[RPG]: Across The Thunder River, reviewed by Phil Slack (4/5)

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/11/11136.phtml

Phil Slack's Summary:

Good campaign setting for the Hyborian Age - last of the mohicans meets Braveheart

Go to the full review for more information.

Post originally by Dan Davenport at 2005-03-11 06:13:30
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Great review! I like all the cool details you mention, like the dino-god. These are the kinds of selling points I want to know.

As a general question, though: not having yet read any Conan stories featuring the Picts, are they really portrayed as similar to Wild West "Injun" stereotypes as they are in the core book and (apparently) this supplement?

--
Dan Davenport

Post originally by phil at 2005-03-11 07:05:59
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Well maybe the pictish / Injun thing was my impression only but certainly the illustrations and setting of the wilderness remind me strongly of 'last of the mohicans'. They are probably more like the Huron, Iroquis, Seneca Natives than Sioux and Apache.

Post originally by The Old Geezer at 2005-03-11 08:29:38
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They are more like generic "savages". Not so much 'REH portrayed Picts as "Injuns" ' as "REH portrayed Indians, Africans, Picts, Atlanteans, Kushites and some others as 'Generic 1930s Pulp Savages' ".

Post originally by Jack Fortune at 2005-03-11 10:28:45
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Sort of. Howard was really big on contrasting the savage versus the civilized. I think that there was more going on than just having stereotypical wildmen antagonists.

In his fictional history "The Hyborian Age," the Picts actually take over and conquer Aquilonia and some of the other civilized kingdoms. The Pictish Empire eventually falls as well, to the Aesir, I think. The rise and fall of civilizations was a major theme for Howard, too.

Post originally by jay verkuilen at 2005-03-11 13:45:44
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Jack Fortune wrote:
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>>Sort of. Howard was really big on contrasting the savage versus the civilized. I think that there was more going on than just having stereotypical wildmen antagonists.<<

Also one should note that Howard himself was not really on the side of civilization!


>>In his fictional history "The Hyborian Age," the Picts actually take over and conquer Aquilonia and some of the other civilized kingdoms. The Pictish Empire eventually falls as well, to the Aesir, I think.<<

Yup. IIRC this is reproduced in the book.


>>The rise and fall of civilizations was a major theme for Howard, too.<<

As indeed it is for a hell of a lot of Western writers. IMO, the collapse of the Roman empire looms in our collective psyches.

Jay

Post originally by Jack Fortune at 2005-03-11 15:57:17
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You're right on the money, Jay. Howard usually portrayed the "civilized" characters as hypocrites who were just as savage, if not more so, than the barabarians.

Post originally by KC at 2005-03-12 12:27:24
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Or civilization as breeding evil, whereas savages are just wild.

I think there are one or two stories which Howard wrote as westerns and then rewrote as Conan stories in which the Picts sound very Native-American-inspired. But in others they seem less so...

Post originally by Jeb at 2005-03-13 11:11:29
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Also one should note that Howard himself was not really on the side of civilization!
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Which isn't too surprising since much of what Howard equated with civilization he based on what he saw in the free wheeling oil field boom towns that he lived in. This perspective on Howard comes from the movie The Whole Wide World.

Jeb

Post originally by Jason Vey at 2005-03-14 06:37:15
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Jeb wrote:

Which isn't too surprising since much of what Howard equated with civilization he based on what he saw in the free wheeling oil field boom towns that he lived in. This perspective on Howard comes from the movie The Whole Wide World.

Jeb
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Which in turn was heavily based upon the book "One Who Walked Alone," by Novelyne Price, the one woman who was closer to Howard than any other living person. If any source about Howard can be taken as a reliable firsthand souce, it's Price's work.