Review Summary: Red as Mars will ever be.

Blurb from the publisher: 'John Carter of Mars is a science-fantasy roleplaying game from the mind of Edgar Rice Burroughs. It will transport you to Barsoom, an arid, dying land of ancient civilizations and fearsome creatures. Using a pulp-action inspired variant of the 2d20 System, take on the role of heroes as you travel, battle, and romance your way across the wondrous and dangerous world of Barsoom

Modiphius Entertainment presents the John Carter of Mars Zodanga dice set. Show your loyalty to the red city of Zodanga with these high quality, custom dice.

Two d20's and four d6's in beautiful two tone red color, featuring custom symbols specific to the John Carter of Mars roleplaying game.

These dice are not required for play. The core rulebook contains a guide showing how to use normal dice.' 

What you get: Your EUR 13,47 or USD 14,74 or GBP 11,99 will buy you the John Carter of Mars: Zodanga Dice Set, a set of six plastic polyhedral dice for the John Carter of Mars roleplaying game line. As the publisher's blurb exclaims, the set contains four six-siders and two twenty-siders.

The six siders show the symbols shown in page 46 of the Edward Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars: Adventures on the Dying World of Barsoom Core Rulebook, namely one side with a single star (one damage), one side with two stars (two damage), one side with no signs (no result), and two sides with one damage + effect emblem. On the twenty sider, number one (the best one can roll in the John Carter iteration of 2d20, is substituted by a star-like pattern which has certain resemblance to the 'one damage' design of the six-sider. The background on all dice is marble-like and utilizes hues of red, while the numbers and emblems are a very light shade of grey.

The present set is one of the three sets available for the line. The other two are the John Carter Helium Dice Set and the John Carter Thark Dice Set. The only difference between the sets are the background and foreground colours.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received a bundle of six- and twenty-siders of the Zodanga persuasion without the packaging. Thus I cannot comment on how they are packed. I have not on the other hand received the other sets of the line in order to compare them amongst one another.

The strong points: These dice easily make it to the top in both content and aesthetics, at least when it comes to the game they support. The numbers on the d20 are as big as they can humanely be. Sixes and nines are underlined, so it is easier to distinguish them in the heat of the game and under any light conditions. The numbers are crisp and extremely clean. The fact that they utilize a patently modern font makes them a perfect match for the retro sci-fi of John Carter. It's incredible how a simple change in font can create so much of a difference. Contrast the more standard font of the Mutant Chronicles Dice with the more elongated font in this set, and you will immediately understand what I mean. The contrast between foreground and background is great. If you don't pay attention, you might be tricked into believing that the numbers are white; that's how easy it is to distinguish them.

The six-siders might not have numbers, this does not mean on the other hand that they are any less effective. Their exclusive use of custom symbols makes them look mysterious. Sometimes this is exactly what an RPG needs to provide: mystery.

Unless the dice come poorly manufactured, there aren't many flaws one can find on a set of dice. There are no defects or imbalances when it comes to dice-rolling. I rolled each die around a hundred times, and even though the numbers obviously did not come out as statistically expected, there is nothing to suggest that there are inherent flaws.

The weak points: In case one hasn't been paying attention, these are not the usual RPG polyhedral sets; they only contain d20s and d6s. Seeing how no John Carter game that uses a full polyhedral set exists, no such sets exists either, if you were looking to find one through another publisher.

The twenty sider will serve you right if you want to port it in other games, and seeing how gorgeous it is, you might want to do just that, no matter how it will probably fare poorly in certain non-scifi genres. Yet, the six-sider can't do anything but John Carter. The lack of numbers or alternative inscriptions mean that outside of the present game, it is a die with four different markings placed one, one, two and two times on the die respectively. Not many games work on this premise.

The price is an issue if you buy a set and expert to port it to other games. As I already stated, this is neither a standard polyhedral set, nor can d6 be meaningfully ported elsewhere. This, however, is obvious from the get-go.

Conclusion: The Zodanga Dice are a gorgeous set that will allow you to enjoy the world of John Carter of Mars to the fullest. Bright, piercing, inspiring, they bring passion, colour, and hope into your John Carter game. If only I had the line's other sets to compare them against.

For more info on the John Carter of Mars: Zodanga Dice Set and the John Carter of Mars Roleplaying Game line, visit the Modiphius Entertainment website at http://www.modiphius.com.

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