History TabletopGame / Space1889

It is set in an AlternateUniverse Victorian era where [[AllTheoriesAreTrue the scientific theories of the day are true]]; a luminiferous aether fills the depths of space, which is what people use to travel from world to world in {{Cool Airship}}s. Indeed, the game describes itself as Victorian era science fiction. As the game is set in an alternate-Victorian era, all the great powers have colonies on the other planets.

There was also a 1989 Computer {{RPG}}, ''Mars 1889'', which is mostly forgotten today. ''TabletopGame/SavageWorlds'' also has a reedition called ''Red Sands'' with Clockwork Publishing developing a version for UsefulNotes/{{Unisystem}} (while also supporting the SW version).

There was also a 1989 Computer {{RPG}}, ''Mars 1889'', which is mostly forgotten today. ''TabletopGame/SavageWorlds'' also has a reedition called ''Red Sands''.

* LightningGun: This is something the Moon Men have. It also takes the form of the Lightning Cannon, a possible invention in the main book.

* {{Earthquakemachine}}: An earthquake machine or a volcano machine are possible inventions in the main book.

* EvilLaugh: a villain has this in Ausonian Stalker in Tales from the Ether.

* VillainHasAPoint surprisingly almost completely absent. Anarchists’ legitimate anger against the establishment is at best mentioned in passing. So is ground cleansers justified anger at human behavior on Mars. The description of the Fenians does contain a get a bit of the history of oppression of Catholics on Ireland. In the adventures, all these groups are just destructive terrorists though. The reasonably democratic government of Shaptash is the only player character antagonist that is sometimes described as somewhat sympathetic. In the adventure Steppelords of Mars, though, they are just enemy cavalry, bent on genocide against the nomads.

* FreezeRay a possible invention.

* LightningGun: This is something the Moon Men have. It is also a possible invention in the main book.

* AirborneAircraftCarrier: Sort of. High Martian have flying ships, but can fly individually and can make a boarding attack without actually boarding laying their ship next to the boardee.

* {{EVERYTHINGSBETTERWITHDINOSAURS}}: There are dinosaurs on Venus somewhat justified by Victorian ideas of aging worlds where Venus is a younger world than Earth. However, the real reason is of course that everything is better with dinosaurs.

There was also a 1989 Computer {{RPG}}, ''Mars 1889'', which is mostly forgotten today. ''TabletopGame/SavageWorlds'' also has a reedition called Red Sands.

* VictorianBritain: [=PC=]s are generally assumed to be British or at least willing to serve British interests.

There was also a 1989 Computer {{RPG}}, ''Mars 1889'', which is mostly forgotten today. SavageWorlds also has a reedition called Red Sands.

!This game provides examples of:

* SpecialSnowflakeSyndrome: High Martians are barbaric, filthy, foul-tempered and vicious. Red Sands will allow you to play a reasonably civilized one.

* AmericanDream: The American dream is very much alive in the Victorian era. A poor person becoming rich is very much associated with the US (whether this is statistically more likely in America than elsewhere is another question of course). Self-improvement is very much an international, Western ideal by this time.

* QueenVicky: British are expected to toast to the "dear Queen" and use "for Queen and country" as a slogan -it is unlikely that they will meet her in person unless they perform som truly great deed and are awarded with some of the major orders of merit or the like. In one adventure in Transactions of the Royal Martian Geographical Society the [=PC=]s do get to meet her in person [[spoiler: though not in her own body at first.]].

* AccentuateTheNegative: Inverted. The game described but does not dwell very much on the dark sides of Victorian Britain or on the time in general. The average Victorian believes in Progress so it's mostly inverted in-universe too. This is a fairly optimistic game in general.

* ActionGirl: She-Devil of the Desert from Caravans of Mars

* AdvancedAncientAcropolis well, there is functioning ancient advanced technology in Martian cities, City of Tomorrow from Challenge 77 and a mostly lost underwater civilization in the solo adventure SubAfrica in Challenge 57.

* AlienArtsAreAppreciated: Averted. Humans and Martians are generally unimpressed by each other’s current culture. Humans find many of the edifices of the old Martian civilization tasteful and impressive but the modern ones are often bad, gaudy imitations.

* BizarreAlienPsychology: generally averted. Martians have human-like motivations. Space 1889 has a system of keywords indicating NPC motivations that can be randomized by rolling two six-sided dices. The same keywords are used for Martians and humans. Humans find Martian religion weird, morbid and obsessed with death and the end of things, though. They are also surprised to see Martians so accepting of the decline of their civilization and planet. These seem more like cultural rather than deep inherent psychological differences. Otherwise they are quite similar.
* BlackBox: there are plenty of such phenomena where you know the input and the output but how no idea how it is achieved in Space 1889. It is not only the fictional Martian left-over technology from long ago but plenty of things we now know how it works that were a mystery to historical Victorians. For instance the sun seems to send out a lot of energy from nowhere, much more than any known type of fuel could possibly sustain for more very long –leading some people to believe the solar system cannot be more than a few thousands year old. You seem to inherit traits from your parents, but having no idea of DNA, the mechanism for this is a mystery to Victorians who sometimes think it is somehow literally “in the blood” or “with the mother’s milk” but that makes it hard to explain how plants can inherit traits.
* BlatantLies part of the way Victorian-style manners work. “We are here to protect your independence.” “He is not at home.” “My most respectable opponent…”

* BoldExplorer: Several adventures are about exploration or about saving a lost exploration party. An explorer would be a perfectly suitable player character concept and it is also a career available in character generation.
* BoldlyComing: romance in general is notably absent in the adventures. It is possible to act like this, but a player character who did this had better be very discreet. Victorian society frowns on sex outside marriage, interracial marriage and interspecies would be considered grotesque. In the adventure Exogamous Mating in Challenge 68 there is an extremely rare possibly unique human-Martian marriage. The adventure makes it very clear that Victorian society frown on this.
* BombThrowingAnarchists: played fairly straight and intended to be an antagonist –though it is also available as a player character career in character generation. The illustration fits the stereotype, complete with a cartoon bomb.
* BornAgainImmortality: in Canal Priest of Mars we learn that the Canal Keepers of Garyaan believe this is what happens to [[spoiler: Seldon, the person that united Mars a few millennia ago.]] Game Master desides if it is true.
* BrainFever: a perfectly normal diagnosis in the late 19th century.
* BritainIsOnlyLondon: the players visit London in at least one adventure. This trooper cannot recall any single scene in any adventure that takes place in any specific other place that is part of Britain proper (as opposed to British colonies), though, so this is played straight.
* BritishStuffiness: being both British and Victorian, the player characters are expected to act like this.
* BuryMeNotOnTheLonePrairie: There is an adventure about it in Challenge 38 called A Journey to Oblivion.
* ButThouMust: In adventure Ausonian Stalker in Tales of the Ether the player characters are drafted willy-nilly to help with a problem. Justified in that the Martian prince, Jharmook of Ausonia, who does draft them have the authority and very good reasons to do precisely this.
* CantArgueWithElves: inverted, this is many Martians’ opinion about how humans think that their ideas of Christianity, Progress and Science make them superior.
* CassandraTruth at the end of [[spoiler: Beastmen of Mars]] it is stated that it is unlikely that people will believe the [=PCs=] most sensational discoveries since they don’t have proof.
* CavemenVsAstronautsDebate: In “Canal Priest of Mars” there is a man named Eric Thwaite who is endlessly debating in the newspapers that it should be spelled “the Aether” not “the Ether”. He’s ridiculously passionate about it. Somewhat subverted in that none of his opponents care that much about the issue.
* ChekhovsGun in Steppelords of Mars an NPC gets an unknown package to use in emergencies. Of course the is an emergency and [[spoiler: the package turns out to contain dynamite quite useful in the situation.]]
* ChooseYourOwnAdventure: the solo adventure SubAfrica in Challenge 57.
* ClothingDamage: there are a few such illustrations. Red Sands has two, including one on the cover, for instance.

* ContrivedCoincidence: a few times. In Canal Priest of Mars an acquaintance tells the player characters of a curious incident. It just happens to be a clue to the problem the player characters are working on right now.
* CoolAirship: Mars and Earth now have flying ships based on liftwood. Venus has Zeppelins because liftwood deteriorates very quickly on Venus. In real history the first Zeppelin was built in 1900.

* CrazyJealousGuy: Murray Galway from Caravans of Mars. This doubles as hypocricy since he cheats on his wife.
* CreatingLife: artificial life is a possible invention. You would expect some dramatic Frankensteinian theme with "what does it mean to be human" and "playing god". However it is unexpectedly undramatic and is laconically described as having applications for agriculture and simple labour.
* CreatorThumbprint: Typical of Frank Chadwick and GDW (who have created such things as Traveller, Twilight 2000 and 2300 AD) is a well-created world, well-researched and realistic in many details even if the basic premise of the game is not realistic, science fiction with much emphasis on the military, original or unique when created inspiring others to come up with similar ideas later, tie-in with well-written boardgames but the role-playing game itself has simple and not very good rules. These rules also have similarities with other GDW role-playing games, such as a system for NPC motivation, even if Space 1889 uses two dices instead of a deck of cards.

* DependingOnTheArtist: the artists are not completely consistent in how Canal Martians look for instance.

* {{Demythtification}}: much Martian history is now legend. In many stories the player characters get to discover what is the truth behind these legends.

* DevolutionDevice: while not explicitly called devolution, the device in [[spoiler:Ausonian Stalker from Tales from the Ether]] seems to turn people into a viscious, feral and primitive version of themselves.
* DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu: In Canal Priests of Mars [[spoiler: the player characters get to have a conversation with an absolutely ancient, virtually immortal, being who is also the leader and founder of the horrifying Cult of the Worm.]]
* DifferentWorldDifferentMovies: Jules Verne exists in Space 1889, but some of the books he wrote either mustn’t exist or be very different in Space 1889.

* DrivenToSuicide: an entire race in [[spoiler: Beastmen of Mars.]]

* DyingRace: the canals are slowly decaying and cannot be repaired. Mars is about to become arid and basically uninhabitable again. Canal Martians generally more or less accept this, which the Europeans, who believe in Progress and sometimes in social darwinism, find offensive or a sign of weakness.
* DyingTown: plenty of uninhabited areas, houses or floors of a larger building in most Martian cities. There are also dead towns.
* {{Eagleland}}: The mid and upper class Victorians of Space 1889 and historical Victorians of these classes think of Americans as rich but somewhat lacking in manners, taste and humility id est mostly type II. Plenty of people see it as type I though. Nobody sees Americans as invaders and imperialists before 1898, though plenty of people disapprove of their treatment of native Americans. Europeans are proudly imperialist at this time. USA often criticize this.

* EasyEvangelism: averted. European attempts to spread Christianity on Mars go very poorly, worse than anywhere on Earth. This is not limited to religion, though. All other European ideas leave canal martians unimpressed. This extends to technology, human military technology is pretty much the only human thing the Canal Martians want. Humans are certainly unimpressed by the current canal Martians, but these generally do not try to spread their beliefs to humans -except their belief that humans should go home and that is not working.
* ElitesAreMoreGlamorous: In 1889 on earth few nations had any “special forces” in the modern sense. However, there were plenty of units that were especially prestigious and sought after –few of these units show up on Mars though. On Mars, outfitting and training your units with modern, European weapons is so expensive that only a few Martian units are so equipped. Even access to muzzle-loaded minié rifles makes a Martian unit above average.

* KaiserReich: often the antagonist -which is surprising given that Britain was more hostile to France and Russia in 1889 and there is nothing in the alternate history that would make them particularly more hostile.
* KickTheDog: an almost literal example in [[spoiler: Canal Priest of Mars]]. That also doubles as EstablishingCharacterMoment “She is accompanied by a maid and by three poodles housed in the kennels. Her character may be indicated by the fact that she won’t visit the dogs once during the voyage.” The trip in question is expected to take ten weeks.

* LightningGun: the Moon Men have this. It is also a possible invention in the main book.
* LikeRealityUnlessNoted: Space 1889 is set in historical 1889 except in the places where it is stated that it is different.
* LizardFolk: Lizard men of Venus.
* {{Loincloth}}: what the bestial High Martians wear.
* LostAtSea: The player characters are on an ethership that loses its ability to navigate in [[spoiler: Canal Priests of Mars]]. It gets better.

* AchillesPowerCord in a few stories the best way to stop a powerful, ancient machine is to stop the powerstation that powers it. It doesn’t have a literal cord, though.

* AdventurerArchaeologist: this character type makes perfect sense in the setting. Treasure hunting type archeology happens in some adventures.
* AdventurerOutfit plenty of illustrations feature similar outfits.
* AirborneAircraftCarrier sort of. High Martian have flying ships, but can fly individually and can make a boarding attack without actually boarding laying their ship next to the boardee.
* AliensAreBastards: mostly averted, all aliens come in all moral shades, except the High Martians that are universally filthy brutes. According to Red Sands, there are exceptions even to this.

* AllPlanetsAreEarthLike: Mercury, Venus, Mars and the moon can all support Human life quite easily (albeit not necessarily comfortably), although only Mars has any sort of civilization on it- Mercury has only very basic life, such as trilobites, Venus has Sentient Lizardmen, although they are only at the Stone Age level. Mars has an ancient Civilization based around their canals, although they have lost the technology necessary to build new canals or even to maintain their cities. The Moon can also support life, although there is no atmosphere on the surface- it only exists nearer to the Moon's core.
* AllohistoricalAllusion: surprisingly completely absent, unless you count Otto Strabisnäs. A nutcase who doesn't believe in the ether theory and instead has developed his own wave-particle duality theory in the adventure Canal Priests of Mars. Since Otto Stravisnäs in ahistorical but his crackpot theory is the correct on in our world, this is more like an allo-science allusion. The reason for the absence of allo-historical allusion in what is obviously a piece of alternate history could be that this is alternate history very close to real history.
* AllWomenArePrudes: It’s the Victorian era. It is generally believed that women can love but have no sex drive. Romance or sexuality are not prominent in the adventures and stories of Space 1889 though.

* AmazonBrigade: Soldier's Companion mentions Company A of the 62nd St. John's Fusiliers of New Brunswick, Canada stationed in Syrtis Major, better known as the Amazonians, is all female except for the commanding captain. Averted in that it is not an elite unit. Soldier's Companion claims this unit existed historically. It is also mentioned in Transactions of Royal Martian Geographical Society part 1.

* AnachronismStew: well, it is Victorians in Space meeting canal Martians which have a pre-industrial society with some leftover technology from a much more advanced era stone-age Hill Martians and High Martians on Mars and stone-age lizardmen and dinosaurs on Venus.
* ApatheticCitizens Mostly averted, this was the time of plenty of grass root movements. In some adventures player characters are sometimes expected to intervene in matters that does not directly involve them for no reason than the goodness of their hearts. Most canal Martians are surprisingly resigned to the ineffectiveness of their rulers and the slow dying of their planet, though.

* AppliedPhlebotinum: Largely absent, except for Edison's Etheric Propeller, whose workings are not disclosed and Martian Liftwood, a Martian Tree whose specially treated wood can be used to make flying ships. Rest assured, all the Earthly Powers with influence on Mars are desperate to control more of this material which can create air born Dreadnoughts.

* {{Arcology}}: City of Tomorrow from Challenge 77 and a mostly lost underwater civilization in the solo adventure SubAfrica in Challenge 57.
* ArmedLegs: One of the few times this trope is justified. The flying High Martians carry close combat weapons (that do not really correspond to any weapons humans use with their hands but mostly resembles spears or scythes) in their prehensile feet while using their webbed arms for flying. You can see it in the illustration in the background above and to the right (as seen from the viewer) of the blonde woman's head.
* ArmorIsUseless: Averted and played straight. Several Martian units have armor, and European armies have cuirassiers. In historical Victorian times armor is unlikely to stop a musket bullet and will definitely not stop a 19th century rifle shot. Red Sands has rules for armor and it does protect to some extent so it isn’t useless. Regular rules from main game makes armour useful in close combat only.
* AsimovsThreeKindsOfScienceFiction two of three types are well represented in the game. In the sourcebooks the new technologies are described in reasonable detail and the adventures are, well adventures. The social effects of the inventions mentioned are small (such as the difficulty of keeping clothes in their proper places in zero-G) and Europeans treat the other planets as just other colonies. Instead the historical conventions of late Victorian age are played straight.
* {{Auction}}: a Red Sands adventure features an auction of a Bhutan spice plant, which could in the right hands start a complete plantation and break the lucrative English/Boreo-Syrtan monopoly.
* AWizardDidIt: used exactly once: [[spoiler: Tree of Souls in Challenge 46]] has a dead person rising and creating zombies with incantations with no scientific explanation at all.
* BambooTechnology well Mars ship that looks like they were ships from 18th century or so that can fly and humans have ether flyers that look like and are from the late 19th century but can travel in space. It is justified in that there are reasons why this work. These are isolated cases of bamboo technology for the rest technology can achieve roughly what you expect it to.
* BananaRepublic: many nominally independent Martian city states are corrupt and heavily under the influence of human and Martian major powers. Likewise, on Earth many theoretically independent states are corrupt and strongly influenced by major powers on Earth.
* BeastlyBloodsports Skrill riders have a very dangerous sport called the Games to determine who is to be the leader. In 1889 humans still practice stuff like bare-knuckle boxing and dog fighting. Medieval style animal-cruelty-as-public-entertainment is going out of fashion though.
* BecomingTheMask: Basically how a upper class Victorian-style upbringing, education or training is supposed to work. Learn to show no fear, learn to feel no fear. Learn to seem noble, learn to be noble.
* BenevolentAlienInvasion: Europeans’ own opinion about their presence on Mars, Venus, Africa and Asia.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Victorian behavior ideal for men. This is also how British diplomacy works. Though a bit of gunship diplomacy is often added, there is no need to be rude about it.
* BigBad: in Red Sands we have Kronos, leader of the Brotherhood of Luxor in Red Sands. Also in [[spoiler: Beastmen of Mars]] we have the real leader of the Cult of the Worm. In the main book High Martian king Attabrax is mentioned.

* CriticalResearchFailure: Uncharacteristic for a GDW game and Frank Chadwick there is a relatively basik one. Contrary to what it says in the main book about possible inventions monoatomic hydrogen gas would not increase lift by 50% it’s more like 4%.
* CureYourGays: Attempted. In Canal Priests of Mars the John Douglas 9th Marquess of Queensbury is bringing his effeminite son Alfred to Mars to get him out of Oscar Wilde's influence and to 'toughen' him. Historically he would in 1895 trick Oscar Wilde into suing him -which ended up sending Oscar Wilde to prison. Historically Alfred didn't meet Oscar Wilde until 1891 and Canal Priests of Mars is persumably set in 1889 so this is slightly ahistorical.
* DamselInDistress: botanist Emilie van Warren in the Lurker in the Moor from More Tales from the Ether. She isn’t exactly helpless as a character trait, she explicitly described as psychologically though, but she is fairly defenseless in her current situation and needs to be rescued, [[spoiler: twice]]. Lady Alianni från To Rescue a Lady Fair in Challenge 67 is another.
* DeadlyDecadentCourt: many of the Martian city-states have one of these.
* DeathbedConfession: a few times, including in Canal Priest of Mars.
* DefaultSettingSyndrome: the vast majority of adventures are set on Mars.

* ScienceIsBad: clearly inverted. This is a game with about a time where belief in progress is strong.
* ScienceMarchesOn: an odd version. Frank Chadwick explains flying ships and space travel by making the 19th century ether theory correct in the world of Space 1889. Also, Mars is fairly close to what some, certainly not all, 19th century scientists actually thought. There are no signs of other erroneous scientific theories of the late 19th century, such as élan vitale (life force) or recapitulation theory.

* SecurityCling: On the cover of Caravans of Mars.
* SelectiveEnforcement: Victorian society will not enforce laws and rules against high status people unless absolutely necessary.
* SelectiveObliviousness in Victorian era, good manners requires this to a certain and sometimes great degree. For instances they have an extremely strict nudity taboo and any risk of showing a glimpse of underwear is considered extremely provocative and grossly inappropriate. At the same time admiring nude statues and paintings is somehow not considered sexual at all –but you will be completely ostracized if you are oogling such things in an obviously sexual way. Also an unmarried woman is expected to be completely ignorant about sex.

* ServantRace: Mankind has three of them in the far future in the adventure Time Voyager in Challenge 48.
* ShouldersOfDoom: Many dress or parade uniforms from the Victorian era has epaulettes. For women the gigot sleeve or leg-of-mutton-sleeve was fashionable.
* ShoutingShooter mostly averted, this behavior would be considered poor discipline and unprofessional in 1889. The militaries generally treated machine guns as a piece of artillery at that time.
* ShownTheirWork: Mostly averted. Frank Chadwick is obviously knowledgeable about late Victorian age but is a little bit too professional to feel the need to flaunt it. He sticks to talking about such things that are relevant or at least can serve as inspiration for role-playing in the Victorian age. Also he is not fussy about the exact chronology of late 19th century; steam turbines for ships is mentioned (didn't exist in 1889), Marquess of Queensbury tries to keep his son away from Oscar Wilde (they didn't meet until 1891), Zeppelins fly over Venus (first Zeppelin was in 1900), carbide lamps to be worn on hats and helmets are on the equipement list (wasn't invented until 1892). It's a game about alternate history after all. In Soldier's Companion he gets a lot more exact and accurate, claiming that all units raised on Earth and all biographies of British commanders are historically accurate as far as he has been able to ascertain -with the obvious exception that they historically never left earth.

* SkyPirate: A bit difficult to pull off without support from some Martian city, so privateer is much more likely than a true pirate. Shaptash employs privateers against the British. The adventure Mission to Shaptash in Challenge 76 is about this.
* SlaveLiberation: in Red Sands there are adventures about liberating High Martian slaves or creating a rebellion of the player characters are captured.
* SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil: surprisingly and ahistorically averted. In historical 1889 the British were convinced about the evil of slavery. In Space 1889 they are at least willing to cooperate with the slave-trading Boreo-Syrtan League and traffic their slave-grown Bhutan Spice.

* KingBobTheNth: Seldon’s empire lasted for millennia and the last of the line was Seldon LXIX (that’s 69th ).

* AllohistoricalAllusion: surprisingly completely absent, unless you count Otto Strabisnäs. A nutcase who doesn't believe in the ether theory and instead has developed his own wave-particle duality theory in the adventure Canal Priests of Mars. This is more like allo-science allusion. The reason for the absence of allo-historical allusion in what is obviously a piece of alternate history could be that this is alternate history very close to real history.

* AllohistoricalAllusion: surprisingly completely absent, unless you count the nutcase who has an alternative to the ether theory in the Adventure Canal Priests of Mars. The reason for the absence could be that this is alternate history very close to real history.

* TheBritishEmpire: Obviously

* CassandraTruth at the end of [[spoiler: Beastmen of Mars]] it is stated that it is unlikely that people will believe the PCs most sensational discoveries since they don’t have proof.

* InsaneEqualsViolent: the vast majority of NPCs with the motivation “insane” are violent and hostile to the player characters.
* InscrutableAliens: Mostly averted Martians and humans have similar motivations. The motivation rules for creating NPCs in the main book does not differentiate between humans and Martians. Humans find much Martian religion incomprehensible, though.

* StiffUpperLip: well, the player characters are probably mostly British heroes and are expected to emulate this behavior. NPCs also try to live up to this in the adventures.

* HobbesWasRight: Recently averted in 1889. Hobbes thoughts have been the excuse for all types of brutal government. By 1889 it has been demonstrated that brutal, authoritarian rule is not the only alternative to chaos. By 1889 there are plenty of budding democracies (though few have universal suffrage for women or men and sometimes more votes for rich people and often government is appointed by the king not the elected parlament). In Shaptash, Martians are giving this democracy thing a try. On Earth anarchists believed that if liberated from the oppressive structure of society people will naturally do good and act for the best of all humanity.

* RealMenHateAffection it’s late 19th century and most of the characters are British.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure quite a few, the Martian Prince Jharmook of Ausonia in Ausonian Stalker in Tales from the Ether for example. Actually, most authority figures the player characters will meet in the adventures are reasonably competent and try to do a good job, from the Hill Martian chief to the colonial governor. Some of the British officers described in Soldier’s Companion are fairly incompetent and some Martian princes are just hedonists, though. Also, there is no shortage of Mad Scientists.

MilesGloriosus: Red Sands has the disadvantage Cocky which means that if you are a hero you must spend the first turn announcing your greatness and how the enemy should give up now, if you are a villain you must never finish the enemy off, leaving that to minions, nature or a well-designed death-trap.

* IHaveNoSon: In the adventure Mission to Shaptash in Challenge 76 a wealthy American has the player characters inform his son that unless he stops fighting the British as a privateer he will be disowned and disinherited.