A Review of

GURPS MARS

By Elton Robb

Introduction: This review was intended to be my par finale review on rpg.net. The reason is the ambiguous evidence that I am an independent game designer, and I have my first Design Credit: Elementalism in Occult Lore, published by Atlas Games. No matter how much I wanted to do a review on that book for rpg.net, it would have been very biased. I would have spent a lot of time on Elementalism or passed over it, giving it one sentence (i.e., I wrote this chapter). So I decided to do GURPS Mars instead.

The Overview

GURPS Mars stands up to the usual quality of the GURPS Sourcebook. It?s a tour-de-force on using Mars as background for Roleplaying Games. The blurb on the back cover says it covers every aspect of the local Red Planet. As such, it contains four complete campaign settings, each of which will be summarized below.

The first part of the book deals with the history of Martian astronomy: starting with a small discussion on Egyptian, Greek, and Babylonian observations. Then the early fathers of modern astronomy and their observations on Mars are discussed. Then Percival Lowell?s observations are introduced and that?s when Mars became the focus of Speculative Fiction. HELLO!

After Lowell ?s pronouncement of the existence of Martian canals, we move to the War of the Worlds, written by H. G. Wells. In the original story, Earth is invaded by Martians, inspired by the British Massacre of the native Tasmanians. The scenes of the action happened in England, although it was moved to America. First New York and New Jersey by American publishers and Orson Welles? famous panic stricken broadcast of the War of the Worlds. The story was finally moved to Los Angeles in a movie production by George Pal and a Fox T.V. Series in the late 1980?s.

The book also discusses Mars fiction in a fantasy mode: being the focus of Sword and Planet stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs and Edwin Arnold. Then the book discusses the stories of the indomitable Robert Heinlein, Ray Bradbury, and Arthur C. Clarke that featured Mars in such novel stories as Stranger in a Strange Land, The Martian Chronicles, and The Red Sands of Mars.

After Mars had finally been observed at ?close range,? everything changed for Mars in Science Fiction. The book then says that Mars in Speculative Fiction is a setting for colony and terraforming stories.

Planetary Data?

The book now moves into planetary data about Mars. Basically, the hard facts of what we know about the Red Planet. Even the Face, the one feature on Mars that everyone knows about now, is given some attention.

The third chapter moves into the parts the planet plays in mysticism, astrology, alchemy, and even conspiracy theories. Some attention is given to the Face and the Pyramids of Mars and their role in the weird world of the Conspiracy. Thus, this section is rife with crossover campaign ideas: from Tolkien styled fantasy to the weird Victorian Romance fantasy of GURPS Steampunk and Castle Falkenstein , to Bronze Age campaigns involving ancient astronauts.

Unique Campaign Settings

As mentioned before, the GURPS Mars touches on no less than four unique campaign settings: Domed Mars, Terraformed Mars, Superscience Mars, and Dying Mars. Three of them are based on Speculative Fiction, while one takes a realistic approach. I will summarize each and their utility in various campaigns.

Domed Mars is a campaign setting that complements the Hard Science game that is known as Blue Planet. Blue Planet enthusiasts can pick up GURPS Mars as a companion to their Blue Planet campaigns. It discusses a Mars campaign using as much of a realistic background as possible. Here, the player characters wear Martian suits, live in domes, and travel from and to Earth with the help of a skyhook. Politics also come into play in this setting. It?s a gritty setting.

Terraformed Mars comes out of current science fiction about Mars. In this campaign, the planet is terraformed . Although the campaign is basically the same as above, the player characters do not have to wear Mars suits, all they need is a breathing mask ? as the atmosphere of Mars is sufficiently thick enough to keep the human body pressurized.

Superscience Mars is the Mars of B-Movies from the Silver Age of Hollywood (1950-1978). The campaign features Martians ruled by mad scientists, the thought police, and mutants. It?s the Mars in War of the Worlds and Attack of the Flying Saucers. Walking tripods and Manta-Ray shaped space ships with heat rays and laser beams straight out of the Cold War paranoia.

Dying Mars comes straight out of Edgar Rice Burroughs. It features a swashbuckling setting that is more fantasy than science fiction. Canals, sand boat pirates, psionics, science priests, and cities are the setting of this type of campaign.

If none of these campaigns suit you, there are silly alternatives. Like Santa Claus Conquers the Martians or Mars Attacks! or Marvin the Martian.

Conclusions

I believe that the book is useful. As I said before, it is the RPG book for Mars. Steve Jackson Games made book stand up to their usual quality as a World Book for GURPS, D20, or just about any game you can think of. For instance:

D20 System: Users of the D20 System will find the book useful in just about any campaign, as long as it is based in the Solar System. A Twilight of Atlantis campaign or Empire of Egypt (title?) campaign (all of which are produced by Avalanche Press) could feature mars in a mystical vein, or as a crossover. As said before, the book mentions ancient astronauts. While the Egyptians might have visitors from Mars, the Atlanteans might have the technology to go to Mars, this depends on the campaign and the Game Master. With the advent of D20 Modern , the possibilities of a Conspiracy Mars or a Mission to Mars type campaign will become evident. Maybe even a silly campaign based on My Favorite Martian?

Blue Planet: While you are waiting for Fantasy Flight and Biohazard Games publish the Mars supplement to this excellent game, there is no reason why you shouldn?t pick up GURPS Mars to tie you over. With this book and the information about Mars in the Game Moderator?s Guide, a Blue Planet GM can have a successful Mars campaign in the universe of Blue Planet.

Castle Falkenstein: There was an Origin Systems? computer game called Martian Dreams. Although GURPS Castle Falkenstein players already have their suggestions, players of Castle Falkenstein might find the setting of Martian Dreams to be right up their alley. In that computer game, all the icons of the Victorian Age take an unexpected trip to Mars, with the exception of Dr. Freud and Nikolai Tesla, who accompany the Player Characters. This is a variant of the Dying Mars setting, above.

Deadlands: Combine the slapstick comedic horror of PEG?s Deadlands with the Dying Mars setting, and you get Lost Colony on Mars. This might be a direction that Deadlands GMs might want to take. Maybe Hellstromme is interested in Mars somehow and he sends a mission to Mars.

As you can see, the possibilities are endless. This book can be used by anyone. The Artwork in it is still Black and White, but the cover is inspired by Post Holocaust scenarios. The production values are excellent, and the information in it is accurate to what we currently know about Mars. I enjoyed the book, and I will use it in campaigns to come. Of course that is a biased statement.

--- Elton Robb