Mars 1917

[Figleaf23]

Originally Posted by Brett

... In keeping with contemporary tradition (E R Burroughs, especially Master Mind of Mars) the other world is Mars, a desiccating, dying, dusty world, home to a decadent culture. I'm torn between using Schiaparelli's map and laying a bit of water on a modern relief map of Mars. ...

Great idea for a campaign. I would suggest the latter map -- real Mars is an amazing landscape.

[The Colonel]

Originally Posted by Figleaf23

Great idea for a campaign. I would suggest the latter map -- real Mars is an amazing landscape.

Is it possible to load a genuine map of Mars into one of these mapping programmes and get it to add water?

[Anaraxes]

I don't know about the usual campaign map-creation tools, but I have seen the occasional web page that lets you set a sea level for Mars... here's one. Importing the results as anything other than a bitmap might be difficult, though.

[Figleaf23]

Originally Posted by The Colonel

Is it possible to load a genuine map of Mars into one of these mapping programmes and get it to add water?

I don't know. I have an extremely well detailed colorized relief map of Mars in a book (I'll cite it in an edit later today).

[Captain-Captain]

I'd make it clear that your PCs profit with your wizard running things with them as powers behind the throne. The Wizard has the correct genetic code to activate the excalibur equivelent item justifying the Crown etc. They themselves see how tradition and law constrain the soverign but not her pink and brown skinned allies from beyond.

Seaking of beyond, condider a second set of arrivals of Austrian troops if onl to mix Australians with Austrians and drive Martian linguists nuts. ;)

Including the crazy sign painter mit der short mustache und hatred of the Semites is not required, just mean enough to merit consideration.

[tratclif]

My copy of GURPS Mars has gone wandering, but the Dying Mars chapter has a sketch map of a canal system overlaying real-world Martian geography, character templates for half-a-dozen subspecies of humanoid Martians, and brief write-ups of three different Martian cultures (mercantile Mariner Valley, the Acidalian Theocracy spread across the dry seabed of the Boreal Ocean, and an insular kingdom in the Hellas basin.

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by tratclif

My copy of GURPS Mars has gone wandering, but the Dying Mars chapter has a sketch map of a canal system overlaying real-world Martian geography, character templates for half-a-dozen subspecies of humanoid Martians, and brief write-ups of three different Martian cultures (mercantile Mariner Valley, the Acidalian Theocracy spread across the dry seabed of the Boreal Ocean, and an insular kingdom in the Hellas basin.

My copy is right here, and though in general I consider it an excellent product, those bits are not exactly what I want for this campaign. I am a fussy world-builder, and as usual I will re-work any world before running stuff set in it.

[Apache]

You could pick up a copy of Space:1889 (either the original version from Heliograph or the new release by Savage Worlds) and use the maps there.

Is very easy to add seas to their map of Mars.

[Figleaf23]

A Traveller's Guide to Mars: The Mysterious Landscapes of the Red Planet, by William K Hartmann (copyright 2003), Workman Publishing, NY.

ISBN 0-7611-2606-6

The map is a fold-out composite of images derived from the Mars Global Surveyor Laser Altimetry done from 1997-2000.

EDIT-It's a great book, but I just found the map available online here.

[lwcamp]

Originally Posted by Brett

What ultra-tech?

Giant walking tripods with heat rays, of course.

Luke