8.2 /10 1 Votes
Designer(s) Marcus L. Rowland System(s) Custom | 4.1/5 DriveThruRPG Publication date 2003 Originally published 1 December 2003 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Publisher(s) Heliograph Incorporated Genre(s) Comic historical fantasy Similar Marcus Rowland books, Other books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Diana: Warrior Princess is an indie role-playing game written by Marcus Rowland and initially published by Heliograph Incorporated, based on an article describing the setting which originally appeared in Valkyrie magazine. It is distributed as a PDF via Steve Jackson Games. It describes a fictionalised version of the twentieth century as it might be seen a few thousand years from now.
Contents
Setting
The game is a parody of Xena: Warrior Princess, and its setting tries to portray the present day with the same level of accuracy that Xena portrays Ancient Greece – i.e. not much. Historical figures are distorted and confused with each other. Diana, Princess of Wales rides around in shining white motorcycle leathers on a semi-sentient motorcycle, doing battle with the war-god, Landmines, and "Bonnie Prince" Charlie, from whom she took her mystic powers of royalty.
Diana is aided by Fergie, the barbarian "Red Ken" and "Wild Bill" Gates, while Tony the Vampire Slayer battles the sorceress Thatcher and her masked assassin Archer. The milieu also includes figures who lived before the twentieth century such as Emperor Norton, Queen Victoria and the "disease" lepus (described as a scriptwriting error since lepus is actually a reference to rabbits and not leprosy as the scriptwriter intended)
Expansions
There is one supplement, entitled Elvis: the Legendary Tours, published as a PDF only. Set in the same world as Diana: Warrior Princess but focusing on the United States, it describes the exploits of the legendary bard Elvis (no surname is given) and his attempts to return home to the magical Land of Grace, which is currently ruled by his evil brother Abbot Costello. He is aided in this quest by the "Mystic Power of Music" and companions including barbarian bass player John Lenin, guitarist 'Senator' Joe McCartney, mystic roadie Bob 'The Builder' Marley, frontier law-woman and medic Billie 'Doc' Holliday, and martial artist and shaman Jean Claude Van Halen. The setting is an anachronistic America split into several rival states; Norton's Empire (ruled by Emperor Norton), Martin Luther's kingdom (a theocracy) and a military dictatorship run by demagogue Uncle Sam and his so-called sons, nephews, and other lieutenants; other areas include Indian Territory (complete with Sikhs and elephants) and dozens of small kingdoms and independent states.
Elvis: The Legendary Tours was one of several spin-off series mentioned in the original game; others included Parton: Lust For Glory, a military adventure series; Toni the Vampire Slayer, in which teenager Toni Blair fought the undead; Gandhi's Angels, a martial arts detective series; and Richard of Hollywood, a Robin Hood parody in which Richard Nixon battles the evil Uncle Sam. In a LiveJournal entry Rowland stated that he does not plan to write Parton: Lust For Glory; the other settings were not mentioned. Subsequent entries have included a cover design for Gandhi's Angels, and more recently several entries discussing Fanfic: The Role-Playing Game, a possible future project based on a variant of the Diana: Warrior Princess rules.