ELEPHANTS ON PARADE
I’d like to address the Babar in the room.
I’m always wary of considering political dimensions within role-playing games. Classic
fantasy rpgs have a certain amount of baggage. I’ve talked about questions of Ethnicity before and Ken & Robin covered the perennial problem of Orcs in a recent podcast. But with Victorian Era games we consider real world history. I’d argue
it is a history close enough to our modern age, that we can really see
ourselves in those times. The distance of time creates a certain amount of
insulation. Despite the incidents of awfulness and inhumanity, events of the
Ancient, Medieval, and Early Modern world don’t raise my hackles in the same
way as those of the Colonial era.
There’s much to love with the Victorian Era, but it is also
a time of exploitation, racism, and sexism. How do we consider those in our
games? Some games, such as GURPS, have a mechanical aspect to that. Players can
take second-class citizen status for being ethnic or a woman. Kerberos Club,
one of my favorite treatments of the era, doesn’t shy away from the
difficulties facing exotic, female, or foreign characters. That approach
acknowledges the situation, but doesn’t necessarily make running any easier. As
my wife put it, given a choice between playing in a setting where I’m inherently
penalized as a female and one where I’m not, I’m always going to pick the
latter. Moving Victorian tropes into other times or adding fantasy elements
offers one solution- though some might read that as white-washing the essential
problem.
I’m more bothered where games romanticize those elements
of the era which are most problematic. Some present an unquestioning nostalgia for
colonialism and empire. I’m willing to acknowledge that we wouldn’t have the
same modern world without that period, but the horrors dispensed to expand and
sustain the Imperial ambitions of many nations take the shine off of that. Some
games deal with those questions head on- Victoriana for example takes some heat
for its class-based ideology. Sunset Empires is a good example of taking those
issues seriously. Do these questions have a role at the table? I’m not sure. I
know some people have a serious problem with the inherent racism in Lovecraft’s
writing and how that translates into Call
of Cthulhu. But that wasn’t something I’d really thought about until I saw
several posts about it in the last year. I don’t think it impacts how I see
that. On the other hand, I was a little thrown off when I saw the original
marketing materials for Achtung Cthulhu
which had this line, “classic wartime heroes such as Russian political
officers, German U-Boat commanders…” So
what’s my response? I don’t want to present a lecture or polemic in game form,
but at the same time I’d like to avoid idealizing these concepts. I think that
actually offers a richer approach to the period. I admire Castle Falkenstein for
managing to create a balance. In part it does that by adding fantasy and in
part by creating a set of concrete bad guys in the form of mustache-twirling
industrialists and Masons. But more that the narrator, as someone from our
world and era, has some perspective on questions of colonialism and discrimination.
FINE PRINT
For this list, I opted to leave off several items which fell right on the
margins. The
Secret of Zir'An looks a little steampunky, but doesn't describe itself
that way. It seems closer to pulp, but honestly after looking through the book,
I'm not sure what it is. The art, marketing, and actual text don't feel like
they sync up at all into a coherent whole. I left off Cadwallon
as well. A couple of the races (Goblins, Dwarves) have some steampunky bits but
those are so minor in the scheme of things. The excellent In Harm's Way (and In Harm's Way:
Dragons!) don't appear as they fall before this period. I also left off
a really interesting Norwegian game, Draug. It seems to fall
within the time frame for Victoriana a little, but covers people in the
Norwegian back-country of the early 19th century dealing with leftover
folktales and monsters.
You can find an explanation of my arbitrary labels on the
first list entry. I’ve focused on core game lines or supplements offering a
significant shift or change to the setting. So if one module offers some
steampunk bits, I’ve left it off the list. I also tried to stick with
publications from companies as opposed to homebrews or free PDFs. In some cases
I make an exception where the product’s gained attention, offered something
unique, or generated a line. I welcome discussions and suggestions as I work
through these lists. I've arranged the items chronologically and then
alphabetically within the year of publication. I hope to put out a new list
bi-weekly. I’ll break the time periods down arbitrarily, trying to keep 20
items or less per list.
(2004, Steampunk-esque) Giant fighting suits and massive
robots in a fantasy setting. The explosion of d20 products made this kind of
book inevitable. It doesn’t present a fully detailed world, but instead ideas
and elements for a campaign setting. Some of the designs and images in the
volume have a steampunk feel, but that's not necessarily reflected in the rules
and text which don't address non-magical tech or steam power. Instead, Doom Striders offers an arcano-tech
approach. It feels closer to an anime conception of mecha and robots. It is
more Escaflowne than Sakura Wars.
Things look steampunky, but that's down to the illustrators’ decisions. The
books split 50/50 between mechanics and the campaign frame detailing mercenary
groups battling in a fantasy world.
(2004, Steampunk-esque) I love the idea of mecha, but
I've only once had them as a major campaign element. They're cool but introduce
a split in the game between human and mecha-scale interactions. By definition,
players have to all have a mech or participate in the actions of one. Otherwise
you get the problems which plague specialist characters like Netrunners; either
the game slows down to accommodate your solo fun or (more likely) the GM
handwaves or skips your side of things.
I love the subtitle on DragonMech,
"Medieval Fantasy Mechs Powered by Steam, Magic, or the Labor of a
Thousand Slaves." OK- well that's pretty clear then. This d20 setting from
the Sword & Sorcery line establishes
a fantasy setting with depth and backstory. The world is heavily mechanical,
with gear forests atop city mechs scouted by Cogwork rangers. I'd glanced at
the game in the past, but hadn't really dived in because d20 isn't my thing.
However I'm taken with this- I love how far the game pushes those mechanistic
ideas. I like the idea of differences in power sources and the vast range of
scales these things operate in. White Wolf published a total of eight books in
the DragonMech line- suggesting it did fairly well. This may be one of
those games I'll have to track down and collect.
(2004, Steampunk-esque) One of WotC’s tentpole
settings for D&D. I've heard Eberron
described as arcano-fantasy, as pulp adventure, and as steampunk. I think it
manages to be all of these things, at least as far as I can tell. I love the
concept of the Warforged and some of the other details present, but it remains
the D&D setting which seems least coherent. At least reading through the
original book, I had a hard time telling what the key pitch was and how I would
enter into it. There's an overwhelming number of concepts at play here. I've
seen the argument over whether Eberron
is or isn't steampunk rage on the internet before. I think at the very least it
wants to be and borrows imagery from it. On the other hand Baker, the creator,
has said that it isn't- but I think we're talking in the strictest sense of the
genre. For purposes of this list it fits in the corner because of some of those
appropriated aesthetics.
(2004, Steampunk) Mongoose took an interesting step
with their OGL series. I'd assumed that this was a sourcebook for bringing
steampunk into standard d20 games. Instead this offers a stand-alone game,
using the OGL rules with a distinct setting. That does mean that a good deal of
the book's given over to explaining rules and mechanics. It also means the
source material presented is keyed to a particular campaign world. That
setting's contradictory. On the one hand, it is fairly bland. Fantasy, magic,
and steamtech mixed together loosely and allowed to rise. That fits with the
cover. On the other hand, it has a number of specific concepts: hybrid races
from experimentation, revenants as PCs, the nature of the automata, etc. It
might have been better served by going the distance and developing the unique
world to make it stand out or else stripping the specific information in favor
of an even more generic approach. I suspect it is most useful as a resource for
GMs hoping to run steampunk with a d20 system. GMs using other mechanics will
not find as much here.
I should also not the definition at the beginning of the book doesn't quite sit
right with me. The authors suggest that, "Above all, the feeling that
dominates Steampunk is a sense of despair, a certainty that while any challenge
can doubtless be defeated through ingenuity, this will always be achieved at a
terrible cost." That's an element I've seen in some steampunk approaches,
but it isn't one I consider definitional. I'm curious what others think.
(2004, Steampunk) So apparently 2004 was the year of
steampunk d20. Unlike most of the other supplements, Steam & Steel doesn't try to create a world background. Instead
it offers a toolkit for adding steamtech to existing d20 campaigns. It assumes
a fantasy backdrop. The book opens with general discussion of the implications
of this for a setting, but gets quickly to the gritty and crunchy bits. There's
new feats and a new skill of course (Craft: Steamworks). The other associated
rules for malfunctions and construction follow. I'm not a d20 savant, so I
can't tell exactly how well these fit together- they seem very "shopping
list." There are several sections of creations- from gadgets to prosthetics
to automatons. The book ends with new prestige classes. All in all, it focuses
on the mechanical side of things. Later EN Publishing created several other
"steampunk-esque" d20 supplements: The
Fantastic Science: A Technologist Sourcebook, Mechamancy:
The Clockwork Magic, and Mechamancy
II: Living Machines.
(2005, Steampunk-esque) Generally for these lists I
leave off free pdf-only products. However I've seen Broken Gears cited
and discussed several places. I actually first heard about it when my niece
said someone was running a campaign of it on her campus. The game book is
complete, with a fairly simple set of rules at the end. In this alternate
history setting machinery operates via bound spirits, a concept discovered by
Francis Bacon. Increasing complexity of machines means an increasing sentience
to them. Though I'm a little skeptical, Broken Gears has history flowing
much the same even with that change up through World War Two. Then a new war
emerged between thinking machines and humanity, nearly destroying the world.
Nearly a hundred years after that, advanced machines and devices have been
forbidden, creating a future world relying on simple, often steam-powered
machinery. About half of the book's given over to history and world-building.
That's less about how life is lived and more about the political situation. The
section on Chaomancy, the art of binding spirits into machines, is quite good.
The academic tone works especially well there.
(2005, Victoriana) WotC expanded the d20 line with d20 Modern and
supported it anemically compared to standard 3.0/3.5 material. Three years
after the publication of the original d20 Modern, they finally released
a sourcebook offering ideas for how to run these campaigns in historical (and
pseudo-historical) settings. I suppose that makes some sense, in that doing so
put them in direct competition with d20 publishers who had quickly latched on
and produced quality (and not-so-quality) products. Regardless d20 Past feels pretty thin. Only 98
pages, one third of that is new rules and the remaining two-thirds are three
campaign settings. The second of these is a heroes against supernatural
invaders frame set in 1872. At sixteen pages, there isn't much there. It read
more like a lengthy article from Dragon
Magazine than a substantial resource.
(2005, Steampunk) A French rpg with a fantastical
setting, more dreamlike than swords and sorcery. The campaign city lies on an
isolated moon- distant and with the sense of fading glory and collapse. It merges
noir and steampunk with fatalism. I've had a hard time finding a good solid
description of the game beyond that. Reviews I've read don't give great insight
into the setting, but all universally agree that the game's graphic design is
rich and evocative.
(2005, Victoriana/Steampunk-esque) A solid and unique
take on Victoriana horror, Rippers
manages to smartly combine the Gothic horror tradition with the trappings and
worries of steampunk. Here science offers new ways to combat the darkness
facing the world, but at a horrible cost to mind and body. Biotech and implants
of a cyberpunk style game become limbs and organs harvested from monsters and
implanted into hunters. The whole thing is well developed and presented. It has
some material on the Victorian world, but mostly sets up the campaign ideas and
concepts. Best used with some other resources on the period. You can see my
full review of it here- A Whole New Meaning to "I Loot the Corpse".
(2006, Steampunk) I'm about to say something stupid.
I can handle Elves, the fae, Elder Gods, etc. in my games. However certain
approaches to alternate history get a little under my skin. Sometimes these are
assumptions that seem really wrong-headed. Once you suggest that you're doing
alt-history, you buy into certain kinds of logic. One concept that bothers me
is a kind of "stasis" for art and style. In the case of Etherscope
(and Unhallowed Metropolis with its Neo-Victorian approach) I have a hard
time accepting that we're nearly 100+ years after the era, but everything still
looks Victorian. I don't understand the logic. Why not simply set the games at
the end of the Victorian era and make the changes and technological advancements
occur earlier? It shouldn't bother me- but it does.
Etherscope is a d20-based steampunk and pseudo-Victorian setting in the
year 1984. It has many ideas worth borrowing and tons of great material.
Probably the most striking is the addition of cyberpunk concepts to the
setting. In particular, the titular Etherscope is a virtual reality space- a
parallel plane which can be manipulated by human will. Effectively this creates
the internet and the full-on hackable Net of cyberpunk novels and games. In
that respect it is pretty brilliant. Technology runs wild here with genetically
engineered beings and consciousness transfers. The authors cite Dark City,
In the Mouth of Madness, and The Adventures of Luther Arkwright
as inspirations. In some ways Etherscope's as close as any game to being
Perdido Street Station, while still being alternate history. The game
also includes occult and magic, but with a Lovecraftian feel. High recommended
to anyone running a steampunk game; full of interesting concepts.
(2006, Steampunk/Victoriana) In a time when steampunk
gone in some fairly dark directions, it's refreshing to see a game take a hopeful
and lighter approach. Full Light, Full Steam aims for heroic drama. The
British Empire exists in space and the players take the role of crewmembers on
a ship travelling it. Her Majesty's Royal Astronomical Navy wants you! The game
gives a highly romanticized view on the era, with women permitted within the
military service, though still suffering a little in status. The alternate
history presented in the volume really works to justify the ideas of the game.
It has a nice tongue-in-cheek approach which turns aside pedants.
In some ways, FL,FS is what I originally imagined Space 1889 would be- Victorian Traveller.
There's more than a little touch of Star
Trek here as well. None of it is particularly crunchy or "hard
sci-fi" however. About half the book’s given to the background, and the
other half to a fairly simple point-buy system. A neat game and one well worth
looking at as a resource.
(2006, Victoriana/Steampunk) The Imperial Age
is a series of supplements, originally for d20, covering all aspects of the
Victoriana era. It offers a modular approach- allowing a gamemaster to pick and
choose what to use to construct their take on the world. There's a ton of great
resources available here from idea books like Anarchism to location
books like British
India to game resources like Fisticuffs &
Swordplay. Some products in the series are better than others, but most
can be bought as reasonably-priced pdfs. In 2009 Adamant published the Omnibus
edition which collects together the 700+ pages of material. There's also True20 collected version assembling the
most essential material along with mechanics for that system.
(2006, Steampunk-esque) A Swedish rpg which lifts a
little from Victorian images and pop fantasy. The title seems to translate as
"October Country: Troll & Hammer. The Octoberland: The Hammer & the Magic Wand " As far as I can tell it
presents a fantasy/European History mash-up. The publisher's blurb, translated
from by Google and cleaned up a little, reads, "In Octoberland
you will meet Elvish Boyars, agitational traveling, pompous centaurs and nymphs
chain-smoking - all in a tale of class struggle and revolution! You explore a
modern fairytale landscape where gas and silent film competes with ruins and
gravkumlar (???). As one of fey folk expected you ally yourself with the Red or
the White Court. Maybe you are an agent of the Tsar's secret police, the
dreaded gnome mage from the Urals or orcish anarchist…The age-old struggle for
the means of production continues, and you are one of the fighters! Hammer the Magic Wand is a role playing
game in steampunk." Edit: user Bagelson on Reddit suggested a better translation of the title. It makes more sense and is more evocative.
(2006, Victoriana) Subtitled: "Adventures Penned
by Literary Giants." There's an interesting meta-conceit presented by this
game which sees the great fictions of the Victorian Era as
"travelogues." One of the game’s problems is that it doesn't make
clear what it is doing for quite some time. The introduction suggests literary
explorations, the cover suggests Alice in Wonderland with guns, and the
player's section hints at a straight Victorian game. It seems to most be that
first concept- with a patron organization allowing travel to the various pages
of the Book Without End, a Victorian literary multiverse. The players take the
role of Passengers, moving through these books. There's more than a little
suggestion of the Thursday Next series and the League of
Extraordinary Gentlemen. The system itself is a simplified d20 engine.
Players who enjoy the literature of the time will find a good deal to like
here. However it may take several readings to put together a decent picture of
the setting and how it operates.
(2006, Victoriana) A dystopian world governed by a
rigid social order and stylistically echoing the Victorian era. Here love and
feelings are outlawed. The players take the role of those dedicated to evading
or even overcoming that system. The PCs are criminals within that world-
creating a tense game. There are lifts from other classic British treatments of
dystopias- A Clockwork Orange, Brazil, and 1984. The
original versions was fairly modest; a revised and expanded version Perfect, Unrevised
appeared in 2011.
(2006, Steampunk) A setting sourcebook for Savage Worlds. Runepunk presents a fantasy city mixing dark magics and worrying
steamtech. It feels a little like a Hammer version of these ideas. The designer
cites Mieville, Lieber, Peake, and Gaiman as influences. I'm fond of settings
that focus on a city and ScatterPoint feels pretty messy and organic. The
author also cites Judge Dredd as an
inspiration. It is massive- of a scale that I'd probably dial down if I ran
something set here. The city exists in the aftermath of an arcane disaster, the
last remaining settlement. The setting has plenty of detail and history, and
just borders on being a little too extensive and indulgent. I like that magic
is dangerous and contradictory- the storms which threaten the city also power
it. Steam and Runetech exist side by side. if you're thinking of running
fantasy steampunk, this is a decent resource. It has unique ideas and concepts
which could easily be adapted.
(2006, Steampunk) If nothing else, this game offers
the term "Victoriental" which will stick with me. Steampunk Musha began life as a section
of the world for the Iron Gauntlets
rpg. It offered an isolated island with steampunk technology, Victorian-esque
trappings, and hodge-podge East Asian culture. Much like Legend of the Five Rings and other "Oriental" fantasy
settings, the Asian material here blends cultural influences- primarily Chinese
and Japanese pop fantasy. There's some interesting stuff going on here- with gunsmiths
and clockwork ronin.
Last year Fat Goblin Games successful funded a Kickstarter for a new and
enlarged version of this game. However, despite s Sept/Oct 2012 delivery date,
that does not seem to have been released as of this writing. That version will
be Pathfinder Compatible
(2006, Steampunk-esque) There comes a certain point
in the evolution of a genre when I start asking: what new spin does this game
bring to the table? For example, we have at least a dozen zombie survival
horror rpgs. What's the new take they offer? That ought to be a selling point
right out of the gate for these games. Simply using a different game engine
isn't enough- unless that engine has been especially tuned for the setting. Game
designers need to know their hook- and as important- communicate that hook to
the audience quickly and clearly.
SteamWorks is a fantasy steampunk campaign using the Omni System rules.
There's lots of world-building here, with many nations and races. However that
feels more like an encyclopedia than a living, breathing setting. It takes the
kitchen-sink approach with tons of PCs options and the hopes that just having
them all together will create something new and novel.
