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Yesterday I ran a game of Aja of the Southern Isles. These are a series of games set in Hyboria, run using Mythic Bol, but with the edition of the Resolve rules from Everywhen. (If you don't know about Resolve, it's a bit like San rolls in CoC, but less limiting for PCs - though still potentially worrying.) The games are set in Howard's proto-Africa. I started with G-Man's old scenario 'Dread in the Water', and Aja is a pirate without a ship, trying to obtain enough treasure to buy one. She is done with piracy, and wants to be a merchant.
Two things that these sessions have really confirmed to me is that:
1 - Playing in the less explored parts of Hyboria is the way to go. Your game has more room to breathe. If all goes well, the next stop for Aja (once she gets a ship) is Vendhya.
2 - Using the Resolve rules from Everywhen really enforces the Hyborian feel of the game (for me at least, YMMV). While so far Aja and her pals have all made their Resolve rolls, many NPCs have not. And when the NPCs 'lose their shit' it really shows the true horror of the situation, and (when they make their rolls) how heroic the PCs are.
This makes me look forward to the proposed Sword and Sorcery Codex for Everywhen even more.
Also, it makes me think that adding Resolve rules to BoL would be a good fit for adventuring in Elric's Young Kingdoms.
Last edited by Gruntfuttock (8/23/2021 3:01 am)
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Thank you for posting this, it is an interesting read.
I might run BoL as the set of rules for Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea rpg. Mr. Talanian has a great setting and the rules are not bad at all, BoL would be easier to teach my newer players.
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I've found that using BoL and also Everywhen to run settings written for other rule systems is a snap. All BoL derived rule sets concentrate on character more than anything, so for NPCs it's easy to ask yourself, 'what are the limits and scope of this character' and design them accordingly - without mapping one rule system onto another (which is a lot more work and often doesn't work out at all).