Yellow Sign
Explorer
Seeing that I have the time and the inclination, I have decided to start a Space:1889 game. For those who don't know Space: 1889 is a Victorian era science fiction role playing game that takes place in an alternate universe that more resembles the worlds of Jules Verne and Edgar Rice Burroughs than it does our own. Thus, Mars is a planet populated by ancient races who built a network of canals in an attempt to save their civilization from the encroaching desert. In the universe of Space: 1889, the Canal Martians live in the remnants of their once proud cities while fighting off their barbarous cousins who live in the steppes and high plateaus of the Red Planet. The Moon is honeycombed with caverns where the insectile Selenites hide their secrets. And Venus is a planet-wide swamp full of dinosaurs and primitive amphibious natives. When Thomas Edison invents a space drive, the Æther Propeller, he opens these strange worlds to the imperial nations of Earth and a wave of interplanetary colonization quickly follows.
Mars is a dry planet crisscrossed by canals, bringing the scarce water of the polar caps to the dry seabed. Over the centuries, Martian civilization has declined from the great days of the Canal Builders and now exists at a level roughly equivalent to Earth in the 17th Century.
Beginning in the 1870s, the colonial powers of Earth have used Ether-Flyers to extend their dominions to other planets. The most ambitious imperialist on Mars have been the British and the Belgians. Britain controls Syrtis Major, the richest city on Mars and is engaged with an ongoing war with the militaristic Oenotrian Empire. The Belgian Coprates Company conquered the great Coprates Rift Valley with an army of mercenaries and now ruthlessly exploits the region.
The most valuable resource on Mars is the incredible Liftwood tree. This plant grows only in the remote mountains, guarded by the savage, flying High Martians. When properly cut and cured, liftwood can be used to build ships that float in the air. Earth's Great Powers are scrambling to obtain supplies of liftwood, to keep up in the new aerial naval race that has begun.
The British sent expeditions to Venus as early as 1873, using Armstrong Æther Flyers, but the first expedition to return from the cloud-shrouded planet was the German-backed Heidelberg expedition of 1879-80. They discovered the few survivors from the earlier expeditions who had been marooned when the unique magnetic field of Venus caused the liftwood of their flyers to decay within days of their landing. Without the liftwood, they were stranded on the surface. The Germans, who did not have as much access to liftwood as the British, had used hydrogen dirigibles for their æther flyers, and they were unaffected by the decay effect. Germany has dominated the exploitation and exploration of Venus ever since, though the British, Italians, and Russians have also established colonies, and Americans traders travel all over the planet.
Venus is a hothouse world of shallow oceans, steaming tropical jungles, bogs, swamps, marshes, perpetual overcast, and heavy rainfall. The dense jungles of the Venusian lowlands produce numerous plants for which there is a great demand on Earth by chemists, dye makers, pharmaceutical companies, and florists (the Cytherian Orchid is especially valued for its beauty and its hauntingly subtle fragrance). The lowlands are also home to hundreds of varieties of giant reptilian creatures, called dinosaurs, and to the savage Lizardmen. Humans find the lowlands almost unbearable and tend to stick to the few highland plateaus, where life is more tolerable and the sun can occasionally be glimpsed through the overcast.
With the original Space:1889 rules being a bit limited in my opinion I have been looking for a good rule set to use in it's place. After some trial and error, I have decided to use Green Ronin's excellent Mutants and Masterminds 2nd Edition rules. It gives enough flexibility without the rules overwhelming the feel of the setting. Plus it's perfect for the swashbuckling adventure feel that I am looking for. Now that being said this is not a super-hero game so a majority of the super powers listed in the book will be limited to steam punk devices and such. Though some supernatural abilities that were common in Victorian literature like ghosts and fairies, table-rapping and telepathic encounters, occult religions and the idea of reincarnation, visions of the other world and a reality beyond the everyday, etc.... might be allowed in a limited way.
The campaign will start at a Power Level of 6 and players have 90 points to build their characters. I would like to have 4-5 players who have some knowledge of the Space:1889 setting and the Victorian era.
So if you interested in playing give shout out and let's start discussing this game!
Any ideas, suggestions, or questions are welcome.
I have four players at the moment but I still have one slot open if anyone is interested in playing.
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