Venus Sourcebook May Be Next!

The cover for the Venus Sourcebook.

The Space 1889 Kickstarter project is turning out to be pretty exciting. It's at about 195% funding of the original goal with only a bit over a third of the funding period gone, so it's at the point where Clockwork Productions et al are adding additional stretch goals. Since the Venus Sourcebook unlocks (becomes available) when they hit about 225% of their original goal, I'd say the odds are very good. I know from years of experience that Venus is the world gamers asked about most concerning additional material.

This level of support for the game is very gratifying on a personal level. I imagine a lot of you know that Space 1889 was the only role-playing game I designed which I retained control of when GDW closed down. I had control of all of my work, of course, but much of it I sold or licensed almost immediately. That was business. But Space 1889 was also personal for me, so it's renewed success now makes me feel nice and warm inside.

There's more news on the literary front as well. I'll fill you in on that tomorrow or the next day.

The (New) Art of Space 1889

I've posted several pieces of art from the German (and soon to be English language)  Space: 1889 basic book before, including character archetypes. Those were done by Mia Steingraeber and have been big hits with about everyone who's seem them. The above one is not from the main book, but instead is a sample archetype from the forthcoming Venus sourcebook. Here's a link to the HeroPress site giving a little more info about the new Space: 1889 art, as well as al update on the Kickstarter project.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Patric Götz of Clockwork Productions, Angus Abranson of Chronicle City, and everyone else who has worked on the new Space 1889 project. It went live on Kickstarter at 6PM on Wednesday night and by Sunday morning had met its funding goal. As I write this on Sunday evening it is at 111%. Once it gets to 120%, the first stretch goal--the 32-page adventure "The Order of the Invisible Eye" by John Wick--will unlock, with more to follow that.  This is terrific news for the game and thanks to all of you who joined in to help put it over the top.

Thirty-four more funding days left.

The Return of Space 1889 part 2

When I posted about Clockwork Productions' kickstarter two days ago, I failed to give a link to the site. Not a big deal, really, as it's the only Space 1889 project on kickstarter, and you are all reasonably resourceful adults. That said, here's the link. Check it out.
Somkeone told me today that if the project hasn't made 20% of its goal in the first ten days it probably won't make it. Well, this one has hit 90% of its goal in the first three days, so I'd say there's a pretty good chance it's going to do okay in the remaining thirty-seven. Get ready for a boffo new English edition of the rules.

In the mean time, here's a look at the sculpts for their Martian Princess figure,  one of the premiums they're doing.

The Return of Space: 1889!

I'm way behind on news and views, and so you'll see several posts next week, after I return from Historicon in historic Fredericksburg, VA. But there's one piece of news which could not wait, Stop The Presses kind of news. Clockwork Productions brought us the beautifully-produced German edition of Space: 1889, and everyone wanted to know, "When will there be an English edition?" Your entreaties have been answered. The Space: 1889 Kickstarter crowd funding starts this evening, Wednesday, July 17th. I'll let them explain in detail. Here is their press release. Go take a look. I think you'll like what you see.

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Space: 1889 Returns!

Cologne & Swindon, July 2013
Wednesday July 17th sees the launch of a new Kickstarter by Clockwork Publishing and Chronicle City to fund the new English version of the award-winning RPG Space: 1889.



“The year is 1889 and Mankind has conquered the inner planets of the Solar System and now travels through the Ether between worlds. We discovered the ancient culture of the Martians and the misty wilderness of Venus. Mercury is a world of extremes, but rich in valuable raw materials. The Asteroid Belt and the Earth’s moon, Luna, are still waiting for further exploration. And there is still a lot to discover on Earth itself.

 Under the burning sun of the Martian steppes, the steamy mists of the Venusian jungle, the deadly cold of the Dry Ice Zone on Mercury, or at the banks of the Amazon River on good old Earth – the world of Space: 1889 is full of adventures.”


Everything Jules Verne could have written.
Everything H.G. Wells should have written.
Everything A. Conan Doyle thought of but never published because it was too fantastic.
Everything you need for the adventures of the century.

 

Almost 25 years ago, well known game designer and author Frank Chadwick came up with the idea of a roleplaying game set in a world inspired by the fantastic novels of early Science Fiction authors like Jules Verne or H. G. Wells.


Space: 1889 was first published in 1988 by Game Designers Workshop, followed by several additional products, amongst them supplements like “Ironclads and Ether flyers,” adventures like “Canalpriests of Mars,” and board games like “Temple of the Beastmen.”


GDW is long gone but, nevertheless, the fan-base has hung on to this “roleplaying game in a more civilized time” and with the growing popularity of 'steampunk culture' the time has never been better to reintroduce a new edition of the game for old and new fans alike.


The Space: 1889 Crowdfunding project is a cooperation between Uhrwerk Verlag/Clockwork Publishing, Chronicle City, and the master himself, Frank Chadwick.


Already released in German in 2012, the new version features new rules, new artwork, and extended background information that hadn't been available before. Working closely with Space: 1889 creator, Frank Chadwick, a completely new rulebook has been produced, not only building on the original version from the 1980s and 1990s but expanding it in accordance with what has been produced before.


The new version of Space: 1889 uses the fast and easy to learn Ubiquity-ruleset from Exile Games Studios, an award winning system invented by Jeff Combos and used by the RPG Hollow Earth Expedition.


With this new Kickstarter project we hope to expand the exciting new Space: 1889 RPG to where it has its roots: the English-speaking world. We are hoping the core rulebook will be the start of a whole range of Space: 1889 products in English. With each reached stretchgoal, we will be adding new adventures, sourcebooks, accessories or other items.


Come and join us on an exciting voyage through the solar system and visit the deserts of Mars, the dense jungles of Venus or the icy cold of the dark side of Mercury.

About Clockwork Publishing
Clockwork Publishing (or to be more precise: Uhrwerk Verlag, which is the german name, but quite unpronouncable to our english customer base) has been publishing RPGs since 2009, including the German versions of Hollow Earth Expedition, Deadlands: Classic and The One Ring, as well as a lot of RPGs of german origin like Dungeonslayers and Das Schwarze Auge – Myranor. Patric Götz, the owner of Clockwork Publishing, is working in the RPG industry for over 15 years and still hasn't managed to find a decent job somewhere else.
About Chronicle City
Chronicle City is a British based games company set up by multi-award winning publisher Angus Abranson (ex-Cubicle 7 Entertainment; Leisure Games). Chronicle City works with a number of companies and designers, helping to publish and distribute their games. In addition they also develop and license settings to create there own roleplaying, card and board games. Angus has long been a fan and supporter of the steampunk genre, and still has the character sheet of his first Space: 1889 character from when the game was first released!
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For more information on Space: 1889, the Kickstarter the companies involved, or to arrange interviews or previews of the game and the creators behind it, please contact us on info@chroniclecity.com

Guest Blog from Patric Götz of Uhrwerk Verlag

As I'm sure all of you know, the German-language edition of the Space: 1889 role-playing game from Uhrwerk Verlag hit the streets a couple months ago. It's a beautiful prodution and is selling well. I'd told Patric Götz before that if the German-language edition was a success we'd talk about an English-language version as well. And we are.

Today Patric joins us with a guest blog about how he came to the game in the first plae.

Patric writes  . .

I started playing RPGs in 1984 and up until 1989 I played mostly D&D, DSA (Germany’s most successful RPG) and a little bit of Star Frontier and Traveller. Vanilla Fantasy and SF so to say.

I started reading the novels of Jules Verne at the age of 14 and was immediately hooked by the tone and “feel” of his stories. I didn’t only read the well-known novels like 20.000 Leagues and Journey to the Centre of the Earth but also a lot of the less known ones.

Imagine my excitement as I saw the advertisement for a RPG called Space: 1889. I literally couldn’t sleep the night before I planned to journey to my friendly not-so-local game store to take a look at that book (English RPGs weren’t easy to find these days in Germany and there were only a couple of specialized shops spread out across Germany back then).

I wasn’t disappointed at all. The premise of the game was exactly what I was looking for in a RPG. I immediately bought all the stuff that was available over the next couple of months with my not so freely disposable pocket money.

Fast forward a couple of years… Due to a chain of events I never could have anticipated, I now work in the so-called RPG-industry, which is even harder to do in Germany than in the USA or UK I guess.

So after publishing a couple of quite successful (and some not so successful) RPGs, I remembered my old love Space: 1889. The license seemed dead and gone at that time, except for the nice reprints done by the folks at Heliographic Press – but no new material had been published since the early 90ties.

I contacted Mr. Chadwick anyhow about the possibility of doing a new German version of the game. Not just a translation of the old material, but a completely new interpretation of the game – with new texts, new illustrations and new rules.

Imagine my surprise as I got a very positive answer. So we started doing “our” version of Space:1889 and after the usual delays we finally managed to publish the new rulebook in July 2012.

It was an immediate success (well – that is for a RPG in Germany ;) ) and more books are planned right now to further supplement and support this fine RPG-line.

So we now have the very strange situation that the latest version of an American RPG which is mostly centered around the British Empire is now only available in German. ;)

But fear not… there are things going on in the background that may change this fact in a not so distant future…

 

Video Look at the New German Space: 1889

Uhrwerk Verlag has released the limited-edition hardcover version of their new Space: 1889 game. The general market version should be close on its heels. Here is a nice video preview of the game from their web site. It's in German, of course, but you can enjoy the pictures.
Here's a link.

Sneak Peek at the German Space: 1889 RPG

Big news!

Uhrwerk Verlag has some sample art up on the upcoming German Space: 1889 role-playing game along with an overview -- in German, of course, but if you use the Google toolbar translating program it can easily convert the web page to -- well, maybe not English exactly, but sorta close ("Who Space: 1889 is not yet known: This role-playing adventure into between steam, air and adventure!") Hmm. Let's call it "Googlish."

. It looks as if the core rules will ship in July and the Venus worldbook is in the works to follow soon. I've previewed some art earlier and everything I've seen so far for this game is top-notch. As I mentioned earlier, if the German edition is well received (and it looks as if it will be) there's a very good chance of an English-language edition to follow.

Here's the link to the Uhrwerk Verlag announcement. Go take a look.

Character Art from the German Space 1889 Game

The German Space 1889 role-playing game will be released later this year by Uhrwerk Verlag and here is a sneak peek at two of the character archtype illustrations: the female scientist and the gentleman adventurer. I love this artwork! If the rest of the game is to this standard (and that of the other material I've seen) this will definitely be a winner.

These were posted by Patric Goetz of Uhrwerk Verlag on the new Space: 1889, Science Fiction Roleplaying In a More Civilized Age Facebook page. I've added that to the links section (as Space 1889 RPG, because the full title wouldn't fit). The page was just started within the last month or so but is active and will probably see a lot of news of upcoming products as well as discussions about the game. Worth a look.

A Very Cool Space: 1889 Animation

Check this out! Link

It is a fan annimation presenting a steampunk "Google Earth" look at Mars in the Space: 1889 universe. It's in German, but so what?

Way cool!

Space: 1889 -- auf Deutsch, bitte.

What you see above is the final version of the cover for the upcoming Space: 1889 from Germany. Patric Goetz of Ulisses Spiele (Ulysses Games) is managing the project, but it will be released under his own label Uhrwerk Verlag (Clockwork Publishing). What a great name for a Steampunk publisher. This is a very exciting project, in the works for about two years now, and you heard it here first! It is not a simple translation of the original game, but rather a new design with more modern game mechanics -- if "modern" is the right word for a Steampunk game -- while faithful to the Space: 1889 world background and mood. The manuscript is in good shape and they are working on art (some very nice art!) as we speak. The likely release date is October of this year. 

Of course, this edition will be in German, so English speakers will have to content themselves with the classic edition, available from Heliograph, Ltd, and the Red Sands of Mars/Savage Worlds version. If the German edition is a big hit, however, I've promised to consider a licensed translation of the German edition into English. The idea of an English translation of a German edition of an American game is a little weird, I know, but I'm okay with weird.

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While we're on the subject of Germany, here's the new version of the German background. It is largely unchanged, and in some respects is closer to the historical Germany than that in the original Space: 1889.

Bismarck’s guidance of Prussia and then Germany has resulted in unification of the North German states under Hohenzollern rule and an alliance with Great Britain which guarantees German security on the continent. Faced by a common enemy in Communard France, the Anglo-German alliance proved profitable to both parties until 1885, when the Tournai Incident brought France and Germany to war over a French border dispute with Belgium. Great Britain intervened on the side of its allies, Germany and Belgium, but the British were willing only to reestablish the status quo. The elderly Helmut von Moltke, the German Chief of Staff, favored using the Belgian War as a pretext to march on Paris and crush the Commune, but Bismarck and the Kaiser followed the British lead, a move highly unpopular with the Army. Von Moltke resigned soon afterwards.

Early in 1888 Wilhelm I died and was succeeded by Wilhelm II, a headstrong ruler whose sentiments were more  in tune with the Army's. He immediately created the Luft-Kabinett, a senior bureau responsible for greatly increasing air power, and appointed the Graf von Zeppelin its first head. The new Kaiser grows impatient with the British alliance, as British support is limited and, even on continental matters, subject to British policy interest first. On areas outside the continent, however, the British expect unconditional German support. The Kaiser believes Germany must look to its own security and its own future, and is charting a course separate from Britain’s. Bismarck resists this at every opportunity, but knows he has lost favor and his days of power are drawing to a close.

The Luft-Kabinett operates its own intelligence branch which works increasingly in rivalry with the British. The Imperial German Army's own intelligence branch still nominally respects the alliance, but many young and politically active officers feel otherwise, and loyalties are divided between the official policy of the government -- Bismarck and the "old school" -- versus the new policy of the young Kaiser.

Bavaria occupies a unique position within the German empire. It is a kingdom, but it is also part of the empire. As a practical matter, this means it has considerable internal autonomy, and its own security and military forces, but follows Berlin's dictates with respect to foreign policy. Anti-Prussian sentiment runs high, however, and there is considerable sympathy for neutral Austria, which was humbled by Prussia in 1866.