Eberron isn't Steampunk

[mythusmage]

Pulp Fantasy

Punk is young adult existential angst. Noir is middle aged existential angst. Pulp was hopeful. Brave young men taking on impossible tasks because it was the right thing to do, they were the only ones who could do it, and, by God, they'd find a way to win against all odds.

Pulp was America as America saw herself back then. As much of America sees itself today. With a better understanding of the price involved, but still hopeful.

There's evil, corruption, crime, and bad cooking out there, but it can be beat. The world can be made better. That's pulp. Add in enchantments, goblins, and the smell of noodles cooking in a dweomered wok on a street in Little China while jermlaine play stickball down the way, and you've got pulp fantasy.

Works for me.

 

[Nightfall]

I make punk rock and I mix it with the hip hop
I get you higher than a tree top
You wanna roll with the kid rock
I make southern rock
And I mix it with the hip hop
I got money like fort knox
I'll forever be the kid rock
Forever


Now that's punk!

 

[Ysgarran]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk
Steampunk is a subgenre of cyberpunk science fiction with dystopian, noir themes usually in an anachronistic Victorian or quasi-Victorian alternate history setting.

This pretty much jives with my understanding of where steampunk came from: the ugly parts of the early industrial revolution. The amount of pollution in the London from the early industry, the pervasive child labor, poor working conditions, etc. made it a not very pleasant place for a large number of people. Of course, 'steampunk' wasn't used to describe any of this until sometime after Gibson.
http://project.cyberpunk.ru/idb/timeline.html

It seems a key element of how close Eberron is to a traditional steampunk feel will be decided by how much of distopian feel it has. Are the ordinary folk forward looking and excited by the future? Or are they fearfull, dispirited wondering if they will have a chance for something better or not.

Ysgarran.

 

[WizarDru]

It seems a key element of how close Eberron is to a traditional steampunk feel will be decided by how much of distopian feel it has. Are the ordinary folk forward looking and excited by the future? Or are they fearfull, dispirited wondering if they will have a chance for something better or not.

Given all the material we've seen so far, I'd assume the former, not the latter. The one travelogue is one full of spirited, Indiana Jonesish adventurism, more Quartermain than Quartermass, if you take my meaning. The world has both civilized places, like the cities of the great Empire, and more wild, untamed and unexplored places, like the frontiers. I got the impression from the scanned Gencon flyer and the two Dragon previews we've now seen that it's a very heroic, 'pulpy' sort of setting. A dystopian future doesn't give action points.

 

[Ysgarran]

Pulp Fantasy
There's evil, corruption, crime, and bad cooking out there, but it can be beat. The world can be made better. That's pulp. Add in enchantments, goblins, and the smell of noodles cooking in a dweomered wok on a street in Little China while jermlaine play stickball down the way, and you've got pulp fantasy.

Works for me.

Nice, works well for a good description of Pulp.

Ysgarran.

 

[Henry]

(SNIP Mythusmage's Pulp Fantasy Definition)

Very nail-on-head. I like it!

 

[Greatwyrm]

I have trouble thinking of Europe and North America in the 1920's and 1930's as steampunk, so I'm having a hard time applying the same label to Eberron. It seems to share a lot with the West in the time just after WWI. That's a cool time to adventure in (Indiana Jones, Crimson Skies, The Mummy), why not for D&D?

 

[Cam Banks]

"Silver Screen Fantasy" would be another way to look at it. Eberron has all of the rich swashbuckling verve of the serial adventures at American cinemas circa 1940-1950, including Crash Corrigan, Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, etc. I wouldn't be surprised if an Eberron hero never lost his hat in a fight.

Noir and -punk don't fit at all, and have become conveniently mislabeled descriptions. From what I've seen of Eberron, it's pure classic Saturday matinee cinema blended with D&D, not so much the 20's dime novel pulps as the serials which were later heavily influenced by them (and which carried on into the 80's and onwards with Indiana Jones, the Mummy, the Rocketeer, etc).

Cheers,
Cam

 

[Umbran]

Hey, man, be careful. They're watching you.

They are? Good! This'll take care of 'em...

Fire in the hole!

[Umbran, an admitted out of shape, caucasian gamer geek slaps Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London" on the CD player, wraps himself in a towel and dances on his way to the shower. Everyone watching this shaking of a maladjusted goove thing, please make a DC 30 Will and Fort save. Medusae and catoblepas, eat your hearts out!]

Ahooooooo! Werewolves of London! Ahhhhoooooooo!

 

[Greatwyrm]

Everyone watching this shaking of a maladjusted goove thing, please make a DC 30 Will and Fort save.

AAAaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!! My eyes. Make it stop! MAKE IT STOP!!!!