So, if you were going to run a Space:1889 campaign, what would you do with it? Alternately, you can cheat and tell us what you DID do with it in a past campaign.

RPGPundit

I've been thinking about running a campaign based in Africa. Possibly playing off of the Lost City of the Romans idea in Conklin's Atlas. I picture the PCs taking a part in a sort of Meiji Restoration of the Romans. The PCs helping to undertake a great engineering feat would be great too. I'd also want to toss in some hollow earth strangeness. Maybe have the Roman territory extend inside the earth. Just imagine if the players try to keep it all secret.

I'd like to toy with other primarily earth based adventures. I want to see how all these new developments are effecting the place.

I remember owning a copy of this game a million years ago, and being really into it. I'm not sure what the rules were like, but I guess no one digs them.

There's a game called Full Light, Full Steam that seems like an ideal set of rules to use. (Caveats: I've never played the game, and it's on the hippie/indie side of the continuum. RPGnet review here.)

If I were going to run a Space:1889 game tomorrow, I'd use Spirit of the Century.

EDIT: I just realized you were talking about setting/campaign, rather than rules. Mea culpa.

For anyone who had the Haiti download, Full Light Full Steam was included with that. I wouldn't actually pay money for it though the core mechanic was interesting to discover.

If looking for Victorian Space Epics, there's also another RPG in the genre called "Forgotten Futures" by Marcus Rowland, which I think you can pick up for free at e23 and about the place.  Or you could try Savage Worlds or GURPS. Maybe HEX (though I don't know much about that beyond reviews).

Quote from: Bloody Stupid Johnson;428070Or you could try Savage Worlds or GURPS. Maybe HEX (though I don't know much about that beyond reviews).

There was a Savage Worlds edition of Space: 1889 in the works.

And HEX also had a Revelations of Mars book scheduled.

I'm not sure about the current status of either, but there you go.

I run a Space 1889 campaign, usually we have two or three sessions then play something else for a bit then return to it.

The party accompanied an archaelogical expedition to a dig near the border with Oenotria.  While there they made major discoveries, but the political situation deteriorated and they came under attack initially from what they suspected to be Oenotrian agents and paid-off nomads but later from outliers from the Oenotrian army itself which was advancing to secure what it claims as its territory.

In the end they had to flee ahead of the main Oenotrian force, so leaving behind certain priceless artefacts (but rescuing others after dynamiting them loose).

Next comes the implications of the finds, which show what may be evidence of Martian exploration of the solar system but which contain anomalies which don't fit with that hypothesis (the Earth's continents aren't quite in the right places, but what force could move continents?) and the increasingly tense situation with Oenotria which is likely to spill out soon into all out war.

And there's various side adventures.  There was a daring rescue from the High Martians, a ball, a cricket match, the usual S1889y stuff.

Great game.

Quote from: The Butcher;428075There was a Savage Worlds edition of Space: 1889 in the works.

Came out a few weeks/months back - Space 1889 - Red Sands. Have it on the shelf but not had time to read it yet.

When I ran Space 1889 under the original rules, I ran a journey to Mars and then subsequent exploration of the red planet (based around one of the published adventures, but can't now recall which). I enjoyed it and I do like the setting, but the particular adventures I ran really ended up throwing in to highlight the degree to which it's just Victorian imperialism with a thin sci-fi overlay. I think if I was to run it again I'd start with Luna or Venus, which avoid the "Earth with the names changed" aspects which can come up with Mars from time to time.

The key to avoiding that on Mars, I'm sure, is to play up the details of Martian society and also the sci-fi aspects of things like liftwood etc.

My Canal Martians are impassive and distant.  Formally polite but difficult to read emotionally.

I like the Imperialism parallels, and particularly with India where we discovered an ancient and sophisticated culture which for a fair while only a handful of Britons realised the significance of.

But I make sure too there are ancient Martian pyramids, High Martian raids, dust-storms and in one session a hungry Steppe-Tiger picking off expedition members one by one.

I would run a Cloud Captains campaign, which would allow the most liberal use of published material. I would run a simultaneous, integrated Sky Galleons of Mars campaign. It's very likely that if this were successful, it would produce a Ironclads and Ether Fliers campaign among the war gamers.

I wouldn't fool with any of the other rules.

Quote from: stu2000;428124I would run a Cloud Captains campaign, which would allow the most liberal use of published material. I would run a simultaneous, integrated Sky Galleons of Mars campaign. It's very likely that if this were successful, it would produce a Ironclads and Ether Fliers campaign among the war gamers.

I wouldn't fool with any of the other rules.

That's another thing I'd like to do. I also agree that the original rules are perfectly serviceable and preferable though the Savage Worlds version isn't horrible either.

Cool - thanks for the info guys. Savage Worlds also has a Mars supplement for the Edgar Rice Burroughs' version of Mars (or reasonable facsimile) too, though I don't know what mixing that in would look like. Possibly imperialist earthlings would get a nasty surprise.

I'm also wondering what Space 1889 + Cthulhu would be like.

Quote from: Bloody Stupid Johnson;428212I'm also wondering what Space 1889 + Cthulhu would be like.

Frickin' sweet.

Quote from: Werekoala;428215Frickin' sweet.

The guy that's GMing the game I'm currently in was in a campaign like that. He still has a map of Mars with showing that the canals form an enormous Elder Sign.

Quote from: D-503;428094I like the Imperialism parallels, and particularly with India where we discovered an ancient and sophisticated culture which for a fair while only a handful of Britons realised the significance of.

Yeah, I like the parallels, but for me it's just about finding the balance between "Mars is like India" and "Mars is just India with the names changed to players can feel better about shooting the natives". For whatever reason my previous attempt at running the game veered a bit close to the latter (the fact that one of my players was openly racist probably didn't help here).

If you can get ahold of any of the old Transactions of the Royal Martian Geographical Society, that fanzine did a lot of work on Cthulhu and Space:1889.