From now on, I’m going to concentrate on getting a playable online version of my game coded. This will hopefully make it easier for people to give feedback, compared to if they were required to print out and assemble a physical version. So it’s likely that there won’t be as many long posts about the game’s rules in the near future.

Encounters with Green Martians are based on the system in d6 Shooters for being attacked. However, in my game, it won’t automatically involve combat. In this I’m going against the way that Green Martians are represented in the Barsoom series.

This is the system I’m going to go with for now. My original intentions were much more complicated, and were intended to have more player choices and possible outcomes. For now, I feel that it’s important to get a complete set of rules which can be tested and improved.

The player has a Hostility score which starts at 4. This represents the likelihood that a group of Green Martians will be hostile. This score goes up by 1 at the start of every turn, to a maximum of 10.

If the player rolls any 8s, there is a group of Green Martians in the area. More 8s represents a larger group.

The player can choose to diverge, head for the nearest settlement, or face the Green Martians. As in d6 Shooters there is also the option to ‘hide’, sacrificing time and Luck.

Heading for the nearest settlement ’costs’ 1 Morale (if any followers are alive) and 1 Willpower. The player makes a Fate Roll. If the result is equal to or less than the number of haads travelled this turn (ie the total of 1s and 2s), they make it to a settlement and do not have to encounter the Green Martians. Otherwise they have to fight.

Diverging ‘costs’ haads equal to the total of two Fate Rolls. That is, in taking the long way round to avoid the Green Martians, the heroes end up with further to travel.

If the player chooses to face the Green Martians, they may choose to offer gifts of Food and/or Shells. Each gift reduces the Hostility score by 1. Whether or not they offer any gifts, they then make a Fate Roll. If the result is higher than the current Hostility, the Green Martians allow the heroes to pass through their territory. If not, combat results.

Combat works as follows: the Green Martians re-roll all 8s. The total is their Combat Total. The player rolls as many dice as they choose to sacrifice Luck points and/or Willpower, and adds half their number of followers (if any).

If the Green Martians’ total is higher, the party takes casualties equal to the difference, in followers and in Morale. A lone hero who loses a combat is out of the game. D6 Shooters gives casualties equal to a number of dice, not to the total rolled, which I found to be too few.

After a combat, the player loses 1 Willpower. Thus Willpower has a role similar to Ammo in d6 Shooters.

Winning a combat gives the player 2 Morale if there any followers.

Another recent comment on my Mars game:

other [elements] seemed forced, if not slightly misplaced (The Andersons Gang, to some extent).

I had ‘Bloody Bill’ transported to Mars for no reason known to himself or explained to the player, because that’s what seems to happen in a lot of fiction about Mars. John Carter famously gets there by concentrating really hard. I don’t think it’s ever really explained, and the Martians don’t seem to show any curiosity about it. There are a few less famous books I read about in Imagining Mars – a history of fiction about Mars – which have people who die on Earth reincarnated on Mars.

However, there’s no point referring to conventions which players aren’t going to get. That leads to people perceiving what you’ve done as lazy or illogical. A famous example of this would be the magic system in Dungeons & Dragons, which is based some stories by Jack Vance but, if you haven’t read those stories, seems very arbitrary and ‘un-fantasy-like’.

So I might drop ‘Bloody Bill’. He wasn’t intended to be a major part of the game anyway – he was just a one-off encounter, that would be treated like an encounter with Green Martians except that the Anderson Gang are always hostile.

I haven’t been getting comments on the posts about my Mars game.

Should I keep posting about it?

William T. Anderson, better known as Bloody Bill, was the most brutal of the Confederate guerilla leaders in the American Civil War. He operated in Missouri and Kansas until Union soldiers shot him to death in 1864.

Immediately upon his death, he found himself in what he believed to be Hell.

His survival skills, fearlessness, brutality and leadership ability enabled him to attract a gang of the worst outlaws of Mars’ various races.

He appears to have some awareness that he is on the planet Mars. However this does not appear to have altered his conviction that he is in Hell. Some accounts claim that he refers to himself, or his followers, as The Lord’s Appointed in Hell, believing – or purporting to believe – that he is under divine protection, charged to scourge the damned. ‘The Anderson Gang’ is a phrase used by British colonial authorities.

‘Fate rolls’ will be the standard way of rolling dice in the ‘choose your own adventure’ parts of the game.

The player always rolls an 8-sided dice. However, before rolling, they can spend Luck points if they have them. Each Luck point allows the player to roll an extra dice. The player takes the best single roll rather than adding them up.

Following is an example of an encounter. As you’ll see, there is (hopefully) not one single best choice. Rather, the best choice should depend on the game state at the time. This will, hopefully, increase re-playability – you can’t learn all the right choices to make.

The paragraph numbers aren’t as they’ll be in the game. In the real game they’ll be spread throughout the ‘Events’ section of the rules.

1. A Bedouin caravan crosses your path. You may

• Ask them for directions – turn to 2.
• Trade with them – turn to 3.
• If you have any followers left, you could ask the Bedouin to take them to safety – turn to 4.

2. The Bedouin are happy to give you directions. Make a Fate Roll.

• 1,2 – gain 1 haad.
• 3,4 – gain 2 haads.
• 5,6 – gain 3 haads.
• 7,8 – gain 4 haads.

You thank them and go on your way. Turn to 6.

3. The Bedouin will buy food from you, paying you 2 shells for a single unit of food.

They will sell you food at a cost of 3 shells per ration.

They will buy jezails from you for [normal cost].

They will sell you jezails at [1 more than cost].

They will not buy or sell any other item.

They will not alter their buying price, but you can try to convince them to sell you food and/or jezails at a lower price. If you want to do this, turn to 5.

Otherwise, trade if you want to, and then turn to 6.

4. Make a Fate Roll.

If the result is under or equal to your followers’ current Morale, they refuse to go. Touched by their loyalty, you may add 2 to your Willpower (to a maximum of 8).

If the result is over your followers’ Morale, half of them (rounded up) do decide to go. Lose that number of followers.

Whatever the result, turn to 6.

5. Make a Fate Roll.

If the result is 8, you become frustrated by the drawn-out haggling and leave without making any trade. Turn to 6.

If the result is less than 8 but higher than your current Willpower, the Bedouin will not alter their price. Cross off a day, and return to 3 (you can attempt to bargain again if you wish).

If the result is equal to or less than your current Willpower, you convince them to lower their price. They will now buy food from you, paying you 2 shells for a single unit of food.

They will sell you food at a cost of 2 shells per ration.

They will buy jezails from you for [normal cost].

They will sell you jezails at [normal cost].

Trade if you want, then turn to 6.

6. [The encounter having concluded, the player continues with rest of the adventure]

The British colony with its capital at Syrtis Major imported thousands of ‘indentured labourers’ – often little more than slaves. A number of Bedouin were brought to assist expeditions into the desert, but they found it relatively easy to escape. They were joined by some Africans, Indians and others, so that the Bedouin of Mars are not entirely Arabic in origin.

The Bedouin’s religion is a mixture of Islam with various folk traditions. A distinctive feature is that their priesthood, called Reverend Mothers, are entirely female.

They identify strongly with the ancient Israelites, whose escape from captivity and wandering in the desert resemble their own history. They associate the Promised Land with fanciful stories of Earth, towards which they face in prayer (no doubt they originally conceived of this as facing towards Mecca; but the name of that city has been lost to them).

In d6 Shooters version 3, rolling a 3 means ‘Info/Support’, whereas in the first two versions it means ‘Prospect’ (ie finding Gold).

I want to use both. This means that I have to use d8s instead of d6s.

The numbers for my game will be as follows:

1. Move 1 haad.
2. Move 2 haads.
3. Find shells (equivalent to Gold).
4. Hunt.
5. Info.
6. Luck.
7. Heat.
8. Possible attack.

Some comments:

• Having a currency doesn’t fit the theme of Barsoom. Edgar Rice Burroughs doesn’t seem at all interested in the economy of his people (although the Green Martians are meant to be a communist dystopia), or even in the stock adventure plot of having a great treasure that motivates characters. However having something to trade creates the possibility of interesting decisions. In any case, ‘my’ Red Martians are closer to Native Americans, and several groups of Native Americans did use shells as trade goods.
• In d6 Shooters, 1 in 3 results are bad (heat and being attacked). In this version, only 1 in 4 results are bad. Also, the distinction between red and white dice in d6 Shooters seems a bit ‘fiddly’ to me. My solution to both is to have unlimited re-rolls, provided the player rolls at least 3 dice at a time, but all 7s or 8s lock, not just red dice on the first roll. The requirement to have at least 3 dice rolled at a time is to stop people rolling 1 dice at a time and turns taking too long.
• Hunger will be much less harsh than in d6 Shooters. Lack of food is likely to only result in lowered Morale and/or Willpower.
• The effect of heat will be taking the number of dice that show a 7, and adding the result of a new roll on a d8 (the player will be able to spend a Luck point to re-roll this d8). Results will include lowered Morale and/or Willpower, lost Food, or lost Followers.

I think the requirement to gather food in d6 Shooters is quite harsh. In my experience it ends with most of your Posse dying or leaving (it’s not clear what’s meant to be happening in the fiction of the game). So I’ve decided to make it much less punishing.

I’ll probably reduce the requirement (1 Food per person) – or the amount you gather, which is effectively the same thing – and also the result of not having enough food: perhaps you start by losing Morale, and only start losing people when you’re completely out of food.

In d6 Shooters 4s represent ‘luck’, and you can only use them on the turn you roll them. I’m thinking of having a pool of luck points, which you can use at any time. I’m also planning on having more uses for them in Events. For example, you might be able to re-do certain rolls at the cost of a luck point.

I’m not planning on having Ammo, but your character’s Willpower will have a similar function (ie you can sacrifice it to add to your ability in a single combat). You might also be able to sacrifice luck, but this is likely to be less efficient – perhaps 2 Luck points do the same as 1 Willpower.

Morale will have a role in combat: your followers might refuse to fight in certain circumstances.