Thundarr the Barbarian

[D.Shaffer]

By gods, man, can't you see it too?

I've seen it for years. I think I've tried statting out Thundar and friends in every single game system I've played. It might be a cheesy cartoon in this day and age, but the settings were always what pulled me in. One of my favorite artifacts from the series? The aircraft carrier combined with giant logs to form a huge outrigger, armed with catapults launching old missiles!

Heck, Jack Kirby wrote the bible for the series. I'd love to get my hands on that.

 

[JVisgaitis]

"Lords of Light!"

I inquired about the rights to Thundarr long time ago when d20 Modern was kicking off. Not sure who had them, but for some reason they were in very high demand and very expensive. Not sure if someone was actually going to make a game based on it. Nothing that was on the d20 Modern list that I saw at the time anyway.

 

[Desdichado]

I don't have Apocalypse. What in it do you think is really good?

I haven't read it since it came out, so I can't remember off the top of my head. I remember thinking that there was a lot of stuff in there that could work in a Thundarr type game, though, so I've had that in the back of my head for some time.

You might want to dig up a review of it; it's got pretty good ones, and most of those reviews will give you a decent rundown of the contents.

 

[Desdichado]

Apparently there used to exist a GURPS supplement for this setting, but its pretty obscure. If I were going to run it, I would have to do crossovers with other cartoons like He-Man and Thundercats. And maybe, just maybe, Transformers. Do it all under the d20 banner, most of the stuff already exists. (Moks are half-orcs with cosmetic differences, the Thundercats can all be made as AU litorians and terrig, Slive is just a lizardman and Jackalman is just a gnoll.)

Uh... no thanks. Give me my Thundarr setting undiluted, thankyouverymuch. And I'd use the d20 Wookie stats to represent Moks myself, not half-orcs.

Hey, I'll admit that viewed with the cool eye of reason, the cartoon sort of sucked. Cheap, sub-Hanna-Barbera animation, a plot that was some sort of derivative Star Wars/Conan knock-off and no engaging storyline beyond "Man in Fur Vest fights this week's poorly animated Monster/Wizard", but I can see past all that. I can see a game where barbarians and sorcerers fight multi-eyed wizards and giant furry bat-snakes on the decks of a partially buried cruise ship in the middle of a post-apocalyptic desert. I can see a world where men are free and Moks roam wild. I can see a world where conflicts of survival and savagery, sacrifice and struggle are played out-- under a broken moon.

By gods, man, can't you see it too?

No doubt; it does. My brother just sent me some DVD-R's of the entire series; he recorded it on the Cartoon Network years ago and made me some copies--and yeah, the series blows. The animation isn't very good, the storylines are pretty cliched, and I get really annoyed by the juvenility (if that's a word) of it; the sunsword can cut any substance known to man--except flesh, for instance. HOWEVER, like you I can see beyond that and see a fascinating setting there that's hampered by animation techniques that have not aged well, and "pandering" to it's audience of little kids instead of reaching beyond them and being smart and exciting to adults. There's great ideas in the setting, just pretty lousy execution.

 

[Klaus]

Using d20 Modern + Urban Arcana + d20 Apocalypse:

Thundarr -> Strong Hero 3/Archaic Weaponsmaster X
Ariel -> Charismatic Hero 6/Mage X
Ookla the Mok -> Strong Hero 3/Tough Hero 3/Thrasher X with Goliath stats. His horse is a heavy warhorse with the Powerful Build quality.

 

[Son_of_Thunder]

Using d20 Modern + Urban Arcana + d20 Apocalypse:

Thundarr -> Strong Hero 3/Archaic Weaponsmaster X
Ariel -> Charismatic Hero 6/Mage X
Ookla the Mok -> Strong Hero 3/Tough Hero 3/Thrasher X with Goliath stats. His horse is a heavy warhorse with the Powerful Build quality.

Thanks Klaus,

I haven't got apocalypse yet, what of the above comes out of apoc?

 

[Klaus]

Thanks Klaus,

I haven't got apocalypse yet, what of the above comes out of apoc?

Nothing, actually. Apocalypse adds stuff like Radiation effects, additional Mutations (first introduced in d20 Future), a mechanic for scavenging ruined structures and for bartering, and for souping-up vehicles. It provides the setting rules more than the character chreation rules. Of those, Archaic Weaponsmaster and Thrasher come from Urban Arcana.

 

[D.Shaffer]

For what its worth, if you're sticking with straight D20, I almost think standard DnD works better. Thundar is mostly stock fantasy with the (more then occasional) high tech artifact that could be represented by standard magical items of one shape or form. You'd have to change the magic system around though as that's more comic booky.

Make the Thundarverse Sorceror a Warlock with alterate incantations and you wouldnt be too far off.

 

[Son_of_Thunder]

For what its worth, if you're sticking with straight D20, I almost think standard DnD works better. Thundar is mostly stock fantasy with the (more then occasional) high tech artifact that could be represented by standard magical items of one shape or form. You'd have to change the magic system around though as that's more comic booky.

Make the Thundarverse Sorceror a Warlock with alterate incantations and you wouldnt be too far off.

There is something to what you say. I will ponder upon it.

 

[DnDChick]

True20 would also be a good fit for a Thundarr style game, IMO. It's very easy to create new backgrounds and, with the role creation rules in the Companion, you can tinker with the Adept role to adjust it to suit the setting.

Here a version of Thundarr that I did for True20.