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.