Science and Sorcery

In this post, we will attempt to lay out the technology level in Disposable Steampunk World, several ways in which technology blends with magic, and any new styles of magic unique to the setting (or worthwhile twists on extant magic systems).  I stated at the outset that this blog would attempt to remain free of "system bias," but the magic rules of the particular game in which this setting is to be explored are central to the system, so I'm sure there will be a bit of mechanical discussion present in this post.  I'll count it as a minor failure, but one that would have been very difficult to avoid.

First, let's lay out some of the areas where great advancements were made during the Victorian era (the era to which "Steampunk" fiction is generally understood to correspond) or immediately before or after.  We can discuss in the comments why these advancements may or may not be desirable in the setting.  Next, we'll explore ways to meld them with the fantastic setting using staples of the genre (most notably magic). The comments section will also provide an area to discuss how the arcane arts might in turn be affected by the advancement of science, and propose and discuss methods of or approaches to magic which might be unique to Disposable Steampunk World. 

Technologies

1. Transportation - The steam engine made railways and steam ships possible, and canals and stage coaches came into widespread use.  Airships are another staple of steampunk, with the first dirigibles having appeared before the Victorian era and rigid airships not having truly made an appearance until shortly after. The earliest automobiles also made their appearance during this time.
2. Communication - The first postage stamp, the telegraph, the telephone, and photography all made an appearance during this time. Advertising reared its ugly head.
3. Computing - The analytical engine and the difference engine were both described during this era, and various attempts were made at building both with differing amounts of success. 
4. Sanitation - There were major advancements in sewage and water supply networks.  Soap was one of the items most associated with the new art of advertisement. 
5. Quality of Life - Gas light and gas heat both made their appearance.  
6. Medicine - Anesthetics (such as ether and chloroform) and antiseptics both came into widespread use during the Victorian era.
7. Weaponry - What every gamer has been waiting for - how are we killing one another?  With single shot, muzzle loaded flintlock firearms for one, even including the occasional rifle.  With the heavy polearms required to face men wearing the advanced plate armor which is available in this age.  With dueling blades or pistols, in our leisure time.  

Magical Technologies

1.  Transportation - Teleportation: let's talk about it.  It seems to me to suck some of the fun out of the steampunk genre, but at least one of you has a well-formed and compelling argument in favor of teleportation.  Coaches drawn by tireless constructs, airships pulled by flying monsters, there are almost too many interesting possibilities here.
2.  Communication - Telegraph stations could be replaced or augmented by magical messaging stations, or by some fantasy equivalent of the pony express.  Photography might compete against permanent illusions peddled by enterprising sorcerers.  
3. Computing - I'm at a complete loss, here.  Anyone?
4. Sanitation - Several staples of the fantasy genre might have an effect here.  The bag of holding, the ability to create clean water... 
5. Quality of Life - Light is a small feat for the average wizard, so some upper-class homes may be lit magically.  Heat is slightly more difficult, but doable.  
6. Medicine - This is a difficult one.  Magical healing in many fantasy settings completely replaces medicine.  I think that, in Steampunk City, spellcasters have to be rare.  Sure, there are hundreds of clergy, but a very small percentage of them are spellcasting clerics.  Enough so that magical healing is present, but not available on a widespread scale.  
7. Weaponry - Of course.  +1 Pistols and a Thundering 18 Pounder.  Emberstone itself might be a pseudo-magical material, infusing many of the technologies it powers (including firearms) with a trace of magic.  

As always, please weigh in with your thoughts.  This exercise is pointless otherwise.  

  

Who Lives Here?

I thought about mapping out Steampunk City as the next part of our project, but in the end I decided that the city's physical layout ought to be informed by its social layout.  I'm told that the map is still being worked on by the great mind I mentioned in the December 3rd update, but for now we'll press on into races and factions.

Races

A setting that combines fantasy and steampunk allows for a great variety of races.  There are certain ones that are "musts," and I'll sort through a few others we're going to include or exclude.  Each will be accompanied by a brief outline of their situation and role in Steampunk City.  This is by no means a comprehensive list - if you have an interesting idea for a race, or a race that better fills one of the mentioned roles, throw it up in a comment and we'll see what we can do!

• Humans - Humans are the natural "urban" race, and a staple of both fantasy and steampunk.  They will form the largest section of the city's (and likely the world's) population, and be spread throughout every stratus of society from the highest to the lowest.  
• Dwarves - Dwarves will fulfill a role similar to their fantasy staple - skilled, dependable, and tough.  There will likely  be a "dwarven quarter" in Steampunk City where the affluent can find master craftsmen, experts in various "traditional" dwarven fields, a fashionable drinking establishment, and a good few professional soldiers.  The typical dwarf is fairly well-off compared to the average citizen of Steampunk City, due to the demand for their expertise and a strong cultural belief in taking care of one another.  This causes a bit of tension between dwarves and nearly every other race in the city.
• Goblins - The running joke is that goblins are the second most populous race in Steampunk City, after rats.  Possessed of a racial aptitude with the mechanical, they fall naturally into the role of tinkers or handymen.  They are derided as thieves and vagrants (and rightly so), but they are also crafty, clannish, and have useful skills if one can deal with them without being swindled.
• Elves - A short time ago (two or three human generations), a yet-to-be-defined calamity befell Disposable Steampunk World's largest elven kingdom.  In the time since, there has been a huge influx of elves into Steampunk City.  Now, elves come in two varieties.  First are the wealthy, fashionable, noble elves who comprised the ruling class of Fae Kingdom (are we noticing an issue with naming?) who blended in seamlessly with the aristocracy of Steampunk City.  They are highly regarded by artists, scholars, and philosophers - the one fashionable accessory which never goes out of style is an Elven acquaintance.  The second sort of elf in Steampunk City is the desperate refugee who fled Fae Kingdom with nothing.  Unable to blend into Steampunk City's largely utilitarianist society, they are now among the poorest of the poor.  The "gutter elf" scrapes out a miserable existence in elven ghettos, he may live in even worse conditions than the goblins. 
• Halflings - Halflings in Steampunk City.  One of the PC's is going to be one, so this is subject to discussion with him.  I'm thinking though, that there is a small and tight-knit community of halflings which thrives in a warren in the catacombs beneath Steampunk City (where they are safe, due to an arrangement with the Rat Catchers' Union).  They are generally considered to be charming and genial, an image they cultivate purposefully.  The average halfling is a non-standard member of Steampunk City's professional class, working as a rat catcher, sewer worker, chimney sweep, or some other semi-skilled labor position.  
• Grimlocks - Atypically (compared to most fantasy settings), there is a large population of Grimlocks in Steampunk City.  They are little better than a slave labor force, most living out their entire lives as indentured servants drawn to the city by Big Mining Company (again with needing names) with a promise of safety and comfort.  They mine emberstone in return for barely adequate food and lodging, and are hereditarily owned by the company until they are able to purchase their freedom.  As the only "civilized" race immune to Eyeburn (an aggressive and fast-acting analog to blacklung), they fill an essential role. 
• Half Elves and Half-Orcs - These races work fairly well as written in the traditional fantasy settings.  Worth mentioning is that the social conditions make for a large population of half-elves spanning every niche from belle of the ball, to lowest of the low, to bastard embarrassment to an upper-class family.
• Humanoids - The vast tracts of wilderness surrounding Steampunk City are home to many different barbaric humanoid tribes.  Dominant races include orcs, gnolls, bugbears and the noble but savage minotaurs.  
• Gnomes - What about the gnomes?  Everyone loves the gnomes.  No, no, I love them too.  I never intended to exclude them, I just thought of them as a race that blended into the city well.  A race of individuals, much like humans, that would fill several roles and occupy a niche not substantially different than their usual one in a fantasy setting. 

Factions

To create the sort of background I want for the campaign, it will be necessary to have a number of different factions pulling the characters in different directions, striving toward various goals, and generally creating drama in the setting.  I'll list them in this post, and continue to update it as new ones arrive.   As always, if you have a good idea, let me know and I'll include it.

• The Government of Steampunk City - The government consists of a mayor, elected by (and from) a council or senate, who are in turn elected by voting members of Steampunk City's populace.  It is truly enormous, with endless bureaucracy and an army of minor functionaries serving the different departments and committees which govern Steampunk City.  It is a government which is feels forced to commit or endorse acts which are morally questionable (or even abhorrent) in order to protect its populace.  Corruption is rampant, though there are officials at every level who are honest and hard-working, genuinely trying to improve or defend the city they live in.
• The Revolution - The group of activists who see the dark side of the government and feel compelled to act (be that out of a sense of civic duty, pity for those trampled on, or a simple desire to seize power in the post-revolution regime).  Members of the revolution range from lower class workers to dilettante aristocrats, and there is a heavy influence from the educated class - philosophers, academics, etc.  They run an underground newspaper, spread anti-government propaganda, and occasionally protest violently.  Perhaps their most visible symbol is the seemingly uncatchable, unkillable, ever-present not-Zoro who steps up from time to time to publicly face the agents of the government (possibly named The Blackthorn?).
•  Big Mining Company - This company has set itself up to be absolutely essential to maintaining the current lifestyle of Steampunk City.  They not only mine the vast majority of the city's emberstone, but also the raw materials for Disposable Steampunk World's analog for gunpowder.  They will stop at nothing to maintain their place of power.
• Rat Catchers' Guild - Contracted to keep a handle on the vermin population of Steampunk City, the Rat Catchers' Guild serves a dual purpose - they work legitimately to control the pest levels in and beneath the city, but they are also control many of the city's organized criminal enterprises, from smuggling to thievery to racketeering to gambling and beyond.  The Rat Catchers' Guild is an equal opportunity organization, though it is worth noting that there are heavy populations of goblins and halflings in the Guild.  No one enters the the catacombs beneath the city without the Guild's permission - or more to the point, no one who does so ever leaves.   
• Church of the Science God - There is a growing movement in Steampunk City (or maybe in Disposable Steampunk World as a whole) which is mingling science and religion - they either believe in science as a religious pursuit, or worship a god of science.  They are at odds with the older religions, and often with one another, as they try to establish their identity as an organization, set doctrine,  and find their niche in the religious community.   
• Gnomish Mining Company - A smaller mining company headquartered in a clock tower roughly in the city center.  The clock face is visible from nearly anywhere in the city, though no one outside their operation is admitted within the tower.  They are experimenting with different solutions to the Eyeburn issue, including enviro-suits and clockwork miners.   
• Fathers of Liberty - A terrorist organization which opposes the government of Steampunk City.  The Fathers of Liberty, and their seemingly immortal figurehead The BlackThorn, have stood against the rulers of Steampunk City for  over one hundred years.  In that time, The BlackThorn has come to be considered a hero by some, a rogue by others.  His (or her) methods are ever changing, his motives (and perhaps even his goals beyond striking at the government) are unclear, but he is a relentless opponent of Steampunk City's government.

Of course, these are just the beginning.  If you're reading this, I'm looking forward to your contributions!

In Which Themes are Discussed

In this second post, I'll discuss a few themes that I'd like to include in the upcoming campaign I'm looking at running.  In building a world from scratch I'd normally want to start with the PC's and work backward from there, but in this case I've only received one really solid idea from a player so far.  I'm in love with that character (whom I'll discuss momentarily), but the absence of others has forced me to look elsewhere for inspiration.  Fortunately for me, yesterday I was able to call upon what I believe to be one of the greatest minds in all of gaming, and riffing off each other for a while was very productive.  I've decided on a fantasy/steampunk setting, which I love, because it gives us a ton of options in almost every aspect of the game.

There are a few elements that are central to further development of the setting.

• The first PC sent to me, a barbarian exiled from his tribe for some heinous act he committed.  He's not an evil man, but a man who did an evil thing.  He's trying to atone, but in his mind it's never enough.  He's not stupid, but he is uneducated.  He's unaccustomed to the urban setting, and thinks most 'civilized' folk to be strange.  
• The city where the action begins - we'll call it Steampunk City until someone comes up with a good name for it.  I want to use it (and the PC above) to throw the players a curve ball.  I want to turn the idyllic ruralism of most fantasy on its head, but this will be complicated by a desire to keep the urban settings suitably dark and gritty as well. 
• Order vs. Chaos - I'm thinking the world will be composed of little pockets of civilization surrounded by lawless wilderness on all sides.  Using this, I'll attempt to tell stories where good and evil are important, but ultimately they're sideshows to the struggle of order vs. chaos.  I'd like to explore some of the character interactions you can achieve in that sort of setting, as opposed to a more traditional good guys vs. bad guys setting. 
• The relationship between science and magic.  Works of fantasy often oppose the two - I want to find something more interesting than that.  My pal Dan mentioned a power station where a bound lightning elemental provides the juice.  That sort of thing is exactly what I had in mind. 
• The role of religion in an increasingly modern society.  I want to start with a more Earth-standard version of the polytheistic pantheon, and explore how religion might grow and change (or decline and change) in a world that grows increasingly more reliant on magic and technology.  

 Other ideas will no doubt crop up, and if you're reading this and have an interesting idea, by all means throw it up in the comments section and I'll add it to the list.  I want to build a list of themes and conflicts to draw from before we start work fleshing out the world, in order to make sure that we address the important points while the possibilities are still limitless.  

And We're Off

Let me start off by thanking you.  This is my first tentative step into blogging, so that's a good place to start.  Out of all the blogs out there, you took a minute to look at this one.  There have to be literally dozens of blogs available to look at on the internet, so I appreciate it. 

That said, let's take a look at what got us to this point.  I've been a gamer for almost as long as I can remember - so long that it's ceased to be a hobby and become a part of who I am.  There have been times when I thought I was done with it, but it always turned out that I wasn't.  Now I know myself a bit better, and I realize that it's my creative outlet - something I need in order to be happy.  At this point in my gaming 'career' I have a bit of writing credit under my belt, and those experiences (along with the actual tabletop experience) have helped me come to understand what it is that I enjoy most about gaming.  I did a paid writing gig a while back for a big name company, and that helped me to figure out that I don't enjoy that sort of work.  At least, not done that way.  For me, I think it will always be a hobby.  I've also been part of the design team for a couple of very large convention RPG events, and those were without exception a blast to be part of. 

Now I realize that what I like, what I really love, about my hobby is collaborative storytelling.  Sitting down with a bunch of friends, putting together a set of story elements, and seeing how those play into one another.  A big part of that is building a setting - I think when it's done right, it can be the most collaborative (and therefore for me, the most rewarding) part of a roleplaying game.  In this blog I'll explore that creative process as I develop, hopefully with the help of a couple of readers, one or more game settings.  I'll endeavor to make them as "system neutral" as possible, though I may throw in a few insights as to how I'm approaching things mechanically in one system or another from time to time. 

So, if you're still reading this, let's get to it.