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Post by Finarvyn on Nov 3, 2007 21:39:30 GMT -6
Basically, it seems like one could limit an OD&D Barsoom campaign to three basic classes. * Fighter -- a must, and the most common. * Assassin -- rare but mentioned, so could certainly be there. * Noble -- make it more gender neutral than "princess" :wink: This would be a person skilled in oration and diplomacy and other charisma stuff.
In my campaigns, my group hates to have more than one person playing a given class. So, for possible additonal options: * Thief -- not specifially mentioned, as best as I remember, but one basic enough to fit into the genre. * Sailor -- or pilot, or whatever you want to call it. Basically the navy equivalent to Fighter. * Healer -- perhaps similar to a cleric, but with healing abilites which would be non-magical in origin. * Ranger -- this could represent Barsoomians who grew up outside of cities; emphasis on tracking and hunting type skills. * Bard -- also not mentioned, but with Barsoomian society being interested in the finer things in life I could see someone who sings to entertain the nobility. Not sure about spellcasting, but a mix of fighter and thief skills would probably work out fine. * Psionicist? -- could there be a class with enhanced psionics? I mention this only because some players demand a magic-type class, and this would fit a Barsoomian game better than spellcasters would.
I know that this is a pretty hefty list of possible classes, but it would give some good options if you want them.
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Post by coffee on Nov 3, 2007 22:39:29 GMT -6
I'm not so sure about the Thief. It's been years, but I distinctly recall Burroughs stating that theft was virtually unknown on Barsoom. People didn't worry about others taking their stuff, so I don't see that a specific class of people experienced at such things would come about.
However, many of those skills would come in quite handy for a scout, which military forces throughout the ages have used, so I could easily see renaming the class for that purpose.
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Post by Finarvyn on Nov 4, 2007 7:00:36 GMT -6
Good catch, coffee. I had forgotten the part about theft being virtually unknown on Barsoom. A "scout" would make a lot more sense!
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Post by thorswulf on Nov 4, 2007 22:13:07 GMT -6
A ranger type class could work. There were those bowmen from some city in a large wooded canyon or some such thing. So a woodsy archer works.
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Post by foster1941 on Nov 5, 2007 11:35:13 GMT -6
A "ranger-type" class would fit, but I don't think it would look much like D&D's Tolkien-derived ranger (with his mandated lawful alignment, spell-use, ability to use crystal balls, extraordinary followers at high levels, etc.). A class that's good at tracking and survival and attacking from ambush -- is this an actual separate class or just backstory/flavor for a fighter?
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Post by coffee on Nov 5, 2007 14:04:30 GMT -6
You could combine attributes of both the Thief and the Ranger to make a Scout. I think that would make the most sense, given what has been noted above.
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Post by Finarvyn on Nov 7, 2007 22:30:15 GMT -6
A "ranger-type" class would fit, but I don't think it would look much like D&D's Tolkien-derived ranger No, I wasn't thinking about anything remotely Aragorn-like. While the Red Martians appear to be mostly city-dwellers, the Greens at least were nomadic. I could see some sort of class where Martians might "live off the land" by tracking and foraging, which sounds at least semi-Ranger-like to me.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 25, 2007 21:47:09 GMT -6
I will have to dig the Barsoom books out and reread them. I have always wanted to do and OD&D Barsoom. The things already posted above are firing me up to do something with it.
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