tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post1345913773977716033..comments2024-03-28T15:25:30.216-04:00Comments on The CRPG Addict: Game 253: Conan: The Cimmerian (1991)CRPG Addicthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comBlogger95125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-51323557261787870632021-10-15T09:51:20.365-04:002021-10-15T09:51:20.365-04:00I definitely second the recommendation of 'Tow...I definitely second the recommendation of 'Tower of the Elephant.' My department chair let's me teach a course in Weird Fiction every few years, and this one is always a favorite of my students.100FloorsOfFrightshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07625564667909827929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-62572762601900260352021-07-14T10:23:47.552-04:002021-07-14T10:23:47.552-04:00It's too bad that Conan wasn't Sumerian af...It's too bad that Conan wasn't Sumerian after all ... If he were, he could have starred in a spin-off game of Dungeons and Dagons.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-17324785720861598662017-08-12T02:56:32.968-04:002017-08-12T02:56:32.968-04:00Adding to the debate, there are sites under water ...Adding to the debate, there are sites under water arguably to be the remnants of ancient civilizations. See for example https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yonaguni_Monument which would by far predate all other known civilizations in the area. Who knows what might still be discovered. I think there is at least a small chance that some sort of lost civilization existed before 12.000 BC.fireballhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01094871771537115267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-45033841118230167612017-07-04T01:20:48.358-04:002017-07-04T01:20:48.358-04:00It's a fancy word for a fancy nickname. Even ...It's a fancy word for a fancy nickname. Even if all your buddies call you "Schmitty," that's not a sobriquet. Outfit nicknames like "No Nose" DiFronzo or Harry "the German" Schweis are modern sobriquets. Pepin "The Short" or Charles "the Hammer" would be examples from history.<br />ThirtyNinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07720392687278454430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-34839173346880723772017-07-03T14:36:14.106-04:002017-07-03T14:36:14.106-04:00I actually misused the term. When I was studying A...I actually misused the term. When I was studying Arthurian literature, "sobriquet" was the term always used for the titles or honorifics tacked on to the end of a knight's name, e.g. "Sir Bruce SANS PITE," "Lancelot DU LAC" or "Bran THE BLESSED." Apparently, this isn't a common use of the term, and it's more often just a fancy word for "nickname." CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-86901998284678612612017-07-03T14:32:25.782-04:002017-07-03T14:32:25.782-04:00No kidding. That would have been a fun tie-in if I...No kidding. That would have been a fun tie-in if I'd flown in a couple days earlier. It would have been a nice escape from San Antonio, which once you've seen the Alamo is a strong contender for the Most Boring City in America.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-65028597920097074132017-06-30T14:37:32.078-04:002017-06-30T14:37:32.078-04:00I just read The Phoenix on the Sword and I think I...I just read The Phoenix on the Sword and I think I'm hooked. Any suggestions for the next read?Danielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08236674968994362673noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-47692977795057235282017-06-28T20:26:23.986-04:002017-06-28T20:26:23.986-04:00Only barbarians may call each other barbarians. It...Only barbarians may call each other barbarians. It's socially impolite for someone out of their class community to call them barbarians.Kenny McCormickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01553499727945099493noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-47243212217612153632017-06-28T20:21:58.112-04:002017-06-28T20:21:58.112-04:00Tell that to rent-seeking parasites.Tell that to rent-seeking parasites.Kenny McCormickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01553499727945099493noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-6071828001164303812017-06-19T10:57:55.846-04:002017-06-19T10:57:55.846-04:00I'm curious to read the rest of your playthrou...I'm curious to read the rest of your playthrough. I experienced much of the same frustrations when I played, until once I had a shop selling rope for less than another would buy it for. Some shuttling back and forth and I got rich.<br /><br />I played until I reached a specific encounter I just couldn't beat - it was a puzzle monster and I clearly didn't have the right approach. Eventually that PC died and Conan went with it. So I'm really interested to see how it should have played out in the end.Peter Dhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14246000382321978462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-91311492255018094662017-06-18T23:20:53.246-04:002017-06-18T23:20:53.246-04:00Like Atlantis, the original home-city of Conan?Like Atlantis, the original home-city of Conan?Kenny McCormickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01553499727945099493noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-58376678024263836122017-06-18T20:39:28.634-04:002017-06-18T20:39:28.634-04:00I don't know if anyone already commented on th...I don't know if anyone already commented on this, but you won't have to worry about 40 hours.<br /><br />From what I remember, it's a short game, just the right length for what it is.<br /><br />Now, I don't want to spoil stuff for you, especially with half-forgotten memories, but there's something about a map later on that will save you some frustration.<br /><br />If you want, I can elaborate.Izzy Morenonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-41179792205668811092017-06-18T16:27:28.182-04:002017-06-18T16:27:28.182-04:00That's a thing with modern artistic interpreta...That's a thing with modern artistic interpretations, though, right down to the shaved bodies ;) If you look at the art in Howard's day, Conan looked rather different. I think Howard himself was thinking of a man about 6', 200 pounds, which in the 1920s would have made him a standout physical specimen but nothing like modern bodybuilders.Andyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14624614486574035692noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-37428154490588698372017-06-17T21:33:14.198-04:002017-06-17T21:33:14.198-04:00"Barbarian": Conan goes by Conan the Bar..."Barbarian": Conan goes by Conan the Barbarian, and the character insulted him by calling him "barbarian."Kishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11456086726407491007noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-69688733530474466892017-06-17T14:04:57.895-04:002017-06-17T14:04:57.895-04:00Don't think actual barbarians would look like ...Don't think actual barbarians would look like protein-shake-drinking calorie-restricting Dianabol users. They needed excellent aerobic fitness to go along with their anaerobic strength and had no reason to cut their fat content down to 8-10%.Tristan Gallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16769219573533545742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-66804785528303855882017-06-16T13:23:21.071-04:002017-06-16T13:23:21.071-04:00That is cool, and I had no idea about that.
As t...That is cool, and I had no idea about that. <br /><br />As to Conan being buffed up by de Camp: Quite possible. I've only read the stuff de Camp did in the 60s. I see that he did the novelizations of the movie in the 80s, and I would not be surprised at all if that was the period he became a walking god of combat. <br /><br />In the Howard and de Camp collections I read, (white cover with green titles, I think, looks like the 1968 printings) Conan was regularly kidnapped, enslaved, hunted, tricked.... He always managed to escape, hack or sneak his way out though. But he wasn't wading through armies to do it. Canageekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03770924810559440307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-33667637243515170872017-06-16T10:13:31.443-04:002017-06-16T10:13:31.443-04:00Yes, de Camp's portrayal of Conan is controver...Yes, de Camp's portrayal of Conan is controversial, to say the least. De Camp was basically not sympathetic to Howard's themes or world view - de Camp liked to lecture about how in real life, barbarians were an undisciplined rabble that were easily schooled by elite Roman soldiers, which is why his Conan seems to yearn to be a smarter, more civilized man compared to Howard's hot-blooded and defiant character. To put it bluntly, de Camp's version of the character is kind of an oaf.<br /><br />De Camp also tended to promote Conan as "mindless escapist fun" and he tended to favor the more formulaic stories Howard wrote to keep the bills paid (Conan meets monster, slays monster, rides off with hot girl) over Howard's more ambitious and thematically rich stories such as Red Nails, Beyond the Black River, or Tower of the Elephant.<br /><br />Then there's the way de Camp used to promote himself as a full-fledged co-creator alongside Howard, and he supposedly was very prickly about attempts to publish Howard's restored texts over de Camp's edited versions.Andyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14624614486574035692noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-40974812521327305262017-06-15T23:03:52.927-04:002017-06-15T23:03:52.927-04:00Amazing. A few days after this post and a Kickstar...Amazing. A few days after this post and a Kickstarter for a Conan boardgame appears? It's so coincidental, it's scary. By Crom!Kenny McCormickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01553499727945099493noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-43573503698319789112017-06-15T16:45:45.873-04:002017-06-15T16:45:45.873-04:00Yes, Derleth beginning his work soon after Lovecra...Yes, Derleth beginning his work soon after Lovecraft's death surely helped, but even before that there was a Lovecraft "cult". Howard (and Conan) had no such cult, and the few S&S heroes created after Howard's death by Kuttner, Moore and Leiber didn't last long. Leiber's Fahrd&The Gray Mouser were resurrected in the 1950's, though. <br /><br />I also found it symptomatic that Howard was not one of the 15-20 writers that were presented in the Famous Fantastic Myseries magazine's column "Masters of Fantasy", while Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith was.<br /><br />I think Lovecraft's legeacy could have lived on without Derleth, but Howard was in danger of ending up like A. Merrit, who was an even bigger name than the "Weird Trinity" in his day (and whose 1918 story "The People of the Pit" is as Lovecraftian as you can get), but who is all but forgotten today.<br /><br />I could be wrong of course; it's based on impressions from reading and skimming the pulp magazines (and some fanzines) and not scholarly "research".PetrusOctavianusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-30101257723731652032017-06-15T16:24:13.758-04:002017-06-15T16:24:13.758-04:00I might be wrong and confuse de Camp with one of o...I might be wrong and confuse de Camp with one of other writers, but if I'm right then de Camp changed Conan the Believable and Reasonable Barbarian That He Was In Howard's Prose into what people remember most, which is Conan The Almighty Sword Swinging Hordes Defeating Single-handedly Invincible Killing Machine.<br /><br />But as I wrote, I might be confused.Mag Wielki i Szelkihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01807838665939928892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-16996398319225169022017-06-15T14:16:30.033-04:002017-06-15T14:16:30.033-04:00I didn't know that about de Camp. I really lik...I didn't know that about de Camp. I really liked his stories, though it has been a lot of years since I read them. <br /><br />I'm not sure the comparison between the archival efforts is fair. As I understand it, Derleth was working to preserve and popularize Lovecraft very shortly after his death, whereas de Camp was quite a few years later. So it could be Lovecraft was never forgotten due to his efforts early on. <br /><br />That said, are there any problems with de Camp not understanding Conan and his themes? That is the main reason that Derleth is disliked in the Lovecraft community, that he totally missed the point in a lot of cases. Other people writing in the same way at the same time, like Ambrose Bierce are much better remembered then he is. Canageekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03770924810559440307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-80318748544611268522017-06-15T11:36:45.424-04:002017-06-15T11:36:45.424-04:00@JJ Probably Karateka, a highly acclaimed game. I&...@JJ Probably Karateka, a highly acclaimed game. I'm sure it influenced many games after.Zenic Reveriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16441583549326102945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-28565298283917849202017-06-15T11:33:46.427-04:002017-06-15T11:33:46.427-04:00I've been going through old pulp magazines fro...I've been going through old pulp magazines from the '30s and '40 the past few years, reading the best stories (that is, either most anthologised or by my favourite writers), and skimming the letter sections.<br /><br />My impression is that Lovecraft was never forgotten, while Howard and Conan quickly sank into obscurity, and was rarely mentioned.<br /><br />The whole S&S genre was dead for many years, when Unknown ceased publishing due to the paper shortage during WW2, and Weird Tales returned Fritz Leiber's stories about Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.<br /><br />So I'm inclined to think that De Camp's efforts were more important to promote Howard than was Derleth's efforts for Lovecraft.<br />PetrusOctavianusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-72650593774703568382017-06-15T11:24:57.144-04:002017-06-15T11:24:57.144-04:00But the concept of an adventuring party is pure To...But the concept of an adventuring party is pure Tolkien, not Howard.<br />The _goals_ of the party is of course more Howard, though.PetrusOctavianusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-38260453955840765932017-06-15T10:50:05.503-04:002017-06-15T10:50:05.503-04:00Except the japan one is for a character named edog...Except the japan one is for a character named edogawa conan, who is a detective teen turned children (because reasons) who had to use a makeshift name to blend/hide himself. Said name is forged using 2 detective story authors, a japanese autor named Edogawa Ranpo, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, for sherlock holmes.Madmaxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13236994271678835935noreply@blogger.com