Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Future Wars => Topic started by: Cacique Caribe on June 15, 2022, 04:20:51 AM
-
I’m referring to the original story/book by Harry Harrison:
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/28346/28346-h/28346-h.htm
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EIdNGVQXkAA-HB0?format=jpg&name=large)
(https://www.blackgate.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/The-Deathworld-Trilogy.jpg)
Welcome to PYRRUS, a jungle planet where everything, even the gravity, is out to kill you. It is “the deadliest world ever to be colonized by humans”.
Dan
PS. If you want to listen to the audiobook:
https://youtu.be/kthqEHIjGMQ
And here’s another deadly jungle planet story, on the planet Inra, by R.F. Starzl:
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/29768/29768-h/29768-h.htm#The_Planet_of_Dread
https://youtu.be/X6nKnZsl7rA
-
Wow, nostalgia rush. I have the hardcover with the Richard Corben cover that I got from the science fiction book club many many years ago. As I remember it was a good read. Have to dig it out and give it a re-read.
-
Diehard
I just finished listening to the audiobook. All the while, I kept asking myself, what would a battle be like on a deadly planet like Pyrrus!
It’s like the planet becomes a THIRD player in the game, right?
Dan
-
I'll have to listen to the audio. I never hear (PUN) of it the books that is. Sounds (Pun) like it would be great.
-
WM
Planet of Dread is good too, and a much shorter “audiobook”. I think author R.F. Starzl does a very good job with his story of describing the deadly animal and plant life on planet Inra, as well as the survival “action” of the protagonists.
https://youtu.be/X6nKnZsl7rA
When you read/listen to the stories, try to imagine what it would be like to traverse that kind of terrain while already in combat with an invading enemy or a rival local faction. I just can’t imagine why no one has done it as a wargame setting yet, that I’m aware of.
Enjoy!
Dan
PS. WM, what do you think of the idea of the planet being managed by a separate player?
-
I enjoyed the books in my youth, they would make a great setting.
And the idea of active terrain being run by a third player sounds good to me.
-
I had to briefly look this up, but yes; I read this way back in the day, and enjoyed it a lot. The first one that is; the others were not available in our local library. I best remember the wrist-mounted holsters for some reason.
And I always 'knew' that this setting was the inspiration for the 40K Deathworlds such as Catachan (but that was the fun part; especially in the beginning 40K was like a repository of references to cool scifi originals to me, and I've found out about a lot of classics through 40K. Plus: recognizing references that I already knew was even more fun, and obviously braggable :D ).
The idea of having two players duke it out with a third player controlling the planet's plant- and wildlife sounds really fun and thematic!
-
Daeothar funny you should bring that up, I thought the same thing and proceeded to build Catachan Jungle Fighter army after my Epic 40K days. When the guard could still use Land Speeders which I still have converted here somewhere. Yeah really like the ideas you guys are throwing out, especially having one player play the deadly planet itself. And the wrist mounted guns that "jumped" into their hands were damn cool too. Would recommend reading the first book in the series to anyone here and sincerely doubt that they would be disappointed.
-
There's a bunch of really cool short stories on reddit, where alien species are amazed at how humans originate from what they percieve as a deathworld.
So basicly....
They're actually quite uplifting, often celebrating the human spirit and diversity. I really recommend them.
-
I just went and ordered the trilogy, because that's how I roll... lol
And Voivod; I've listened to a lot of those being turned into audiobooks on Youtube a while back, under the moniker 'Humans are Space Orks'; a perspective where we, ordinary humans, are considered the equivalent of orks because of the amount of damage we can take, poison we can eat and drink (voluntarily!), our proficiency in fighting and more. Highly entertaining, those. For once, we're not the weak, squishy targets of each and every cosmic horror out there; we ARE the cosmic horrors... :D
-
Awwwww yeah! These books are great. I listened to them a while back and it always reminded me of the Catachan Jungle Fighters.
And I always 'knew' that this setting was the inspiration for the 40K Deathworlds such as Catachan (but that was the fun part; especially in the beginning 40K was like a repository of references to cool scifi originals to me, and I've found out about a lot of classics through 40K. Plus: recognizing references that I already knew was even more fun, and obviously braggable :D ).
I would really like to know of the references to the other scifi originals you're speaking of. If you remember any others, please post it!
To answer the original question in the post, no, I have not gamed Deathworld, but it would be a lot of fun!
We've used NPC monsters and such in games of Fist Full of Lead and basically set counters all over the table. When someone got within 6" or so (you could determine the best distance) the "counter" would be triggered and some baddie would bust out and attack. I could see this being done, for sure.
Also, the amount of creativity to be had with miniatures for this would be quite expansive. Lots of weird aliens and such.
I love it!
-
I just went and ordered the trilogy, because that's how I roll... lol
And Voivod; I've listened to a lot of those being turned into audiobooks on Youtube a while back, under the moniker 'Humans are Space Orks'; a perspective where we, ordinary humans, are considered the equivalent of orks because of the amount of damage we can take, poison we can eat and drink (voluntarily!), our proficiency in fighting and more. Highly entertaining, those. For once, we're not the weak, squishy targets of each and every cosmic horror out there; we ARE the cosmic horrors... :D
Deothar I've always said that any Vampire or werewolf would run a mile from us (humans I mean) because we can be far more evil (and good as well) than they could ever be. So maybe we are orks :o lol
-
I seem to recall that 40K 3rd edition had rules for fighting on deathworlds in the Catachan codex, including coming across beasties and aggressive flora... my copy is long gone, but may be of interest?
-
I still have the Catachan Codex, will have to go dig it up now and check that out.
-
I just found this Frazetta deadly jungle environment image, from the novel Beyond the Farthest Star*, which I have yet to read. I really need to make a few old-looking vines like these on my terrain:
(http://www.tarzan.org/art/ffeb37.jpg)
Check out these cool suggestions I found:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67fYTJ6e9a4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7-WThJaeGo&t=28s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViO0ZHK8EK0&t=9s
Dan
* https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0606081h.html
-
A decent Burroughs novel, but if you want to read the best of his stuff then it's the Mars Trilogy, Princess, Gods and the Warlord of Mars. The "At the Earth's Core" books were pretty decent too.
-
Yes. Pellucidar is definitely a brutal land.
Dan
PS. I’ll make it there one day:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/9593487@N07/albums/72157705635591075
-
I’ve thought about Deathworld as a setting, but never actually got around to it lol
Funnily enough, it popped back onto my “maybe” list the other day as I’m already making some jungle bases for an mesoamerican fantasy game.
-
Well I took a few minutes last night to check the Catachan codex, but regrettably, the mentioned reactive terrain is not in there. I do have some vague recollection of something akin to it, so my guess is they're in a White Dwarf and/or Chapter Approved article.
Must check those too then...
-
Someone refresh me again … what’s the premise behind the Catachan world? Thanks.
Dan
-
Basically the entire premise of the Deathworld book... :D
The entire world with its flora and fauna is out to kill its human settlers. Which results in a very hardy stock of humans.
-
Interesting thread.
I’ve yet to find a setting for my Sci-fi project and ‘reactive terrain’ sounds ideal) especially for solo games.
-
Basically the entire premise of the Deathworld book... :D
LOL. What a fortuitous “coincidence”! :)
Dan
-
Think I had deathworld 2 once ? He crash lands on an planet that’s bit tech backward , gets enslaved and has to wander a desert or arid countryside looking for a green shoot which you have to dig up ? He attacks the gang leader and goes looking for someone they barter with and gets captured again ? Can’t remember the rest apart from some people come looking for him and a wash he befriends gets taking with them ?
-
...I would really like to know of the references to the other scifi originals you're speaking of. If you remember any others, please post it!
40K is, by origin, the penultimate amalgam of a wide range of scifi and fantasy books, settings and what have you. There are way too many to simply list. Some are only oblique references, others are homages or even unashamed rip-offs. This has been evident since the Rogue Trader book that started it all.
To name but a few: the Emperor, the navigator gene and -houses were solidly based on Dune. Catachans are US marines in Vietnam (in space). They even have a special character called Sly Marbo; I'll let you fill in that reference yourself :D
Imperial Terra has definite similarities with Trantor from the Foundation series (and some aspects of the Emperor and terran bureaucracy and organisation got clues from it as well). Tyranids/Genestealers obviously are a direct nod to the Aliens franchise, and Arbites are 2000AD Judges in 40K.
The fall of the legions during the Horus Heresy, with Horus as the greatest of the Emperor's sons is analogue to the fall from grace of Lucifer in the bible. Also; all legions/chapters are based on some aspect of mythology or historical culture.
Space Marines were of course also heavily influenced by Heinlein's Starship Troopers.
And there are thousands more; just open up any codex, rulebook or novel and you'll be innundated with nods, references and appropriations.
Sometimes you'll recognize them because you know the material that inspirated the writers, and other times, you unexpectedly get educated on some link that you never knew existed (like me in this thread, with this Deathworld reference) :)
I always find it fun to spot the references, and except some truly blatant, in-your-face rip-offs, they usually fit into the overall narrative pretty well; it's one of the charms of 40K to me, to be honest...
-
Interesting recomendation!
-
A description of the planet, from the novel itself:
"Mankind doesn't belong on Pyrrus—yet has been there for almost three hundred years now. The age expectancy of my people is sixteen years. Of course most adults live beyond that, but the high child mortality brings the average down. … It is everything that a humanoid world should not be. The gravity is nearly twice Earth normal. The temperature can vary daily from arctic to tropic. The climate—well you have to experience it to believe it. Like nothing you've seen anywhere else in the galaxy."
"The planet has an axial tilt of almost forty-two degrees, so there is a tremendous change in temperature from season to season. This is one of the prime causes of a constantly changing icecap. The weather generated by this is spectacular to say the least."
"That's not all—it's barely the beginning. The open seas perform the dual destructive function of supplying water vapor to keep the weather going, and building up gigantic tides. Pyrrus' two satellites, Samas and Bessos, combine at times to pull the oceans up into thirty meter tides. And until you've seen one of these tides lap over into an active volcano you've seen nothing.”
"Heavy elements are what brought us to Pyrrus—and these same elements keep the planet at a volcanic boil. There have been at least thirteen super-novas in the immediate stellar neighborhood. Heavy elements can be found on most of their planets of course—as well as completely unbreathable atmospheres. Long-term mining and exploitation can't be done by anything but a self-sustaining colony. Which meant Pyrrus. Where the radioactive elements are locked in the planetary core, surrounded by a shell of lighter ones. While this allows for the atmosphere men need, it also provides unceasing volcanic activity as the molten plasma forces its way to the surface."
For the first time Jason was silent. Trying to imagine what life could be like on a planet constantly at war with itself.
"I've saved the best for last," Kerk said with grim humor. "Now that you have an idea of what the environment is like—think of the kind of life forms that would populate it. I doubt if there is one off-world species that would live a minute. Plants and animals on Pyrrus are tough. They fight the world and they fight each other. Hundreds of thousands of years of genetic weeding-out have produced things that would give even an electronic brain nightmares. Armor-plated, poisonous, claw-tipped and fanged-mouthed. That describes everything that walks, flaps or just sits and grows. Ever see a plant with teeth—that bite? I don't think you want to. You'd have to be on Pyrrus and that means you would be dead within seconds of leaving the ship. Even I'll have to take a refresher course before I'll be able to go outside the landing buildings. The unending war for survival keeps the life forms competing and changing. Death is simple, but the ways of dealing it too numerous to list."
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/28346/28346-h/28346-h.htm
Dan
-
Three of my favourite Sci fi novels, Deathworld 2 and 3 have totally different flavours to the original while keeping the primary characters.
Deathworld 3 would make a great Sci fi meets low fantasy setting I reckon.
Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat stories are a good read too, much more tongue in cheek though.
-
Deathworld 3 would make a great Sci fi meets low fantasy setting I reckon.
Is that the one with gangs fighting over little strips of beach? Or is that #2?
Dan
-
Is that the one with gangs fighting over little strips of beach? Or is that #2?
Dan
2 is the one where Jason travels along the beach at the start, 3 is a world a little like Mongolia and a Ghengis Khan like warlord.
-
Thanks, Spinal Tap!
Dan
-
Update
Just came across these two videos. I hope they inspire sculptors and gamers alike:
https://youtu.be/0HqsBr1QwqE
https://youtu.be/SoMZ8TuYWKE
Enjoy!
Dan
PS. I’m not quite sure why the fist part was disabled but not the second one. Sorry about that.
-
Apologies for my having missed 40k references above, but can we agree genestealers probably owe much to Alien, No One Can... and Necrons to Terminator? Though maybe in strange sense Berserker by Saberhagen.
Before current IP wars, re-using rifts in music and ideas in scientific romance, sorry, VSF is showing, SCI-FI, is just what you did
I do remember semi-regular 40k death world events at a local store last millennium were a scream. Right there with 40k deathraces...
Doug
-
That brings back dim and distant memories.
-
That brings back dim and distant memories.
Must be nice to have any other kind... lol
Doug