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Ruins of Hyboria
Ruins of Hyboria, Conan RPG, Mongoose Publishing, £20.
Anyone who likes fantasy fiction, gaming and Conan in particular will just love this sourcebook.
It does exactly what it says on the tin, providing information on some of the imaginative world of Robert E Howard's most famous - or should that be infamous - ruins.
As well as author Vincent Darlage's impressive take on such delights as Xuchotl and the Isle of Iron Statues, the book provides details on how to create your own ruins, how characters would go about exploring them and what they might encounter in them.
It includes a guide on how to modify existing monster types and looks at the kind of pitfalls, literally, adventurers can stumble on in ruins.
Darlage looks at how ruins came to be and their physical layouts and the book's team of artists have done a cracking job with superb images and brilliant maps and graphics.
Again, Mongoose has produced another beautifully-crafted resource for Conan gamers, with lots of book extracts to add authenticity to a series which has stayed true to Howard's creation.
The full-coliur, hardcover book makes designing ruins an absolute walk in the park for games masters but offers so many variations on the theme that your 20 is well spent with plenty of use guaranteed.
Every nation of Hyboria is covered in the sourcebook in terms of its cultural history and whether it is home to any interesting ruins.
Classics from the stories such as the Isle of the Black Ones are portrayed in absorbing detail and others alluded to in the Conan tales - such as the City of the Ghouls - are fleshed out as an extra bonus.
There are statistics for NPCs such as Valeria of the Red Brotherhood and Prince Omec of the Tecuhlti and lots of suggested adventure hooks, if you should need them.
As mentioned, the dangers of exploring ruins - a multitude of traps, cave-ins, less-than-welcoming denizens - are documented and ideas for treasures are provided.
The design-your-own-ruins toolkit of random tables and explanations is brilliant and the presentation of the major ruins should satisfy any die-hard Conan fan.
The sourcebook would easily translate to other gaming systems as well.
And, even if you're not a gamer, Ruins of Hyboria and Mongoose's other publications in the series are well worth a read for anyone interested in all things Hyborian.
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Wednesday 08 February 2012
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