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Crom

CROM Is a skirmish game set in the Hyborian Age "...Between the years whenthe oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise ofthe Sons of Aryas..."that enables players to recreate the stories ofRobert E.Howard and similar authors of heroic fantasy.

PRD Ward

www.matakishi.com

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Contents

Basic premise Page 4Equipment needed to play Page 5Dice pool Page 6Unit types Page 7Characters Page 8Moving Page 9

Jumping Page 11Climbing Page 12Horses Page 13Fighting Page 14Special actions Page 16Initiative Page 17Shooting Page 18Cover Page 19Magic Page 20Summoning Page 21

Controlling Page 22Other magic Page 23Other tasks Page 24Basic minions Page 26Special minions Page 27Poison Page 28Fire Page 29Conan and the Dark Citadel Page 30The slavers Page 31Prison break Page 34

The slavers' caravan Page 37Mako Page 40The tomb of King Kull Page 42Inside the tomb Page 45The jungles of Kush Page 47The Dark Citadel Page 51

Play aids Page 57Resources Page 61

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Basic PremiseCROM Is a skirmish game set in the Hyborian Age "...Between the years whenthe oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise ofthe Sons of Aryas..."that enables players to recreate the stories ofRobert E.Howard and similar authors of heroic fantasy.

"Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand,a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, totread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandalled feet."

CROM is designed primarily as a multiplayer game but can be played with twoplayers or even solo if desired.

One or more players will play heroes, Conan and his companions for instance,and one or more of the other players will play the antagonists, Thulsa Doom,minions, monsters etc. The ideal set up would be three Hero players and asingle Antagonist player.

Each scenario should be a short, sharp encounter that takes no more than an

hour to play, usually much less. These scenarios can be strung together toform a campaign or story.

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equipmentTo play CROM you will need:

A playing area roughly one metre/three feet square.Suitable scenery and miniatures to represent the heroes, villains and theenvironment around them.A pool of dice.Tape measures or some other way of measuring distances.Some counters or markers to keep track of on-going effects.

A deck of action cards containing a card for each character and group ofminions.Dice pool sheets to help players allocate their dice each turn. These can bewritten down but some have been provided for you to print out at the end ofthis book.

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Dice PoolThe basic game mechanic in CROM is the dice pool. Each player will have anumber of dice for each character or group of minions which they allocatebetween three action pools depending on what they want the character orminions to do during their go.

The action pools that dice can be allocated to are:Movement, Combat, Special.

Dice may be rolled and totalled or they may be 'burned'. A burned dice iscounted as a six but removed permanently form a character's pool.

A character's dice pool represents their 'life', specifically their strength andendurance. As a character loses dice either from exertion (burning them) orcombat (being hit in combat removes dice) they are able to attempt feweractions as they weaken and tire.

Eventually, if they lose all their dice, they become unconscious, exhausted oreven dead depending on circumstances. In any event they are out of thegame.

When it is their turn a character may attempt actions in any order. They maymove, attack an opponent, move again and attack another etc. so longas they have dice remaining to be used.

They do not need to use all their dice if they don't want to.Combat dice in particular may be kept in reserve to defend

against attacks by others.

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units

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There are two general types of 'unit' inCROM;

characters, represented by a singlefigure that acts alone, and minions

represented by single figures but whoactivate and act in groups.

The rules are written using charactersas examples and the particulardifferences pertaining to minions arecovered on page 26.

Character Minions

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