John Carter, Warlord of Mars (role-playing game)

John Carter, Warlord of Mars is a tabletop role playing game designed by Michael S. Matheny and published by Heritage Models in 1978 as a sixty four page rulebook illustrated by Russ Manning. It adapts the Barsoom novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs into a science fantasy ruleset set on a version of Mars ruled by rival humanoid warrior races who settle disputes with sword and gun rather than modern firearms alone. The system was built primarily to support Heritage Models' own line of Barsoomian miniature figures, so its core mechanics emphasize miniatures based combat between individual fighters and small forces rather than freeform storytelling, though it layers role playing elements on top of the combat rules so a game master can run adventures drawn from the novels. Reviewers noted the game captured much of the flavor of Burroughs' Mars but left out the flying vehicles that are central to the source fiction, and criticized the rulebook's organization and editing even while praising its entertaining prose, leaving newcomers to the setting with a steeper learning curve than the writing style alone suggested.