29 July 2013

Cthulhu meets Conan?


News here on a forthcoming setting entitled 'Primeval Thule', which purports to be a world in which 'Conan meets Cthulhu'.  (Of course, the Cthulhu Mythos always were part of the original Conan stories!  But whatever...)

As fellow fans of the fiction of Robert E. Howard no doubt know already, 'Thule' is one of the nations of the 'Thurian Age', the era of REH's 'Kull' stories (set thousands of years before the 'Hyborian Age' of Conan).

The setting purports to be compatible with Call of Cthulhu, which is why it caught my eye.  But given how radically different CoC is from Pathfinder and 4th edition D&D, I have no idea how one could create a setting that would work equally well for each of these systems.

Nonetheless, since Richard Baker claims, "Clark Ashton Smith's Hyperborea stories were perhaps the most direct inspiration for Primeval Thule", I am curious to check out the final product.

Addendum: I can't believe that I forgot to mention that, should this setting prove to be worth using, Crypts and Things would be an ideal (OSR) game to use with it.

11 comments:

  1. See here:

    http://rendedpress.blogspot.com/2012/04/conan-vs-cthulhu-dice-hack.html

    ReplyDelete
  2. I already own this game, it's called Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea (currently up for three ENnies)! And a great game and setting it is. Complete with CASisms and eldritch creatures. All kidding aside I hope it brings more people to this kind of fantasy, it's pretty wonderful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AS&SH is a great game (I own the PDF). Overall I prefer the mechanics for Crypts & Things, though I'm hardly an objective judge!

      Delete
    2. Reminds me I need to pick up a print copy of Crypts & Things!

      Delete
  3. If I read it correctly, $40 for the full pdf version. That's the price I'd pay for a hard copy. Sadly it seems I won't be getting this one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah $40 for a PDF is simply unacceptable. I would consider $40 high quality *book* but not a PDF.

      Delete
  4. You can buy a PDF for $40. Or buy a boxed set of ASSH for $50.

    I don't understand what this offers that ASSH doesn't. More detail in the setting? But the settings seem virtually identical.

    ReplyDelete
  5. My interest in this has waned somewhat as it looks like the CoC connection is something of an afterthought. The main focus clearly is Pathfinder, 4e D&D, and 13th Age (whatever that is).

    And $40 for the PDF is ridiculous.

    ReplyDelete
  6. … there was a Cthulhu/Conan crossover in two white dwarf magazines once …

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Any idea which issues? I have looked at a White Dwarf index, and I couldn't find anything resembling that.

      Delete

Blog Archive

About Me

My photo
I'm a Canadian political philosopher who lives primarily in Toronto but teaches in Milwaukee (sometimes in person, sometimes online).