Steam Punk Fantasy Hero

[Wolfe-Chan]

Re: Steam Punk Fantasy Hero

 

Ok I have been way sick for the last few weeks but now I have some more Ideas and I have done more thinking on how I want to work the technological side of the game now.

 

First there is going to be one "evil" Giant Anylitical Engine that was made some hundreds of years ago and became sentient and destroyed the technically advanced city it was made in. Then the Human population moved south to get out of the reach of the maniacal mechanical menace. they founded a city statejust south of the Fens of hate. They named there new home Westerhiem and have been strugling against the hordes og the Great Engine since there escape.

 

Westerhiem is a very large city and most of the people that love in the Kingdom of Westerhaven live in the city as the country side is not really very safe as clockwork assassins from the north peroidically careen threw the fields looking for anything living to kill. With in a few leages of the city itself is safe but past that you need an armed guard or the ability to protect yourself. The city itself is a vast waren of passageways and underground routes. One never sees the sky once he has entered Westerhiem. Most farming is automated or done from small towns that are mostly malitia outposts as well as farming communities.

 

The two easiest was to travel are the Great Road of Tar and the railway system which both lead to the Coal mines in the northern mountains the Steel Peaks. These mountains are the constant Battlefield that the Kingdom of Westerhaven and the Great Engine are constantly at war to keep there respective blast furnices perpetually running and keeping both war machines grinding each other to piles of dust.

 

Now I have a few questions for you all.

 

Exactly what level of technology will keep this setting Fantasy and how to keep it fantasy with steam power and coal gas?

 

Should people be able to replace limbs similar to Fullmetal Alchemist?

 

Should they beable to replace more then just a limb?

 

Should I have other races other then human?

 

Should I have a navy of dirigibles?

 

What about steampowered vehicles? There is going to be a train and an underground train to get around the city.

 

And if you want to help me create this setting please take a sec and join the Yahoo group http://ca.groups.yahoo.com/group/FHbyGaslight/

 

Anyway any comments and criticism would be awesome thanx!

[Wolfe-Chan]

Re: Steam Punk Fantasy Hero

 

I highly recommend reading Perdido Street Station (for more than just general reasons this time) - especially the bit about the Construct Council

 

 

Thanx I am doing that now is a very strange setting but cool too.

[BlackSword]

Re: Steam Punk Fantasy Hero

 

My friends and I are working on a campaign world with some similar rules. So this is a great chance to exchange ideas and steal...er borrow some ideas.

Exactly what level of technology will keep this setting Fantasy and how to keep it fantasy with steam power and coal gas?

I would stick with black-powder. For some reason going into cartridge rounds seems to be exiting the fantasy era.

 

For clockworks, I would keep the majority of them fairly small. If you ever played City of Heroes, I could see a clockwork army like that fitting into a fantasy setting. Most of them are waist height, a few are taller, and then there are a rare few that are similar in size to WH40K Dreadnaughts. Most of the time the clockworks are just scavenging, but will defend their scavenging area. Some of them maybe built purely for combat with lots of spinning scythes, while others would have picks, hammers, and a load hopper on their back.

Should people be able to replace limbs similar to Fullmetal Alchemist?

 

Should they beable to replace more then just a limb?

We have not considered this part. It definitaly works in Full Metal Alchemist, and I don't think it would break the fantasy suspension of disbelief if done right. I would not replace much more than limbs, going into full conversion borgs would start breaking the suspension of disbelief.

Should I have other races other then human?

Another subject we are struggling with. Our approach is to go with fantasy races that can pass for human. So elves, who are willowy, have high cheekbones, and sharp features, but are not so obvious that they scream elf. We are also thinking about changlings, or other fairy races that can use glamours to pass for human.

 

Also some ideas for having a race of craftsmen similar to dwarves that have disappeared from the world. Their works and architecture still exist, but no one has the technology to repeat or rebuild their cities.

Should I have a navy of dirigibles?

Absolutely. Or if not a Navy, at least a few, perhaps for transportation as a way to get off the ground and above the clockwork army for safe transport.

What about steampowered vehicles? There is going to be a train and an underground train to get around the city.

Personal preference would be to stick with just trains (and zepplins).

[Curufea]

Re: Steam Punk Fantasy Hero

 

The very rich could have personal steam automobiles. Each would be hand crafted by an artist.

 

I'd disallow production lines - because you don't want them to industrialise too soon.

[Dale A. Ward]

Re: Steam Punk Fantasy Hero

 

The very rich could have personal steam automobiles. Each would be hand crafted by an artist.

 

I recommend Robert Heinlein's The Number of the Beast, specifically the chapters relating to the British colony on Mars for an excellent portrayal of a steam powered personal roadcar. The darn thing had seating for 6 passengers... and a crew of 15! Hilarious!

[Curufea]

Re: Steam Punk Fantasy Hero

 

And possibly more fuel efficient, due to the lower atmospheric pressure, equivalent to a very high mountain on Earth, water boils at a lower temperature. Ergo less fuel is required to create steam.

[Wolfe-Chan]

Re: Steam Punk Fantasy Hero

 

Cool thanks for you comments they have helped a lot. I am still working on the political structure of the Westerhaven and the main city Westerhiem is going to be a warren of different levels of buildings built on top of each other it is going to be huge with different levels and parts of the city suspended above other parts.

 

What would be a good politcal system for a pre-industrial civilization?

 

Should it be a constitutional monarcy similar to Victorian England? or maybe something else?

[TheQuestionMan]

Re: Steam Punk Fantasy Hero

 

Twist it around a little, take away the Magna Carta. The Royalists won the War of the Roses. Imagine a functioning society and politcal System run by a Monarchy.

 

You could still have a Constutional Structure, but ultimately power rests with the King (or Queen).

 

Just my 2 cents

 

QM

[BlackSword]

Re: Steam Punk Fantasy Hero

 

What would be a good politcal system for a pre-industrial civilization?

 

Should it be a constitutional monarcy similar to Victorian England? or maybe something else?

For the campaign we're developing my proposed government was for a Monarchy with a House of Lords, similar to Britain. Pretty much we are stealing Britain whole cloth and filing off the serial numbers. I found a great map of London in the 19th century. Its bookmarked at home but I can provide it later in the day.

 

Two other governments I have been fleshing out for other countries include a theocracy, and a confederation of city/states. Each city/state has a prince and sends a representative to a council. The High Counciler is the head of state, though he has no real power, just a figurehead and rules at the pleasure of the princes. There are requirements for joining, so there are a few common laws between all the cities, but for the most part each city has its own laws.

[Wolfe-Chan]

Re: Steam Punk Fantasy Hero

 

Twist it around a little, take away the Magna Carta. The Royalists won the War of the Roses. Imagine a functioning society and politcal System run by a Monarchy.

 

You could still have a Constutional Structure, but ultimately power rests with the King (or Queen).

 

Just my 2 cents

 

QM

 

I like your idea. Going to sit down and work on that today. Thanx

[Wolfe-Chan]

Re: Steam Punk Fantasy Hero

 

Ok I have worked on it in my head all day and I think I hvae come to the realization that it will be a Monarcy with the help of various Guilds & Unions.

 

 

Now I am just trying to think up some good names for those guilds and unions.

 

So far I have:

 

Steam Workers Union

 

Steel Workers Guild

 

Association of Clockwork Artisans

 

All bit not that great any ideas anyone might have for good names for similar organizations would be a great help.

 

I am also trying to come up with what to call replacements of a mechaical/clockwork/steam nature on people like arms and legs and such.

 

Please tell me what you think.

 

Thanx Wolfe-Chan

[Thia Halmades]

Re: Steam Punk Fantasy Hero

 

As some may recall, I created a bit of a battle over on the "New Book for '07" thread a while back, demanding that Steve do Steam Punk Victorian Hero. There's a reason for this. I LOVE this genre. Truly. Something about it just leaves my imagination wide open. Makes me wanna read books and ride trains and use elemental bound Flamethrowers.

 

Answers.

 

Anything bound with an Elemental should have Charges - the Elemental's life force is being drained; eventually you'll need to release it (when it gets weak, so it doesn't die) or consume it (which kills it, but depending on the setting, sometimes that only sends said Ele to its home plane). The thing with Steam Punk is that there's no ceiling; you can do Dwarves with Guns (w00t) and you can do humans in cloaks with crossbows. Zeppelins, Trains, and people with mechanical wings all fit. War is common, human tragedy is common, but 'reality' is not.

 

For example, you don't hear a lot about famine in Steam Punk settings; Miyazaki has Steam-Punk elements in some of his work (Howl's Moving Castle is a good blend of Victorian, Magic & Steam Punk on some levels, Princess Mononoke is not). Reality is given a bit of leave because the elements that make Steam Punk cool are its psuedo-science and strong ties to the action/adventure genre.

 

I could go on like this for hours. Anyway. Setting notes. I apologize in advance, this is going to be harsh.

 

Two kingdoms is... cliche. I had written something else, but I erased it. We'll say that two kingdoms across a divide is cliche. Why do we care about one kingdom over the other? Why did they develop so distinctly? That's not really an interesting question, unless you're doing a war scenario, and then it still runs the risk of not being interesting.

 

What's interesting is when one society is faced with a massive amount of change in a very short period of time - effectively going from a pre-industrial to a Steam Punk society in the span of maybe 20 years. The advent of (name of tech here) has allowed for leaping advancements in (the sciences of choice) which closely resembles (ancient magical craft no one can use anymore, except a main character).

 

The central conflict of the story revolves around (these PCs, hereinafter known as the Intrepid, but occassionally Distraught Heroes) and their (critical point of conflict). During the examination of (critical point of conflict,) the PCs make a startling discovery about the nature of (ancient magic which only one person can use, because they were being difficult and demanded to be a magic user). Now that the plot has reached (core pivotal arc one) we can resolve (arc one) and set up (arc two).

 

That's far more engaging. It also lets people see both sides; people who are actively avoiding steam punk tech, and people who embrace it, and people who embrace it a LEETLE too readily. Anyway. I'm rambling. Again. I made chicken alfredo!

[Thia Halmades]

Re: Steam Punk Fantasy Hero

 

Also, some point in the immediate future, I'm doing Final Fantasy HERO, which will address a LOT of this.

[Wolfe-Chan]

Re: Steam Punk Fantasy Hero

 

Some times cliches are not bad. bUt as an added note there is a third Kingdom as well as a few other suprises like Nomads and barbarians to the west of the main kingdom, pirates and the undead hordes of an ancient undead wizard, Pirates.

 

The second main Kingdom is going to be magical and nature and they will not have any understanding of Technology. And later on after I got bored with the Mechanical computer I am going to have a conflict between technology and Magic.

 

The third kingdom is going to be a league of city states run by druids. And will be more open to technology or magic.

 

Being cliche does not neccessarily make something bad. Some times you can really enjoy the familiar. If I can put a fresh face on a the ordinary you can turn it into the extraordinary.

 

Well that is my take on things as far a cliches go.

 

The main part of the campiagn to begin with is going to be the battle between man and machine but only at a pre-industrial level. I want Terminator meets Victorian England meets High Fantasy. Well that is what I want to shoot for.

[Curufea]

Re: Steam Punk Fantasy Hero

 

Cyberlimb names-

Livemetal

Automail (Full Metal Alchemist)

Mechanatomy

ReMade (Perdido Street Station - also covers biological replacement/additional limbs)

SteelSkin

[BlackSword]

Re: Steam Punk Fantasy Hero

 

The second main Kingdom is going to be magical and nature and they will not have any understanding of Technology. And later on after I got bored with the Mechanical computer I am going to have a conflict between technology and Magic.

Something that will have to be explained is why the Magic Kingdom has no understanding of technology. If the two countries trade at all previous to their war, then some people in each kingdom will have some cross-pollination. Each may have a distrust of the other (ie magic distrusts tech, tech distrusts magic), but there will have to be a reason they are (seemingly) mutually exclusive.

The third kingdom is going to be a league of city states run by druids. And will be more open to technology or magic.

Consider this idea nabbed.

[BlackSword]

Re: Steam Punk Fantasy Hero

 

As some may recall' date=' I created a bit of a battle over on the "New Book for '07" thread a while back, demanding that Steve do Steam Punk Victorian Hero. There's a reason for this. I LOVE this genre. Truly. Something about it just leaves my imagination wide open. Makes me wanna read books and ride trains and use elemental bound Flamethrowers.[/quote']

Its also currently the "hot new thing" as people some people are tiring of the standard Tolkien fantasy model. At least that is our reason for working on a campaign like this. One danger of the 'hot new thing' is missing the boat and getting on the tail end of the wave, or entering an already saturated market. I would still support it as a publication for '07.

[Thia Halmades]

Re: Steam Punk Fantasy Hero

 

Oh, I've been focused on something like this for a while - I didn't even know it was a Hot New Thing, that's actually news to me. I just love Steampunk; I've loved it since I glommed onto it in Final Fantasy VII, which was the first time I was *really* exposed to it.

 

What I'd LOVE is to see HERO pick up the rights to license the Final Fantasy Setting. d20 would butcher it.

[Dale A. Ward]

Re: Steam Punk Fantasy Hero

 

The popularity of the Steampunk genre makes me wonder why the TV show The Adventures of Jules Verne didn't last longer than it did.

 

Come to think of it, the Steampunk genre was more popular back in the 60's. After all, what was The Wild Wild West if not a Steampunk scenario?

 

It is difficult to see it in a Fantasy Hero setting, though.

[Curufea]

Re: Steam Punk Fantasy Hero

 

I've seen much of the Verne series. The answer is fairly simple - poor writing and poor direction.

[Wolfe-Chan]

Re: Steam Punk Fantasy Hero

 

Well I have been working more on the Campaign and I have come up with the idea of a type of resource that the tech is made of a special metal or alloy of some special element. I am not sure how I am going to go about this or if I should just make coal the resource that the war between the Clockwork computer and the Humans is about.

 

I have been working on the main city of Westerhiem and I have decided that it is going to be a large city that is growing up instead of out because of the marshy terrain that is around the city. So they are building larger taller buildings and some on top of others. The city is getting taller. So most of the streets are covered and the lower areas are the where the poor live and the rich live above them.

Any ideas or criticism on the city idea would be great.

 

As for the magic kingdom I have not really gave it to much thought yet but they are not anti-technology. They are more magic oriented so any technology they do have usually will have a magic component like a horse less wagon that is pulled buy invisible summoned creatures or magical means. That there "technology" is based on magic instead of science. To them, Magic is a science would be a good way of explaining there out look on technology.

 

The marsh and fens around Westerhiem will mean that there will be a lot of coal near the city. It will be hard to mine that coal do to the number of creatures and monsters that will infest the marsh and fens. Creating many adventure opetunities in just getting coal.

 

What about gun powder should it be something I should think about? Are guns a good addition to fantasy? Do you think that they will take away from the fantasy elements?

 

That is pretty much where I am at the moment. Please be as critical and helpful as you can be.

 

Wolfe-Chan

[Captain Obvious]

Re: Steam Punk Fantasy Hero

 

Well I have been working more on the Campaign and I have come up with the idea of a type of resource that the tech is made of a special metal or alloy of some special element. I am not sure how I am going to go about this or if I should just make coal the resource that the war between the Clockwork computer and the Humans is about.

 

I have been working on the main city of Westerhiem and I have decided that it is going to be a large city that is growing up instead of out because of the marshy terrain that is around the city. So they are building larger taller buildings and some on top of others. The city is getting taller. So most of the streets are covered and the lower areas are the where the poor live and the rich live above them.

Any ideas or criticism on the city idea would be great.

 

As for the magic kingdom I have not really gave it to much thought yet but they are not anti-technology. They are more magic oriented so any technology they do have usually will have a magic component like a horse less wagon that is pulled buy invisible summoned creatures or magical means. That there "technology" is based on magic instead of science. To them, Magic is a science would be a good way of explaining there out look on technology.

 

The marsh and fens around Westerhiem will mean that there will be a lot of coal near the city. It will be hard to mine that coal do to the number of creatures and monsters that will infest the marsh and fens. Creating many adventure opetunities in just getting coal.

 

What about gun powder should it be something I should think about? Are guns a good addition to fantasy? Do you think that they will take away from the fantasy elements?

 

That is pretty much where I am at the moment. Please be as critical and helpful as you can be.

 

Wolfe-Chan

 

Coal isn't usually found around marshes, is it? It's certainly not mined around them, anyway. The mines flood too easily.

 

Your city might be better placed on a mountain, with the poorer sections of town spilling down into the upper levels of the mines. As the population increases, the rich take over some of the poorer areas of the surface, and the poor have to move into the mines if they want to stay within the city walls.

[Old Man]

Re: Steam Punk Fantasy Hero

 

It might be more interesting to dispense with real-life concepts of gunpowder and instead have the gunpowder in your campaign be derived from something of great value to the magic kingdom. For example, perhaps both magic and guns run off 'fairy dust', only maybe the gunpowder version involves actually grinding up the fairies. There would then be all sorts of conflicts over the control of the fairy lands and its supply of fairies, as well as the morality of producing 'fairy dust'.

[Wolfe-Chan]

Re: Steam Punk Fantasy Hero

 

It might be more interesting to dispense with real-life concepts of gunpowder and instead have the gunpowder in your campaign be derived from something of great value to the magic kingdom. For example' date=' perhaps both magic and guns run off 'fairy dust', only maybe the gunpowder version involves actually grinding up the fairies. There would then be all sorts of conflicts over the control of the fairy lands and its supply of fairies, as well as the morality of producing 'fairy dust'.[/quote']

 

Brutal that is a bit too gross for me but definitly an iterseting Idea. Will have to think about it maybe it could be made from the sweat of the fae that way there is no grinding up cute little creatures and they could be running in hamster wheels or somesuch.

 

Wolfe-Chan

[Wolfe-Chan]

Re: Steam Punk Fantasy Hero

 

Coal isn't usually found around marshes, is it? It's certainly not mined around them, anyway. The mines flood too easily.

 

Your city might be better placed on a mountain, with the poorer sections of town spilling down into the upper levels of the mines. As the population increases, the rich take over some of the poorer areas of the surface, and the poor have to move into the mines if they want to stay within the city walls.

Well I was reading that coal mines they are mainly found in swamplands here is a quote from Wikipedia.

 

Coal was formed in swamp ecosystems which persisted in lowland sedimentary basins similar, for instance, to the peat swamps of Borneo today. These swamp environments were formed during slow subsidence of passive continental margins, and most seem to have formed adjacent to estuarine and marine sediments suggesting that they may have been in tidal delta environments.

 

So that is why I am putting the city by the swamps and fens of the two or three rivers running from the mountains.