TEXT: M O D I P H I U S  E N T E R T A I N M E N T ’ S  O F F I C I A L  D I G I T A L  M A G A Z I N E
  ISSUE #2 SUMMER 2017
  modiphius.com
  EXCLUSIVE!
  Strategy guides and 
  background articles for 
  Modiphius’ range of games, 
  including...
  Achtung! Cthulhu
  Conan
  Space 1889
  Star Trek Adventures
  Airfix Battles
  MODIPHIA
  MODIPHIA
  A NEW STAR TREK ADVENTURES MISSION AND 
  AN INTERVIEW WITH STAR TREK’S RICK STERNBACH
  
  MODIPHIA ISSUE #2
  10
  OUT 
  ETHER
  OF THE
  SPACE: 1889 
  I
  n Space: 1889, the  
  fantasies of Jules Verne, 
  H G Wells, Arthur Conan 
  Doyle, H Rider Haggard, 
  and others are brought to 
  life — classical adventures 
  and science fiction stories with 
  a nostalgic touch. You play in an 
  era of technology and progress, 
  in a world illuminated by gaslight, 
  powered by steam, and infused 
  with the spreading wonders of 
  electricity and ether.
  There are adventures for 
  gentlemen (and ladies) to be 
  found on London’s foggy streets 
  and in the salons of Paris, as 
  well as on the dusty roads of 
  Syrtis Major and under the jungle 
  canopy of Venus. Soldiers can 
  be found in service to their 
  country from Afghanistan to 
  Martian Parhoon; inventors test 
  out their new devices from the 
  Moon to Meepsor; historians lose 
  themselves in the dusty archives 
  of Martian city-states in search of 
  secrets of their ancient peoples; 
  and wild Lizard-men and proud 
  Martian steppe warriors carry  
  out missions to protect their 
  tribes; all to earn fame, influence, 
  and honor.
  With Space: 1889, the entire  
  Solar System of 1889 awaits  
  your travels. 
  TEXT: Stefan Küppers (Introduction) and  
  Dennis Maciuszek (Port Progress)
  TRANSLATION: Nicole Heinrichs
  PROOFREADING: Daniel Thibault
  PHOTOGRAPHY: Nico Mendrek
  ILLUSTRATIONS: Daniel Jödemann (Map of Port Progress), 
  Juha Makkonen (Ray gun), Mia Steingräber (Scientist), 
  Eric Lofgren (Space suit)
  
  SUMMER 2017
  11
  The Ubiquity Rule System is 
  used in various RPGs such as 
  Hollow Earth Expedition (a Hollow 
  Earth pulp setting with Nazis and 
  dinosaurs), Desolation (a post-
  apocalyptic fantasy world), and 
  All for One (musketeers in 17th 
  century France) — demonstrating 
  its tremendous versatility. Its 
  basic rules are simple and quickly 
  explained. The Gamemaster 
  determines the Difficulty Rating 
  of an action, which the player 
  must then exceed this with his 
  roll. The combined rating of a 
  Skill and an Attribute determines 
  the size of the dice pool used to 
  resolve the action. Players can 
  The Space: 1889 Core Rules are 
  available in stores now! Check 
  out the free Quickstarter on 
  clockwork-publishing.com
  Sourcebooks on Venus, Mercury, 
  and the Marvels of Mars 
  (including detailed information on 
  Martian technology and creatures) 
  will soon be available as well.
  Of course, all Space: 1889 books 
  are available as PDFs from 
  www.modiphius.net — including 
  several adventures not yet 
  released in print:
   
  n The Strange Land by  
  Gareth Hanrahan
   
  n London Bridge has Fallen 
  Down by Andrew Peregrine
   
  n Nocturne in the City of Lights 
  by Kieran Turley
  Just to give you a taste of what is 
  possible, the following is a short 
  adventure seed based on the 
  setting of Port Progress.
  use any dice available, with even 
  numbers counting as successes. 
  To avoid time-consuming dice 
  rolling orgies you can also Take 
  the Average, which is half of your 
  character’s Rating, to get an 
  automatic success. For example, if 
  a player’s character has a Larceny 
  rating of 6 and the Gamemaster 
  sets the Difficulty of the task at 3 
  successes, the player may Take 
  the Average to automatically 
  succeed without rolling any dice.
  Talents allow for special actions, 
  such as drawing a weapon more 
  quickly, providing allies with skill 
  bonuses, or even entrancing a 
  target during combat so that they 
  lose interest in attacking. Style 
  points enhancements can buy 
  bonus dice, boost Talents, and 
  reduce damage.
  
  MODIPHIA ISSUE #2
  12
  Researchers wanted in Port Progress!
  Your laboratory is too small? Waiting years to get a power connection? Does your  
  PhD supervisor not grasp your theories anymore? You needn’t fret any longer —  
  apply today for an Edison scholarship in the city of technology and peace!
  This year, the leading theme of the Edison scholarship is “The next generation 
  of ether travel”. Therefore, this call particularly addresses researchers and 
  inventors in the following fields:
   
  n Ether engineers specializing in fine-tuning 
  ship propulsion and solar collectors.
   
  n Astrogators and surveyors working  
  on mapping projects on Earth as well  
  as in space.
   
  n Engineers of Photography and 
  Heliography as well as keypunch 
  operators for the improvement of 
  communication systems and the  
  operation of mechanical and quasi-
  biological apparatuses.
   
  n Exobiologists with evidenced successes 
  in acclimating extraterrestrial plants to 
  terrestrial environments.
   
  n Philologists and anthropologists with 
  knowledge of Martian languages for  
  the translation of texts concerning 
  engineering.
   
  n Ethernauts and aviation pioneers 
  for studies of long-term residence in 
  space (applicants without family bonds 
  preferred).
  The progressive face of our city will  
  greet you in New York Harbor. An  
  electrical tram will take you across the 
  Brooklyn Bridge to Port Progress in the 
  South of Jamaica, Queens County.
  Alongside the cheerful employees and the 
  friendly staff of the city who you will meet 
  at your arrival in the morning hours, you will 
  work in the world’s most modern community 
  AN APPEAL TO THE YOUNG ENGINEERS OF THE WORLD
  
  SUMMER 2017
  13
  — with the privilege of living here! 
  Our high standard in selecting our 
  citizens secures a cultivated and 
  law-abiding neighborhood.
  During the weekend, if your 
  ambitions grant you a break, the 
  tram will take you to the harbour 
  where you can take a trip to 
  Jamaica Bay, visit the aquarium, 
  or take a walk along the beach 
  hoping for a sudden inspiration 
  which you can then discuss with 
  your colleagues at the clubhouse.
  On the day of your arrival, your 
  personal mentor will meet you 
  for a first conversation, designed 
  to help you settle in. The leading 
  engineers — among them the 
  architect of the visionary Port 
  Progress, Mr Edison himself — 
  are accommodated in classicistic 
  mansions along the Faraday Belt, 
  the outer ring road. Here you will 
  also find your workplace in one of 
  the spacious workshops.
  Construct components on 
  illuminated, flexible drawing 
  boards. Browse through endless 
  storage halls searching for 
  raw materials. Use the latest 
  tools or pass on the job to one 
  of our assiduous craftsmen. 
  Make a reservation for a spot in 
  the chemistry lab, and find an 
  experimenting table waiting for 
  you the very same day, including 
  all required equipment, chemicals, 
  and a lab technician attending to 
  your every need. Use the pressure 
  and isolation chambers, the water 
  tanks — or the glass-coated 
  incubators in the greenhouses. 
  Every workshop has a hot water 
  connection as well as a power 
  supply and a telephone. Apply 
  for computing time on the city’s 
  Babbage analytical engine to 
  analyze your tests.
  In the East of the outer ring you 
  will find the well-appointed library. 
  There is a briefing every Monday 
  to introduce you to the work 
  with index, microfilm archive, and 
  phonographic records.
  The living quarters of our 
  employees are easily accessible on 
  Ampère Street, the next ring road 
  towards the city center. This is also 
  where the doctor practices and 
  lawyer offices are located.
  As a scholar, you will receive a 
  monthly wage of $25 as well as 
  a temporary residence in Ohm 
  Avenue (on special application, 
  this applies to a small staff of 
  consultants as well). At ground 
  level, you will find shops for the 
  everyday and not-so-everyday 
  needs. Even on a winter’s evening, 
  you can go shopping in bright light: 
  all street lanterns are electrical.
  Your apartment building reaches 
  up to seven stories. On the 
  roof terrace, where the house 
  community maintains picturesque 
  pleasure gardens, observatories, 
  or heliograph stations, you will be 
  close to the stars. Some rooftops 
  even provide landing space for a 
  small aircraft.
  You can reach your elegantly 
  furnished apartment by a 
  paternoster. Your Remington 
  typewriter already awaits you 
  on your desk. You can use the 
  pneumatic telegram tube for your 
  written correspondence. Thanks 
  to its label, the pneumatic tube 
  can easily be told apart from the 
  waste shaft, which is connected to 
  a steam-powered compactor in the 
  basement. Your shirts, suits, and 
  dresses go into the laundry chute 
  through which they slide directly 
  into the building’s chemical-
  hydraulic dry cleaning.
  The broad Boulevard de Coulomb 
  constitutes the inner ring road  
  and encloses the Volta Park 
  including the opera house. You 
  may also enjoy the end of your 
  workday in an Italian, Siamese, or 
  Martian restaurant, which are all 
  located in the ground floor of an 
  office building.
  Fees for medical treatments are 
  covered by your scholarship up to 
  an additional $25. You can cover all 
  your expenses arising during your 
  stay conveniently by transferring 
  your patents to the Edison Trans-
  Etheric Company, the Edison 
  Difference Systems, or the Edison 
  General Electric Company (which is 
  currently being established).
  An academic background is not 
  required. Whether you are a 
  genius tinker, a researcher with 
  extraordinary experience, or 
  a sharp-minded lady who was 
  denied access to a university —
  apply now. Language skills and 
  visits to other planets give you  
  an edge!
  Send your application in duplicate, 
  including certificates, letters of 
  recommendation, and (if available) 
  publications, patents, design drawings,  
  or photographs, to: 
   
  The Edison Scholarship 
  119 Boulevard de Coulomb 
  Port Progress, NY 
  USA
  
  MODIPHIA ISSUE #2
  14
  A Guide to Port Progress
  In 1887, Thomas Edison needed 
  a new laboratory and, thanks 
  to his ether patents, he had the 
  resources to build a complete 
  city of science founded on his 
  ideals — progress and pacifism. 
  Port Progress is designed as a 
  utopia for scientists and tinkers, 
  regardless of their personal 
  background. In the following  
  you will find a map and a 
  description of the city as well 
  as some of its most prominent 
  inhabitants. You will find some 
  ideas on how to spin adventures 
  around Port Progress; feel free  
  to include them into your game  
  as you see fit!
  A: FARADAY BELT
  1: Thomas Alva Edison
  The leading inventor in the 
  fields of ether navigation and 
  electricity is more a tinkerer than 
  an academic. Scientist characters 
  who win one of his closest 
  colleagues (chief lab assistant 
  Charles Batchelor or the young 
  electrical engineer Arthur Edwin 
  Kennelly) as a Mentor might be 
  able to work with him on one of 
  his experiments. If that succeeds, 
  it could lead someday to flights 
  further into the Solar System. 
  However, such characters need 
  to look out for rivals. Industrial 
  spies might gain access to a 
  garbage compactor and steal 
  the remnants of documents. Are 
  they enviers or foreign agents, 
  or are workers sympathizing 
  with the Paris Commune behind 
  all this? Telegrams have already 
  been redirected illegally via 
  the pneumatic tube. Maybe the 
  characters even have to stop a 
  mail bomb on its way through the 
  tube system?
  2: Francis Robbins Upton
  This mathematician and physician 
  is the academic counterpart to 
  the empirical Edison. He provides 
  the necessary math, and he is 
  bursting with new ideas, too. 
  Equipped with prototypes 
  of navigation and display 
  apparatuses, Upton might send 
  the characters on a newly charted 
  course across the ocean, to 
  Mars or even across the Asteroid 
  belt, surveying and mapping 
  unexplored lands and worlds.
  3: William Kennedy Laurie 
  Dickson
  This 29-year-old Scotsman is 
  working on a groundbreaking 
  
  SUMMER 2017
  15
  technology: the Kinetograph, 
  an early film camera. Through 
  a peephole in a cupboard, the 
  Kinetoscope, the viewer will  
  soon be able to watch the 
  celluloid film which is illuminated 
  by a light bulb. In the game of 
  Space: 1889, Dickson can also 
  supervise research projects on 
  analytical engines as a Mentor. 
  Just as his Kinetoscope from the 
  year 1891 did not grant the viewer 
  a look inside the inner mechanism, 
  Dickson’s lab is also locked and 
  secured with a punch card lock. 
  Adventures might include alarm 
  system tests, the introduction of 
  a Differoscope as a street sign 
  (with official, secret, or subliminal 
  messages), or analytical engines 
  designed to support political 
  unification processes that then 
  take on a life of their own.
  4: Alice Eastwood
  It is one of Edison’s concerns 
  to improve the oxygen supply 
  during long ether journeys. 
  Can the robust plants of 
  Mars or the thriving plants 
  of Venus be cultivated in 
  terrestrial greenhouses? By a 
  recommendation letter of Alfred 
  Russel Wallace, Edison came 
  across this 30-year-old teacher, 
  botanist, and wilderness guide. 
  Eastwood has started to plant 
  various extraterrestrial crops 
  in the greenhouses—and the 
  biologist always has a need 
  for new supplies. She tries to 
  crossbreed these alien crops with 
  plants from Earth. At the same 
  time, she is drawn back to the 
  Rocky Mountains now and again. 
  During these trips, she leaves her 
  research to her staff, and their 
  work is piling up. By now, they are 
  already crossbreeding alien and 
  terrestrial animals. Should they 
  succeed, it is only a matter of 
  time until carelessness or criminal 
  intent might lead to the break-out 
  of a monstrosity.
  5: Storage Halls
  Some of these guarded buildings 
  store secret prototypes, from 
  personal gear to vehicles and 
  aircraft (according to some 
  rumors, even weaponry).
  6: Library
  In addition to a remarkable 
  collection of reference books, 
  the library also entails audio-
  documents on phonographic  
  rolls. Edison collects Martian 
  writings, especially about his  
  idol, the inventor Zeenos 
  Quantaani who is supposed to 
  have lived thousands of years  
  ago in the Tossian city 
  Thymiamata. There is even a 
  secret archive in the basement 
  where scholars with language 
  expertise work on translations. 
  One of the archivists is actually 
  an agent for the German secret 
  service Abteilung Z.
  7: Port
  8: Aquarium
  9: Beach
  10: Clubhouse
  B: AMPÈRE STREET
  11: Lewis Latimer
  Starting his career as an 
  engineering draftsman, Latimer 
  (an African American) made a 
  name for himself as a legal expert. 
  He deals with patent matters and 
  is loyal to Edison (just as most of 
  New York’s judges).
  12: Hospital
  The hospital provides a high 
  standard of care—but patients 
  also run a high risk of ending 
  up as a lab rat for an innovative 
  treatment. It is thus not just for 
  humanitarian reasons that the 
  doctors sometimes go to the poor 
  areas of New York. For a small 
  fee, willing test persons can be 
  found here on every corner.
  C: OHM AVENUE
  13: Shops
  The shops provide many a 
  commodity, although at higher 
  prices than in New York City. 
  Service providers like the 
  Pinkerton Detective Agency  
  have their offices here as well.
  14: Post and Telegraph Office
  D: BOULEVARD DE COULOMB
  15: Edison Trans-Etheric  
  Company
  A branch of Edison’s ether 
  transport company that offers 
  flights (from Lakehurst) to Mars 
  (Thymiamata, Syrtis Major, 
  Copratia) and Venus (Venusstadt, 
  Nuova Firenze).
  16: Edison Difference Systems
  17: Edison General Electric 
  Company
  The office building seems to 
  be unused, but now and again 
  stagecoaches drive up to the 
  construction site. Soon every 
  window will be illuminated with 
  electrical light. This will be the 
  place of the company uniting all 
  of Edison’s electricity firms.
  18: Italian restaurant
  19: Siamese restaurant
  20: Martian restaurant
  E: HUB
  21: Opera house n
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Space 1889/Magazines/Space 1889 - Modiphia 02 - A Guide to Port Progress.pdf