Back to Barsoom

**FenrisUlf** · Nov 22nd, '03, 10:41 AM

Hi all,

Noticing that the SFBC is going to reprint most of Burrough's John Carter/Barsoom novles got me to wondering.

Now, swords and planet is listed in Star Hero as an SF genre, but how many people see it that way? I've usually heard it described as (and thought of it as) a sub-genre of fantasy, except that you have ray-guns and aliens.

And how many people here would ever do a sword & planet setting?

***Hermit*** · Nov 22nd, '03, 11:45 AM

I would, though there would need to be explainations for me on why the swords were still in vogue.

Ideas that come to mind:
1) It's heritage, a symbol of social status.
2) Laws make using more advanced weaponry difficult or impossible, but more primitive weapons are permitted, and thus everyone carries one.
3) The planet's magnosphere creates interference that makes certain energy and chemical reactions uncertain, making such things as swords the only things you could really count on.

**McCoy** · Nov 22nd, '03, 11:58 AM

Originally posted by Hermit
I would, though there would need to be explainations for me on why the swords were still in vogue.

On Barsoom, it was a Code of Honor. Weapons were ranked (IIRC)

Bare Hands
Short Sword
Long Sword
Radium Pistol
Radium Rifle

When attacked, one could honorably respond with an equal or lesser weapon.

***Steve Long*** · Nov 22nd, '03, 02:01 PM

I think a Planetary Romance setting could be scads o' fun.

For an excellent example, check out Iron Lords Of Jupiter in some recent issues of Polyhedron Magazine. It's d20, but don't let that stop you; it's brilliant.

**Space Cadet** · Nov 22nd, '03, 08:31 PM

Marvel ran a "Barsoom"-type storyline back in the early 80s with
their Star Wars comic, IIRC. The story had Leia being
stranded on a world inhabited by two different humanoid races,
with all of the "Barsoomian" trappings -- swords, rayguns and
flying sleds.

Space Cadet

**NuSoardGraphite** · Nov 22nd, '03, 08:38 PM

I would consider Planetary Romance adventures to be a cross-genre story incoporating elements of both Science Fiction and Fantasy.

I would very much love to re-read the books again, but haven't seen them in ages.

I'm also looking for Lensman but with little luck. I'd even heard they had re-released them a few years back after being off the market for quite a while (supposedly due to the release of the unauthorized anime version of Lensman)

**keithcurtis** · Nov 22nd, '03, 11:01 PM

Originally posted by NuSoardGraphite
I would very much love to re-read the books again, but haven't seen them in ages.

I recently re-read the first three novels. I loved them and still find them great fun. However, I have noticed something as an adult that escaped me as a child. John Carter has superhuman stats in all characteristics save intelligence. He was dumb as a brick. Totally clueless. Either he had negative Int, or a Physical Limitation: Cannot see the completely obvious (All the time, Totally)

Sigh... I'd love to play a Barsoom game.

Keith "A mass of conflicting impulses" Curtis

**Lord Liaden** · Nov 22nd, '03, 11:19 PM

IIRC John Carter was completely clueless as far as women's feelings were concerned - in most other areas he seemed to be quite bright. Probably worth a Psych Lim: "Gentleman from Virginia."

**keithcurtis** · Nov 22nd, '03, 11:38 PM

Nope, sorry.
He leaves an unhatched son on Barsoom. Comes back years later and is imprisoned with a youth of the appropriate age, who has light copper skin, can jump, has grey eyes and looks a lot like him and his wife. No idea who this kid is. Clueless.
I can't remember any more specifics, but do recall that he had a blind spot for more than women.
Of course, most of ERB's characters have no clue about women either.

Keith "Kaor!" Curtis

**McCoy** · Nov 23rd, '03, 05:32 AM

Originally posted by keithcurtis
I can't remember any more specifics, but do recall that he had a blind spot for more than women.

Didn't remember that a year on Barsoom is twice as long as an Earth year.

**Fuzzy Gnome** · Nov 23rd, '03, 06:01 AM

When a villain escaped through a hidden door, he just stood there with a dumbfounded look. Even the Three Stooges know to search for secret doors.
I think Carter eventually gave up and left...

**Lord Liaden** · Nov 23rd, '03, 08:28 AM

I think you're all being a little unfair to John Carter. How often have you realized that something is blindingly obvious after someone else pointed it out to you? Besides, Carter doesn't realize that he's in a novel and should be on the lookout for logical but highly improbable events.

Anyway, I don't think we should judge JC's intelligence by his creator's predilection for hackneyed plot devices.

**AnotherSkip** · Nov 23rd, '03, 02:05 PM

There are parts in the first 4 Tarzan books that i was SCREAMING at the blindness of the characters in looking at the obvious.

The best of an explanation I can come up with is
1. Language was a significant barrier
2. this was Waaaaaay before gaming ever existed

**FenrisUlf** · Nov 24th, '03, 08:37 AM

Originally posted by NuSoardGraphite I'm also looking for Lensman but with little luck. I'd even heard they had re-released them a few years back after being off the market for quite a while (supposedly due to the release of the unauthorized anime version of Lensman) [/B]

Well, the SFBC has reprinted both the Lensman and the Skylark series in big collected editions. About time, too. They're still available if you're interested.

And with John Carter -- I always got the idea that he wasn't dumb so much as intensely honorable; there were some things a gentleman simply did not notice, even if they were happening right under his nose.

On the other hand, in our modern day, attitudes like that do carry the stigma of low intelligence.

**McCoy** · Nov 24th, '03, 03:11 PM

Originally posted by FenrisUlf
Well, the SFBC has reprinted both the Lensman and the Skylark series in big collected editions. About time, too. They're still available if you're interested.

And with John Carter -- I always got the idea that he wasn't dumb so much as intensely honorable; there were some things a gentleman simply did not notice, even if they were happening right under his nose.

On the other hand, in our modern day, attitudes like that do carry the stigma of low intelligence.

But to get the length of the year wrong?

Remember, he had lived on Barsoom several years, had a child in the incubator long enough that it was ready to hatch, then returned to Earth for an approximently equal time. Circumstance was that his wife was to be executed in a year. Carter put together a massive raid to break the power of the White Martians (Therns?). Politics and logistics caused delays. When 365 days had passed, Carter started to privately morn Dejah Thoris, thinking the one year deadline had passed. Suffered for weeks before someone mentioned that a Barsoomian year was over 700 days long. Might be understandable if this was in the first book, when he was new on the planet. But this was the second book, after he had lived on Barsoom for more than 10 Earth years.