The prince of Pellia was a broad-built man of medium height, with a dark stern face. He was an intriguer, but he was also a fighter. Under his silken jupon with its gilt-braided skirts and jagged sleeves, glimmered burnished steel. His long black hair was curled and scented, and bound back with a cloth-of-silver band, but at his hip hung a broadsword the jeweled hilt of which was worn with battles and campaigns.
‘Fools! Howl as you will! Conan is dead and Arpello is king!’
What if all Aquilonia were leagued against him? He had men enough to hold the mighty walls until Strabonus came up. But Aquilonia was divided against itself. Already the barons were girding themselves each to seize his neighbour’s treasure. Arpello had only the helpless mob to deal with. Strabonus would carve through the loose lines of the warring barons as a galley-ram through foam, and until his coming, Arpello had only to hold the royal capital.
‘Fools! Arpello is king!’
The sun was rising over the eastern towers. Out of the crimson dawn came a flying speck that grew to a bat, then to an eagle. Then all who saw screamed in amazement, for over the walls of Tamar swooped a shape such as men knew only in half-forgotten legends, and from between its titan-wings sprang a human form as it roared over the great tower. Then with a deafening thunder of wings it was gone, and the folk blinked, wondering if they dreamed. But on the turret stood a wild barbaric figure, half naked, blood-stained, brandishing a great sword. And from the multitude rose a roar that rocked the very towers, ‘The king! It is the king!’
Arpello stood transfixed; then with a cry he drew and leaped at Conan. With a lion-like roar the Cimmerian parried the whistling blade, then dropped his own sword, gripped the prince and heaved him high above his head by crotch and neck.
‘Take your plots to hell with you!’ he roared, and like a sack of salt, he hurled the prince of Pellia far out, to fall through empty space for a hundred and fifty feet. The people gave back as the body came hurtling down, to smash on the marble pave, spattering blood and brains, and lie crushed in its splintered armour, like a mangled beetle.
-The Scarlet Citadel, by Robert E Howard
Flying mounts when? At the very least, I’d love to be able to hurl NPCs over cliffs and parapets!
Considering Conan’s moves, I’ll take a parry, myself. And yes, I know Joel Bylos himself said no parries. But still if I’m wishing, and if it’s not for infinite wishes, then it’s for continued added depth to the fighting system.
I can’t take credit for the story - I remembered that Conan had flown in one of Robert E Howard’s stories I’d read and looked it up to jokingly suggest it, but then on rereading it saw that he’d hurled a guy and figured I’d make that a more serious pitch. The kick we have just doesn’t quite cut it.
Parries would be cool if there were a way around ping. Maybe make a parrying dagger work like a shield that blocks less damage but can add extra ripostes, or somesuch? We can but dream.
The snippet you posted was particularly evocative because of the mangled beetle bit. I was thinking about some of my dyed armor last night and it reminded me of the insects in my childhood. Even the non-beneficial Japanese beetles seemed to be more colorful then. None of them were mangled, though.
For whatever reason I can’t help but think how great a scene like the Longshanks tower fling from Braveheart could be played out with a “toss or shove” mechanism.
Agreed. And I say this as the first Tauren on my server to acquire a Wolf Mount back in vanilla WoW (when it was bloody difficult)! When other people were going to dungeons… Mikey was handing in runecloth. When other people were leveling professions… Mikey was handing in runecloth. When other people were fighting Onyxia… Mikey was handing in runecloth!
Caravan elephants and rhinos and camels would all make great sense for riding. I was a little surprised they couldnt be ridden after the mount update tbh.
I remember Funcom saying that mounts required a lot of new animations for fighting on horse, so unless modders scale new mounts to roughly the same as the horse, else it might result in buggy fight while mounted… I don’t think it is an easy task to add mounts to different types/size of animals
President Ronald Reagan rode a triceratops (fancy rhino) into the Battle of Berlin where he famously struck down The Wall with one blow of his mighty bullhorn. Happy Cake Day!
We had people out over the summer for bids on landscaping. Most of the people who drop by are fascinated, of course, with our sheepie girl Magdalena who follows me around and patrols with the authority of a cautious guard dog. She’s probably 200 pounds plus her coat. One of them asks “can you ride her?” and I [edited for content] very politely escorted him to his truck without another word.
IME dudes will try to hitch a ride on anything, so there’s no doubt rhinos have been used this way. There’s a reason we don’t see saddles on zebras though, so mounted rhinos would be just as rare, due to escalating consequences.
At the very least, I’d love to be able to hurl NPCs over cliffs and parapets!
