Between the years when the oceans drunk Atlantis… and the rise of the sons of Aryas… there was an Age undreamed of. Onto this, CONAN! And also to a lesser extent YOU, the reader! For you have wandered the wastes to find our newest Campaign of the Month winner — “Age of Conan: The Rise of Yig” by award-winning game-maker and author jasonvey of Elf Lair Games. So, put on your best horned helmet and sharpen those two-handed swords before you read the tales of this troupe of talented travelers and hear the wise words of the wizard on the hill…
Obsidian Portal last spoke with you in 2017, when your “Nocturnum: Rebirth” Unisystem game won Campaign of the Month and we had the chance to make your acquaintance. What’s new in your life since then?
Hah! My entire life has changed since then. As with all of us COVID altered our whole world. I am no longer working as a content writer. My day job is now an SEO consultant, while I have also since launched my own gaming company, Elf Lair Games. The game that powers the Age of Conan campaign, Wasted Lands, is one of my games, using the O.G.R.E.S. system (which I’d love to see added to Obsidian Portal, but I have no ability to program character sheets!). I’m still working as a staff writer for Troll Lord Games as well, and we just re-released a new “reforged” printing of Amazing Adventures.
Your current campaign, “Age of Conan: The Rise of Yig” reads like a tale right out of a Robert E. Howard book. In your opinion, what makes games set during the Hyborian Age feel so wonderfully different from other sword-and-sorcery fare to which many of us might be more accustomed (e.g. D&D)? What draws you personally to these kinds of stories?
That’s actually a great question. For me I guess it’s just having been steeped in Howard and Conan since I was a kid – my dad introduced me to the old Ace Paperback series when I was 10 or 12, and it was a formative thing for me. The Hyborian Age is as richly detailed a setting as any other, and more than many, from Howard’s own seminal essay through the many pastiches (of widely varying quality) that have been done throughout the years. So I really think that’s it – what sets ours apart is just that I know this world like the back of my hand. I understand the appeal of the gods and men of that world, of the struggle between barbarism and civilization, and the rich history and cultures that populate the world. Conan and the Hyborian Age, to use a cliche, are much imitated, but never exceeded.
Tell us a little about the rules of “Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age”, the “Powered by O.G.R.E.S” system, and what you like best about using them for your campaign.
O.G.R.E.S. has three mechanics, inspired by the earliest days of role playing games. The first is a d20 mechanic, wherein you roll a d20, add attribute bonus and other applicable bonuses, and try to get a 20 or better. This powers attribute checks and combat.
The second is a straight percentile check, which powers skills and class abilities (including spellcasting). When you need to do something specific to your character’s skills or class abilities, you roll percentile against your chance of success.
The third is the Rule of 2. This is a GM-only mechanic that serves as a quick way to adjudicate any situation you’re not sure how to otherwise resolve. Just pick a die, roll it, and look for 1 or 2. On a 1 or 2, something happens. This governs things like surprise, trying to listen for noise when you don’t have a perception class ability, whether someone hears you sneaking up if you don’t have a stealth ability, whether you notice a hidden panel in the wall, and the like.
O.G.R.E.S. is drawn from and inspired by the earliest days of gaming, and the three mechanic approach offers an elegance in that it’s intuitive and quickly lets everyone at the table know exactly what’s going on based on who is rolling what dice at what time. It cuts down on “Hey, what is she doing? Can I try that too?” It’s also very fast playing and intuitive. It was specifically built for the kind of gritty high action play that swords and sorcery represents. It is also scaleable for different levels of gritty through cinematic play, so it lets you customize your game for the exact style you like.
We noticed that, as an author of games yourself, you seem quite adept at kit-bashing together exactly what you need for the rules, genres, and adventures that you want to run. We must assume that the advantages outweigh the potential problems with this approach or you wouldn’t do it that way — but what advice would you offer to those of us who want to mix and match our own systems and settings?
Don’t overthink it. Make a call and run with it. Learn to adjudicate things on the fly and do not ever overanalyze what you’re doing. In the end, as we used to say, the play is the thing. If the game is moving forward and everyone’s having fun, you’re getting it right. I’m also not a fan of re-inventing the wheel. If you’ve got a mechanic that works, there is absolutely ZERO reason to create a new subsystem. Just use what you have and 99% of the time you’ll find it works just fine.
You have some extensive experience in writing for the gaming industry and quite a few projects under your belt. Which ones have been your favorites, so far? Any upcoming titles that we should keep an eye out for?
Of course my own Elf Lair Games products under the O.G.R.E.S. system are my children right now – Night Shift is our modern urban fantasy game, Wasted Lands our Swords and Sorcery, and Thirteen Parsecs our sci-fi game. All 100% compatible, all using the same O.G.R.E.S. rules. Other than that? Amazing Adventures from Troll Lord Games sits right alongside my ELG works. That was my first ever core role playing game and it will always be my favorite child as a result.
What have been some of your favorite moments in “Rise of Yig?”
That has to be going back to the earlier days of the campaign. We were running the old Mongoose Betrayer of Asgard campaign, and the characters had sought an old soothsayer named Mimir deep in the Asgardian mountains for the answer to a prophetic riddle. Alas, as happens to all of us, we had a bunch of things come up and gaming was put off for like a month. So when they got back, we picked up. They found the lair, and Mimir, who says, “Why have you come seeking Mimir?”
There was dead silence for a minute. Then, one of my players (Robert, if I remember right) went, “Oh, s–t, why DID we come seeking Mimir??”
Laughter erupted, as the entire group had forgotten what they were doing in the ensuing month.
Your wiki and adventure logs have been a joy to read — lost kings, thwarted assassins, and ancient evils slithering back into the world, it’s just fantastic! Without giving away too much of the ending, what can we expect to see as the rest of the campaign proceeds?
You’ll have to wait and see. I will say that for die hards of Conan, some familiar faces and references will absolutely be turning up! You may already have noticed that I canonized the much-maligned Conan the Destroyer by having Jehnna as the current queen of Zamora and her retinue as of the end of that film still serving her. That was a fun little wink-and-nod. I have also mentioned in passing that one of the Hyrkanian city-states is currently ruled by a fiery-haired she-devil of a woman whose swordplay knows no equal. I’m not sure if she will actually show up (and I’m not sure that bit made it into one of the logs), but again, little references.
And as always, Obsidian Portal loves to ask for any new tips, tricks, or general advice from the last eight years since your previous win that you could share with other Game Masters, World Builders, and writers.
Again, the big thing is to never overthink it. Dive in with gusto and as long as everyone’s having fun, you’re getting it right. It’s okay to make rulings on the fly, and always stop to think, “do I already have a mechanic that will handle this?” You rarely need a whole new character class, or a new subsystem, or something like that. Never try to be innovative just for the sake of being innovative. It’s rarely needed. Stick to the KISS principle, and you can almost never go wrong.
Also, let me just say it’s a real honor to be named Campaign of the Month again – in the same month, I think, as our last one, no less! We’re excited for this, and stay tuned! I’m a little behind on adventure logs right now but am working to get caught up!
The honor is ours, Jason, and we thank you for sharing your creativity with the Obsidian Portal community once again! We look forward to reading more adventures from the Hyborian Age, soon.
We’ve passed along your request to the OP Support team to get your game systems added to our library. And for anyone who would like to add their own games or ask other questions, don’t forget you can always reach out via email to [email protected] for just about anything. Be sure to check out the help articles, Discord server, and community forums too — which is where you can nominate your own favorite campaigns for Campaign of the Month consideration.
Until next month, fellow barbarians!
