Jovian Chronicles
Encyclopedia
Jovian Chronicles is a science fiction
game
setting published by Dream Pod 9
since 1992. It introduces a complete universe for role-playing
and wargaming
space combat, featuring mecha
, giant spacecraft
and epic space battles.
The setting was originally published as a pair of licensed supplements for the Mekton
role-playing game
; IANVS Games released the two volumes (Jovian Chronicles and Europa Incident) in 1992. This first edition is known amongst fans as the "Green Edition" because of the color scheme of its cover design.
The game was re-published as a full-fledged game line in 1997 by Dream Pod 9
, this time using their own in-house rule system. This edition, and all subsequent ones, are known as the "White Editions," though several of the supplemental books feature a dark blue starfield cover.
, going as far as terraforming
Venus
and Mars
. The colonists living around Jupiter
are at odds with the government of Earth
, driving much of the series' intrigue. The game features a blend of action/adventure and hard-science space colonization facts. The books are based on plausible technical details to maintain a realistic hard science fiction
setting.
Exo-armors are one of the main hooks of the series. They are personal mecha
, big armored space suits with weapons. The main source of inspiration for the game was Gundam
, but also included Robotech
. Jovian Chronicles would be placed in the Real Robot
anime genre.
The series used the art of Ghislain Barbe
who was also responsible for the designs of Heavy Gear
, another of Dream Pod 9's lines with similar inspirations.
, Dream Pod 9
's other successful science fiction
game. It can be played as either a role-playing
game
, a tactical wargame
, or a hybrid integration of both.
The latest edition of the Silhouette rules is sold separately as a book titled Silhouette CORE Rulebook, which is needed to play the Jovian Chronicles role-playing game. The wargame uses the Lightning Strike II Miniature Rules, also available separately. The latter is played using miniatures and tabletop terrain, although some players prefer to use hex maps and paper counters.
Both the RPG and miniature games are built on the same basic rule mechanics. Silhouette is a realistic system that defines characters in terms of 10 base attributes (agility, knowledge, etc.), 5 derived attributes (health, etc.), and a variety of skills. Skill rolls make up the backbone of the system, which focuses on effect-based speed of play over grainy detail. The core mechanic involves rolling a number of 6-sided dice, taking the highest result, adding in modifiers for attributes and/or situation, and then comparing it to a set threshold number. If the result is higher than the threshold the test is a success; if it is lower the test is a failure. The margin by which the test succeeded (Margin of Success, MoS) or failed (Margin of Failure, MoF) helps to determine the final outcome. Combat is handled by the same system, with characters taking penalty-inflicting wounds rather than depleting a set number of health points. As a result, the system can be lethal, especially on inexperienced characters.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
game
Game
A game is structured playing, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more often an expression of aesthetic or ideological elements...
setting published by Dream Pod 9
Dream Pod 9
Dream Pod 9 is a Montreal-based Canadian game publisher. In addition to games, they have been known to work on special projects, creating worlds and stories to order for a variety of clients.-History:...
since 1992. It introduces a complete universe for role-playing
Role-playing
Role-playing refers to the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role...
and wargaming
Wargaming
A wargame is a strategy game that deals with military operations of various types, real or fictional. Wargaming is the hobby dedicated to the play of such games, which can also be called conflict simulations, or consims for short. When used professionally to study warfare, it is generally known as...
space combat, featuring mecha
Mecha
A mech , is a science fiction term for a large walking bipedal tank or robot, including ones on treads and animal shapes.-Characteristics:...
, giant spacecraft
Spacecraft
A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
and epic space battles.
The setting was originally published as a pair of licensed supplements for the Mekton
Mekton
Mekton is a role-playing game which centers on the conventions of mecha anime and science fiction...
role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
; IANVS Games released the two volumes (Jovian Chronicles and Europa Incident) in 1992. This first edition is known amongst fans as the "Green Edition" because of the color scheme of its cover design.
The game was re-published as a full-fledged game line in 1997 by Dream Pod 9
Dream Pod 9
Dream Pod 9 is a Montreal-based Canadian game publisher. In addition to games, they have been known to work on special projects, creating worlds and stories to order for a variety of clients.-History:...
, this time using their own in-house rule system. This edition, and all subsequent ones, are known as the "White Editions," though several of the supplemental books feature a dark blue starfield cover.
Setting
The game world shows one possible future, a time in which Mankind has expanded and settled the solar systemSolar System
The Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun...
, going as far as terraforming
Terraforming
Terraforming of a planet, moon, or other body is the hypothetical process of deliberately modifying its atmosphere, temperature, surface topography or ecology to be similar to those of Earth, in order to make it habitable by terrestrial organisms.The term is sometimes used more generally as a...
Venus
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6, bright enough to cast shadows...
and Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
. The colonists living around Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
are at odds with the government of Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
, driving much of the series' intrigue. The game features a blend of action/adventure and hard-science space colonization facts. The books are based on plausible technical details to maintain a realistic hard science fiction
Hard science fiction
Hard science fiction is a category of science fiction characterized by an emphasis on scientific or technical detail, or on scientific accuracy, or on both. The term was first used in print in 1957 by P. Schuyler Miller in a review of John W. Campbell, Jr.'s Islands of Space in Astounding Science...
setting.
- Mercury: a small settlement, whose main exports are high quality electronics and metalMetalA metal , is an element, compound, or alloy that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat. Metals are usually malleable and shiny, that is they reflect most of incident light...
s. MercuryMercury (planet)Mercury is the innermost and smallest planet in the Solar System, orbiting the Sun once every 87.969 Earth days. The orbit of Mercury has the highest eccentricity of all the Solar System planets, and it has the smallest axial tilt. It completes three rotations about its axis for every two orbits...
is the headquarters of the powerful Merchant Guild, an association of companies which provide most of the transportation throughout the system. - Venus: terraformed by a consortium of corporations, Venus is now a marginally habitable planetPlanetary habitabilityPlanetary habitability is the measure of a planet's or a natural satellite's potential to sustain life. Life may develop directly on a planet or satellite or be transferred to it from another body, a theoretical process known as panspermia...
. The Venusian upper class and their workers live in polar arcologies, surrounded by terraforming processors. - Earth: damaged by centuries of overpopulationOverpopulationOverpopulation is a condition where an organism's numbers exceed the carrying capacity of its habitat. The term often refers to the relationship between the human population and its environment, the Earth...
and civil wars, the motherworld is home to the Central Earth Government and Administration (CEGA), a bureaucratic planetary government that believes the EarthEarthEarth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
should lead the solar system. - Orbital Colonies: the salvation of many who fled EarthEarthEarth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
, these are huge O'Neill stations parked at the Lagrange points. Orbitals are peaceful people who follow CEGA's lead for protection. - United Solar Nations: evolved from the old United NationsUnited NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
to provide a neutral arbiter between the various settlements. It has a private peace-keeping army, the USN Guard, and an interplanetary law enforcement agency, the Solar Police (SolaPol). - The Moon: CEGA's industrial center, its inhabitants are living in huge complexes buried beneath the soil. Many of Earth's heavy industries were moved there long ago.
- Mars: a divided planet, home to the Martian Free Republic and the Martian Federation. Border clashes between the two are frequent.
- The Belt: the asteroids are populated by mobile nomad communities, each a micro-society of its own.
- Jupiter: home to refugees from Earth. The enormous space stations of the Jovian Confederacy were the first to develop and field exo-armors. Thanks to the resources of the Jovian sub-system, the Confederacy is the richest nation in the solar system.
- Titan: the largest moon of SaturnSaturnSaturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter. Saturn is named after the Roman god Saturn, equated to the Greek Cronus , the Babylonian Ninurta and the Hindu Shani. Saturn's astronomical symbol represents the Roman god's sickle.Saturn,...
is the farthest human settlement. It is the main source for complex hydrocarbonHydrocarbonIn organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons from which one hydrogen atom has been removed are functional groups, called hydrocarbyls....
compounds and plays an important role in the industries of the solar system.
Anime inspirations
Many recent Western cartoon shows and games have anime styling. Jovian Chronicles also features anime-inspired artwork, though most of the technical elements (ships, stations, equipment, etc.) are illustrated with computer art.Exo-armors are one of the main hooks of the series. They are personal mecha
Mecha
A mech , is a science fiction term for a large walking bipedal tank or robot, including ones on treads and animal shapes.-Characteristics:...
, big armored space suits with weapons. The main source of inspiration for the game was Gundam
Gundam
The is a metaseries of anime created by Sunrise studios that features giant robots called "Mobile Suits" ; usually the protagonist's MS will carry the name Gundam....
, but also included Robotech
Robotech
Robotech is an 85-episode science fiction anime adaptation produced by Harmony Gold USA in association with Tatsunoko Production Co., Ltd. and first released in the United States in 1985...
. Jovian Chronicles would be placed in the Real Robot
Real Robot
is a genre of Japanese animation. The genre contains mecha robots that are powered by conventional power sources and weapons explainable by real world science, and that use ranged weapons and speed to survive battle situations....
anime genre.
The series used the art of Ghislain Barbe
Ghislain Barbe
Ghislain Barbe is a Canadian illustrator and artist. He is best known for designing the visual aspects of the Heavy Gear science fiction franchise in the 1990s and early 2000s...
who was also responsible for the designs of Heavy Gear
Heavy Gear
Heavy Gear is a game universe published since 1994 by Canadian publisher Dream Pod 9. It includes a tabletop tactical wargame, a role-playing game and a lesser known combat card game...
, another of Dream Pod 9's lines with similar inspirations.
Game rules
The most current incarnation of Jovian Chronicles is currently based on the Silhouette game engine, a streamlined set of rules already described in Heavy GearHeavy Gear
Heavy Gear is a game universe published since 1994 by Canadian publisher Dream Pod 9. It includes a tabletop tactical wargame, a role-playing game and a lesser known combat card game...
, Dream Pod 9
Dream Pod 9
Dream Pod 9 is a Montreal-based Canadian game publisher. In addition to games, they have been known to work on special projects, creating worlds and stories to order for a variety of clients.-History:...
's other successful science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
game. It can be played as either a role-playing
Role-playing
Role-playing refers to the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role...
game
Game
A game is structured playing, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more often an expression of aesthetic or ideological elements...
, a tactical wargame
Wargaming
A wargame is a strategy game that deals with military operations of various types, real or fictional. Wargaming is the hobby dedicated to the play of such games, which can also be called conflict simulations, or consims for short. When used professionally to study warfare, it is generally known as...
, or a hybrid integration of both.
The latest edition of the Silhouette rules is sold separately as a book titled Silhouette CORE Rulebook, which is needed to play the Jovian Chronicles role-playing game. The wargame uses the Lightning Strike II Miniature Rules, also available separately. The latter is played using miniatures and tabletop terrain, although some players prefer to use hex maps and paper counters.
Both the RPG and miniature games are built on the same basic rule mechanics. Silhouette is a realistic system that defines characters in terms of 10 base attributes (agility, knowledge, etc.), 5 derived attributes (health, etc.), and a variety of skills. Skill rolls make up the backbone of the system, which focuses on effect-based speed of play over grainy detail. The core mechanic involves rolling a number of 6-sided dice, taking the highest result, adding in modifiers for attributes and/or situation, and then comparing it to a set threshold number. If the result is higher than the threshold the test is a success; if it is lower the test is a failure. The margin by which the test succeeded (Margin of Success, MoS) or failed (Margin of Failure, MoF) helps to determine the final outcome. Combat is handled by the same system, with characters taking penalty-inflicting wounds rather than depleting a set number of health points. As a result, the system can be lethal, especially on inexperienced characters.