Actually, I referenced that Mars game in the OP.

It's pretty good, as long as you don't mind a d20 Modern game engine (I don't.)  It manages to more or less be a fusion of Barsoom and H. G. Wells' Mars without stepping on any potential IP issues.  In fact, IIRC, it was specifically delayed while Adamant went on with the ERB estate over specifically how Barsoom-like it could be.

Quote from: Elliot Wilen;254747It's been suggested that Talislanta is sort-of a planetary romance setting, or at least has the potential to be one if you just create a template for "lost astronaut" (as I believe it was Silverlion did on these here boards).

There is a GURPS Planet of Adventure book, based on the Jack Vance tetralogy.

That's all I got, but many an S&S setting/game ought to be just a hop skip & jump from planetary Romance. Consider perhaps Barbarians of Lemuria (Thongor) and Under the Broken Moon (Thundarr)--both free.

I'm working omn a new edition of Barbarians of Lemuria right now. Initial responses to the early draft have been rather good. I am inclined to be rather pleased with it myself.

Simon W
Beyond Belief Games

Slavelords of Cydonia from Badaxe Games is an expansion for Grimm Tales (a D20M spinoff-type game).  It's pretty damn cool, too.

And Pinnacle just released Slipstream for Savage Worlds.  Very Buck Rogers, as opposed to John Carter, but it might do the trick for you (I'm a big Savage Worlds fan).

-Tom

Quote from: Elliot Wilen;254801Fixed the link for you.

Oops, Thanks Elliot for the save.

D&D could probably do the style, if not Barsoom in particular, if you made the different classes different species. Eg Fighters are the burly Green Martians, Magic-Users are decadent Red Martians etc.

Quote from: Ronin;254788John Carter, Warlord of mars was an RPG put out by Heritage games in 78. Lord knows if you could still find a copy.

Is that the same as the 1979 SPI game of the same name? If nothing else looks like the rules are online for free skimming. Most SPI games are rare & sought after, I'm guessing this would be also. Looks rather boardgame + RPG elements but may have some useful ideas or maps.

Cool on the new edition of Barbarians of Lemuria. Fun game. Speaking of L. Sprague de Camp, SJG also did GURPS Planet Krishna, from a Lin Carter series which looked somewhat Barsoomian to me.

There's another Jack Vance RPG, though nowhere near as musclebound as ERB, Dying Earth RPG. The free lite version is very playable, so take a look.

Tekumel is very much in the Planetary Romance vein, esp. if you focus on the six legged lizards spitting acid, the aircar "dragons", unrusting metal rocketship "Plain of Towers", techno-magical "eyes" that shoot rays, underground tubeways, alien slaver motile Oscar the Grouches, lack of clothing, deadly environment, buxom babeage, et al. Just plop a standard D&D party (say, from the Wilderlands) into a jungle or desert adventure, let them earn some XP, GP and good tans, then gate 'em to Tekumel. Cha!

Start with Tekumel.com and the first published RPG setting game, Empire of the Petal Throne. Then expand with the Tekumel Sourcebook, Book of Ebon Binding, Tekumel: Empire of the Petal Throne and/or the Book of the Gods.

You're not in Kansas Anymore.

That Moon game looked excellent when I last saw it, but the rules were still in playtest. Can't get a link to work currently. >.<

Dying Earth however is pretty far from Planetary Romance, even though the stories do sometimes have ultra-tech.

Quote from: Casey777;255539Is that the same as the 1979 SPI game of the same name?

No, they're two entirely different games. The SPI game is a standard board wargame with cardboard counters and very tight procedural rules. The Heritage John Carter game was an RPG.

Quote from: Casey777;255540Cool on the new edition of Barbarians of Lemuria. Fun game. Speaking of L. Sprague de Camp, SJG also did GURPS Planet Krishna, from a Lin Carter series which looked somewhat Barsoomian to me.

I haven't looked at them in forever, but wasn't Planet Krishna L. Sprague de Camp's Barsoom ripoff?  Lin Carter did the Calliso and Green Star series as his Barsoom ripoffs.

Did anyone actually mention Space: 1889 here? Because the whole "sky captains of mars" thing certainly has a Burroughs-esque feel to it at least.

Quote from: RPGPundit;257224Did anyone actually mention Space: 1889 here? Because the whole "sky captains of mars" thing certainly has a Burroughs-esque feel to it at least.

The OP mentions it.  It has been my go to game for this kind of campaign in the past, but there are several games out there now that specifically do planetary romance, which is what Hobo was interested in.


TGA

Quote from: Hobo;256821I haven't looked at them in forever, but wasn't Planet Krishna L. Sprague de Camp's Barsoom ripoff?  Lin Carter did the Calliso and Green Star series as his Barsoom ripoffs.

I actually never got around to reading de Camp's Planet Krishna stuff, but I got a copy of the GURPS: Planet Krishna book somehow and it was an enjoyable read.


TGA

To be honest with you, I don't think all that highly of the work of either Lin Carter or L. Sprague de Camp.  And it's kinda trendy to dislike them these days because of the hash they made of Conan, that's only recently been "fixed."  Lin Carter rather shamelessly copied his favorite writers, and only his almost childlike sense of wonder about them made it endearing rather than annoying, and L. Sprague de Camp's approach to it always struck me as off-puttingly elitist; he essentially wanted to rewrite the settings to "get them right" because he was bothered by the lack of hard scientific rigor that Howard and Buroughs displayed.

Still, far be it from me to suggest that they didn't have some good ideas here and there.  I didn't realize there was a GURPS Planet Krishna book.  I might have to go check that out now.

Quote from: Hobo;257251To be honest with you, I don't think all that highly of the work of either Lin Carter or L. Sprague de Camp.  And it's kinda trendy to dislike them these days because of the hash they made of Conan, that's only recently been "fixed."  Lin Carter rather shamelessly copied his favorite writers, and only his almost childlike sense of wonder about them made it endearing rather than annoying, and L. Sprague de Camp's approach to it always struck me as off-puttingly elitist; he essentially wanted to rewrite the settings to "get them right" because he was bothered by the lack of hard scientific rigor that Howard and Buroughs displayed.

Still, far be it from me to suggest that they didn't have some good ideas here and there.  I didn't realize there was a GURPS Planet Krishna book.  I might have to go check that out now.

Funny you should mention it, but my dislike of de Camp's style (and admittedly the trendy reason of his butchering of Howard's work and legacy) is what kept me from bothering with reading the actual Planet Krishna novels.  I think that I was literally given the GURPS book by someone, and after looking through it there were some interesting ideas.  Just not enough to overcome my sloth and existing dislikes to give the actual novels a read.  As I recall, one of the more interesting aspects of the setting was the "Prime Directive"-like prohibition on Earthers bringing high tech items to the planet, leading to those adventurous enough to go planetside having to rely on their wits and swordplay to survive.

In the end, for that kind of "stranded on an exotic planet with strange customs" adventuring, I much prefer using the works of Jack Vance as a model.  Hence my suggestion that you look at the GURPS: Planet of Adventure book.  It is awesome.


TGA

You are correct, I got the authors mixed up when checking links. I tend to get the two of them together since I've only recently started trying their separate works that aren't Conan or "Fill in the Mythos Gaps Best Left Unwritten" stories. They look short reads if nothing else. I tend to lump Dying Earth and Planetary Romances together, a bad habit perhaps. There's overlap in authors and influences, not a lot of examples of either genre and most importantly I like them both.

I respect Lin Carter more than de Camp, mainly because he was the junior partner & also because he did some good editing & anthologizing outside of Conan, including the seminal Ballantine Adult Fantasy series that was very influential to early RPGs and RPG authors. For many key fantasy works it's still the easiest to find edition.

de Camp is arguably the stronger writer & has more original works but is often too clinical and precise. No need to go over his editing style or tendency to toot his own horn & line his own pocket. I do really like his shortish (300+ page small HC) Arkham House guide to Sword & Sorcery fiction. Literary Swordsmen and Sorcerers: The Makers of Heroic Fantasy. It helps that he doesn't have enough space to really start ripping into any of the authors. Arkham House may still have a few copies and it goes pretty cheap for an Arkham House book. Puts Weird Tales' "big three" (Howard, Lovecraft, and Smith) in context and still has yet to be surpassed as a published genre overview AFAIK. There is some coverage of ERB and related authors though neither he nor Planetary Romance get a devoted chapter.