Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures Q&A, Part One

RPG Vault has published a three-page Q&A with Funcom's Gaute Godager, in which they discuss the upcoming single and massively multiplayer RPG, Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. Check it out:
Q: What are you currently willing to reveal about the setting, where it fits in the Conan timeline, and the overall story element?

A: The overall setting of the Age of Conan game is some years after the point when Conan ascended the throne as King of Aquilonia... Of note here, all brand new Conan novels coming from Penguin Books the next couple of years will actually be in the same setting as the game. They are found under the collective title Hyborian Adventures, just like the game. New characters are created in the books, characters you will find in the game as well - it should be a great background setting for the game to reading up on them...

We have tried to make this setting take place some time after the Howard novel Hour of the Dragon. The story in the game is something I will not disclose right now, but I can tell you the background. You start your character's life as a galley slave on a large ship. You create your character from among the set of characters in the hull, all properly "massaged" by the stygian (literal) slave driver cracking his whip. Your character is different in that he or she has lost all memory of your previous life through a cruel ritual performed by the minions of one of Conan's age-old enemies.

You will learn, when you grow your character, recreating yourself into the person you were, how your fate is intertwined with that of King Conan, and how finding more about yourself is linked to saving his throne as dark powers plot his fall.