Steampunk Musha Q&A

Hey Folks,

I wanted to take the time and answer questions and explain more about our upcoming release of Steampunk Musha Player's Guide, which you can now PRE-ORDER

To explain the land of Rosuto-Shima, the location of the Steampunk Musha setting, I turn to one of the many books written by it's foreign visitors.

Twelve Months in Rosuto-Shima; or Notes for the Traveller and the Andersen Shipping Company

by Constance and Archibald Fortune

Rosuto-Shima. Just the name conjures images of blossoming peach trees, silk-clad dancers, and dashing warriors with the hearts of poets. Until a short time ago, the land of Rosuto-Shima was unknown to the Civilised Nations of the world, kept in the darkness of superstition and savagery by a coral reef that makes the waters surrounding it dangerous for even the bravest souls to traverse. But in the last several years, charts have been drawn, making it possible for the enlightened traveller to contribute to the continual civilising influences now bringing Rosuto-Shima into the Modern Age.

An uneducated traveller would be hard pressed to believe that in the recent past, the steam engine was viewed as a strange supernatural occurrence by the people of this island! In our current day, the steam engine permeates every aspect of Rosuto-Shiman society, and its largest cities are lit night and day by gas lanterns on every street corner. Yet behind this garb of civilisation, the land of Rosuto-Shima retains some of it savage elegance. The savvy traveller can easily find native entertainment to delight and bewilder, from the grace of dance and theatre performed in the hearts of the cities to the bewildering enormity of the mountains that rise above the countryside. To eat the native delicacies is to learn something of the culture itself: like much of the seafood served in restaurants, the land of Rosuto-Shima is raw, but despite its coarse texture, delicious.​

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I'd also like to direct you to our first preview of the Steampunk Musha Player's Guide, if you haven't had a chance to read it yet: SM Player's Guide Preview

Now, the point of this post is to answer some of the questions I receive on a regular basis involving Steampunk Musha, and more importantly the Player's Guide. If you have any of your own questions, feel free to ask them. I will also be inviting both Alana Abbott (Into the Reach, Cowboys & Aliens: Worlds at War, Gallia) & Charles Rice (Blood and Fists, Legends of the Samurai, Modern20) over hear to explain and discuss even more.

So, on to my typical questions:

- Is Steampunk Musha anime/manga/etc.?

The short answer is No. Now, the long answer - Steampunk Musha can be used for an anime or manga style game if you choose, I mean, you can play whatever type of games you want. A lot of your anime and manga are based (depending on what you enjoy) on ancient stories of japan. So, most likely it would fit well. In addition, a lot of the artwork in the new books is very close to animated/comic style. Although not the japanese animation you might prefer, it does have a "feel" you might be very comfortable with.

- How extensive is the setting expansion, if it is expanded at all, compared to the Iron Gauntlets version?

The Player's Guide has a lot less setting information then the Game Master's Guide will have, but that isn't to say that you won't find a lot of setting info in this book.
Many sections of the book have flavor text and story snippets to better give an idea of game play usage. Each of the 9 races has a detailed background giving cultural information, history, common names, and relations to the other races. All of the 11 core classes has detailed descriptions on their purpose and motivations in Rosuto-Shima. The Honor-Destiny sections have detailed motivations based on a characters place in society, detailed histories and descriptions of optional ancestors directly related to the history of Rosuto-Shima. So, although this is mainly a guide for creating an SM character, you'll find plenty of info to give you an idea of what SM is about.

So, you'll find a lot more info about Rosuto-Shima in both of these books then you did in the IG version.

-What type of themes/genres/etc. are Steampunk Musha?

Steampunk Musha is a mixture of several asian cultures. The most recognizable is that of Japan, but there is a lot of Chinese, Korean, and other influences as well. In addition, the setting pulls on other inspirations as well. There is a lot of Victorian influence, Old West influence, Pulp, Horror, etc. The setting is very much built around the things I like

- Can I expect support for Steampunk Musha in the future?

Well, yes we will support SM as long as we have fans interested. That said, here are some of the items we are planning to discuss production of in the future.
- Races of Rosuto-Shima: This would give a more detailed look at the various races, and most likely introduce a couple more. It's main focus would be to present variants of the core races and explore more of their history and abilities.
- Atlas series: These would be a detailed look of each region of Rosuto-Shima. The would cover a lot more details on the cities, geography, political systems, etc. Interesting enough one of these books is mostly finished, while 2 others have been worked on.
- Steampunk/Equipment guide: Because everyone always wants more.

We are also discussing a sort of "Living" play model, but a lot more open, which would have regular support for it. And tons of free content, from PrClasses to legendary items, Names tables, character portraits, etc.

So, if you have any other questions, we would love to discuss them.

SM in 2009

Though I already know the answer, are there plans for SM to be available in DnD 4E?

At this time there is no plan to support 4th edition. However, like many others it's going to depend on a lot of factors over next 6 months to a year. That said, if we do decide to go to 4th in the future, every measure will be taken to make sure the transition is smooth and fans who purchased the 3.5 version of SM are treated fairly.

fair

rick_hershey said:

That said, if we do decide to go to 4th in the future, every measure will be taken to make sure the transition is smooth and fans who purchased the 3.5 version of SM are treated fairly.

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Thanks! Always great to be remembered

Well, we really want people to enjoy playing in our setting. . . and any time we would make a decision that changed from the interest of our player's it's a big deal. So, yeah we would most likely offer discounted prices for 3.5 purchasers if we eventually switched.

On another note, we are planning a lot of support for player's and GM's. We've actually spent the last several days discussing and nailing down ideas on what gamers want as far as both free support and purchased products. The good news is that I have several team members that have worked on organized play teams (even running some of the larger ones) and have a lot of great ideas on what works and what doesn't as far as rpg support.

support

rick_hershey said:

On another note, we are planning a lot of support for player's and GM's. We've actually spent the last several days discussing and nailing down ideas on what gamers want as far as both free support and purchased products. The good news is that I have several team members that have worked on organized play teams (even running some of the larger ones) and have a lot of great ideas on what works and what doesn't as far as rpg support.

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Oh? Details! Expansions? More classes? Some sorta bestiary?

We've got skads of monster stats just waiting to see the light of day.

-Alana (lead writer)

Well, I won;t give too much away, as we are still planning things and discussing.

Well, I don't want to discuss too much, as we are still planning and discussing details on things. As far as the "organized play" it will most likely be a lot more open then typical play experiences of the same kind. It will focus on both Players and GM's, offering support and freebies (adventures, visual aids, various supplements, etc.) Most likely we will have an award system of some sort and maintain a fairly easy way of joining the play. We are still working and discussing, so nothing for sure yet. No decision will probably be final till after both books are released.

As for other support products.

The bestiary in the GM's guide is pretty extensive. It includes all the creatures from the IG book converted over, and about 30+ additional creatures. We will also have templates for the different types of Oni and for Steampunk/Clockwork constructs.

There are in addition a whole lot of creatures I still want to do based on Asian myth and urban legends. I would also like to do an assortment of victorian creatures/monsters with an Asian flavor. So, that might happen down the line.

I believe Troy (Daniels) has mentioned doing an expansion of the Wushu Feats from the Player's guide. We had discussed in development several ideas and directions we could take them, so if he finds the time, we might explore that again. I very much wanted to create a whole bunch of martial arts schools based around these and we might try to incorporate that if we work on this further.

I know we are also most likely to do guide books for all the different regions. Several of these have been started and I'd like to see them finished and fleshed out. We expanded upon the material from the IG version, so when you get the GM's guide you'll find a lot more material describing different cities, towns, landmarks, etc. However, we did keep everything as open as possible- so lots of plot hooks and open mysteries to explore.

We most likely won't see any more clore classes for awhile (although we might see them for the regional books) but have a good amount of PrClasses. Most of these are ready to go into the GM's guide, but we plan to put region specific ones in the regional books.

Beyond that, we have lots of adventures we want to tell. We have a collection of short stories being worked, making final decisions on the SM comicbook (written by Alana), and gearing up a redesign of our website. So, lots in the works.

must...resist...temptation...!

rick_hershey said:

Well, I won;t give too much away, as we are still planning things and discussing.

Well, I don't want to discuss too much, as we are still planning and discussing details on things. As far as the "organized play" it will most likely be a lot more open then typical play experiences of the same kind. It will focus on both Players and GM's, offering support and freebies (adventures, visual aids, various supplements, etc.) Most likely we will have an award system of some sort and maintain a fairly easy way of joining the play. We are still working and discussing, so nothing for sure yet. No decision will probably be final till after both books are released.

As for other support products.

The bestiary in the GM's guide is pretty extensive. It includes all the creatures from the IG book converted over, and about 30+ additional creatures. We will also have templates for the different types of Oni and for Steampunk/Clockwork constructs.

There are in addition a whole lot of creatures I still want to do based on Asian myth and urban legends. I would also like to do an assortment of victorian creatures/monsters with an Asian flavor. So, that might happen down the line.

I believe Troy (Daniels) has mentioned doing an expansion of the Wushu Feats from the Player's guide. We had discussed in development several ideas and directions we could take them, so if he finds the time, we might explore that again. I very much wanted to create a whole bunch of martial arts schools based around these and we might try to incorporate that if we work on this further.

I know we are also most likely to do guide books for all the different regions. Several of these have been started and I'd like to see them finished and fleshed out. We expanded upon the material from the IG version, so when you get the GM's guide you'll find a lot more material describing different cities, towns, landmarks, etc. However, we did keep everything as open as possible- so lots of plot hooks and open mysteries to explore.

We most likely won't see any more clore classes for awhile (although we might see them for the regional books) but have a good amount of PrClasses. Most of these are ready to go into the GM's guide, but we plan to put region specific ones in the regional books.

Beyond that, we have lots of adventures we want to tell. We have a collection of short stories being worked, making final decisions on the SM comicbook (written by Alana), and gearing up a redesign of our website. So, lots in the works.

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WOW.

Will SM continue to be for both the IG and d20 OGL systems?

Legends

rick_hershey said:

I will also be inviting both Alana Abbott (Into the Reach, Cowboys & Aliens: Worlds at War, Gallia) & Charles Rice (Blood and Fists, Legends of the Samurai, Modern20) over hear to explain and discuss even more.
[/B]

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I have Legends of the Samurai and am considering purchasing Legends of Sorcery. How compatible are they to SM?