Airship/Dirigible rules and statistics?

[ledded]

While I am researching this for an upcoming Victorian Sci-fi/pulp/steampunk-ish campaign, I'd like to see if anyone has any opinions on any particular product or ruleset that covers the use of airships, from small balloons to blimbs to hard-skinned dirigibles.

I've not seen very much, not more than a passing mention in a few works.

Anyone have any particular insights they would like to share?

Any non-game references that would be good to use for gaming in particular would also be welcome.

Currently I'm reading the exploits of Moorcock's Oswald Bastable, and enjoying it so far.

 

[ragboy]

Anyone have any particular insights they would like to share?

Any non-game references that would be good to use for gaming in particular would also be welcome.

Currently I'm reading the exploits of Moorcock's Oswald Bastable, and enjoying it so far.

I have long wanted to run a similar game, but alas... my players are savages. Here's the inspiration I used (I may have posted this before, but it's a dandy):

Forgotten Futures

The game is based on Victorian Fiction and each 'campaign' has a different take. The first one is The ABC Files, based on Rudyard Kipling's With the Night Mail (and other stories -- a future based on airship travel).

Not only does it include a ton of flavor, it also has diagrams and various pictures to use in an airship type campaign. Never played the system, but I've been following this game since it came out (around 1993). Each one of the 'worldbooks' also includes period fiction (as in written in the period...not rip offs) on which the setting is based.

The other settings are equally cool... some scientific-investigative (ala Doyle's Professor Challenger), Victorian space drama (Log of the Astronef), and others.

I sound like a commercial, but I was really impressed with Marcus Rowland's work when I first stumbled across it. And the cool part is...it's all free!

 

[DMH]

Airships from Bastion and the Arial (sp?) Guides from Goodman are the only airship books that I know of. I have Airships and most of it can be easily altered for a steampunk setting.

Steam and Steel from EN Publishing has a little bit about airships, but nothing compared to the above guides. But it also has a lot about steampunk (from a fantasy standpoint) that should be helpful to you.

 

[Dagger75]

Didn't Jules Verne write a book with an airship. Had a bunch of cannons on it or something like that. I can't remember the name of the story now.

Also there was a game called Cimson Skies, that had airships and what not in it.

 

[Vigilance]

There are rules for various vehicle types (dirigibles, baloons, sailing ships) in Blood and Circuits.

Chuck

 

[Wombat]

Didn't Jules Verne write a book with an airship. Had a bunch of cannons on it or something like that. I can't remember the name of the story now.

I know there is a book like this -- I think it is Robur the Conqueror, but someone may have to correct me on this -- I believe the guy used bombs instead of cannons, but I may be misremembering. It also got turned into a film starring Vicent Price called Master of the World.

And, yes, Forgotten Futures is great material!

 

[ledded]

I have long wanted to run a similar game, but alas... my players are savages. Here's the inspiration I used (I may have posted this before, but it's a dandy):

Forgotten Futures

Yeah, I've used this site for a lot of inspiration and for doing some noodling on how our Steam-pseudo-science may work. It's good stuff with lots of references to some good original material. Excellent work all in all.

Airships from Bastion and the Arial (sp?) Guides from Goodman are the only airship books that I know of. I have Airships and most of it can be easily altered for a steampunk setting.
Steam and Steel from EN Publishing has a little bit about airships, but nothing compared to the above guides. But it also has a lot about steampunk (from a fantasy standpoint) that should be helpful to you.

Hmmm, I'll have to find Airships. Steam and Steel didnt really impress me all that much, though it is a pretty good product. Just wasnt my cup of tea.

Also there was a game called Cimson Skies, that had airships and what not in it.

Yeah, I just finished that game up about a week ago. Tons of fun. The heavier-than-air ships are a lot higher tech than I'm looking for, but the dirigibles were tons of fun and a lot of good inspiration. Some of the settings in the missions were very nice and would make great locations for an actual game.

There are rules for various vehicle types (dirigibles, baloons, sailing ships) in Blood and Circuits.

Well shoot, I'll have to break that out for a look-see. I don't know how I missed that Chuck

 

[NPC Lord]

I Need Airship Rules!!

 

[GMSkarka]

We've also got some airship stats and such in Zeppelin Adventures, although it's a later period (1930s) than you're looking for....

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

There's some stuff in B&Circuits on balloons. Don't remember seeing anything on Dirigibles themselves, though I could build one with the rules presented there ... hrm.

For my part, I haven't done steampunk airships before, but I've done "flying sailing ships" and the ruleset for that was fairly detailed. Not terribly much in the way of crossover, though.

--fje