1879 RPG Game Master's Companion

258 Pages·2021·12.326 MB·English

TM
GAME MASTER’S
COMPANION
2021 FASA GAMES INC.
i
TM
GAME MASTER’S
COMPANION
2021 FASA GAMES INC.
1
C R E D I T S
Developer Senior Editor Cover Art
Andrew Ragland Brad Decker Don Higgins
Line Developer Associate Editor Web Design
Brad Decker Kathy Czechowski Brad Decker
Art Director Layout Interior Art
Don Higgins Don Higgins Meghan Higgins
Tanner Lyttle
Development Administration Victoria Suppon
Brad Decker Andi Watson Karen Gosselin
Andi Watson Gregery Miller
Don Higgins
Project Manager
Andi Watson
Dedications
“This book is dedicated to all those who play in and contribute
to the 1879 product line: past, present, and future.
It is only through your support that this game world exists,
and only through your involvement that it can continue to grow.”
1879 is a Trademark of FASA Corporation
1879: The Roleplaying Game, 1879: The Roleplaying Game Players Guide™, The GrosvenorLand™,
The Gruv™, and the Samsut™ are trademarks of FASA Corporation.
1879 and all associated Trademarks used under license from FASA Corporation.
Published by FASA Games Inc., USA under license from FASA Corporation.
All rights reserved. PDF Released January 2021. First Printing February 2021.
Copyright © 2021 FASA Corporation.
Printed in the U.S.A.
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy-
ing, recording or otherwised without the prior written permission of the publishers. Permission to copy is
granted for the Appendices for personal use only.
This game takes place in an alternate history form our own world. As such, numerous actual historical
personalities, events, religions, and other institutions are referenced. No endorsement, approval, disre-
spect, disparagement, or other opinion or view on actual, real-world persons, faiths, nations, or other
entities is intended, implied, or imputed. This is a work of fiction based on our world.
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Table of contents
Introduction ....................................................5
Vehicles ...........................................................9
Secret Socs ................................................41
Dragons ......................................................95
Death And Disease ..................................119
New Spirits ................................................135
New Creatures ...........................................147
Time Line....................................................185
Index............................................................253
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Chapter 1
1879 Gamemaster’s Companion
1
Introduction
“The greatest happiness is to transform one’s feelings into action.”
– Madame de Stael
1879
takes place in an alternate history, where Prince Albert survived and became
a champion of science in the British Empire, where Queen Victoria took up the cause of womens’ rights
after Dr. Elizabeth Garrett Anderson saved both the Prince Consort and young Albert, the royals’ son.
The Raj still holds power in India, but the Confederacy survived the War of Secession and North America
has balkanized. The Prussians have made significant advances in electrical technology, catching up to and
threatening to surpass British microsteam. Elsewhere, the course of history is familiar, and yet different,
creating opportunities for both the heroic and the dastardly.
In this world, a Weird Science experiment in Greenwich Park opened a portal, the Rabbit Hole,
to another world, and let loose a flood of mana, magical energy, into Earth. The surge precipitated the
return of Earth’s own magic, and now the victims of Looking Glass Fever, the Boojums, divide into the
four subtypes of elf, dwarf, snark, and troll, having emerged from human stock as their innate magical
nature expressed itself. With the rail lines of the Iron Tunnel extended through the Rabbit Hole, the
British Empire expanded into the new world, the Grosvenor World or simply the Gruv, to run headlong
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INTRODUCTION
into two races.
One, the Samsut, appear to be descended from the Akkadians and Babylonians and Hittites,
suggesting that three thousand years or so ago there was another portal. Having found a trove of
technology from a highly advanced and long vanished civilization, the Samsut can treat mana, or life
energy, as a power source. Their military carries mana-powered railgun rifles, and deploys battery-powered
undead as shock troops. They view the British as despoilers of the land and wasters of precious energy.
The British view the Samsut as despoilers of the dead. Of course they went to war.
The Saurids call themselves native to the Gruv, and are descended from something resembling
a velociraptor the way humans are (according to Charles Darwin) descended from something like a
monkey. All of them amphibious, but some spending more time in the water than others, they divide into
three primary cultures, Plains, Mountains, and Forest, with different views on gender roles, religion, and
appropriate use of technology. All of them know of machinery and fossil fuels, but choose to live without
them, substituting biological sciences and handcrafted items for steam and factory production. A fourth,
the kistalmi, high in the mountains, may have more advanced uses of low-impact technology, but hold
themselves remote from the rest of the world, not welcoming visitors.
How to Use This Book
This book expands on the materials presented in the 1879 Gamemaster’s Guide. We start
off with Vehicles, providing more background, context, and colour, along with statistics for a few
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Chapter 1
new vehicles, The Gamemaster should familiarize themselves with the rules for vehicular combat and
run a few practice battles if at all possible, so that there’s no delay looking up the mechanics at a
dramatic moment when the heroes are about to board the enemy vessel.
The Secret Societies chapter profiles more organizations useful more to the Gamemaster than
the player. The Organizations presented will provide additional flavor for the world as well as new
challenges. The Prodigals have called up something they cannot put down, and that has taken over
their organization, providing an otherworldly threat.
The Dragons chapter gives the game mechanics for these extremely powerful entities, and
describes the few dragons that have been seen thus far since the opening of the Rabbit Hole. Again,
the Gamemaster should give careful thought to inclusion, and note that Dragons are best dealt with
from a very long distance away.
Two chapters, New Spirits and New Creatures, provide descriptions and game statistics to
expand on the Spirits and Bestiary chapters of the 1879 Gamemaster’s Guide. In addition, the New
Creatures chapter details how to create new creatures, and introduces the first folkloric creatures of
Earth, those of arcane nature that have appeared since the opening of the Rabbit Hole.
Finally, the Timeline chapter details the course of history in the game world. Scholars of real-
world history will be able to use this to spot the turning points where the game world differs from
ours, such as the establishment of the hajj as as ascension requirement of the Ottoman Sultanate.
The Gamemaster can use this to build adventures resulting from historical events, and expand the
game world by following the established course or finding a new turning point for their campaign.
The 1879 Gamemaster’s Companion concludes with an Index for ease of reference.
YZ
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Chapter 2
1879 Gamemaster’s Companion
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Vehicles
“Suppose now,” queried a very Conservative Lord of George Stephenson, at a
Parliamentary Committee meeting on railroad safety, “one of these engines of yours to be
going along a railroad at your forecast speed of thirty miles an hour, and that a cow were
to stray upon the line and get into the way of the engine; would not that, think you, be a
very awkward circumstance?”
“Aye,” Stephenson replied drily, “verra awkward indeed f’r the coo.”
T
he 1879 Game Master’s Guide provides game stats for a number of
ground vehicles, ships, and airships, in the Steam Powered chapter (p.255). The
goal here is to provide roleplaying material to layer atop those game mechanics, for
enhancing descriptive passages and deepening player experience. Some new game
stats are provided along the way, where new types of equipment are introduced.
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