CB Is Not CN: Two TSR Rules Paths into Conan's Hyboria
Editorial date: ยท TSR Archive
The archive separates AD&D Conan adventures from the later standalone game. Identify CB1, CN1 and box 7014 before matching books and loose components.
A Conan title on the cover does not identify a single TSR rules system. The archive's Conan index makes the division explicit: CB1 and CB2 are AD&D adventures. The other listed Conan products belong to a separate role-playing system. Check that boundary before matching an adventure to a rulebook.
The letter after C changes the reading list
| Product | Recorded identity | Rules path |
|---|---|---|
| Conan Unchained! | CB1, TSR 9123. David Cook. 1984. 32-page book with tri-fold cover. | The AD&D adventure line identified by the index. |
| Conan Role-Playing Game | TSR 7014. 1985 boxed rules. | The separate Conan game. |
| Conan the Buccaneer | CN1, TSR 7401. Kim Eastland. 1985. 32-page book with tri-fold cover. | An adventure in the separate Conan line. |
The almost matching CB1 and CN1 codes make this an easy purchasing error. The two adventures even have the same cataloged page extent and cover format. Those physical similarities do not make their game statistics interchangeable. Include the full title and stock number in a seller inquiry, particularly when a listing abbreviates the title to "Conan module 1." Conan the Mercenary, CN2, belongs with the latter line as well. The index is doing more than grouping fiction by setting: it warns that the rules boundary lies inside the branded collection.
7014 is more than its rule booklet
The boxed game's record lists a 32-page Rule Book, a 48-page The World of Hyboria and a 16-page Reference Guide. It separately identifies a four-page Master Reference Sheet, a Conan Character Folio and a blank Character Folio. A Hyborian World poster map and two ten-sided dice are also recorded, along with a dice marker.
For an incomplete set, begin with the role of each missing piece. A world reference gives setting material. A reference sheet offers a different kind of access during play. A character folio is neither a substitute for the rules nor evidence that the world booklet is present. Ask for the title page or identifying panel of each booklet rather than accepting a photograph of an undifferentiated stack.
Part codes in the detailed inventory can help match a loose component to this package. Keep them with the component name in your own record. A component's presence does not prove that every other item originally supplied with the box survives alongside it.
Choose the rules before adapting the setting
If the intended session uses CB1, start from its AD&D identity. If it uses CN1, start from the separate game's rules. Borrowing a location or story premise across that boundary is an adaptation task: read how each game expresses characters and resolves the actions the adventure expects. Shared Hyborian names do not settle those procedures.
That separation also helps explain an apparent gap in a purchase. A CN adventure without the 7014 rules package is a different situation from a CB adventure whose owner already has AD&D references. "I own a Conan book" does not describe either starting position precisely enough.
The Oriental Adventures comparison addresses another case in which familiar branding can conceal a rules boundary. For Conan, the archive gives a particularly direct first check: read CB or CN before constructing the rest of the reading list.
Sources and scope
The system division and component names come from the linked archive index and product records. This article does not reconstruct licensing decisions, certify every boxed printing or provide a mechanical conversion between the games.