BRP Interplanetary

[Jason Durall]

Originally Posted by Agentorange

Jason,

Firstly:sounds great ! consider one extra copy sold

next, have you read any Stanley Weinbaum ? he was a pulp writer in the 30's who sadly died very young from throat cancer...he'd only been writing about 2years. Anyway his most famous story is 'A Martian Odyssey' What makes him stand out in my opinion is his aliens, they do things for alien reasons, and aren't just humans with extra tentacles etc. Also he seemed to have a love of trying to imagine weird ecologies. In fairness I should point out that his work leans more to science fiction than planetary romance, but his name sprang immediately to mind when I saw the thread title. Highly recommended to anybody who wants to read intelligent evocative science fiction from the early days of the genre.

I'm casually familiar with his work, and it's not really planetary romance. In fact, I'd agree with you that it is pretty much straight-out sci-fi.

[Enpeze]

Originally Posted by Kloster

"Savior of the universe"


Ah, Ornella Mutti, Max von Sidow, gosh we're old!!!


Runequestement votre,

Kloster

I was always wondering why Flash preferred this blond cheerleader girl and not the sex godess Ornella.

Originally Posted by Jason Durall

None of the above.

It's pulpy, heroic adventures on alien worlds within our solar system, most of which are filled with ancient ruins or primitive societies. Very little of the game is set in space or concerning space combat.

Think "sword and planet" rather than rayguns and Martian invaders.

Hmm ... now, to my mind, the old Flash Gordon serials fall across this line - rayguns and invaders from Mongo, but also primitive alien societies and fallen civilisations.

Anyway, I hope that the spaceships, prominent or not, at least look like those in the 1930's serials.

[Enpeze]

Originally Posted by the Bromgrev

Hmm ... now, to my mind, the old Flash Gordon serials fall across this line - rayguns and invaders from Mongo, but also primitive alien societies and fallen civilisations.

Anyway, I hope that the spaceships, prominent or not, at least look like those in the 1930's serials.

I have a soft spot for this old 30er series. Each time I make a video evening with friends, watching one or two episodes of Flash between the real movies is mandatory. Buster Crabbe in his short panties rulez.

[Shaira]

Hi Jason, hi all,

This sounds great - I've always been a huge fan of ERB's Barsoom stuff, it'll be cool to see finally a game dealing with it on a grand scale!

Couple of questions. Do you plan on addressing pre-existing stuff such as Space 1889 in any way? I believe Frank Chadwick still owns the property, but there is still a very sizable fan community out there (out here?) which would probably be quite excited to hear about any possible "Victorian" slant to the Interplanetary sourcebook. I always thought Space 1889 Mars was very, very groovy, as was their version of the Moon, but Venus and Mercury were a bit lacklustre for me - the ERB fan showing through!

Second - I don't know how famous this guy is (ie mega or just incredibly ;-) ), but are you looking at any Olaf Stapledon stuff for inspiration? "Last and First Men" and "Star Maker" are 1930's golden age stuff, but with some incredible ideas. They're certainly not planetary romance (in fact, they're hardly fiction at all in the traditional sense), but they're busting with mindblowing concepts ripe for plundering.

Just a few thoughts! Clock up another copy sold there!

[Enpeze]

Space 1889 would be great setting. But one thing I didnt like has been the adventures which I considered a little bit premature and childish. (at least those I read)

I would rather preferred to have adventures which involved the spirit and complex moral implications of the victorian society than another "kill a mad scientist and his giant steam machines" ala "wild wild west". (the cheesy movie with w. smith)

[Shaira]

To be honest I've nothing against killing the mad scientist and his evil steam machines, but my problem with Space 1889 scenarios were that they were so linear - terribly so, IMHO. The background was great, although a few clarifications would have been nice (ie what do Martians actually look like - there appeared to be several different versions of each type of Martian, depending on artist), but it was the railroading of the scenarios that meant you basically couldn't run them as written, but rather you had to strip-mine them for sourcebook ideas. No bad thing, I guess most of us do that.

But, yeah - something dealing with the Victorian aspect of the setting would have been great - you're right, the printed scenarios were rather... um... basic...

Of course, with Interplanetary, I'm expecting to have to traipse half way across the red planet with my trusty sidekick umpteen-legged space dog and unfeasibly long range kill pistol to rescue the hapless but well endowed maiden from the clutches of the Mad Evil Brain-Extracting Scientist any number of times...

Or was that the other way round?

[Jason Durall]

Just to be clear, this is the planetary romance genre (also known as sword-and-planet).

Planetary romance, by almost every definition, doesn't include stuff like Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, or Space 1889.

Differences are that usually in planetary romance:

- the voyage to the other planets is usually of little importance or significance
- very little attention is paid to the scientific plausibility of the setting
- the emphasis is on swashbuckling adventure and high melodrama
- the protagonist(s) usually have no choice but to go native
- often, the protagonist(s) become more at home in the alien environment than on Earth

There's no reason GMs and players can't add those elements into the book I'm writing, or emphasize the aspects that are there, but I want to be clear on what I'm writing to prevent people from thinking it'll be something else.

More loincloths and jeweled battle-harnesses than redcoats and Sharps rifles... if that makes sense.

[badcat]

Oh, yeah. Now you have my attention.

Leigh Brackett, Otis Adelbert Kline, Robert E. Howard as well as ERB...I'd buy that in BRP, oh yes indeed...

[Nightshade]

Yeah, in a planetary romance all the space travel method is is a way to get them into the situation; its often not even available any more once they're there (though sometimes getting back to it is the point in the story).