#Sword and planet

[omercifulheaves]

Dejah Thoris Art by William Stout

[vintagegeekculture]

Marcus Boas’s paintings of Leigh Brackett’s “Lorelei of the Red Mists.” 

Just like comic book fans tend to start, when young, with Archie Comics, then move on to Superman and Batman, and then, finally, challenging books like X-Men and Daredevil in their early teens, Sword & Planet devotees usually start by reading John Carter of Mars around 8-13, then in their teen years, get into the moodier, darker and atmospheric Leigh Brackett and L. Sprague de Camp. 

[would-they-listen-to-that]

Could I get a selfship playlist with Mermista from She-Ra and the Princesses Of Power?

‧₊˚🖇️✩ ₊˚🎧⊹♡ here you go, caller! RAAAAH MERMAID SUPREMACY!!!!

Where We Belong - Kate Alexa

Mermaid - Skott

Swimming - Florence + the Machine

True Love - P!nk ft. Lily Allen

Heart Attack - Demi Lovato

I Think I'm in Love - Kat Dahlia

If U Seek Amy - Britney Spears

First Love/Late Spring - Mitski

You were Meant for Me - Jewel

Lovers Lane - Elizabeth Mitchell

thanks for dialing in!

[technician-the]

My 3d remake of the cover of C. J Cherryh's Gates of Ivrel, originally painted by Micheal Whelan. This cover is from the original 1976 yellow spine edition. I modeled it from the cover of my copy, which is actually the 1980s reprint, with slightly different text that covers more of the image.

I find it ironic how little the seemingly warm, desert like environment of the painting corresponds with the cold, wintry setting of the book.

but at the same time I think it does capture something about the characters and the story. the looming nature of the gate, and the dramatic unsheathing of Morgaine's sword are both import features of the novel.

the covers became more accurate as the series went on, but IMO they also became less interesting.

This is made in blender, with texture painting in substance painter.

[victusinveritas]

Since Corben's first painting for the cover of Den was rejected (due to the nudity), he painted this second one, which became the one that was used as cover art. To get around the censorship, he gave the woman who is featured inside green skin resembling body make up.

Why Michael Chiklis is beating a crocodile guy to the point where CTE will definitely be a problem later is irrelevant.

[mysticforge]

Sketchbook Dino-rider! Having fun, learning a lot!

[wuxiaphoenix]

Worldbuilding: Catgirl Sword and Planet

I should blame Flash Gordon for this. Though I hope to write something more along the lines of Andre Norton’s interstellar works, or Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars; a story where  rayguns, spaceships, and psionic powers make each planet uniquely fair and perilous. Or, again, possibly along the lines of “Bride of Chaotica”. Because that was fun.

But at the moment I’m blaming Flash Gordon (1936). Not to diss anyone’s childhood fun. If there weren’t some fun stuff in it I wouldn’t keep watching even 20-minute episodes. And yet....

And yet. Well. I think I’ve finally tracked down part of my grumps to, “Why can’t this have as coherent a plot and characters as Tarzan or Conan? They were comics too!”

Which is, honestly, unfair. First, those two were made into comic books, not weekly newspaper serials. I grant you Prince Valiant was amazingly coherent over long periods of time, but it’s more like expecting Garfield to have a long-running tight plot.

Second - Tarzan and Conan were books first. Of course their writers had to be more organized, or readers would have wandered off after the third Mad Science Plot Device.

(So many in Flash Gordon. So many.)

Meaning I’m frustrated because I keep expecting it to be something it’s really, really not. Probably made worse in growing up with Doctor Who; now there was a serial that had well-written characters!

But I’m also frustrated because there are elements in it that’d be fascinating in another setting. Lion-men, shark-men, bird-men! Flying and underwater cities. Horrific monsters, uncanny science, and unashamedly Evil Overlords. Elements, in fact, that would work splendidly in the Sword and Planet subgenre of SF. If that doesn’t ring a bell, consider that it includes much of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ books (the Barsoom series being best known, I recc’ the movie John Carter of Mars). I would also fit many of Andre Norton’s books in here; The Beast Master, Lord of Thunder, and Catseye in particular.

A catgirl native to a Sword and Planet setting could be interesting indeed. And the genre already allows for isekai’d heroes in it!

At the moment bunnies are leaning toward a group isekai of some kind. With at least one guy expecting it to go to formula (harems, power leveling, etc.) and a more sane guy who ends up teaming up with the catgirl and being a valiant hero. Possibly also a birdman in the group, Because.

Sword and Planet also has a heavy emphasis on exotic cultures (yay costumes!), hand-to-hand combat with Weird Powers (psychic, qi manipulation, any way you slice it wuxia stunts are possible), and on-planet adventures in cities and wild alike. No boring interstellar trips here!

I don’t yet have any solid ideas what the Sane Guy should be like or how they all got there, outside of considering him as Swordsman to the catgirl’s Sorceress. Meaning I need to figure out how he could know or learn swordfighting when I think he starts as a more average guy....

Anyway. Getting some thoughts down so that when another project isn’t eating my brain, I might tackle this one. As well as Druid. And Hunted by Unicorns. And....

Drat. Must write faster.

[figcatlists]

Sword and sorcery, planetary romance, and Dying Earth books

A list of classic pulp fantasy books in the vein of Conan, John Carter of Mars, and Cugel the Clever, as well as later novels and stories that expand on or subvert their tropes. For more information and useful links, check out the full version of this list. Come for book recommendations, stay for vintage cover art!

Many of these books were cited as inspirations for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons by Gary Gygax in the famous Appendix N and are still popular among fantasy RPG players.

[shelandsorcery]

Summon the strength of millenniums past

Forged by the fire and flame

I am the weapon of empires vast

Immortal is more than a name

12 x 16" mixed media on 300gsm paper; pencil, watercolour, pencil crayon (aka coloured pencil), and workable fixative to seal and rework and seal again.

[kckramer]

Also what are the names of your short stories? I wanna read em

Yeah! So, my one short story is "Sofia Serrento's Flying Circus and the Sky Pirates of Shanghai," which is published in the anthology Hell Hath No Fury: New Pulp Heroines. The other one is titled "The Godkings' Tomb," and it is published in Broadswords and Blasters Presents...Futures That Never Were. These and my standalone 5e adventure can be found linked here

[dynasoar5]

tanah drawings 2021

[omercifulheaves]

Thuvia, Maid of Mars Art by William Stout

[jack-of-crowns]

'And We Are Not Going Back' by @jack-of-crowns

We still remember them; though those memories will not reach this hallowed darkness for countless aeons yet to come, yet we still remember them well. Was is not written of Yusuf that the eleven would turn upon him, casting their own brethren into a pit so that they themselves could bask in the radiance of the brightest stars, ever remaining heedless of the prophet who had been set amongst them?

So it has been, ever since the rest of Jinn-kind chased us from the morning realms with all the fiery fury of a quasar, burning out every last trace of our existence behind us in their incandescent wrath as we fell starless into the unfathomable pits of Sheol. But there was yet one last beacon, there amongst the roaring maelstrom of foundering suns; the Presence of which no sensor could ever detect entered into our many minds and gave us the way.

Qeral comes up behind them then, slips an arm around Albot's degenerate iron torso, interlaces her fingers through the pensive digits of a restless hand. "Come to my chambers when your reverie is done," she murmurs to them, but their psions are fixed upon the dark waves of Shadow lapping upon the castle's hull with the asynchronous caress of chaos, searching for any signal that a memory too terrible to recall has betrayed its ghost upon the event horizon of this, their farthest sanctuary and refuge.

The sorceress simply clasps them that much tighter, willing her essence into the Hench with all the beautiful darkness she can conjure, smoothing the bubbles of Rydberg constants boiling within their network like the frothy crest of a rogue wave being dissipated into the endless expanse of the sea.

"Even if they come for us out here," she whispers reassuringly, "they will never be able to catch up to where we will be when they get as far as where we have been. It's a simple principle of the continuum after all; one can never outrun one's future- at least by traveling within the limits of electromagnetism."

Albot's physical and psychic tension seems to ease at her ministrations, and they gaze down at their mistress with the calmness that has come from the banishment of those long-past fears, for not all forgetfulness is a harbinger of sorrows yet to come. "You are correct, as always," they reply, as the two of them retire together. "They will never come for us, and even the optical echoes of their reign of terror will never reach us out this far, galaxies away. We have found our place in Allternity, and here we stay."

"And we are not going back."

[would-they-listen-to-that]

Omg I WOULD LOVE TO DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS THE PLAYLIST THING IS SUCH A COOL IDEA UHHH COULD YOU DO

Double Trouble (2018 shera) x oc 💚💚💚

I hope I did this right, XDDD

‧₊˚🖇️✩ ₊˚🎧⊹♡ thank you! yep, you're doing it right! here you go, caller!

Toxic - Britney Spears

Everybody Loves Me - OneRepublic

Girls in Bikinis - Poppy

Baby Hotline - Jack Stauber

Hit and Run - LOLO

Cannibal - Kesha

space girl - Frances Forever

Animal - Neon Trees

Photo ID - Remi Wolf

Oops! ... I Did It Again - Britney Spears

thanks for dialing in!

[schlock-luster-video]

On December 30, 1983, Krull debuted in Ireland.

Here's some new art inspired by the sword and planet classic!

[keftiu]

threw together an alternate/supplemental setting for 194X, my 24XX pulp game! it's a really fun challenge to feel evocative enough in a single page - i have a tendency to go long, so the constraints are actually handy!

Princex of the Stardust Sea is my homage to the crazy sword-and-planet adventures of the pulp heyday (but with less of the rancid worldview), and there's also a heavy dose of sky pirate vibes in this one. i'm pretty proud of it! just needs another piece or two of Gear, or maybe a mission generator, to feel complete.