Space: 1889 was an early Steampunk role-playing game by wargaming legend Frank Chadwick , originally published by Game Designers' Workshop and later by Heliograph, Inc. The name is a parody of the television show Space: 1999.

Game setting

As the title implies, the game is set in an alternate Victorian Era in which heliograph satellites orbit the planet and steam-powered Aether-flyers cross the space lanes.

Thanks to the discovery (by Thomas Alva Edison) of the properties of aether, the major nations of the Earth have now access to space travel, and are extending their colonial interests on Mars (a barbarian, Edgar Rice Burroughs-style planet)and Venus (a primitive planet teeming with dinosaurs). The later discovery of Liftwood, a plant endowed with anti-gravity powers growing on Mars, pushes technology in a new direction, allowing the deployment of aerial fleets in the skies of the Red Planet (on Venus, more traditional zeppelins have to do).

Supplements to the game included scenario collections, geographical sourcebooks and two wargame products (the Soldier Companion, for land-based battles, and the Sky Galleons of Mars, for aerial combat), plus a simple boardgame. Heliograph also published three digest-sized numbers of the "Proceedings of the Royal Martian Geographical Society", which included rules expansions, fiction and scenarios.

The game was always considered weak in its depiction of the alternate Victorian Earth (which was never covered by a supplement), and probably suffered from an excessive focus (at least in its first supplements) on military action.

Some of the RPG's weaknesses can be explained, though, by the fact that Sky Galleons of Mars was actually the first game in the setting. In contrast to the role-playing game's ambiguity, SGoM is a fully-realized and quite innovative tactical combat simulation. Interested role-players would probably be well served by retaining the Sky Galleons game and porting the RPG's setting to a more fully-developed rules set, such as d20 or GURPS. The additional holes in the setting can be filled with fairly simple research into the historical 19th century; the conceit of the game was that 19th century imperialism was expanding in scope to embrace other worlds while retaining its social and political characteristics. Britain still rules the waves, and now the aether and the skies as well. France is an uneasy second, wracked with communist-anarchist intrigues, and newcomers Germany and Belgium are spoiling to make up lost ground in the colonization game. The military focus of the original RPG aims for a 'Kipling on Mars' feeling, but the setting is expandable to virtually any facet of the 19th century players find interesting.

Game system

The game runs on a very simple, d6-based system, still very close to the classic wargaming engine from which the game evolved. Interestingly enough, the system includes a set of rules for the development of new inventions and for the simulation of scientific research.

Players choose among a number of templates (most of them military-oriented), and have access to a large catalogue of resources and accessories (many of which they'll have to invent themselves).

A computer game adaptation was also released at the height of the game's popularity.