Thoughts on putting character back in sword and sorcery

I’m a big fan of classic sword and sorcery (S&S) in the vein of Howard, Moorcock, Wagner etc. Much of the OSR is inspired by these authors (which Gygax famously listed in “Appendix N”), not to mention a number of more recent games like SotDL, BoL, DCC, Conan etc. One thing that distinguishes S&S fiction is that it is character-centric, whereas fantasy of the Tolkien variety is setting-centric. A Middle-Earth story has to take place in Middle-Earth, but it doesn’t have to feature Frodo or Gandalf. Conversely, an Elric story has to feature Elric, but it doesn’t have to be set in the Young Kingdoms. Yet, the S&S games I know are kind of setting-centric and treat the main characters (PCs) as interchangeable.

I’m trying to take a more character-centric approach in a new series of Elemental S&S adventures that focus not only on what a PC can do, but also on what they want. What motivates the character, and how does this adventure allow them to further their goals? While the PCs are allies, they may have slightly different priorities, which opens up interesting roleplaying opportunities and dilemmas beyond just going in to kill things and solve puzzles.

If this sounds interesting, I’m freely sharing Tower of the Vampire, the first of these adventures. As I develop the next ones, I’m interested in hearing people’s thoughts on how to pull off sword and sorcery successfully and any positive or negative gaming experiences you’ve had in the genre.