d20 Steampunk Settings

[Carnifex]

Without spoiling anything can you give any details on how firearms are handled? So far I've picked up some things I like in Sorcery & Steam and the new Horizon Spellslinger games. But I haven't found one source that really suits my needs. I'm looking for consistant stats for blackpowder muzzle loaders (percusson cap), breechloaders (percussion caps, rifled) and early cap and ball revolvers. I would house rule a revolving cap and ball rifle. These would all use paper cartidges. True metal cased cartidges would be too "high tech" for what I have planned. Additionally stats for small field pieces and good shotgun "scatter" rules would be a bonus.

I'm not asking much am I?

Can you tell I'm a weapons nut? Just see me sketches...

How much will the book cost? Is this a paper publication or electronic?

Sorry if I highjacked this thread Ackem...

I'm afraid I've only really skimmed over the topic of firearms in Steam & Steel - they're related to steam levels of technology but not really a core concept to it. As such there are simple rules for a few types of firearms, from basic muskets and pistols to the fearsome steamwork Crank Cannon, and some very basic optional rules for the reaction of green troops being fired upon and for breech loaders. I am, however, very tempted to write some more on the topic to fill it out at some point, since my own homebrew setting is looking like more details on firearms are going to be required...

Steam & Steel will be pdf, I have no idea of the cost but, as a pdf, probably not too much

 

[Carnifex]

Malladin's Gate Press are currently working on our own Etherscope setting.

Plans are a little up in the air at the moment as we have had some interest shown from a print publisher.

We may release it our selves sometime late spring/early summer, but if we're lucky we'll be instead waiting on a print release in 2005.

Cheerio,

Ben, Malladin's Gate Press
www.malladinsgate.com

Hey, Ben - just like to say, I'd still be really interested in working on stuff for you, if you want to get back in touch by email again! I loved what I saw so far

 

[Von Ether]

Goblins man, goblins

It could be me, but i don't see D&D: Warcraft as a steampunk setting...

The rules example in WC III for the tech is a ornithopter, and you can see zepplins and demolitons in the game as higher end units.

That's close enough for me.

 

[Tokiwong]

I wan a toolbox sort of book for Steam Punk then my great work can begin, I am too lazy to make the rules myself, but I will if have to, I hope something good comes out I can farm... I shall watch for Steam & Steel it better be good

 

[Desdichado]

The rules example in WC III for the tech is a ornithopter, and you can see zepplins and demolitons in the game as higher end units.

That's close enough for me.

Close enough for you, huh? That fails even the most minimal of steampunk definitions I could possibly come up with, and as far as actually being steampunk, it's not even close.

According to your logic, Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms are steampunk settings.

 

[Von Ether]

Close enough for you, huh? That fails even the most minimal of steampunk definitions I could possibly come up with, and as far as actually being steampunk, it's not even close.

According to your logic, Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms are steampunk settings.

If you are talking Tinker Gnomes, that's more proto/ClockworkPunk.

What is Fantasy Steampunk?
Fantasy Steampunk is any work of Fantasy fiction which satisfies the requirements of Steampunk, mixing magic and steam power.
Examples include the Castle Falkenstein role-playing game, the anime Escaflowne, and the computer game Arcanum.
(http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/9094/STEAMFAQ.html)

If it's got a steam engine in it, it's Steampunk, baby!

Is there anything between Mediaeval Steampunk and Victorian/Western Steampunk?
As a matter of fact, there is. Sailpunk, which could alternately be known as Clockwork Punk or Renaissance Steampunk, occupies the time from the Renaissance through the Reformation and Baroque periods to the Enlightenment... A period in history known as the Early Modern era. The Early Modern era would see the work of Leonardo DaVinci and the creation of the Guttenberg Press. The terminology is usually different for Science Fiction of this period because steam was not a major power source. The lighter designs of clockwork and DaVinci are more typical. Examples of Sailpunk would include The Adventures of Baron Munchausen directed by Terry Gilliam and the Jack of All Trades TV series starring Bruce Campbell.

 

[Von Ether]

Close enough for you, huh? That fails even the most minimal of steampunk definitions I could possibly come up with, and as far as actually being steampunk, it's not even close.

According to your logic, Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms are steampunk settings.

Does it have the devices powered by steam? Then yes, I guess those worlds have steampunk aspects. I didn't hear about such as of yet.

What is Fantasy Steampunk?
Fantasy Steampunk is any work of Fantasy fiction which satisfies the requirements of Steampunk, mixing magic and steam power.
Examples include the Castle Falkenstein role-playing game, the anime Escaflowne, and the computer game Arcanum.
(http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/9094/STEAMFAQ.html)

But the subgenre can be broken down into even more subgenres ...
Is there anything between Mediaeval Steampunk and Victorian/Western Steampunk?
As a matter of fact, there is. Sailpunk, which could alternately be known as Clockwork Punk or Renaissance Steampunk, occupies the time from the Renaissance through the Reformation and Baroque periods to the Enlightenment... A period in history known as the Early Modern era. The Early Modern era would see the work of Leonardo DaVinci and the creation of the Guttenberg Press. The terminology is usually different for Science Fiction of this period because steam was not a major power source. The lighter designs of clockwork and DaVinci are more typical. Examples of Sailpunk would include The Adventures of Baron Munchausen directed by Terry Gilliam and the Jack of All Trades TV series starring Bruce Campbell.

Pick your flavor and enjoy

 

[Cergorach]

Following that train of thought, we live in a steampunk age, that advertisementblimp in the sky, and steam powered turbines on the ground...

 

[Von Ether]

Following that train of thought, we live in a steampunk age, that advertisementblimp in the sky, and steam powered turbines on the ground...

If you forgot to include our computers too.

One of the first steampunk novels was the "Difference Engine," which was about the effects of steam powered, cog-driven computer in the Victorian Age.

Part of the SteamPunk concept IS anacronism, the use of modern tech (or tech developed past it's approprate age) in a "historic" age.

S.M. Sterling, a regular author of alternate history, had blimps and difference engines, but very few automobiles, in his Pershwar Lancers book, which is set in the 21st Century. It's a 21st Century where a comet wiped out 18th Century England and gave us a "nuclear" winter. The English Royalty set up camp in India and things radicaly changed.

There's another differences, the steam tech featured in steam punk is still on a small scale and focused on coal and wood, and it rarely creates electricity. It's more for locomotion. It is a literal steam engine not a steam turbine, two different things.

The zepplin is a means of actual transport, not just an ad.

Feel free to read the websites and books I mentioned, you see the nuances. You can also pick up Castle Falkenstein or Space 1889 rpgs to get some futher ideas.

 

[Steve Conan Trustrum]

SpirosBlaak is close to being a true steampunk setting. It has blackpowder firearms and cannons, airships, steam-powered ships, etc. The main book, coming out next month from GR, only includes rules for firearms due to space limitations, but I'm hoping that things will go well enough that a follow-up will be asked for. If that's the case, the airships and other steampunk elements will be fleshed out, whereas now you need a kit book like Steam & Sorcery to work them out.