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Hi Everyone!

Just wanted to let you know we have had a total of 5 updates since Gencon weekend. Tonight there will be a live QnA with George and Shane here is a link to Update #5 with all the information, starting time, and a link to the stream! Be sure to swing by and have your questions answered!

Link to Kickstarter update #5 and all the information about the live QnA tonight!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2060871444/conan-rise-of-monsters/posts/1314575

I'll keep an eye in this. Well done Ice Age mammals may tickle my fancy.

Is this ks related to the previous two Conan ones? Or is this a third company with another license? If it is one of the previous companies, have they completed delivery on their first project yet?

Not related at all.

It does bring up a good point - I can only take so much Conan.

Well, actually, my budget can only take so much Conan.

Still have to decide if it will be this one (Mass Battle) or the more skirmish scale one...

Thanks for the clarification. That's a lot of Conan after so many years of nothing. Did the license holder's house go into forclosure or something and they needed to sell a bunch of nonexclusive rights for largely similar things quick or something? The last conan tabletop project I remember is the 2nd edition (or possibly AD&D...dunno) D&D adventure pack with the governator on the cover from the mid to late 80's. Conan of course has a strength of 18/00... by crom!

The Live QnA for CROM: Conan Rise of Monsters is starting in a few minutes!

Here is a link to the kickstarter update page with the link to the QnA! Hope to see you there!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2060871444/conan-rise-of-monsters/posts/1314575

 warboss wrote:
Thanks for the clarification. That's a lot of Conan after so many years of nothing. Did the license holder's house go into forclosure or something and they needed to sell a bunch of nonexclusive rights for largely similar things quick or something? The last conan tabletop project I remember is the 2nd edition (or possibly AD&D...dunno) D&D adventure pack with the governator on the cover from the mid to late 80's. Conan of course has a strength of 18/00... by crom!

Take a look at CROM update 4. The KS timing is unfortunate, but it looks like CROM was years in development.

Speaking of the update, the update drops names like crazy, but they all seem to be industry names within the video game and RPG community, not boardgamers and miniatures gamers (?). Compare this with Monolith, whose publisher, game designer, etc. are boardgame veterans. So I'm not surprised that Monolith managed a good hype campaign for something like a year (?) on BGG, while, afaik, CROM posted a preview thread on Dakka. As the CROM update says, "We were a little surprised by some of the initial reaction on Kickstarter".

Well, that shows they didn't do their KS homework -- including giving you the impression that the Howard estate needed some quick money. I'm sure the Conan license could have been managed better (I'm guessing that Pinnacle could not release a Conan Savage Worlds RPG because Mophidius is releasing a Conan RPG) by the Howard estate and/or the licensing parties so us backers (or at least our wallets) aren't over-saturated with the license. Still, it's good to see that Conan gamers have a good selection of games to choose from, and the license has some good (or at least non-suck) games behind them. Who's up for a few hours of the X-Files boardgame??

Im really hoping they make it- Im loving the art style for the minis, and getting my hands on a Pallantides mini so close the famous McFarlane figure? Hold me!

(Though the add on Conan looks ace, too!)

CROM QuickStart rules up! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2060871444/conan-rise-of-monsters/posts/1316368

ced1106 wrote:

 warboss wrote:
Thanks for the clarification. That's a lot of Conan after so many years of nothing. Did the license holder's house go into forclosure or something and they needed to sell a bunch of nonexclusive rights for largely similar things quick or something? The last conan tabletop project I remember is the 2nd edition (or possibly AD&D...dunno) D&D adventure pack with the governator on the cover from the mid to late 80's. Conan of course has a strength of 18/00... by crom!

Take a look at CROM update 4. The KS timing is unfortunate, but it looks like CROM was years in development.

Speaking of the update, the update drops names like crazy, but they all seem to be industry names within the video game and RPG community, not boardgamers and miniatures gamers (?). Compare this with Monolith, whose publisher, game designer, etc. are boardgame veterans. So I'm not surprised that Monolith managed a good hype campaign for something like a year (?) on BGG, while, afaik, CROM posted a preview thread on Dakka. As the CROM update says, "We were a little surprised by some of the initial reaction on Kickstarter".

Well, that shows they didn't do their KS homework -- including giving you the impression that the Howard estate needed some quick money. I'm sure the Conan license could have been managed better (I'm guessing that Pinnacle could not release a Conan Savage Worlds RPG because Mophidius is releasing a Conan RPG) by the Howard estate and/or the licensing parties so us backers (or at least our wallets) aren't over-saturated with the license. Still, it's good to see that Conan gamers have a good selection of games to choose from, and the license has some good (or at least non-suck) games behind them. Who's up for a few hours of the X-Files boardgame??

That part of the post (quick... we're losing the house!) was more of a joke but I am genuinely surpised at the flood of similar (to me as a casual outside observer) conan titans after a seemingly decades long drought (again, my last memory of a tabletop conan project was from D&D in the 1980's). I wish them well but I made my will save versus the first campaign and the trouble they seem to have gotten into (albeit under different management/companies) since kind of dampens my already tepid interest. I wish the company, project, and backers well though.

I didn't understand your post. Who do you mean by "they"? The Howard Estate? Pulpasaurus? What "first campaign"? What do you mean by "since"? What "different management / companies"? If the people behind Pulpasaurus have made mistakes in the past, or mismanaged projects, I'd like to hear about it. TIA!

ced1106 wrote:
I didn't understand your post. Who do you mean by "they"? The Howard Estate? Pulpasaurus? What "first campaign"? What do you mean by "since"? What "different management / companies"? If the people behind Pulpasaurus have made mistakes in the past, or mismanaged projects, I'd like to hear about it. TIA!

Whoa... too much tinfoil hat there. I'm simply referring to the other two recent conan kickstarters of which one is already behind schedule iirc.

It's kind of misleading to phrase ti that was you did though- pulpasaurus isn't responsible for any of the other kick starters, and deserves to be judged on its own merits - particurlaly since the "sword and sandal" genre of low fantasy is so sparse every entry should be appraised on its own- even if so many of them are revolving around the classic poster boy of the genre, Conan.

Edit: to be concise, there is no "they" - Pulapsaurus licensed the franchise off the same entity, paradox entertainment that the others did, but there is no central control or management. This isn't GW, after all.

I know they aren't responsible for the other kickstarters... it's why I asked if they were and specifically mentioned that they were run by other companies in the follow up post. It's not misleading unless you don't bother reading the full post. In any case, it's naive to think that there won't be confusion between three almost back to back to back (in KS terms especially after such a long absense) conan games with minis kickstarters and that the impression of progress on the others won't affect funding for this one. In any case, I'm obviously not in the target audience for this KS so I'll bow out of the discussion as my question has been asked and answered.

My quibble with all of the Conan properties is that none of them thus far are really sword and sandal. They are all high fantasy with a few nods here and there at gladiators, centurions, and Egyptians.

There's also some disagreement about Pulpasaurus' presentation of Conan and choice of units in the starter boxes on the Howard estate forums:

http://www.conan.com/invboard/index.php?showtopic=11066

 tre manor wrote:
My quibble with all of the Conan properties is that none of them thus far are really sword and sandal. They are all high fantasy with a few nods here and there at gladiators, centurions, and Egyptians.

Amen to that. Or... well whatever. Exalt!

ced1106 wrote:
There's also some disagreement about Pulpasaurus' presentation of Conan and choice of units in the starter boxes on the Howard estate forums:

http://www.conan.com/invboard/index.php?showtopic=11066

Its mostly due to the mammoth (even the age old specter of how Frazetta changed the nature of Conan in art from what hes described as in the writings isn't there)/ The 'elephant' in the room that nobody acknowledges is that its probably influence from the MMO creeping, and the desire to have a big monster unit to go against the snake of the Stygians. (i for one also wish there was no mammoth-would have preferred the Black Dragons being included, and it would have stacked up more nicely with the lore)


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 tre manor wrote:
My quibble with all of the Conan properties is that none of them thus far are really sword and sandal. They are all high fantasy with a few nods here and there at gladiators, centurions, and Egyptians.

I agree with that in full- but there is a consolation that at least the aesthetic they have going is pretty great for sword and Sandal anything, and its easy enough to plan out a session without all the high fantasy stuff.)

When pretty much every Conan story has a wizard, demon, ape-thing or monster, this really doesn't seem out of line. One faction is all humans and a warbeast. That's hardly high fantasy (and besides, sword and sandals is more about tone, such as more moral ambiguity, lower stakes, smaller scope, etc.

If you essentially want a historical wargame, there are plenty of choices with much cheaper model choices.

No what you guys are missing is the technological level and fashionable affectations applied.

sword and sandal implies certain limitations on the technologies which create the items you would see in the art and also implies certain cultural and era specific limitations as well. what is being done with Conan both by Monolith's cash cow and Pulposaurus' attempt would be akin to producing a version of Lord of the Rings with laser guns, muscle car hot rods, and aliens.

Magic and monsters is not what defines high fantasy. High fantasy is the extent to which fashion and whimsy plays a role in the character of the story / product.

Middle Earth ( as it was written NOT as it was remade by PJ in film..... don't get me started there.....) is less high fantasy than is Forgotten realms even though both feature wizards, elves, dwarves, goblins and orcs.

The problem is Conan itself ranges from Conan the penniless wanderer and thief to Conan the Kings

and his world contains what amount to a jumble of historical periods from the real world which he travelled through

add to that the myriad other Howard stories that were re-written as Conan by deCamp/Carter and the vast array of stories by other authors entirely (not to mention comics and movies)

too much stuff to fit in, too much of it never really fitted together well to start with, and a lot of it is more suited to an RPG than a larger scale game

 tre manor wrote:
what is being done with Conan both by Monolith's cash cow and Pulposaurus' attempt would be akin to producing a version of Lord of the Rings with laser guns, muscle car hot rods, and aliens..

I'd fund that.

Oh, wait: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1545517208/defenders-of-the-last-stand-adventure-board-game/description

 tre manor wrote:
No what you guys are missing is the technological level and fashionable affectations applied.

sword and sandal implies certain limitations on the technologies which create the items you would see in the art and also implies certain cultural and era specific limitations as well. what is being done with Conan both by Monolith's cash cow and Pulposaurus' attempt would be akin to producing a version of Lord of the Rings with laser guns, muscle car hot rods, and aliens.

Magic and monsters is not what defines high fantasy. High fantasy is the extent to which fashion and whimsy plays a role in the character of the story / product.

Middle Earth ( as it was written NOT as it was remade by PJ in film..... don't get me started there.....) is less high fantasy than is Forgotten realms even though both feature wizards, elves, dwarves, goblins and orcs.

Eg,Sword and Sandle is a genre meaning that while typically bundled with "low fantasy" (because it works better, IMO), doesn't exclude high fantasy.

The reason for this is that the difference between low and high fantasy are not based on material goods, but usually of motivation- high fantasy is the stereotypical setting of having clearly defined good guys and bad guys, and typically throws in other fantasy races (elves, orcs, etc...) to help define that paradigm.

Low fantasy by contrast doesn't deal with moral absolutes, and at least tries to ground itself realistically in terms of how and why people are motivated, and rarely if ever is there a moral imperative to do anything. ie; Conan doesn't save the slave because its the absolute morally correct thing to do, he does it because maybe hes horny, or because maybe he hates seeing people enslaved, or maybe hes taken pity on this particular person. But in another situation that same slave may be 100% SOL, even with Conan around.

This why LoTR is one of the best examples of High Fantasy- everything is governed by an absolute relationship of good vs. evil.

Conan and the 'Hyborian Era'? It all exists in shades of gray - where even the 'good' deities like Mitra are still probably Lovecraftian monsters, just ones whose agendas happen line up better with Human existence! And magic is a viable path of great power- if your willing to make bargains with the dark things that can grant it to you.

one question can the miniatures be bought separately and unpainted?

 Scorpionov wrote:
one question can the miniatures be bought separately and unpainted?

There is an unpainted pledge, but it includes the starters. You cannot purchase single unpainted figures currently.

So....what happened? Logged in to take a look and it says it was cancelled a half hour ago? Any clues?

 mikhaila wrote:
So....what happened? Logged in to take a look and it says it was cancelled a half hour ago? Any clues?

It's painfully obvious it wasn't going to fund, let alone reach enough SG to make it a good deal.

They stated some sort of collaboration with Reaper. We shall see.

Pulposaurus + Reaper Miniatures

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Pulposaurus is very excited to announce a tentative agreement with our friends at Reaper Miniatures to join us on Conan: Rise of Monsters!

Here's what Reaper had to say:

Reaper Miniatures is pleased to announce our new relationship with the great people over at Pulposaurus Entertainment! We're excited to be associated with such a great property as Conan: Rise of Monsters and we're anxious to get the ball rolling!


Given the new possibilities this opens up, we're going to cancel our current Kickstarter, readjust some things given the advantages this new alliance gives all of us, and come back stronger sometime later this year.

Thanks so much for your support and encouragement! We think this is one of the best games we've ever worked on, and we can't wait to bring it back to you bigger and better than ever!

***

About Reaper Miniatures

Reaper Miniatures is a leading hobby and adventure game industry company. Their primary focus is the design, creation and manufacture of pewter, resin and soon plastic gaming miniature figurines. We produce gaming miniatures in almost all genres including fantasy, modern and sci-fi. From our inception, Reaper Miniatures has worked closely with artists, sculptors and writers to create a community of endless adventure for consumers around the world.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2060871444/conan-rise-of-monsters/posts/1319848

Reaper announced earlier in the year that they're going to KS to add more models to their Legendary Encounter prepaint line, using their existing Bones model sculpts. They're using painting masks rather than handpainting, and the Bones molds have already been paid for. So... who knows exactly how CROM will turn out. I doubt it'll be as high end as the CROM KS miniatures, but it should be affordable!