I should have mentioned the John Carter of Mars - Adventures on The Dying World of Barsoom TTRPG by Modiphius. That's a significant adaptation of the John Carter public domain works mentioned in the article. Link: https://www.modiphius.net/en-us/collections/john-carter-of-mars
I love working with public domain art for my game designs but I haven't thought about using a public domain setting. As you call out there seem to be more risk using those works in an rpg but I'd be keen to pilfer those works for inspiration.
Think of it less as pilfering and more as breathing new life into the setting! :)
I think the biggest risk is accidentally including details that are from the movie that were not in the original work. You'd need to be intimately familiar with the original to know what is (and is not) in it that can be used as a derivative work.
I should have mentioned the John Carter of Mars - Adventures on The Dying World of Barsoom TTRPG by Modiphius. That's a significant adaptation of the John Carter public domain works mentioned in the article. Link: https://www.modiphius.net/en-us/collections/john-carter-of-mars
Also Pelgrane put out in 2019 or so a three-volume The Yellow King RPG using their Gumshoe system. https://pelgranepress.com/product/the-yellow-king-rpg/
Much of Lord Dunsany’s writing has likely entered the public domain. The Splatbook podcast had an episode about the short story “The Fortress Unvanquishable, Save for Sacnoth” https://www.thesplatbook.com/episodes/the-fortress-unvanquishable-save-for-sacnoth
Nice! Thank you!
I love working with public domain art for my game designs but I haven't thought about using a public domain setting. As you call out there seem to be more risk using those works in an rpg but I'd be keen to pilfer those works for inspiration.
Think of it less as pilfering and more as breathing new life into the setting! :)
I think the biggest risk is accidentally including details that are from the movie that were not in the original work. You'd need to be intimately familiar with the original to know what is (and is not) in it that can be used as a derivative work.