Mars shows less variation that Venus in pulp and old sci-fi sources. Still, not all Marses are alike, so you deserve your own unique yet very derivative one! Let the randomizing commence:
Basic Theme:
1-2 Dying - The world is desiccating and civilization is trying to stop it/adapt to it.
3-4 Worn Out - It lost the planet formation lottery and is a dried up, "failed earth." Civilization is of any sort
5-6 Doomed - The world is drying up, and civilization is too decadent to care.
Atmospheric Density:
1-2 Complete breathable
3-4 Anyone not from the Andes or Himalayas will need to acclimate
5-6 Earth folk need oxygen
Temperature:
1-2 Like Southern California
3-4 Gobi Desert Spring in the day, Gobi Desert winter at night
4-5 Artic Circle
Water?
1-2 Poles and canals only
3-4 Nothing above ground, no canals
5-6 Some shallow seasonal wetlands where once were mighty seas
Dying World Civilization:
1 Wise and Noble but tinged with Melancholy
2 Overly Cerebral
3 Passionate and Vibrant but Tradition-bound and/or Factionalized
4 Post-technological
5 Post-sophont
6 Only the Robots are Left
Decadent Civilization:
1 Atavistic; Fallen into Primitivism
2 Withered bodies, minds consumed with the distant and abstract
3 Devoted entirely to bloodsports and other dubious pleasures
4 Consumed by meaningless sectarian struggle
5 Enslaved by something
6 Destroyed by war, with few mutated survivors
What do Earthmen Want?
1 More room
2 Drug Tourism
3 Ancient Technology
4 Powers of the Mind
etc.
Woops! Found your random venus. Like them both.
ReplyDeleteAlistair also wrote (but I accidentally deleted):
ReplyDelete"Really nice, though i would’ve liked a bit more on the “what earthmen want”. Mainly because I’m not familiar enough with the genre. I’d consider rolling several times to generate regions. I’d also consider using this to generate multiple worlds for a science fantasy game. Its a really nice set of tables.
Have you done one for Venus or professor challenger “lost world” style locations?"
Thanks, Alistair. I purposely left the "What Earthmen Want" vague, so that it could be interpreted the way you saw fit. for the first one, I of course had in mind colonial expansion. For the second, I was thinking of shanga from Leigh Brackett's Mars stories like "The Beast Jewel of Mars." The third could apply to a lot of yarns, but I didn't have anything specific in mind. The fourth, was a vague reference to Dune and it's spice, and also Forbidden Planet. Neither take place on Mars, admittedly, but there is no reason why they couldn't.