Death to Space:1889

[email removed] (Martin Snow) writes:
> >
> >Nah, I don't buy that argument.  How about this one: Space:1889 only
> >appeals to gamers who actually read (and enjoyed reading) the source
> >material: Jules Verne, Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Well, I enjoyed the game a lot.  Partly because the GM was one of those few
who could make just about *any* game enjoyable; but I did like the game
itself as well.  I've read some of Jules Verne's books, and that's all.

> I think the reason that Space:1889 wasn't popular is because it's a
> fantasy game in a science-fiction setting.  There's just too much
> suspension of physical reality (not to mention economic and social reality)
> to appeal to SF players.  And it's probably too close to reality for
> the average fantasy player to enjoy.

That balance was one of the things that attracted me.  It was specifically
not supposed to worry too much about real physics, which meant there was
no chance of getting bogged down with arguments about it.  Having arguments
as part of the role-playing, about why theories about electromagnetic
radiation were wrong and theories about the ether were right, on the other
hand, were fun.  (This ended up with my character saying to some crackpot
who actually believed that there was no such thing as the ether, "You try
to build an aerial flyer and I'll try to build an aerial flyer, and we'll
see whose one flies. :-)

>							For example, are
> there any female characters allowed in Space:1889?  If there are, there
> shouldn't be (for internal consistency) and if there aren't, probably half
> the likely players have just put that game back on the shelf and picked up
> the next Cyberpunk game.

And here we see the cause of the death of Space 1889; political correctness.
Incidentally, yes there were female characters.  The background meant that
they weren't just male characters with breasts, they had to be different,
which just made for some serious role-playing.  The trick with having a
female character was to stay out of the fighting and manipulate all the
males instead, and one of the characters in our game, a countess, was very
good at it.  She invented various forms of explosives but let other people
do the actual dirty work.

Re: someone else's comment about people watching movies rather than reading
books.

Didn't GDW have a game called "Dinosaurs and Cadillacs", or something similar?
If so, it is probably about to get re-launched in the wake of "Jurassic Park".
:-)

- --
 "Keyboard?  How quaint!" - M. Scott

 Adrian Hurt			     |	JANET:  [email removed]
 UUCP: ..!uknet!cee.hw.ac.uk!adrian  |  ARPA:  [email removed]

[Adjusted subject line & resent to TML broadcast address -- JamesP ]

>I've read Verne and Burroughs, but that doesn't mean I think their
>universes would be interesting to wander about in.  I prefer playing
>in a world where things have evolved, not regressed.  For example, are
>there any female characters allowed in Space:1889?  If there are, there
>shouldn't be (for internal consistency) and if there aren't, probably half
>the likely players have just put that game back on the shelf and picked up
>the next Cyberpunk game.

I have to disagree with this.  Verne may not have had female characters,
but others could and did.  They were "Victorian" ladies - they wore long
skirts on their adventures - but they were female nonetheless.  They must
have a "Victorian" reason for not staying home with the children - carrying
on their father's work, or searching for their long-lost husband, or some
such justifying claptrap, but they can still work as characters.  You need
to have a feel and fondness for the genre.  If you have read Wells, Verne,
Doyle, Burroughs, Kline, or the others from this period then Space:1889 has
a _lot_ of charm.  If not, and most gamers today have not, then it is totally
incomprehensible.  I think the earlier poster was right on the mark: this stuff
is no longer read.

>I take it as a sign of the maturity of the gaming public that games like
>Space:1889 die out rather than a sign of their illiteracy.

Space:1889 was not intended to be "mature" - far from it.  It was intended to
simulate Victorian-era heroic fiction, and it does a pretty good job of it.
It's too bad that there is only a tiny slice of the relatively-small gaming
market that have read and appreciate such fiction, and therefore might enjoy
the game - seldom enough for critical mass in any one place, _no_ one I know
has played it.

Larry Smith
[email removed]