Hello everyone. I'd like to address some of your concerns here. 1879 is based on the premise that history diverged in 1860, with the survival of Prince Albert. The Queen's desire to see her husband walk again prompted rewards for advances in technology, particularly medical. In 1876 at a 25th anniversary recreation of the Crystal Palace exhibition, an inventor sets a device in motion that opens what turns out to be a portal to another world, although it's a year before it opens to allow passage. That world has descendants of ancient Babylonians who arrived there via unknown means, as well as a race of intelligent, lizard-like mammaloids.
Unlike Space 1889, there is no space travel, no Martians, no aether in place of space.
The British are the focus of the initial game, being the national power controlling access to the portal. Naturally other nations want a piece of the pie, but they have to appease the British Empire to gain that. Private interests also have designs on the new world.
While the mini game is obviously military in focus, the rpg instead turns to individuals from a variety of backgrounds, forming sanctioned (or not so sanctioned) explorer teams to chart the new chart, discover new resources or technology, or undertake missions too subtle for a regiment.
The video on the Kickstarter page shows artwork by Jeff Laubenstein, our art director, as well as miniatures sculpted by Ral Partha Europe.
We will have more photos and artwork on the website in the weeks to come, as well as examples of rules and play from the miniature game, and more screenshots and maybe video from the IPad application.
The project goal is ambitious, covering miniature and rpg books, miniatures, and the IPad app development, but we're confident the value of what you'll be getting is worth it.
Thanks,
Mark Stout, line developer for 1879
http://1879.fasagames.com/
