Customer Reviews

Conan: Beyond Thunder River (GURPS)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This has definetly been on my wishlist for a long time. As a fan of both Howard and GURPS I was excited to finally be able to obtain it. It has been out of print for quite some time, even before i started to game GURPS.

Well this is a solo adventure in which you are able to play as Conan (character sheet of him at that time provided) or your own character. I would recommend playing as conan, but the module is suited and takes into account different character with skillsets differing from Conan. Don't want to spoil any of the story but it involves you and a varying amount of companions (named and generic soldiers) on a mission of great importance. There are many ways to achieve your mission and Keywords acquired at the start and during the quest give it much replay value. There are rules for xp for the adventure and a GM well versed in the book can run it as a full adventure for a whole party.

Where it falls short is during the trek across the pictish wilderness. This section of the book is repetitive and probably leads to too many fights using GURPS combat system which seems a bit unwieldy for basically a "choose-your-own-adventure" book. You have to manage many npcs as well as your adversaries on a battlemap and the fights (while if you enjoy the tactical aspects of GURPS combat might find... well enjoyable) mess up with the pacing of play. A playthrough might take more than one evening!

I certainly still liked it and this review can be read as only 3 stars for a solo module if you don't enjoy Howards' Conan universe or GURPS rulesystem.
(The reviewer was compensated for posting this review. However, the opinion stated in the review is that of the reviewer and the reviewer alone. Further, the reviewer independently selected this product to review and has no affiliation with the product maker/distributor, Amazon or the review requester.)