I am not Conan. Heck, I'm not even Arnold Schwarzenegger. I'm a galley slave and I really don't like it. The work is hard, the guy chained to the oar next to me smells, and workers' compensation consists of all the whippings I can bear and an eventual death by disease or drowning. Fortunately for me, fate is about to intervene and my true life in Hyborea is about to begin.

I'm not actually in Hyborea, of course. I am, however, someplace almost as exotic to this American's eyes -- Norway. More precisely, I'm in the offices of Funcom, the European software developer most famous for their enormously successful MMO Anarchy Online and the adventure game classic The Longest Journey. I've come to a land of icy fjords and savage Vikings to get a hands-on demonstration of Funcom's latest big project, the hotly anticipated MMO Age of Conan. I'm sitting in a darkened office with the game's director, Gaute Godager. The game has just started, and I find out I'm a galley slave. It's got to get better from here, right?