HYPERBOREA / Magic in Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea 2e

**Posted by Jimm.Iblis** 4/26/2019 6:43 pm

Blackadder23 wrote:
Lots of good stuff in post no.15.

Can I upvote this? I love everything about this post. Don't forget Pelias in Scarlet Citadel, Uses necromancy, shapeshifting, and summons a bat-demon. High-level magic-user stuff. Also a stand-up dude who helps Conan regain his throne, and has no tentacles or nothing.
And not to belabor the point, we're talking about a CAS-derived world here. The vast majority of his stories involve wizards and necromancers, likewise sans tentacles or whatnot from using and abusing their sorcery.
The idea of corruptive magic in RPGs is an RPG conceit, invented by RPG writers. I agree that contemporary versions of D&D that frontload their wizards—and that have magical technology everywhere—are way too much. But old-school systems that see very limited magic use built into the engine are just about perfect for sword-and-sorcery.

Spellbinder wrote:
There is room for variation within the genre I guess.

Its also okay to be wrong. That's how learning and growing happen.

Last edited by Jimm.Iblis (4/26/2019 6:47 pm)

**Posted by Rhebeqah** 8/02/2019 8:25 am

The term "Sword & Sorcery" wasn't coined, by Fritz Leiber if I remember correctly, until well after Robert E Howard's death. During the period that "Weird Tales" was in circulation there was just more than Howard writing in this general vein and approaches varied. What I mean is, the rare and dangerous sorcery trope hadn't been rigidly codified back then. I think the Elric stories by Michael Moorcock popularised the trope. Also, it's worth bearing in mind that the Conan stories were written from the eponymous hero's point of view and he did mellow as he got older and further divorced from the awed and terrified superstition of his younger days.