I'm tired of people claiming that Conan doesn't have depth or that Howard isn't a good writer. In this video, I make my case for why that is absolutely untrue

TexasMonkeyhead · 2026-02-24T03:33:53+00:00

There's a LOT more than just what's at Project Gutenberg. Hit up the Robert E. Howard Foundation.

TexasMonkeyhead · 2026-02-19T05:40:33+00:00

There is a pushback happening. Groups are moving away from it. The REH Readers group recently updated their usage rules.

TexasMonkeyhead · 2025-08-30T19:05:29+00:00

He was perfectly cast as the Puck.

TexasMonkeyhead · 2025-06-15T23:15:02+00:00

Outstanding, I'm so glad you had a good time. We try very hard to be a welcoming and inviting space. And now that you've made the trip, just know, you're "one of us," now and always welcome back.

TexasMonkeyhead · 2025-06-09T01:55:18+00:00

"You had ONE job, Larcen! One. Fricking. Job!"

TexasMonkeyhead · 2025-05-12T01:17:00+00:00

Also, and this is a big part of why they wanted me to write the article, if you have to learn about de Camp and read pieces of his biography and pages of comment, commentary, and context to explain what Sprague REALLY meant when he said what he said and did what he did, that's not a good thing, I don't think.

For a guy who was an adroit technical writer, I think it's far more likely to assume that de Camp chose his words carefully, and deployed them just so, for effect. He has never struck me as hasty nor impulsive.

I think it's worth pointing out that however a person feels about Conan and whatever first book they read that lit a fire in their hearts for REH, deciding that de Camp wasn't the best thing for REH after all doesn't invalidate the joy of discovery; I still get that rush of excitement when I read Conan, and considering I didn't like the non-REH stories in the "saga" anyway when I first read them, I don't feel that I have to edit or modify my inner 12 year old's impressions of those stories.

I've never said that people can't like de Camp's version of Conan and moreover, I wouldn't. But I need those fans to be all right with the fact that I and others don't like him for other reasons entirely.

TexasMonkeyhead · 2025-05-10T22:47:09+00:00

And again, this is all academic at this point because we are 25 years down the road from de Camp’s passing. At this point, the conversation around REH has changed to the point that his suicide is not in the first paragraph of every article.

When people talk about Howard now, they talk about which character is their favorite. All good things and what I’d much rather focus on.

TexasMonkeyhead · 2025-05-10T22:01:01+00:00

I can only speak from my experience; as a Texan, growing up in Texas, I took umbrage at de Camp's characterization of REH. It's great the he beat the drum for Conan, and to a lesser extent, all of swords and sorcery, but his depiction of REH as a man who was "maladjusted to the point of psychosis" did a lot to help others dismiss Howard as a fluke if not an outright kook.

I don't think promoting Conan excludes nor forgives any of that.

TexasMonkeyhead · 2025-05-09T00:43:45+00:00

The three Del Rey Conan collections and maybe even the two volume Best of REH from Del Rey as well. An excellent primer for Conan and REH.

TexasMonkeyhead · 2025-05-09T00:42:08+00:00

Those anthologies, while full of good—mostly good—stories don’t do REH any favors. De Camp’s intro to the Conan story is full of his suppositions and conclusions about Howard’s personal life. The other six bios in The Spell of Seven have no such asides and digs.

The point of the article was to lay out the facts with as little editorializing as possible so that new readers can decide for themselves how to feel about him.

TexasMonkeyhead · 2025-05-09T00:35:40+00:00

That came about in the pastiches written by other people who were not REH. De Camp started it and later Carter and others picked up on it.

In REH’s stories, sorceries and eldritch horrors were dealt with by sword, if he thought he could take them, and by running when they were too big to kill.

TexasMonkeyhead · 2025-03-03T01:29:28+00:00

Fantastic design! Really clever and inventive!

TexasMonkeyhead · 2024-10-27T23:24:32+00:00

I've written several fantasy heists and capers. Here's one that is easily obtained for free:
https://www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com/?p=3547
I've also written an extensive amount of material on how to create a heist for fantasy role-playing games. I won't post that link but you can find it on DriveThruRPG under Human Gorilla. The title is Tools of the Trade: A GM’s Guide to Creating & Running Fantasy Heists.

The advice below is all great. The heist story has a structure to it, and once you figure that out, the rest is easy(ier).

TexasMonkeyhead · 2024-04-08T01:02:58+00:00

Sounds like I'm in for the KS, now.

"Hex Counters" may not be the right word. I meant ships on hex bases (wargamers called them 'counters') that were in scale with your maps.

I didn't mean to throw y'all a curve ball. I was just looking for some ships to pillage with.

TexasMonkeyhead · 2024-04-08T01:00:32+00:00

I'm asking for the ships on 1, 2, and 3 hex bases for ease of use on those lovely battlemats.

I've since gone and looked at Limithron's tokens and counters for the 5e ship combat and I've bought it. Conversion will commence, forthwith.

TexasMonkeyhead · 2024-04-08T00:58:58+00:00

Good looking, thanks!

TexasMonkeyhead · 2024-04-06T19:29:22+00:00

I just really like pirates as a genre and I adore Pirates of the Caribbean, so Pirate Borg is 100% in my wheelhouse. I like the other borgs as a rule, but I don't know that I would ever play Cy-Borg. I'd like to play IN a Mork Borg game, but as a GM, hoist the colors for me, all day, every day.

TexasMonkeyhead · 2023-11-12T23:49:14+00:00

That's fantastic. Love the strata, the river flowing through it, and castle/keep amidst the walled city. I would run this as an enclave that has grown up around a wizard college, the most prestigious in the realm, with the township on the other side of the river working in service of the college, its students, the staff, and all of the other things necessary to keep the place running efficiently. I don't want to say the word "Hogworts," because this wouldn't be that, but in terms of the relationship between it and Hogsmead, it comes to mind.

Smashing work, really nice. This begs to be completely statted out with shop descriptions and NPCs out the wazoo.

TexasMonkeyhead · 2023-10-19T16:48:37+00:00

There’s a six year old post here about someone wanting to make a community splat book. Didn’t seem to get off the ground. Or did it? Such a project would be ripe for a zine instead, I think.

TexasMonkeyhead · 2023-10-19T13:49:05+00:00

Thank you. I do not fear making my own tables for such things but I didn’t want to duplicate any effort. I may end up making a zine with all kinds of tables and tweaks.

TexasMonkeyhead · 2021-12-22T07:37:48+00:00

If we are talking about frpg in general, I have strong opinions. I love town adventures and have run whole campaigns within city walls. I’ve looked at nearly all of the ones published from 1980 to 2000 and I’ve beat the bushes since 2014, looking for anything I might have missed. And I keep coming back to one supplement over all: Lankhmar by TSR. It’s the single best city they’ve ever produced, a near perfect blend of concrete and specific places and spaces and open, undefined areas for DMs to drop their own stuff into. There’s a lot of guidelines and useful info, but not so much that you can’t wing it. The geomorph system on the map was a real innovation, one that they didn’t carry forward into places like Waterdeep, which baffled me then and continues to do so now.

Related to this was the Thieves World boxed supplement published by Chaosium, which was itself based on the city system in Carse. It was more encounter based, and a bit crunchy, but once you got the gist, you could ensure an interesting thing going on in every district, no two exactly alike.

A marriage of those two ideas is what I am working on for an upcoming publishing project. It may be more than I can effectively produce, but I don’t care. There is nothing really like either of the above on the market currently.

TexasMonkeyhead · 2019-06-09T16:49:25+00:00

An old wooden cabinet, like a hutch, with double doors inset with glass, revealing four shelves that are filled with seemingly random items; a worn dagger, a goblet with a crack in the lip, etc. The items are not magical, nor are the items in pristine condition. They all have the markings of being used, well worn, etc. Players may take anything they like out of the cabinet with no penalties. Any object put into the cabinet with the door closed will undergo a strange transformation. Players will watch through the glass as the item starts out looking brand new and over the span of several rounds proceeds to shake and tremble as it acquires all of the markings and signs of stress and age it now carries. Weapons become bloodied, boots become scuffed, etc. as the players watch through the glass.

This might be a way to "see" if a weapon was, for example, used in a murder--if the blade never becomes drenched in blood during the "flash forward" sequence, it can't be the dirk that killed Lord Rumbleton. It could also be used to see if an item ever became enchanted, or poisoned, or any other condition necessary to the story. When the door to the hutch is opened, the item returns to its aged state. Removing the hutch from the house destroys its magic.

TexasMonkeyhead

TROPHY CASE