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A Bit of Barsoom


seneschal

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Seneschal,  

Help me understand the "...3D6/2 meters..." reference. I get the 3D6, but not the "/2 meters" :-)

Cheers,

The radium gun fires explosive projectiles that do 3D6 damage over an area of about six feet.  So that Green Martian sniper doesn't actually have to hit you; if he misses but hits the rock you're taking cover beside, you might still be hurt by the blast.

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Help me understand the "...3D6/2 meters..." reference. I get the 3D6, but not the "/2 meters" :-)

Presumably, you roll 3D6 and half the value, so 1,2,3 gives 6, which is halved to 2.

It limits the range to 9 meters, average 5 or 6, which sounds fine for a radium gun.

Simon Phipp - Caldmore Chameleon - Wallowing in my elitism since 1982. Many Systems, One Family. Just a fanboy. 

www.soltakss.com/index.html

Jonstown Compendium author. Find my contributions here

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Plant Man

“Men” in name only, these omnivorous guardians of the Valley Dor are bizarre even in a world of strange creatures.  The corpse-blue humanoids have head, torso and two legs but the resemblance ends there.  Their heads are topped with an 8-inch mop of thick black cilia – “hair” – that functions as an auditory organ.  They have a single all-white eye below which is a ragged, inflamed nasal hole.  There is no mouth in the face.  Their “arms” are boneless appendages somewhat like an elephant’s trunk ending in clawed “hands” with mouths where the palms would be.  A 6-foot powerful tail extends from their humanoid buttocks, and their feet are long like a rabbit’s or kangaroo’s.  Plant men travel rapidly in great 20- or 30-foot leaps and are relentless pursuers.

They feed upon pilgrims making the journey to Barsoom’s version of heaven upon the River Iss.  The creatures attack by striking victims from above with their tails while in mid-air.  Their mouths make a loud purring sound while plant men are on the hunt, ceasing only when the claws attach leech-like to the prey’s flesh to suck out bodily fluids.  When they can’t get people, they graze upon the valley’s multicolored vegetation.  This keeps the red grass as smooth as a golf putting green and ensures that the lowest branches of the great trees are well out of reach.

Plant men live in a herd or pack led by the oldest, largest specimen.  They are not sentient but have been trained by the Holy Therns to attack visitors on command.  Despite their activity and diet, they are plants and reproduce by budding.  Young grow from stems in their elders’ armpits and drop when they reach about a foot in length.  They are miniature adults and begin grazing and hunting as soon as they hit the ground.  Adults average 10 feet tall and can reach up to 12 feet tall.

STR (3D6+10) 20-21

CON (2D6+6) 13

SIZ (4D6+14) 28

INT 2

POW (3D6) 10-11

DEX (3D6+6) 16-17

Move:  12

Hit Points:  20

Damage Bonus:  +2D6

Armor:  None

Attacks:  Leech Claw 55%, 1D4+1D3 per round attached; Flying Tail Bash 60%, 1D3+DB+Knockdown

Skills:  Jump 80%, Listen 50%, Pack Tactics 45%, Spot 35%, Track 30%

Powers:  Leap, 4 levels, +8 meters horizontal leap (total 10-11 meters)

 

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Sith

Contrary to what George Lucas would have us believe, a “sith” is not an evil galactic sorcerer.  On Barsoom at least, it is a bison-sized flying carnivore somewhat resembling a terrestrial wasp.  It has sharp, eager mandibles, a long, mobile, poisonous sting and compound eyes that just won’t quit.  Such creatures are rare, and siths are (fortunately for adventurers) solitary rather than communal beasts.

STR (4D6+24) 38

CON (2D6+9) 16

SIZ (4D6+24) 38

INT 2

POW (2D6) 7

DEX (2D6+6) 13

Move:  8, Flying 12

Hit Points:  27

Damage Bonus:  +4D6

Armor:  6 (exoskeleton)

Attacks:  Bite 30%, 1D10+DB; Sting 45%, 1D6+1+DB plus poison (POT 8)

Skills:  Climb 70%, Dodge 35%, Fly 80%, Spot 90%

Mutation:  360 degree vision

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seneschal:

Did you go back to the early entries you did and readjust them so stats are based on Red Men being stated as Earthmen and then Earthmen traveling to Barsoom getting higher stats than normal stats? Some where in the thread you indicated you had shifted your thought to this.

If so, it would be wonderful if you took all these entries and any other ones and placed them as a file in the files section.  This is some great stuff!

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Reviewing the stats, they should all be appropriate for "Red Martians as normal humans" play.  My initial concern was that calots are too strong; but they are capable of taking on Barsoom's great white apes, so maybe that's OK.  I was also worried that maybe the sith write-up is too tough.  The bugs are huge and dangerous but John Carter was able to fend off and kill one with a longsword.  (But then he's John Carter, superman from Earth.)  Too bad Martians don't use shields.

I'll have to compile and alphabetize these entries before uploading them.  Most of them are in a single Word document, which helps.  I'm still working on entries for the Great White Apes and polar region Apts.

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This thread is one of the best part of my day :-)

Cheers!

 

"We still live!" said John Carter of BRP/MW

Present home-port: home-brew BRP/OQ SRD variant; past ports-of-call: SB '81, RQIII '84, BGB '08, RQIV(Mythras) '12,  MW '15, and OQ '17

BGB BRP: 0 edition: 20/420; .pdf edition: 06/11/08; 1st edition: 06/13/08

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Barsoomian Fliers Beta chart

Okay...I'm not very adept at this stuff, but I feel the need to add to Seneschal’s offerings. I'm eager and willing and hope that might may make up for some of the fumbles you'll surely find below. 

I decided to follow a Savage Worlds track and categorize fliers by general hull type (or size) rather than trying to address every permutation. If ever I need to design a special flier, say something for PCs or a named flier from Burroughs' canon, I can do that on a case by case basis. 

I tried to assume as much of the MW "Seafaring" chapter as made sense (I also tried to keep RQ III's "Ships and Sailing" section [AKA BRP's "Basic Gamemaster" supplement] and Elric!'s "Sailing on the Seas of Fate" supplement in mind as well) to keep things do-able from a MW standpoint. Some things, like Weapons Pods, Rate of Climb, and Acceleration have no derivative but I hope need little explanation. On much of this, I simply had to wing it (no pun intended...well, maybe a little) using best-guess methods. As I hope the timbre of my game will be more cinematic, I didn't feel the need to get too crunchy or simulationist. Burroughs' descriptions on the hows, whys and wherefores of Barsoomian flyers are few and far from detailed, thus, I have done the best I can based on my re-reading of the Mars Saga, and while the movie offers great visuals, its air ship designs are at odds with what descriptions ERB offers. And on that note, any descriptions of propulsion and lift systems, the 8th-ray, ship materials, weapon-pod make up are going to have to wait for me to finish my reading.

All constructive criticism welcome. I want to make this better and if you can offer something that would help, I'd appreciate it. If I've broken some major law of physics (both Jarsoomian and Barsoomian) don't hesitate to let me know. The same goes for any faulty computations.

When it has had enough time to mature, I'll set it up in the downloads section.

Cheers!

Average Barsoomian Flier Statistics By General Hull Classification

Size Class

Single*

Double

Small

Medium

Large

Capital

Flag-ship1

Military Dsg.

--

Than

Padwar

Dwar

Odwar

Jedwar

Jeddak

Hull Types

Flier

Messenger

Scout

Light Cruiser

Heavy Cruiser

Battleship

Carriership

Hull Quality

6

5+1d4

5+1d6

10+1d8

15+1d10

20+1d12

25+1d20

Structure Points

15

25

50

75

100

150

200

Hull worthiness

5

6

10

15

20

25

30

Length

13' - 4m

17' - 5m

50' - 15m

148' - 45m

200' - 60m

263' - 80m

525' - 160m

Beam

3' - 1m

6' - 2m

14' - 4m

32' - 10m

50' - 15m

34' - 20m

99' - 30m

Freeboard2

--

1'

3.5'

10'

15'

18'

25'+

Draft3

--

1'

4'

10'

15'

15'

18'

Capacity

250 lbs

500 lbs

1 ton

10 tons

25 tons

50 tons

250 tons +

Crew

1 (+2)

1 – 2 (+4)

5 (+20)

10 (+50)

50 (+100)

200 (+1000)

300 (+10K)

Decks

single

single

2

4

5

6 plus

7plus

Weapon Pods4

2

4

10

20

30

20

Top Speed

Pre F.M.o.M.5

166 mph6

14 mp turn

0.6 mp round

584' / round

208 mph

17 mp turn

0.7 mp round

730' / round

166 mph

14 mp turn

0.6 mp round

584' / round

146 mph

12 mp turn

0.5 mp round

507' / round

125 mph

10 mp turn

0.4 mp round

422' / round

105 mph

9 mp turn

.36 mp round

380' / round

95 mph

8 mp turn

.32 mp round

337' / round

Top Speed

Post F.M.o.M.

300 mph7

25 mp turn

1 mp round

1056' / round

342 mph

28 mp turn

1.4 mp round

1478' / round

300 mph

25 mp turn

1 mp round

1056' / round

212 mph

18 mp turn

.72 mp round

760' / round

180 mph

15 mp turn

.6 mp round

634' / round

152 mph

13 mp turn

.52 mp round

549' / round

138 mph

11.5 mp turn

.46 mp round

486' / round

Acceleration

pre/post

25/28 mpr

30/45 mpr

25/28 mpr

20/30 mpr

17/26 mpr

14/21 mpr

13/20 mpr

Rate of Climb

50 mpr

65 mpr

50 mpr

40 mpr

35 mpr

30 mpr

20 mpr

*Private fliers are not constructed according to strict military hull specifications, and thus, both speed and shape may vary. The hull designated “single” is one of the most common in the private sector along with pleasure barges and merchant hulls. Ground fliers will be addressed in another chart.

Round: 12 seconds; Turn: 5 minutes (25 combat rounds)

Bozarth, David Bruce. A Barsoom Glossary. Pdf. 2006.

1Flag-ship carriers house 5 ten-man cruisers; 10 five-man scouts and 100 single-man scouts

2For those craft also modified to land and operate in water

3For those craft also modified to land and operate in water

4For rapid fire guns and canon firing radium ammunition, and radium bombs

5FMoM: Fighting Man of Mars just prior to this book, dramatic improvements were made in flier propulsion systems.

6The canon speed “166” mentioned in Bozarth's A Barsoom Glossary. I have yet to find the canonical reference.

7The second canon speed “300” is the upper limit mentioned by Bozarth but he also suggests that “450”.

 

"We still live!" said John Carter of BRP/MW

Edited by Sunwolfe
mistake
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Present home-port: home-brew BRP/OQ SRD variant; past ports-of-call: SB '81, RQIII '84, BGB '08, RQIV(Mythras) '12,  MW '15, and OQ '17

BGB BRP: 0 edition: 20/420; .pdf edition: 06/11/08; 1st edition: 06/13/08

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What makes designing Barsoomian vehicles tough is that not only is ERB vague in his descriptions but he is inconsistent as well.  In his early novels the airships feel like flying sailing ships, with masts but no sails,that act like dirigibles in flight.  By the final novels, especially the ones finished by his sons, the fliers feel like World War 2 bombers or something out of Nausiccaa and the Valley of the Winds.  The small one to three man fliers are less like Buck Rogers personal rocket ships and more like floating skis or surfboards.

the dragonfly like ships from Disney's John Carter movie didn't fit my preconceptions but they were cool and as good an interpretation as any.

Edited by seneschal
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I suppose Burroughs was following "The Rule of Cool" decades before it was formulated.  He was more interested in frantic action and grand aerial pyrotechnics than in nuts and bolts verisimilitude.  More Flash Gordon and Star Wars, less Buck Rogers and Star Trek.

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Apt

 One of the few Martian creatures to bear fur, the apt is the apex predator of Barsoom’s northern polar region.  It is a six-limbed, centaur-ish animal that walks on four stocky legs but has powerful arms extending forward from its shoulders ending in functional hands.  The apt’s broad, gaping maw (it reminded John Carter of a hippopotamus) rests atop a long, muscular neck.  The top of its head is dominated by two large, oval-shaped compound eyes.  A downward curving horn or tusk juts from beneath each eye.  The fur is white.  Apts are bigger than Earthly polar bears, with particularly large specimens standing 8 feet high at the shoulder.  They attack by grasping prey with their hands, then either goring or biting.  Given the size of their jaws, the horns seem unnecessary.  Despite their natural aggressiveness and ferocity, apts can be domesticated.

STR (4D6+15) 29

CON (2D6+9) 16

SIZ (6D6+24) 45

INT 5

POW (3D6) 10-11

DEX (3D6) 10-11

Move:  12

Hit Points:  30

Damage Bonus:  +4D6

Armor:  4 (thick fur)

Attacks:  Bite 55%, 2D6+DB; Gore 30%, 1D6+DB; Grapple 34%, 1D4+DB

Skills:  Spot 65%, Track 40%

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