SWORDS OF MARS: PICARESQUE ADVENTURES ON THE RED PLANET A D&D CAMPAIGN BY DOUG EASTERLY BASIC ASSUMPTIONS Swords of Mars is a D&D campaign of alien adventure in a retro-future version of Mars. This is still clearly more of a fantasy world than a science fiction world, but will freely freely dip into into the well well of Sci-Fi on on a regular basis. The The following following elements are essential to what I want to emphasize in the game: Sword and Planet The campaign is heavily influenced by Edgar Rice Burroughs' Mars novels and the Eric John Stark stories of Leigh Brackett. Other influences include Robert E. Howard's novel Almuric , and the many Burroughs influenced authors like Otis Edelbert Klein, Edward Akers, John Norman (without the creepy BDSM subtext), Lin Carter's Ganymede and Green Star series, and Charles Gramlich's “Talera” series.
The emphasis here is on adventure stories set on an alien world of generally low technology with some elements of science fiction. Ancient Martian ruins, decadent societies in decline, and strange lost technology will all feature prominently. Retro-Future Swords of Mars assumes that the beliefs of early to mid 20th century popular science and science fiction are more or less true. The planets of the solar system are often wildly off-base from reality. Scientific advances of futuristic Terrans look more like popular magazines from the mid century, and the fields of miniaturization, computing, and even social sciences do not resemble what we know today. Instead, much of the look and feel of society is based more on late colonial Europe than on contemporary understandings of sociology, political science, anthropology and economics. Picaresque The picaresque novel (from the Spanish picaro , rogue or scoundrel) is an often satirical genre of novel that depicts the adventures of a scoundrel of low social standing who lives by his wits in a corrupt society. Such novels are marked by the fact that the scoundrels seldom truly reform, that there is little plot – adventures are told in the form of a loose narrative of loosely connected episodes – and that the characters are outsiders living on the edges of the law and society's arbitrary rules as carefree rascals.
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THE SOLAR SYSTEM The campaign setting assumes that interplanetary travel exists, but that interstellar travel does not. The solar system is a populated system, with hints of ancient terraforming and seeding of humanity across at least three worlds in a distant past. A Brief History The people of Old Terra nearly destroyed themselves in war and economic ruin; but over time they rebuilt their world under the leadership of the Imperium, and then reached out into space. As they traveled, they found that humans were not alone in the system, encountering the human and non-human races of Venus, Mars, and the Jovian moons. Early encounters on Venus led to protracted war, but now the solar system is at peace. Terra grows fat on the resources of the solar system, and has begun looking for places to house its people, living in crowded cities across the globe. The 9 Planets & Asteroid Belt MERCURY is tidally locked to the sun, one side perpetually superheated, the ● other perpetually dark and cold. Life exists along the twilight band between hemispheres; a perpetually half-lighted, arid and rocky landscape populated by reptiles and small, furry, primitive humanoids. A handful of Terran mining colonies dot the twilight band. VENUS is a cloudy world covered with shallow seas, vast marshes, and thick ● jungles. It is populated by huge arthropods, dinosaurs, lizardmen, and paleskinned, pale-haired humans who share an ancestry with Terran and Martian humans. Both Venusian species fought a protracted war with Terran invaders before settling into an uneasy peace. TERRA is home to the Imperium and the Terran Trading Corporation. Crowded, ● technologically advanced, and given to a sense of Imperial largesse toward the other worlds, Terra is not always welcomed in the Solar System. MARS is an ancient world which has gone through several periods before ● sliding into decline. The world is now arid and dying, most of its cities ruins, and the civilized Canal States are falling into decline. The Terran Trade Corporation is active here, with little Imperial interference. The ASTEROID BELT is a lawless region, home to space pirates, pleasure worlds, ● and free miners. Once it was an ancient planet — even compared to Mars— ruled by masters of science and magic, but it was destroyed in a great catastrophe, and only echoes of their past still exist. JUPITER is a gas giant, utterly uninhabitable. Its four major moons, Callisto, ● Europa, Ganymede, Io, are cold but habitable worlds warmed by volcanic activity. Each are home to alien forests, animal life, and a variety of primitive intelligent life. Ganymede is the warmest of the four moons, covered with jungles and home to a species of blue-skinned humans who live on mesas that rise above the jungles. Terran colonies on these worlds exist mostly as bases for mining the smaller moons of Jupiter. SATURN, like Jupiter, is a gas giant. Terrans mine the ice of its rings and its ● cold moons for gasses, fuels, and water. The moons of saturn are lifeless. URANUS and Neptune are icy gas giants, generally deemed to distant to be ● worth mining for resources when closer planets offer similar resources. PLUTO is a rocky planet. Terran explorers have gone to Pluto twice and not ● returned. It is now a quarantined world. The Terran Trade Corporation The Terran Trade Corporation, also known as the TTC or the Corp, is a latter-day interplanetary version of the East India Company. Their primary purpose is offworld trade, so TTC runs mining operations, import-export operations, and even Swords of Mars
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smuggling of artifacts. They also trade in spices, rare fabrics like Venusian spider-silk, and other exotic goods. In pursuit of its Imperial monopolies, the TTC has a large security force and controls territories off-world, giving them a paramilitary presence and wide-ranging powers to protect their interests. The TTC has learned from entanglements on Venus to try subtlety, bribery, espionage and manipulation where it can, however.
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MARS Millenia ago, Mars was populous and lush, and Martian society was advanced scientifically and socially. However, a terrible disaster came to their world and nearly destroyed it, precipitated by the coming of terrible monsters from the stars, say the old legends. Mars barely survived. The ruling classes built the canals and tried to preserve what they could, but too much was lost, and Mars has since fallen into decline. Though Terrans almost always refer to the planet at Mars, the Martians refer to their world as Barruz .
The Wastes The northern hemisphere of Mars is an arid lowland interrupted by patches of touch lichen-bed clinging to deep water. The great herbivores of the lowlands survive on the lichen; the great predators of the lowlands and the barbarian peoples of the lowlands thrive on the herbivores. The Canal Cities The arid highlands of the south are criss-crossed with canals that pump water melted from the ice caps to the remaining cities of Mars. The canals are narrow ribbons on life across the planet, where fields, forests, and even marshes survive, and which are used for trade using flat-bottomed barges. The canal cities are independent city-states, led by a King who is usually some sort of warlord or general as well. Most are at war with each other or in some sort of conflict that goes back centuries. The populations of these cities are often decadent and out of touch with the past grandeur of Mars. The Polar Ice Caps Though the ancient machinery of the canals uses the ice caps as its source of water, the frozen lands to the north and south are considered taboo and dangerous by all Martians, even to outsiders like the Terrans. The Martian Calendar
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Martian days are only slightly longer than an Earth day (less than 3% longer), but the Martian year lasts about 670 days. Mars’ eccentric orbit means its seasons are
not equal in length -- the Martian Spring lasts 210 days, Summer 180 days, Fall 160 days, and Winter, 120 days.
Months mean nothing to Martians — Mars’ two moons, Phobos and Deimos are small, dim, and fast–moving. Phobos orbits the planet every 8 hours, Deimos every day. Both moons are tidally locked, and thus do not have phases to track — they always look like bright stars or planets in the sky rather than like Earth’s moon.
Martians track the calendar by season, using equinoxes and solstices to track the start and end of each season. Martians just track the number of days in the season, so they may note that a day is Winter 111. Martian years were numbered by the name of the ruler, and the year of their rule. Once, the ruler was the ruler of the great Kingdoms that dominated Mars. Now, the ruler tends to be more local. This means that cross-referencing year references from place to place on Mars can be a challenge for Terran scholars and bureaucrats, and that the notations can lead to confusion and miscommunication, but Martian society currently lacks a strong unified way of keeping track of the passage of the year. Martian time-keeping is very local, and while clocks exist, Martians lack a common system of relating time from location to location. The People of Mars HUMANS: The human population of Mars is broadly divided into two groups: the canal city folk, and the desert barbarians. The former have light olive skin, dark eyes and hair, and tend to be slim and graceful of build. The latter are taller and broader, with bronze or copper skin, yellow, brown, or grey eyes, and hair that tends to be red or coppery. DWUR: one of four former slave races of the ancient Witch Kings of Lost Ylum, the Dwur are short, squat humanoids. They have broad physiques, bowed legs, long arms and broad faces with thick beards. Their skin is brown-grey, their eyes solid black, and their hair white or red. They are skilled craftsmen and excellent miners. They tend to live in hilly and mountainous terrain and are allied to humanity. Mechanically, they are identical to Dwarves. ELDARIN: the Eldarin (sing. Eldar) are the second former slave race of the Witch Kings. They are smaller and slimmer than humans with golden skin, red or black hair, and large unblinking black eyes. Few of the Eldarin still survive, and most think they are only legends. Eldarin are mechanically identical to Elves. HADIRI: the third of the former slave races of the Witch Kings, the Hadiri (sing. Hardirim) are small, copper-skinned, with brown Or green hair and black eyes. They are cunning, love food, and tend to be tricksters. The Hadiri are a dying race, found mostly in small forests along the canals, or serving as crew on barges. Mechanically, they are identical to Halflings. BEASTMEN: the last of the former slave races of the Witch Kings. Humanoids with broad, animal-like heads and mean dispositions, the beastmen vie with the barbarian tribes for control of the plains. Beastmen tend to live in small groups, and vary greatly in size and stature. Mechanically, treat them as Goblins, Hobgoblins, and Bugbears. KESHAI: once powerful sorcerers, these degenerate creatures are now feral barbarians. They are one of the terrors of ancient ruins and underground complexes of the south. These lizardmen have a dangerous musk, a strongly territorial nature, and a taste for fresh meat. They are mechanically identical to Troglodytes. ●
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Religion on Mars Religion on Mars takes three major forms. The first is the veneration of the dead, which is undertaken at family shrines in canal cities, or as part of clan rites among barbarians. Those who serve the cults of the dead do so to maintain the sanctity of family and clan, and the dead may be sought for guidance, but are not seen as gods of any sort. This sort of worship is common among all people on Mars. Second is the worship of the Ten; the 5 Lords of Stability and the 5 Lords of Change. Such worship is common in the canal cities and among the Eldarin. While Terrans find such worship confounding, particularly the acceptance of the Lords of Change (whom many Terrans consider evil), the worship of these gods is common. Third is a broad sort of naturalistic pantheism that venerates Mars itself as living and filled with spiritual power, and teaches that all things are imbued with spirits that encompass the nature of those items. Veneration of specific sites, types of animals, or natural phenomena is common. This faith is common among the barbarians, beastmen, Dwur and Hadiri. 5 LORDS OF STABILITY SHEM (Sun, sky, truth, farming). Symbol: Gold disk; Raiment: White robes. ILU (Learning, law, crafts). Symbol: Scroll; Raiment: Hooded robes. ASTARU (Love, fertility, secrets). Symbol: Mirror; Raiment: Blue mantle. HADU (War, honor, command). Symbol: Lightning Red armor. NERGAL (Judge of the dead). Symbol: Scales Yellow robes. ● ● ● ● ●
5 LORDS OF CHANGE NARU (Darkness, night, change). Symbol: Black Disk; Purple, demon mask. VASHAL (Sorcery, secret knowledge). Symbol: Spider; Raiment: Orange, blank mask. NAYARI (Lust, pleasure, pain). Symbol: Jade knife; Raiment: Slave collar. KALAK (Destruction, fire). Symbol: Flame; Raiment: Red robes. DALKU (Lord of the Undead). Symbol: Skull; Raiment: Black, skull mask. ● ●
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Technology on Mars Mars is iron-poor, at least in ore form, having expended much of its old resources. Ironically, iron oxide is common in the soil of Mars, and the Terran Trade Corporation makes much of its wealth dredging the drylands and converting iron oxide into iron to send back to Terra.Thus iron and steel are highly prized. Instead of iron, Martians are able to treat the hide of the Hraa, a ox-like reptilian draft-beast with a thick hide, with special chemical treatments that make it a bit harder than bronze and able to hold an edge. Iron is highly valued, and treated as magic weapon or armor with a value of +1 to +3. Except for the rare ancient artifact, Martians do not use much technology beyond late medieval, early renaissance. Gunpowder is unknown on Mars, and firearms only exist as Terran weapons introduced to Mars. Terran firearms are energy weapons, and greatly valued. Fuel cells for Terran energy weapons are even more valued. Terran ray weapons will harm creatures hurt only by magical weapons and creatures who are gaseous or insubstantial. One unique Martian Technology is the Airship. Airships look much like standard earth sea vessels with particularly deep keels They gain their motive power from sails, but their lift comes from harnessing crystals of Orichalcum. Skilled pilots are rare and priceless, as are the Orichalcum orbs – killing a pilot or Swords of Mars
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destroying an orb is greatly frowned upon. Airships are not common, and a mark of great power in a city state. They are mostly used for military purposes, while trade is done by caravan or canal barge. Martian airships are inferior to Terran flyers. Magic Magic is a unique property of the Martian people, and one the TTC hopes to understand, replicate, and profit from. The Martian people, however, say that magic is a gift from the Ten Gods, or perhaps from the spirit of Mars herself. Terran science only knows that the rituals of magic allow magicians to channel energy from other planes of existence through strongly ritualized elements. Why this should work is unknown. How it works is unknown, but what is known is that it does for Martians, much to the consternation of Terrans. Ancient Artifacts Ancient artifacts from the pre-cataclysm Martians are extremely durable, but very rare. The engines that melt ice for the canals and the canals themselves are notable examples. However, other types of technology also exist. Most of these are singular artifacts, frequently specific to a location or function. A few, however, are portable and usable by adventurers. The most common of these artifacts are the “eyes”. These are golfball-sized spheres with an aperture on one side and a stud or button on the other. Operating the controls will cause a charged and functioning eye to fire a beam or ray from the aperture. Each eye has a different function, which must be discovered through use. These essentially function as wands. Another portable ancient technology are crystal devices, usually rods or orbs. These channel energy and function as staffs. Flora and Fauna Mars is an arid land. The old sea beds have large patches of ochre-colored lichen that serve as a major food source for vast herds of Hraa that roam the beds, hunted by the great cats of Mars, the Mahrinn. Also common on the plains are the Huru, the Martian equivalent of a horse, adapted to the sands, and the Wara, the huge Martian wolf, and various dinosaurs. While lands around the canals of Mars are generally safe, terrible creatures can be found in the ruins of mars and in the wilderness. Even in civilized areas, stirges are deadly pests and the giant Martian rats, known as Osquips, are common. The Old Ones Rumors of intelligent beings that predate humans and haunt the deep burrows under ancient ruins persist. These things whisper in darkness and have inhuman desires, the legends say.
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CITY STATE OF IZMIR
Izmir is a city-state along one of Mars’ great canals. Ruled by the Warlord Arctos Kan, Izmir is notable for its large warrens of old tunnels and underground ruins that belong to cities from centuries before. The city is divided into eight districts: 1.
The Citadel, where the Warlord maintains his army, courts, jails and arena.
2.
The Merchant Quarter, home to city’s guilds, open air markets, and trade.
6.
Red Lanterns, the pleasure district. The Docks where barges come to the city and home to a TTC office. The Maze, the most crime-ridden and dangerous neighborhood in Izmir. The Holy Quarter, home to the temples of the Ten, as well as family shrines.
7.
University Hill, where libraries and the Magicians’ Guild, may be found.
3. 4. 5.
8.
Downwind, the poorest neighborhood; home to factories and-foul industries.
Power Groups in the City 1. The Great Houses are the rival noble families of Izmir. 2. The Guilds control trade as well as licensing, monopolies, and training of skilled workers. 3. Wizards are disorganized but powerful, and willing to protect (or crush) their own. 4. The Ten Churches have connections throughout the city and work behind the scenes. 5. The Black Hand is a major criminal organization based in the Maze, touching the whole city. 6. The Terran Trade Corp whose dockside offices are active in the city.
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HOUSE RULES FOR OLD-SCHOOL D&D I will be using the Tom Moldvay/David Cook Basic and Expert rules from 1981. You can purchase a PDF copy of the basic rules online at http://www.dndclassics.com /, but we will also be using some rules from the Expert Set, like variable weapon damage. I will be using some house rules: 1. Starting Hit Points: Characters start with maximum hit points at first
level.
2. Spell Books: Starting spellbook for MUs and Elves: one you choose and one 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
you roll. Magic-users also get Read Magic, and a re-roll if they randomly roll Read Magic for their random spell. Scrolls: Any spellcaster may make a scroll of a spell they know and can cast at a cost of 1 week time and 100 GP per level of the spell. Optional Character Specialties: Players may optionally choose a character specialty per the rules posted by B/X Blackrazor. Deck of Stuff: Characters get a free pull from the Deck of Stuff at character creation. Death and Dying: The first time a character is reduced to 0 hit points per game, roll a save vs. death to avoid dying. The character is unconscious until the end of the fight with 1 hit point. Parrying: Announce before your opponent attacks. Lose next attack, but subtract 2 from attacker’s attack roll. If attack succeeds exactly, you may
choose to sacrifice your parrying weapon to avoid the damage. 8. Bind Wounds: Once per combat, you can bind wounds on yourself or someone else. Each character can have this happen just once, per combat. It heals 1d3 hit points. 9. Fortifying Spirits: Once per game session, each character may heal 1d6 by imbibing strong drink. 10. The d30 Rule: One per game, each player may roll 1d30 instead of the normal die or dice used. This cannot be used for rolling ability scores or hit points, but may be used for damage, attacks, saves, turning rolls, thief skill checks, healing, etc. 11. Special Maneuvers: declare before attempting. Make attack roll as normal. Target may choose to suffer from special maneuver or damage as normal.
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