Have any of you heard of Space: 1889?

by Liam Hankins
(United States)

Space: 1889 is a tabletop rpg that brings the Old Solar System to life. Old Mars, shaped again. The red deserts and canal cities of a falling Mars that is being faced with rebirth, brought by Earth-Men. Old Venus, a bit stereotypical, but the sweltering, dinosaur-infested jungles of Venus, inhabited by lizardmen- some tribal, some neolithic, is a sight to see. And a reimagined Old Mercury. 'Normal' life follows the World River, a river that winds its way across the entire planet, along the thin Twilight Zone. I'm surprised it's not mentioned anywhere here. If you want to dive straight into it, here's a link with a lot of the information on it. www.heliograph.com/space1889/

{comment from Zendexor: this is big, independent proof that our particular sub-genre of sf is really endemic in the human imagination!}

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Jul 30, 2019
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Mr. Roger's Neighborhood
by: Dylan Jeninga

That sounds like exactly the kind of thing I would enjoy, being generally fond of the OSS, environmentalism, and trust-busting. The only thing that might put a bad taste in my mouth would be the cat people. For reasons I can't explain, I've never liked cat people at all. And unlike our webmaster, a bit of comold never bothered me too much.

Have you read The Lords of Creation duology? Really an excellent pair of books that similarly justifies its OSS setting with modern science.

Jul 30, 2019
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Re: Mr. Roger's Neighborhood
by: Troy Jones III

TSR's reboot of Buck Rogers was indeed set in the Solar System. In the XXVC universe, Mars and Venus are inhabited by nomadic cat-people and speech-impedimented lizard-people (respectively). But, they are not true natives-- rather they are "Gennies", genetically-modified daughter-species to the human race who were created specifically for the purpose of settling those worlds, who have, in the few centuries since their creation, started to develop their own cultures. #comold

Meanwhile, environmental catastrophes have ravaged Earth, decimating the population of standard humans-- it seems that by the 25th Century most regular humans live in artificial habitats on or around Luna, Mercury, or the Asteroids. Naturally, the humans of the Asteroid Belt seem to all be pirates. And there are also androids and what-have-you here and there. The Solar System as a whole is under the thumb of an evil, oppressive mega-corporation called the Russo-American Mercantile, or RAM.

But despite the more contemporary pseudo-science undergirding this universe-- not to mention the trendy anti-corporatism and environmental-doomsday-ism-- they went for a classic Golden Age look: finned rockets, clear-bubble space helmets, jumpsuits, and a generally Art Deco aesthetic. Overall, definitely a NOSS-T setting.

The idea, I think, was to create a universe that was ripe for exploration, where Buck Rogers (or player-created characters or whatever) can explore the Solar System and encounter "aliens" who conveniently speak English, but at the same time the setting had to be sufficiently gritty and "realistic" to satisfy the requirements of late 20th century sci-fi fashion.

I think it was a really interesting setting.

(Not all iterations of Buck Rogers are limited to the Solar System, of course. The 1970's TV series had Buck gallivanting all over the galaxy. The XXVC reboot is not related to the TV series, other than it being "Buck Rogers", who at this point has been rebooted/reinvented nearly as many times as Batman.)

Jul 30, 2019
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Mr. Roger's Neighborhood
by: Dylan Jeninga

I haven't heard of this Buck Roger's reboot, does it take place in the solar system? I had always thought Buck Rogers operated on a galactic scale, but then, I havent read, watched or played anything Rogers related.

This reminds me of the Dan Dare reboot from about the same time. That was excellent, if a bit cliche: The Mekon returns, and Dan Dare must be called out of retirement to put an end to him once and for all. I remember it did an excellent job of piling on the stakes.

Jul 30, 2019
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Onward to Venus!
by: Troy Jones III

I own "Onward to Venus" also. If you are planning to play it, make sure you have a big block of time set aside. My first game of OTV was with five players and it dragged on for five hours haha. Which was fine with me-- I think it's a fun game-- just be aware it is a time-sink, especially if anyone you are playing with is prone to analysis paralysis (the technical board-gaming term for taking forever to think about your move). It does not take nearly as long with fewer players.

This topic is making me wonder also if anyone has ever heard of "Buck Rogers XXVC"? That is the gritty reboot of Buck Rogers undertaken in the late 1980s and early 1990s by TSR (the former publishers of "Dungeons & Dragons"). It included an RPG core book and supplements with a system based on not-very-fondly-remembered 2nd Edition D&D rules, and there were even two (I believe) BRXXVC video games, one of which was ported to the Sega Genesis. I have fond memories of playing the Sega Genesis Buck Rogers game-- I think I was around 15 when it came out. One of my first (though probably not very first) exposures to something OSS-ish. I don't know if there were ever any Buck Rogers XXVC novels published, but it seems logical that there would be.

{Comment from Z: Hey, I really like that phrase "analysis paralysis". It can also be a feature of Real Life, that RPG which we're all in whether we like it or not. e.g. Hamlet's low score in RL was due to that very difficulty.}

Jul 29, 2019
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OSS Tabletop
by: Dylan Jeninga

Thanks for the links, Marvels of Mars looks worth getting at the very least.

Space:1889 is one of the first members of a subgenre wherein the OSS never really died, that being in an alternate history setting (NHOSS or New-Historial OSS as Zendexor dubbed it). As such, I've always been interested in it.

I read the first book in the Space 1889 series, Journey to the Heart of Luna. It started strong, but it seemed as though the editors quit halfway through, and the quality took a nosedive. Unfortunate, but thankfully David England opens excellent stories in a similar vein right here on this site.

It would be excellent to play Space:1889 someday. In the meantime, I've got a boardgame called "Onward to Venus!" with some truly excellent OSS art.

Jul 27, 2019
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by: Liam Hankins

Also, Zendexor, going to add Space: 1889 reviews to the site?

{Willingly, if anyone will email me them or do them on an "Your Views" option. The email way is best as then I can make a regular page out of it. Just send reviews to heritageofdreams@aol.com. Also, if I get enough material I could add a Games link to the navigation bar, thus sprouting a whole new branch of pages devoted to OSS gaming, since I am now learning that the field exists. - Z}

Jul 27, 2019
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Links
by: Liam Hankins

Here's links to a lot of the core rulebooks, not Mars, unfortunately, but there's more than enough information in the other ones, such as Marvels of Mars. https://the-eye.eu/public/Books/rpg.rem.uz/Space%201889/

Jul 26, 2019
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here you go!
by: Anonymous

https://www.modiphius.net/collections/space-1889

Apparently, you can still get the game and expansions.

Jul 26, 2019
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Forgot to add my name
by: Dylan Jeninga

"Anonymous" is me

Jul 26, 2019
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Oh yes!
by: Anonymous

You bet I've heard of Space:1889! There was a time more than a dozen in-universe novels were available onlike, and it was my intention to read them and post about them here - but then they were all taken down, and I can't find them anywhere! If you happen to have any leads, please let me know.

The tabletop world has been very welcoming to the OSS setting. Many a miniature company produces Barsoomian soldiers for wargames, and for a while there was an "All Quiet on the Martian Front" series that made incredible tripod models. It has long been a dream of mine to play a wargame pitting the Barsoomians against the tripods, if only I had the budget for it.

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