The Amazing Journey

This is a brief exploration of an idea Jocelyn and I had in the Galapagos and presents the basic outline as well as some of the PnP world generation stuff. There should clearly be more options in the generation section and the ultimate plan is to have procedurally generated creatures to encounter as well.

The year is 1863. Deep in the Mojave Desert, a platoon of the so-called Buffalo Soldiers have discovered a long dormant artifact that was presumably left behind by the fading Amerindian culture. However, upon depositing it in Cambridge for study at Harvard, it has become clear that the bizarre red pyramid with the glimmering green rods in its heart was no work of man. Five rods, there were, when the experiments began.

Once those eggheads at Harvard discovered how to turn the machine on, only four rods remained. A gateway was made, a gateway that flickered into and out of being with astonishing rapidity, bathing the quadrangle in ghostly unhallowed light. Nothing like that circle of otherness had ever been seen. Three expeditions have been sent through, three expeditions mounted by the United States government and private investors. There are high hopes: hopes of alien life, of a weapon that can end the war wracking the nation, hopes of discovering where mankind came from and where it is going...

But none of the three expeditionary teams have ever returned. You comprise the fourth.

Procedurally Generated Destination of Amazing Vernian Adventure...

Biosphere (d6):
1. Barren, dead world
2. Deserted, little life
3. Savannah
4. Earth-like
5. Lush
6. Ultra-lush

Rainfall (d6):
1. None, desert world
2. Low rainfall
3. Moderate rainfall, arid
4. Earth-like
5. High rainfall, monsoon
6. Oceanic, Thalassian

Amazing! Qualities (d20, roll multiple times for a weirder world):
1. Crystalline World
2. Metallic World
3. Acid Rain
4. Seas of Acid
5. Toxic World
6. Intelligent Life (non-hostile, advanced, native)
7. Intelligent Life (hostile, advanced, native)
8. Intelligent Life (non-hostile, tribal, native)
9. Intelligent Life (hostile, tribal, native)
10. Intelligent Life (starfaring, hostile)
11. Intelligent Life (starfaring, nonhostile)
12. Hollow World (roll again for interior biosphere and rainfall)
13. Two Suns (reduce rainfall by 2 categories, min. 1)
14. Apex Predator
15. Shattered World/Floating islands
16. Low gravity world
17. Ruins (extinct advanced natives)
18. Degraded natives (from advanced to tribal, hostile)
19. Degraded natives (from advanced to tribal, non-hostile)
20. Gigantic Organisms

1889 and Beyond

As I said a few days back, I'm getting some folks into Space: 1889. I've never played it before. I love Edgar Rice Borroughs, though, so that gives me a leg up. The discovery of S89 (as I'm now dubbing it) was fortuitous in the extreme. While on a trip to the Galapagos Islands Jocelyn and I came up with an idea for a game that has both a PnP and a Board Game expression. The idea, which I'll expound in some later blog post, is currently called The Amazing Journey and focuses on the adventures of a group of explorers (the PCs or boardgame players) from the 1800s journeying through a one-way magical wormhole to a procedurally generated world of science-fantasy Vernian madness and trying to find a way home.

We have yet to play it. However, my preliminary instincts are that it's great. Even if the rules are absolutely awful (which I don't think they are), the attention to detail throughout the main rulebook is stunning. There is an entire chapter on Martian canals, their anatomy, how they intersect, their pumps, etc. The history sections are very detailed and accurate, and interpolate the alternate history of the ether, Edison's landing on Mars, and the British Crown Colony of Syrtis Major with excellent style.

This ain't Steampunk, son. This is Sword and Planet. And I love it.

We've been making characters for the past few hours as I write this. The biggest focus currently is on the science and invention section. The rules are great. WAY better than the clumsy card drawing of Deadlands. Just thought I'd throw that out there. A problem I've found is that the organization of the book has either hidden from me the maximum carrying capacity of a character or else there simply isn't one. Other than the fatigue penalties at the end of a travel period, I'm not sure why someone couldn't carry their own body weight in gear.