Warriors Of Mars (game)
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''Warriors of Mars'' is a 1974 miniatures wargame rule book, written by
Gary Gygax Ernest Gary Gygax ( ; July 27, 1938 – March 4, 2008) was an American game designer and author best known for co-creating the pioneering tabletop role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') with Dave Arneson. In the 1960s, Gygax creat ...
and Brian Blume and published by Tactical Studies Rules. It simulates combat in the fantasy world of
Barsoom Barsoom is a fictional representation of the planet Mars created by American pulp fiction author Edgar Rice Burroughs. The first Barsoom tale was serialized as ''Under the Moons of Mars'' in pulp magazine '' The All-Story'' from February to Jul ...
, originally imagined by
Edgar Rice Burroughs Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American writer, best known for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres. Best known for creating the characters Tarzan (who appeared in ...
in his series of novels about
John Carter of Mars John Carter of Mars is a fictional Virginian soldier who acts as the initial protagonist of the Barsoom stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs. A veteran of the American Civil War, he is transported to the planet Mars, called Barsoom by its inhabit ...
. It is a 56-page booklet in the same style as the original ''Dungeons & Dragons'' books, even sharing the same artist Greg Bell.Steve Zieser
"Warriors of Mars"
''Iron Rationales'', August 28, 2010
Gygax and TSR published the rules without permission from Burroughs estate and soon after its release they issued a
cease and desist order A cease and desist letter is a document sent by one party, often a business, to warn another party that they believe the other party is committing an unlawful act, such as copyright infringement, and that they will take legal action if the other ...
and the game was pulled from distribution. Peterson notes that TSR never gave a reason for the lack of a reprint, but the claim from later sources, that TSR never had a license to make such a Barsoom spinoff work, is credible. Because only a few copies were sold the book is now rare and sells for a high price.James Maliszewski
"Retrospective: Warriors of Mars"
''Grognardia'', March 14, 2012.
The same year ''Warriors of Mars'' was published (and then un-published), Gygax published the first edition of ''Dungeons & Dragons'', where he paid homage to Burroughs in the last paragraph of the "Preface": :"Those wargamers who lack imagination, those who don't care for Burroughs' Martian adventures where John Carter is groping through black pits.. will not be likely to find DUNGEONS and DRAGONS to their taste."Gary Gygax, "Preface", ''Dungeons & Dragons'', first edition, 1974.


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* Miniature wargames Gary Gygax games TSR, Inc. games 1974 books Games and sports introduced in 1974 Barsoom {{wargame-stub