TEXT: SoC#1
  1
  Sons of Cimmeria #1
  A
  2004-03-23
  W
  hen Alex and our friends at 
  Mongoose Publishing asked me to let the 
  Sons of Cimmeria (Sons of the Desert, 
  anyone?) know a bit of our plans for Conan, I was 
  somewhat reluctant at first – it is so easy to come off as a 
  ‘suit’ who cares not for the character or the original author, 
  or about Role-playing games for that matter. But here I am 
  and I ask you not to over-interpret like a Kremlin Analyst of 
  the seventies – or by Crom, to hell with it! 
  When we took over management of CPI in autumn of 
  2002, the lands lay barren indeed. We inherited a computer 
  game deal already in the works, and a new pastiche book 
  by Turtledove was in final publishing stages. That’s it. 
  We needed to re-establish the character in publishing, 
  entertainment and overall licensing activities from ground 
  zero. 
  One of the first tasks was to work with Wandering Star to 
  get their beautiful edition of R E Howard’s Conan into 
  an affordable format, so that the ‘genuine’ Conan would 
  be available to all. The first volume was published last 
  Christmas by Del Rey/Ballantine and sold out in three 
  weeks, it’s already in its third printing! The second volume 
  (of three), The Bloody Crown of Conan, will be out this 
  fall.
  As you know, the character has a large following of comic 
  book fans, so the next job was to find a publisher for the 
  new monthly series who shared our vision both creatively 
  and visually. With Dark Horse as our publisher, it feels 
  like Conan has come home! The idea is to faithfully adapt 
  Howard’s stories, and tell them in a chronological order of 
  Conan’s life. The first issues have been spectacularly well 
  received by the trade and readers alike – the series is Dark 
  Horse’s top seller and we hope it will continue many, many 
  years. We will break out of the continuity by doing mini-
  series and one-shots now and then.
  The Hyborian Age is as rich in detail as Middle Earth, but 
  few know of it. The general perception of the character and 
  mythology has been very linked to that of the first movie 
  starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. As good as that movie is 
  (and I really like it), it does not tell the story of Howard’s 
  Conan. Howard described much, and other writers have 
  added great stuff to the world since, but the source material 
  was spread out and hard to grasp.
  I, and my colleague Theo Bergquist, have a background in 
  RPG´s, both as players and publishers. I founded Target 
  Games in the early 1980´s, which developed many universes 
  and game systems including Mutant Chronicles, Warzone, 
  Doomtrooper, Kult and Chronopia. I met with Theo when 
  he started publishing a local Swedish RPG that I used to 
  put out in the eighties and we found that we enjoyed many 
  of the same visions. So we knew that if we could get a great 
  RPG out, we would have a useful factbook about the world 
  itself, and this would assist us when trying to describe to 
  other licensee partners what it looks like. As a bonus, if 
  the game was good enough, we felt thousands of really 
  hard core fantasy experts would discover Conan’s awesome 
  world and spread the gospel! As a licensor, it is important 
  to pick your partners carefully. We looked around, and 
  Mongoose Publishing caught our eye as a publisher putting 
  out excellent material. Well, the rest of that part of the story 
  you know.
  An important issue to us is a unified vision and a high 
  quality control. This summer will see the first series of a 
  great line of toys from McFarlane Toys, a clear industry 
  leader. Todd McFarlane himself is a great Conan fan, has 
  been collecting stuff since he was young, and he too shared 
  our vision. 
  Looking over the horizon, the stuff we are working on now 
  will start hitting shelves in 2005. It includes a very exciting 
  book program with Ace/Berkley. We have decided to tell 
  the tales of three adventurers, from Stygia, Cimmeria and 
  Aquilonia in respective trilogies. We work closely with the 
  authors who have not yet been publicly announced, but 
  who all have previous experience from writing in universes 
  such as those of WOTC. We will have the same artist 
  illustrate all covers, his name is Justin Sweet and 
  he has a very modern, yet classical approach. 
  These books will take place during the Hour 
  of the Dragon setting, and will not feature 
  Conan per se but he will of course be an 
  omnipresent character.
  
  2
  SoC#1
  We are also working on an online game which will take 
  place in the same regions as the books. I hope we can tell 
  you more later this year – but work has been going on since 
  last summer and it looks fantastic. The MMOG arena is 
  getting very crowded – but this one game will stand out as 
  done by an experienced team with a solid engine, in a well 
  recognized and believable setting. 
  I have left the entertainment until last. So much speculation 
  – will it be Arnold? Is Milius involved? Does CPI want a 
  ‘childish’ Conan? Etc, etc. The Conan movie will cost a lot 
  of money to make, probably 100 million dollars or more. It 
  is only natural that the studio will most often have control 
  over who directs, and who is the star in such large projects. 
  Our ambition has been to get as many visuals and product 
  partners together sharing our vision that Hollywood will 
  take notice, and recognize that it works, and is appreciated. 
  We will of course have some influence how the movie will 
  look and feel, but the fact of the matter is, he who pays 
  makes the ultimate decision. We have a good relationship 
  with Warner Brothers, who are currently working on the 
  script, and we hope to go into pre-production this year.
  On another note, we are working with a company called 
  Swordplay Entertainment on a series of animated feature-
  length direct-to-dvd´s based on Howard’s stories of 
  Conan. These films will be made for the mature audience, 
  and possibly cut for certain distribution, and look very 
  promising. The first one is Conan/Red Nails and the 
  script is fantastic. We hope that this film will be ready for 
  Christmas 2005. 
  I thank Alex, Ian, Paul and the rest of the Mongoose staff for 
  the opportunity to address the Sons of Cimmeria directly – 
  I hope you enjoy gaming in the fantastic world that Robert 
  E Howard created. Unless you have already foraged into the 
  literary side, or read the comics, I hope you will. If you have 
  time between the gaming sessions!
  Fredrik Malmberg
  Head of Licensing,
  Conan Properties International 
  Conan The RPG FAQ is © 2004 Conan Properties 
  International 
  LLC. 
  CONAN®, 
  CONAN 
  THE 
  BARBARIAN® and related logos, character, names, and 
  distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks of Conan 
  Properties International LLC unless otherwise noted. All 
  Rights Reserved. Mongoose Publishing Ltd Authorized 
  User. 
  
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