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Message: <blockquote data-quote="TheAuldGrump" data-source="post: 5324534" data-attributes="member: 6957">My apologies - that was intended to be humorous. Looks like I rolled a 1 on my Perform [Comedy] there. Looking at it now, even I could not tell you why I thought that it was funny. (Other than, perhaps, lack of sleep.) Actually, to my reading, no, you did not describe where your preferences lie. You mention authors, and how old you were when you got their books, but not how those tastes in any way inform your dislike of steampunk. You may have meant to, but even on rereading, I do not pick up on that. I suspect, but have no supporting evidence, that you dislike the genre for the same reasons that I like it. The real 1800s was every bit as dystopian as any cyberpunk setting.As for RPGs - I had a great deal of fun playing Space:1889 - though it lacks that dystopian edge I mentioned. More Vernesian fantasy than steampunk. For the Steampunk game I am running with Spycraft 2.0 the PCs tend to be agents for hire, though the longest running campaign was closer to Scoobypunk than steampunk proper. (For some reason the PCs took it in their heads to run around solving mysteries and doing good deeds. In the entire 17 levels of the campaign they had exactly four fights, and one of those was fisticuffs.)Though, since the term seems to have originated with an author, rather than a publisher, we are both wrong in thinking that it began entirely as a marketing ploy, instead we have an author exploring where future sales may lie. Whether that is any less cynical is open to debate.... There is also the strong sense of whimsy, compared to modern dress sensibilities. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> And then there are the period Edisonades, such as Steam Man of the Prairies. Using new fantastic inventions in pursuit of that most American of goals: money. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> (I prefer Vernesian fantasy to that of the Edisonades, but both were contemporary with the period.) The Auld Grump*EDIT* As for dressing up, steampunk style... no, not yet.... <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /></blockquote>

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