OSR Commentary On Edgar Rice Burroughs's 'A Princess of Mars'

 "“As I gazed upon it I felt a spell of overwhelming fascination—it was Mars, the god of war, and for me, the fighting man, it had always held the power of irresistible enchantment. As I gazed at it on that far-gone night it seemed to call across the unthinkable void…" 
Edgar Rice Burroughs A Princess of Mars 
These words and the Michael Whelan cover set the stage for my own adventures on Edgar Rice Burrough's Barsoom along with John Carter. The year was 1986 and I was in a bookshop in my home town. It was June and we were wrapping up the last leg of an epic AD&D campaign. Now only recently I had reread A Princess of Mars. 

Burroughs did a ton of world builting through the eyes of Captain John Carter. Barsoom seemed to take on a life of it's own. And the novel set my own mind on fire. Barsoom was viberant and very much alive in a sense. Not that it was a real place or anything insane. But it Barsoom breathed from it's canals to the moss covered dead sea bottoms. 
And it's Green Martians seemed very alien indeed. Thier culture, beliefs, etc. seemed to be cut from a different cloth. There was good and evil on Barsoom but also shades of grey. Not as many as real life to be sure. But for a kid Barsoom seemed real enough. And how I wanted an Rpg. And fortunately I was able to use quite a few from Spelljammer to Warriors of the Red Planet. We had run quite a few campaigns on Mars. And I continue to do so to this day. There's something that keeps calling me back to the red planet. There's still a dozen and one adventures on Mars. Every hidden valley and acient ruin seems to have adventure around the corner. And in part I think it has to do with Edgar Rice Burroughs writing. Burroughs wrote to entertain and not to inform per say. His was the writing of the everyman and adventure was ERB's fare. 
'A Princess of Mars' is a book that has all of the best elements of a Pulp adventure. From cliff hanger chapter endings to full on sword battles to war scenes. And it's those memories of the first time reading ERB that keeps me as a reader coming back. 
'A Princess of Mars' as adventure influence can't be understated. I could watch the hours get sucked away as I contemplated the idea of a six limbed White Ape living in a dead sea bottom deserted city. What were the apes eating and how could I sick these White Apes onto my player's PC's?! And then there's the Green Martian hordes that moved endlessly on caravan routes. These savage monters were one of the threats that kept player's PC's outta of the deserted ancient cities. 
And then we walked the streets of greater and lesser Helium dealing with the back alley's intrigue & dangers. It' the lesser city states that adventurers have to watch out for. Adventurers on Barsoom are definitely of the 'dungeon crawl' variety except we didn't know about this in the intial book.