Princess of the Red Planet Adventure

[tdenmark]

Well, the Kickstarter is live. Hopefully it gets at least 20 backers which should be enough to pay for a print run.

[tdenmark]

Funded in under 24 hours, woohoo!

One more backer and the first stretch goal is unlocked: an additional character class. Determined by the backers through a poll.

[tdenmark]

The kickstarter is humming along nicely. Since it is my first I was nervous and had no idea how it would do. Not only did it fund in less than 24 hours, it has unlocked 2 stretch goals. To coincide with that I made a character creation demonstration video, so you can get a pretty good idea what the RPG is like.

[tdenmark]

Howdy Pardners! On the Arizona Hills (Gunslinger) funded!

For those who are on the play test list, I know I keep promising to send a pack out. It is coming soon, really. I sent the latest work in progress document to the editor (David Pulver) and he had good things to say. There are just a few more adventure details and some Strange Science stuff to fill out before I can release it for play test.

Last night I completed the Engineer gadgets section (these are related but different than Strange Science). So now all the character classes are fully playable. Though I'm still considering adding either a Huckster or a Gambler so we can have a Thief type in the mix. Play testers will let me know if we need that.

[tdenmark]

Long time no post (again).

I've been writing my tail off the past month. Here are the sections that have been (nearly) completed:
Engineer character class, with dozens and dozens of gadgets!
Huckster character class. Yep, it had to be done.
Strange science devices, over 200! It was crazy. I realized they basically take the place of magic items in your typical fantasy RPG.
On the Arizona Hills and maps. This was the whole point of this. I have this entire section of the adventure blocked out and mostly written.

For those who asked to be part of the playtest, I now have a playtest version ready. I sent copies out, but if you asked for one and didn't get it let me know by PM.

[tdenmark]

I was finishing up the chapter in Gunslinger describing the Red Planet and the Hollow Earth (yes, you can access the Hollow Earth through deep mines and caves in the Arizona territory...) and it crossed my mind to do a Hollow Earth companion RPG and the name "Warriors of the Hollow Earth" popped in my head.

Then I started wondering why the idea of calling this RPG "Warriors of the Wild West" didn't occur to me before. I was struggling so much with the name before settling on Gunslinger only because it was short and punchy. Now I'm wondering if it wouldn't have been better to go with this:




(and no, I'm not doing a Hollow Earth RPG. Well, not anytime soon anyways)

[Finarvyn]

Love the idea! Keeps the series "together" with similar titles! Is it too late to make the switchover?

[stevemitchell]

The new title works for me. And I'd buy a Hollow Earth RPG--especially if you went beyond Burroughs to incorporate Shamballah, Agharta, the Shaver Mystery (the real Deros), and such.

[tdenmark]

Aug 30, 2022 4:49:13 GMT -6 Finarvyn said:

Love the idea! Keeps the series "together" with similar titles! Is it too late to make the switchover?

I'm kicking myself for not coming up with this name sooner.

I mean it hasn't been published yet, so it is only a marketing thing (as if I care much about that, I suck at marketing). I'll float the idea to the Kickstarter backers.

I could always make the Kickstarter a "special edition" (it is anyways) and the regular edition will be this.

[tdenmark]

Aug 30, 2022 11:30:48 GMT -6 stevemitchell said:

The new title works for me. And I'd buy a Hollow Earth RPG--especially if you went beyond Burroughs to incorporate Shamballah, Agharta, the Shaver Mystery (the real Deros), and such.

I can't afford to entertain this idea right now, though I'd absolutely make it a pan-genre book like Warriors of the Red Planet is. A kitchen sink, or gonzo, approach to the genre.

[tdenmark]

9 Items left on the Todo list.

But one of those items is ~25 pieces of art.

[tdenmark]

How do you eat a whale? One bite at a time. Though I haven't posted here in a while, the project is still simmering.

Here is another map for ancient mars ruins. There will be many more maps. So many.



Full rez map here.

[Finarvyn]

Very nice. The map just looks alien!

[tdenmark]

Korad Facilities Building



full rez

[tdenmark]

Chapter 9 I Learn the Language

Carter is awarded the rank of chieftain and is tutored by Sola on life and customs of the green Martians. He learns the language and discovers that Sola is of kinder disposition than other green Martians because of her sympathies for the red captive.

We get a lot of great exposition and back story about Sola. It also brings up the issue of language. Carter learns quickly, he's an extraordinarily smart fellow and he just picks up how to speak.

I've never found language barriers to be a compelling game mechanic, it is more of an annoyance than anything. Sure there are moments you can make it interesting, but for the most part this problem is hand waved away, either by providing a translator through a person or magical/scientific device, or just ignoring the problem so the game session can move forward. Your gaming experience may be different, and you may have made great use of languages.

In the movie this is addressed by giving Carter a magic beverage that somehow gives him the ability to speak Barsoomian. And like the book everyone speaks the same language.

The same thing will have to be done here in the adventure, provide translators and assume any of the PC's who are from another world learn Barsoomian quickly.

[tdenmark]

Weird map. An eccentric residence maybe?



full rez

[tdenmark]

I'm not stopping the development of this adventure despite Hasbro's attempts to destroy output from the fan community.

Chapter 10 - Champion and Chief

In the novel John Carter has freedom to go about, but cannot leave the city because Woola prevents him. Carter makes friends with Woola, this overcomes the Calot's training and he becomes a devoted companion rather than a guard dog.

Carter attends a hearing conducted by Lorquas Ptomal of the red captive and learns that she is Dejah Thoris, a princess of Helium. She claims she was captured while on a scientific mission regarding the planet's air supply. When a young warrior knocks her to the ground for her speech, Carter kills him. He is awarded the dead warrior's possessions but warned that he is still a prisoner. He claims Dejah Thoris as his own charge and brazenly exits the hearing with her.

How would these scenes play out for a group of adventurers?

They find out Woola (or there could be multiple calots) will not let them leave a designated area. If they figure out they can win the calots over through kindness they will now have allies.
They learn lore about Helium and something of the tribal structure of the Tharks.
If a PC kills a Thark, instead of retribution they are rewarded with that Tharks's belongings and status.
They can meet Dejah Thoris, perhaps make her an ally. Learn about the delicate and dying state of the Red Planet, and that air supply generators are necessary to keep the atmosphere breathable, foreshadowing the final mission in this adventure to restart the Air Plant.

[tdenmark]

Fortunately this adventure only uses material from the Public Domain and my own original writing, so I'm not interested in WizBro's shenanigans with the OGL.

With that said here is the next installment. I want to wrap up the chapter by chapter summary, then follow up with how this is all going to be turned into a campaign adventure.

Originally I had pictured it as a Sandbox. But the further I go into this adventure I realize it has to ALSO be a railroad. How is this possible? Aren't Sandbox and Railroad contradictory?

Well, yes and no.

If they players know they are on a railroad they will not enjoy the game as much as believing they have free will to do anything and go anywhere they want. So the important thing is to create the illusion of a Sandbox. Which really is what all adventures do, right? It isn't possible to account for every crazy thing a party will do. And as all DM's know the party ALWAYS does something crazy and unexpected.

So if the region is a vast trackless desert with no resources and filled with wild beasts, and they are dying from lack of resources and there is an oasis they will go to the oasis. In this case the oasis are the ancient city ruins where the adventure is. This is heavy handed, so there has to be more subtle ways. Like the ruins are filled with empty buildings, but where the DM wants the adventure to take place is not empty. The players will naturally go to the interesting areas.

But if the DM really wants to narrowly fit the story of the novel that is fine and up to them. The adventure spells this out in game terms so they can do that. But the organization of the book isn't chronological, it is regional. For example: Ft Graham Arizona region, Thark incubator region, Korad region, Helium region. Etc. The events can still take place chronological to the book. Segments of the adventure can take place chronological (railroad) or have periods of freedom (sandbox).

That is how I visualize combining railroad with sandbox.

[tdenmark]

Chapter 11 With Dejah Thoris

Carter lets the Tharks know that Dejah Thoris will be cared for by Sola. He warns Sarkoja to keep her distance. The threat caused more harm than good, Martian males never kill women. Carter is ranked 11th among chieftains. Sola explains the customs and traditions of the Tharks. She suggests how Carter might best Lorquas Ptomel and become chief among chiefs.

New quarters are arranged for Dejah Thoris. The princess of Helium inquires into Carter's origin, afraid that he might be from Valley Dor. Although she did not understand Carter's explanation that he was from earth, she trusted and believed him. Surprisingly, she was familiar with Earth because there are instruments on Mars that transmit images from far away planets. She had seen many earthly images during her life. They examined the chamber decorations during which Dejah Thoris explained the the great races of Mars and how they were forced to mix producing the present red race.

A messenger summons Carter to the presence of Lorquas Ptomel...

[tdenmark]

Chapter 12 A Prisoner with Power

In the annals of Barsoom, Lorquas Ptomel, a fierce Thark chieftain, was a man of great pride and even greater enmity. He suspected John Carter of returning from the fabled Valley Dor to seek his demise, yet he would not resort to violence without a proper trial, unless Carter provoked him first.

It was during one of their discussions that Ptomel boasted of capturing the beautiful granddaughter of the Jeddak of Helium. Carter, who had a soft spot for the princess, soon realized that Sarkoja, a malicious Thark woman, had betrayed their whereabouts to Ptomel. He knew then that he must escape and rescue Dejah Thoris from the ghastly fate that awaited her.

Taking up residence with Tars Tarkas, his loyal ally among the Tharks, Carter found himself in a building next door to Dejah Thoris' quarters. Soon, a group of young Tharks appeared, carrying weapons, silks, and utensils that had belonged to two chieftains slain by Carter (Dotar and Sojat). Now, they were his to command. Though the Tharks lacked the concept of family, virtue, and honor were highly valued by their society. Carter sent the young warriors to their quarters above and gave them little further thought.

[tdenmark]

This month we've been working hard on maps and art. One of the maps that was always so compelling in those D&D books were the cutaway side-views that showed multiple levels of the underworld with dungeons and caves going down. In that spirit here is a preview of the Underworld map for Gunslinger. We kept coming up with more and more ideas for interesting adventure locales and the map was starting to get crowded, so fit them in and kept the map legible. It has the benefit of visualizing the kinds of adventures the player's can go on in the game.



Can't believe it's been a year since the Kickstarter! I fully expected to have the book out just a couple months after the successful funding. It is true that last 10% takes more time than the first 90% of a project, wrapping up all those details can be time consuming meticulous work. The scope did expand a little, with additional character classes, more critters, and more adventure material. So it is turning out to be a better book than was advertised in the KS campaign.

I am looking to make the PDF's available soon before sending the book to press so you'll have a chance to look them over.

[Finarvyn]

Looking better and better! Thank you for the updates!

[derv]

How about adding a hot springs to the surface map. Maybe even a geyser. That always speaks western to me.

It would appropriately be located above the lava lake and stink of sulfur.

[tdenmark]

Feb 21, 2023 11:29:23 GMT -6 derv said:

How about adding a hot springs to the surface map. Maybe even a geyser. That always speaks western to me.

It would appropriately be located above the lava lake and stink of sulfur.

Great idea. There were more concepts for adventure locations than there was room to put them in. You can see the top got a little crowded.

[tdenmark]

As I'm closing in on the final version of the Gunslinger Roleplaying game I'm spending more and more time on the art and layout. I've gone back and forth from how realistic to make the art to how stylized and fantastical I want to make the illustrations. My first inclination was to be fairly realistic, but as the book took shape it became clear that a slightly more idealized art style would fit it better. So that the fantastical elements still felt in place.



Here is a page from the Character Creation chapter on the Brave character class. Along with a finalized illustration. Though I'm being idealized that doesn't mean a lot of research wasn't done on authentic wear and features. In fact I got so lost in the research it delayed the completion of the book by quite a bit. There is just too much history and details to dig into. At some point you have to edit and complete the project. I think this is why so many Western RPG's have gotten bogged down. The history and lore of the period is fascinating and becomes more so with the more you learn.

While a lot of research can be done online, trips to the local library are still important. The book has a very large bibliography and suggestions for further research. As well as a great number of films and novels. One of the best resources were the Men-at-Arms series by Osprey publishing, particularly for a lot of the harder to find images and information.

I spent a lot of time reading and sketching from these books. What will appear in the Rulebook will only be a fraction of what I've drawn. At this point I'm thinking the next step will be to make a "Beta" version available to gather some feedback before sending the book to press. That will be posted soon.

[tdenmark]

April Update

ART. Yes, the #1 update is working on art. Yes, I'll be sharing more images soon.

XP Reward System: originally had a barebones description of awarding XP, but expanded this section to include: objective rewards, rewards for failure, accelerating rewards for one-shots, pacing rewards for long term campaigns, and hard core mode.

Critters and NPC's: I consider these sections done. Writing up all the monsters and an NPC system was quite a bit more involved than I'd planned.

On the Arizona Hills Adventure: still work in progress, about 70% done

Apologies for no updates in a while. When that happens it is because I'm so deep into this project I lose track of time.

[Finarvyn]

I'm getting excited about this. I haven't really liked a Wild West game since Boot Hill, and this stuff is looking better and better.

[tdenmark]

The boomtown of Bonita is the hub of the On The Arizona Hills adventure. It seems only right to include a mysterious underworld below the town.



I'm working on a longer update to post soon. The short of it is:
Gunslinger writing and editing is complete. Maps are complete.
On The Arizona Hill: the adventure writing is nearly complete, maps are almost done.

Art, as I keep saying, is the biggest hold up. When school gets out for winter break I hope to have time to complete it all.

Blog post.

[Finarvyn]

I'm excited about the updates. This stuff tends to fall off my radar, then when you update I get all excited again. (And want to reach for Burroughs books!)

Dec 17, 2023 1:30:43 GMT -6 tdenmark said:

Gunslinger writing and editing is complete. Maps are complete.

You mean "Warriors of the Wild West"

Dec 17, 2023 1:30:43 GMT -6 tdenmark said:

On The Arizona Hill: the adventure writing is nearly complete, maps are almost done.

Great! When can we throw money at you?

Another thought, based on my own "Burroughs books" comment above. ERB wrote a number of westerns, and I'll bet some of them have fallen into public domain. They might serve as inspiration for western modules.

[tdenmark]

June is the month Gunslinger goes to press. Come hell or high water it is getting finished. So I imagine I'll have to do a postmortem at some point to pinpoint why it took so long and how to make future projects more efficient.

Looking at the art folder there are over 200 art assets.

Over...two...hundred...art...assets.

This is a one man operation, I did have some help editing and playtesting, but the writing, design, graphics, layout, and art are all my responsibility. Just back of the envelope math if each art asset took 4-6 hours to make (some took a lot more, a few took less). That is 1200 hours of work. I have a full time job, and I'm a dad, so that had to be done between life responsibilities. And that doesn't include the writing, editing, playtesting, research, and design. This project got to be a little ridiculous. I thought it was going to be a quick little OSR western. If I had been smart about it that is what Gunslinger would have been, but nope.

The book itself is clocking in at 134 pages. The kickstarter version is a little longer because it includes a prelude chapter to the Princess of the Red Planet adventure. By RPG standards 134 pages isn't huge, but note that it is the cream of the research and playtest efforts. Not a lot of drivel in it, like most RPG's have.

In the end nobody cares how long something took to make. The product stands or falls on its own. All I can say is I did my best on it. This month, June, the book goes to press. Fin.



Full post and full rez art here.

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