OSR Commentary On "The Savage Sword of Conan As OSR Campaign or Adventure Resource

So its Nineteen Seventy Four & I'm four years old digging though my favorite uncle's stash of comics & comic magazines. I spy a new one he's just gotten & he waves me off of it. We're talking about The Savage Sword of Conan Curtis imprint.

"The Savage Sword of Conan was a black-and-white magazine-format comic book series published beginning in 1974 by Curtis Magazines, an imprint of American company Marvel Comics, and then later by Marvel itself. Savage Sword of Conan starred Robert E. Howard's most famous creation, Conan the Barbarian, and has the distinction of being the longest-surviving title of the short-lived Curtis imprint."

This is one of the most iconic & cultastic comic magazine titles that stayed on my comic shop pull box & it hardly ever disappointed;
"As a "magazine", Savage Sword of Conan did not have to conform to the Comics Code Authority, making it a publication of choice for many illustrators. It soon became one of the most popular comic series of the 1970s and is now considered a cult classic. Roy Thomas was the editor and primary writer for the series' first few years (until issue 60), which featured art by illustrators such as Neal Adams, Dick Giordano, Barry Windsor-Smith, John Buscema, Alfredo Alcala, Jim Starlin, Al Milgrom, Pablo Marcos, and Walter Simonson. Painted covers were provided by such artists as Earl Norem, Bob Larkin, and Joe Jusko."
 It was nasty, lusty, & had Sword & Sorcery action in spades & it was fantastic fodder for a fledgling dungeon master to bring the players to the table.  This wasn't simply a magazine but a great resource for a budding dungeon master.
It was also some of the first exposure that I had to H.P. Lovecraft & Clark Ashton Smith's mythos.

" The cover of issue #5 sports a Boris Vallejo painting of Conan being crucified, from the story "A Witch Shall Be Born". This story features Conan at his most resilient, surviving a desert crucifixion to get revenge on the man who put him there."

This was Conan at his most resilient & dangerous, Sword taught me a lot about how PC's should be put in danger & the lengths that they'd go to to gain revenge on NPC villains. These were stories straight out of the back bone  of various eras of Conan's life & it gave a formula for writing adventures that could take place in various eras of a PC's life. This meant that a dungeon master wasn't restricted to linear game play.
This was a trick that I've used time & again to pin ball levels & eras suiting play around the players rather then the adventure.

"The adventures in Savage Sword of Conan are not always consecutive (as they are in the color Marvel title Conan the Barbarian), and they cover different eras of Conan's life. The Savage Sword stories mostly feature an older Conan, and adapt R. E. Howard stories and pastiches starting from "Black Colossus" (according to the Miller/Clark chronology), thus following the Roy Thomas stories in Conan the Barbarian."
Everything in The Savage Sword of Conan is keyed to the interactions being grand gestures of Sword & Sorcery. Conan is a driven inhuman being of incredible acts of both bravery & savagery. There's plenty of dungeon crawling within these books & Marvel provided lots of T&A or implied it I should say.



The Savage Sword of Conan was a magazine that took lots of riskier from the moment that it broke on the scene & it was a comics magazine that didn't pull punches with its audience. Treasures were recovered but frequently lost to the gambling of Conan. There was also lots & lots of violence on the bad guys. Savage was relentless on Conan's war on the bad guys. His never give up or surrender could infuriating for some readers but this was from a very different time period.

For old school adventure design there was a definitive old school Sword & Sorcery  formula for the writing:

1. Conan would go to great lengths for revenge and this could dove tail in with the on going soap opera of NPC's in a the mix 
2. Various ruins often hold secrets form an unknown age. Make sure player's saga is played out on the field 
3. Adventure plot hooks connect in early in these adventures to take sure advantage of the soap like mix of adventure ideas '
4. Adventure have to be really tight and this comes across in the Robert Howard 's fiction. Marvel Sword sometimes players fast & loose with the Conan mythos but not their own internal consistence. 
5. NPC villains often moved in the background of the adventures only to be revealed later on in the story line. 
6. Rage fueled much of the Conan stories in particular 
7. Monsters are either one offs or the ancient remains of something drawing from the planet's ancient past 
8. Magick is dangerous & highly unpredictable. 
9. Corruption & Chaos were the products of the Outer Dark and should never be taken lightly. 
10. Adventures always had lots of fall out that might take months to resolve

The Savage Sword of Conan is trade marked & copyrighted to its respective copyright & trade mark holders. This blog post is not an attempt to violate the respective copyright & trade marks of the The Savage Sword of Conan. This blog post is for educational & entertainment purposes only.

Thieves, Treasures, Relics, & The Prices of Power In Old School Campaigns

Let's talk about thieves in original Dungeons & Dragons & why their so damn important. No its not the dreaded back stab ability but that is a key point to the character class. Thieves were introduced in the original Dungeons & Dragons supplement Greyhawk back in 1975.

Now according to the 'Rogue' entry on Wiki (by the way I hate the term rogue) the thief class came about from the following; 'D&D fan Gary Switzer shared the idea for a thief class with Gary Gygax over the phone;^[4] development was done in Switzer's roleplaying group, primarily by D. Daniel Wagner, one of the writers of the Manual of Aurania, the first non-TSR D&D supplement.^[5] The thief class was introduced in the original 1975 Greyhawk supplement. They had 4-sided hit diceunder the new combat system introduced in that supplement'.
That's just charming but if we look at the creative origins according to this same entry we find some very Appendix 'N' details; 'The abilities of the thief class were drawn from various archetypes from history and myth, but clear debts from modern fantasy literature can be traced to characters such as J.R.R. Tolkien's Bilbo Baggins, Fritz Leiber's The Gray Mouser, and Jack Vance's Cugel the Clever.^[2]

In his article "Jack Vance and the D&D Game", Gary Gygax stresses the influence that Vance's Cugel and also Zelazny's Shadowjack had on the thief class.' Yeah that figures but I'm not one to simply stick with the usual word of mouth D&D historical dogma. Thieves are far more useful & desperation motivates the life of an adventurer. This includes the search for coin & the ability to live for more then three or four days at a time. Given Ernie Gygax's fascination nay obsession with Jack Vance I'd say that there's more then a little bit of Jack Vance's Shadow Jack in the mix of our D&D thieves. But given my Sword & Sorcery obsession I turn back to two very interesting sources. Source one is Clark Ashton Smith's "The Tale of Satampra Zeiros" part of his Hyperborea cycle. Now this story is important for two reasons. Reason one is the fact that we've got a band of cut throat thieves closing in one what they think is the relics of an abandoned temple complex. This temple is far from abandoned. The second aspect of this story that's important is what they plan on doing with any relics they come across.


An amazing piece of artwork by SANTIAGO CARUSO that illustrates the scene from the classic story of Clark Ashton Smith's story "The Tale of Satampra Zeiros".


Not only does this story have the classic dungeon crawl aspects but it also illustrates quite nicely the supply & demand chain that thieves & wizards have. The path of power is one that demands the services of all kinds of player classes. But it also up points the unexpected circumstances that thieves travel in all of the time.  This is the over lap that thieves & wizards have. The low level boots on the ground gritty aspect of the underworld life of the adventurer.  The shear circumstances of survival & guts that it takes to be a thief in the world of Dungeons & Dragons. Robert Howard's Conan illustrates this really well in his story. 'The Phoenix in The Sword'. In this story written by written by American author Robert E. Howard, and first published in Weird Tales magazine, in December, 1932. We get the gist of the thief in glorious Sword & Sorcery stereo; Over shadowy spires and gleaming towers lay the ghostly darkness and silence that runs before dawn. Into a dim alley, one of a veritable labyrinth of mysterious winding ways, four masked figures came hurriedly from a door which a dusky hand furtively opened. They spoke not but went swiftly into the gloom, cloaks wrapped closely about them; as silently as the ghosts of murdered men they disappeared in the darkness. Behind them a sardonic countenance was framed in the partly opened door; a pair of evil eyes glittered malevolently in the gloom.

"Go into the night, creatures of the night," a voice mocked. "Oh, fools, your doom hounds your heels like a blind dog, and you know it not."

The speaker closed the door and bolted it, then turned and went up the corridor, candle in hand. He was a somber giant, whose dusky skin revealed his Stygian blood. He came into an inner chamber, where a tall, lean man in worn velvet lounged like a great lazy cat on a silken couch, sipping wine from a huge golden goblet.

"Well, Ascalante," said the Stygian, setting down the candle, "your dupes have slunk into the streets like rats from their burrows. You work with strange tools."

"Tools?" replied Ascalante. "Why, they consider me that. For months now, ever since the Rebel Four summoned me from the southern desert, I have been living in the very heart of my enemies, hiding by day in this obscure house, skulking through dark alleys and darker corridors at night. And I have accomplished what those rebellious nobles could not. Working through them, and through other agents, many of whom have never seen my face, I have honeycombed the empire with sedition and unrest. In short I, working in the shadows, have paved the downfall of the king who sits throned in the sun. By Mitra, I was a statesman before I was an outlaw."

"And these dupes who deem themselves your masters?"

"They will continue to think that I serve them, until our present task is completed. Who are they to match wits with Ascalante? Volmana, the dwarfish count of Karaban; Gromel, the giant commander of the Black Legion; Dion, the fat baron of Attalus; Rinaldo, the hare-brained minstrel. I am the force which has welded together the steel in each, and by the clay in each, I will crush them when the time comes. But that lies in the future; tonight the king dies."

The Phoenix on the Sword 

by Robert Ervin Howard

Its this classic Conan the treasure supply chain that seems fueled by both desperate circumstances & that powerful need for both gold & bill paying . So the motive for Conan's drive is to merely lead to a path where the power follows the gold. Thieves however are the perfect foils for during adventures for wizards. The wizard's thirst for relics & hunger for forbidden knowledge drives the party of adventurers ever onward. 


Frank Frazetta's Conan is one of the more iconic & endearing portraits of the warrior & thief that is the barbarian king.

Its this quest for gold & glory that drives these games of blood & dust ever onward. The fact that in 2019 we're still talking about it is a testament to the hold that the power of these pop culture myths have on us as players. Thieves guilds in Dungeons & Dragons owe Jack Vance's Dying Earth series big time. The fact that they exist suggests no demands that dungeon masters pay attention to the fundamentals of the concept of the thieves guild. They are intricately & elegantly connected with the path of power of wizards or what we as players refer to as the PC classes's level.
Thieves are found throughout fantasy literature & their almost always connected with wizards in one way or another. Why?! Because wizards are clients to thieves for many of the books, illicit spell components, pieces of knowledge, relics, & even the occasional monster. 



Cassim in the cave by Maxfield Parrish (1909)

Take for example the legend of Ali Baba ; ' Ali Baba (Arabic: علي بابا‎ ʿAlī Bābā ) is a character from the folk tale Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (علي بابا والأربعون لصا). This story is included in many versions of the One Thousand and One Nights, which it was added to in the 18th century by Antoine Galland, who heard the story from a Syrian storyteller, Hanna Diyab. It is one of the most familiar of the "Arabian Nights" tales, and has been widely retold and performed in many media, especially for children, where the more violent aspects of the story are often suppressed."I'm not talking about the kids version here. So throw out the Alladin & Disneyfied drek here.Ali Baba itself from  One Thousand and One Nights, has many of the classic elements of Dungeons & Dragons. This includes the thieves using magic, the thieves cant language including secret symbols & words along with the title character better himself through some very clever trickery worth of any D&D thief. Hell the character of Morgiana, the slave girl could be a bard & sword dancer PC straight out of the  Adventurer, Conqueror, King rpg. 

Our Christmas box, Griffith, Farran, Okeden & Welsh (Publisher), 1891
So what does all of this have to do with wizards? Well everything really. Because looking at the treasure from Ali Baba from  One Thousand and One Nights, we get a clear understanding that the thieves took over an ancient magic site that was left in the area. This site was probably left by some ancient Pre Flood or first ice age race.  Thieves are opportunists & they'll use what is at hand. This is something that we see Conan's thieves & cut throats do as well there is a derth of these sites that have been passed from father to son; 

'"Know, oh prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the Sons of Aryas, there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars — Nemedia, Ophir, Brythunia, Hyperborea, Zamora with its dark-haired women and towers of spider-haunted mystery, Zingara with its chivalry, Koth that bordered on the pastoral lands of Shem, Stygia with its shadow-guarded tombs, Hyrkania whose riders wore steel and silk and gold. But the proudest kingdom of the world was Aquilonia, reigning supreme in the dreaming west. Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandalled feet."

— The Nemedian Chronicles'

The Phoenix on the Sword 

by Robert Ervin Howard

Thieves guilds can also be family businesses & again this is something that we see in a wide variety of both Appendix N sources & even older ones. Treasures & relics seem to have an aura of power & tragedy about them. This is evident at the fate of the guild of the forty thieves & several of Conan's poor cohorts over the stories. But many of these remains of a by gone age pass on & into the hands of wizards. Wizards often seem to collect many different treasures from bygone days. Many of these relics are dangerous often handed over to wizards for safe keeping. In modern terms Dr. Strange had many relics of power that turned on him later in the series as the writers often used them to convey the supernatural dangers that Strange faced. Many a time was it that I wondered how some of those items had come into his possession.

Wizards seem to be prime motivating force for adventurers into dungeons but their not the only ones. As we shall see next time. 

Dusk on the sea; the fading twilight shifts'
The night wind bears the ocean's whisper dim—
Wind, on your bosom many a phantom drifts—
A silver star climbs up the blue world rim.
Wind, make the green leaves dance above me here
And idly swing my silken hammock—so;
Now, on that glimmering molten silver mere
Send the long ripples wavering to and fro.
And let your moon-white tresses touch my face
And let me know your slim-armed, cool embrace
While to my dreamy soul you whisper low.

Dream—aye, I've dreamed since last night left her tower
And now again she comes on star-soled feet.
Welcome, old friend; here in this rose-gemmed bower
I've drowsed away your Sultan's golden heat.
Here in my hammock, Time I've dreamed away
For I have but to stretch a hand out, lo,
I'm treading langurous shores of Yesterday,
Moon-silvered deserts or the star-weird snow;
I float o'er seas where ships are purple shells,
I hear the tinkle of the camel bells
That waft down Cairo's streets when dawn winds blow.

South Seas! I watch when dusky twilight comes
Making vague gods of ancient, sea-set trees.
The world path beckons—loud the mystic drums—
Here at my hand the magic golden keys
That fit the doors of Romance, Wonder, strange
Dim gossamer adventures; seas and stars.
Why, I have roamed the far Moon Mountain range
When sunset minted gold in shimmering bars.
All eager eyed I've sailed from ports of Spain
And watched the flashing topaz of the Main
When dawn was flinging witch fire on the spars.

I am content in dreams to roam my fill
The vagrant, drifting sport of wind and tide,
Slave of the greater freedom, venture's thrill;
Here every magic ship on which I ride.
Gold, green, blue, red, a priceless treasure trove,
More wealth than ever pirate dared to dream.
My hammock swings—about the world I rove.
The sunset's dusk, the dawning's glide and gleam,
Moon-dappled leaves are murmuring in the wind
Which whispers tales. Lo, Tyre is just behind,
Through seas of dawn I sail, Romance abeam.

Adventurer  (1926) 

by Robert Ervin Howard

Wizards, Relics, & The Path of Power In Old School Campaigns

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about Conan's Thoth-amon & especially the classic Barry Windsor piece of artwork from the Savage Sword of Conan magazine. What I started thinking about was the accumulation of treasure & artifacts by D&D style wizards & magic users. Clark Ashton Smith & Jack Vance both speculate about the 'how's' & 'why's' of wizards gathering treasures & relics.



Conan villain, Thoth Amon by Barry Windsor Smith. 1975.



Going all the way back to original Dungeons & Dragons the magic user was limited for spells. But this is one of the motivators for adventuring, power. The fact is that wizards are going to want to adventure not only to gather treasure for building up their power base in society. But to actually begin to understand the secrets of those who came before them. Robert Howard creation Conan's Thoth-amon  is an excellent example for a Dungeons & Dragons player of how a wizard gathers power without really casting spells.. Demonic pacts are way too risky for low level wizards & so its material power & wealth that starts the path.



Happy birthday Frank Frazetta
'Sorcerer' by Frank Frazetta (1965)
 Eerie #2 (Mar 1966, Warren)

By the time that we meet  Robert Howard creation Conan's Thoth-amon  in The God In The Bowl, he's been digging up the ancient relics of Stygia's past glory. He's using them to expand the might of the Stygian empire in a next work of underworld occult trading networks. Ancient antiquities that could potentially create an expanded & very dangerous supernatural path for his nation's power in the world. With D&D wizards only being able to cast one spell at first level is it any wonder that they'd turn to evil? Any means necessary to gain the path to power. No wonder so many of them are twisted in mind by the time they reach higher levels. The path to power is so winding & twisted. Wizards are looking for every advantage they can get.
This brings me to Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique story  “The Dark Eidolon.”
Here the sorcerer Namirrha is of a much higher playing field then Conan's Thoth-amon  but both are consumed by some twisting of mind & spirit. This plays out again & again in Sword & Sorcery even in High Fantasy;

"Many were the necromancers and magicians of Zothique, and the infamy and marvel of their doings were legended everywhere in the latter days. But among them all there was none greater than Namirrha, who imposed his black yoke on the cities of Xylac, and later, in a proud delirium, deemed himself the veritable peer of Thasaidon, lord of Evil.

Namirrha had built his abode in Ummaos, the chief town of Xylac, to which he came from the desert realm of Tasuun with the dark renown of his thaumaturgies like a cloud of desert storm behind him. And no man knew that in coming to Ummaos he returned to the city of his birth; for all deemed him a native of Tasuun. Indeed, none could have dreamt that the great sorcerer was one with the beggar-boy Narthos, an orphan of questionable parentage, who had begged his daily bread in the streets and bazaars of Ummaos. Wretchedly had he lived, alone and despised; and a hatred of the cruel, opulent city grew in his heart like a smothered flame that feeds in secret, biding the time when it shall become a conflagration consuming all things.

Bitterer always, through his boyhood and early youth, was the spleen and rancor of Narthos toward men. And one day the prince Zotulla, a boy but little older than he, riding a restive palfrey, came upon him in the square before the imperial palace; and Narthos implored an alms. But Zotulla, scorning his plea, rode arrogantly forward, spurring the palfrey; and Narthos was ridden down and trampled under its hooves. And afterward, nigh to death from the trampling, he lay senseless for many hours, while the people passed him by unheeding. And at last, regaining his senses, he dragged himself to his hovel; but he limped a little thereafter all his days, and the mark of one hoof remained like a brand on his body, fading never. Later, he left Ummaos, and was forgotten quickly by its people. Going southward into Tasuun, he lost his way in the great desert, and was near to perishing. But finally he came to a small oasis, where dwelt the wizard Ouphaloc, a hermit who preferred the company of honest jackals and hyenas to that of men. And Ouphaloc, seeing the great craft and evil in the starveling boy, gave succor to Narthos and sheltered him. He dwelt for years with Ouphaloc, becoming the wizard's pupil and the heir of his demon-wrested lore. Strange things he learned in that hermitage, being fed on fruits and grain that had sprung not from the watered earth, and wine that was not the juice of terrene grapes. And like Ouphaloc, he became a master in devildom and drove his own bond with the archfiend Thasaidon. When Ouphaloc died, he took the name of Namirrha, and went forth as a mighty sorcerer among the wandering peoples and the deep-buried mummies of Tasuun."

By using the forgotten lore & legacy of past civilizations wizards are hoping to gain a leg up on one another & the world around them. This is why treasure especially relics is very important. Not only occult secrets but the accumulation of knowledge is priceless to them. Those 'golden  age' wonder workers who came before them had strategic advantages that many wizards seem to use. The line between D&D adventuring wizard & vile villain is only an alignment change away.


Cartoon from the AD&D first edition Dungeon Master's Guide

This brings me to the Arthurian literature & the treasures of bygone eras when the wizards & witches of legend are literally king makers. These treasures represent the true occult base of power in Europe during the time of Arthur. The world & old order's creating the new base of power from the point & parcel of their point in time.
 But like in  Jack Vance's Dying Earth series of novels. Its not only having these treasures but having the knowledge of where they are.


'Morgan le Fay with Excalibur', 1905. An illustration from Stories of King Arthur and the Round Table by Beatrice Clay, 1st Edition, 1905

This is one of the main reasons why thieves & bards are so important in the Dungeons & Dragons settings. Knowledge is power & the next work of NPC's & PC's that stretches in the game is the net that holds the campaign together. Wizards unto themselves are struggling on every level & for their very lives. But with some careful maneuvering & social climbing magic users can be force to be reckoned with.
Next where does all that treasure go? Whose money was that anyway?!

All artwork used without permission no trade mark or copyright infringement is intended. This blog post is for educational & entertainment purposes only. All writing is copyright & trademark Dark Corner Productions@2019 all rights reserved. 

OSR Commentary On "The Savage Sword of Conan As OSR Campaign or Adventure Resource

So its Nineteen Seventy Four & I'm four years old digging though my favorite uncle's stash of comics & comic magazines. I spy a new one he's just gotten & he waves me off of it. We're talking about The Savage Sword of Conan Curtis imprint.

"The Savage Sword of Conan was a black-and-white magazine-format comic book series published beginning in 1974 by Curtis Magazines, an imprint of American company Marvel Comics, and then later by Marvel itself. Savage Sword of Conan starred Robert E. Howard's most famous creation, Conan the Barbarian, and has the distinction of being the longest-surviving title of the short-lived Curtis imprint."

This is one of the most iconic & cultastic comic magazine titles that stayed on my comic shop pull box & it hardly ever disappointed;
"As a "magazine", Savage Sword of Conan did not have to conform to the Comics Code Authority, making it a publication of choice for many illustrators. It soon became one of the most popular comic series of the 1970s and is now considered a cult classic. Roy Thomas was the editor and primary writer for the series' first few years (until issue 60), which featured art by illustrators such as Neal Adams, Dick Giordano, Barry Windsor-Smith, John Buscema, Alfredo Alcala, Jim Starlin, Al Milgrom, Pablo Marcos, and Walter Simonson. Painted covers were provided by such artists as Earl Norem, Bob Larkin, and Joe Jusko."
 It was nasty, lusty, & had Sword & Sorcery action in spades & it was fantastic fodder for a fledgling dungeon master to bring the players to the table.  This wasn't simply a magazine but a great resource for a budding dungeon master.
It was also some of the first exposure that I had to H.P. Lovecraft & Clark Ashton Smith's mythos.

" The cover of issue #5 sports a Boris Vallejo painting of Conan being crucified, from the story "A Witch Shall Be Born". This story features Conan at his most resilient, surviving a desert crucifixion to get revenge on the man who put him there."

This was Conan at his most resilient & dangerous, Sword taught me a lot about how PC's should be put in danger & the lengths that they'd go to to gain revenge on NPC villains. These were stories straight out of the back bone  of various eras of Conan's life & it gave a formula for writing adventures that could take place in various eras of a PC's life. This meant that a dungeon master wasn't restricted to linear game play.
This was a trick that I've used time & again to pin ball levels & eras suiting play around the players rather then the adventure.

"The adventures in Savage Sword of Conan are not always consecutive (as they are in the color Marvel title Conan the Barbarian), and they cover different eras of Conan's life. The Savage Sword stories mostly feature an older Conan, and adapt R. E. Howard stories and pastiches starting from "Black Colossus" (according to the Miller/Clark chronology), thus following the Roy Thomas stories in Conan the Barbarian."
Everything in The Savage Sword of Conan is keyed to the interactions being grand gestures of Sword & Sorcery. Conan is a driven inhuman being of incredible acts of both bravery & savagery. There's plenty of dungeon crawling within these books & Marvel provided lots of T&A or implied it I should say.



The Savage Sword of Conan was a magazine that took lots of riskier from the moment that it broke on the scene & it was a comics magazine that didn't pull punches with its audience. Treasures were recovered but frequently lost to the gambling of Conan. There was also lots & lots of violence on the bad guys. Savage was relentless on Conan's war on the bad guys. His never give up or surrender could infuriating for some readers but this was from a very different time period.

For old school adventure design there was a definitive old school Sword & Sorcery  formula for the writing:

1. Conan would go to great lengths for revenge and this could dove tail in with the on going soap opera of NPC's in a the mix 
2. Various ruins often hold secrets form an unknown age. Make sure player's saga is played out on the field 
3. Adventure plot hooks connect in early in these adventures to take sure advantage of the soap like mix of adventure ideas '
4. Adventure have to be really tight and this comes across in the Robert Howard 's fiction. Marvel Sword sometimes players fast & loose with the Conan mythos but not their own internal consistence. 
5. NPC villains often moved in the background of the adventures only to be revealed later on in the story line. 
6. Rage fueled much of the Conan stories in particular 
7. Monsters are either one offs or the ancient remains of something drawing from the planet's ancient past 
8. Magick is dangerous & highly unpredictable. 
9. Corruption & Chaos were the products of the Outer Dark and should never be taken lightly. 
10. Adventures always had lots of fall out that might take months to resolve

The Savage Sword of Conan is trade marked & copyrighted to its respective copyright & trade mark holders. This blog post is not an attempt to violate the respective copyright & trade marks of the The Savage Sword of Conan. This blog post is for educational & entertainment purposes only.