Science Fantasy and Sword & Planet?

Art by FSF-Ink.

Warlords of the Moon is inspired by fantastical adventure stories that predate the clear division between fantasy and science fiction. We have chosen to include the following aspects:

  • The adventurers are typically strangers, and usually the sole visitors from their home world. The Moon is intended to be a strange world, unfamiliar to both the players and their characters. 
  • Traveling between worlds is an exceptional event and difficult to accomplish. The adventures take place on a specific world, not among the stars. The adventurers may end up on the Moon through astral projection, teleportation, or some fantastic technology.
  • The Moon is an old and dying world; its natural life, as well as its various cultures, are in decline and decay. Parched deserts have swallowed what used to be fertile plains. Once-resplendent cities have become depopulated husks, and societies that were once advanced and futuristic have now degenerated, reverting to archaic forms. The culture consists of ossified rituals, vainly mimicking the glories of yore. The people are resigned to their fate and take refuge in hedonistic debauchery.
  • Advanced technology exists, but it is ancient and unfathomable. The border between technology and magic is fluid and diffuse. In general, technology is at a medieval or pre-industrial level. However, anachronisms do occur – sword duels are fought on the decks of anti-gravity ships, and ray guns are handed down as venerable family heirlooms.

Inspiration

Here are some reading suggestions concerning Sword & Planet in general, and lunar adventures in particular:

  • Brackett, Leigh – Shadow Over Mars, Queen of the Martian Catacombs / The Secret of Sinharat, Black Amazon of Mars / People of the Talisman, The Last Days of Shandakor
  • Burroughs, ER – A Princess of Mars, The Gods of Mars, The Warlord of Mars
  • Carter, Lin – From the archives of the Moon
  • Flash Gordon – both the original comic strip by Alex Raymond and the 1980 movie
  • Goodwin, Francis – The Man in the Moon
  • He-Man and The Masters of the Universe
  • Howard, RE – Almuric
  • Kepler, Johannes – Somnium or The Dream
  • Locke, Richard Adams (?) – The Great Moon Hoax
  • Lovecraft, HP – The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
  • Lucian of Samosata – A True Story
  • Poe, Edgar Allan – The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall
  • Smith, Clark Ashton – The Door to Saturn, The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis, The Dweller in the Gulf, The Abominations of Yondo
  • Vance, Jack – The Dying Earth
  • Verne, Jules – From the Earth to the Moon
  • Wells, HG – The First Men in the Moon
  • Żuławski, Jerzy – The Lunar Trilogy (On the Silver Globe, The Conqueror, The Old Earth)

Georges Méliès 1902 short film Le Voyage dans la Lune (The Voyage to the Moon) has a plot that is basically a mash-up of the stories by Verne and Wells, and is a charming introduction to the concept.

Welcome earthlings!

Art by FSF-Ink.

This blog is dedicated to the creation and publication of Warlords of the Moon, a sword & planet-style campaign setting for the Old-School Essentials roleplaying game. 

As suggested by the title, it is set on the moon, but this is not the lifeless satellite we know in reality. Inspired by Edgar Rice Burrough’s A Princess of Mars, HG Well’s First Men in the Moon, and HP Lovecraft’s Dream-Quest for Unknown Kadath, this is an ancient and dying world of decadent city-states and savage wastelands, haunted by weird entities from the abysses of deep space. In this world of rayguns and swords and sorcery, player characters can be visitors from Earth, members of the moondwelling species, such as the humanoid lunarians, the winged batkin, or the insectoid selenites, or even cats or robots.

Written by Swedish OSR-creators Mattias Närvä and Terje Nordin, Månens krigsherrar was originally published as three booklets.

  • Book 1 En ö i etern (”An Island in the Aether”, cover by Björn Ramsten) described the bright side of the moon with over 130 places, along with stats for important NPCs and new creatures, as well as mysterious lunar phenomena such as the aether winds. 
  • Book 2 Kristalltornens stad (”The City of Crystal Towers”, cover by FSF-Ink) detailed the largest city on the moon, Issum, with its history, laws and government, interesting locations in the various city sectors, gangs and cults, and the dungeons beneath its streets. 
  • Book 3 Ranshais grottor (”Caves of Ranshai”, cover by Björn Ramsten) included the city-state of Orob, a major dungeon beneath the mountain of Ranshai, and details about the eldritch horrors lurking on the dark side of the moon.

The updated and expanded English edition will contain everything from the Swedish one, along with many new adventure locations, classes, monsters, and spells, as well as new art by FSF-Ink.

Follow this blog for further news about this project! 

Old-School Essentials is a trademark of Necrotic Gnome. The trademark and Old-School Essentials logo are used with permission of Necrotic Gnome, under license.