Lankhmar beckons (a possible campaign)

I'm not sure how I missed Barbarians of Lemuria. I'd kind of registered it in the background with several friends expressing a like for it but never played or picked it up. Recently, that changed.

First of all, this isn't a review. The author of Barbarians of Lemuria kindly pointed me at this review of the current edition and Andy Slack has reviewed it in the past on his blog. They were both responding to my question "Tell me about Barbarians of Lemuria" on the Gaming Tavern* which I'd posted having seen the (at time of writing current) kickstarter for some expansions for the Mythic+ edition, which had in turn prompted me to pick up the past Legendary Edition** to see what this was all about.

*Sadly, the Tavern is currently closed to new members because of the UK online safety act (as there's no really viable age-verification solution that is cost effective for a small hobby not for profit website). 

** A steal at around £3.

In essence, it's a really well tuned 2D6 engine that appears like it would be a great fit for the Swords and Sorcery genre it's aimed at. Now, I was never really a big Conan fan (it's only in later life that I indulged in reading the canon in the lovely Black Book edition), but I absolutely love Moorcock's Elric, Corum and more, along with Fritz Leiber's Fafhd & the Grey Mouser stories, mostly set in the city of Lankhmar.

Stormbringer and Hawkmoon were superbly done by Chaosium and Mongoose, but aren't roleplaying properties in the English speaking world in effect at the moment (there is a Quickstart for a conversion of the French edition, but nothing more yet).

Lankhmar has been done well by TSR (for 2nd edition AD&D) and by Pinnacle for Savage Worlds. I didn't really indulge in those, but I have picked up the more recent Goodman Games Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar books. These are wonderfully done; there's a lovely core box set which featured on the Bundle of Holding (and led me down a similar path to the Traveller bundles), plus more than 15 modules and a boxed tournament adventure.

The thing is, Dungeon Crawl Classics doesn't make my heart sing. I've played it and read it, and it's really well done but not really for me. But the setting material is gorgeous and the game is close enough to the lingua franca of gaming, D&D, to make it easily transferable.

I now am hatching plans for an irregular, episodic, Lankhmar campaign where players can drop in and out. It would be built around the DCC Lankhmar adventures and material but powered by Barbarians of Lemuria. I've a bit more reading to do, but overall this is exciting me. Swords and Sorcery Shenanigans in a City and setting I love. I think some web searching is needed to see if anyone has already trod this path! Hopefully I can get this to the (virtual or physical) table soon.

You can get the Mythic+ edition from Ludospherik Editions here.

24 April 2025