Shadizar - City of Wickedness

Welcome to Shadizar, City of Wickedness. Hopefully you have entered of your own free will and not as a slave, either to a person or to a vice. Regardless, I am sure you have no idea what debauchery and villainy are really about. Zamorians as a whole are seducers and harlots, rapists and torturers, assassins and kidnappers, zealots and thieves. Zamorians from Shadizar are even worse.

Robert E. Howard, the creator of Conan the Cimmerian, mentioned Shadizar the Wicked in several stories, but he did not write one with Shadizar as the actual setting. Possibly the city was too lurid in his mind to permit such a story in the 1930’s. More likely his interest was simply elsewhere. However, the tantalizing hints have fascinated Conan fans for decades. Other authors, having picked up the Conan tales since the 1970’s, have explored the city to varying degrees. Roy Thomas and other comic authors have placed stories within the alabaster towers of Shadizar. Devil Wings Over Shadizar, written by Roy Thomas in the sixth issue of Marvel’s Conan the Barbarian, remains one of the favorite Conan stories. Robert Jordan wrote three novels set in Shadizar, Conan the Invincible, Conan the Destroyer and Conan the Magnificent. This book draws on these source materials to present Shadizar the Wicked in lurid detail.

The first book in this Conan Adventure Set discusses the City of Wickedness in detail, discoursing on such varied topics as religion (these days a nearly forbidden topic in other cultures), clothing (if worn), occupations, lurid entertainments and diversions, trade, social standing, slavery, prostitution, drinking dens, taxes, illicit ventures throughout the city. This book also covers the power structures holding Shadizar in place and, of course, descriptions of various localities within the walls of many-spired Shadizar. The latter sections of this book are aimed at the Games Master and discuss various types of campaigns that can be run in Shadizar and is filled with adventure hooks and ideas.

The second book in this box details new rules and game information, including new types of Reputation, an updated and expanded gazetteer written in the style of Conan: The Road of Kings, a Zamorian name table and a short bestiary containing monsters from a number of sources featuring Shadizar and Zamora. This book also covers such optional materials as feats, prestige classes and prominent characters to be found in Shadizar, throughout the Hyborian Age.

The third book to be found herein details a complete adventure, taking characters deep into the shady heart of Shadizar: City of Wickedness.