
-Havard
The problem with novels is that the publisher, rather than the author, usually designs the covers and the covers get rebooted a lot. I found this version of the same book:
Sure, fans can call it Barsoom or the world of John Carter or anything else. And the forum tag for the topics was "[Barsoom]" and "[Barsoom]" is a better tag than "[John Carter of Mars}" because "John Carter" (let alone "John Carter of Mars") is too long. But if we are going to use the logo from a Barsoom-based roleplaying game, and the roleplaying games have "John Carter" in the name, then it is more logical to go with brand awareness. (This is why I started up another topic: "[Barsoom] How many John Carter of Mars RPGs are there?". That is going to let me get a full list of actual roleplaying games, so we can review the logos of those games and see if any of them have better "brand identity" than the RPG that came out recently.)Falconer wrote: ↑Wed Sep 12, 2018 5:35 amTo be honest, I do fall in the camp that “John Carter” is a lousy name for the franchise. I don’t know all the details, but from what I know, the Burroughs estate insists on all its licensees using “John Carter” in the title of their products. The books are in the public domain, but the estate owns the trademark “John Carter” and sues the pants off anyone doing anything Barsoom-related. (I think this forum is safe, though!) My point is I think fans can call it whatever they want.
It does look pretty good.
Thanks Angel.
I would prefer to use a logo from a roleplaying product, if possible (as it helps get across the fact that this is a roleplaying forum for Barsoom/John Carter, rather than a generic forum about that world). But if we go for a non-roleplaying product, it does look like A Guide to Barsoom is a popular book.
So... shall we go with this?
I like the John Carter of Mars logo from the RPG. However, I don't care of the lack of the "of Mars" portion of the logo in the one that Big Mac found and Angel Tarragon was kind enough to resize. Also, the subtitle "the roleplaying game" is so small, it's illegible.
I can see that, eventually, this is the one that was adopted!
Thanks for making that Tim.
That's a cool logo and I've tagged plenty of topics with "[Barsoom]" myself, and I tried to find a commercial RPG product with the word Barsoom in the title, but could not.Falconer wrote: ↑Sat Oct 06, 2018 5:43 pmJust logging my continued preference for this:
It’s not an official logo, but it’s attractive, easy to read, and economically conveys what it is. It’s the right color palette (sand, red planet, space).
I understand the desire for an “official logo”, especially one associated with a RPG, but the other thing really is pretty generic and not a very good logo for our purposes. As I’ve explained before, “John Carter” is what the Burroughs Estate insists its licensees use, because that’s what they have trademarked. But “Barsoom” is what the gaming community (even on this board, but going back at least as far as the Diplomacy variants scene of the 60s) has always used for gaming on the planet, because it’s about more than just the one character (even in the novels—many of which don’t feature John except as maybe a cameo), it’s got cool flavor, and it’s economical (“Mars” needs a qualifier).
Finally, unlike other worlds which have a long tradition of licensed RPG products (or originating as RPG products), Barsoom has a much different history—almost entirely dominated by fan/homebrew efforts. So I think a departure from the usual policy/preference for official logos can be considered appropriate.
Well, I’ve made my case, but I’m fine with whatever everyone else wants.
If this forum had been set up several years back, as a forum for homebrew rules for Barsoom, that logo totally would have been chosen.
I'm glad I could be of assistance.