Are you going to do the Steampunk thing?

In the words of Lucifer Morningstar:

Been there, done that, ate the burger, wore the t-shirt

...just not in D20 yet.

Might give it a try.

That or run a session or two of Mechanical Dream ;)
 

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buzz said:
I'm probably one of the two people on the boards who is actually looking forward to Eberron, so that could turn into a "yes." The art preview made it look like Tekumel meets Jorune meets Arcanum, and I think that's way cool.
I guess I'm the other one. Although the question is kinda decieving; Eberron isn't steampunk. If it's any kinda "-punk" it's magipunk.
However, I'm also probably one of the two people on the boards who is kind of put off by the Iron Kingdoms. Granted this is based on reading the Character Primer, not the Monsternomicon (which is sitting on my shelf); the CP really rubbed me the wrong way.
Well, I'm not with you on that one! ;)
 

Yes, my campaign of about two years sports an eclectic mix of wheel lock firearms, turbine-driven mills, and steam-powered oddities . . .

I've drawn ideas from dozens of sources and the new WotC setting sounds promising on that score.
 

You bet. I've always liked the idea, and I plan on using Iron Kingdoms with a homebrew setting. I'm hoping to mix in a bit of weirdness that I've never used before, since I've mostly stuck with standard fantasy.
 


buzz said:
Yes and no. :)

...
However, I'm also probably one of the two people on the boards who is kind of put off by the Iron Kingdoms. Granted this is based on reading the Character Primer, not the Monsternomicon (which is sitting on my shelf); the CP really rubbed me the wrong way.

Of course, it really depends on what the rest of my group wants to do. :D

Hey Buzz, I'm curious, what exactly rubbed you wrong from the Primer?

As I mentioend in my previous post, I'm developing something steamish for a homebrew now too - but I'm knee deep in a Scarred Lands game now, and it may be a LONG time before we change...
 


BigFreekinGoblinoid said:
Hey Buzz, I'm curious, what exactly rubbed you wrong from the Primer?
It's hard for me to nail it down.

First off, I was put a off a bit by some of the ways women are used in the setting. Every racial/geographic entry had to mention the ways in which the women of different areas are "hot"; I think only one region had women who didn't typically have nice curves and big breasts. It seemd like a lot of the evil gods were female as well, while the goods ones were ovewhelmingly male.

Granted, I tend to be over-sensitive on this subject, so I could be totally overreacting. There were plenty of notable NPCs that were female. :)

Other than that, I'm not sure how much I liked all the bonuses starting characters get for taking regionally-preferred classes. Some of the perks seemed too powerful. I'm also not sure how balanced the firearms are in the setting. Sure, they're expensive for starting PCs, but mid-level PCs will be armed to the gills.

In general, though, I guess I was just less than enthused by the setting. The CP didn't really give nearly as good a handle on the basics of the IK as the free info on their Website does. It just seems dark for dark's sake; I kept feeling like the idea for the steamjack (and lots of goggle-wearing, Matrix-looking PCs) came first, and then the designers thought, "Hey, we need to come up with a setting to explain these guys." And its just so darn gritty; everybody seems to hate everybody else (save for the dwarves, who seem to be about the jolliest, friendliest dwarves I've seen yet).

The litmus test is simply, does this inspire me to run a campaign? The CP failed to do so. Still, I'll reserve final judgement until I read through the Monsternomicon.

At the least, there should be ideas I can steal for use with Eberron. :)
 

buzz said:

It's hard for me to nail it down.

First off, I was put a off a bit by some of the ways women are used in the setting. Every racial/geographic entry had to mention the ways in which the women of different areas are "hot"; I think only one region had women who didn't typically have nice curves and big breasts. It seemd like a lot of the evil gods were female as well, while the goods ones were ovewhelmingly male.

Granted, I tend to be over-sensitive on this subject, so I could be totally overreacting. There were plenty of notable NPCs that were female. :) ...

I seem to recall just as many references to the physical attributes of the men by region as well. Nothing struck me as trying to describe either sex as "hot" or not, just detailed descriptions...

Before I read the Midnight CS, I might have agreed with you about the starting bonuses. I am actually coming to appreciate the idea of characters starting with a bit more power. But I'm also in the camp that feels that most NPC's over the age of 20 are not probably not always 1st level anyway...

Firearm rules: I dunno. I'm gonna have to playtest these for a while. I'm imagining that characters with guns will mostly fire at the begining of an encounter, holster the gun and swing the sword. With as long as these things take to reload, it's impractical to think that reloading during combat will be a viable option.

I can see myself pillaging Eberron and the IKCS for some good ideas for my "steamish" homebrew. Bring em on!

Also Buzz, check out the Iron Lich entry in the Monsternomicon- One of my favorite baddies in the book. Sounds like you haven't had a lot of spare time to read, but just read those 3 pages when you have a few minutes...

edit: spelling correction and the Iron Lich suggestion
 
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I will be, but the difference with mine is the worlds a lot more multicultural with even African nations having industrial tech. The two most significant nations being the Swargamaran Empire (India) which has fleets of Vimana airships from which it became the dominant world power millenia ago and now is much like India in the 19th centrury except with the Indians being in charge, and Long Guo (China) an upstart expansionistic multinational empire alliance much like Qing Dynasty China. These nations exist along side civilized Orc, Goblin, Hobgoblin, Kobold, Elf, Dwarf, Gnome and Halfling nations, as well as other Human nations which resemble the Ottoman Empire, Prussian Empire, Japan, Russia, Aztecs/Spaniards, West Africans, Southern Africans, Babylonians/Persians, Greeks/Italians/Egyptians, and Native Americans.
 

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