‘Mars’ For The Savage Worlds RPG From Adamant Entertainment

I’ve been waiting for this to come out for Savage Worlds, and as I’m not a fan of d20, this is great news. Releasing March 9th, exclusively through Adamant’s website, with distribution to game stores later this year.

Welcome to Mars!

Not Mars as it is - airless, most likely lifeless, with only the faintest hints of what might have once been a damp, if not necessarily lush and living, world billions of years in the past. No, this is Mars as it should be and as it was once imagined to be - an ancient, dying, but not yet dead world, a world where a vast canal network reaches from pole to pole, bringing water and life to vast and fantastic cities.

A Mars where albino apes run a vast empire in the last surviving jungle, a world where warrior tribes of Green Martians raid the outlying cities of the canal dwellers, a world where, in places dark and quiet and forgotten beneath the surface, ancient and terrible intellects plan dark and dire deeds.

It is a Mars of sky-corsairs, of duels with blade and blaster, of vile plots, fantastic inventions, daring rescues, arena battles, and spectacular stunts. It is a Mars where ancient cities can be discovered and their lost treasures plundered, a Mars where a trek across the dry sea bottoms can yield amazing discoveries, where terrible monsters roam the rocky wastes.

It is the Mars of pulp fiction and Saturday morning serials.

It is now yours.

The Sword-and-Planet genre comes to Savage Worlds! Adamant Entertainment will be releasing our setting of action, intrigue and adventure beneath the Moons of Mars — previously only available for d20 — in a brand-new edition for Savage Worlds.

Book Review - City Of The Beast by Michael Moorcock

Nathan Brazil over at sfsite.com has a review of a favorite book of mine:  City Of The Beast by Michael Moorcock.  Along with Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars, Lin Carter’s Jandar Of Callisto, Moorcock brings his own magic to the genre that captured me when I was younger…

“I heard the beast thundering on behind me, giving out a strange mooing sound, and increased my pace as best I could. I found I could run very easily indeed and seemed to be lighter than normal”

City of the Beast is the first novel in a trilogy, featuring an incarnation of Moorcock’s Eternal Champion, called Michael Kane. Not to be confused with the celebrated British actor of a similar name. This Kane is an City of the Beast all-American hero, whose life and times deliberately imitate Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars. For readers who have not encountered Burroughs Martian series, the name of the game is pure escapism. Those who prefer a high degree of scientific accuracy in their fiction will be disappointed. But, if your main priority is what used to be called a “rip-roaring adventure” then City of the Beast may be just the one for the job.

Kane is a manifestation of Moorcock’s Eternal Champion, but it is not necessary to know anything about this many-faced character, or the author’s other works, in order to enjoy this story. The Mars that is presented is improbable, to say the least, but quite charming in the quaint way that SF stories were, before images from NASA space probes shattered all the illusions. Originally published in 1965 as Warriors of Mars under the nom-de-plume Edward Powys Bradbury, the story details Kane’s first sojourn on Mars, after an experiment in teleportation accidentally sends him to the red planet. True to its source of inspiration, the tale is narrated as fiction by Bradbury, who meets Kane in France, and records his fabulous adventures for posterity. We learn that Mars is called Vashu by its humanoid inhabitants, and shortly after his arrival, Kane falls in love with the beautiful Shizala, princess of the city of Varnal. Naturally attracted to the Earthman, Shizala cannot reciprocate, due to her betrothal to the shifty prince of Mishim Tep. Before this can deteriorate into the Mills & Boon of space, Varnal is attacked by the Argzoon, a race of hulk-like blue-skinned giants. It is at this point that Kane’s fencing skills and general macho credentials come in handy. Predictably, the lovely Shizala is kidnapped, forcing Kane to embark upon a swashbuckling quest across Mars to rescue her from their filthy clutches. What follows is a fast paced romp, encompassing the familiar formula of chase, battle and evasion. There are underground cities, evil beasties, and pretty much every ingredient you’d expect in a classic pulp novel.

Moorcock’s own style, when this book was written, was ideally suited to this work. What he was trying to do, was emulate the seminal magic of those who had inspired him, in a fashion that was affectionate, and something of tribute. At the time, Moorcock was a one man ideas factory, churning out stories at an incredible rate. City of the Beast was probably written in no more than two days. Moorcock recalls that the entire trilogy, took no more than a week. While this technique does not allow for scientific credibility, or in-depth characterisation, it is a whole lot of fun. There is a sugar rush of energy here, which carries along readers willing to forgive what the work lacks. If I have one criticism, it would be that this book cannot rise above the quality of a shadow. Kane is not Carter, Shizala is not Deja Thoris, and Vashu is not Barsoom. City of the Beast and its sequels are without a doubt entertaining, but the real thing is still preferable, and available.

Soft Cover - 157 pages

Source: sfsite.com Read more