Coming Soon: New Edition of Warriors of the Red Planet RPG

The new year just started and I get to share some really cool news: the Warriors of the Red Planet RPG is getting a new edition! 

I picked up the beta when it became available about a year-and-a-half ago (sheesh, where does the friggin' time go, eh?) and was impressed with it, so much so that I connected with some folks (including the creators) on Google Plus. I didn't actually do much in the way of playtesting, but I did read through it and engaged in some house rule conversations with the other Marsophiles on Google Plus.

So...I guess you would call the upcoming version the first, official "full" edition? Whatever you call it, I have full confidence that Messrs. Krombach (of Beyond the Black Gate fame) and Denmark (He of the Many Blogs) will deliver an incredible game! Check it out, and get your a$$ to Mars!

Time to get my a$$ to Mars (with Warriors of the Red Planet)!

 

I love the OGL, man. It continually gives us an ever-growing smorgasbord of D&D variants, such as Warriors of the Red Planet! This is, of course, a sword & planet variant of the rules! Awesome, another bit of useful house rules that I won't have to create myself ;-)

 

This is the softcover beta of the rules you can get from Lulu right now on the cheap. The game's creator - Thomas Denmark of the WotRP, Original Edition Fantasy, and Studio Denmark blogs (and creator of the Dungeoneer game) - has been working on this for a while, and to be honest I had all but given up on this game seeing the light of day (not because of any failing on Mr. Denmark's part, but just because the development was taking so long).

 

But I'm glad I was wrong! I have had some time to read through, and it's pretty cool so far. I hope to have a full review someday, as soon as I can get to it.

 

This thing has me so excited about planetary romance that I had to break out my copy of the gorgeous John Carter of Mars collection illustrated by Thomas Yeates. Hmm, might be time for a re-read!

 

Anyway, I would love to find some time soon to help playtest these beta rules. Yeah, seriously, this has me so excited (as does the Dungeonteller game, which also just hit the streets) that I might need to come out of my current roleplaying hiatus! Stay tuned...

Regarding All Things Martian

I've been meaning to get into some sword and planet stuff for a while now, long before word of the upcoming John Carter movie hit the streets.

(And why can't they call the movie John Carter of Mars?! Just calling it John Carter seems really stupid.)

I was in the Barnes and Noble near my work today, and as I was heading back to work I spotted a really awesome-looking John Carter of Mars collection sitting in the bargain book area. Here's the cover:

Awesome, right?! I flipped through this thing and it is full of incredible illustrations, just a beautiful book! I am definitely going to go back and get it ASAP. It's good for me that the thing is a bargain book, but it makes me sad to see a big stack of beautifully-crafted classic collections going unsold. Maybe the movie will fuel some interested in the John Carter stories. If you can find this thing, take a look and tell me if you don't think it's sweet.

Note: I already have a Science Fiction Book Club collection of the books, but it don't look nothin' like the one pictured above!

On a related note, has anyone else heard of Warriors of the Red Planet? It's an RPG that seems to have been quietly under development for some time now. This also looks pretty darn cool! (UPDATE: I just figured out that Al of Beyond the Black Gate is the mind behind Warriors of the Red Planet! Duh, me!)

Oh, about the movie: what I've seen of the previews looks encouraging, and I'm holding out hope that it will be good.

That's all for now, earthlings!