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.
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
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.