One of the few things that disappointed me about the Space: 1889 rules that came out recently was the lack of addressing Martian physiology in the rulebook. So here’s something more in line with what I expected for the new Ubiquity-powered game:
MARTIANS
Hill, Canal, and High Martians — as portrayed in Chronicle City’s version
The denizens of Mars have three major racial types — the Hill Marian, found in the desolate wastes of the Red Planet; the Canal Martians, found almost exclusively in the urban and canal-fed areas of the world; and the High Martians — thought to either be the “Ur” Martian, or possibly a Hill Martians evolved to the particular environment of mountainous Mars.
Using some of the Beastmen advantages from Mysteries of the Hollow Earth (pg. 14-25), I slapped together Martian character templates that were more in keeping with the original flavor of the game:
Venusians
Venusians aren’t set up as a player character in either any of the editions of Space: 1889, but I’m sure there are folks out there that might want to give them more to do in their campaign than be a poor man’s Sleestak. So here is a Template, vikked from Hollow Earth Expedition‘s Mysteries of the Hollow Earth to use to create a player character Venusian:
Update: Looks like the boys at Clockwork, over in Germany — the originators of the Ubiquity Space: 1889 noted this piece and are interested in incorporating it into future productions. Might lead to some more work, which would be nice.
25 November, 2014 at 15:45
I was waiting for this to drop but ended up getting the Savage Worlds version because it contains a full campaign in it. Good stuff in this post.
25 November, 2014 at 18:56
It’s worth grabbing, but I found the lack of specific rules for the Martians disappointing. I’ve got all the Hollow Earth stuff, so kit-bashing it wasn’t an issue. I tend to like Ubiquity better than Savage Worlds — the attribute or skill mechanic doesn’t make sense to me (but it is simple), and I hate exploding dice mechanics. Again — personal taste.
6 December, 2014 at 03:29
I’ve got the Hollow Earth stuff as well as Leagues Of Adventure and All For One so I was torn between Ubiquity and Savage Worlds. The campaign in SW was the decider for me although part of me is still quite interested in buying the Ubiquity version when it’s out in paper. Good to hear your thoughts.
28 November, 2014 at 11:13
Thanks for this post! I felt the same about the treatment of the Martians in the text. You’ve made me want to pick up the Hollow Earth stuff now (something to put on my Christmas list!). Now, what about the Selenites and Moon Men/Phaetonians?!
4 March, 2015 at 06:36
[…] there were no real traits that differentiated the Martians from the human characters in the game. (Here’s my take on the setting species.) I would have expected something to take into account the acclimation to lower gravity and […]