So, not quite a year ago I got Uber Goober's Steampunk RPG... and hated it.  I may or may not have done a review of it... I remember writing it but not necessarily posting it... and all that.

However, I only mention this because it serves as an interesting case to illustrate the point I intend to make now that I've got some cider in me and a good boiling head of nerdrage built up. Yeah.

So: Genre. Those of you who have paid attention to my various rantings over the years (and seriously?: Creepy. Go stalk someone else...), may realize that I have a generalize dislike of the word Genre. Not because it is a bad word, but because people misuse the concept of genre all the time... they create with an eye on 'Genre', which is a post facto pigeon hole that honestly should be divorced from the creative impulse, but that is neither here nor there.  Steampunk is, in fact, a Genre... a post facto catagorization of various fictive works, and thus is subject to at least some stringent rules of catagorization that do not, should not, apply to purely fictive works. And by naming itself after the Genre, and setting itself up as a sort of generic genre work, teh Steampunk RPG is ideally positioned like few other creative works to be judged on that metric.

Of course, I have no real authority to pronounce judgement on what is, or is not Steampunk, thus I will endeavor to 'back mah shit up' with some reason and logic and general belligerent persuasiveness.  

Steampunk, like many 'genres' formed more or less organically, and as such it has gone through a few growing pains over the years as the 'culture' shaped itself. It is far more a cultural movement than a fictive one, more akin after a fashion with Furry fandom than with, say, Jedi fandom. That may seem somewhat insulting, but I don't really care about that. What I'm saying is not that Steampunkers have weird sexual fetishes that they insist on parading about in public as a valid lifestyle choice (or whatever...), but rather than Steampunk started as a sort of costume dressup and makebelieve, supported by art and later fiction, rather than growing out of fiction and art until it took a life of its own. THis does mean that there is no one single seminal source of the 'genre', and that the real fans can be quite disconnected from various exemplar works.  The real heart of the 'movement' seems to be costumers and club crowds as much as readers and gamers and so forth.

So what is Steampunk? What defines it?  

Well, the most obvious and facile answer is that it is an aesthetic informed by victorian or edwardian fashions combined with alternative technologies, often in the form of supersciences, largely utilizing steam, alchemy (in some cases) and Tesla style elctrical devices.  There are people who would break down the word and explaine the punk aesthetic, but those people are pretentious choads, so instead I'll say that the idea of 'punk' in Steampunk actually refers to a sort of cyber-punk aesthetic that snuck in. Cybersteam sounds silly, so Steam punk it was, as many early steampunk works heavily focused on some form or another of human augmentation (which is not to be confused with the smaller catagory of augmentation via cybernetics, or steam-netics I guess...), which is still prevalent in some versions of Steampunk.

However, the focus on Edwardian or Victorian fashion is slightly misguided. Wild Wild West is a sort of steampunk classic, and it was a western. One could argue for a Steam-Western, but I find that level of subdivision actually... divisive.  I'd rather point out that Steampunk's aesthetic does come from a mid to late 1800s western civilization standpoint, largely of British extraction (but steampunk prussians are legit, so still...).  British and American steampunk are essentially the focus, however.

Rather more controversial is my own personal thesis: Most of the Steampunk crowd are extremely careful craftsmen, very detail oriented. While they may pick and chose somewhat freely from historical details, their addition of the fantasic means that that freedom must be informed by a sense of restraint, an informal code of ethics that permits and refuses certain elements. That code of restraint is largely cultural, a good part of the movement is informed by a sense of nostalgia for 'better times', things we have discarded in the name of progress, like honor, are preserved, while technology progresses along alternative lines.  I feel this is actually somewhat important, both the level of detail found among true afficionados of Steampunk, the craftsmanship they show, and also the idea that they've rejected general progress for older notions of propriety which is why they've focused on alternative technological progress.  Cleaner tech, more culturally in tune tech. Individual mad science instead of cold sterile corporate R&D labs. Many of the technologies that have not be given analogs in Steampunk are indicative. Steampunk computers are almost unheard of. Steampunk cellphones even moresoe.  It is a fantasy, and escape from a stressful and unloved modernity... yet one where messy modern ideals can still be used with a wink and a nod, such as equality for women. I could argue that this is more because women love dress up more than men, and men love women who share their geek love more than they love the political implications of trying to keep historically true in their fantasies, but that is neither here nor there... its merely one such example. Most steampunkers aren't terribly interested in realistic depictions of class based deference either... at least not unless they can be the nobles.

In RPGs, the best Steampunk RPGs never set out to consciously fit that genre.  Deadlands didn't do a bad job with its mad scientists, though hardly ideal, what with its focus on dirty gunslingers being dirty and sweaty in the dirt (most Steampunk stuff is amazingly clean, I will note.).  Iron Kingdoms is very good steampunk (despite crossing one of my canons later...), and I'm not convinced that 'being steampunk' was the goal. I think they started with the premise of steam powered robots and it sort of ballooned from there. I personally would count Victoriana, despite an almost utter lack of actual steam or punk in the book, if only due to the fantastic elements of an otherwise completely straight Victorian setting.  I already mentioned Deadlands.

Steampunk, naturally, set out to be a Steampunk RPG, and while MOST of my problems with it came from the system (which, to be honest, I have a hard time remembering after more than an hour of not looking at it. Seriously non-intuitive to me...), I loathed the presented 'setting' almost as much.

Let me compare Victoriana to Steampunk.

Steampunk has zepplins and elves and dwarves and fairies n'shit in a loosely detailed analog to a victorian sort of world (with murdered doxies in the streets and consulting detectives and so forth), with a very heavy emphasis on very loosely defined steam-tech, more towards the 'punk end of the spectrum.  Partly because the Uber Goober system seems to rely on giving you a shopping list of effects and letting the player build the set dressing there is very little governing the actual science, other than magically radioactive copper in place of coal (clean, not modern, technology!).

Victoriana is, however, played completely straight with an analog alternative world that is reconizably our own. It has elves and dwarves and fairies n'shit, including murdered doxies in teh streets and consulting detectives.  The tech however, appears almost entirely historically accurate for a game of this sort, as is largely the culture (wimmens in their place, even!, Classism! Racism!), so only the intrusion of the fantastic makes it other than a truly historical setting.  So we could say the focus more on teh Steam (as in Steam Era) end of the spectrum. So much so that calling Victoriana 'steampunk' at all is probably mildly controversial.  

The key difference between the two winds up not being the technology level (which clearly wouldn't favor the played-straight Victoriana anway), but the actual effort to capture the 'victorian world'.  In that regards Unhallowed Metropolis (which I generally disliked) is a much better Steampunk RPG than Steampunk RPG, despite a generally wonky 'writing off' of the rest of the world, and advancing the timeline a few centuries, and UM has some absolutley terrible ideas in it (like... ah... mary sue classes with non-specific super knives that no one else can use. Because.).

This does go back, ironically, to one of my personal peeves. People, and cultures, are defined largely by their tools and their history (mostly tools for RPGs sake...).  Steampunk can't offer much history because their setting is so blandly, generically, Not-Earth, and they can't offer much for technology because their system is basically player defined from Champion style rules effects (without, you know, Champion style rigorous math. Or organizations that could be quickly used to explain the mad science, or whatever.).  It is, in something of an utter counterpoint to the entire movement, slovenly.  It is more quintessentially modern in its rather blase approach to almost every detail, only appropriating the most superficial aspects of Steampunk at that, and then, in the name of bland genericism, diluting it with a sort of 'anything goes' mentality that excuses the blithe use of magic critters and potentially furries.  In trying to be any Steampunk setting, it winds up being no Steampunk at all.

And thus reinforces my point: Aesthetic matters.

Crucially: If steampunk arose from an admiration of the aesthetic style of Victorian Era England and America, and emulation of that style, if not fidelity to actual history, is important, than STYLE is one of the defining elements.

The Style of the day was very stiff and formal compared modern fashion, and in emulation of that even the least historic costumer still spends an inordinant amount of time ensuring his 'look' is right. Proper, buttoned up, neat.  Slack is permitted in some cases, and posh isn't required, but care is. they are playing a role, and they want to look the part.

Following the emulation of style is emulation of traits of the era, cultural signifiers, things people can be nostalgic for without feeling guilty about it. Honor and dignity, a certain formal politeness. By extension, the Culture of the Era is important, or at least a reasonable facsimile of the best aspects of the culture of the era.

The technological trappings are actually third, last if you like, on our list of elements.  I would hold that a historically accurate posh victorian outfit would go over better in a Steampunk crowd than someone in jeans and a t-shirt with a copper steap powered gauntlet and a tesla-coil cannon. Prove me wrong.

Thus Steampunk RPG and a few other properties work rather backwardsly towards their goal, focusing on the last and least element to the detriment of the other two.. and of course, by focusing on genre conventions rather than doing a good job.

So, back to the beginning: what makes a good Steampunk RPG then? What are the canon elements?

I believe that a good Steampunk RPG would use a large number of elements off of the following list, but that trying to keep all of them, or excessive fidelity to them, is problematic.

In no particular order of significance:

Steam powered technology, in advance of historical norms. Tesla based electricity and alchemical monstrosities are both permissable, but steam tech is a must, lose points of no one has to grab a shovel and fill the furnace.

Set in an alternative real world, in necessary advancing the time line, but not the culture from the mid to late eighteen hundreds or pre-World War I nineteen hundreds.  Lose points if it is not actually set in the Anglosphere (with apologies to any Russian, or whomever,  Steampunk afficionados. You are welcome to come up with your own take on teh genre to compete with this trope. Steam-Meiji Japan has been done, and works well, so its doable.).  Vague analogs do not count.

An emphasis on retro cultural traits, such as high culture, honor and dignity and so forth.  Rose tinted revisionism may actually be worth bonus points.

An emphasis on the style of the era, or an idealized fantastic take on the style of the era. I submit that aviator style goggles with smoked glass lenses are MUCH more popular among Steampunk fans than they ever were in real life. Ditto tophats, canes and corsets as outer-garments.  Proper historicity is less important than looking excellent.

Metallic palette dominated by copper and brass.  Green and smoke for glass objects. De-emphasis the chromes and when possible eliminate plastics (Even historically accurate plastics), though some rubber is acceptable, and in some cases encouraged.

Psuedo sciences from the era are encouraged to be correct to some degree. Lost continents, philosopher stone alchemy, mesmerism, phrenology, tarot divininations, golden dawn heremeticism... all have their place. If not actually true (and without lost continents I submit you actually have gone too far!), then characters at least should have every reason to respect that they Might Be True.

Emphasis on development of outmoded transportation. Trains and zepplins, steam ships and so forth.  Steam powered autos are permitted if rare and exotic, while horse and buggy, or some strange steam-tech version of a horse and buggy may be preferrable.

Above all, an emphasis on presentation. Style counts for a lot.




Note: This is hardly a definitive list by any means.  Iron Kingdoms is a pretty good Steampunk while only barely hitting a few elements on the list, but filling in by capturing the feel of the (actually an earlier era!) on a grander scale. Of course, they put a lot into the presentation, into Style, and they did hit the steamtech pretty hard.

One thing about my list that I will not revise is the exclusion of fantasy elements from the list.  Alchemical monsters (frankenstein) chthloid horror and even fucking elves all can fit in Steampunk just fine. They do not, however, define or create it. They can, if misused, seriously detract from it. Likewise hard coded magic (to include psychic powers beyond mesmerism) are also excluded as neither helping define or exclude a property. In using our 'textbook case' of a 'bad Steampunk product' I can then submit that they spent too much time on their fantastic elements and not enough trying to capture the era, but most of all, it lacked a certain panache in the presentation.

Note, by my own list Victoriana (which I held up in counterpoint) utter fails as well, but then I admitted plainly that it was mostly a better than Steampunk because it captured the ethos better, not because it was an ideal Steampunk game. Given what a fractious and bitchy lot we gamers are, I doubt we will ever see the definitive Steampunk game.

So here's me, doing my part.  Discuss.

Quote from: Spike;642796So, not quite a year ago [...] Discuss.

Gah! Long! Will read later!

One comment, re: Westerns.

The time frame for Steampunk is typically Victoriana (works like Ghosts of Manhattan aside.) Victoriana typically is set in 1870 to 1899. (Or thereabouts. You know. Roughly.)

The time frame of the Western genre is... roughly 1870's to 1890's. So, you know, there's some general overlap there, and many consciously Steampunk works are set in the American west. (Though, usually without the genre trappings of the Western.) Boneshaker, by Cherie Priest, is one such book. (It's kind of Deadlands without the magic and monsters. Other than zombies.)

Which brings up an excellent point: whatever the origins of Steampunk (I'd point out The Difference Engine as originating the name, because it involved not just steam-tech Victoriana with hackers, er, clackers, but it was also written by Cyberpunk giants William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, which made the name practically inevitable.) as a lifestyle movement ("When Goths discover the color brown."), it is quite consciously a literary movement now. Many writers consciously write steampunk novels. So, you know, it is a literary thing, now.

(Added, the complications of retroactive recognition of pre-existing works as Steampunk. Just to fudge with the scholars here.)

EDIT: Now I've read it all.

A long rant where the OP does capture the ideals of Steampunk but then contradicts himself several times, even acknowledging this, whereby his personal tastes overwrite the conclusions he has reached.

There are lots of Steampunk style games out there and many have different slants to them. I must admit to not being a huge fan of trying to do a Steampunk world and then just slapping Elves and Dwarves into it. This is one of the reasons I haven't bought a number of Steampunk styled games (Uber Steampunk, Telara, Victoriana, Iron Kingdoms). They often seem to be needless grafts onto a Steampunk setting and in my opinion do not really add much to them. If I wanted to play an Elf or a Dwarf then I'd choose a fantasy setting to do it in.

Good post, Spike! Enlightening!

Not an expert on Steampunk myself, I may have read a novel or two in the "genre" and of course I love Wells and Verne but. Thus good to get critical info!

I love Spike's screeds but they're too damn long. This was a good one.

Spike, you say good things about Victoriana. What's the system like? And does it support a mad scientist/inventor type character a la Deadlands'?

Hmm... I don't actually like the system, actually, Butcher. Mind you, I think I have two copies of the damn thing (I was busy and distracted whilst browsing game stores...), but I couldn't find either one after hours of searching my house during the writing.

As I recall its a smallish dice pool system. As noted, I was more impressed with the effort that went into detailing the setting and integrating the fantasitic elements as natural parts of the setting.

Pre-submission update: Found it under a guest's jacket! haha.  Yes, it appears to be a fixed TN dice pool system using d6's, where successes are counted. It also appears to have an opposition roll made by the GM for difficult tasks, which removes successes.  Dice pools have an unknown cap*, but five seems to be relatively substantial

*unknown because I am somewhat rushed and don't have time to delve deeply into the system for something that may not be hard coded (written down) in the book.

For me one of the main pillars of steampunk (and the one that puts the 'punk' in the title) is the sudden rapid advance in technology over the course of the 19th century. Advances had been incremental until then, someone from the 11th century wouldn't feel terribly out of place in the 18th, even guns were more or less flint and steel mechanisms.

Then suddenly you have self powered locomotives, you have Jules Verne dreaming about going to the moon, you have arcing electricity dancing around men in cages, phones, lightbulbs, wireless transmission, Tesla, and much more. The sudden explosion of technology challenged the old order and in ways began the process of democratising living standards and by extension political power. Therein lies the punk.

Gentleman-scientists, bold adventurers, explorers armed with new technology setting forth to fill in the blank spaces on the map, lone iconic figures standing up against the accepted order, even when they are part of it, maverick geniuses testing theories, this is the heart of steampunk.

It annoys me greatly when some abuse the genre for grubby nationalistic bombast, that's not what it's about, particularly when you consider the many atrocities that took place in the name of progress during that era, the barbarism of centuries past magnified a thousandfold by growing industrial might, excused by deliberate wilful blindness to any moral implications.

It's about the dawning light of a new age, except in steampunk the wildest imaginings of visionaries of the time are actually real, and the world is somehow stuck in this age of discovery for longer than in the real world.

I love Steampunk and would love to mix it with a failing Russianesque dynastic setting (in the way Warhammer uses Germany). Difference Engine meets Nikolai Dante, or something.

Wow, long analysis for what is essentially a craft culture that emerged out of the Goth movement.

Steampunk is entirely a visual movement, and has no inherent philosophy, or even music, associated with it. I find that quite extraordinary, and am still not sure what that says about our current culture.

I've never tried a steampunk style setting or game but would love to play in one just to try it out some day.

Tsars commission a Difference Engine, then another, then another, then "network" them together and "outthink" the coming Revolution, manage to shore up the Empire by creating economic plans that actually work thanks to the advantage created by the D-Es.  Tsarist Russia lasts well into the 20th century, no WW1 (or one easily dealt with by the Imperial Russian Army and it's Engine-designed equipment, and Engine-plotted strategies), no WW2.  

It's 1950, and copies of the Difference Engine have sprung up worldwide.  An expansionist America has absorbed Mexico and Central America and is eyeing South America greedily after only just losing a trade war (that had actual hot war bits) with Britain in the 1930s.  Japan has firmly allied itself with the US, determined to drag itself out of the 1880s once and for all.  The British Empire is ossified and crumbling but still holding firmly to Canada, Australia and tenaciously to India - although that last colony is more like Canada is now (the British Engine accurately calculating that Gandhi's rising popularity would eventually force them to relinquish power there).

The German Union - including Austrio-Poland and Hungary - has one of the most compact and powerful Engines of all (occupying a mere two thousand square meters, capable of over a hundred thousand calculations per minute, despite the best efforts of Russian agents.  A good portion of the Engine's calculating power, however, isn't devoted to central planning, but rather given over to the scientific pursuits of von Braun and Einstein, both of whom have discussed intriguing ideas regarding planetary exploration and the energy sources capable of propelling a craft through space...

...

There's some steampunk for ya, not set in Victorian times.

Quote from: Anon Adderlan;642940Wow, long analysis for what is essentially a craft culture that emerged out of the Goth movement.

Steampunk is entirely a visual movement, and has no inherent philosophy, or even music, associated with it. I find that quite extraordinary, and am still not sure what that says about our current culture.

Not entirely true. There is a literary tradition/genre which was jokingly called "steampunk", and it kind of stuck, and then there is also the fashion movement of the same name. They have not that much to do with each other.

Notably, the first wave of "steampunk" sci-fi isn't actually punk on any level, as the name was essentially a joke.

What's interesting is that we now have a wave of fiction which is more aligned to steampunk-fashion than it is to past steampunk-fiction. Or to put it another way - a lot of modern steampunk fiction is actually now a bit more punk, and also more prone to extraneous pointless gears.

Quote from: Anon Adderlan;642940Wow, long analysis for what is essentially a craft culture that emerged out of the Goth movement.

Steampunk is entirely a visual movement, and has no inherent philosophy, or even music, associated with it. I find that quite extraordinary, and am still not sure what that says about our current culture.

I believe I actually covered that with my overemphasis on 'style' and the importance of visual presentation. I believe I also covered the social and cultural reasoning that seems to underly the cultural adoptions of the craft/costume based movement wrt nostaligic mannerisms.


'round these parts I'm famous for turning one sentance ideas into turgid, wordy grindfests.  Debates between me and, say, John Morrow would turn into marathon matches to see who got exhausted and quit first.  Usually me, since I don't have his library of ready links to toss up in a hurry.

It's funny to see Moorcock's Warlord of the Air books being republished and branded as Steampunk. I wonder how well his avidly political approach will go over with the Steampuk as aesthetic crowd.

Quote from: Haffrung;642966It's funny to see Moorcock's Warlord of the Air books being republished and branded as Steampunk. I wonder how well his avidly political approach will go over with the Steampuk as aesthetic crowd.

Haha yes.
It's been awhile since I read'em, but they're great fun, good books.
Wells has been considered "Steanpunk" for awhile hasn't he and I Believe he was more outspoken politically than Moorcock...but, of course, century ago etc.