Life on Mars interested scientists for decades. Yet nobody would've guessed we get our answer so soon. 1894, the heart of Britain is attacked by Martian invaders. Their trail of destruction then mysterious demise left Britain weakened yet secrecy and the greed of empires made it a minor note to history. Until now. 1914, the Central Powers and the Entente are embroiled in a Great War. Yet while the major powers are busy with conflict Humanity is being watched by an intelligence greater than them yet just as mortal. 1914 December, the night before Christmas brought numerous cylinders to Earth heralding a newer and greater Martian invasion. Yet hostilities remained and the news spread slow. Can the warring factions forget their differences and unite against the alien menace or try to use the invaders to further their own goals? Can this divided mankind stand a chance against the Martian forces? Only time can tell.
HUMANS
In the late 19th century Britain came under attack by the Martians which weakened them and shook up the scientific community. Yet in spite of the discovery that humanity is no longer alone the nation continued their usual games of power. Some of them even neglected the news of aliens as a mere scare tale. Regardless the experience of seeing Martian fighting machines inspired the development of armored vehicles of their own. And then the Great War broke out and Europe were divided among the lines of Central Powers and Entente. Will the war continue under the pressure of the new alien invasion? Nobody knows yet.
MARTIANS
Creatures from Mars these aliens are starkly different from humans. Older and equipped with superior intelligence the Martians' understanding of technology is beyond humanity. When faced with the death of their planet and extinction the Martians suddenly turned for the lush green planet Earth. Using their superior technology the Martians expected a swift victory. Yet the unexpected differences between the environment of Earth and Mars gave them more trouble than expected and eventually led to their defeat. Of course the Martians didn't give up and prepared for their next attack, at a scale much larger than before (thanks to the resources from conquering the Venusians). Martians are much fewer in number and rely entirely on mechanized warfare. They are cold, logical and possess no higher emotions by human standards thus may come off as amoral or even evil to us.
GAME DETAILS
Mars Attacks! Join this renewed War of the Worlds on either side of Humans (Entente, Central Powers, Neutrals) or the Martian invaders. The game picks of not much after the start of WW1 and plays very much like any other war themed NRP. You can be a major power using the chaos of the Martian invasion to its advantage. Or someone who strives to unite nations against this new extraterrestrial threat. You can be also just a small nation struggling to survive this mess. Alternatively a few players may join as the Martians themselves, taking command over a force to conquer the Earth. Whatever the case you'll be up for an unique experience. Do you like the theme of WW1 and/or War of the Worlds? This game is waiting for you!Technology for games like this frequently comes up so a paragraph on that. This is technically a sci-fi NRP in an alternate universe but I'd prefer to mostly stick to real WW1 technologies and what was shown in the original War of the Worlds novel. Since the Martians are attacked first in 1894 that'd be our point of divergence if you wish to write alternate history to your nation. Martian technology itself is strange, lacking wheels or gunpowder. They rely on multi-legged walker machines and use heat-rays and grenades/canisters propelled by electromagnetism in combat. Compared to other iterations they have no energy shields, advanced sensors or disintegration rays. They have a sorts of steampunk feel,actually. Also while popular in the alien invasion genre,no, humans can't just "reverse engineer" alien technology. They barely understand them and don't have the methods how to manufacture them. Albeit you may try to capture/hijack these machines or take over production lines. That being said while superior the Martian machines are far from unbeatable. Add up their seriously inferior numbers and they're actually in a pretty difficult situation when a nation's army concentrates all they have on them. Martians also have no experience at naval warfare and the various dreadnoughts and other warships are an obvious point where humans are superior in the beginning.
That's all you need to know for now. Might add an almanac if necessary. Anyways, depending on how many players volunteer we can start this game in two ways. One, if we have many player candidates then everyone can choose a nation as usual. If we have serious shortage of players then perhaps we can split it to power blocks like one player controlling all of Entente while another is the Central Powers with perhaps me being the Martian player. But preferably that won't be needed so here's the guide on your faction sheets.
FACTION SHEETS GUIDE
