Pellucidar

[Eccentric Cowboy]

Any other fellow Pellucidar fans out there? Speaking personally it's my favorite Edgar Rice Burroughs series. None of the others quite nail that primeval/savage lost land vibe that Pellucidar has. I positively adore the world building in it. It's a place I'd actually want to visit! Although in comparison to Tarzan and John Carter I always felt like David Innes was kind of lacking. He never really felt like he was up to the challenges of that world.

Man, it would be pretty epic to have a game placed in that setting! Any other takers? I know you guys are out there.

[Commander Roj]

Read all of John Carter, but never read Pellucidar. I've only seen the film version. I really should read them sometime. Warlords "Savage Core" seems to have a strong Pellucidar influence, but there aren't any rules yet. I've been tempted by John Carter, but the figures are a bit sparse and I don't generally do 28mm. Perhaps I should read the books first.

[BugPope]

Somehow, I've never heard of these books. Which is weird, because I'm a huge fan of Tarzan, hollow earth adventures and prehistoric worlds. So I have to check it out.

[olyreed]

I recently read At the Earths Core and will be buying the other books as I would like to wargame them, I am thinking of using 7tv as my rule system, savage core minis look ideal, as well as Antedelluvian minis

[BugPope]

Read the wikipedia article on the setting, and had one of those moments when I find out that a well known book published a hundred years ago used an idea that's really, really close to something I came up with on my own, so now I can't use that idea without it looking like I'm ripping it off. Specifically the concept that time flows at different speeds in different parts of Pellucidar, which was something I was gonna do with my own hollow earth setting as an explanation why cavemen, dinosaurs, Victorians, samurai and WW1 veterans are interacting with each other. I guess I can still do that, but it's still annoying when that happens.

[Andrew_McGuire]

Your experience seems to prove the validity of the concept, and not only in Pellucidar.

[Menelduir]

Somehow, I've never heard of these books. Which is weird, because I'm a huge fan of Tarzan, hollow earth adventures and prehistoric worlds. So I have to check it out.

Amusing too because one of the books is Tarzan at the Earth's Core! 

I liked all the Burroughs stuff, favorites are Barsoom (Mars), Amtor (Venus) and of course Pellucidar.
Plan to visit Pellucidar, I already have a tunneling machine courtesy of Ironclad miniatures, and of course plenty of dinosaurs.

Time was also abstracted in that Burroughs explored the idea that time would seem move faster or slower depending on the activities being performed. There is no time as such, so not just fragments of time pockets, all things exist in the moment. As an extreme example you could take a long journey (geographically) and when you return someone might think you had just left...  

If I remember correctly, and we are going back decades, there were examples of interactions between, David Innes and Abner Perry that demonstrate this idea.

[Eccentric Cowboy]

Actually BugPope, I'd say go for it anyway. As a writer myself, no idea is 100% original. I understand the fear of being seen as ripping things off, but if you write something well enough most people won't care too much. Just try to make it your own and do the best you can with it. Heck, I'd read the series you're thinking about!
As for the time thing, it's much more about the perception of time rather than it flowing differently. In Pellucidar there is one sun eternally shining at the very center, and thus there is no night. Without that night and day cycle there is no real method of recording time, and thus to the perceptions of the protagonists it can feel like hours or months have gone by, depending on the actions they've been doing. So if you're dealing with time warps or rifts, you still have a pretty good opportunity to exploit.

I've still yet to read the Venus stories, what with my reading que filled to the brim, but I should give it a shot. How does it compare to the Barsoom stories?

Oh! And here is a game I wish I could play. https://www.exilegames.com/index.php/products/product/17-hollow-earth-expedition-core-rulebook-6-x9
Hmmmm, feels somewhat familiar, doesn't it? 

[BugPope]

Reading it now (public domain is great). I get that it's from 1915, but the weird focus on the shape of every character's skull is still creeping me out a bit. On the other hand there's psychic pterodactyl people and giant sloth fights, which is pretty sweet.

[d phipps]

Any other fellow Pellucidar fans out there? Speaking personally it's my favorite Edgar Rice Burroughs series. None of the others quite nail that primeval/savage lost land vibe that Pellucidar has. I positively adore the world building in it. It's a place I'd actually want to visit! Although in comparison to Tarzan and John Carter I always felt like David Innes was kind of lacking. He never really felt like he was up to the challenges of that world.

Man, it would be pretty epic to have a game placed in that setting! Any other takers? I know you guys are out there.

We have played a lot of Pellucidar scenarios with our Pulp Alley rules. Lots of fun. And our feel like our Lemuria campaign has some similarities to Pellucidar. Antediluvian Miniatures have some perfect figures for these characters.

Personally, I like the David Innes character. I think he feels more "normal" and that makes him a little more relatable at times.

... There is no time as such, so not just fragments of time pockets, all things exist in the moment. As an extreme example you could take a long journey (geographically) and when you return someone might think you had just left... 

If I remember correctly, and we are going back decades, there were examples of interactions between, David Innes and Abner Perry that demonstrate this idea.

Ayup, David and Perry discuss this idea when he returns to Phutra in Chapter 10. David thinks he has been away for many months but Perry thinks they had only been separated for a couple hours. 

[Eccentric Cowboy]

Way to go BugPope! Public Domain is pretty awesome these days! And I sorta know what you mean about the skull thing. At the time eugenics was all the rage and skull shape and size was considered a big indicator of someone's position on the evolutionary ladder. ... Although now that I think about it, that doesn't make it seem any less creepy at all. XD

I can get how David would seem more grounding to some. I'm an extreme escapist, so naturally the guys like Tarzan appeal to me more. Although I AM glad that David actually bought a crapload of firearms and ammunition for his return trip in the sequel. Forethought for the win!

Indeed phipps! David was running around, getting chased by giant amphibians, traveling to an island, meeting new people, and generally having a very lively time. Perry was just sitting and reading a book. I've noticed that time seems to expand when one is engaging in lots of adventurous physical activity. A week in town doing your daily grind and everything seems to breeze by. But when you spend a week camping with rapid changes in weather, lots of close calls and exciting events it seems like a lot longer. I suspect that the brain also measures time in terms of events, which would definitely make the adventurous lifestyle seem like it would take longer.

Care to share any stories d phipps? I can only imagine the fun sessions you must have had in the Pellucidar setting! That's the only place where you can have old pirates fighting against psychic pteranodons and guys riding on apatosaurs!

[DivisMal]

I would absolutely love to game in Pellucidar!

Only problem I see is the (really) excellent 28mm models available from Warlords and Antediluvian M. Wait why is that a problem you ask? Because I habe sworn not to invest into yet another 28mm project for which I have neither the time nor the money.

Ive been tinkering with 15mm Pellucidar though and collected some good stuff from Khurasan and Brigand, Neanderthals from Copplestone (picts) and various other producers. Highlander makes an excellent Tarzan by the way for cross-universe ERB games!
And of course 15mm is IMO the only way to go with all the Dinos necessary for the tabletop!

[warrenpeace]

I remember finding ERB's Pellucidar books exciting when I was a teenager, along with the Tarzan, Mars, and Venus series. Tried reading those again in recent years and realized how bad the writing was. Maybe when I was a teenager it was just the excitement of the book covers! But the imagination involved in those books was great. Pellucidar is a perfectly fine topic for Pulp gaming. You can even get there via a Zeppelin!

[Eccentric Cowboy]

ERB definitely had his strengths and weaknesses. I first came across him as a teen and loved his stuff to death. As I got older it started to slip though and I noticed a lot of chinks in the armor of his writing. But now I'm starting to come up again as I see some of the subtlety in his craft. And no, that last part wasn't meant to make you laugh out loud.
Yes, his dialogue is often flat and a lot of characters can kinda blend. A lot of contrivance is required for some parts of the plot to work and a lot of stories meander without direction and his style doesn't have the flair of other writers. Even so he's great at explaining the mindsets of characters, why they act the way they do. The thought processes are actually quite amazing and make what would normally seem like completely contradictory actions make sense. The worldbuilding is first rate and I'm continually awed by how detailed and realistic they are without slowing down the pace.
In one Tarzan story, Tarzan the Terrible I think it was, he actually gave some great religious commentary without seeming condescending or heavy handed, and I say this as a religious person. That takes some doing.

Back to Pellucidar though, I would kill to participate in a game with its theme! A campaign like that could cover the length and breadth of that land and never seem dull. The possibilities are limitless. I really dig settings that feel like they're made for people to make their own adventures in.

[Cacique Caribe]

I've always been a huuuuuuuge fan of Pellucidar!  Say what you like about ERB and his writing style, he certainly had a way of transporting young minds to alternate worlds and cultures.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pellucidar

Frazetta's cover art helped, of course, though it was later in life that I discovered how much art Frazetta had done on the subject, specially drawings.

http://thegoldenagesite.blogspot.com/2015/08/frank-frazetta-tarzan-at-earths-core-by.html

http://thegoldenagesite.blogspot.com/search/label/Pellucidar





I was about to start reading them again, from the beginning of course (At The Earth's Core):

http://literature.org/authors/burroughs-edgar-rice/at-the-earths-core/

At the Earth's Core (1914)
Pellucidar (1915)
Tanar of Pellucidar (1929)
Tarzan at the Earth's Core (1929)
Back to the Stone Age (1937)
Land of Terror (1944)
Savage Pellucidar (1963)

D
http://www.pellucidar.org/#
http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=77268
http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=183734
http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=158712
http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=82928