Welcome to Heroes of Mars, my contribution to the online Edgar Rice Burroughs fandom and roleplaying community. I discovered Burroughs' famous Martian Tales in the early 1980's when I was still in high school, not long after I'd already discovered roleplaying. Naturally, I became an instant fan of the ripping tales of adventure, war and swashbuckling romance, and set about immediately to create a set of gaming materials focused on Barsoom. It took another 17 years and the development of the Internet and the Worldwide Web before I could make this dream a reality.
Barsoom is a world out of time. It is a land of high adventure, full of tales of life and death, romance and tragedy. Brave heroes clash with despicable villains and savage beasts to win the love of beautiful maidens. On Barsoom, the spirit and virtues of a warrior are still held in high esteem. Cowards, liars and fools are not easily tolerated, and personal honor has great value. With all these qualities and more, Barsoom has all the ingredients for truly thrilling adventures.
If you're not familiar with Barsoom, please spend some time and read the books. The first five are in the public domain and are available as free e-texts at the Gutenberg Project. Copies are available here as well. Finding them in bookstores can be a bit of a challenge, as it appears they are gradually being allowed to go out of print, but with a little legwork you may be able to find most of them in used bookstores in the many printings that have been run over the years. ABEBooks.com is a good place to search as well.
Though the information presented here is intended for use with any roleplaying system, I've found it easier to tailor my actual game data to a single specific ruleset, Talislanta. It's a simple, easy-to-learn system requiring a minimum of equipment and effort. It was designed to accommodate a fantasy world populated by literally dozens of major and minor races and cultures, and so is easily adapted to Barsoomian adventures.
Other excellent systems that lend themselves to the fast-paced style required for Barsoomian adventures are West End Games' Star Wars system, and Steve Jackson Games' GURPS system. There's an excellent set of GURPS conversions available at Bruce's Inferno. There's also a freeware system available that is quite good called the Plain Label System. It's available from Plaid Rabbit Productions.
A number of publications were used in the process of producing this website. I would like to thank the following organizations and individuals for their excellent webpages and books.
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| A Princess of
Mars (PoM) The Gods of Mars (GoM) The Warlord of Mars (WoM) Thuvia, Maid of Mars (TMoM) The Chessmen of Mars (CMoM) The Mastermind of Mars (MMoM) A Fighting Man of Mars (FMoM) Swords of Mars (SoM) Synthetic Men of Mars (SMoM) Llana of Gathol (LloG) John Carter of Mars (JCoM) |
I use the grammatically correct pronoun "he" throughout these works, unless specifically referring to female characters. I realize the current trend is to use he or she, he/she, or some such combination, but I find this both cumbersome and superfluous.
I definitely do not intend to suggest that there is no room for female characters in Barsoomian adventures! Burroughs tended to use his princesses as little more than props or plot devices in the books, but that certainly doesn't mean we have to restrict ourselves in the same way. One of the most interesting and likeable (though unfortunately not fully developed) characters in the series is Tavia, an escaped slave girl who is trained and competent in swordplay. So, if you want to create a "lost civilization" of Amazonian swordswomen, I say go for it! It's about time someone did. Barsoomian women are born to the sword just like the men are, and I think they should be given one once in a while. You'll notice that I rarely, if ever, draw a picture of a Princess who doesn't have a weapon either in hand or on her person.
