John Carter of Mars

2d20 Goes to Mars
"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 & DRAGONS to their taste. But those whose imaginations know no bounds will find that these rules are the answer to their prayers. With this last bit of advice we invite you to read on and enjoy a “world” where the fantastic is fact and magic really works!" These words are written by E. Gary Gygax in his 1973 Foreword to Men & Magic, Volume I of the original Little Brown Books. Forty-six years later the hobby that began with Mr. Gygax and Mr. Arneson has grown immensely and has arguably changed popular culture. Today we have a new fantasy roleplaying game published by Modiphius Entertainment titled John Carter of Mars.
Adventure is at the core of Edgar Rice Burroughs' popular novels and Modiphius' roleplaying game aims for that same target with John Carter of Mars. Set on Mr. Burroughs' version of Mars which he called Barsoom, John Carter of Mars includes many of the original troupes E.R. Burroughs created for his Martian world, green four armed giants, red martians, great white apes, flying ships, subterranean tunnels and diabolic plots.
The 2d20 system is Modiphius Entertainment's go-to mechanic and has previously powered their Star Trek and Conan games. The 2d20 engine is adjusted slightly in each of Modiphius' games to better reflect the genre and character in each setting, but essentially it consists of rolling 2d20 (or more) and looking for success against a target number. Multiple successes are possible with success past one adding "momentum" for future use to increase damage or to give players extra d20s in future rolls. Extra d20s may be purchased by players at the cost of giving the referee "threat" which can then be used by the referee/narrator to allow the NPCs to act before the characters or to introduce reinforcements or ambushes into a combat.
Obviously a game like John Carter of Mars contains not only chargen and encounter rules, but setting material as well. E.R. Burroughs' red planet is well known to many fans of fantastic adventure fiction. Mr. Burroughs practically invented the planet fantasy genre of science fiction with publication of the first John Carter novel, A Princess of Mars. John Carter of Mars allows one to play the iconic J.C., or another earth human transported to Mars, or a red martian, or a green martian, and so on.
Modiphius' 2d20 system uses d20 and d6 dice, although the latter have a unique game interpretation. They are called "damage dice" and one reads a score of 1 or 2 as 1 or 2 points of damage respectively. Scores of 3 or 4 are counted as zero, 5 and 6 as 1 point. A 6 gives a special result such as by-passing armor in addition to scoring damage. A score of a twenty on the d20 roll allows the referee/narrator to introduce a complication and players have a "luck" pool they can use to perhaps get them out of a tight spot. The Modiphius 2d20 system is a game engine that supports heroic play and although I just received my copy and have not yet brought it to the game table, I anticipate Modiphius' John Carter of Mars to give us many heroic adventures.