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Space 1889: Red Sands
Publisher: Pinnacle Entertainment
by Keith (. T. A. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 01/10/2011 06:45:28

Years ago I picked up a game book with a Victorian Era British soldier on the cover fighting off gold-skinned ape men with fin ears. The logo had "SPACE" drawn as riveted metal with a stylized "1889" below it. I picked up the blue book and read the back cover.

Role-Playing In A More Civilized Time. Everything Jules Verne should have written. Everything H. G. Wells could have written. Everything A. Conan Doyle thought of, but never published because it was too fantastic. Everything you need for adventures of the century! The Space 1889 role-playing game covers the exciting background of Victorian science fiction: ether fliers and Martian cloud ships, the canals and ancient civilizations of the red planet, Venus' swamps and dinosaurs, the honeycombed interior of Luna, and the thrills of inventions and inventors; the driving force behind Victoria's multi-world empire!

In the game's history, Thomas Edison invented a device called the Ether Propeller which allowed ships raised to high enough altitude to travel through space at amazing rates of speed. In the 19th century, Ether was believed to be light's medium like water for waves and air for sound. SPACE:1889 uses ether and other scientific theories from the 1800s to build a universe consistent with the mindset of the day.

Space: 1889 and its companion Sky Galleons of Mars ignited my imagination the way few settings ever have. While other science fiction RPGs sent characters to the far future, Frank Chadwick sent gamers into the past. The character combat system wasn't great but the ship-to-ship rules were first rate . The original work gave you atlases of Mars, Venus, the Moon, and Mercury along with the indigenous races for each planet. I fought the cursed Belgians from one end of Mars to the other and knew victory captaining the screw galley Texan's Pride. Now THAT was a setting!

Pinnacle Entertainment Group recently released Space 1889: Red Sands, a setting book in my beloved Victorian SciFi setting. After my last few reviews it was interesting diving back into a Pinnacle book. With some other settings I've come to expect at least 100 pages of history and setting information. Red Sands as a four page history section then dives straight into character creation. For some reason I found the extraordinarily refreshing.

The Explorers Society The binding force for the characters in Red Sands is the Explorers Society. All characters are assumed to be members in this elite organization formed to expand the boundaries of science, investigate mysteries, foil those who promote violence, promote peace in the preservation of Earth and the other planets. Villainous conspiracies are the Societies primary target especially when those conspiracies span continents and worlds. Where there is a threat to civilization, the Society is ready to step in.

British society of the 1890s had a distinct caste system to it. The upper classes did not fraternize with the lower classes and women knew their place. Commoners were expected to defer to their betters. Explorers Society has a more modern attitude in regards to race, class, and gender.

The British Association's Explorers Society is more that just an organization funding adventurers. Its a social club as well. Members are expect to attend receptions and report to superiors their group's activities and regale other members with their stories of adventure and daring.

Character Creation Red Sands provides the following list of character concepts from the period. While it is by no means exhaustive it will give the player some ideas of the types of characters appropriate for the game.

Adventurer(ess) Agent: Spying Anarchist Archaeologist Big Game Hunter Clergy Colonial Officer Criminal Detective Doctor Entertainer Inventor Jungle Lord/Lady Merchant Mechanic Officer Reporter Sailor Scholar Scientist Soldier Vigilante Wanderer Canal/Steppe Martians High Martians Lizard Men from Venus

Character creation follows the normal Savage Worlds path with stats starting at d4 with 15 skill points. Knowledge skills get a twist, they can be used to reduce the penalties to a trait test. For professions, they can also be used to derive income. There is a new Secondary Status (to add to Charisma, Parry, Pace, and Toughness) called Status. A character's Status starts at 2 (working class) and is modified by edges and/or hindrances.

Typical of Savage Settings, Red Sands includes a bevy of new Hindrances such as Airsickness and Jingoistic, Edges such as Cannoneer, Pugilist, and Liquid Courage, and new gear, and vehicles.

Status The role of Status in Victorian England cannot be overstated. People of various classes simply did not interact socially. While the famous would, at times, transcend social class. If you were born into a working class family you would likely die in the working class.

Red Sands divides Status into five levels; Underclass, Working Class, Middle Class, Upper Class, and Elite. Status affects a character's monthly income, the type of Favors one can call in, and Intimidate, Taunt, and Streetwise trait tests.

Favors Favors are a currency unto themselves. Your ability to spend Favors is based on your Status. They include such things as borrowing money or equipment, gaining the assistance of guards or soldiers, and gaining access to 'social' events. Favors can get you out of a sticky legal situation, make a political problem go away, or give you a clever alibi when needed. Favors are gained by helping others. Generally the number of Favors gained is based on the social status of those helped. Thus helping a workman helps a little. Saving the Queen from a scandal helps a lot.

Inventions Weird Science is one way to create devices used in Space 1889 but its not the only way to construct 'futuristic' devices. Even those without an Arcane Background can make gadgets. These follow a more structured path and are usable by anyone.

The invention rules follow closely with the original Space: 1889 rules wherein the inventor designs the gadget by making a knowledge trait test in either science, mechanics, engineering.

Once designed, The inventor then collects the materials required to build the device. The Red Sands book contains a list of possible parts along with their cost and rank required to construct them. Once the parts are in place, the inventor makes a repair roll to see if he/she succeeds.

Inventions have a Reliability trait ranging from d4 to d12 based on the rank of the inventor. Some inventions use Reliability as an activation die but others use it to determine how well an invention performs. Vehicles with a higher score might go faster or fly higher, power sources produce more power, etc.

The book lists common gadgets and components along with cost and the rank needed to invent them. You can assemble these into a new device or use them with a different trapping to invent something new. Of course, factories produce many such devices but you'll pay more based on the purchased item's reliability.

Aerial Ships Because so much of the setting is based above ground, Red Sands contains information on construction, combat, repairs, crew skills, upkeep.

Aerial combat uses the normal Savage Worlds chase rules once the ships are in close quarters. If there is a pursuer and a pursued, this means the pursuer must beat an opposed piloting roll with a raise. If the pursued in winning the opposed roll with a raise first then they have escaped.

The range increment (see pg 115 of the Savage Worlds Explorer's Edition) for aerial ships is 50. At the beginning of combat the GM determines the altitude of each (ranging from Landed to Very High). To change altitude you Trimsman rolls his knowledge(Trimsman) trait roll. On a success the flier changes altitude by one level. On a raise the ship changes two altitude levels.

Weapons on a ship fire once a turn but don't receive an unstable platform penalty as it is assumed the weapons are aimed. You can fire more often but receive a -2 penalty along with any other modifiers due to lace of aiming. Damage to a ship causes both the Pilot and Trimsman to make a roll to see if the ship goes out of control or looses altitude.

Red Sands contains a complete section on aerial ship construction allowing you to design or customize your own sky ship. You make choices in Hull Size, Propulsion, Armor, Armament, Crew, and Cargo. The size of the ship affects everything else. Likewise propulsion dictates size of crew and whether you need to store fuel. After you pack everything else onto you ship anything left over is cargo.

Gazetteer As with most Savage Supplements, Red Sands contains a Gazetteer to give the players feel for the game. It describes each of the four inner planets along with the colonial ambitions of Earth's nations on each. The gazetteer contains proper Victorian maps of Venus and Mars as well.

The Red Captain's Log The Red Captains of Mars are humans who have 'gone native' finding a life of adventure in the skies above the Red Planet. The Red Captains are the subject of popular stories on Earth. The GM's portion of Red Sands is named in tribute to these adventurers and their stories of daring dos.

A new villain forms the core of the adventures presented in Space 1889. Kronos and his his villainous inner circle seek nothing less than the overthrow of man and conquest of the solar system. While the Explorers Society seeks to uplift man through exploration the Brotherhood of Luxor seeks man's demise from a shroud of secrecy.

The Red Sands campaign starts on Earth moving quickly to Mars and Venus. It includes over a dozen plot points leading to the finale against the King of Chaos, Kronos. The book also contains 37 Savage Tales to fill the gaps between plot points spanning Mercury to the asteroid belt. Several of the Savage Tales contain vital clues of the setting's history so play as many as possible. There's also an adventure generator.

Other Victorian Resources Red Sands is a little lite on background information for the Victorian Era. If you want to know more about the amazing time period I recommend reading The Kerberos Club which has more information about the time period. Aside from an organization to advance and protect society, The Explorers Society is a Victorian social club much like the super-powered Kerberos Club and so the GM and players will gain much from reading of Kerbeans day-to-day life.

You might also want to pick up the original Space:1889 along with the other Space:1889 supplements for additional background information for the setting. The original game system has an extensive set of adventures and setting books with even more fan material available. All of this should be easily converted to Savage Worlds. Your best value would be the Space 1889 Product Bundle from DriveThruRPG. This include 12 separate works originally published by GDW for just under $50. I highly recommend this purchase if you plan to spend any time at all in the Space 1889 universe.

Knowing the history of Queen Victoria, Pax Britannia, the 19th Century, and the parent organization of the Explorers Society will prove useful as well.

Conclusion Red Sands was one of the most anticipated books I've seen in my gaming career. The forums of Pinnacle were abuzz with activity when news of the supplement first leaked. I know this will seem odd to those who never played SPACE:1889 but, at the time, this setting was the most innovative thing to hit RPGs. To be honest I can't think of another game that's done better.

My favorite setting has now been released in my favorite game system. It's a feeling akin to having a local team make it to the Super Bowl. Soon the Pride of Texas will ply the skies of Mars once more. King Leopold's Belgium contingent on Mars will never know what hit 'em.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Space 1889: Red Sands
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The Unspeakable Oath 18
Publisher: Arc Dream Publishing
by Keith (. T. A. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 01/04/2011 22:26:50

How much fun can it be to thwart evil only to be eaten alive or driven insane for your efforts? As it turns out, quite a bit. Cthulhu fans everywhere rejoice in the return of a quarterly magazine dedicated to their favorite tentacular genre, Unspeakable Oath.

The periodical publication is overloaded with material that takes a while digest. It’s not that the 80+ pages couldn’t be read quickly. it’s just that you’ll want to stop ever so often to contemplate ways to work the material into your campaign. WARNING: The Oath is not a light read.

Four Tales of Terror by John Scott Tynes, Pat Harrigan, Monte Cook, and Nick Grant give scenario ideas for Keepers. They are skeletal, game system agnostic, and provide great adventure seeds. Each tale provides the initial scene or adventure concept then offers three different adventure paths. The Oath also contains a fully-fleshed, 16 page CoC adventure set in the 1920s Louisiana swamp titled “Dog Will Hunt.”

The Oath contains information on ancient tomes and scrolls for your campaign as well as a malevolent CD set for modern campaigns. The Arcane Artifacts section details mythos devices with the history, plot hooks, and CoC statistics for each. The review section contains eight reviews of Cuthy related books, games, and movies.

I found the Tales of Nephren-Ka section to be most interesting. James Haughton did a great job pulling together various historical and fictional references to The Black Pharaoh of ancient Egypt. This worshipper of Nyarlathotep occurs in H. P Lovecraft’s original works, is later embellished by other Mythos writers, and is used in several adventures from Chaosium and others. The article does a ‘deep dive’ on the legendary figure citing real mythical (ironic, I know) texts giving great adventure hooks, spells, and artifacts as well as the Black Pharaoh’s place in history.

Another great historical article by C.A. Suleiman and George Holochwost describes the effects of the dust storms of 1935 on the Southwest. The worst natural disaster in American history helped create the Dust Bowl encompassing Oklahoma, Southeastern Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas, and North Texas. The article details the effects of Black Sunday in CoC game terms and provides a number of adventure possibilities in a world where threats like Hastur, Nyarlathotep, and Shub-Niggurath are real.

The Oath is back and better than ever. The quarterly is packed with information to spice up your existing Cthulhu game or can be the source of great campaign ideas to start a new adventure in Lovecraftian horror. The contributors' love of the Mythos shows on every content-loaded page. For $7, there’s hardly a better deal for Chtulhu fans.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
The Unspeakable Oath 18
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Fantastic Maps: The Clockwork Maze
Publisher: Rite Publishing
by Keith (. T. A. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 10/11/2010 13:30:12

I always enjoy the work of Jonathan Roberts. This is another high quality map with the resources for us inside Virtual Tabletops. I wish the other map makers were as considerate. http://rptroll.blogspot.com



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Fantastic Maps: The Clockwork Maze
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Monster Brief: Goblins
Publisher: Misfit Studios
by Keith (. T. A. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 10/11/2010 13:28:23

Misfit is doing a nice job of adding meat to the Fantasy Companion. http://rptroll.blogspot.com



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Monster Brief: Goblins
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Wild Talents: The Kerberos Club Quick-Start Guide
Publisher: Arc Dream Publishing
by Keith (. T. A. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 10/11/2010 13:24:46

This is a good introduction to one of the best settings in the gaming industry. It uses the one roll system and whets the appetite nicely for the full work.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Wild Talents: The Kerberos Club Quick-Start Guide
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Expansion for the Ground set #3 - Bandit camp
Publisher: Lord Zsezse Works
by Keith (. T. A. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 09/11/2010 08:17:06

Nice tile set easily GIMPable into a VTT like Maptool. rptroll.blogspot.com



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Expansion for the Ground set #3 - Bandit camp
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Sample Pack
Publisher: WyldFurr
by Keith (. T. A. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 08/23/2010 21:02:04

This is a nice sample pack with 26 top-down poses of the girl seen on the cover. It also includes a post-apoc path segment suitable for tiling.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Sample Pack
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Sewer Map Set 1
Publisher: Wydraz
by Keith (. T. A. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 08/15/2010 11:52:58

It's hard to complain about free products. So I won't. I simply state that a little more effort would have made Sewer Map Set 1 much better. But there are some positive aspects.

  1. It's free.
  2. It works well with Maptool possessing a 100 ppx grid that lined up well when I imported it.
  3. The advertisement at the end of the pdf showed some nice products from the same company.
  4. It's free.

If you are a Maptool user, I recommend drawing sewers like this with textures. You'll use less memory although it takes more time to create.

To improve the product, I recommend different textures. The ones used in this work are all very green. The water color is particularly bad. You could also alter the texture from the 100ppx to something larger with more variety. Use more than the basic three textures so every floor, water, and impassable section aren't the same for every square. Also, add some other decoration i.e. rats, gates, spider webs, slimes, and oozes.

I suspect this product is advertisement to show off other, pay-for products. If so you should spend a little more time jazzing it up. As is, I wonder if the quality of your other work matches this one.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
Sewer Map Set 1
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The Kerberos Club (Savage Worlds Edition)
Publisher: Arc Dream Publishing
by Keith A. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 08/13/2010 05:54:27

Since I normally develop my own settings, few products give me a desire to drop my current game in favor of something new. Space 1889 is a perfect example of such a game. The concept of colonial, Victorian England in space and Liftwood ships over Mars was too juicy to pass over. Another was Solomon Kane dealing with horror in the 1600s. I forced these games upon my players for the shear joy of Game Mastering the setting. I have a new entry in that small list. A super hero game placed in 19th century London: The Kerberos Club from Arc Dream Publishing.

The reason: the Victorian Era is as rich in history and change as it is in literature and invention. The War of 1812, The American Civil War, and the Crimean War changed forever the way nation fought nation while inventions like the railroad, telegraph, photography, gas light, cars and even aircraft changed the very fabric of society. Science grew into the discipline we know today with Universities and companies devoting ever increasing resources to new discoveries. Occultism and Secret Societies became popular as it seemed there was no limit to what man could understand and do and no mystery too deep to uncover.

The 1800s saw the rise in power of the USA along with its breaking, remaking, and expansion from coast to coast. It was the era of the cowboy, the end of slavery, and the first powered flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

In England, it was a century of overall peace and prosperity often referred to as Pax Britannia with England being the dominant sea power of the day. In fine Savage Setting tradition, The Kerberos Club takes this history and twists it by introducing The Strangeness as an unseen force that warps and changes those it touches.

The Setting:

The book exhibits good atmosphere from the beginning with a blending of magic, invention, industry, and occultism into a recipe that's almost too rich to digest. There's enough source material for a research paper complete with sources and footnotes. In fact, I suspect the majority of complaints about this work is the fact it includes too much source material.

The question for the grousers becomes do you wish to game a 21st persona in 19th century England? If so more than half the book will be wasted. But if you enjoy playing a super sleuth in Sherlock Holmes' London, or love the works of H. G. Wells and want to pit your might against invaders from Mars, or want the thrill of bringing Jack the Ripper to justice then this is the supplement for you.

The game's concept and name come for an enigmatic organization of those touched by strangeness and altered from normalcy. The characters band together for mutual protection and the common purpose of defending humanity in general and England more specifically. Strangers, as the non-Touched call them, have an affliction that is not spoken of in polite company and is shunned by most of society. The Kerberos Club exists to give the Touched a safe haven while using what gifts they have to help Queen and country.

The time frame in which your game begins affects how those around you react. Near the beginning of the 19th century, The Strangeness is well hidden from the common folk. You might hear a old wife's tale come to life here and there but most people are blissfully ignorant of the shadow world around them.(X-files)

As the 1850's come and go Strangers are more common and some Strangeness is accepted as readily as the great inventions of the day. In this era people don't interacted with the Touched unless necessary but they are known to exist and are considered oddities much like circus freaks(X-men)

In the third era The Strangeness is so common it's simply accepted as an everyday part of life. The Touched go about in costumes to protect their real identities and governments begin to pass laws concerning the Stranger's acceptable activities.(Justice League International)

The Rules:

The Kerberos Club uses the Savage Worlds Superhero Companion as it base rule set which, in turn, uses the Savage Worlds Explorers Edition as its base rule set. If you don't own either of the Pinnacle Entertainment Group books you might consider the non-Savage version of the Kerberos Club which requires Wild Talents from Arc Dream Publishing to play. I'm more comfortable with the Savage Worlds rules and so that's my obvious choice but other may balk at the need for two additional books to enjoy Victorian supers.

For the Savages there are new edges (such as Stiff Upper Lip and Unflappable), hindrances (such as Black Sheep and Skittish), gear, and powers (such as Omni Super Skill) along with statistics for the non-Touched you might run into. The book contains a full set of villains and allies and suggestions for ways to turn the allies into villains should you desire.

The Content:

The book is divided into eight sections covering almost 300 pages. The introduction is enough to whet anyone's appetite for supers adventuring in the Victorian era. It contains an extensive reference section citing Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen as well as a number of other RPGs that capture the century well.

The book then dives into The Kerberos Club itself describing the building, occupants, devices, laboratories, and libraries. There is an amusing sidebar discussing the servants and their daily battles to keep the Club running. This section gives a feel for the brotherhood and lifestyles inside the club.

Class and social status played great roles in 19th century England. There was a great distinction between the Upper, Middle, and Lower classes. Luckily the Kerberos Club scandalously allows the Touched of any class to mingle freely. Even more scandalously the Club allows female members and even, heaven help us, the Irish.

Missions received by the club come in the form a favor asked or given with three distinct levels of involvement: “Looking into things” generally involves investigating some report of an odd occurrence that might involve Strangeness. “Meddling” involves getting into the affairs of something or someone that needs to be set straight. Lastly “Dirty Tricks” involves some level of destruction for the greater good (being defined as the Kerberan on the scene).

Once the reader is familiar with the Club, they are introduced to Victorian life. This section is full of tidbits and plot points to assist in the creation of your character and setting flavor for the GM. Reading this gives great insight into what it is to be a Londoner during the reign of Her Majesty.

Next comes the history of the age with a detailed time line of important events. Plot ideas galore span the years from 1800 to 1902. This important section helps you decide which of the three game eras to use for your game and gives depth to the other countries around the world you might consider for the setting.

A detailed discussion of the city of London follows with game maps and places of interest. It also includes an in-depth discussion of Society and Poverty, Law and Crime, Culture, and Entertainment. There even a section on transportation.

Lastly come the rules and suggestions for character creation, stat blocks and descriptions of the inhabitants of London (both Touched and normal), and a 20 page adventure that should keep you and your players busy for a while.

Conclusion:

You can tell the authors love this era. I was amazed by the detail and depth of the book. Do you need all the information to run a supers game in Victorian London? No. You can take a map of the time, pull out your favorite H. G. Wells story and do a decent job of GMing. However, that sort of adventure is only good for a game or two. The information in the supplement allows you to game in this setting for an extended period of time without the need to purchase other add-ons.

Overall I greatly enjoyed the book even though I groaned when I first saw the page count. The histories are fanciful, enjoyable, and detailed. The characters are interesting and exotic as is the Kerberos Club itself. Eventually you'll be saying, "Tonight, I'll be dining at the Club." It is a feast well worth consuming.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
The Kerberos Club (Savage Worlds Edition)
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