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. 

Amazing Adventures Mars One Off - Tombs of Warfare Session Report

 So I got involved in a totally different end of a fellow DM's game specifically his Amazing Adventures/Victorius rpg Mars game. This is a vastly different Mars game then my own camopaign and uses many of the conventions from earlier eras of  original Dungeons & Dragons. We were adventurers in the employ of a black wizard who was seeking rare ingrediants for lichdom. And of course this was based on Lenard Lakofka's "Blueprint For a Lich" from the Best of The Dragon Volume II. 

So we ended up in the middle of a warzone looking for a tomb & my PC is a red fighting man wearing Panthan armor. And the first random roll on the encounter chart I get is a calot and being in middle of the warzone this is a war dog! Needless to say I got into the fight of my life because this thing is the equivelant to dire wolf. This thing isn't Woola from 'A Princess of Mars' by ERB! Instead this thing is a full on beast being controlled by a handler whose straight outta of Grey Elf's OD&D resources and Doc's Warriors of Mars miniature rules found here! 

Michael Whalen artwork used without permission

So while this thing is trying to eat my face off the rest of the guys are dealing with the calots and the army around them. Needless to say this was pretty intense. And we could be killed any moment. 
Right about then we were in the middle of the warzone. And almost made it too our flier to get back to our employer. This was not a dress rehersial but I'm trying to play catch up with an ongoing campaign. 

On a lucky roll our large block head of a hand to hand specialist rolls lucky and finds the tomb. And we all scrambeled in while taking incoming fire! Our mad scientist rolled dex checks & a fate point to shove the bullets out the door so we didn't have exploding radium shells when we left this place. This tomb stretched far into the Martian underworld as we adjusted the radium bulbs of the place. And this means a slog through a mega dungeon before reaching the tomb of the ancient white Martian vampire. 

OSR Thoughts on ' A Princess of Mars' By Edgar Rice Burroughs

 Edgar Rice Burroughs is a writer whose been with me as a kid since the day I was born. There wasn't a day that went by when his books weren't in my room. So I have no real idea when I read  'A Princess of Mars'. To say that Barsoom is an important fictional place within my younger years goes without saying. What is it that draws me back into Burroughs Mars?! The love story of John Carter, the alien vistas, the violence or the sword play, ERB's writing style or is something more?! 

What is it that draws me back across the dead sea bottoms or the mist haunted ruined palaces of the former rulers & kings. The fierce multi limbed Green Martains capableof violence that rivals their Red men counterparts. The Green Martians remain a favorite alien race; "The Green Martians are 15 feet tall, Burroughs wrote, adding from John Carter's observation of newly hatched children,

They seemed mostly head, with little scrawny bodies, long necks and six legs, or, as I afterward learned, two legs and two arms, with an intermediary pair of limbs which could be used at will either as arms or legs. Their eyes were set at the extreme sides of their heads a trifle above the center and protruded in such a manner that they could be directed either forward or back and also independently of each other, thus permitting this queer animal to look in any direction, or in two directions at once, without the necessity of turning the head.

The ears, which were slightly above the eyes and closer together, were small, cup-shaped antennae, protruding not more than an inch on these young specimens. Their noses were but longitudinal slits in the center of their faces, midway between their mouths and ears.

There was no hair on their bodies, which were of a very light yellowish-green color....

They are nomadic, warlike, and barbaric; do not form families; have discarded concepts of friendship and affection (presumably in the name of survival); and enjoy torture. Their social structure is communal and rigidly hierarchical, with various levels of chiefs. The highest rank is the all-powerful Jeddak, who reaches this position through combat. They are tribal, and war among one another."

So what is it that makes me once again fall back to the works of ERB?! The fact that even though I know each & every chapter of 'A Princess of Mars', the ancient world of Barsoom is like coming home to a corner of my imagination that I know so well. ERB wrote for the common man & his works are entertainment for the common folks. And it's this point where I think that like Gary Gygax & David Lance Arneson's rpg creation that there's originality within Edgar Rice Burroughs's works &   creations. Originality that draws me back again to Burroughs Mars again & again.