astronomy

Jovian Chronicles

Jovian Chronicles is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Jovian Chronicles rather than just read about it. In short: Jovian Chronicles is a science fiction game setting published by Dream Pod 9 since 1997. It introduces a complete universe for role-playing and wargaming space combat featuring mecha, giant spacecraft, and epic space battles.

Key takeaways

Jovian Chronicles belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Jovian Chronicles to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Jovian Chronicles from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Jovian Chronicles is a science fiction game setting published by Dream Pod 9 since 1997. It introduces a complete universe for role-playing and wargaming space combat featuring mecha, giant spacecraft, and epic space battles. The Jovian Chronicles setting was originally published as a pair of licensed supplements for the Mekton role-playing game; Ianus Publications released 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. After Ianus decided to split into two ventures in 1995 — Protoculture, which would publish Protoculture Addicts magazine; and Dream Pod 9, which would design and market miniatures and gaming books, Jovian Chronicles 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, because of its white cover, is known as the "White Edition", and subsequent supplements are also called this, even though several of the supplemental books feature a dark blue starfield cover.

Publication history Ianus Publications had licensed the anime-related games of R. Talsorian Games, and Jovian Chronicles (1994) by Marc A. Vezina featured an original campaign setting for the Mekton role-playing game from R. Talsorian. Vezina had intended Jovian Chronicles to be published as a serial in the company's Mecha Press magazine. Jovian Chronicles was instead published as a standalone setting and supplemented soon after with Europa Incident (1994). Dream Pod 9 was soon split out from Ianus as a separate company, and their second game after Heavy Gear was Jovian Chronicles (1998), a game based on Dream Pod 9's Silhouette system, and a variant of the setting they previously published for Mekton. The new edition changed the theme to encompass an anime mecha game, a space-opera starfighter game, as well a near-future game using hard science. Many of the mecha were redesigned to accommodate a video game that would have been released by Activision but was never published. The later Silhouette CORE Rulebook (2003) presented a new version of Silhouette meant to work as a standalone generic rules system, followed soon after with the Mecha Companion (2003) containing d20 System game statistics for every mecha found in Heavy Gear, Jovian Chronicles and Gear Krieg using the mecha rules from d20 Mecha (2003) from Guardians of Order. The second edition of Jovian Chronicles was also released in 2003. In 2017, Dream Pod 9 launched a Kickstarter to create new resin spaceship miniatures. The goal was to raise 9,000 CAD; with the support of 143 backers, they raised a total of 25,090 CAD. Dream Pod 9 reported that by November 2017 they had "completed the shipping of Backer Reward Packages". In 2018, they launched a second Kickstarter to create additional new spaceships and exo-armor squad miniatures. The goal was smaller this time (4,000 CAD) and while it was successful, it was less successful than the first Kickstarter (57 backers raising 8,708 CAD). Dream Pod 9 reported that they had begun shipping out "Backer Reward Packages" in April 2019. During this time, Beta Playtest Rules for a new edition, called Jovian Wars, were released for free on DrivethruRPG as a PDF. These rules were last updated on February 14, 2018.

Setting The game world shows one possible future, a time in which Mankind has expanded and settled the Solar System, 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.

Mercury: a small settlement, whose main exports are high quality electronics and metals. Mercury 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 planet. The Venusian upper class and their workers live in polar arcologies, surrounded by terraforming processors. Earth: damaged by centuries of overpopulation and civil wars, the motherworld is home to the Central Earth Government and Administration (CEGA), a bureaucratic planetary government that believes the Earth should lead the solar system. Orbital Colonies: the salvation of many who fled Earth, 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 Nations 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 Saturn is the farthest human settlement. It is the main source for complex hydrocarbon compounds and plays an important role in the industries of the solar system.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Jovian Chronicles

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Jovian Chronicles claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Jovian Chronicles before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Jovian Chronicles ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Jovian Chronicles

In research: Jovian Chronicles appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Jovian Chronicles in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Jovian Chronicles is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Campaign settings, Canadian role-playing games, Dream Pod 9 games, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Jovian Chronicles outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Jovian Chronicles in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Jovian Chronicles means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Jovian Chronicles out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Jovian Chronicles in simple terms?

Why does Jovian Chronicles matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Jovian Chronicles?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Jovian Chronicles.