Friday Fantasy: Bottled Sea

The classic hex crawl is an open-ended sandbox-style adventure in which the players and their characters explore a large geographical area, containing various Points of Interest, each of which can be explored individually or perhaps in a sequence determined from clues found at each location. Typically, the Player Characters will have a good reason to explore the area, such as being tasked to find a specific location or person, but instead of knowing where the location or person might be, only know that they are somewhere in that region. Armed with limited knowledge, the Player Characters will enter the area and travel from one hex to the next, perhaps merely running into a random encounter or nothing at all, but perhaps finding a Point of Interest. Such a Point of Interest might be connected to the specific location or person they are looking for, and so might contain clues as to its location, then again it might not. In which case it is just a simple Point of Interest. Initially free to explore in whatever direction they want, as the Player Characters discover more clues, their direction of travel will typically gain more focus until the point when they finally locate their objective. Classic hex crawls include X1 Isle of Dread for Expert Dungeons & Dragons and Slavers for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Second Edition, whilst more recent examples have been Barrowmaze and What Ho, Frog Demons!.

Bottled Sea is a hex crawl—or sea crawl (seabox?)—from Games Omnivorous dotted with the flotsam and jetsam of the ages, coral-reefs stung together from debris from across the universe, wrecks both sunken and afloat, technology scavenged and jury-rigged to new purpose—survival, dolphin-riders, Mother Sea Cucumbers spraying acid, Mimic-Islets that swallow ships whole, strange tides that sweep ships away, and more. The Bottled Sea is an in-between dimension where ships lost at sea end up, from past, from today, from the future, and from elsewhere. Here survivors search for the food and water necessary to survive, but also myths of the Bottle Sea, rumours of solid land, and salvage that can be used to make repairs or even something better. At the heart of the Bottle Sea is the Harbourage, a palimpsest of waste and rubble kept assiduously buoyant, where Travellers are always welcome, especially if they have resources, in particular, the rare dirt, paper, and plants, to trade and use as currency. Four factions vie for control of Harbourage. The Collectors are a masonic lodge of inventors working haphazardly to create an article island. The Ichthys are amphibious mutants, highly capable deep-sea salvagers, who want a greater unity between the sea and the surface. The Shepherds are an ascetic cult which worships and herds Sheep for their wool and their milk, and want to take its herd home. The Rainmakers are priests of the rain.

The Bottled Sea takes its cue from the publisher’s earlier The Undying Sands, being part of its ‘Hex-n-Screen’ format series. It is thus a hex crawl of a different stripe. First, it is systemless; second, it is improvisational; third, it is random; and fourth, it is physical. The Bottled Sea consists of four elements. These are forty hex tiles, Game Master Screen, two double-sided card sheets, a cloth bag, and two pamphlets. The hexes, done in sturdy cardboard and full colour using a rich swathe of tones, measure six-and-a-half centimetres across. Their backs are either blank or numbered. The former show simple calm seas on their front, whilst the latter have locations on their front. There are eighteen such locations, all of which are different. There is the floating city of Harbourage, home to the four factions which dominate the Bottled Sea. On their journey across the Bottled Sea, the Player Characters may run into the Alabaster Fingers, colossal rocks scoured by guano and inscribed by Myths; the Drifting Dealers aboard their lashed-together ships, ready to trade salvage and other goods; the Hives, where enigmatic Beekeepers harvest and sell hallucinogenic honey; and the Great Dross Reef at the shallowest point in the Bottled Sea, a combination of rubbish and coral. There are many more, the most notable of which is the Floating Hexahedron, a sealed cube of highly polished, reflective material, which so far nobody has been able to gain access to and has any idea as what might be inside. The style of the artwork on the hexes is busy and cartoonish, but eye-catching, and gives the Bottled Sea a singular look which sets it apart from both other gaming accessories and neighbouring regions.

The Game Master Screen is a horizontal, three panel affair. The front depicts a paddle-galleon on the Bottled Sea itself, about to be overtaken by a tempestuous storm. The back is the meat of the supplement. Here, from left to right, it explains what Bottled Seas is, how to use and the best way to use it; tables of myths, salvage, pelagic—meaning open sea—encounters, weather, and details of the locations across the Bottled Sea—including areas of Solid Ground and the Mythical Whirlpool. Two locations are described in detail, one The Beacon, a lighthouse home to a Wizard, said to be able to use magic or psionic powers, depending upon, of course, who you ask, whilst the other is the Harbourage. Here can be found the Sea Lion Milk Farm, the Museum of Discarded Curiousity, the Blood Polo Sharkadrome, the Oyster Ranch, Wishing Windows, and other establishments. These require development upon the part of the Game Master, as they are not as detailed as other locations (and tiles) on the Bottled Sea, and similarly the entries on the tables of tasks and jobs will also need some development.

The first of the two posters has a full illustration of The Beacon on the one side and Harbourgae on the other. The second depicts and describes not what is on the Bottled Sea, but in the Bottled Sea. On the front is a cross section of the sea below the surface with various creatures and features illustrated and numbered, whilst on the back, ‘What is in the Sea’ provides a quick description, plus rules for fishing and deep-diving.

The Bottled Sea also includes two small pamphlets. ‘The Floating Hexahedron’ describes the six-sided, very shiny polyhedron, which literally floats above the surface of the Bottled Sea. The Shepherds from the Harbourage make an annual pilgrimage to wherever it is currently located, but like everyone else, cannot find their way in. What is inside is thus a mystery for everyone. The means to open it can be found somewhere across the Bottled Sea and locating said mean will form part of the backdrop to any campaign set on the Bottled Sea. The pamphlet provides basic descriptions as to what is inside the Floating Hexahedron, its major features, and also some adventure hooks to bring into play. The one piece of advice for the Game Master is that she should watch the 1997 film, Cube. The smaller, but longer pamphlet, ‘Watercrafts’ details some ten of the water-going vessels on the Botted Sea, from Rubbish Raft and Hydro-Cage to Catamaran Wavecutter and Benthic Bell. All have a lovely illustration, a short description, and details of their speed, price, crew requirement, power source, and cargo capacity. These are very nicely done and the illustrations are thoroughly charming. These are all vessels that the Player Characters can encounter, build, purchase, or sail—or depending upon their scruples, attack and/or capture.

So that is the physicality of Bottled Sea. What of the random nature of Bottled Sea? Simply, the hexes are placed in the cloth bag and drawn one-by-one, as the Player Characters cross or explore one hex and then move onto the next, creating the region hex-by-hex. If the hex is simple sand dunes, the Game Master might roll on the ‘Pelagic Encounters’ or ‘Weather’ tables to create random encounters. When the Player Characters reach a numbered location, they can explore one or more of individual places there, the Game Master improvising what will be encountered there based on the sentence or two description given for each. There is more detail for Harbourage, The Beacon and the Floating Hexahedron, especially the latter, and thus more for the Game Master to base her improvisation upon. This randomness means that playing Bottled Sea will be different from one gaming group to the next, more so than with other hex crawls or scenarios.

So that is the random nature of Bottled Sea and the improvisational nature of Bottled Sea? What of the systemless aspect of Bottled Sea? No gaming system is referenced anywhere on Bottled Sea, yet there is an assumed genre within its details. So it is weird. It is more Science Fiction than fantasy, especially with the inclusion of the Floating Hexahedron and many of the watercraft. However, it would work with Player Characters from any setting with a tradition of sailing, whether the ancient world or the Age of Sail or the modern day. Player Characters can come from the same setting, perhaps the same ship, or from an array of backgrounds or settings. Then depending upon what style and tone of game that the Game Master wants to run, a Bermuda Triangle style game could be using a fairly mundane ruleset, such as Savage Worlds or Basic Roleplay. However, there are numerous choices for a more fantastic style of play considering the Science Fiction elements of the setting. Numenera would be an obvious choice, as would Electric Bastionland: Deeper into the Odd, Hypertellurians: Fantastic Thrills Through the Ultracosm, and Troika!. It could even be run using Rifts if the Game Master wanted to! A more generic rules system would also work too, as would any number of Old School Renaissance retroclones. Another genre to shift Bottled Seas into would be that of the Post Apocalypse, for example, using Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic or Barbarians of the Ruined Earth. However, Bottled Sea underplays its Post Apocalyptic elements, so the Game Master will need to bring them into play more. Ultimately, whatever the choice of rules, the Game Master will need to know them very well in order to improvise.

As suggested by the range of roleplaying games which Bottled Sea would be a natural fit for, its influences are equally as diverse. Those given include Waterworld, New Weird, and a Canticle for Leibowitz, but there is also the feel of boy’s own adventure or Saturday morning cartoons combined with elements of horror, such as the Floating Hexahedron. Of course, Bottled Sea need not be run as a standalone mini-campaign, but as an extension to an existing one. All the Game Master need do is provide a reason for the Player Characters to visit the Bottled Sea. For example, the Bottled Sea could be a rumoured location of a device of the Ancients in the Third Imperium for Traveller or what if the Player Characters were passengers from a crashed starship in the MOTHERSHIP Sci-Fi Horror Roleplaying Game?

In terms of play, Bottled Sea sort of traps the Player Characters within its confines. It keeps them within its limits until the last hex is drawn from the bag and they can find their way out. By that time, the Player Characters will probably have visited every hex and encountered multiple threats and dangers, and if they have engaged with any of the four factions to be found in Harbourage, they are likely to have found employment too, and that will drive them back out onto the Bottled Sea again. How or when that will happen all depends upon when the city location is drawn during play. What this means is that the Bottled Sea is a mini-campaign in its own right.

Bottled Sea is fantastically thematic and fantastically presented. A Game Master could grab this, set-up the Game Master’s Screen, pull the first tile, and start running a mini-campaign. However, that would take a lot of improvisation and improvisational skill upon the part of the Game Master, who also has to know the game system she is running the Bottled Sea with very well to run it easily. All of which is needed because the textual content of The Undying Sands really consists of prompts and hooks with little in the way of detail—if any. Perhaps a better way of approaching Bottled Sea—especially if the Game Master is not as confident about her ability to improvise—is to work through the locations, especially Harbourage, and prepare, prepare, prepare. Some Game Masters may relish the prospect, but others may wish that there had been more information given in Bottled Sea to make the task easier for them.

Ultimately, Bottled Sea gives a Game Master the means to improvise and run a fantastically pulpy campaign in a range of genres against a weird Science Fiction, lost worlds, lost at sea background. How much improvisation and how much preparation is required, will very much be down to the individual Game Master.

1982: Star Frontiers

1974 is an important year for the gaming hobby. It is the year that Dungeons & Dragons was introduced, the original RPG from which all other RPGs would ultimately be derived and the original RPG from which so many computer games would draw for their inspiration. It is fitting that the current owner of the game, Wizards of the Coast, released the new version, Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, in the year of the game’s fortieth anniversary. To celebrate this, Reviews from R’lyeh will be running a series of reviews from the hobby’s anniversary years, thus there will be reviews from 1974, from 1984, from 1994, and from 2004—the thirtieth, twentieth, and tenth anniversaries of the titles. These will be retrospectives, in each case an opportunity to re-appraise interesting titles and true classics decades on from the year of their original release.

—oOo—

In 1982, TSR, Inc. published its first Science Fiction roleplaying game, Star Frontiers. Now TSR, Inc. as stated in ‘The SF ‘universe’’ (Dragon #74, June 1983), “TSR had previously published SF-oriented role-playing games, most notably the GAMMA WORLD® game and METAMORPHOSIS ALPHA game, but these two games are post-apocalyptic visions of the future.” and “While they are certainly interesting and undoubtedly SF in nature, neither of these games fully realizes the potential of a science-fiction setting. A star-spanning civilization, interstellar spacecraft, strange aliens, and adventures on a myriad of bizarre and challenging new worlds are the elements of a classic SF framework. The possibilities for adventure in such a “universe” are nearly limitless. The STAR FRONTIERS game, unlike its predecessor SF titles from TSR, is able to appreciate these possibilities.” This is a debatable claim, since the tag for Metamorphosis Alpha—published in 1976—was ‘Fantastic Role-Playing Game of Science Fiction Adventures on a Lost Starship’, but at the very least, the genres between the two roleplaying games were and are different.

So as the very first actual ‘Science Fiction’ roleplaying game from TSR, Inc., Star Frontiers was very much intended to play off the boom in Science Fiction and space adventure which followed in the wake of Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back, for example on the big screen, as well as Battlestar Galactica and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century on the small screen. It would take a full year before it reached that potential with the Knight Hawks boxed supplement which added spaceships and spaceship combat to the roleplaying game, but in the meantime, Star Frontiers offered planetside adventure with stripped down, straightforward set of mechanics and rules designed to introduce new players to the hobby and Science Fiction roleplaying to more experienced players—especially if their only experience was Dungeons & Dragons.

Coming as a boxed set, Star Frontiers Alpha Dawn, the roleplaying game was designed for players aged ten and up and came filled with high quality components. This included the sixteen-page Basic Game Rules, the sixty-page Expanded Game Rules, the thirty-page Adventure Module, SF-0: Crash on Volturnus, a large map, a sheet of two-hundred-and-eighty-five counters, and two ten-sided dice—one dark blue, one light blue. Everything is very nicely presented, starting with the superb cover artwork for both the box and the Basic Game Rules and the Expanded Game Rules. The internal artwork is also good, with lots and lots of action scenes, Jim Holloway’s illustrations prefiguring some of his work on Paranoia. The large, full-colour poster map depicts a city centre on the one side with numerous buildings, roads, and monorails, whilst on the other are depicted craters, mountains, deserts, forts, towns, ruins, and more. These are all designed to use with the counters, for at its most basic, Star Frontiers is a roleplaying game played out as a square-and-a-counter combat game.

The setting for Star Frontiers is lightly drawn, an area of space near the centre of a great spiral galaxy where the stars are closer together, known as the Frontier. Here Humans—though not the Humans of Earth—made contact with the insectoid Vrusk and the ameboid Dralasites and developed interstellar spaceships, and together discovered the Yazirians, tall leonine humanoids with patagiums and thus capable of gliding. They settled the twenty or so worlds of the Frontier (including the unfortunately named ‘Gollywog’) and to supply their needs, the Pan-Galactic Corporation (or PGC), the first interstellar company, was formed. It conducted scientific research as well as manufacturing everything from foodstuffs to spaceships, and even developed Pan-Galactic, a language which became the lingua franca for the Frontier.

However, the melting pot of the Frontier was upset by a series of attacks by the Sathar. This previously unknown worm-like species attacked isolated outposts and frontier worlds, but would kill themselves to avoid being captured. Together the Humans, the Vrusk, the Dralasites, and the Yazirians formed the United Planetary Federation (UPF) to defend the Frontier and forced the Sathar out of the Frontier. More recently, attacks by the Sathar have begun again, but more surreptitiously and sly, often using Human, Vrusk, Dralasite, and Yazirian agents to sabotage and undermine trade and government. The UPF has formed the Star Law Rangers to investigate and stop these activities, and both the Star Law Rangers and the Pan-Galactic Corporation often employ freelancers for a variety of tasks. These freelancers are, of course, the Player Characters.

Star Frontiers Alpha Dawn offers a choice of four playable races—Humans, Vrusk, Dralasites, and Yazirians. Dralasites are short, grey amoeboid-like creatures, notable for being able to change form by extending and retracting pseudopods and possessing a quirky, pun-based sense of humour; Humans are like those of Earth, but have a two-hundred-year lifespan; the insectoid Vrusk have eight walking legs and two manipulating arms, and are known for their logical minds and their business sense; and the Yazirians are an arboreal-like species with excellent grip for both hands and feet, patagiums for gliding, and known to pushy, even aggressive, and potentially, capable of battle rages. The mysterious Sathar, wormlike with pairs of tentacles which could be used as legs and to hold and manipulate objects are the villains of the Star Frontiers setting and thus not available to play. A character has eight abilities, arranged into four pairs—Strength/Stamina, Dexterity/Reaction Speed, Intuition/Logic, and Personality/Leadership. The rating for each ability is a percentile, ranging between thirty and seventy for starting Player Characters and serving as the base rating for all actions in the roleplaying game. 

Character creation in Star Frontiers differs—though only slightly—depending upon whether the Basic Game Rules or the Expanded Game Rules are being used. In both, a player selects a race and rolls percentile dice for each pair of Abilities on the given table, applies the species modifiers, and derives a couple of factors, and that is it for the Basic Game Rules. It is quick and easy, and in the Basic Game Rules, barely takes up a page.

Name: Korung Speetrasser 

Race: Dralasite

Handedness: – Gender: –

Walking: 1 Running: 4

Strength/Stamina 70/70

Dexterity/Reaction Speed 60/60

Intuition/Logic 35/35

Personality/Leadership 40/40

Initiative Modifier: 6

Current Stamina: 70

Laser Pistol (2) 60% Damage: 1d10

The remainder of the Basic Game Rules is devoted to the core rules and some adventures. From the outset, Star Frontiers is designed to be played on a map, using the maps and counters included in the box. Later, it would move on to more ‘theatre of the mind’ style of traditional roleplaying, but in the Basic Game Rules, the Player Characters and their opponents are moving—in squares, not metres (though Star Frontiers uses the metric system)—across a great cityscape, from building to building, jumping onto skimmers or aboard the monorail, and chasing each other across the city. The base value to undertake any action is the appropriate Ability, rolled against the percentile dice, using the dark blue die as the tens die and the light blue die as the ones die, as the Basic Game Rules explain it. In the Basic Game Rules, the emphasis is on combat, so modifiers are applied for movement and range, and if the roll is successful, the attack hits, and damage is rolled and deducted from the target’s Stamina Ability. Typically damage is rolled on just the one ten-sided die and an opponent would have to lose all of his Stamina to be knocked out. Consequently, combat can take a bit of time and options such as the Doze Grenade, which knocks out opponents are more than viable options, and rules for throwing grenades are included.

After a nicely illustrated introduction, the Basic Game Rules quickly cover the basics of character generation and combat before a short list of equipment (mostly weapons) and some adventures are presented. Some rules are given for other actions too, essentially a player rolls against the appropriate Ability and depending upon the difficulty, applies a five, ten, or fifteen percent modifier, either positive or negative. ‘Adventure 1: Pan-Galactic Security Breach’ sees the Player Characters investigate a series of breaches at various research centres. It is not designed as a standard adventure, but rather a programmed adventure with options like a ‘Choose Your Own Path’ solo adventure. One player serves as the Reader—rather than as a Referee, and reads out the entries and gives the options, whilst the players decide which of the options to choose. Since this is a programmed adventure, they all have to agree. It is a simple action-packed affair, more of a couple of scenes than a full adventure, with the perpetrators quickly revealed and making a run for the spaceport with the Player Characters on their heels. This is played out on the main map as is ‘Adventure 2: Alien Creature on the Loose’, in which a dangerous alien creature has escaped its confinement at the Zoological Park and the Player Characters have to capture it. The Hydra—nothing to do with the mythological and Dungeons & Dragons creature of the same name—is hunting for its handler and the Player Characters must stop it before the thing finds him. It is a big creature and tough to stop. There are guidelines for playing both adventures again. ‘Adventure 1: Pan-Galactic Security Breach’ this is as teams, one team controlling the perpetrators trying to get away, the other the Player Character types trying to stop them. For ‘Adventure 2: Alien Creature on the Loose’, this is the Referee creating her own creatures. There is advice too, for the Referee to create her own adventures, and like the two adventures these are quite basic. The focus of the advice is on a ‘crash on a desert planet adventure’ essentially preparing the Referee for running Adventure Module, SF-0: Crash on Volturnus and pointing towards the greater complexity and comparative sophistication in the Expanded Game Rules. The rules are what they say they are—basic—and come across not so much as a roleplaying game as a board game. For the experienced role-player they are probably too basic and even for players new to roleplaying, they do not offer a great deal of play.

The Expanded Game Rules, of course, greatly broaden and develop the rules given in the Basic Game Rules. It highlights the differences between the two, noting the expanded options, extra rules, and the fact that the roleplaying game can be played without maps, whether using miniatures or simply the imagination. The expanded rules for character creation add a five-point bonus to any Ability score for Humans, enable players to swap points between pairs during character creation, and Dralasities, Vrusk, and Yazirians have special abilities, such as Lie Detection and Elasticity for the Dralasities and Battle Rage, Gliding, and Night Vision for the Yazirians. All five Races, including the Sathar, are given a nicely done, detailed, one-page write-up. The Expanded Game Rules also add skills. There are thirteen of these, all fairly broad and divided into three Primary Skill Areas or PSAs. These are Military, Technological and Biosocial. Each skill has several subskills it covers and which a character automatically knows, and each subskill having its own base rating. Skills go from Level 1 to Level 6, each Level typically adding ten present to a roll. So the Biosocial Medical skill also covers Administering Drugs (100%), Diagnosis (60% + skill level), First Aid (100%), Minor Surgery (40% + skill level), Major Surgery (20% + skill level), Controlling Infection (50% + skill level), Curing Diseases (40% + skill level), Neutralizing Poisons (30% + skill level), and Activating Freeze Fields (30% + skill level), the latter the skill of putting a body in stasis until it can be revived and repaired. A Player Character has one PSA, and although he can have Levels in skills in the other PSAs, they are always more expensive. A Player Character starts play with a level in one skill from his actual PSA and one from the two others. Overall, the expanded rules for character creation do add more to a character, but without adding that much more complexity or even time to the process. 

Name: Korung Speetrasser 

Race: Dralasite

Handedness: – Gender: –

Walking: 1 Running: 4

Strength/Stamina 70/70

Dexterity/Reaction Speed 70/50

Intuition/Logic 35/35

Personality/Leadership 40/40

Initiative Modifier: 5

PSA – Military Skills: Beam Weapons (1)

Biosocial Skills: Environmental Skills (1)

Current Stamina: 70

Laser Pistol (2) 45% Damage: 1d10

The Expanded Game Rules also add further details and options for combat, such as careful aim and telescopic sights, firing two weapons, and even weightless combat. Alongside this is an expanded list of weapons and their descriptions of both them and other equipment. This includes armour, which is most ablative in nature, and also screens, portable force fields which react to hits and drain Standard Energy Units from their power packs when hit. Robots and computers are detailed too, with computers being easily upgraded, and options given for simple robot design or off-the-shelf purchase. Extra vehicles are added too, although notably, not spaceships. Star Frontiers Alpha Dawn is not a roleplaying game of spaceship travel or combat, but of adventures once you get there. Some notes on space travel are included in the Frontier Societies section, primarily the various classes of travel, travel times, layovers, and potential customs entanglements. Expanded also are the rules for creating creatures, as well as a bestiary. The bestiary itself is fairly short and backed up further entries in Adventure Module, SF-0: Crash on Volturnus, and do feel influenced by Dungeons & Dragons creatures, especially the Sand Shark, a creature which would also turn up in Gamma World. The rules for creature creation really consist of a series of questions about what the creature does and what its habitat is, and in comparison to other Science fiction roleplaying games, do feel underwritten, but they are serviceable enough for a Pulp Sci-Fi roleplaying game like Star Frontiers. The section on Frontier Societies provides some basic details of the Frontier sector setting and thumbnail descriptions of a handful of worlds. Lastly, there is advice for the Referee and a guide to creating adventures, which includes a short sample, search and rescue mission. It is a one-page affair, straightforward and easy to drop into a campaign or run after the two sample adventures in the Basic Game Rules. The Expanded Game Rules also has the equivalent of its own ‘Appendix N’ on the inside back page, and it is a good selection of Science Fiction further reading, though much of it falls outside of the Pulp Sci-Fi tone that Star Frontiers is aiming for. In the middle of this—and the Expanded Game Rules—is a two-page spread collating all of the useful tables for running Star Frontiers and effectively serving as the reference section of the screen if not as a screen itself.

Once the Player Characters have completed an adventure or a task, they earn both Experience Points and Credits. If injured, the Player Characters do have to spend Credits to purchase healing—one Credit per point of Stamina healed, so very American. None of that Socialist health service for you! Experience Points can not only be spent to purchase new Skills and new Levels in existing skills, but also on increasing Ability values, again on an Experience Point per Ability point cost.

The included full adventure in Star Frontiers is SF-0: Crash on Volturnus. The first part of a trilogy which would be completed with the sperate adventures, SF-1: Volturnus, Planet of Mystery and SF-2: Starspawn of Volturnus, this adventure begins with Player Characters aboard the Serena Dawn, bound for the world of Volturnus (oddly named for the Greek god of the southwest wind, which assumes that the Humans of the Frontier, who are not from Earth, also had Ancient Greeks and Greek myths) in the Zebulon system to conduct a planetary survey and perhaps locate the previous mission. Unfortunately, the Serena Dawn is hijacked, and the Player Characters must fight pirates to both get what equipment they can and escape the ship before it is destroyed. The adventure consists of a mixture of random and pre-planned encounters and once on the surface will begin with the former and evolve into the latter. This will see the Player Characters encounter a strange race of octopoidal telepaths who practice mind-to-mind communication who will offer to adopt them into the tribe in order to help them survive. If they accept—and to be honest, the scenario will not go very far if they refuse—the Player Characters will be borne out of the desert that their escape pod crashed down in and through some caverns. After being separated due to a cave-in, resulting in a mini-dungeon crawl for the Player Characters, they can reunite with the tribe and undergo the rituals of adulthood and become officially part of the tribe and thus set up for the sequels. Alternative endings are given if the Referee is not going to run SF-1: Volturnus, Planet of Mystery and SF-2: Starspawn of Volturnus. Perhaps the best aspect of SF-0: Crash on Volturnus is the description of the Ul-Mor and their culture, which is fairly unforgiving and likely force the Player Characters to act with due consideration rather than selfishly. Sadly the Ul-Mor are not particularly well illustrated in the module, and as to SF-0: Crash on Volturnus itself, it feels as if it is really only setting up the subsequent two modules rather than being a standalone affair itself.

Physically, Star Frontiers Alpha Dawn is very well produced and is an attractive, engaging product. In 1982, this was a relatively inexpensive boxed set and certainly in terms of the quality and quantity of components, the purchaser got his money’s worth.

—oOo—

Star Frontiers was first reviewed in The Polyhedron No. 9 (December 1982) by Steve Winter. Since this is the same Steve Winter who edited Star Frontiers, it is fair to say that this is not actually a review. It started out with a dig at not one, but three other Science Fiction roleplaying games of the period, with “Hey science fiction fans! Tired of travelling? Sick of the opera? Looking for a game that doesn’t require the patience of the universe to play? Have I got a deal for you!” before going to highlight in particular the fact that, “The game was designed to be played by people who had no experience with roleplaying games.”

Star Frontiers was reviewed by Andy Slack in the Open Box department of White Dwarf No 37 (January 1983), who said of the roleplaying game that, “A major drawback is space travel. This is virtually ignored. No-one can learn how to do anything useful aboard ship, which is perhaps as well since there are no guidelines for designing or using ships. There is much to be said for the point of view that ships are merely a delivery service to get you from one adventure setting to the next, but I disapprove of the lack of them. No doubt a future supplement will handle them if enough people share my view.”  He concluded that, “Unfortunately, I can't say the system struck me as especially realistic; but if you like action adventure, thinking with your fists, and Star Wars (and who doesn’t from time to time) you can have a lot of fun with this game.” before awarding Star Frontiers a score of seven out of ten.

Star Frontiers was given a ‘Featured Review’ by William Barton in The Space Gamer Number 60 (February 1983). He wrote, “To start with my overall reaction: I don’t much like Star Frontiers. But then I don’t much dislike it either. I don’t really have a lot of strong feeling about the game at all. That’s not to say that Star Frontiers is a bad game; it’s not. Neither is it exceptionally good. It has some very good features, and a few really bad ones, too. And they balance out into a game that, two years ago, might have had a fair impact on the SFRPG filed, but which now is merely another face in the crowd.” In his conclusion, he asked, “What will be the fate of Star Frontiers? If the game were by any other company than TSR, I’d predict it would quietly fade away, like Star Rovers, and a few other less-than-spectacular systems. Since Star Frontiers is a TSR product, I don’t think that will happen. TSR, unlike many companies, has an “in” to the various nonspecialty stores. For a lot of potential gamers, Star Frontiers is likely to be the first SFRPG they encounter. TSR also has a large share of the younger market, which Star Frontiers seems to be aimed at. So, yes. Though it may not really deserve it when compared to other, better systems, I think TSR’s entry into the SFRPG field will prove to have staying power, as the loyal D&Ders turn to it as their first SFRPG. For myself, I’d have preferred to see TSR back and expand Universe, which it acquired with SPI’s assets. Maybe it will yet. In the meantime, Star Frontiers probably isn’t going top lose TSR any money. But I wish there were a lot more to commend it than that.”

Jim Bambra reviewed Star Frontiers in Imagine No 1 (April 1983). He was also of the opinion that “It is also a pity that there are no rules for designing starships or space combat; though these are due for release later this year. Even without starship rules, the STARFRONTIERS™ game is one of the best available. It has been designed with an emphasis on playability and here it succeeds admirably. Its inspiration comes more from pulp fiction than the ‘believable’ SciFi on which Traveller is based. Whether this style of play appeals is a matter of personal taste. Players of the D&D® game will certainly enjoy it, for in many ways this game is a kind of D&D in space.” Finally, he said, “In summary, the STARFRONTIERS game is an excellent introduction to Sci Fi gaming, a game I heartily recommend to beginners and experienced gamers, A lot of expertise has gone into the designing of this product and the result is a very enjoyable and easy to learn game.”

Ian R. Beste reviewed Star Frontiers in Different Worlds Issue 29 (June 1983) and was upfront about his disappointment, stating that, “Star Frontiers is by no stretch of the imagination a step forward in the state of the art. There just isn’t a whole lot to the game.” At the end of a detailed review, he concluded, “It would be easy to say that Star Frontiers is just D&D with lasers. It isn’t exactly, but it’s unlikely to make anyone drop their existing campaign to set up one for Star Frontiers. This game just doesn’t have a solid science fiction feel to it. I shudder to think of articles in The Dragon on “Converting D&D Monsters to Star Frontiers Creatures.” (Doing so would not be hard.) I also shudder when thinking of the possibility of the expensive hardbound Advanced Star Frontiers Player’s handbook, a Referee’s Guide, etc. True, the game could uses them. But why? TSR has a lot of money, talent, and resources with which to make a good game. Why did it disappoint us with Star Frontiers?”

Star Frontiers was also subject to a lengthy review by Tony Watson in Dragon #74 (June 1983). After a thorough examination which included a comparison to GDW’s Traveller, he wrote, “A final question remains: Is the STAR FRONTIERS game just a D&D game in space? The pedigree is evident, but I think TSR has managed to avoid trading magic for technology, swords for lasers, and orcs for aliens. The emphasis on action and some of the design philosophy belies the kinship of STAR FRONTIERS to the D&D game, but it is innovative and original in its own right. The similarities will make it easy for D&D players to shift over to STAR FRONTIERS as their first science-fiction role-playing game. This may be the largest single body of STAR FRONTIERS buyers. One very important advantage in the TSR connection is that players can count on the company to support the game with accessories, and TSR’s wide distribution network should make these products easy to find.” Before concluding that, “The STAR FRONTIERS game is fast paced, accessible, and playable. The design shows thought and imagination, and the product is quite a bargain. While not without its weaknesses, it’s certainly a contender in a competitive market and probably a good choice for newcomers to this facet of role-playing.”

—oOo—

Even with the combination of the Basic Game Rules and the Expanded Game Rules, Star Frontiers Alpha Dawn feels basic and lacking in game play. Remember though, Star Frontiers was designed for players aged ten and up, and so was not necessarily going to offer the depth, detail, or sophistication found in other Science Fiction roleplaying games, notably Traveller and its Third Imperium setting. That depth, detail, or sophistication would appear with later expansions and supplements, even though there would only be a handful of them. In the meantime, with a combination of interesting races, the Frontier setting, and the presence of the Sathar, Star Frontiers is not only potentially interesting, but also offers scope for the Referee’s own content and adventures, plus that scope is made easier by the straightforward nature of the mechanics. In fact, it is a pity that the mechanics of Star Frontiers could not have been reused in the Buck Rogers XXVC roleplaying game instead of it being hamstrung by the unwieldy chimera it got based on Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Second Edition.

What is evident from the contemporary reviews is that Star Frontiers was not seen as different enough or sophisticated enough from the other Science Fiction roleplaying games available. Yet Star Frontiers was not aimed at those reviewers, who of course, would have been an audience older than the roleplaying game was intended for, and to be fair Star Frontiers Alpha Dawn does serve its intended age group reasonably well. Undeniably though, for older audiences, even those coming to Star Frontiers as their first Science Fiction roleplaying game after Dungeons & Dragons, it is underwhelming. For them, Star Frontiers is at best a toolkit for running Pulp Sci-Fi or basic roleplaying game awaiting the arrival of more sophisticated support, most obviously Knight Hawks. Consider what it was and who it was aimed at, as a first step into Science Fiction roleplaying, especially Pulp Sci-Fi roleplaying, and especially for a younger audience, Star Frontiers Alpha Dawn is a very serviceable starting point. 

Friday Fantasy: The Undying Sands

The classic hex crawl is an open-ended sandbox-style adventure in which the players and their characters explore a large geographical area, containing various Points of Interest, each of which can be explored individually or perhaps in a sequence determined from clues found at each location. Typically, the Player Characters will have a good reason to explore the area, such as being tasked to find a specific location or person, but instead of knowing where the location or person might be, only know that they are somewhere in that region. Armed with limited knowledge, the Player Characters will enter the area and travel from one hex to the next, perhaps merely running into a random encounter or nothing at all, but perhaps finding a Point of Interest. Such a Point of Interest might be connected to the specific location or person they are looking for, and so might contain clues as to its location, then again it might not. In which case it is just a simple Point of Interest. Initially free to explore in whatever direction they want, as the Player Characters discover more clues, their direction of travel will typically gain more focus until the point when they finally locate their objective. Classic hex crawls include X1 Isle of Dread for Expert Dungeons & Dragons and Slavers for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Second Edition, whilst more recent examples have been Barrowmaze and What Ho, Frog Demons!.

The Undying Sands is a hex crawl—or sand crawl (sandbox?)—from Games Omnivorous dotted with crumbling ruins, antiquated temples, lost technology, and pristine natural wonders beyond the reach of most. It combines numerous influences and genres, can involve the Player Characters in the factions squabbling for control of the desert, and it leaves plenty of scope for the Game Master to add her own content.

The Undying Sands is however, a hex crawl of a different stripe. First, it is systemless; second, it is improvisational; third, it is random; and fourth, it is physical. The Undying Sands consists of four elements. These are thirty hex tiles, Game Master Screen, a double-sided poster, and a cloth bag. The hexes, done in sturdy cardboard and full colour, measure six-and-a-half centimetres across. Their backs are either blank or numbered. The former show simple sand dunes on their front, whilst those have locations on their front. There are fourteen such locations. Twelve of them have three locations, for example, ‘The Eye!’, a spiral of maelstrom of coloured sand long regarded as sacred by both the living and dead, the Bottomless Pit at the heart of the Eye!, and The Dual Inns, establishments which flank the Eye!, one catering to the living, one to the undead. All of which is to be found on hex number two. The thirteenth hex is the location of the Forgotten Pyramids, a tomb and dungeon complex, and the fourteenth hex is the location of The Grand City of Sand, a former seat of civilisation which has long begun to crumble and let the sand drift along its boulevards and alleys… The style of the artwork on the hexes is busy and cartoonish, but eye-catching and gives The Undying Sands a singular look which sets it apart from both other gaming accessories and neighbouring regions.

The Game Master Screen is a horizontal, three panel affair. The front depicts an adventuring party about to flee from a sandstorm after having discovered a strange vehicle and a mechanical man. The back is the meat of the supplement. Here, from left to right, it explains what The Undying Sands is, how to use and the best way to use it; tables of rumours, loot from the body, treasure, encounters, dangers of the land, and curses; details of each the numbered hexes; and of The Grand City of Sand—its history, what the Player Characters can do within its walls, its factions and jobs available, and the Many Shops of the Grand Bazaar. The A4-sized double-sided poster shows the Forgotten Pyramids on the one side, and The Grand City of Sand on the other. Both are easy to read and refer to. Lastly, the cloth bag is big enough to hold all of the hex tiles. One issue with the strong physical presence of The Undying Sands is that there is not really a means of storage for all it, apart from cloth bag for the hex tiles. It does leave you wishing that there was a box for it and your Game Master’s notes.

So that is the physicality of The Undying Sands. What of the random nature of The Undying Sands? Simply, the hexes are placed in the cloth bag and drawn one-by-one, as the Player Characters cross or explore one hex and then move onto the next, creating the region hex-by-hex. If the hex is simple sand dunes, the Game Master might roll on the ‘Encounters in the Sands’ or ‘Dangers of the Lands’ tables to create random encounters. When the Player Characters reach a numbered location, they can explore one or more of individual places there, the Game Master improvising what will be encountered there based on the sentence or two description given for each. There is more detail for both the Forgotten Pyramids and The Grand City of Sand, especially the latter, and thus more for the Game Master to base her improvisation upon. This randomness means that playing The Undying Sands will be different from one gaming group to the next, more so than with other hex crawls or scenarios.

So that is the random nature of The Undying Sands and the improvisational nature of The Undying Sands? What of the systemless aspect of The Undying Sands? No gaming system is referenced anywhere on The Undying Sands, yet there is an assumed genre within its details. So it is weird. There are Necrocamelmancers, raising undead camels, Alligator Ghouls, the undead camel races of the city are easy money, curses are suffered under the irregular Blood Moon Eclipses, spells can be learned from studying a thrumming blacklight monolith (but curses suffered too), and more. Its obvious genre is fantasy, but it is really Science Fantasy. Ancient robots can be encountered, tech-marvels and ancient sand-buggies found, and more. Which lends itself to roleplaying games better than others. Numenera would be an obvious choice, as would Electric Bastionland: Deeper into the Odd, Hypertellurians: Fantastic Thrills Through the Ultracosm, Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic, and Troika!. It could even be run using Rifts if the Game Master wanted to! A more generic rules system would also work too, as would any number of Old School Renaissance retroclones. Whatever the choice of rules, the Game Master will need to know them very well in order to improvise.

As suggested by the range of roleplaying games which The Undying Sands would be a natural fit for, its influences are equally as diverse. These begin with the Ancient World—Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Greco-Roman world, and these are joined by Mad Max and Jodorowsky’s Dune. The resulting combination depicts a lost, even fallen technological civilisation, its once glorious past infused with a Pulp sensibility. This lends it the possibility that The Undying Sands could be shifted from a fantasy to a planetary Sci-Fi setting, playing up the fantasy elements as weird, technology sufficiently advanced to appear as magic.

In terms of play, The Undying Sands sort of traps the Player Characters within its confines. It keeps them within its limits until the last hex is drawn from the bag and they can find their way out. By that time, the Player Characters will probably have visited every hex and encountered multiple threats and dangers, and if they have engaged with any of the four factions to be found in The Grand City of Sand, they are likely to have found employment too, and that will drive them back out into The Undying Sands again. How or when that will happen all depends upon when the city location is drawn during play. What this means is that The Undying Sands is a mini-campaign in its own right.

The Undying Sands is fantastically thematic and fantastically presented. A Game Master could grab this, set-up the Game Master’s Screen, pull the first tile, and start running a mini-campaign. However, that would take a lot of improvisation and improvisational skill upon the part of the Game Master, who also has to know the game system she is running The Undying Sands with very well to run it easily. All of which is needed because the textual content of The Undying Sands really consists of prompts and hooks with little in the way of detail—if any. Perhaps a better way of approaching The Undying Sands—especially if the Game Master is not as confident about her ability to improvise—is to work through the locations, especially The Grand City of Sand, and prepare, prepare, prepare. Some Game Masters may relish the prospect, but others may wish that there had been more information given in The Undying Sands—even ‘The Undying Sands Companion’ which made the task easier for them.

Ultimately, The Undying Sands gives a Game Master the means to improvise and run a fantastically pulpy campaign in a range of genres against a weird Science Fantasy, lost worlds background. How much improvisation and how much preparation is required, will very much be down to the individual Game Master.

Bringing Barsoom to your table

For over a century, fans of Science Fiction and planetary romance have been thrilling to the adventures of John Carter, American Civil War veteran and prospector on the alternate Mars known as Barsoom as he won himself a place as a warlord—or Jeddak—and won the hand of a Martian princess, Dejah Thoris of Helium, as well as delving into the mysteries of the dying planet. This is a world at war, between the city states of the Red Martians, each of which stands guard against attacks by the barbarous, four-armed Green Martians, whose great tribes fight amongst themselves. It is also a world of mysteries, much of it dating back into Barsoom’s long past and ancient civilisations. The eleven books in the series, penned by Edgar Rice Burroughs and starting with A Princess of Mars, have long had an influence upon gaming, most notably the latter’s inclusion in E. Gary Gygax’s ‘Appendix N’ of the Dungeon Master’s Guide for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, but also upon roleplaying games set on Mars such as Game Designer’s Workshop’s Space 1889, Adamant Entertainment’s MARS: The Roleplaying Game of Planetary Romance, and Onyx Path Publishing’s Cavaliers of Mars. Of course, it has been a direct influence on earlier war games and roleplaying games like the John Carter: Warlord of Mars – Adventure Gaming Handbook, as well as Modiphius Entertainment’s Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars: Adventures on the Dying World of Barsoom, the recent and first proper roleplaying game to be based directly on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ stories.

Yet, despite the John Carter movie of 2012, neither the stories of John Carter nor the world of Barsoom are as familiar to the gaming hobby or the readers of Science Fiction as they once were. After all, the John Carter stories never got turned in comic strips, radio series, Saturday morning serials, or movies the way that Edgar Rice Burroughs’ own Tarzan, Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon, and Philip Francis Nowlan’s Buck Rogers all did. So, it is as if the core rulebook for Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars: Adventures on the Dying World of Barsoom has to actually introduce the licensed property almost as if it was something wholly new. Thus, having been published following a successful Kickstarter campaign, John Carter of Mars: Adventures on the Dying World of Barsoom begins with an explanation of both who Edgar Rice Burroughs and John Cater are, what Barsoom is, and perhaps, most importantly, how its “Rationalism, Romanticism, and Pulp Roleplaying” mark it as different from other roleplaying games. Here is a world where, “Heroes fight enemies born of lust, ignorance, and tyranny to save their friends, loved ones, and those places and cultures they call home. False gods, lying priests, deceitful nobles, treacherous assassins, and many other cruel adversaries are the biggest threats.” Notably, “There are no “evil” races on Mars.” Thus, villains need to be drawn of a richer cloth, with motives more than mere vileness. Although the practices and attitudes of the natives of Barsoom may be callously pragmatic and emotionally muted, there is room for sentiment and for firm action, perhaps upon the part of man or woman of Earth, or even one of the several species that make Mars their home, to overcome the native reticence and thus make friendships, dispel falsehoods, forge alliances, and so on, much like John Carter did in uniting Barsoom.

What all of this will involve, will depend on when the Narrator is setting her John Carter of Mars: Adventures on the Dying World of Barsoom campaign. Three eras of play are suggested—‘Dotar Sojat’, when Carter arrives on Mars and has his earliest adventures; ‘Prince of Helium’, when John Carter has married Dejah Thoris, become a Prince of Helium, and has most of his adventures and discovers many of the planet’s secrets; and ‘Jeddak of Jeddaks’, when John Carter has unified much of Mars and brought about a fragile peace which has pushed conflict and adventure to the planet’s furthest locales. The latter is the default period for playing in John Carter of Mars: Adventures on the Dying World of Barsoom, a time when the player characters have the opportunity to make a name for themselves and perhaps bring about the greater era of peace that John Carter’s unification has promised. The other eras provide plenty of scope for adventure, especially if the player characters take the roles of characters from the books, one of the Champions of Barsoom—the legendary John Carter, the inspiring Princess Dejah Thoris, the daring Kantos Kan, the loyal and mighty Tars Tarkas, and so on—one of the given options in the roleplaying game, either by creating them themselves or using the more powerful versions included in the book.

John Carter of Mars: Adventures on the Dying World of Barsoom employs the same 2d20 System as Modiphius Entertainment’s other roleplaying games, like Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier and Robert E. Howard’s Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of, but in a stripped down version designed to be played using experienced and talented pulp-style characters in a planetary romance. This is will be reflected throughout John Carter of Mars: Adventures on the Dying World of Barsoom and its iteration of the 2d20 System.

Characters in John Carter of Mars: Adventures on the Dying World of Barsoom are defined by their attributes and their Talents. There are six attributes—Daring, Cunning, Empathy, Might, Passion, and Reason—which range in value between four and twelve for player characters. Talents are unique or developed abilities which make a character special, such as a skill, a natural aptitude, an arcane power, or a psychic power. They typically require a player to expend Momentum, or allow a character to undertake actions which Momentum would not normally allow him to do. Now what is missing here is skills. Unlike most other 2d20 System roleplaying games, characters are automatically deemed to be competent from the start.

Character creation in John Carter of Mars: Adventures on the Dying World of Barsoom involves a player coming up with a concept, selecting a Race, archetype, descriptor, before setting starting Renown and equipment. Lastly a character needs a flaw. The given concepts include Wandering Princess, Reformed Assassin, Airship Raider, Adventuring Scientist, Panthan Warrior (Martian sword-for hire), or Lost Explorer, which although has no mechanical benefit, will influence a player’s further decisions in creating the character. A player’s choice of Race—Earthborn, First Born, Green Martian, Okar, and Red Martian—provide some attribute modifications and may give a character a Talent, but primarily tell a character what he knows, what he does not know, and what he can do. So, the copper skinned and athletic Red Martians can speak and read Barsoomian, has knowledge of his home kingdom and its neighbours, plus their customs, politics, and threats, knows of Barsoom’s great cities, and the basics of airship operation and Red Martian science. He knows little of people and places far away or hidden, but can defend himself in hand-to-hand, melee, and ranged combat, operate the basic machinery and use medicine common to Red Martian culture, and can fly most vehicles and ride trained mounts. A Red Martian receives a +2 bonus to Daring, Cunning, Empathy, Passion, or Reason, and two +1 bonuses to any other attributes.

Of the five races open to the players, the Red Martians with their great airship navies and the tall, six-limbed, betusked, and aggressive Green Martians are the most numerous. The yellow-skinned Okar from the polar regions, and the arrogant onyx-skinned First Born who serve Issus, the living goddess-tyrant, are rarer, whilst Earthborn are all but unique. It is possible to create mixed heritage characters, but features common to all Martians include limited telepathy and egg laying instead of giving birth to live young.

Some fifteen Archetypes are given, including Airship Officer, Assassin, Beastmaster, Duelist, Envoy, Explorer, Fugitive, Gladiator, Guide, Healer, Panthan, Rogue, Scientist, Soldier, and Spy. Again, these provide a character with more of what he knows and what he can do, but give attribute bonuses and a suggested Talent. A Descriptor—again from a choice of fifteen—adds further attribute bonuses, whilst a player has five points to invest in Talents, which come in grades. So for example, Expert Aim (Grade 2) grants a player two extra twenty-sided dice when shooting, but not moving, and Witty Repartee (Grade 2) enables a player character to take an additional Spoken action as part of an attack, defence, or other action. Of the given Talents, most are combat or action orientated to reflect the pulp action nature of John Carter of Mars: Adventures on the Dying World of Barsoom, with only a few reflecting knowledge or a social skill, and none being of an arcane or psychic nature, their being saved for NPCs later in the core rulebook. All characters bar Earthborn receive ten Renown with which to invest in allies, contacts, titles, and so on, reflecting status in their kingdoms or tribes. All characters receive the standard equipment for their archetype. This is their Core Equipment and something that they always have or can easily replace. Only a few Flaws are given, but all enforce a character to lose Momentum points when they do not roleplay that flaw. 

Our sample character is Jane Miller, a young lady from Yorkshire who family was wealthy enough for her to study chemistry at university. Yet before she had a chance to complete her degree, the war against Germany broke out and she volunteered to train as a nurse. An ardent romantic, she never managed to find and keep a young man for herself, ultimately finding solace in books. The last thing she remembers was rushing to get the men recovering under care into the shelter during an artillery bombardment. Now she is on a dry, dusty world with red sands and sky and no idea quite where she is. 

Name: Jane Miller
Concept: Romantic Lost Explorer
Race: Earthborn
Archetype: Healer
Renown: 0
Flaw: Softhearted

Daring 4 Cunning 3 Empathy 6
Might 7 Passion 7 Reason 7 

Talents
Leaps and Bounds (Racial) (Grade 2)
Show Me Where It Hurts (Grade 1)
Perceptive Scientist (Grade 2)
Skilled Physician (Grade 2)
Empathic Rider (Grade 2)

The process is relatively quick, but throughout, there is advice on how a player can create his own Archetypes, Talents, and Flaws as well as modify existing Talents. The latter is probably easier than creating new Talents, which comes with the danger of being too similar to existing ones or being too powerful.

In most 2d20 System roleplaying games, such as Robert E. Howard’s Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of and Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier, a player rolls two twenty-sided dice and get successes by rolling against the value of an Attribute or against an Attribute plus the Expertise value of a skill in Attribute Test. A success is achieved by rolling under this combined value, but two successes if the player rolls under the Expertise value of the skill. Of course, John Carter of Mars: Adventures on the Dying World of Barsoom does not use skills. Instead combining the total of an Attribute and a Skill, it combines two appropriate Attributes, a player rolling two twenty-sided dice to get successes by rolling under the combined total, or two successes by rolling under the value of the lower Attribute. If a player rolls a twenty, it does not necessarily mean that the character fails, but rather that he suffers a Complication to his action, though as an alternative, it can add to the Narrator’s Threat pool.

For example, not long after she has been stranded on Barsoom, Jane Miller has been captured by the Red Martian bandit, Tavsark On. She has managed to get him drunk and slipped out to the edge of his camp where the bandits have their thoats penned. These riding animals are not used to Earthmen, so she is strange to them, but Jane wants to steal one and ride it away. The Narrator asks Jane’s player for a roll, telling him that since the task is Challenging, he will need two Successes in order for her to be able to calm and ride the strange beast. He suggests that Jane’s player will be rolling against a total of her Daring and Empathy, since she needs to calm the thoat quickly. This gives the player a target of ten to roll against, but if he rolls four or less—equal to Jane’s Daring—her player will generate extra Successes. He rolls 1 and 6. The 6 generates one Success, but the 1, which is under her Daring in this situation, generates another two for a total of three Success. The two Successes mean that Jane sneaks past the guard, calms a thoat, and manages to ride away from the camp. Further, she has an extra Success left over, which can be kept as Momentum.

Most of the time, a player will need to generate no more than a single Success to do whatever his character wants to do, but it can be as high as five or Epic Successes needed, depending upon the action. Any Successes generated above the difficulty generate Momentum and Momentum can be saved or spent. Typical uses for Momentum are to add another twenty-sided die to an attribute test, make an opponent’s test more challenging, increase quality or scope of a success, to obtain information, or reduce the time a task takes. In another change from other 2d20 System roleplaying games, Momentum in John Carter of Mars: Adventures on the Dying World of Barsoom is not saved into a communal pool to be used by all of the players, but into individual pools. Although each player’s pool maximum Momentum is equal to their character’s lowest Attribute, it means that there is more Momentum in play overall. Another aspect to having individual pools is that players can transfer Momentum between each other’s pools and so help each facilitate the action.

So for example, Jane Miller has managed to escape the camp of the famed Red Martian bandit, Tavsark On, but the guards quickly realise that she is gone, and with Tavsark On at their head, they give chase. Since she is trying to get away, Jane’s player will roll against Daring and Passion, but Tavsark On will lose face if he does not catch the stranger, so the Narrator will roll against his Might of 5 and Passion of 4. Jane also has the Empathic Ride Talent which not only allows her to always use her Empathy when riding or controlling a living mount, but also allows her player to reroll a failed roll. To ensure that Jane outrides her former captor, her player decides to spend the Momentum from the earlier success to add another die. This means that Jane’s player will be rolling three dice versus the Narrator’s two. The Narrator rolls 1 and 8, which is enough for three successes. This sets a high bar for Jane’s player as Tavsark On gains on her. Jane’s player rolls 1, 10, and 14, which also gives her three success, but that is not enough. Fortunately, her player can reroll a die because of her Talent and chooses the 14 to reroll. This time it rolls a two and generates another two success. This is two more than Tavsark On and so not only does Jane get away, but there is more Momentum to save or spend.

In addition to Momentum, characters also have Luck, but where Momentum needs to be generated and the amount a player holds in his pool degrades from one scene to the next, a player always begins a session with his Luck refreshed to the value of his character’s lowest Attribute. Luck can be spent to add more dice to a roll—but such dice are always set at 1 and thus always generate two successes, to perform an extra action in combat, gain a second wind and recover from stress suffered in combat, inflict more damage in combat, overcome an affliction, and to influence the story. Luck points can also be earned for noteworthy actions and roleplaying, and so on. Another way to gain Luck is by accepting voluntary failure—it also adds to the Threat pool for the Narrator’s use, as does purchasing extra Momentum should a player run out. The size of the Threat pool is equal to the number of Luck points the player characters start a session with and Threat is used in a similar fashion to Momentum, but for the Narrator’s NPCs rather than the player characters. Another use for Threat is to seize the initiative in a conflict from the player characters and let an NPC act next.

As with other 2d20 System roleplaying games, what the Threat and Momentum mechanics do is set up a pair of parallel economies with Threat being fed in part by Momentum, but Momentum in the main being used to overcome the complications and circumstances which the expenditure of Threat can bring into play. The primary use of Threat though, is to ratchet up the tension and the challenge, whereas the primary use of Momentum is to enable the player characters to overcome this challenge and in action, be larger than life.  In other 2d20 System roleplaying games, these parallel economies are more balanced because there is only one of each, but in John Carter of Mars: Adventures on the Dying World of Barsoom, because they generally have access to more Momentum, the economy favours the players and their characters. It also means that the Narrator will want to be slightly conservative in expending Threat from her Threat pool, saving them for her story’s villains rather than rather expending them necessarily on Mooks and minor incoveniences.

Rather than combat scenes, John Carter of Mars: Adventures on the Dying World of Barsoom has Action scenes, which can involve speech, movement, conflict, and free actions—the latter never requiring an Attribute test, whereas the others probably will. Action scenes also vary in length, depending upon the situation, from a single clash of swords to the great flying ships spending minutes to maneuvering for position. Combat itself consists of opposed rolls, but the attacker will roll and the defender will roll varies. For example, to make an attack with a sword, Cunning and Daring are typically used, whilst Daring and Reason are used for ranged attacks. To defend against the sword blow, Daring and Passion would be used if the blow was bravely defended against, or even Daring and Empathy if the defender was trying to read the attacker’s movements. These combinations define how a character undertakes an action, and they work as well with movement actions and spoken actions as much as they conflict actions.

If the attacker rolls more successes than the defender, then action succeeds. Momentum here can be spent to increase the number of damage dice rolled, to disarm an opponent, get rid of a minion, to move closer or further away, and so on. Depending upon the type of action, damage is inflicted upon a character’s Confusion, Fear, or Injury stress tracks. Take too much damage to a stress track and a character can suffer from an affliction—Madness from Confusion damage, Trauma from Fear damage, and Wounds from Injury stress. Each type of affliction increases the difficulty of Attribute tests, but suffer too much of one affliction and a character will black out.

In addition to the standard twenty-sided dice, John Carter of Mars: Adventures on the Dying World of Barsoom uses Combat dice. These are six-sided dice where only the rolls of one, two, five or six count with rolls of five and six also inflicting an Effect, such the Sharp quality of a sword, which inflicts extra damage.

For example, prior to her successful flight from his camp, Jane Miller found a way to sneak out of Tavsark On’s tent. The bandit has been drinking, trying to find out more about his strange captive, whilst she has been demurring. At the right moment, Jane snatches up his dagger and despite him laughing at her that she is not going to do anything, stabs him! Her player will roll her Daring of 4 and Cunning of 3 against an Average difficulty, whilst the Narrator will roll against Tavsark On’s Might of 4 and Reason of 6, but since the bandit has been drinking, it will be against a Challenging difficulty. Jane desperately wants to get away, so her player spends a point of Luck to give her two Successes. This is enough, but her player still needs to roll, but needing more of an advantage opts to purchase a point of Momentum in return for adding a point of Threat to the Threat pool. Jane’s player rolls three dice and gets 10, 7, and 2—three success, which with the two from the Luck point, gives her five. This is enough to succeed and generate four Momentum. The Narrator rolls two dice for Tavsark On, but rolls 14 and 20, so not only a failure, but with a Complication too! Jane’s player elects to turn all of the extra Momentum into Combat dice, which gives him four extra to roll with the single Combat die for the wine jug! Jane’s player rolls 2, 4, 5, 5, and 6. All but the 4 inflicts a point of damage on Tavsark On’s Injury, plus the 5, 5, and 6 all have an effect, which for the dagger is Sharp! So for each effect rolled, another point of damage is inflicted, for a total of seven. This fills Tavsark On’s Injury stress track, inflicting a wound and it is more than five points of damage, inflicting another Wound! Tavsark On roars in pain and anger, attempting to grab his assailant, but the Narrator describes—and here the Complication comes into play—how the bandit staggers back, gets caught up in a tapestry and trips up, banging his head and knocking himself out. Now Jane can make her escape...

One notable fact about combat is that John Carter of Mars: Adventures on the Dying World of Barsoom does not differentiate between weapons. So all daggers do one die’s worth of damage, swords do two, and so on. Firearms and bows are similar. This reflects the lack of variety of weapon design—or the efficiency of weapon design—on Barsoom over thousands of years. Barsoomians know what works, and are also honourable enough to always face each other with equal weapons, so if a Red Martian armed with a radium pistol is faced by an opponent with a sword, the former will holster his pistol and draw his sword. What this means mechanically is that John Carter of Mars: Adventures on the Dying World of Barsoom eschews the need for an extensive equipment list and that in John Carter of Mars: Adventures on the Dying World of Barsoom, it is a character’s skill which matters rather than the weapon. Another aspect of John Carter of Mars: Adventures on the Dying World of Barsoom’ genre is that the player characters are powerful, with only a few NPCs approaching or equalling their power and skill. Such NPCs will be challenging, especially when supported by the Narrator’s Threat pool, but many other NPCs, especially minions do not represent such a challenge.

The technology section in John Carter of Mars: Adventures on the Dying World of Barsoom highlights the differences between the advances made by Barsoom and by Earth. Barsoom is more advanced than Earth, but has lost much understanding and access of the scientific and technology their ancient forebears once had. So whilst the Red Martian kingdoms field navies of fliers of all sizes, kept aloft by anti-gravity, and pneumatic trains run between the twin cities of Helium, and are widely understood, how exactly the planet maintains a breathable atmosphere is a secret known to a very few… 

In terms of background, John Carter of Mars: Adventures on the Dying World of Barsoom provides information on the history of Barsoom; the culture, traditions, laws, languages, and more on the tribes of the Green Hordes and the kingdoms of the Red Martians. Each of Red Martian nations is given roughly two thirds of a page, which includes notable personages and places as well as suggestions on how to use each in a Narrator’s campaign. The far northern kingdom of Okar is given a similar treatment, whilst the other planets in the Solar System are accorded a varying amount of detail, all depending  to what degree they figure in Edgar Rice Burough’s stories. Further background—specifically for the Narrator’s eyes only—explore the mysteries and secrets of Barsoom, all of them drawn from the books. This includes the secrets of Barsoomian religion, such as where the Barsoomians go to die should they survive long enough to reach a thousand years old, hidden locations, strange powers, and lost technology. It is interesting to note that the relative obscurity of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars: Adventures on the Dying World of Barsoom stories actually means that they are likely to be fresh and unknown to many gaming groups.

As well as the section detailing the secrets of Barsoom, the Narrator is given some solid advice on running John Carter of Mars: Adventures on the Dying World of Barsoom, as well as handling the mechanics and setting both tone and theme for a campaign. This includes how to create suitable villains for a campaign, adhere to the conventions of the genre, and expanding Barsoom beyond Edgar Rice Burroughs’ novels, giving new kingdoms and cities for the player characters to visit. Numerous sources of inspiration are discussed, surprisingly more than just the novels—which are even more surprisingly, not actually listed in the Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars: Adventures on the Dying World of Barsoom—including classic myths, other works of fiction, and more. Stats and write-ups are provided for almost twenty of Barsoom’s creatures, most notably the iconic White Ape, along with a guide for the Narrator to create her own, followed by stats and write-ups for all of the major characters from the novels—including John Carter, Dejah Thoris, and their family, as well as some archetypal ones too.

Rounding out John Carter of Mars: Adventures on the Dying World of Barsoom is ‘The Mind Merchants of Mars’, a short action-packed adventure. It begins with the characters being thrown into an arena and forced to fight experienced gladiators. Whatever the outcome, they end up being sold into slavery, escape, and more. This is a decent introductory scenario, throwing the player characters straight into the action and get them involved immediately. It is supported not only by a cast of villains which deserve to make further appearances, but also some nine quite detailed adventure hooks, each with variations.

Physically—and this is the very first thing which will strike anybody about it—Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars: Adventures on the Dying World of Barsoom comes not in the traditional portrait format as almost every other roleplaying game and supplement does, but landscape format. This gives it a singular appearance and provides a wider space for the roleplaying game’s artwork. Vistas here, really can be vistas. Much of that artwork is excellent, the cover in particular is spectacular, but some of the internal illustrations feel a little murky. The writing is good throughout, though an edit is required in places. Where the game and rules are lacking is in having more and fuller examples of both the rules and play, as more would make it easier for new players and Narrators to learn. Another issue is the organisation, which could have been better, in particular, the Talents could have been all listed and explained in one place, rather than placed throughout the book where they appear with NPCs. This would have been useful as a reference for the Narrator. It would have been nice if there had been a few maps than the one given of Barsoom, perhaps of a city or a flier, basically to help the Narrator visualise places if not support the roleplaying game’s use of miniatures, which is an option. If there is a real issue though with the core rule book for John Carter of Mars: Adventures on the Dying World of Barsoom, it is actually the format. As lovely as it is, the landscape format is a little unwieldy for easy use. 

Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars: Adventures on the Dying World of Barsoom is the lightest and easiest of Modiphius Entertainment’s 2d20 System. It plays fast and easy, the Momentum mechanics supporting an action-oriented Pulp style of play in an old fashioned setting. Indeed, were Modiphius Entertainment to find a Pulp style property it wanted to develop into a roleplaying game, then the version of the 2d20 System used in this roleplaying game would serve as a very solid basis for it. In the meantime, Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars: Adventures on the Dying World of Barsoom provides everything necessary for a gaming group to visit Barsoom for the first and gives Edgar Rice Burroughs’ stories the roleplaying they deserve.