The Chronicles of Gor Indiegogo campaign is only about $800 short of its goal, and ends today. I’d urge everyone who is interested in swords-and-planet type settings to give it a look-see.
Yes, the Gor novels have a reputation for an ever-increasing focus on the slave and sex angle. But the earlier books are wonderful combinations of primitive cultures, advanced alien races and technologies, very intricate political maneuvering, and wonderfully detailed cultural descriptions.
I’ve been reading the books since high school and even I tend to skip over the “she knew herself to be a slave” bits. There’s still a ton of great adventure story in there. And, of course, as an RPG, you can tone down the slavery angle as much as you want.
The campaign is offering two books; a rulebook and a world book. So fans of RPGs will want both, and fans of the Gor books themselves might be content with the worldbook, which will function as a sort of Gorean encyclopedia. The art work looks decent, and the author has a track record, having won an Origins Award for the Munchkin’s Guide to Power Gaming. Worth checking out.
I've been rather surprised – perhaps naively so – at how this crowdfunding campaign hasn't been featured on any RPG news sites (at least not the ones I visit). It's rather disheartening.
Hopefully, this will reach its goal in the remaining time.
I had to reread this twice and go to the link. Gor? Ye gods, I really hope that the authors of the RPG don't follow John Norman's writing style.
It occurs to me that this means the old IRC channel "Silk & Steel Tavern" will have a far different feel in the future, if this takes off.
Given that it's been around since 1966, it is a bit surprising that it's not more popular. I realize that it's very un-PC, but at the time those weren't really considerations. It really is a part of sci-fi/fantasy history, even if it's unfashionable in some quarters in today's world.
It's about $350 short of goal right now. But because it's Indiegogo (and he gets the money anyway), I would say that won't stop the project from proceeding largely as planned.