The Hyborian Age - An RPG¹

I decided about Summer 2004 that there wasn't a massive fantasy RPG. Whilst all credit must definitely go to Craxus of the Magicians Guild for creating a wonderful Fantasy RPG, it didnt feel like a traditional RPG.

In my opinion, an RPG should be so realistic in the minds of the players that you could dive in and keep swimming. Too many unreal elements would simply detract from the realism that I craved.With Craxus' game, up ‘til recently, there were a set number of locations and that was it.

To me, a Role Playing Game has always been about a group of people exploring a world where its own characters encounter friends and foes controlled by a Game Master as well as other people. Now obviously on H2G2 this is difficult to do. Games can only be text based, and reams of information easily become annoying and troublesome.

However, I know the appeal of fantasy RPG's. Now as with many RPG's, somebody takes direct control of it all. The Jedi Academy is directly controlled by HPB, the Magicians Guild by Craxus and so on. Yet I am sure there are many people out there who would like to take a group of friends and run their own RPG quest or Fantasy adventure.

This is where I come in. Being a massive fan of the Conan stories, I have set about re-creating the world of Hyboria for you all. The advantage is that nearly every country has a direct real world counterpart. As an example, Khitai is basically mediaeval China. Yet rather then being a game where you can simply walk around the streets of Beijing 2000 years ago, a Game Master or player is welcome to add elements such as witches, Succubi, and any other creatures or beasts he or she can dream of.

With the Hyborian Age being the Age of a thousand kingdoms, it is quite possible for anyone to create a new location. Indeed, there can be locations within locations (a new temple in Khitai for example).

As the author, I intend to both run and participate. I do not want to control any adventure whatsoever in the form of some supreme overlord, I only ask that if you use the pages, you follow the Game Masters' guidelines to ensure fair play for all.

It has become a labour of love for me, and at the time of writing this the game has cost me a fair few pennies for sourcebooks and good old Howard literature. This game will never be deelted, removed, or otherwise removed from site unless the editors do it (which is why sometime soon I intend to back everything up). The only thing that can happen to the game in effect is expansion, the stage where you lot come in.

To predict every necessary location for your adventures would not only be impossible but a mammoth undertaking which being mortal and human, and without Atlantian heritage I simply cannot do. As players you have the option to create anything you want. Let's say your character is the son of a wealthy Ophirian merchant and you want to take your charecters to visit dear Papa; make and email me the location, and I'll tack it on. That simple. Dungeons, lairs, caves, mountains, all manner of wondrous places that I simply could not make are yours for the making.

I give this game to you all. If you like it a lot, try and give something back.

Trivial Facts

• Work began in earnest at the beginning of December, 2004
• The Game was originally to be split into three progressive parts. ²
• The first part was due out Mid January.
• Pages have never been deleted; only added or recycled.
• The average size for a country is: 1 Main page, 1 Capital, 2 cities.
• If all the countries remained at this size until completion, the entire game would be around 200 pages, of which 4/5 are interactive locations
• Various countries had their own soundtracks during their creation. The most commonly used soundtrack was of course 'Conan the Barbarian' by Basil Poledouris, however Brythunia and Hyperborea were created listening to the Braveheart soundtrack, and Asgard was created to Wagner's 'Ride of the Valkyries'.
• Of the entire project, only two received any outside help. Apart from those few lines, the project has been solely written by its creator, and editted by a poor minion roped into the task.
• The first page written was Shadizzar, city of the wicked. It was after creating this that Zamora was written. Zamora, and its cities, are the only ones to have never been re-written or changed since the game's conception.
• The Creator's favourite page is currently Ophir, although he has been pining after Lemuria since he began this project
• The project ground to a halt in February due to two countries - Shem and Koth. They have only recently been finished, however they are one of the few countries to have 3 cities rather then the standard two.