Space 1889

[Rel]

Hi Rel, do you still have any of your conversion notes please?
I am trying to do exactly the same thing at the moment, & any
time saved would be magic...
Would you be willing to share perchance?

Cheers,
Philip

Honestly I don't think I have any "conversion notes". Really I don't think any were necessary. Converting Space: 1889 to d20 Modern was really more about leaving off a lot of the "Modern" stuff than it was adding anything to the system to make it compatible with Space: 1889.

What I mean is that obviously you don't have the PC's picking up skill in Computers or using man-portable machine guns. But I think most of the other rules applied just fine (it's been a couple years since I ran it with that system so I might be failing to recall some details).

One thing I did do was include some healing options that were enabled by the "Weird Science" of Space: 1889. This felt necessary because the guns of the setting still do considerable damage to the available Hit Points of d20 Modern but most of the body armor options are not available. Plus my one-shot games tend to have a lot of action and sometimes not much time in between scenes for natural healing to occur. So I had the ship's doctor invent these "Venusian Healing Salves" that healed 1d8 Hit Points. But each use after the first in a given day resulted in a Fort Save or else the PC would be at a -2 penalty for being "woozy" from the drugs.

If you have any specific questions I'd be happy to try and answer them but the short version is that it didn't require any actual "converting" that I can recall. It just took me steering clear of the elements of d20 Modern that wouldn't have existed in 1889.

Lastly I will encourage you to at least give a glance at Savage Worlds and their new version of the setting. I have found that the pulpy nature of Savage Worlds is a much better fit of system to setting than d20 Modern ever was. And in terms of time saving, the new Red Sands book for the setting has got an entire campaign within as well as tons of smaller adventures scattered all across the inner planets and space in between.

 

[Maxecat1]

Hiya Rel,

Thanks heaps for the reply. : )

I'm pretty much working on the same basis as what you've described,
& have access to the d20 Past rules that were probably published after
you ran your game.

I am currently working on d20'ing the Space:1889 occupations, as I
don't think d20 modern really catches the flavour of the class system.
I haven't really looked past that yet to see what else needs doing...

To be honest, the chances of me getting the Savage Worlds system
is negligible. Business is slow & I can't justify the $ to get the setting,
as well as a new set of 'base' rules, especially given that over here
in New Zealand I'd be paying through the nose with the exchange
rate as well as postage...
Also, my players are all D&D boys, so I'm trying to wean them off that
as the only thing they play...but a new rule set would be a step too far.

Thanks anyway - & enjoy SW Space:1889 - I'm jealous!
Philip

 

[Ariosto]

Shane Lacy Hensley's Fields of Honor Victorian miniatures rules set remains a favorite of mine.

I bought the first edition of his Savage Worlds off the marked-down shelf at the FLGS, but was thoroughly put off in my first reading.

Frank Chadwick's Space: 1889 is altogether a splendid package to my mind, but the signal appeal obviously is the scenario.

"The British Raj on Mars" is in a nutshell the aspect given most attention. I recall there having been more excursions into Earthly affairs -- for instance, American cowboy characters -- in Challenge magazine.

 

[Stormonu]

Pinnacle has announced it's availability at GenCon, along with cover art

Their booth is just inside the east doors to the exhibit hall. I know what my first stop is this year!

So gonna have to get this one. Space: 1889 was the first non-D&D RPG I ever bought.