Review: Conan Unchained! (1984, AD&D)

This is an adventure for characters of level 10-14 under the AD&D rules. You can play as a group of pregenerated PCs - Conan (F13/T7), Nestor (F14), Juma (F12/T5), Valeria (F10/T9).

*

The action takes place around the Vilayet Sea and there is a wilderness map on the inside cover, as there should be.

*

There are notes about how to play in the Hyborian Age using the AD&D rules - what to omit, what to add, etc.

*

The adventure seems to be based in part on the story "A Witch Shall Be Born" by Bob Howard, though the action does not take place in Khauran. Some of the NPC and their backgrounds are clearly inspired by that story, which is a good place to get inspiration.

*

The story begins with the PCs already part of an army sent from Turan to lay siege to a city whose governor has rebelled against the Khan of Turan. The army is attacked by a huge magical cloud hiding a large amount of monsters. When the cloud dissipates the entire army has been wiped out. The PCs and a few other survivors may loot their own campsite and escape into the steppes. Quite soon a band of Kozaki bandits discover them and and attempt to take them prisoner. Surviving female PCs (such as Valeria) are given the usual sexist treatment if the scenario is run as written.

*

The scenario is clearly written with the assumption that the PCs will become members of the Kozaki and rise up through the ranks of that bandit tribe, or contact the Red Brotherhood and join them. So the PCs will end up being either bandits on land or bandits at sea. At this stage its clear that this is not so much an adventure as it is a framework for an entire campaign.

*

Several events may happen at this stage. One of the events leads onward to the end of the adventure, which is to help a slave girl be free of the unwelcome attentions of a wizard named Bhir-Vedi.

*

How to make the scenario better

*

Break it up into parts and use the parts in a larger Kozaki campaign, or Red Brotherhood campaign. Add more scenarios that you write yourself. The goal of the campaign should be to become the head of the Kozaki or the Red Brotherhood, with all that this entails. There are many powerful enemies to be made...