Disclaimer: I apologize for any mistake, convoluted sentence structure
and other assorted "bugs" in the following text. English is not my first
language, and this is the best I can do...
Introduction
Log of the Astronef is a Forgotten
Futures sourcebook (but the author seems to prefer the term worldbook)
based on Stories of Other Worlds, written in 1900-1901 by British
Author George Griffith.
The original stories (which appeared on Pearson Magazine between 1900 and 1901,
and which have been collected and reprinted in another Heliograph volume, titled
"Stories of other worlds and An Honeymoon in Space") described the adventures of
Lord Redgrave and his wife Zaidie, which spent their honeymoon travelling
around the solar system aboard of the first starship.
As you can imagine, they found a lot of fantastic places, and plenty of aliens,
ranging from warlike martians to "Vulcan-like" Ganymedeans.
What it is, exactly?
As candidly explained in the introduction, the author had to "write between the
lines" in order to fully describe and justify the discovery that leads to
interplanetary travel, and to outline its amazing results on Earth economy,
politics and society.
In this universe antigravity is a possibility (thanks to the existence of the
R-force, basically matter charged with anti-gravity particles), and flying
vehicles are a reality. This, coupled with interesting (if a bit implausible, by
modern standards) alien settings, gives a lot of ideas for adventures.
The best I can do to summarize the setting is simply "an alternate Space:1889",
even if there are minor and major differences both in the universe and in the
way history starts diverging after the first interplanetary journey.
Contents
The book packs a lot of info on this alternate universe. There is a very good
section on history from 1887 to 1920, with some scenario ideas for the different
periods, usually interlinked with the progress of interplanetary
expeditions.
The next section is devoted to the R-Force, discussing the alternate scientific
theories which explain it, along with game data and rules on space navigation
and life aboard starships, a section on designing starcrafts, data and diagrams
for the Astronef (the ship used in the original stories) and rules for combat
between starships.
Then we have a complete description of the Solar System, along with detailed
info about the planets and their inhabitants. The author does a great job
trying to explain, justify or simply giving an interesting spin on the various
ideas introduced in the original fiction, and whenever he has to supplement or
reconcile weak points in the stories he always goes for a "rpg" angle, i.e. he
tries to find something which may be used for running adventures.
Anything else?
The book includes a concise edition of the Forgotten Futures rules, so it is
theoretically playable without getting the main rulebook (note that all books in
this series are in a 6x10 inches format). If you want
detailed, ready to run adventures you are out of luck: the author has written an
excellent series of adventures which can be played in a campaign, following the
huaman colonization of space, but they are much too long for this book, and will
be available in a separate text.
Is it for me?
If you plan a Verne/Wells/Cyberpunk campaign this could be a good starting
point. Some of the ideas could also prove useful in a Space:1889 campaign, but
I'm not very familiar with it, so I am not sure of how much the two milieu can
work together.
On the other hand, if you are interested in
Victorian/Edwardian adventures but starships are not your cup of tea, you will
probably prefer the base rulebook and/or some other worldbook in the same line.
Follow the links provided to learn more about the Forgotten Futures project.
Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)
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