As to propellors versus other means, one thing that I like about Barsoom is that their technological development doesn’t exactly mirror ours. They have swords but also projectile rifles, plus light bulbs that last a thousand years, plus ships that fly but are driven by propeller blades, and so on. Not our tech, but a bizarre blend of new and old. I happen to like the tech shown in the Gino d’Achille book covers (particularly the way he did the airships) but Michael Whelan captured the feel of Mars most for me and I can’t recall seeing a Whelan airship anywhere.
As to the movie, I saw it roughly a dozen times in the theater and bought the DVD the day it came out. I wish they had made many more.
I was pretty fond of the airships from the movie too, but there is one problem with them.
The fins and the wavy things seemed to prevent any type of boarding actions or the ships getting very close to each other. The only person who boards the airship is Carter, and that’s because he’s bouncing and jumping all the way.
As usual, I preface my remarks with an acknowledgement of the polarization the movie engenders and a reminder that I am a firm believer in: YBMV.
You’re right, JohnK. Narrators may find it problematic to include boarding actions reminiscent of Napoleonic style naval warfare while using movie-look airships as apposed to canon vessels. My solution might be to take a hint from the movie’s air-combat wherein a Helium vessel descends over a Zodangan airship after which the Helium marines jump to the disabled Zodangan decks just below. In some ways this acknowledges that unlike 180 degree, flat-plane Nepoleonic battles, Barsoomian naval engagements are more like true air combat and fought in a 360 degree environment.
I also think of Classical era naval combat between ancient galleys might hold a key which may be more appropriate for movie-model airships wherein shearing solar panels/oars and ramming were possible tactics. This would require a mechanism for withdrawing or raising panels somehow, just as oars were raised in ancient times, until the shearing was accomplished or ships with very strong ram prows/beaks.
In the end, for those with flexible imaginations, even if boarding actions are realistically problematic with movie style ships as part of the game, it wouldn’t take much for some narrator-hand-wavium to make it possible: “Captain, roll your cunning and daring for your crew with a difficulty number of 3 to direct the grapnels to land and bite the crippled vessel and assure that your crew can draw the enemy ship in tight!” and no mention made of panels or pesky details to interfere with the Errol Flynn-like fun.
Thanks for the map links! I would love to pick up one of the Pi coins at some point. I was hoping to find something similar in bulk to use as momentum coins.
You don’t have to pull alongside to board. In fact, doing so is almost stupid, as it’s inviting a counterboarding. You drop down from above on ropes. Sure, you can’t retreat… but they’re not going to counterboard without maneuvering.
Oh, and I don’t mind the movie look… except that Deja was clothed…
I actually agree with you, Rcautela, even if my earlier posts may seen otherwise. The airships from the movie were cool, but just not the way I had imagined them for decades. It certainly makes sense that the design would NOT look like a Earthling water-ship, only in the air, and the movie does break that preconceived idea and makes them alien enough to be Barsoom instead of Earth in origin. I just didn’t see them that way in my mind, and that makes it hard to readjust.
You both make great points. Yes the idea of future technology that ERB envisioned in the 1910’s falls short of what we know now. In a realistic setting you are correct.
There are lots of other scifi RPG’s that can do that. But I am not interested in a realistic scifi setting. I am interested in playing a game set in ERB’s Barsoom. So for me the ships need to follow the descriptions in the books.
“Then I turned my eyes once more toward the flier. She was moving rapidly toward the city, and when she had come close enough I was surprised to see that her propellers were idle.
Straight for that grim shaft she bore. At the last minute I saw the great blades
move to reverse her, yet on she came as though drawn by some mighty, irresistible power.”
-snip-
“Instantly a hundred tiny fliers rose from her deck, like a swarm of huge dragon flies; but scarcely were they clear of the battleship than the nose of each turned toward the shaft, and they, too, rushed on at frightful speed toward the same now seemingly inevitable end that menaced the larger vessel.”
I love those passages too and totally get it. I’ll probably end up leaning more toward the books than the film on most points, but I’m glad the game seems robust enough to support both perspectives. The core book certainly follows ERB’s ideas on pages 78 and 79 even if its art blurs the lines a bit.
Wishing you and your players many hours of fun as they explore Barsoom in those amazing ships!
I’m thinking that my campaign will probably follow a philosophy more like the books, but a visual nature more like whatever artwork I can find. That way players can “see” what I want them to see. The movie is certainly visual, and would be a great way to bring in pictures. Not sure which way I like best, the more I think about it.
When it comes right down to it, I will probably use a heavily influenced books version of the fliers, but with a look based also on whatever artwork is in the book material and on-line resources we can find. (Damn, but I wish Colin Chapman were around here, as he used to do marvelous artwork based posts for various rpgs that he was involved/interested in!)
Not sure if it was better to add to this thread or start a new one, but I noticed on the Modiphius store page they are selling the PDFs of the two tiles sets but not physical tile sets. Anyone know if the actual tile sets will be for sale soon?
Good to know. I’d like to make an order, but am waiting until I get several items in order to get them shipped together rather than buying them one at a time. Hopefully they will be on sale soon.
One of the things that would affect Barsoomian air war doctrine is the speed of airships, both large and small. Between the time of A Chessman of Mars and A Fighting Man of Mars (1898-1928), aerial speed increased dramatically, with scout fliers going from a speed of 166 mi/h (17 miles faster than the fastest of the late Great War biplanes), to between 300 and 449.8 mi/h (World War 2 fighter speeds). Battleships are also hellaciously fast, with a sustained cruising speed of 86 knots (100 mi/h) for non Heliumite ships without the advantage of Heliumite motor technology. Compare this to the 50-60 knot (57-69 mi/h) top speed of modern, purpose-built, situational fast-attack and insertion ships used by Jasoomian navies.
The sheer weapons range, number and toughness of Barsoomian airships in a single engagement would also affect the way air combat works. With ranges in the order of 200+ mi for the rifles, autoguns and cannons used on fighting airships, boarding would take place only after the days long, running fleet battle allowed the fleets to kill enough ships and fliers (100,000 1 person scouts 10,000 5 person scouts, 5,000 10 person cruisers, all contained in 1000 battleships. 116,000 ships and 200,000+ soldiers for any fleet worth the name) for closing enough that the enemy could be seen unaided to be tactically feasible.
Basically, any boarding would only happen after days of combat and over a mountain of wreckage and dead soldiers spread across hundreds if not thousands of miles.
Edit:
Also, they apparently have what amounts to Radar on both an individual and ship level. Barsoomian technology and extrapolated doctrine is truly a fascinating case of speculative fiction for a pulp series started before the Great War.
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