History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part Five 2009)

THE PUNK-HEADED LEAGUE?

For this point forward, the lists go by year. I could have consolidated them a little, but they become a little unwieldy and over 4K words. 2009’s significant as there’s a groundswell of independently created and freely distributed rpgs, not only in steampunk, but other genres. Some of these are modest, the result of creation competitions. But others are impressive demonstrations of their creator’s skills. From these emerge all kinds of new creative directions.

Steampunk itself is a kind of splinter, arising during a rebirth in exciting speculative-fiction. I’ve written about Cyberpunk and rpgs before. Steampunk’s a neologism apparently coined by K.W. Jeter to echo cyberpunk. It has grown and become a loose amalgam of ideas- as you can see by these crazy and diverse lists. I think what’s interesting is to consider the other variant forms which also spun out. I’d argue these grew more out of steampunk than cyberpunk- and we’ve seen many of them pop up in rpgs:

• Dieselpunk: Gas and engines- usually hitting in the period between the two wars. I’ve left several of these games of the lists as they’re often more pulp-oriented. But the awful Children of the Sun described itself as dieselpunk. 
• Radiumpunk: Radiation and breakdown seems to be the theme of this. The game Warsaw on this list reflects that, but there are others. 
• Clockpunk: Clockwork and wind-up devices- often associated with Da Vinci. The excellent Clockwork and Chivalry’s the best example of this. 
• Electropunk: Weird electricity- sometimes associated with Teslapunk as well. The recent Ghost Lines calls itself electropunk. 

And of course there are many, many more. You can see a partial list at the Wikipedia entry on Cyberpunk derivatives. My favorite of these is Decopunk- I have to figure out how to build a game in that genre.

THE CASE OF THE VANISHED GAME

I left off several interesting products. Beat to Quarters and Krutrök & sägner are both cool products close to this period, but just outside. The latter’s a Swedish game which translates to “Gunpowder & Fairytales.” It deals with the clash of myth and man as the Napoleonic Wars spread to Sweden. Scarrport: City of Secrets is an interesting product, but the steampunk elements seem to be pretty marginal. Likewise the excellent The Day after Ragnarok has some of the cobble-tech feel of steampunk, but is more focused on pulp adventure. I also left off several interesting free rpg products. Cloudship Atlantis, Doom and Cookies, and Genius: The Transgression. The latter’s an amazing and complete new line book for nWoD featuring Mad Science. I also left off the Polish rpg Trójca which appears to be solely self-published.

You can find an explanation of my arbitrary labels on the first list entry. I’ve focused on core game lines or supplements offering a significant shift or change to the setting. So if one module offers some steampunk bits, I’ve left it off the list. I welcome discussions and suggestions as I work through these lists. I've arranged the items chronologically and then alphabetically within the year of publication. I break the time periods down arbitrarily, trying to keep the lists manageable.

History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part One 1983-1996)

History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part Two 1997-2003)

History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part Three 2004-2006)
History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part Four 2007-2008)
History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part Five 2009)

History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part Six 2010)
History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part Seven 2011)

History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part Eight 2012)
The Year in Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs 2013 (Part One: Äther, Dampf und Stahlgiganten to Owl Hoot Trail)
The Year in Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs 2013 (Part Two: Pure Steam to World of Steamfortress Victory)
The Year in Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs 2014

1. Agents of the Crown

(2009, Victoriana) A Victorian-era superhero supplement for Basic Roleplaying. It suffers a little in coming out the same year as The Kerberos Club (IMHO). This campaign setting borrows liberally from League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. The players serve as super-powered operatives for the British Crown. The volume’s fairly light, but would be at least a good starting point for GMs thinking about doing supers in the period. Has the added advantage of using the BRP system which many players know through Call of Cthulhu.

2. Gaslight Victorian Fantasy

(2009, Victoriana) Available in both OGL and Savage Worlds flavors, Gaslight Victorian Fantasy offers a pretty basic alternate Earth backdrop. It feels like a solid house campaign expanded and detailed for others' use. The presentation is fairly basic with heavy use of period stock art that doesn't necessarily fit with the text. Essentially it offers a classic Victoriana backdrop with a little magic and some non-human races thrown into the mix. Secret Societies get the bulk of the background and discussion. That's an interesting concept and one worth developing. The timeline and background's directed to the particular alt history, so it isn't as useful for general reference.

3. GURPS Infinite Worlds: Britannica-6

(2009, Victoriana/Steampunk) Ironically, a supplement in which Queen Victoria wasn't born. Instead the Crown ends up in a massive mess of aristocratic lines and factions. It includes copious amounts of weird steamtech. One of themes seems to be that kind of engineering taken to 11. This supplement's aimed, at least in part, towards Infinity Agents trying to figure out how to work within the cultural structures. It did get me thinking about why we haven't seen a GURPS Steampunk for 4th edition. Wouldn't it be relatively easy to slam together the 3e products GURPS Steampunk, Steamtech, and even Screampunk into a single hardcover volume. But then I realized that having those products available as pdfs in some ways negates the need for a new edition. Given the relative closeness of 3e and 4e (with the exception of some combat tweaks and the character creation bits), you don't need a new edition unless you bring something really new to the table, as they did with GURPS Horror 4e.

4. The Kerberos Club

(2009, Victoriana) One of my favorite settings, The Kerberos Club presents incredibly well thought out Victorian superheroes. The set-up offered has an internal consistency missing from other games. The Kerberos Club of the title is the patron group which brings together people with unique talents and abilities. They stand outside society, protecting it. There's a nice dynamic of cooperation and opposition between the club and the powers-that-be. The book offers ideas and background for running a campaign in the early, middle, or late Victorian era.

I highly recommend this book and a readable resource on the era. It may not be as detailed as some others, but it is a pleasure to work through. The world-building on display here is excellent- and really wrestles with some of the implications of having women, non-humans, and "ethnics" with powers operating in this culture. The FATE version of this is especially good (and complete), but there's also a Wild Talents and a Savage Worlds version you can buy. You can read my full review here and some further thoughts here.

5. Lady Blackbird

(2009, Steampunk) Here again I violate my rules and include another free pdf. However, I've seen Lady Blackbird discussed, played, and adapted in multiple posts, so it has some legs. Done in just ten pages, LB offers a simple resolution system and sketches out a premise: flight from a marriage, a secret smuggler, and capture by an imperial vessel. The story begins with a ticking clock putting the events into motion. The world is writ lightly as steampunk with skyships and a tech aesthetic. MJ Harnish has a review of Lady Blackbord that lays out the essentials, Dare I say the perfect one-shot game?.

6. Příběhy Impéria

(2009, Victoriana) A Czech RPG, which might be read as "Tales of the Empire" and is based on FATE. The translated publisher blurb reads, "This book contains the rules of the game Tales of the Empire and everything needed to play. This is a role-playing game from the environment fantastic Victorian 19th century where magic still flows through the country. This fully illustrated book contains a detailed description of the environment as the Victorian era, a system with a strong emphasis on storytelling and weaving stories, sample adventure or perhaps ready-made characters for the game. The game is fully playable without expansion manuals."

The wikipedia entry adds, "The game world is based on the historic Victorian world of the nineteenth century, when the streets of London filled choking smoke of factories and forges, while steam engines powered the industrial revolution. But it added to the charm and the line on which the authors argue that there are in addition to technology. English nocturnal streets and in the game through wizards, goblins and elves and among people living in coats and hats dwarfs, fauns and other strange creatures.

In this game are rampant murders, mysterious disappearances, strange rituals, evil magic and strange creatures, which bypasses the streets and ancient English forests. Powerful houses mages here lead their disputes and sometimes struggle in the bleak British streets in a world of magic and Feria. Various factions in Parliament and House of Lords are trying to influence and enforce their intentions and often hiding behind policy deadly and dangerous intrigue and conspiracy. The world itself is described in the manual, supplementary books it then expanded to other features and options. The basic book is a large section devoted to the British Empire , which is the focus of the game, but the next section describe the environment and other parts of the world."

7. Queensguard

(2009, Steampunk) In his screenwriting book Save the Cat! Blake Snyder presents one of my favorite phrases, "Double Mumbo Jumbo." This refers to anytime a story already has one bizarre or weird premise and then adds a completely different second one. Like if Godzilla were attacking and the only solution was to travel to the Court of the High Queen of Faerie...

Of course many role-playing games do this and manage to work just fine. Consider how many steampunk games on these lists add in Elves, Magic, and other fantastic elements. Shadowrun's the poster-child for this actually working and surviving. Which brings us to Queensguard. This is a setting monograph for Call of Cthulhu which functions as an adventure or mini-campaign, but to get to that it sets up an entirely new world. It is an alternate history America in the mid 1800's where steam-technology serves as the lifeblood of industry. And America has royalty, like the Queen of Manhattan. The characters, in service to that Queen, have to battle against forces of the Mythos. For me, this is a little too much, I like my Call of Cthulhu a little more straight. But on the other hand, it might serve as a nice bridge for CoC gamers over into a more steampunk fantastic setting. Eric Dodd has a nice review of this, American Cthulhu Steampunk.

8. This Favored Land

(2009, Victoriana...?) OK, this one's something of a reach, but worth putting on the list. From time to time I'll read a campaign idea that blows my mind and yet I can't imagine actually running it. This Favored Land is one of those. A sourcebook for Wild Talents, it presents secret superheroes during the American Civil War. In the same way that Godlike really considers the implications of supers for wartime, TFL puts them in the context of this period. The designers present solid and rich material, worth reading for anyone interested in running a game in this era and place. Like everything I've seen from Arc Dream, you can dive into this book and mine all kinds of ideas.

9. Warsaw

(2009, Steampunk-esque) A strange looking French rpg which covers a later period, but has a weirdly broken-down steampunk vibe to it. The publisher's blurb (as translated on RPG Geek) reads: "Warsaw, 1964, the conflict which began in 1914 has not ended in 1918. After half a century of war, belligerents have mostly withdrawn from the conflict. Two totalitarian empires remain: the Komingrad (last incarnation of the USSR) and the NeuReich (the legacy of William II's Empire) facing each other relentlessly and without mercy. These two blocks, engaged in a destructive war of attrition, are now fighting in Poland, especially in Warsaw. The country is locked, surrounded by huge walls. Poland has become a vast no man's land between the two armies. A no man's land populated by civilians, resistance fighters, a forgotten population and prisoners of war.

This confrontation has led to terrible pioneering innovations. Zombie soldiers, insane with superhuman abilities, gun wrapped Zeppelins which ravage the last sections of wall still standing in the martyr city. Completely isolated, the city has been forgotten by the rest of the world, which simply waits cautiously for the end of the conflict….People have joined a faction (resistance patriots, smugglers, anarchists or deserters) and try to survive. You're one of them.

Warsaw is uchronian pulp, a kind of battle of Stalingrad with degenerated inventions and mechanical monsters. A city in ruins, inhabited by packs of cannibals and soldiers altered by rusty prosthetics. In this metropolis surrounded and besieged by foreign armies, what are your choices? Simply survive, fight the invader, enrich the black market or try to bring peace, that peace which now exists only in banned history books?"

There's an interesting article on this and other French rpgs on Wired.

10. Wolsung: Magia Wieku Pary

(2009, Steampunk/Victoriana) A Polish rpg, aka Wolsung: Steam Pulp Fantasy. This is part of a fairly large line which includes many supplements and at least one board game. In 2012, Studio 2 published an English translation of this massive core book (512 pages in digest format). The game has a well-developed backdrop of a highly alternate Earth which mixed steamtech and magic. In some ways it looks like an archetypal approach to that mix. They have two free introductory pdfs available- one presenting the general ideas and the other the world itself. Worth taking a look at if you want to easily set up a steampunk campaign that contains multitudes. The blog Bring Your A Game has a pretty thorough and favorable review of the English edition which you can read here.

History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part One 1983-1996)

History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part Two 1997-2003)

History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part Three 2004-2006)
History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part Four 2007-2008)
History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part Five 2009)

History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part Six 2010)
History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part Seven 2011)

History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part Eight 2012)
The Year in Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs 2013 (Part One: Äther, Dampf und Stahlgiganten to Owl Hoot Trail)
The Year in Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs 2013 (Part Two: Pure Steam to World of Steamfortress Victory)
The Year in Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs 2014
History of Post-Apocalyptic RPGs
History of Horror RPGs
History of Superhero RPGs
History of Wild West RPGs
History of Universal RPGs

Four-Color Furies: WW2 Supers RPGs

THE DOOMSDAY LANDINGS

This list brings together the various games which have combined superheroes (or beings with super powers) and World War II. That's a classic trope- especially since the first modern superhero comics arguably came to prominence during WW2. I have some additional discussion on the ideas of WW2 superhero stories here- A Cape Too Far: Supers & World War 2.

1. The Golden Age of Champions

The first major attempt to provide a WW2 sourcebook for an existing superhero system. Champions' other major rival, Villains & Vigilantes (2nd Edition), hadn't done one. This book was a little weak- taking a very goofy and exaggerated four-color look that seemed to be more nostalgia than an actual look at the comics of that age. There had been some pulp games before this which had dealt with WW2, but usually they skirted it or had little in the way of superpowers (Crimefighters and Daredevils for example). Oddly this book wasn't actually done by HERO but instead by a company called Firebird Ltd. However Hero Games did later revise this supplement...slightly...keeping the goofy tone and look and making it more consistent with the "universe" they'd established

2. All This and World War II

Marvel Superheroes RPG Sourcebook. The closest MSHRPG got to a real sourcebook for WW2 in the Marvel Universe. Here we get a module that has time travel and is part of a trilogy of adventures covering different eras of the Marvel Universe. Still it provided the stats for Captain America, the Howling Commandos, and the Invaders, so that's a plus.

3. The World at War

DC Heroes Sourcebook. A really, really nice sourcebook detailing the WW2 universe as considered in the DC continuity at that time. This would have been in the post-Crisis decade in which DC still tried to maintain a solid and clear history. On the superhero side, Roy Thomas & Co. All Star Squadron had really rewritten the history of WW2 for DC pre- and post-Crisis. DC, of course, also had their own WW2 military character Sgt. Rock.

This book is impressive- it covers the supers of the era, but also history, a timeline, considerations of how warfare and powers intersect, ideas for managing a campaign in this era, and a multitude of NPCs. There's even a section covering characters from the period written out of continuity.

4. Masked Men and Mystery Women

Superbabes Sourcebook. Allow me to admit that for the longest time I actually thought that Superbabes was a joke. Something like Macho Women with Guns for Supers. So I was little shocked to see that it was for a real line of comics, with a number of actual sourcebooks, including this one which covers several different periods of the "Femforce" universe, from pulp through the 1960's and of course including WW2. The prolific sdonohue has written a review of this here: The Short Version? Good expansion for the game, good sourcebook for AC Comics fans, so-so Golden Age sourcebook.. That seems to suggest coverage of WW2 is pretty slight.

5. Glory Days

Brave New World Sourcebook. BNW's one of those games I've looked at over the years but never picked up anything for. All I can say for certain is that it is a dystopian supers world with a strange American Hegemony in the modern era. However it seems like the earlier periods actually had a more conventional supers "history" and that's reflected in this book. An assumption, but this is a pretty hefty book.

6. Adventure!

This probably just edges into the WW2 period, but given the link between Adventure and Aberrant we can see pretty easily this material covering the war. We have Nazi bad guys here and a "quantum" explanation for abilities beyond the ken of normal human beings. Not obviously guys in capes, but some mystery men of that ilk. All of that is to say I think this is an often overlooked and excellent game will a lot of applications, including doing a Doc Savage vs. the Nazis game. Does a nice job fitting the classic Storyteller system to the genre.

7. Godlike

I don't really get the ORE- One Roll Engine- at least in reading. I'd love to see it in play. That aside Godlike sets the bar for how one approaches the idea of supers in a World War II setting from a "realistic" point of view. We have a specific and logical supers power framework (i.e. not magic or other garbage) and the book really looks at the implications of having persons with these kinds of powers within the various theaters. A go-to book right now for anyone planning on running this kind of campaign.

8. JSA Sourcebook

DC Universe Sourcebook. Part of the d6 version of the DC Universe rpg. I never actually saw any of these supplements. However this one covers the JSA in the continuity of the DC Universe at that time. It has material on running a WW2 centered campaign using these characters. An interesting artifact in light of the massive changes in continuity for DC. The main world doesn’t have heroes who fought in WW2, and even the “Earth-2” material seems to absolutely downplay those ideas.

9. The Fires of War: The Algernon Files Volume 2

HERO 5/Mutants and Masterminds 2e Sourcebook. The first The Algernon Files book was among the best of the second-party products for Mutants and Masterminds. It presented an excellent collection of heroes and bad guys with their own internal stories and links. It created something of its own universe, but scaled back enough to make it usable with other supers material. This volume steps back within the same "history" to provide a sourcebook for WW2. It provides a slight amount of general background material and then a ton of characters for the period: Allied, Axis and Independent. A really useful book available separately for these systems.

10. Golden Age

Mutants & Masterminds 2e Sourcebook. This offers details for running Golden Age adventures, including the war. A great deal of the book talks general about what makes up that kind of story, along with advice of character creation and gamemastering. It does provide some material on history tied particularly in the Freedom City world of the core book. It doesn't focus on that exclusively, instead providing a decent toolbox plus an adventure which allows time travel between present and past settings (a classic motif).

11. Scion Companion

In Scion players take the role of the children of the old gods (Thor, Zues, Isis, etc) which gives them powers which might be read as "super". The modern version of the main books plays that down a little in favor of the supernatural conflict. One way to see this line is as a contemporary version of exalted. The Scion Companion, however, provides a new frame in the last quarter of the book: Scions in WW2. But it adds to that the idea that certain Nationalist Concepts could also serve as "Gods" creating children with a particular agenda of the times. I don't love it- it raises more questions than it answers, but it would be another approach to having Superheroes in WW2.

If anything it reminds me a little of the two-part story from Fables which has Bigby Wolf fighting the Nazis.

12. Amazing Stories of WWII

Vigilance Press has created a series of adventures and seeds for playing a World War Two campaign using the ICONS system. You get NPC collections as well as plots. I haven't looked at these, but I'd be curious about the mythology and hero universe they're building here.

13. Finest Hour

A sourcebook for the troubled Squadron UK RPG (a retool of the old Golden Heroes RPG). This presents a campaign pack for running a game set in this period- borrowing from the best in classic pulp traditions. There’s an interesting touch in that players generate their characters from ordinary men and women, rather than building a straight superhero. You can see an excellent review of the product here.

Ocean City Interface: A Splintered Campaign Frame

NOT A DREAM PARK...

The RPG Blog Carnival for May Continues, with the theme “Campaigns I’d Like to Run.” Great ideas keep rolling in. You can see links and notes on those in the comments section of the original post. If you’d like to join in the RPG Blog Carnival, write up a post on the topic. When you have it up, put a link in the comments of that post (or this one) or send me an email. At the end of the month I’ll do a comprehensive round up of them. You can see more on the RPG Blog Carnival here- if you have a theme idea, consider hosting a future carnival. They're hunting for someone to host June!

Give me a heads up if you do a post so I can keep track for the big list at the month’s end.

WELCOME TO CITY OF OCEAN

One campaign I’ve been thinking about running more seriously is both easier and tougher than most for me. On the one hand, it is a campaign frame run by another GM in the group once and once by me. Those campaigns generated awesome sessions. But at the same time, the premise itself creates pitfalls and additional challenges. I’ve seen problems arise and derail whole arcs of the campaign. I want to consider how I can lift the best elements while reducing the worst.

That campaign’s gone by several names, but my version I’ve always referred to as OCI or Ocean City Interface. The original form, crafted by another GM, takes place in an anime inspired near-future. VR systems unite the world and experts in their manipulation and design have great power and influence. Each player makes up several levels to their character. On the one hand, they have their Avatar, how they appear within the OCI. They craft an identity and personality for that Avatar. But at another level they also have their Alpha, essentially person in the real world. Players begin only knowing one another’s Avatar. The Alpha characters may be spread out across the globe. The Avatars interact in the Hub of the OCI, where they may have their own virtual space and realms. But Portal offer the real challenge to the group. These are adventure simulations within the Hub. Groups go into these to play- in them they may meet other players (NPCs) but not know them except through personality. It has several levels of interaction and play. Each Portal, of course, can be a completely new and independent campaign using different systems. The original version of OCI used this set up to create a world of future conspiracy- with AI’s, hacking, lifts from anime as diverse as Bubblegum Crisis & Tenchi Miyo, and dark secrets related to the family had helped to create the OCI. It reminds me most of Tad Williams’ Otherland, but remains distinct from that. The GM who ran this used it to create a sprawling, complex, and tangled narrative. He had eight players at one time and danced around between many different systems. The players loved it when it ran well- and the GM did tons of private emails with subplots. However when the players pushed to get at the heart of the mysteries, the GM pulled back, refusing to pull the trigger on anything and keeping revelations away from the players. Eventually the pressure and the work got to him, and he shut down the game leaving things unresolved after a couple of years of play. He tried to pick it up again with a smaller group later, but once again burned out.

I didn’t play in that campaign, but I watched it secondhand via the players I interacted with (including my wife). They really dug it and everyone was disappointed when it shut down. There were various recriminations and blame thrown around, but frankly the campaign looked unwieldy from the outside.

Which, of course, prompted me to think about how you might go about making it wieldy. It actually started because I wasn’t sure about how compelling a Legend of the Five Rings campaign would be. More than I wasn’t certain it was a good fit for the group I had. I thought that perhaps I could get around that by making the L5R campaign a portion of the campaign (an idea which would come back to bite me in the ass). I would use something of the framework from the original campaign, but with some changes. The biggest came in the opening, in which after several sessions, I revealed that they were in a simulation, but one that no one in OCI had actually created. That led to the big mystery: if that world wasn’t a standard VR portal, then what was it? The campaign spanned several genres and systems: Superhero, Fading Suns, The Dying Earth, Exalted, Wuxia, Grimm, Polaris, and a couple of others but with a returning focus on L5R and the “real world.” In the end I pulled the curtain back to reveal that this was in fact a Mage: The Ascension campaign, with the OCI serving as a kind of refuge for Mages who had fled a disaster that had swept across the world.

The campaign worked in parts, but in others it fell flat. I loved many episodes of it, and so did the player. Perhaps the biggest problem arose when I discovered that yes, my group could play an L5R campaign and enjoy it- but that realization came after I’d already introduced the other elements… Beyond that I stumbled over a few of the structural traps this set up offers. We also had a problem player join the campaign late and had one of the best players die.

So…troubles, you know?

COOL STUFF- what makes this an appealing campaign?

• Identity: Sherri suggested she found this one of the best subtle elements in the campaign. It might seem a too meta, but playing characters who play other characters offers interesting opportunities. In some ways, it makes that contrast between internal and external explicit. Alphas may play portal characters expressing desires or regrets about themselves. Players who like those kinds of expressions and details find this a real pleasure.
• Mystery: The structure of OCI offers a great larger campaign mystery: the how and why of everything. In the original campaign, that tied to a familial conspiracy and AIs; in the second, a war between supernatural forces. The existence of a large-scale plot’s obvious at the outset, and players recognize that they can investigate via the portals and NPC interactions.
• Multiplicity (Players): Players get to play different kinds of characters and games, but there’s continuity. They can use that to more easily come up with resonance and connections. The links between the different portals avoids the sense that this is simply a throw-away character. At the same time, players who like a particular genre less know that they’ll get to play in others they love.
• Multiplicity (GM): We have too many ideas and not enough time to run all of them. This offers the opportunity to try out many different settings. That has the add-on effect of making modules and campaign sourcebooks more useful. Usually I don’t use these because they don’t necessarily fit with the large-scale campaign I’ve built. Here they’re much easier to play with.
• Contrasts: Different portals allows for interesting switches in pacing, tone, and style. That can obviously happen in an ongoing campaign, but this structure has that built in, making the GM’s job easier.
• NPCs: Secondary characters in this campaign frame break into three categories: standard NPCs, real world NPCs, and meta-NPCs. Real world NPCs expand and play with a player’s Alpha existence- often separate from other players. There’s a pleasure to having a set of “personal” NPCs. Meta-NPCs are those who also play on the OCI and in the portals. This allows interesting revelation of their personality, ambiguous objectives, and even uncertain identity. Characters may not recognize one another in the portals. Then a revelatory detail suggests that this NPC is actually X- which changes the complexion of the story and interactions.
• Nostalgia: An element only for our group. Many of the players played in one or both of the previous OCI campaigns. One everyone loved but saw cut down in its prime. The other was solid and had a full arc with a solid wrap up.

OBSTACLES- what gets in the way of the game?

• Switches: Changing between campaign frames can feel awkward. Need to have transitions to make events not whiplash around.
• Stakes: If the portals are simply VR, then the stakes are fairly low. Players need to feel like events at each level matter.
• Player Buy In: Players may not care for some portals. If a portal outstays its welcome, they may lose interest and investment in the game. If they enjoy/know one genre only, then they’ll have a tough time switching.
• Portal Love: If one portal gets a greater emphasis, then players may resent having to go to others. In the first OCI, the fantasy portal Shining Path occurred several times. The players invested in that heavily which made the others feel pale and incidental. In my version, the players loved the L5R portal.
• Complexity: With multiple layers and characters, the campaign story could become convoluted and hard to follow.
• NPC Maintenance: Too many characters can be hard to keep straight. Managing them when they appear across several portals and levels offers even more of a challenge.
• Rules: Both earlier versions used different games systems for different portals. That means leaning new game systems constantly. It also means building a new character completely for each portal.
• Game Logic: If you think about it, the premise becomes problematic. If I’m in a fantasy portal, does my character have knowledge of modern tech? If the portal’s not VR then what goes on when I’m not present in the portal?
• Email: Both earlier versions of HCI used away from table email as a major tool. Usually that revolved around real world events and interactions. That potentially means much more work for the GM.
• Dispersal: Real world set up has players from across the globe. Getting them together is tough.

SOLUTIONS?

• One Rule: I need to use one core system across all of the levels. That means using a generic system or engine that scales well, has lots of resources, and is easy to adapt. Both GURPS and HERO are a little too heavy and have some genre blind spots. That probably means Savage Worlds, True20, Basic Role-Playing, HeroQuest, FATE, or our homebrew Action Cards. GUMSHOE and World of Darkness, while interesting don’t have all the necessary resources. Ideally I’d like to have some of the mental aspects of characters carry across levels.
• Reality: The portals have to be real in some way: alternate timelines, fragment realities, metaphors for some cosmic struggle, or simply other worlds. What happens there has to have weight and implications back. I’d love to figure out a mechanic for scars and injuries in the portals which has them carry on back up to the Alpha level.
• Limited Portals: We don’t have an infinite # of portals. There’s the real world, the Hub, plus one portal per player. In fact, each player should get to pick the theme/setting for one portal. That’s their key place and connection. Depending on the time and structure of things, perhaps we could even do a Microscope session before entering into some (or all of the portals). We could have a drafting session at the campaign start, allowing each player to pick one (from a list of ideas I’d create).
• Rotation: Each portal gets a fairly strict number of sessions- a single arc with a key story and perhaps some interaction time. We don’t go back to a portal until we’ve done all of the other ones.
• Linked Thematic: There should be a recurring motif, theme, or set of images across the different portals (science gone wrong, the perils of power, hidden secrets come back to haunt, revenge, etc) which also serves as a connection.
• One Place: All of the Alpha characters need to be in geographic proximity. The same country or city.
• Markers: Other “players” within the OCI should eventually be identifiable. Perhaps all of their characters with portals share the same mark or tattoo (hidden?).

FINAL THOUGHTS

I have to admit that good deal of the appeal of OCI lies in the diversity of campaigns it contains. I have more ideas for campaigns and frames than I’ll ever get to run in full. This approach allows me to play with some of those ideas, perhaps those that wouldn’t necessarily work over the long term. Granted you could run these games sequentially, but you would lose the extended stakes that yoking them together offers.

The key realization I’ve had is that this campaign framework has worked before- and fairly successfully in two distinct campaigns. I’ve also had players request it. So I know it can be done and I know it works- I just have to figure out ways to improve it. It may not work for everyone, and tuning it to the particular group will be essential. I think the payoff’s worth it, if I can take it to a new level. 

Changeling Lost Vegas: Session Fifteen: Dream Hand

The video for Session Fifteen:

This Episode:
G+ hangouts decided to be uncooperative last night, so we only got about half of the session recorded. That meant the loss of some high comedy.

I was going to move the scene forward, but the players wanted to return to the Hob Casino/Market Lil’ Pals to finish off that scene. John in particular hungered for the Panic Bucket, perhaps jealous over Andi’s Essential Ice Cream Scoop. John gambled and lost and then wagered again and won the Bucket which he clutched tightly. Morosa also gambled, winning a set of Murder Sticker Colorforms which she thought might be useful as a focus for curses. The group asked a follow up question of the Hobs in the casino and, after paying out some goods, managed to learn more about Cantorian Wolf. He’d come here with two other Changelings. The Hob dealer showed them the dolls the trio had used as their cover charge. One was an Asian Princess Barbie, covered with permanent marker tattoos. The other looked like Wyatt Earp. The motley left and, after some discussion, headed out on foot the short distance to make their way out of the Hedge here. Given how close they were to the real world and the nature of the trods, exit proved relatively easy, though the brambles caught John a couple of times. They found themselves in a restaurant in the Excalibur casino.

After eating copious quantities of ice-cream flavored fare, the group returned to their refuge at Sunswept Ranch. They considered their next course of action. John pushed Teodoro’s buttons, leading to a rant from the street mage. He railed against the fascist propaganda of the Harry Potter books, crafted by an evil wizard to indoctrinate humanity to his overlordship. Teodoro sputtered on this for a few minutes before exiting to go out and smoke by his van. After a pause, the motley decided to call Abyssinian Max both to ask about the two unknown Changelings and to perhaps obtain an invitation to a meal. Max identified the “cowboy” as Three Iron Sour, a ‘Gun’ Elemental. However he denied knowing anyone who looked like the other doll- a clear omission given that the Motley had briefly caught sight of a woman who looked like that at the Spring Court. After some discussion, they decided to head over to Gren’dell’s a neutral ground bar for supernaturals. They convinced Teodoro to go with them.

The bar contained a number of different beings, including Changelings, Werewolves, a Mage, and maybe what appeared to be a robot? The owner, Gren’dell, offered them a picher of the house dark beer- potent and intoxicating even to their kind. Teodoro spoke with a homeless-looking mage stuffing crows into a gun. The PCs saw a couple of changelings they knew: Dudley Ladyquake, Muzzled Thought, and Terrible Job. They approach Job and traded him beer for information. The darkling asked about their current status and warned them that once they’d completed their final task for the Courts, the honeymoon period would be over. He explained a little of the power tensions in the freehold.

Turning the conversation back to their task, Job admitted he knew Cantorian Wolf. He’d dropped off the grid after having been around heavily for some time. Wolf and Three Iron Sour had both vanished around the same time. The latter changeling could often be found around old gun ranges and shows- he ate shell casings like popcorn. Job also identified the woman as Melanie Five-Marks, a servant Fairest who really wanted to be in the upper echelons of the Spring Court. Job said the last he heard of Wolf was that he was selling something to Carpenter Husk, a self-destructive changeling currently serving as the Rabbit for the Freehold. Job gave the group Husk’s location. Meanwhile, Andi and John both overindulged in the beers. Andi continued to make everything taste like ice cream using her magical scoop token.

Back home, most of the group managed to overcome the effects of the beers. Most except for Andi who returned everything she’d eaten that evening, all ice-cream flavored, back out onto the roof of the building. After recovery and clean up the next morning, the group considered their next move: Wolf’s Apartment; Track Down Three Iron Sour; Find Carpenter Husk; Research the Token; Check on Melanie Five-Marks; Confront Abyssinian Max; or some other stratagem?

History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part Four 2007-2008)

MEET THE NEW TROPE

There’s a few less items here than on previous lists. In fact a couple are edge-cases that I opted to leave on. I suspect that may be random, but it does coincide with the arrival of Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition. That shook up the gaming industry and forced d20-heavy companies to start looking at where they wanted to go. At the same time, gaming pdfs also settled into comfortable acceptance- with stable lines of distribution and more tools to easily use them at the table. Before they’d been revolutionary, now they became a standard feature of the trade. Outside gaming, the same kind of shift happened to Steampunk as a genre. It was simply here- in covers, in cosplay, and in spec-fic generally. Look at the advancement of graphics and images related to the genre. A few years before many publishers used the same gear clip arts and sets of details. Now they had thousands of new visual approaches. Novelty had well and truly worn off. You can see some of that by the acceleration of books under the genre. I’m not saying all of those were cash-ins, but some were. Any genre that hits a level of popular consciousness attracts attention from publishers looking for the next hot thing.

That’s not a bad thing, but feels a little odd to me for a genre which remains so ill-defined. Is steampunk purely an aesthetic, or is there some deeper resonance behind it? It something simply ‘looks’ steampunky, is it? More than most other genres, I’d say yes. But then again, I’m trying to assemble a wide-ranging list of rpgs here…

LOGIC DEMANDS

I left some interesting games off this list. Rocketship Empires 1936 for example looks quite cool, but falls more into the pulp category (and a later period). I’ve mentioned that for the most part I leave Napoleonic era material off these lists, which means the excellent Duty & Honour doesn’t show up here. I’ve also left off several interesting free rpgs: The Holmes and Watson Committee; Inland Empire; and Necrorama!. You can find an explanation of my arbitrary labels on the first list entry. I’ve focused on core game lines or supplements offering a significant shift or change to the setting. So if one module offers some steampunk bits, I’ve left it off the list. I welcome discussions and suggestions as I work through these lists. I've arranged the items chronologically and then alphabetically within the year of publication. I break the time periods down arbitrarily, trying to keep 20 items or less per list.

History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part One 1983-1996)

History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part Two 1997-2003)

History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part Three 2004-2006)
History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part Four 2007-2008)
History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part Five 2009)

History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part Six 2010)
History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part Seven 2011)

History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part Eight 2012)
The Year in Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs 2013 (Part One: Äther, Dampf und Stahlgiganten to Owl Hoot Trail)
The Year in Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs 2013 (Part Two: Pure Steam to World of Steamfortress Victory)
The Year in Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs 2014

1. Clock and Steam

(2007, Steampunk-esque) An interesting idea which brings clockwork and steamtech to a to the forefront of classic D&D setting, Blackmoor. I recall some ideas about gadgets existed originally in that setting. From the table of contents, the supplement appears to be about one-third background and 2/3rd new mechanics and rules for using gadgetech in a Blackmoor campaign. That includes the usual d20 suspects: feats, spells, and prestige classes. There's a system for player-driven investions, a concept which sounds appealing but will probably require careful GM management. Like most of the line from Zeitgeist, a pdf version of this can be found cheaply on RPGNow.

2. The Committee for the Exploration of Mysteries

(2007, Victoriana) While this game can be played in various settings (from an earlier period up through the Pulp 1930's) it definitely has a Victorian Drawing Room vibe to it. This is a collaborative storytelling RPG in which a player spins a tale about a particular expedition, with the other players adding on or questioning that story. There are dice mechanics, but generally the game plays out goofing with the narrative. The tales involve the characters exploring fantastical places and exploring strange corners of the earth- allowing the setting to range from Verne to Haggard and everything in between. It reminds me more than a little of The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen. There's little setting or background. Instead the rules offer another way to play out classic tales and adventures in the genre.

3. Elyrion - Erbe der Titanen

(2007, Steampunk-esque) A German rpg which seems to translate as "Elyrium - Heritage of the Titans." It seems to take place in a fantasy world with heavy steam-tech elements. Think of it as Dungeons & Dragons with black-powered and steampunk gadgets. The key element of the setting beyond this is a secret war between forces of light and darkness. If your curious about other attempts at wild world-building and know German, it might be interesting to check out.

4. Fabulas

(2007, Victoriana) A Spanish rpg blending alt history with exploration of fairy tales. I don't think I can top the summary offer by the author, "Fables: exploits of the Storytellers Society. Are fables just fables, or views of a greater reality? Could it be that anything narrated in the stories of old hid a terrible and marvelous truth, at the same time? Do you want to believe, or will you ignore the events you've witnessed?

Fairy tales beings, legendary creatures and magic objects are amongst us. And you look for them purposefully. The Storytellers Society needs ladies and gentlemen of unusual talents to help them face that part of reality the common man doesn't dare to glimpse. When the gaslight goes out, who looks at you from the shadows...? Fables is a roleplaying game for two or more players which recreates the adventures of the Storytellers Society, daring investigators and wise studious of the unreal and the mythical, mainly ignored by Humanity but transmitted through folklore as archaic superstitions or children stories.

Working with secrecy behind their masquerade as an editorial of fairy tales and folklore, the agents of the Society investigate in the corners of the mortal world all kind of strange events looking for traces of supernatural activity, to learn and mediate if possible. Or to fight fire with fire, if there is not alternative. Set in the 19th century, Fables places the players between the dirty grey of the real world and the blinding shine of the unreal originality of creatures and environments characteristic of the fairy tales. But unlike most fairy tales, there isn't always a happy end. Based on the Fudge system."

5. Legacy of the Rose

(2007, Post-Victoriana) Technically this falls outside of the classic Victoriana period. AKA Fellowship of the White Star, this d20 setting offers a supernatural investigation campaign frame. The game covers the period from 1905 to 1914. That's an interesting coda to the Victorian era- covering a period often ignored in gaming. This is a slightly alt-history setting, with secret horrors behind the veil of everyday life. This is a striking labor of love clearly for the publishers- with an ongoing set of campaign adventures which update and move the story forward. That seems to be continuing, with the company now up to 1909. You can check out the website here. MJ Harnish has a review of the core book here- Review: Fellowship of the White Star - Legacy of the Rose.

6. Magicians of England

(2007, Pre-Victoriana) Here's another case where I break rules- two at once with this one. It is a free pdf game, and one which covers the pre-Victorian period. But the material and idea's a compelling one- essentially a framework to play out Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. But the bibliography cites a number of Victorian sources as well. I think you can read this as a set rules for that era as well. Gentlemen (and Gentle Ladies) Magicians living and encountering the strange in their daily lives. The key conceit of the material is that magic is risky and dangerous. I wonder if one could mash this up with Ars Magica a little- with magic much more unpredictable and dangerous, yet harnessed by a set of people certain in their own skill and superiority.

7. Tenra War

(2007, Steampunk-esque) Another Japanese tabletop rpg with steampunk elements. From Wikipedia, "Tenra War is a Japanese mixed-genre tabletop role-playing game designed by Jun'ichi Inoue and FarEast Amusement Research. It was released in April 2007. It is a triple crossover product, based on an oriental science fantasy RPG Tenra Bansho, steampunk western RPG Terra the Gunslinger, and post-apocalypse mecha RPG Angel Gear. All three of the original games were designed by Jun'ichi Inoue." So is that more like Rifts or like crossover videogames (Cross Edge or Project X Zone)? I like the concept of a mash up of popular rpg franchises- imagine the Vampire, Pathfinder, and Apocalypse World game.

8. Unhallowed Metropolis

(2007, Steampunk-esque/Victoriana) I picked up Unhallowed Metropolis on the strength of the packaging and some word of mouth. I expected a Victorian-era game with some dystopian elements- perhaps a supernatural threat (Zombies vs Gentlemen?). What those who recommended the game to me hadn't mentioned was the Neo-Victorian setting- with the game actually set in 2100. As with Etherscope, the game presents a world which has somehow stuck with the look and feel of the era decade later. The game wants to have the look of steampunk combined with horror and some science-fiction elements. However I'm not entirely convinced those add much to the setting- or at the very least they could have easily been done with a less outrageous gap in time. But I know that's a personal reaction and quirk.

An undead outbreak at the beginning of the 20th Century threw the world into disarray. Two hundred years later, cities remain as the refuges for a society which has built itself out of old pieces, weird tech, and occult practices. The feel's one of decay and death, and it reminds me most of a/state, though done with less surrealism and weirdness. Still, Unhallowed Metropolis focuses on atmosphere over coherence. It reminds me a little of Dark City, a cool-looking film that had me going s'wha? throughout. Unhallowed metropolis has seen a resurgence in recent years- with the property now in the hands of Atomic Overmind Press. A new supplement, Unhallowed Necropolis, greatly expands the supernatural options for the game.

9. Gearcraft

(2008, Steampunk) Subtitled "Amazing Machines and their Construction." Described as a steampunk sourcebook for True20, this mostly focuses on the technological side of things. Not that that's a bad thing. It offers interesting systems and ideas for areas the core True20 rules treats only lightly- vehicles, technology, and devices. That's the kind of thing that often made my head simple in earlier "stuff" construction sourcebooks for generic systems (like GURPS GURPS Vehicles (First Edition) or GURPS Mecha). This offers lighter options. It is a pretty small volume, only 48 pages, but what's there is densely packed in. The pdf's priced at $12 on RPGNOw which seems a little high. I'm fond of simple systems to handle these kinds of concepts, so I'm more sympathetic towards it. By its nature True20 doesn't allow too much over-elaboration (well, except perhaps for the True20 Expert's Handbook...)

10. Ghosts of Albion

(2008, Victorian) A game which took a long time to actually see print. The demo pack for it appeared four years before this saw print. Ghosts of Albion uses Cinematic Unisystem to present a Victorian supernatural investigation campaign, based on the IP created by Amber Benson and Christopher Golden. (I use the term IP very particularly). The slightly out-of-date wikipedia page has more details. Players can play normal humans or supernatural beings. This is a classic core book-  complete rules, setting material, running a game, etc. I wouldn't recommend it as a sourcebook for the period; other games provide richer material. However, if you're looking for a fast and complete Victorian game with supernatural elements, Ghosts of Albion works.

11. Opus Anima

(2008, Steampunk) Another interesting German steampunk rpg. The publisher's blurb (as translated by Google) reads, "In a world where everything counts etiquette and powerful steam technology has become indispensable in all areas of life, the Maata wander through the shadows: The Soulless. In search of her lost soul they have to endure terrible danger, but the reward is worth the effort. Take back your soul. Are you completely. Explore the world Kuriph-Aleph as a person or a member of four unique races! Set out on a seven ways to regain their soul and use their bizarre supernatural abilities! Experience rousing battles with the tactical PAI system, both on the battlefield and in the social theater!"

Though hard to tell from that, this game is horror. The PCs have their souls splintered which allows them to see behind the veil. The setting itself seems to be a shattered science-fantasy world inspired by Victoriana. It echoes the "New Weird" steampunk of Mieville.

12. Steamworks

(2008, Steampunk-esque) A strikingly pragmatic d20 sourcebook. Steamworks presents a fully developed set of systems to drop technology into a fantasy campaign. In some ways, it treats technology as a form of magic- though it  offers some spells for existing classes. It has two new core classes- Inventor and Technologist. I'm still not certain what really distinguishes one from the other. The book has new skills, feats, and prestige classes, but bulk deals with construction rules and example devices. The rules here are detailed and focuses on system mechanics. d20 gamers will find decent material, but gamers from other systems may not find this as useful.

13. Sundered Skies

(2008, Steampunk-esque) This setting is at the fringes of steampunk, but it certainly borrows a few design elements. That comes by way of Final Fantasy rather than Victoriana. The world's shattered, with deadly magical radiation permeating the skies. The lands remain as floating islands and travel between them utilizes sky-ships and magical vessels. The material's pretty brutal and dark when you look closely. Some of the racial options and world-building here is clever and novel (their version of the Elves and the created subject races particularly offers great concepts). To me, the steampunk comes from the look and concepts. Gadgets and gear have that mixed fantasy and tech look to them. As with many Savage Worlds setting books, Sundered Skies offers a complete campaign arc story. This has been supplemented by a couple of products including Sundered Skies Companion, Sundered Skies: Compendium 1, and Sundered Skies: Compendium 2.

14. Sweet Chariot

(2008, Steampunk-esque) Technically this should have appeared on an earlier list for the first edition. But author clash bowley was nice enough to send me a pdf of this revised edition of Sweet Chariot. Subtitled "A World of Steam and Sparks", this offers a more classic sci-fi take. Chariot's one world among a the colonized star system of Gloria. A combination of cultural manipulation and limited technologies result in a patchwork civilization echoing the 19th Century. As opposed to other anachronistic games, Sweet Chariot has some logic for why the world looks as it does. That throwback society mixes with aliens, advanced steamtech, and the wild nature of the planet itself.

While that premise is interesting, it takes some time to get a picture of what the Sweet Chariot's about. The game builds in a great deal of backstory- there's the sense of campaign notes assembled. It reads more like a novel than a campaign frame. You have to make your way through a lot of material which will be irrelevant to play to get to what's going on. That is bowley's style- and one he's spoken about as a conscious approach. My sense, and I'm probably badly paraphrasing him here, is that he wants to put out this dense material for the players/GM and let them carve the game they want from that. That can be offputting for those expecting a more conventional game design and presentation.

History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part One 1983-1996)

History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part Two 1997-2003)

History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part Three 2004-2006)
History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part Four 2007-2008)
History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part Five 2009)

History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part Six 2010)
History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part Seven 2011)

History of Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs (Part Eight 2012)
The Year in Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs 2013 (Part One: Äther, Dampf und Stahlgiganten to Owl Hoot Trail)
The Year in Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs 2013 (Part Two: Pure Steam to World of Steamfortress Victory)
The Year in Steampunk & Victoriana RPGs 2014
History of Post-Apocalyptic RPGs
History of Horror RPGs
History of Superhero RPGs
History of Wild West RPGs
History of Universal RPGs