Monday, July 18, 2011

"So, when is Warriors of the Red Planet scheduled to come out?"


I'm flattered that I still get almost daily inquiries like the one above - its a testament, I think, to the durability and lasting appeal of the Sword & Planet genre that so many remain so interested after such a long development time for WotRP.

The good news is that it is pretty much done! The bad news is that, even after at least two full revisions, I have 133 pages of material (not counting a martian atlas that still needs to be finished), and my goal has always been a tidy 120 pages! So I still have a couple of heartbreaking cuts to perform. Maybe I'll provide the excised material as a "web bonus" or something like that.

Its been a fascinating ride, watching something that was essentially a collection of Sword & Planet-focused house rules, random charts, and adventure design notes turn into this whole big thing. Not to mention all the cool ERB, Klein, Brackett, Moorcock, and others I've gotten to read under the auspices of "research"!

If you've been following Thomas's blog, you've seen that he's been steadily turning out beautiful martian landscapes, ships, and characters the whole time.

So what's left?

Basically: layout, putting manuscript together with art, and then picking the best way to put it in everyone's hands. So, we're pretty damn close. There will be no pre-order nonsense, or empty promises ("this will definitely be out in time for your back-to-school shopping!"). As soon as everything is set in stone, and we have at least a 30-day window of certainty, we'll start blowing our horns vigorously across the gaming webiverse :)

Thanks for hanging out here with us in the meantime!

10 comments:

  1. So, is this game going to be more or less mechanically compatible with the "original role playing game" from 1974?

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  2. @Aos - very much so, for the mechanical bits. The other stuff: maps, random tables, adventure/campaign/world design guides, and so on, should be useful with any rpg.

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  3. Excellent. Consider 1 copy sold in advance.

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  4. You had me sold from the idea alone. When it comes out, it's bought.

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  5. I can't wait! Thanks for putting in such a tremendous effort to create this book. You've definitely got a sale here as well.

    With Regards,
    Flynn

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  6. If it is on Lulu, it will go straight into my cart alongside the first Dragons At Dawn supplement - oh, and 128 pages is a nicer cut-down than 133 --> 120 :)

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  7. I'm looking forward to this as well. Until the movie trailer came out, I only vaguely knew who John Carter was, and what Sword and Planet was. Then the trailer came out and I started to dig around, found this site, and now I'm hooked. I just got my copy of A Princess of Mars in the mail (I still like have the dead trees :-) Keep all this good stuff coming!

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  8. Please let me ask: So, when is Warriors of the Red Planet scheduled to come out?

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