Thank you! excellent review as always. The Barsoom series of novels and the setting are amazing! considering the time period they were written truly light years ahead of their time. Most everything that came after borrowed from or was heavily inspired by the concepts found in the novels! And finally we now have a table top rpg faithful to the source material thank you Modiphius.
Your reviews are amazingly put together, I love how you narrate with clarity and objectivity, plus the images you show through it. Big BIG fan of your videos !
Great video, Dave. As to the John Carter books, people tend to equate that type of story with space operas, like the Traveller RPG for instance, but in fact it's a distinct sci-fi subgenre called sword & planet (derived from the term 'sword & sorcery'). It's more or less Conan in space.
just a clarification to avoid misinterpretations: John Carter precedes Conan, or any of Howard's works. So although the label 'sword & planet' might've been applied later, the genre itself comes before the 'sword & sorcery' official genre (it can be argued that historical legends like King Arthur where 'S&S' already).
Kaor!!! I only recently by serendipity discovered this existed! Lol, I grew up, in of all places, Tarzana CA and the Barsoom novels helped save my teenaged sanity in the 70's when being geek was sooo not chic and you got bullied for it. I'll be rereading (again) my collection of his novels before diving into these, but I know I may be left with the struggle of what to do with my other RPG's cus I may end up living on Barsoom now, lol.
I thought that movie was much better than it's performance at the box office would indicate. I wanted to ask, having reviewed several 2D20 games now, have you considered a review of the system in general, and the strengths and weaknesses the products from Modifius as a publisher seems to have generally? I feel like you must a have a lot of accumulated knowledge on several different RPG systems, and it would be great to hear your insights.
That’s an interesting idea. I’ve never reviewed a system by itself before. I would need to make sure I was deeply experienced in it before doing something like that. Good idea, though!
The movie as a stand alone piece of entertainment would have been fine had they not pretended it was based on the Barsoom novels. As it was, it was the typical Hollywood butchery whereby a movie script writer unknown outside of the LA basin decides in his astonishing hubris and arrogance that he can "improve" on a story that has sold tens of millions of copies and been continuously in print for 100 years+.
@@maxkronader5225 The job is "screen writer", most of them live in LA because that's one of like 3 places in the USA you can get a job as a screen writer, and I don't think it's "hubris" to need adaptation from century old book to modern movie script. If you didn't like the movie or the script, that's fine, but you seem to have a lot of anger at the film industry for making changes to the source material that's coming out in was which I don't see as fair to the people whose job it was to do.
@@samchafin4623 You can defend painting funny glasses and a moustache on a Botticelli Madonna by calling it an "adaptation" if you like; I prefer to leave it in the form that made it famous and admired.
@@maxkronader5225 You do understand that adapting a piece of art from one medium into another is fundamentally different from just altering a piece of art, right? Like, how turning the painting into a sculpture is completely different from just changing the painting. Your opinion is valid; your metaphor isn't.
Very well done video, very comprehensive, clear and it's obvious you've really put work into this. Can I make one small suggestion, though? Even though you narrate this well, it also seems just a little bit stilted, like you're reading from a script. Please don't take this critique as a flame... I just think that if you could work on making the narration a bit more natural, it would really enhance an already well done video. Thanks!
Love the videos! Have you thought of doing a Conan 2d20 review? I have had the core for awhile and just started to read it and also to read REH...and I don’t know how I have waited this long to do so. I am genuinely excited to try the RPG.
Looks great, but I have one question. I don't recall from the books that women in general were warriors; but there are lots of illustrations of women with swords, etc, in the RPG. Am I remembering the books wrong, or is this just another sjw retcon?
Martian women were pretty much all armed and knew how to fight. It's mentioned how green Martian women made up the reserves and were trained to fight from childhood like the men. Most red Martian royalty and nobility that I remember also knew how to fight and were armed. A big theme of the novels is how mars is a dying and warlike world and I always saw the fact that everyone and their granny had weapons and some training as part of that theme. So yeah the illustrations certainly make sense and are very true to the books when it comes to women being armed. The only inaccurate thing is that people are wearing clothing and there's a distinct lack of jewelry and ornamentation in some of the images.
@@Alexander-tu3iv Can you cite any section from any of Burrough's books that had a woman engage in combat with a sword? Not counting green Martians. It's been a few years since I read them, but I don't remember Dejah Thoris chopping off anyone's head with a longsword, or Thuvia blasting away with a radium rifle. I can recall once where a red martian woman was asked to hold a pistol on a prisoner, I think, and was barely able to do so; but she was depicted as being a disappointment, so she doesn't count for anything. I can recall Dejah Thoris being captured by Tharks in the first book, and I don't think she tried to fight back; only her male escorts did so, and were slaughtered as a result. So I'm curious where you saw that the Red Martian women were armed (beyond small daggers concealed on their person kind of thing). I suppose it's necessary in the RPG to diverge from Burroughs if they want to attract female players, but I don't think it's accurate.
@@davidfinch7407 Tavia in a fighting man of Mars and Llana in Llana of Gathol. Both had fighting scenes also Llana's mother Tara shanks an attempted rapist, I believe in chessmen of Mars.
@@Alexander-tu3iv Thank you, I'll look into it. Not sure Tara counts, since the "hidden dagger" motiff was always kind of a last gap defense of a woman's virtue, which is not the same thing as being a warrior. It's like calling a wild west gal a "gunslinger" because she has a two-shot derringer hidden in her skirts. As for Tavia, you are 100% correct; but wikipedia calls her an "atypical" heroine because she was competent with weapons, which kind of shows that most Red Martian women were not warriors. As for Llana, I couldn't find any scenes where she was fighting, but you may be right. Still, wiki calls her a typical "damsel-in-distress" so she doesn't sound like a front line fighter. Overall, I think the woman warrior art work in the game is more an attempt to make the modern RPG palatable to modern audiences then a faithful recreation of ERB's world.
@@davidfinch7407 There's only one place I recall female warriors, although we don't see them fight: Jahar, in 'A Fighting Man of Mars'. The ruler had amassed a huge harem and didn't want other men guarding them, but--presumably because Barsoom has no tradition of huge harems or eunuchs--he trained women to act as warriors in his palace. Short hair, painted faces, etc. That was where Tavia grew up, and probably why she was taught to fight. There were also Jaharian female courtiers of 'good-looking if masculine' appearance who served as bodyguards. The narrator, a red Martian himself, comments that they look quite capable. Jahar might be a good origin story for anyone wanting to play a Martian female fighter while keeping to ERB's background as closely as possible. The situation there lasted about two centuries before it all went kaput in 'Fighting Man of Mars', so you could have a fighting woman of Jahar in any of the game's time periods. Tavia escaped the palace; others could have done the same. It could be especially interesting if the game is set after the fall of Jahar. There would presumably have been a lot of refugees fleeing the turmoil and scattering all over Barsoom. Some former soldiers from the palace might have become panthans (mercenaries). They might not be taken seriously elsewhere on Barsoom where women don't fight, but that just means their enemies will underestimate them... The other option for strictly ERB-flavoured female fighters is to play an Earthborn woman. If there's anywhere a human female could routinely outclass males in combat, the way they do in modern movies, it's Barsoom. They'd still need training, of course, but super-strength and agility thanks to low gravity would apply to both sexes. (It's a shame ERB seems to have forgotten that Tara of Helium should have been able to leap around like her brother.) As a bonus, because of her 'superpowers' on Barsoom, an Earthborn woman wouldn't need worry too much about the omnipresent danger of a Fate Worse Than Death that always imperils ERB's heroines (should your games dare to go near that subject). She'd probably be safer than on Earth in that respect. One good punch would knock the creep off the airship. In general, I agree that the RPG is trying to appeal to modern players. Seems fair enough for a game to do that, but I can see why some would be annoyed that it deviates from the original. The Disney movie also portrayed Dejah as a trained fighter, so some people probably have that image in their heads now when they think of her. Incidentally, that background picture at 6:15 or so (with a yellow Martian woman stabbing a red Martian woman) seems a bit tasteless and un-Barsoomian to me. But then I remember Phaidor...
Thank you! excellent review as always. The Barsoom series of novels and the setting are amazing! considering the time period they were written truly light years ahead of their time. Most everything that came after borrowed from or was heavily inspired by the concepts found in the novels! And finally we now have a table top rpg faithful to the source material thank you Modiphius.
Your reviews are amazingly put together, I love how you narrate with clarity and objectivity, plus the images you show through it. Big BIG fan of your videos !
Thank you!
Great video, Dave. As to the John Carter books, people tend to equate that type of story with space operas, like the Traveller RPG for instance, but in fact it's a distinct sci-fi subgenre called sword & planet (derived from the term 'sword & sorcery'). It's more or less Conan in space.
just a clarification to avoid misinterpretations: John Carter precedes Conan, or any of Howard's works. So although the label 'sword & planet' might've been applied later, the genre itself comes before the 'sword & sorcery' official genre (it can be argued that historical legends like King Arthur where 'S&S' already).
@@Yarblocosifilitico Yup, ERB basically created this genre and Praise the PtB that he did!
Kaor!!! I only recently by serendipity discovered this existed! Lol, I grew up, in of all places, Tarzana CA and the Barsoom novels helped save my teenaged sanity in the 70's when being geek was sooo not chic and you got bullied for it. I'll be rereading (again) my collection of his novels before diving into these, but I know I may be left with the struggle of what to do with my other RPG's cus I may end up living on Barsoom now, lol.
I always wondered what would happen to a kid who grew up in a place called Tarzana. And now I know!
@@DaveThaumavore LOL!
I thought that movie was much better than it's performance at the box office would indicate.
I wanted to ask, having reviewed several 2D20 games now, have you considered a review of the system in general, and the strengths and weaknesses the products from Modifius as a publisher seems to have generally? I feel like you must a have a lot of accumulated knowledge on several different RPG systems, and it would be great to hear your insights.
That’s an interesting idea. I’ve never reviewed a system by itself before. I would need to make sure I was deeply experienced in it before doing something like that. Good idea, though!
The movie as a stand alone piece of entertainment would have been fine had they not pretended it was based on the Barsoom novels.
As it was, it was the typical Hollywood butchery whereby a movie script writer unknown outside of the LA basin decides in his astonishing hubris and arrogance that he can "improve" on a story that has sold tens of millions of copies and been continuously in print for 100 years+.
@@maxkronader5225 The job is "screen writer", most of them live in LA because that's one of like 3 places in the USA you can get a job as a screen writer, and I don't think it's "hubris" to need adaptation from century old book to modern movie script. If you didn't like the movie or the script, that's fine, but you seem to have a lot of anger at the film industry for making changes to the source material that's coming out in was which I don't see as fair to the people whose job it was to do.
@@samchafin4623 You can defend painting funny glasses and a moustache on a Botticelli Madonna by calling it an "adaptation" if you like; I prefer to leave it in the form that made it famous and admired.
@@maxkronader5225 You do understand that adapting a piece of art from one medium into another is fundamentally different from just altering a piece of art, right? Like, how turning the painting into a sculpture is completely different from just changing the painting. Your opinion is valid; your metaphor isn't.
Been really wanting to run a John Carter of Mars game for awhile especially now since I have gotten everything for the game. Thank you for the review.
Very well done video, very comprehensive, clear and it's obvious you've really put work into this. Can I make one small suggestion, though? Even though you narrate this well, it also seems just a little bit stilted, like you're reading from a script. Please don't take this critique as a flame... I just think that if you could work on making the narration a bit more natural, it would really enhance an already well done video. Thanks!
Excellent video!
Love the videos! Have you thought of doing a Conan 2d20 review? I have had the core for awhile and just started to read it and also to read REH...and I don’t know how I have waited this long to do so. I am genuinely excited to try the RPG.
I haven’t really been tempted. I’m about to start reading Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea, which is a non-Modiphius Conan megabook.
Thanks for the JCOM content
This sounds so fun.
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Looks great, but I have one question. I don't recall from the books that women in general were warriors; but there are lots of illustrations of women with swords, etc, in the RPG. Am I remembering the books wrong, or is this just another sjw retcon?
Martian women were pretty much all armed and knew how to fight. It's mentioned how green Martian women made up the reserves and were trained to fight from childhood like the men. Most red Martian royalty and nobility that I remember also knew how to fight and were armed.
A big theme of the novels is how mars is a dying and warlike world and I always saw the fact that everyone and their granny had weapons and some training as part of that theme. So yeah the illustrations certainly make sense and are very true to the books when it comes to women being armed. The only inaccurate thing is that people are wearing clothing and there's a distinct lack of jewelry and ornamentation in some of the images.
@@Alexander-tu3iv Can you cite any section from any of Burrough's books that had a woman engage in combat with a sword? Not counting green Martians. It's been a few years since I read them, but I don't remember Dejah Thoris chopping off anyone's head with a longsword, or Thuvia blasting away with a radium rifle. I can recall once where a red martian woman was asked to hold a pistol on a prisoner, I think, and was barely able to do so; but she was depicted as being a disappointment, so she doesn't count for anything. I can recall Dejah Thoris being captured by Tharks in the first book, and I don't think she tried to fight back; only her male escorts did so, and were slaughtered as a result. So I'm curious where you saw that the Red Martian women were armed (beyond small daggers concealed on their person kind of thing). I suppose it's necessary in the RPG to diverge from Burroughs if they want to attract female players, but I don't think it's accurate.
@@davidfinch7407 Tavia in a fighting man of Mars and Llana in Llana of Gathol. Both had fighting scenes also Llana's mother Tara shanks an attempted rapist, I believe in chessmen of Mars.
@@Alexander-tu3iv Thank you, I'll look into it. Not sure Tara counts, since the "hidden dagger" motiff was always kind of a last gap defense of a woman's virtue, which is not the same thing as being a warrior. It's like calling a wild west gal a "gunslinger" because she has a two-shot derringer hidden in her skirts. As for Tavia, you are 100% correct; but wikipedia calls her an "atypical" heroine because she was competent with weapons, which kind of shows that most Red Martian women were not warriors. As for Llana, I couldn't find any scenes where she was fighting, but you may be right. Still, wiki calls her a typical "damsel-in-distress" so she doesn't sound like a front line fighter. Overall, I think the woman warrior art work in the game is more an attempt to make the modern RPG palatable to modern audiences then a faithful recreation of ERB's world.
@@davidfinch7407 There's only one place I recall female warriors, although we don't see them fight: Jahar, in 'A Fighting Man of Mars'. The ruler had amassed a huge harem and didn't want other men guarding them, but--presumably because Barsoom has no tradition of huge harems or eunuchs--he trained women to act as warriors in his palace. Short hair, painted faces, etc. That was where Tavia grew up, and probably why she was taught to fight. There were also Jaharian female courtiers of 'good-looking if masculine' appearance who served as bodyguards. The narrator, a red Martian himself, comments that they look quite capable.
Jahar might be a good origin story for anyone wanting to play a Martian female fighter while keeping to ERB's background as closely as possible. The situation there lasted about two centuries before it all went kaput in 'Fighting Man of Mars', so you could have a fighting woman of Jahar in any of the game's time periods. Tavia escaped the palace; others could have done the same.
It could be especially interesting if the game is set after the fall of Jahar. There would presumably have been a lot of refugees fleeing the turmoil and scattering all over Barsoom. Some former soldiers from the palace might have become panthans (mercenaries). They might not be taken seriously elsewhere on Barsoom where women don't fight, but that just means their enemies will underestimate them...
The other option for strictly ERB-flavoured female fighters is to play an Earthborn woman. If there's anywhere a human female could routinely outclass males in combat, the way they do in modern movies, it's Barsoom. They'd still need training, of course, but super-strength and agility thanks to low gravity would apply to both sexes. (It's a shame ERB seems to have forgotten that Tara of Helium should have been able to leap around like her brother.)
As a bonus, because of her 'superpowers' on Barsoom, an Earthborn woman wouldn't need worry too much about the omnipresent danger of a Fate Worse Than Death that always imperils ERB's heroines (should your games dare to go near that subject). She'd probably be safer than on Earth in that respect. One good punch would knock the creep off the airship.
In general, I agree that the RPG is trying to appeal to modern players. Seems fair enough for a game to do that, but I can see why some would be annoyed that it deviates from the original. The Disney movie also portrayed Dejah as a trained fighter, so some people probably have that image in their heads now when they think of her.
Incidentally, that background picture at 6:15 or so (with a yellow Martian woman stabbing a red Martian woman) seems a bit tasteless and un-Barsoomian to me. But then I remember Phaidor...