RPG Saturday: Barbarians of Lemuria

  

Barbarians of Lemuria ("BoL") is a sword and sorcery role-playing game by Simon Washbourne based on Lin Carter's Thongor of Lemuria series of adventures. The basic game mechanic is loosely based on the 2d6 system from Traveller, but also has significant differences. It is not exactly clear when the game came out: the best information I have is that it originally showed up in the early 2000s. (You can find a free to download PDF of what apparently was a very early version here). 

    But, over time, it was expanded, new artwork added, and more details of the setting added. For instance, DriveThru RPG lists a "Legendary Edition" which apparently dates back to 2009. When I first purchased a copy two years ago through DriveThru RPG, they were selling the Mythic Edition (which is no longer available through that site) that apparently dated back to sometime in the 2010s.  Unfortunately, the game did not see much success at the time in the United States. 

 

The Mythic edition of BoL

In the meantime, in 2016, fans of the game in France asked Washbourne for the rights to publish the game in French, forming a small publishing company called Ludospherik to translate and publish the game. It apparently enjoyed enough success in France that it continued to be published and expanded. So in 2024, Ludospherik decided to try the English-speaking market again and launched a Kickstarter campaign which was overwhelmingly successful. Thus, in 2025, they released a new printing of the Mythic Edition with new art, better formatting, and better quality printing.

 And while the text appears to be the same as the earlier version I had purchased, it is a much better print copy of the game: better print quality, much better formatting of the text (making it much easier to read and find materials), and high quality art. 

 

An example of the interior art from the 2025 edition. Although this is a full page bit of artwork, all of the illustrations in the book is of similar quality. It truly makes it a pleasure to browse through the book.

     In any event, the Kickstarter of the game was good enough that the additional materials (a poster sized map of the setting and a game master screen) and a supplement translated from the French (further detailing a portion of the game world with an adventure and other information) have since been published. A second supplement is in the works. 

    While many games are "setting neutral"--meaning you could use the game for different settings within that particular genre--this game is tightly interwoven around its setting. While Washbourne lists many different authors and their works as inspiration--including the John Carter of Mars stories by Edger Rice Burroughs and the Conan the Barbarian stories by Robert E. Howard--it is obvious to anyone that has read the books or short stories that the setting for Barbarians of Lemuria is based on the Thongor of Lemuria stories by Lin Carter.

 

The two maps above are of Carter's Lemuria (the lower of the two was actually drawn by Carter; I'm unsure of the origin of the upper map). The map, below, is of the game world for Barbarians of Lemuria.

You can see that what Washbourne largely did was flip Carter's Lemuria from West to East, make it part of a larger continent, change the time (Carter's setting is far in the past before recorded history while Washbourne's setting is in the far future after some cataclysmic event) and adds a few more tweaks to the geography. Many of the intelligent species,  creatures, cities, and factions are also the same between the two with just changes to the names. The dominant city in both settings (Patanga for Carter, and Parsool in BoL) even have airships. 

    I'm not complaining, though. I enjoyed the Thongor stories both as a kid and when I recently re-read them a few years ago. So I was excited when I discovered that not only had someone created a game using a similar setting, but that the game was still available for purchase. I also liked that it was a true sword & sorcery setting. I like Tolkien and D&D, but elves and dwarves and halflings in a pseudo-European High Middle Ages setting gets tiring after a time. This offers an exotic setting while maintaining a strong fantasy element. Washbourne has also done an excellent job of filling out and expanding the setting from the Thongor books, and it appears that the supplements will be building on that.  

     The setting is quite expansive, moving from tropical regions in the south to sub-arctic in the north. The primary civilizations are centered in the sub-tropical and tropical regions around the great bay that you see (the Gulf of Sataria), with governments mostly resting in greater and lessor city states rather than expansive empires. Technology is that strange mix common to many sword & sorcery settings, mixing technology and weapons from classical to medieval or early renaissance (but without firearms) with the odd bits of super-technology thrown in. Some of this technology are bits and pieces left over from civilizations that preceded humanity; others are the works of alchemists and sorcerers. 

     This is understandable given the background. BoL is set many millennia after what is termed in the game as the Age of the Sorcerer-Kings. This was an era of high technology and unbelievable power but, reminiscent of the fall of Atlantis, the inhabitants became too proud and, in their pride, loosed a terrible devil or demon, the Dark Lord Hadron, who wreaked destruction across the globe. What followed was an Age of Darkness where monsters were born and Hadron and surviving Sorcerer-Kings rules over the ruins and barbarism. But eventually the Gods of Lemuria hatched a plan--the creation of a great sword that would be used by a mighty hero to destroy the monsters and minions of the Sorcerer-Kings and drive Hadron back into void, while also founding the first post-apocalypse city. 

    But some Sorcerer-Kings survived, becoming almost reptilian in appearance, and ever seeking to resume control of the world. This eventually led to another great battle, where the Sorcerer Kings were defeated but the great Orb-Sword was lost. The survivors migrated south to found the cities that would become the great metropolises of the BoL setting. 

    As noted above, the game mechanic is fairly simple: the players roll two six-sided dice (2d6) and add or subtract modifiers. If the resulting sum is 9 or better they succeed at what they are attempting. There are more specific rules for combat, but it follows the same general mechanic. 

    The characters are defined by four general attributes: strength, mind, agility, and appeal. Values for these range between -1 and 5 (although characters can only begin with values of 0 to 4). These act as a modifier in certain cases. Rather than rolling for these attributes, the character is given 4 points to spread between them as he or she wishes. Characters also have four combat abilities--initiative, melee, ranged, and defense--and similarly has 4 points to divide among these. 

    Further development of the character follows a life path model, although much simpler than in the Traveller game.  It begins with the player selecting a background for the character (basically where the character grew up) that gives some options; then the character picks 4 careers, splitting up 4 points between them giving a score between 0 and 4. Thus, this acts similar to meta skill. Thus, if you were a sailor, you would have that skill level in everything a sailor might be expected to know or be skilled in. 

    Characters also have "Hero points" which can be used to influence the game--to do something heroic or lucky. And, finally, characters can have boons which are specialized skills or advantages (e.g., particularly alert, fearless, or "battle harness" which allows your character to wear a loincloth, chainmail bikini, or something similarly scanty and treat like medium armor) or flaws (a disadvantage or ineptitude such as being absent minded, a country bumpkin, gullible, etc.).  

    Consistent with the sword & sorcery setting, magic users are rare and players are discouraged from playing wizards and the like. Conan and Thongor spent much of their careers killing evil wizards, and this game seems to encourage the same. But there is plenty of room for other types of adventurers other than barbarians from the icy north lands. Thieves, pirates, merchants, sailors and seaman, alchemists and scholars, soldiers and gladiators, and many more are open to the characters. And the setting allows for the full gambit of adventuring from seeking hidden treasures, exploring abandoned cities or ruins, guarding caravans or merchant vessels, exploring, leading raiding raiding on neighboring cities or tribes, court intrigue, and more. 

     In addition to the rules on character creation and combat, the rules cover larger battles between units of men and ships, as well as the impact of magic or sky-boats on battles. There is also a detailed gazetteer covering most of the major locations in the game world, a brief history, a description of the gods and religions of the setting, the different non-human races (i.e., other intelligent species), and a decently sized selection of beasts and monsters. The gazetteer has many adventure seeds. 

    The chapter about the mysteries of Lemuria covers the magic of the setting, including alchemy, how priests and druids exercise their powers, and magician and their powers. The chapter also covers cults.

    The next chapter, The Sagas of Lemuria, is for the game master. It has tips on running adventures, a discussion of rewarding characters, and different types of non-player characters (NPCs), example villains,  sample adventurers, a handful of simple adventures to get you started, and even some random tables to help with coming up with ideas for other adventures. 

     I haven't played this game much just because of time and getting together people for games. But I was able to run an adventure over 3 or 4 session involving the characters stealing a treasure map, traveling to the location marked on the map, fighting off a rival group searching for the same treasure, and then dealing with a building come to life to kill the adventurers (yes, this was based off a Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser story) as well as a subsequent adventure where the characters come across a seemingly deserted ship. 

    In short, though, it is a fun game with a detailed world and plenty of material here to create your own adventures with just the basic books; and the supplements are adding even more. I will definitely be playing more of this one.