So Space: 1889 + Pellucidar + The Lost World seem like they'd go together like peanut butter and jam and bananas. I have Space: 1889, the extremely disappointing Hollow Earth Expedition, and Lands of Mystery, as well (of course) as the novels that inspired these things.  But is there already a game that melds these things together? I can't believe this hasn't been tackled before. Not an all-encompassing, supposedly "pulp" game (which always seems to mean Indiana Jones) as those focus on a later period, but an actual game made for this stuff?

Or would I be better off just using Space: 1889 for my basic rules/background and just insert the rest as my own concoction? I don't have much free time (kids, job, ailing relative, you name it), so if it's already out there and doesn't suck donkey balls I'd rather save myself the work...

Nothing precisely like that pops to mind but...
GURPS of course has all the requisite parts... such as Lands Out of Time and their various -Tech books.
 
The Swords & Stitchery blog ran a three part series on ideas involving Pellucidar and other lost world settings as 'dimensional anomalies'.

A little while back I was all caught up in wanting to run a Lands of the Lost game... and noticed Rafael Chandler's upcoming World of the Lost adventure for LotFP... which seems like it could expand into a cool Lost World setting.
Supposedly it's grown into a boxed set but it's been a while since I've heard any news about it.

Edit: I went looking for news of it just now and World of the Lost appears to have fallen into a lost world of its own... I can't find any evidence it ever got finished or is still planned at all.

There's a free RPG 'Forgotten Futures' that's a bit similar to Space 1889, I thought I remembered dinosaurs and it looks like 'Worldbook III' for this covers 'Lost World' type stuff. Hollow World stuff I'm not so sure about, though it wouldn't surprise me.

Its accessible here:
http://www.forgottenfutures.com/game/index.htm

Hmm...thanks for the info...looks like I will probably choose a system and use the materials from elsewhere as something to adapt. A bit of work. Not sure I'll have time to bother. May end up a notion rather than something to be realized.

Possibly GURPS if I had the Dinosaurs book and not sure what else they made that would be suitable.

This inspired me to look over the Hollow World box for Classic D&D. It would make a useable Hollow Earth for a Victorian Explorers game, though you would probably have 'Aliens' rather than 'Immortals' as the reason for all the disparate transplanted cultures.

It doesn't seem to be on rpgnow yet.

Quote from: Matt;835757I have Space: 1889, the extremely disappointing Hollow Earth Expedition,

What did you find disappointing about the "Hollow Earth Expedition" RPG?

Not being snarky, I am genuinely curious, as I've always admired them from afar for their 1930's Pulp feel.

Quote from: Gwarh;835969What did you find disappointing about the "Hollow Earth Expedition" RPG?

Not being snarky, I am genuinely curious, as I've always admired them from afar for their 1930's Pulp feel.

I thought the art was fairly poor throughout, but more important than that I just don't like the Ubiquity dice mechanics and the character generation seems pretty generic and not geared to the setting and era. The Talents list seems meant more for an action movie than an exploration game in the vein of Doyle's Lost World, 20,000 Leagues, Pellucidar, etc. For me it just doesn't fit with what I would expect. I think it's telling that when you check the appendix where they list inspirations, it's got a serious lack of material from the actual era of those stories and leans very heavily on modern reinterpretation of "pulp." I don't find it especially good.

Quote from: Matt;835974The Talents list seems meant more for an action movie than an exploration game in the vein of Doyle's Lost World, 20,000 Leagues, Pellucidar, etc. For me it just doesn't fit with what I would expect. I think it's telling that when you check the appendix where they list inspirations, it's got a serious lack of material from the actual era of those stories and leans very heavily on modern reinterpretation of "pulp." I don't find it especially good.

I had similar complaints about Astounding Adventures from Chaosium... very shallow on its understanding of the genre it is supposedly aimed at, drawing too heavily from modern sources... in addition to being more of a collection of short adventures than an actual sourcebook on pulp adventuring.

Quote from: Matt;835860Hmm...thanks for the info...looks like I will probably choose a system and use the materials from elsewhere as something to adapt. A bit of work. Not sure I'll have time to bother. May end up a notion rather than something to be realized.

Possibly GURPS if I had the Dinosaurs book and not sure what else they made that would be suitable.

GURPS
Dinosaurs
Cliffhangers
Its really all you would need. Everything else would be icing on the cake.

In my experience, the fetish for pre-packaged scenarios is counter-productive. Much though I like Space:1889, it's more for a rules set that covers (in GDW's wargamer way) various aspects, rather than from a desire to study and adhere to the publisher's canon regarding the political and other situations in the solar system. To me, such dependence would make it more work, less play.

If you know and love Burroughs and Conan Doyle, you're probably best off drawing on your own imagination and sense of what's appropriate. It's certainly a bit much to expect a publisher without the trademark license to tailor anything to the details of the Space: 1889 milieu!

Take what seems meet to you from other products. If there's some game material involving dinosaurs that suits your needs and taste, use it.

Use whatever rules set -- GDW's or otherwise -- happens to work most smoothly for you.

Forgotten Futures -- Google it -- is a fine collection of material for Victorian scientific-romance roleplaying. If you were not aware of it, I'll bet you'll be glad for the tip!

The rules of the original Space:1889 is at least a little bit complicated, to not say "fucked up".  But I love them.  You do have to houserule a few things, in my experience.

If you read french you can take a look at Aventures dans le Monde Intérieur which is pretty much what you are looking for.

Spoiler

Basically it's 1888, you play a member of the Arcadia Club, dedicated to the exploration (and colonisation, yes there are rules for building your colony) of the hollow earth.

The main inspiration is more Jules Vernes than Burroughs but it is a nice game with a simple system : 3D6 + modifiers (talent, difficulty...) vs 10

Quote from: kobayashi;836569If you read french you can take a look at Aventures dans le Monde Intérieur which is pretty much what you are looking for.

Spoiler

Basically it's 1888, you play a member of the Arcadia Club, dedicated to the exploration (and colonisation, yes there are rules for building your colony) of the hollow earth.

The main inspiration is more Jules Vernes than Burroughs but it is a nice game with a simple system : 3D6 + modifiers (talent, difficulty...) vs 10

Wish I read French