Steve Jackson Games - Site Navigation
Home General Info Follow Us Search Illuminator Store Forums What's New Other Games Ogre GURPS Munchkin Our Games: Home

Go Back   Steve Jackson Games Forums > Roleplaying > GURPS

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 07-03-2011, 02:16 PM   #1
isf
 
isf's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Jacksonville, AR
Default Dying Mars variant

I'm starting a campaign inspired by ERB's Barsoom, SM Stirling's "In the Court of the Crimson Kings" and GDW's Space:1889. The primary divergences from the real world are:
1) the ether theory of physics is true; allowing early spaceflight
2) Mars (cold and dry) and Venus (hot and wet) are both inhabitable
3) Psychic power exist (rare on earth, common on Mars)

The British Empire and Germany are the two nations with the highest presence off world. The first interplanetary trip was to the moon in 1880. Mars was first visited in 1885 by the British.

The two forms of ether propulsion are Ether Sails and Ether Screws. Ether Spaceships are primarily powered by Solar Boilers.

The players are all part of an American expedition funded by a group on investors (including Thomas Edison) to explore an ancient abandoned city on Mars looking for both scientific knowledge and valuable artifacts. There are approximately 30 people on the expedition; divided into three groups, warriors, scientists and support staff.

The Martians are an ancient civilization; fundamentally the same political/social system for the past 30,000 years. They had progressed to a TL 4+6 society based on Biotech and Psitech but most of their natural resources were exhausted long before the modern era. Martians appear to be a human, but do not produce fertile offspring. They are adapted to the colder and drier martian environment and are long lived and resistant to disease. Many Martians are psychic (usually telepathy and ESP) but few are as powerful as they once were. Their relic tech is mostly biotech (which is more sustainable) and little psitech is produced these days.
__________________
Travis Foster
isf is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-03-2011, 07:26 PM   #2
RyanW
 
RyanW's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Southeast NC
Default Re: Dying Mars variant

Sounds fairly similar to a campaign I had been planning for a while. While I've never really settled on my aliens, I figured the Martians would be only vaguely humanoid, but remarkably familiar in culture once you get past the cosmetic differences. By comparison, Venusians would seem more humanoid but less human.
Quote:
Originally Posted by isf View Post
The players are all part of an American expedition funded by a group on investors (including Thomas Edison) to explore an ancient abandoned city on Mars looking for both scientific knowledge and valuable artifacts.
If I were you I would make Westinghouse the primary backer. Mostly so that you can throw in whatever weird tech you want, wave your arms around, and say "Nicola Tesla."
__________________
RyanW
- Actually one normal sized guy in three tiny trenchcoats.
RyanW is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-03-2011, 07:33 PM   #3
whswhs
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
Default Re: Dying Mars variant

Do you have GURPS Steampunk? It's 3/e, but it has a campaign world, Etheria, that's a tribute to Space 1889.

I ran a modified Space 1889 campaign years ago, before writing GURPS Steampunk, in fact—modified by having low-end superheroes as PCs. In fact I have nearly complete campaign notes as a Word file; private message me with an e-mail address if you'd like to see a copy.

(I never did anything specific with it, but a minor tweak I was happy with was the Martians having chromium-based rather than iron-based blood, which gave them their distinctive yellow coloration.)

Bill Stoddard
whswhs is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 07-03-2011, 08:50 PM   #4
isf
 
isf's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Jacksonville, AR
Default Re: Dying Mars variant

Quote:
Originally Posted by RyanW View Post
Sounds fairly similar to a campaign I had been planning for a while. While I've never really settled on my aliens, I figured the Martians would be only vaguely humanoid, but remarkably familiar in culture once you get past the cosmetic differences. By comparison, Venusians would seem more humanoid but less human.
The Green Martians will be non-human; I am still trying to decide on how.

Quote:
Originally Posted by RyanW View Post
If I were you I would make Westinghouse the primary backer. Mostly so that you can throw in whatever weird tech you want, wave your arms around, and say "Nicola Tesla."
I may use the Tesla/Westinghouse expedition as a rival; playing with the Edison/Tesla rivalry.
__________________
Travis Foster
isf is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-03-2011, 08:55 PM   #5
isf
 
isf's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Jacksonville, AR
Default Re: Dying Mars variant

Quote:
Originally Posted by whswhs View Post
Do you have GURPS Steampunk? It's 3/e, but it has a campaign world, Etheria, that's a tribute to Space 1889.
Yes, I've got both Steampunk and Steamtech. I liked Etheria but I wanted a little more Barsoom and Crimson Kings in it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by whswhs View Post
(I never did anything specific with it, but a minor tweak I was happy with was the Martians having chromium-based rather than iron-based blood, which gave them their distinctive yellow coloration.)
I may use this for the Green martians.
__________________
Travis Foster
isf is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-03-2011, 09:01 PM   #6
whswhs
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
Default Re: Dying Mars variant

Quote:
Originally Posted by isf View Post
I may use this for the Green martians.
With green, copper would be more likely, or magnesium (which I think is the analog of iron in the chlorophyll molecule).

Bill Stoddard
whswhs is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 07-03-2011, 09:44 PM   #7
Agemegos
 
Agemegos's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Oz
Default Re: Dying Mars variant

Quote:
Originally Posted by whswhs View Post
With green, copper would be more likely, or magnesium (which I think is the analog of iron in the chlorophyll molecule).
That's right. Chlorophyll and haem are somewhat similar molecules, with iron giving haem its characteristic red colour, and magnesium taking the analogous place in chlorophyll, resulting in green.

Chromium compounds give a startling range of colours, partly because chromium is kind-of stable in a wide range of oxidation states. Chromium (II) is the one you would need in a close haemoglobin analog, and that tends to be not-all-that-stable-really and bright blue. The yellow pigments are mostly chromates, I think, with chromium in the (VI) oxidation state where it is chemically very unlike iron or magnesium (electron accepting rather than electron donating).

However, if you are in a world where the existence of the luminiferous aether somehow allows spaceships to take off from Earth's surface without monstrous rocketry, no-one is going to quibble much over the details of chemistry. And if they did, you could simply tell them that this chromate-rich respiratory pigment was only a functional analogue of haemoglobin, not a chemical analogue.
__________________

Decay is inherent in all composite things.
Nod head. Get treat.
Agemegos is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-03-2011, 10:07 PM   #8
David Johnston2
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Default Re: Dying Mars variant

Quote:
Originally Posted by isf View Post
I may use this for the Green martians.
Seriously guys, are we bright red?
David Johnston2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-03-2011, 10:16 PM   #9
Johnny1A.2
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Default Re: Dying Mars variant

Quote:
Originally Posted by isf View Post
The players are all part of an American expedition funded by a group on investors (including Thomas Edison) to explore an ancient abandoned city on Mars looking for both scientific knowledge and valuable artifacts. There are approximately 30 people on the expedition; divided into three groups, warriors, scientists and support staff.
Given your background assumptions, it would be likely that at least one of your American team would be a Secret Service agent or maybe from Army Intelligence, the possibility of the British and Germans gaining a huge advantage from old Martian tech would be on the minds of some people in Washington D.C.
Johnny1A.2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-04-2011, 12:12 AM   #10
whswhs
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
Default Re: Dying Mars variant

Quote:
Originally Posted by David Johnston2 View Post
Seriously guys, are we bright red?
Well, if I've taken niacin recently. . . .
whswhs is online now   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
dying mars, mars, steampunk

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Fnords are Off
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 12:32 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.