and illusions.


Hormad
Jed and Retinue Blade General @ 2AP 1
Hormads in ‘Human’ Bodies Blades @ 2AP 1-3
Hormad Warriors Warband @ 2AP 4-8
Poorly Proportioned Hormads Hordes @ 1AP 4-10
Hormads on Giant Birds Flyers @ 2AP 0-3
Out of Control Growth Vat Behemoth @ 4AP 0-1

Hormad were synthetic humanoids created by the master scientist Ras Thavas in the deserted city of Morbus. Grown from huge vats of undifferentiated organic material they tended to lack symmetry and in many cases intelligence. However they were virtually indestructible; severed limbs would carry on moving, severed heads could still carry on conversations. Only fire could completely destroy a Hormad. They captured humanoid Martians and transferred the brains of the more intelligent Hormads into their bodies. Lacking fliers they traveled on genetically engineered giant birds. A growth vat once went out of control and threatened to engulf not only Morbus but the whole of Barsoom. It is assumed here that a more controlled form of this accident could be used to create a fearsome opponent.

Blaster pistol (Tri-Stat)

Blaster Pistol   Damage: 15    Concealable    Skill: Gun Combat (Pistol)   Major Gadget


A generic blaster pistol for Tri-Stat.