Dave's Rather Eclectic Attempt at a Steampunk Setting! (Long)

[dave_o]

So, hm. I've wanted to run a Victorian era-ish setting ever since 3.0 came out. As a bunch of people probably know, my life is sorta haggard right now, so I wanna involve myself in something pretty intensive to take my mind off things. Of course, in 109 days it won't matter (my girlfriend moves in and everything becomes right in the universe), but in the meantime.

I'm planning on using the standard DnD3E classes, that is: Fighter, Ranger, Bard, Sorcerer, Wizard, Cleric, Druid, with the exception of Monk. I really don't think traditional Monks have a place in such a setting, but I do thing there's a place for a "Brawler" class. So, one thing I'm looking for is suggestions on how to alter the flavor/rules of the Monk to be suitable Victorian.

Fighters will be the gunmen and mercenaries of the day, Rangers will be the woodsmen, and probably be a class mostly used by the Elves (more on that in a bit), Bards will be the performing artists of the day (DUH!), Sorcerers will be pretty much a semi-template that adds some spellcasting ability to a character, Wizards will be the scholars of the day, Clerics will be men of true faith (Anabaptist Clerics would be really cool), and Druid is another class I see being mostly used by the Elves.

As far as races, I'm thinking Humans and Elves. As I recall, there are lots of sprawling woodlands in England, so the Elves will live there. The two socities will be aware of each other, but will be quite isolationist - though not exactly xenophobic of each other. I'd really like this Elves to be Tolkienian (which is sort of strange in a steampunk setting), so they sort of represent a "higher eschelon" to aspire to, or, in turn, work away from.

I am in dire need of firearm rules. The ones in the DMG are way, way awful, and I'm not very familiar with other ones. Suggestons?

In light of these firearms, I'm also going to need some thoughts on some sort of Defense bonus to AC. An idea I toyed around with was BAB = Defense Bonus, but Iunno, is it too powerful?

I'm sorta iffy on if this'll get moved - I hope not.

OH, ALSO! I need maps, maps, maps. Cool, old-schooly maps of London, and England in general.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Iron Kingdoms
Freeport

But are good, I think the IR rules can be downloaded from their site.

 

[dave_o]

Iron Kingdoms
Freeport

But are good, I think the IR rules can be downloaded from their site.

Yeah? What's the Iron Kingdom's website? Or a direct link to the rules?

 

[Gellion]

Although i do not have the book, i would reccomend picking up Sorcery and Steam. I can not remember who it is by, but from what i hear, it is a really good book.

 

[Teflon Billy]

Although i do not have the book, i would reccomend picking up Sorcery and Steam. I can not remember who it is by, but from what i hear, it is a really good book.

It's from Fantasy Flight Games's Legends and Lairs line I think.

I thumbed through it at the comic store and thought it looked awesome (it lost out to Exalted:The Dragon Blooded come purchase time though).

 

[Matt Lazarus]

As far as races, I'm thinking Humans and Elves. As I recall, there are lots of sprawling woodlands in England, so the Elves will live there. The two socities will be aware of each other, but will be quite isolationist - though not exactly xenophobic of each other. I'd really like this Elves to be Tolkienian (which is sort of strange in a steampunk setting), so they sort of represent a "higher eschelon" to aspire to, or, in turn, work away from.
.

Why not Derro? The Hollow Earthers were quite vocal back in the day. Check out the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen for a neat look at a vividly created Steampunk world (the comic, not the movie).

 

[Hand of Evil]

http://www.privateerpress.com/

 

[Carnifex]

ENWorld Publishing should be releasing Steam & Steel: A Guide to Fantasy Steamworks before too long; that should cover your needs

(though admittedly not for the brawler monk. That could be possibly done by removing the monk's more exotic and ki-based abilities and replacing them with fighter feats or new, dirty-fighting-style abilities. Exotic weapons should be dropped, but the brawler given proficiencies with improvised weapons so he can use chairs, bottles, anything ).

 

[TheAntiSummit]

Defense Bonus

I always thought characters should have some sort of defense bonus based on their fighting skill but it really just doesnt work in DnD. I have tried different ways, including the BAB= defense bonus but it is pretty unbalancing, since two equal level fighters both have their BAB's negated essentially when fighting each other. The game is balanced as is and I have found that adding extra elements to either the attack side or the defense side screws things up a bit. But i guess if you wanted it to be harder to hit someone than standard DnD you could possibly add a bonus equal to their BAB, but no higher than the max dex bonus of their armor or something. But thats just my experience, if you can work it out, i'd love to hear how.

 

[dave_o]

Why not Derro? The Hollow Earthers were quite vocal back in the day. Check out the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen for a neat look at a vividly created Steampunk world (the comic, not the movie).

Yeah, I'm actually a big LXG fan, though - I'm sort of trying to work a little bit away from how heroic the books are. Though, they're a good baseline. Derro, huh? I could, perhaps, use them as sort of a main, secret nemesis later in the campaign or something - good idea. Though, I wouldn't have their exsistance be very known.

And dammit, they're gonna be Scottish.

(though admittedly not for the brawler monk. That could be possibly done by removing the monk's more exotic and ki-based abilities and replacing them with fighter feats or new, dirty-fighting-style abilities. Exotic weapons should be dropped, but the brawler given proficiencies with improvised weapons so he can use chairs, bottles, anything ).

Isn't there a PrC in Sword and Fist that's sort of a brawler class? Maybe I could modify that into a twenty level class. Or, just do what Carnifex said.

I always thought characters should have some sort of defense bonus based on their fighting skill but it really just doesnt work in DnD. I have tried different ways, including the BAB= defense bonus but it is pretty unbalancing, since two equal level fighters both have their BAB's negated essentially when fighting each other. The game is balanced as is and I have found that adding extra elements to either the attack side or the defense side screws things up a bit. But i guess if you wanted it to be harder to hit someone than standard DnD you could possibly add a bonus equal to their BAB, but no higher than the max dex bonus of their armor or something. But thats just my experience, if you can work it out, i'd love to hear how.

Well, the cancelling out is always going to apply. Billy Bob, the Male Human Fighter 3 with a Dexterity of 12 will pretty much cancel out Joe Bob, the Male Human Fighter 3 with a Dexterity of 12. It shows that they're equally matched, skill-wise. But BAB would maybe be too much of a boost. Does anyone know what system WoT uses to figggur up 'em bonuses?

Also, I thought of another thing. I'd like to introduce a feat called Skilled, which lets you pick any two skills and get a +2 bonus on each. It's a play off those feats like Acrobatic, Stealthy, etc.

ALSO ALSO! How about those maps? And what do you folks think, as far as flavor goes? If you're one of my PbP converts (this means you, TB!) I might just run this on PbP here, or at least have an invite here for an IRC game.