Eberron isn't Steampunk

[Hardhead]

I wish everyone would stop calling Eberron "steampunk." While it does share some similarities with the genre, it isn't.

Steampunk has:

• Clockwork creatures
• Guns
• STEAM power (thus the name)

Eberron has none of those things. It's not Victorian Tech. It's waaaay behind the Victorian age. Sure, it has "trains," but they're elemental powered. It has flying ships (a High Fantasy staple). It's not Steampunk.

 

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

Yeah, it seems to have Victorian sensibility (the rise of easy international transportation, new economies, political intrigues), which a lot people are reading as "Steampunk". I know I jumped on the anti-Steampunk bandwagon when I saw some of the early previews, but this latest in the new Dragon has piqued my interest.

 

[A'koss]

I wish everyone would stop calling Eberron "steampunk." While it does share some similarities with the genre, it isn't.

Call it "magipunk" then, but in the end that's just hairsplitting IMO. Magical comforts and conveniences, magi-tech transportation and skyscrapers, etc, etc...

A'koss.

 

[The_Dood]

maybe this should be a poll, Eberron, Steampunk or not?

Let the masses decide.

 

[Umbran]

Shouldn't this all be in the Striaght Dope on Eberron Thread?

 

[Dirigible]

Call it "magipunk" then, but in the end that's just hairsplitting IMO.

Hairsplitting? I dunno.

They separate cyberpunk from biopunk from nanopunk from quantumpunk, so splitting magipunk from steampunk seems reasonable to me.

Punks.

 

[Psion]

Call it "magipunk" then, but in the end that's just hairsplitting IMO

Does it have the urban decay element that invites the moniker "punk."

I think at a certain point, when the monikers definition does not match the qualities of the object you wish to apply it to, you have to decide that the moniker does not apply.

 

[Umbran]

They separate cyberpunk from biopunk from nanopunk from quantumpunk, so splitting magipunk from steampunk seems reasonable to me.

Well, hold on there. Who is "They"? Are "They" anyone who we think has actual useful insight on literature and it's forms and meanings, or are they folks writing advertising copy, or reviewers and writers trying to justify their own existance - "No, *my* work is new and innovative! It isn't steampunk, it's bionanoMcPunk!"

"They" need to be a reputable authority before "they" get accepted as an excuse

 

[A'koss]

Originally posted by Psion:
Does it have the urban decay element that invites the moniker "punk."

I would say the setting has the essence of what makes for a X-punk game. The ongoing conflicts for "political and economic supremacy" amongst the nations, the economy largely controlled by a few coporatio... err... "merchant families", pervasive "magi-tech" and "magi-urbanization".

Let's face it, it's got that steampunkesque flavor.

A'koss.

 

[Hardhead]

I would say the setting has the essence of what makes for a X-punk game. The ongoing conflicts for "political and economic supremacy" amongst the nations, the economy largely controlled by a few coporatio... err... "merchant families", pervasive "magi-tech" and "magi-urbanization".

Let's face it, it's got that steampunkesque flavor.

Steampunk has a dark, gritty feel. Huge smokestacks that belch ash into the sky. Dark, narrow alleyways and industrial runoff being dumped into the river.

The preview art I've seen for Eberron looks nothing like this. The "train" from the preview doesn't have smokestacks and grit, it looks like a slick, futuristic train. From what little we've seen, it's cities are clean and majestic.

No, it's not "punk." Yes, it has "modern-esque" conviences, but Star Trek and Shadowrun both have "futuristic" convenences. That doesn't mean they're in the same sub-genre (obviously, they're both sci-fi, as both steampunk and high-magic are both fantasy). In fact, their tones are completly different.

From what I've seen of Eberron, it's tone is most decidedly non-Steampunk. It's slick instead of dirty, and it's cinematic instead of gritty. In fact, I'd go so far as it say it's the opposite of Steampunk, from what little we've seen.