Jovian Chronicles

BEYOND THE TIIIIIIIIME

Wargame and RPG published by Dream Pod 9
Rule System	Silhouette
No. of Players	5+
Authors	Marc A. Vezina.
First Publication	1993
Essential Books	Jovian Chronicles 2nd edition, Jovian Wars beta rules.

It started as a pair of pretty nifty Mekton books, set in an original IP that was basically Gundam with all the crazy sucked out. It was thin, but inspiringly cool. The mecha and ship design was (and still is) the BEST that had ever been seen in an RPG, hands down.

Then Dream Pod 9 got a loan from their rich uncle and went solo with their homebrew Silhouette system. Using Silhouette is like using HERO System to simulate the whole of World War 2 in real time while on Vicodin. It's pretty okay I guess if you like spreadsheets. It manages to still be simpler than Mekton if you exclude crap like Reaction Mass, which nobody uses. Oh, and now the art has basically an expanded roster of mecha and spaceships, with essentially the same designs... except now they're all illustrated by an inflation fetishist.

The setting is the traditional 23rd century, and strains mightily to be Hard science fiction while still having giant robots punching each other across the Solar System. It does a neato job on the whole. The political crap on Earth is just depressingly mundane (but I'm gonna tell you it anyway!) Get ye to space and nuke some pirates.

The Solar Nations of Jovian Chronicles

Earth

Practicing DP9's tried and true ideal of EARTH BAD, SPACE GOOD .

It was the late 21st century when Earth was getting absolutely fucked six ways from Sunday. Figurative plagues of the social and economic variety, LITERAL plagues of war, famine, and needless movie sequels. Basically everything that could've went wrong most likely did. But before that Earth had colonized all the planets in the solar system, leaving said colonies high, dry, and without contact till 2184. From the ashes of the Earth rose the Central Earth Government and Administration (CEGA)(…no, not THAT CEGA) and declared itself galactic superpower and overlord of every solar nation. Naturally, most colonies didn't see it this way and rebelled. CEGA branded these colonies rougues and intends to bring them to heel, using their resources to rebuild Earth.

Jupiter

SIEG JUPITER!

The name of the game, the Jovian Confederation lived around Jupiter's orbit for over a century, working hard to make their colony the best it can be for their descendants. When they lost contact with Earth they quickly mastered space combat when everyone else in the solar system was going completely batshit insane. These people are your typical idealistic spacenoids, they believe to be fighting this war to free the solar system from the tyranny of Earth and Venus, no matter how many (other people's) lives must be sacrificed! The added fact that their leadership is a nobility known for their arrogant, ambitious and greedy nature should make anyone familiar with the source material VERY concerned. The orbitals should watch out for these guys..

Venus

The TEETANS now rise.

The third of the biggest three factions in space, Venus is the kid who sits at the very back of the class yet is somehow always the first out the door. This colony houses a very mysterious people and was originally funded by Terran corporations who could very blatantly see the writing on the wall for Earth and felt like relocating. They're the richest of the factions and seem to only care about making the big bucks, but at least they're honest about it.

Luna

Fly me to the moon, and let me play among the stars.

The first member of the space colony crew, they're exactly who you think they are. Corporations abound on the cheese planet, with the colony inside the planet's crust. The comfy home of many CEGA bases, Luna is supporting Earth's claim over the rest of the galaxy.

Mars

FUCK OFF, WE'RE FULL.

ALIENS! Yes, you heard that right. Unfortunately for you Xeno lovers out there, they all died when they invaded during the mid-1900s in something akin to a certain book that I just can't quite put my finger on. All that is rumor though! Anyways with the reveal of possible life on the red planet it only made sense to colonize it when Earth could. This colony is currently gripped in a civil war between the rigid Martian Federation and the hippies of the Martian Republic. However, this fight is strictly between the two, as any outside nation wishing to stick their nose in Martian affairs will get the smack down from both sides and their exceptional orbital defense network.

Mercury

The definitive good guys.

Neutral as neutral can be. Mercury has a ton of fighters, exo-armors and warships all for defense since its military and doctrine structure is non-existent. Poached wage slaves from Venus when its politicking garbage got too lame even for them, and is growing because of it.

Orbitals

SYDNEY HERE WE COME!

Space colonies of the earth system or any colonies outside of a planet. Home to many refugees after Earth got weird, these space stations find themselves the victims in a galactic wide boogaloo where if you don't pick a side (or pick the wrong one) then you're getting gassed. The earth side orbitals sided with the moon because of course they did.

Saturn & Titan

They went to the one place that wasn't corrupted by brainlets..

Saturn and its largest moon, Titan, are the most remote of the colonies and nearest to the asteroid belt. Its main colony is under the control of a Jovian company called THC and its population is comprised mostly of scientists looking for their next brain blast thanks to the wonders of SPHESS.

The Belt

ZONE OF THE BELTERS.

Jovian Chronicles' Periphery, only these guys genuinely want to be left alone and don't kill each other. They aren't even considered a solar nation since they're on the precipice of the known galaxy and are constantly ignored by them, much to the appreciation of the nomads who call this asteroid belt home. Militarily insignificant, but their intelligence gathering is top notch.

There are also some minor factions that pervade the galaxy such as the United Space Nations, who are quite literally the United Nations in space, Solar Cross, who protect those in danger from pirates and other space crooks, or STRIKE, a terrorist organization who wants all humanity to be controlled by Earth. Not CEGA controlled Earth, though. As one could probably guess, they are very reasonable gentlemen.

Gallery

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  Exo-armors piloted by lieutenant Bash, Lieutenant Junior Grade Orange, and Lieutenant Junior Grade Guya.
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  Beautiful minis.
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  Dp9's Mecha boner is so great they even made garage kits of their exo-armor designs.