PA Steampunk Cthulhu brainstorming

[AmadanNaBriona]

So, a hiatus from my job combined with a change in my immediate living conditions (my roommate moved away) has led to a couple of months of depression and a general DaVinci style of sleeping... lots of 2-3 hour naps at all sorts of odd hours rather than solid blocks of sleep. Add to this a lot of time spent with various forms of media trying to keep m'self distracted, a global crisis, and a lot of booze... toss into the blender of the subconcious, and you get...

 

An idea.

This has been burbling around for a while, but my dreams keep spouting it back at me, so I finally decided to start a thread to work some of it out.

 

Let us see if I can format these thoughts...

 

Basic influences

Post Apoc: Been playing a LOT of PA games lately, notably Fallout & Fallout 2

 

Steampunk: I like the idea and aesthetic of Steampunk, but for personal preference I'm avoiding the Victorian setting (It's been done, quite a lot). Prof. Foglio's GirlGenius and Moorcock's Hawkmoon series (a PA setting itself) are probably the dominant influences here, right now

 

Cthulhu Mythos: Thanks to Nyrath, I got introduced to A Colder War(Also a PA tale, in fact), and the idea that the remaining Mythos critters still functioning represent, essentially, relics of an ancient nanotech culture hit some sort of on switch in my brain.

 

Miscellaneous: DARPA has been revealing all sorts of advances... the publicly admitted stuff is mind boggling, and leads to a number of interesting ideas and potential.

 

One of my strong suits in creating campaign settings is my ability to cherry pick ideas from disparate sources and meld them into a workable whole. I have a pretty firm foundation for meshing this all into what I hope could be a compelling campaign idea, but I have to figure out how to format it so it begins to "Spark" some discussion

 

More to follow, as I get this worked out

[AmadanNaBriona]

Re: PA Steampunk Cthulhu brainstorming

 

Placeholder post, which will hopefully soon have my basic ideas

[Curufea]

Re: PA Steampunk Cthulhu brainstorming

 

Not sure if PA goes with Steampunk. Steampunk requires an elite infrastructure where individuals have enough money and spare time to hand craft unique machines. Wood and brass vehicles that are unique to their maker, no two alike.

The only reason it works in a fantasy setting like Girl Genius, rather than the usual "just becoming idustrialised Victorian age" is by giving these creators superpowers that enable them to cobble together devices magically.

 

Fallout in general is a PA setting where resources are very scarce and technology is jury rigged, barely working surviving relics.

 

You might need to make the apocalypse something that doesn't disturb the infrastructure if you want Steampunk.

[AmadanNaBriona]

Re: PA Steampunk Cthulhu brainstorming

 

Not sure if PA goes with Steampunk. Steampunk requires an elite infrastructure where individuals have enough money and spare time to hand craft unique machines. Wood and brass vehicles that are unique to their maker, no two alike.

The only reason it works in a fantasy setting like Girl Genius, rather than the usual "just becoming idustrialised Victorian age" is by giving these creators superpowers that enable them to cobble together devices magically.

 

Fallout in general is a PA setting where resources are very scarce and technology is jury rigged, barely working surviving relics.

 

You might need to make the apocalypse something that doesn't disturb the infrastructure if you want Steampunk.

Heh.... I was hoping someone would take the bait.

 

I respectfully disagree.

The trick is carefully deciding what form the Apocalypse takes. You need something that DOES destroy a fair bit of infrastructure, but leaves knowledge and the skills fairly intact.

The beauty of Steampunk tech is, as you've pointed out, it's all handmade. I have designs sitting around my shop, even as we speak, for things like a steam powered, man portable pneumatic 18mm rotary cannon that I could build with virtually no electricity, just hand tools, a forge, and mine own grey matter.

 

If a reasonable number of people survive who have the appropriate knowledge base, they will become invaluable members of their communities, essentially assuming the role of "wizards", taking apprentices to pass on the skills. Those communities with the benefit of such retained knowledge can prevent tech from slipping down past 19th C. level fairly easily, tho it won't be a direct parallel, because what forms technology survives in will largely be based on what intellectual resources are available to a given community, but once initial stocks of salvage are depleted, those who have managed to save and use this information will begin to naturally dominate those who haven't. Give it a few generations and it's easy enough to establish a tech power elite. The scientist types might not be in charge, but they will always be a golden commodity, at the least.

 

For example... diesel engines are far more likely to survive, because fuel is much easier to cook up from locally available sources, but you're going to need to relearn how to pull a Henry Ford and build parts by hand.

 

And as for "Sparks" with their superpowers...

I did mention DARPA, didn't I?

[Captain Obvious]

Re: PA Steampunk Cthulhu brainstorming

 

One benefit of putting your steampunk in a PA setting is that your characters could conceivably scrounge some 21st century materials that are strong enough and lightweight enough to actually do some of the things your 18th century scientifiction (or its more modern but in-the-same-spirit descendants) postulated.

 

Although you do need to come up with some reason to add artistic flourishes to practical items, rather than leaving them with a totally utilitarian look. Otherwise, you end up with steam-powered PA jury-rigging rather than visually appealing steampunk.