Once again I am trying to curtail my RPG purchasing and once again the game writers and publishers are conspiring against me by putting out games that look superlicious. Right now the two that are fascinating me are Mongoose's new Conan rpg and Paul Czege's My Life with Master.

First off, there are general good reasons not to buy any new rpgs. I just sold off a bunch I didn't have the time or the players for. I still have more than I currently have time or players for. And, as I mentioned earlier, I'm currently neglecting my Heroes Unlimited campaign as it is.

For the Conan rpg, I would have to say that I need another Conan rpg like I need another hole in my head. I have the one good booklet (the setting info) from the TSR boxed set. I own GURPS Conan, too. Most importantly, I own Ron Edward's Sorcerer & Sword, the "fantasy" supplement to his excellent Sorcerer rpg. I feel like Ron really nailed it in one where he urges S&S players to carve out their own campaign world one adventure at a time, using the method Howard himself employed. For a long time I've felt like playing in Hyboria was missing the boat, and Ron made it clear to me that it was Howard's methods, not his results, which most warrant emulation.

And I don't think I need another game that deals with guys wielding swords against demons and wizards. I'm pert near done trying to reinvent the wheel. D&D, particularly the early eighties iterations, just suits me as a vehicle for fantasy gaming.

But come on, man. We're talking about Conan here. I know a LOT of D&D fans get off on Tolkien, but for me Howard has always been the stronger influence.

My Life with Master sets off the cool detector in the back of my head. It looks chock full of dramatic possibilities. Reading on RPG.net what other folks are trying to do with it gets me giddy with excitement the same way threads about Sorcerer campaigns trip my trigger. You can tell there's something to a game when its not a generic, universal system yet people are going in a million different directions with it.

But do I need another supercool indie game that no one will play with me? I still have yet to play John Tynes' Puppetland, or Sorcerer, or even kill puppies for satan, all of which I paid real money for. And there's a viking horde of free indie games I want to try as well.

Maybe I need to get serious about recruiting for some short term indie play. There's got to be folks in the Champaign-Urbana area who might be interested in a change of pace game. If I don't get some of these damn idnie games played soon, I fear I will evolve into some sort of slackjawed indiegame poseuropithocus.

And lets not even talk about my desire to buy about half of the products put out by Eden Studios...