Some friends of mine will soon be writing a pulp solar-system based sci-fi RPG. Their current product, _Hollow Earth Expedition_ is a WWII-era Burroughsesque lost world setting, with forays into straight- up pulp adventure (exilegames.com if you're interested). But for this one, think canals on a dying Mars, jungles on Venus, that sort of thing.
I'd love to put a list together for them of good primary sources for inspiration. Trouble is, my own reading of the genre has been more broad than deep. Burroughs, obviously will be on the list, but I've only read _Princess of Mars_, so I don't know if there are any better. Ditto Brackett, Weinbaum...well, you get the picture. Given the time period, there will necessarily be a whole bunch of shorts, so if you know of any good anthologies, that'd help too. Modern pastiches are perfectly fine--I'm strongly considering putting _Leather Goddesses of Phobos_ on the list.
So given that these people have limited time available before they'll actually have to start writing the thing, what's the shortest representative sample you can come up with?
>Some friends of mine will soon be writing a pulp solar-system based >sci-fi RPG. Their current product, _Hollow Earth Expedition_ is a >WWII-era Burroughsesque lost world setting, with forays into straight- >up pulp adventure (exilegames.com if you're interested). But for this >one, think canals on a dying Mars, jungles on Venus, that sort of >thing.
>I'd love to put a list together for them of good primary sources for >inspiration. Trouble is, my own reading of the genre has been more >broad than deep. Burroughs, obviously will be on the list, but I've >only read _Princess of Mars_, so I don't know if there are any >better. Ditto Brackett, Weinbaum...well, you get the picture. Given >the time period, there will necessarily be a whole bunch of shorts, so >if you know of any good anthologies, that'd help too. Modern pastiches >are perfectly fine--I'm strongly considering putting _Leather >Goddesses of Phobos_ on the list.
>So given that these people have limited time available before they'll >actually have to start writing the thing, what's the shortest >representative sample you can come up with?
Well, "Planetary Romance" is much more a novel genre than a short story one, so I can't help you with shorts, but Burroughs definitely did write Venus and hollow-earth books as well as Mars ones. My favorite non-Burroughs swords & planets books are the "Scorpio" books by Alan Burt Akers (Ken Bulmer) starting with _Transit to Scorpio_. If you want a slightly different take, Gilman's _Rebel of Rhada_ is good as well, and though most people don't put it there, Herbert's _Dune_ fits pretty well setting-wise though the plot is not typical.
Ted -- ------ columbiaclosings.com What's not in Columbia anymore..
>Some friends of mine will soon be writing a pulp solar-system based >sci-fi RPG. Their current product, _Hollow Earth Expedition_ is a >WWII-era Burroughsesque lost world setting, with forays into straight- >up pulp adventure (exilegames.com if you're interested). But for this >one, think canals on a dying Mars, jungles on Venus, that sort of >thing.
>I'd love to put a list together for them of good primary sources for >inspiration. Trouble is, my own reading of the genre has been more >broad than deep. Burroughs, obviously will be on the list, but I've >only read _Princess of Mars_, so I don't know if there are any >better. Ditto Brackett, Weinbaum...well, you get the picture. Given >the time period, there will necessarily be a whole bunch of shorts, so >if you know of any good anthologies, that'd help too. Modern pastiches >are perfectly fine--I'm strongly considering putting _Leather >Goddesses of Phobos_ on the list.
Weinbaum may not be your best choice since he has no humanoid aliens (also because I'm writing a Weinbaum RPG and I can live without the competition, but that's my problem). I'd sort of assume that they want stuff with princesses to rescue, treasure, etc., and Weinbaum isn't much like that.
Having said that, there's a LOT of his stuff on line at Gutenberg Australia and I'm filling in the gaps as fast as I can. The ones I've scanned that are most relevant to a planetary adventures sort of RPG are
In article <97f6eaf1-9bdc-4f31-8aad-3be0800f7...@j22g2000hsf.googlegroups.com>, Gary Thompson <quux...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Some friends of mine will soon be writing a pulp solar-system based > sci-fi RPG. Their current product, _Hollow Earth Expedition_ is a > WWII-era Burroughsesque lost world setting, with forays into straight- > up pulp adventure (exilegames.com if you're interested). But for this > one, think canals on a dying Mars, jungles on Venus, that sort of > thing.
Burroughs not only did Mars that way, but Venus as well. I don't think anyone had more fun with them 8-) Certainly better than Akers any day.
-- Mary Loomer Oliver (aka Erilar)
You can't reason with someone whose first line of argument is that reason doesn't count. --Isaac Asimov
> Some friends of mine will soon be writing a pulp solar-system based > sci-fi RPG. > I'd love to put a list together for them of good primary sources for > inspiration. Trouble is, my own reading of the genre has been more > broad than deep. Burroughs, obviously will be on the list, but I've > only read _Princess of Mars_, so I don't know if there are any > better.
(T Guy):
Burroughs also did Venus and Hollow Earth stories in this genre.
Otis Adelbert Kiline did Mars and Venus.
Ralph Milne Farley: _The Radio Beasts_, _The Radio Planet_.
Ray Cummings: _Tara of the Light Country_, _Tara, Princess of Mercury_.
All spellings from memory.
I suppose if your friends have the patience they may wish to read Edwin Lester Arnold's _Lieutenant Gullivar Jones: His Vacation_, a. k. a. _Gullivar of Mars_. At least to see how far they can get before they cry in despair 'Make me read no more; my soul revolts from the task, the crazy brown letters swim before my eyes.'
> Some friends of mine will soon be writing a pulp solar-system based > sci-fi RPG. Their current product, _Hollow Earth Expedition_ is a > WWII-era Burroughsesque lost world setting, with forays into straight- > up pulp adventure (exilegames.com if you're interested). But for this > one, think canals on a dying Mars, jungles on Venus, that sort of > thing.
> I'd love to put a list together for them of good primary sources for > inspiration. Trouble is, my own reading of the genre has been more > broad than deep. Burroughs, obviously will be on the list, but I've > only read _Princess of Mars_, so I don't know if there are any > better. Ditto Brackett, Weinbaum...well, you get the picture. Given > the time period, there will necessarily be a whole bunch of shorts, so > if you know of any good anthologies, that'd help too. Modern pastiches > are perfectly fine--I'm strongly considering putting _Leather > Goddesses of Phobos_ on the list.
> So given that these people have limited time available before they'll > actually have to start writing the thing, what's the shortest > representative sample you can come up with?
I'm not sure you actually want a general reading list. That is because you want your game to reach a maximum number of people. Which happens because something in the game resonates with something people know. Which seems to mean, what would that be?
I think Burroughs is good, and he worked in two different environments: Mars, and jungle. I'd like Brackett, but who outside sf fandom, has read Brackett? Same for C.L. Moore. In my view Brackett and Moore would be much better than Burroughs, but their works aren't much seen in mundane environments.
I'd be careful about Dune. It gets read a lot but if you start using a Dune scenario, the people who own the rights to the works, may come down on you saying, you are using our intellectual property. Where you have done a lot of work in an environment, a legal nastygram from someone who claims to own the environment, can inflict big hurt on you. So Dune seems good but can you really use it?
For an environment that is not so locked-in, see Herbert again, his "Under Pressure" (also published as "Dragon In the Sea" and maybe others). Throw in some Ellsberg submarine works (late 1930's and maybe 1940's) and you can make up an environment nobody will have their claws in. Now translate that into space. There used to be a Russian military submarine berthed as a tourist trap, I mean attraction, right next to the Queen Mary in California. A tour thru the submarine, a good reading of Ellsberg, and a review of Herbert's "Under Pressure" followed by Kranz, "Failure Is Not An Option" seems to me a strong background for a game environment.
Note Herbert makes a big mistake in his "Under Pressure." You *do not* run a nuclear reactor in any space a person can walk into. It is 1) too hot thermally, the nuclear energy is released as heat energy; 2) too hot radiationally, as soon as it has run for a small while, it's *intensely* radioactive, so the remaining useful life of a person near to it could be as small as minutes. So if you do a game here, *do not* have the character walking into a reactor room and jacking up the reactor back onto its mount.
> Some friends of mine will soon be writing a pulp solar-system based > sci-fi RPG. Their current product, _Hollow Earth Expedition_ is a > WWII-era Burroughsesque lost world setting, with forays into straight- > up pulp adventure (exilegames.com if you're interested). But for this > one, think canals on a dying Mars, jungles on Venus, that sort of > thing.
> I'd love to put a list together for them of good primary sources for > inspiration. Trouble is, my own reading of the genre has been more > broad than deep. Burroughs, obviously will be on the list, but I've > only read _Princess of Mars_, so I don't know if there are any > better. Ditto Brackett, Weinbaum...well, you get the picture. Given > the time period, there will necessarily be a whole bunch of shorts, so > if you know of any good anthologies, that'd help too. Modern pastiches > are perfectly fine--I'm strongly considering putting _Leather > Goddesses of Phobos_ on the list.
> So given that these people have limited time available before they'll > actually have to start writing the thing, what's the shortest > representative sample you can come up with?
A short repressentative sample for Mars might well be _Rainbow Mars_ by Niven, as he populates Mars with representatives of all of these different stories plus others (Wells, Bradbury ).
On Oct 6, 4:09 pm, "Marcus L. Rowland" <forgottenfutu...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
> Weinbaum may not be your best choice since he has no humanoid aliens > (also because I'm writing a Weinbaum RPG and I can live without the > competition, but that's my problem). I'd sort of assume that they want > stuff with princesses to rescue, treasure, etc., and Weinbaum isn't much > like that.
Hi Marcus. Glad to know you're doing a full-on Weinbaum adaptation, as your work is much admired. I don't really think there will be too much competition--in fact I've found niche rpg stuff actually usually does better the more people there are producing it. Besides, this is a much more generic sword-and-planet adventure--there's no need, or even desire, for fealty to the source material. I'm really just looking for material to help get people in the right frame of mind.
I haven't read much of his stuff--Black Flame, Mad Moon, and A Martian Odyssey are all that come to mind. From what I remember, the settings of the latter two are just about right. Ancient ruins; lost, degenerated species; mysterious plagues; all of these would be ripe for plunder, or at least inspiration.
> Having said that, there's a LOT of his stuff on line at Gutenberg > Australia and I'm filling in the gaps as fast as I can. The ones I've > scanned that are most relevant to a planetary adventures sort of RPG are
On Oct 7, 9:04 am, "Martha Adams" <mh...@verizon.net> wrote:
> I'm not sure you actually want a general reading list. > That is because you want your game to reach a maximum > number of people. Which happens because something in > the game resonates with something people know. Which > seems to mean, what would that be?
> I think Burroughs is good, and he worked in two different > environments: Mars, and jungle. I'd like Brackett, but > who outside sf fandom, has read Brackett? Same for C.L. > Moore. In my view Brackett and Moore would be much > better than Burroughs, but their works aren't much > seen in mundane environments.
Well, for one, it's not my baby, so I don't have any control over the subject matter. I'm just trying to help. Nevertheless, there is a definite pre-space-age gestalt Dying Mars and Jungle Venus concept that I'd argue is familiar to *any* fan of sci-fi (and even large swaths of mass culture--Total Recall grossed over $250M, after all). That is what the authors are going to try to tap into. But it would helpful, I think, for them to explore some of the stories that help shape these lasting images.
My problem is, like I said above, that while I enjoy these sorts of stories, I haven't read nearly enough of them. Usually one one or two by each author. I've only read _A Princess of Mars_, for instance. Is there one in the series you like better? One that better typifies the genre? How about Brackett and Moore?
>On Oct 6, 4:09 pm, "Marcus L. Rowland" <forgottenfutu...@ntlworld.com> >wrote:
>> Weinbaum may not be your best choice since he has no humanoid aliens >> (also because I'm writing a Weinbaum RPG and I can live without the >> competition, but that's my problem). I'd sort of assume that they want >> stuff with princesses to rescue, treasure, etc., and Weinbaum isn't much >> like that.
>Hi Marcus. Glad to know you're doing a full-on Weinbaum adaptation, >as your work is much admired. I don't really think there will be too >much competition--in fact I've found niche rpg stuff actually usually >does better the more people there are producing it. Besides, this is >a much more generic sword-and-planet adventure--there's no need, or >even desire, for fealty to the source material. I'm really just >looking for material to help get people in the right frame of mind.
>I haven't read much of his stuff--Black Flame, Mad Moon, and A Martian >Odyssey are all that come to mind. From what I remember, the settings >of the latter two are just about right. Ancient ruins; lost, >degenerated species; mysterious plagues; all of these would be ripe >for plunder, or at least inspiration.
>> Having said that, there's a LOT of his stuff on line at Gutenberg >> Australia and I'm filling in the gaps as fast as I can. The ones I've >> scanned that are most relevant to a planetary adventures sort of RPG are
>> But I'm still trying to fix typos etc., let me know if you spot >> anything.
>I didn't realize so much of his work was PD. Thanks for the links!
I forgot to mention another author that might be of interest - the late and not entirely great George Griffith, who wrote a series called "Stories of Other Worlds" AKA "A Honeymoon in Space", circa 1900, in which the hero (a British lord), his plucky American wife, and their servant Murgatroyd (a Yorkshireman) visit various alien worlds, meet interesting aliens, and kill them. I've already written the RPG for that one, and have the stories on my site:
