Steampunk

[xipetotec]

I've kinda felt that EBERRON has a sort of steampunky feel to it. Okay, so it's powered by magic, but still a medieval setting with airships and "trains" and other mechanical aspects you wouldn't normally see in the age D&D is typically set in. It kinda has that anachronistic feel Steampunk brings to the table.

I suspect the videogame Bioshock has had a big impact on the genre too

 

[Umbran]

Another thing I've noticed is that- much like RPGs and other genre fiction- steampunk tends to contain an anachronistically large sampling of adventurous women.

Well, genre fiction tends to have an anachronistically large amount of adventure!

And, honestly, adventurous men are rather over-common. Thoreau said, "Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them." But, in genre fiction, there's quite an abundance of big, strong, dudes out there sucking the marrow out of life, right?

 

[RandomCitizenX]

I've been a big fan of steampunk for the past 10 years or so, and the first game of 3ed d&d I ever ran was in the genre using the rules out of the deadlands d20 books. Over the years I have fallen in more with the Dieselpunk ascetic, but steam tech always makes me smile.

Eberron strikes me as being more pulp then dystopia, but I do agree that it has the potential for a steampunk feel in some places.

 

[DMH]

though E.N. Publishing did release 'The Fantastic Science' - a 3.5 book with technological gadgets that definitely could fit the steampunk theme.

Not really. Steam & Steel and Mechamancy (the other tech books from EN Pub) are much more steampunk in feel. TFS doesn't allow non-technologists to use the devices in the book.

As for my opinion- I like the idea of anachronistic technology and social dystopia but not the Victorian Britain vibe much steampunk has. In existing game settings, I think Deadlands is best.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Space 1889 and the Iron Kingdoms are the games I have played in that fit the bill of steampunk. Put me in the hat of disliking the term "punk" as I see it as more Victorian Fantasy or Steamgothic or Steampulp maybe even a better term, meaning a steam-age action and adventure.

I like the look. I see Fullmetal Alchemist as part of this group.

 

[I'm A Banana]

As for my opinion- I like the idea of anachronistic technology and social dystopia but not the Victorian Britain vibe much steampunk has. In existing game settings, I think Deadlands is best.

I like old west-y steampunk quite a bit myself. Replace soldiers with cowboys and nobles with Robber-Barons, though, and it's kind of the same story, just a little aesthetically less shiny and brass, more wood and coal and iron.

I am also a tremendous fan of dieselpunk, and a pet project I've had is to run a deiselpunk Planescape campaign. Haven't hit that note yet, but I'm in it!

I like the look. I see Fullmetal Alchemist as part of this group.

Good call! FMA, of course, has the "punk" vibe, too, in that the special technology and alchemy they use is (often literally) dehumanizing and turns people into their component substances, rather than human beings. It takes an outsider to change the system.

Which, of course, traces the roots of that kind of "chaotic good" plotline to heroic fantasy in general. 4e's PoLand is a dark and fallen world where magic (aside from the PC's) is used to do bad stuff. Athas is a world where the ruling entities are thoroughly wicked. I think all that is part of that whole "punk" atmosphere, though I'd agree that not every story with dirigibles and locomotives is necessarily strictly "steampunk" (but might be described that way). Eberron is more pulp usually, for instance, though it has potential for the steampunk vibe.

 

[Dark Mistress]

Space 1889 and the Iron Kingdoms are the games I have played in that fit the bill of steampunk. Put me in the hat of disliking the term "punk" as I see it as more Victorian Fantasy or Steamgothic or Steampulp maybe even a better term, meaning a steam-age action and adventure.

I like the look. I see Fullmetal Alchemist as part of this group.

I agree Steampulp or Steamgothic more accurately describes what I like about the settings as well. But to be far they just don't have the same ring to them that Steampunk does, even though I don't much care for the punk element in some of them.

 

[karlindel]

I read and play steampunk, don't dress in costume (although I happily would, just don't have any reasons that would justify the expense).

I tend to think of steampunk very broadly, and include the gaslight fantasy/steampulp/etc. as steampunk. Honestly, I don't particularly care about the punk or social dystopian aspects (I may or may not enjoy them depending on how they are treated). I am more interested in adventure, mystery, and weird science, as well as technological advancement and invention. I also enjoy the Victorian era and the early industrial age as an adventure setting.

RPG-wise, I love Deadlands. I have read and enjoyed the background of For Faerie, Queen, and Country. Eberron also has some of the Steampunk feel for me, although powered by magic rather than science.

 

[Hussar]

I've really grown to like the genre over the years. The anthology, Extraordinary Engines had some fantastic short stories and novellas in it. Top notch stuff. The online webmagazine Beneath Ceaseless Skies : : Issue #54 also carries a fair number of steampunk stories that are very good. The fanzine SteamPunk Magazine also has loads of really excellent genre information and stories.

I've often been tempted to rewrite Scarred Lands as a steampunk setting using Calastia as the imperial power that is spreading over Ghaelspad. One of these days I'll actually get to writing it.

 

[Love of Awesome]

I haven't seen to much love towards Dragonmech, so i'm gonna throw it out there. A fantasy setting set in a world where the moon is falling apart, and alien variants of normal fantasy monsters are invading and the only hope are mechs that were first invented by dwarves, and everybody else began to follow the same path (Elves make there's out of tree's but hey). All kinds of sweet fantasy steam tech, and steampunk magic.

Throwing out my two cents.