Steampunk/Victorian fantasy setting questions

[McManus]

Re: Steampunk/Victorian fantasy setting questions

 

Please let me know what you think. Suggestions and critiques are always welcome.

 

For instance "Battlemages" needs a better, more Victorian sounding name. Also how should I handle folkloric people/creatures form non-British, Irish, or Norse traditions. Having the PCs chased by Baba Yaga as they wander the Russian Steppes seems so great, but what is she?

 

I am starting this for my kids, but am interested in developing the world for other purposes as well.

 

Thanks.

[TheQuestionMan]

Re: Steampunk/Victorian fantasy setting questions

 

Looks awesome so far.

 

Got any pictures?

 

QM

[sbarron]

Re: Steampunk/Victorian fantasy setting questions

 

The iron allergy/susceptability thing might be overstated a bit (if realistic simulation is a concern). Now, I'll be the first to admit that its your fantasy world, and if you want the fey to use alternative materials to iron because you think that's cooler, then by all means just do it. I'm just offering an alternative viewpoint on how things might work.

 

Iron and the Army

Kind of like testing for witches by dunking people in the river, or staking people in the heart to see if they're vampires, the logic of military leaders having concerns about troops with iron weapons being a threat to them seems faulty. Every soldier to take a battlefield in human history carried with him a weapon that could kill his commander...or himself. Unless the fey are immune to non-iron weapons, or they have a very strong allergic reaction from even being within the vicinity of something made of iron, then their fear of iron shouldn't be that much stronger than their fear of anything else. A bronze sword can still kill them almost as easily.

 

Further, you have to be careful not to make their susceptability/vulnerability to iron too strong. While the fey troops can be prevented from bringing iron onto the battlefield, their enemies will certainly be using iron against them. Presumably the "Iron Kingdom" could litter a battlefield with iron shrapnel as easily as their historic counterparts, which would make it nearly impossible for a fey army to beat them in open warfare if they are allergic to its mere presence.

 

Iron and Society

When thinking about how a fantasy population might react to a useful substance to which it is allergic/susceptable, it might be helpful to think about real world equivalents. In the real world, humans make use of radioactive materials for power, medicine, and warfare all the time. Electricity is powered into every house, even though it can easily kill you if mishandled. Electical wires hang on every street in America, and subways and trains run on electric rails. Arsenic, mercury, and lead are in many, many products that people use every day, and these substances can all kill you. Gasoline is flammable, and yet it is used in almost every car in the world.

 

I think The Empire of the Western World would make extensive use of iron. Iron is just too good a substance to not utilize. But like radioactive materials, electricity, and poisons today, the Empire would take precautions to ensure that the danger to your average citizen would be minimal.

 

Some random thoughts...

 

1) Fence off iron train tracks the same way electrical rails are fenced off. Warning signs are a must.

2) Iron building materials covered with concrete or brick...how bad would this be to your average fey citizen?

3) Construction workers and railroad employees all wear haz-mat suits to protect them from exposure to the iron construction materials and railroad tracks.

4) Iron weapons can be hermetically sealed in sheaths and/or containers, similar to how radioactive weapons get treated today.

5) How much iron is there in the drinking water? At what percentage does this cause a problem for the fey? Maybe a victorian water filtration plant is needed to get the iron out. Maybe it involves magnetics?

[sbarron]

Re: Steampunk/Victorian fantasy setting questions

 

For instance "Battlemages" needs a better' date=' more Victorian sounding name. [/quote']How about Warlocks?

[sbarron]

Re: Steampunk/Victorian fantasy setting questions

 

Substitute nuclear with iron, and you would have a panacea of plot ideas for a game in Eorth. The Western Empire would likely propose an Iron Non-Proliferation Treaty with anyone they could get to agree to it. The mining, refinement, and manufacture of iron ores would be discouraged. The WE might even go so far as to offer effective magical or material alternatives (at a discount) to any country that was willing to agree to no longer mine, refine, manufacture, or export iron and iron-based technologies.

 

PCs could be British Committee to Regulate Unsafe Steel Technologies ("C RUST") investigators trying to prevent the spread of iron and steel products and technology.

 

- IITTA - International Iron Technology Treaty Agency

- C RUST Inspectors - Sent to Iron Kingdom factories to ensure compliance with Iron Non-Proliferation Treaty.

- Greek uprising made problematic by the sudden appearance of outlawed iron and steel weapons.

- British Customs intercepts shipment of iron musket balls entering Bristol. The manifest was destroyed prior to being confiscated. Who is exporting iron weapons? Who's importing them? Why?

- Is there internal resistance to Fey rule? Maybe it's the League of Extraordinary Anti-fey Patriots (LEAP) looking to get their hands on iron and steel weapons.

[McManus]

Re: Steampunk/Victorian fantasy setting questions

 

That is some neat ideas. I had not made the HazMat/nuclear materials analogy.

 

I need to figure out how the susceptibility/vulnerability works.

 

Based on the old GURPS construct I am using Magery as a way to reflect amount of faerie blood and tie it to the ability to manipulate magic. This would also tie to the effect of iron on the individual.

 

Perhaps it will be something like -

 

Fey/Magery lvl 0 - Susceptibility to touching iron 1d/hour, Vuln to iron x1.2 effect, -2 to all spell rolls when touching iron

 

Fey/Magery lvl 1 - Susceptibility to touching iron 2d/hour, Vuln to iron x2 effect, -4 to all spell rolls when touching iron, -2 to all spell rolls when within 1 hex of iron,

 

Fey/Magery lvl 2 - Susceptibility to touching iron 3d/hour, Vuln to iron x2 effect, -6 to all spell rolls when touching iron, -4 to all spell rolls when within 1 hex of iron, -2 to all spell rolls when within 2 hex of iron,

 

Fey/Magery lvl 3 - Susceptibility to touching iron 1d/min, Vuln to iron x2 effect, -8 to all spell rolls when touching iron, -6 to all spell rolls when within 1 hex of iron, -4 to all spell rolls when within 2 hex of iron, -2 to all spell rolls when within 3 hex of iron,

 

Faerie - Susceptibility to touching iron 2d/min, Vuln to iron x2 effect, cannot cast spells when touching iron, -8 to all spell rolls when within 1 hex of iron, -6 to all spell rolls when within 2 hex of iron, -4 to all spell rolls when within 3 hex of iron, -2 to all spell rolls when within 3 hex of iron,

 

Perhaps the amount of iron that it takes to set off the susceptibility and the spell minuses could decrease with each level - 1 pound for 0 lvl, 1/2pound for lvl 1, 4oz for lvl 2, 2oz for lvl 3, and 1oz or less for lvl 4.

 

Thanks for the ideas ... please keep them coming.

[tkdguy]

Re: Steampunk/Victorian fantasy setting questions

 

I recommend the Castle Falkenstein rpg as a resource. If you can't find the original game put out by R.Talsorian Games, there is a GURPS version available. If you can find some of the splatbooks, I recommend getting Comme Il Faut (articles on Victorian lifestyles), Steam Age (Steampunk inventions), The Memoirs of Auberon of Faerie (the Faerie host), and The Book of Leonardo da Vinci (magic and technology meet).

[boomer]

Re: Steampunk/Victorian fantasy setting questions

 

I really like it McManus....I'd play a character in it. Gives me that League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vibe/Girl Genuis vibe. I like the suggestion of Warlock, I would say something along the lines of WarAlchemists or War Weavers possible.....

[Cancer]

Re: Steampunk/Victorian fantasy setting questions

 

There's an expensive, apparently scholarly history book with a title "World Non-ferrous Metal Production and Prices, 1700-1976" ... haven't found any reviews on-line. If you can find that in a library it might let you know just what metals were produced historically in your era of interest.