The first of the short-lived Conan module series (there will be a CB2 and that’s it), this makes the Hyborian Age of Conan officially the fourth D&D world, after Greyhawk, Mystara and Dragonlance. Being a new campaign world it has different things happening in it. 

So, the world of Conan was a definite influence on the creation of D&D, in fact Gygax was more a fan of Robert E. Howard’s brand of Sword & Sorcery than even Tolkien’s High Fantasy. This can be seen in the more rugged, horrific and dark feeling of many of the earliest adventures as well as the profusion of evil magicians and liches as antagonists. However, the world of Hyboria does not fit perfectly with AD&D as it would develop later.

So, the gods in the Hyborian Age are pretty absent, which makes for a very different kind of healing an cleric abilities, and this modules is pretty good at covering that. It also gives us a generic Conan adventure, which is best played using the pre-rolled characters of Conan himself, and some side characters from the stories, such as Valeria, Juma and Nestor. Other mechanics like Fear and Luck as added to give the adventures more of an Hyborian flavor. These together with some excellent Jeffrey Butler interior art make for a pretty interesting and unique module.