N13: Conan: “The Tower of the Elephant” by Robert E. Howard

Book Review!

N13: Conan: “The Tower of the Elephant” by Robert E. Howard

In “Appendix N” Gary Gygax recommended Robert E. Howard’s work, mentioning the Conan series by name. My favorite Conan story remains “The Tower of the Elephant.” Originally published in 1933 in Weird Tales, this story also appears in The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian book in which it includes 21 pages (with some amazing art as well).

The Good

*Conan impressively takes on multiple threats in his quest.

*The basic premise works great: the story includes Conan on a simple quest to break into a wizard’s tower and steal treasure.

*A surprise twist in this story ends up showing the more heart-touching, philosophical side of Conan.

The Bad

*None. Seriously.

D&D Connections & Inspirations

*A DM with a little time might easily turn this story into a D&D adventure.

*Even though Conan’s popular name includes “the Barbarian” as a title, I think he deserves some multi-classing into rogue.

*The creatures in the story all felt like D&D monsters.

Overall

For my tastes, I give the work a 10/10 rating. Robert E. Howard crafted fantasy perfection.