Hello guys! I’m quite new to posting on this site, but here I come.

So, recently, I’ve become quite interested in retrofuturism. I’m DMing a campaign about time-travel, and the subject seems fascinating. I think I’ll include some styles, one way or another. Also, depending on which kind of retrofuturism I use, it may be actually easier to play.
I’ll DM AD&D 2e. Preferably, but people are ok with this system.
It’s amazing how many variants are there: Steampunk, Dieselpunk, Formicapunk, even Stonepunk…
However, there are two of them that, even after a long Google search, I still don’t know what they’re about.
1)   Sandalpunk. I know it’s related to classic times, Ancient Rome and Greece. Some people differentiate between bronzepunk and ironpunk. I want to have a clearer picture about this (just as the other styles). What kind of inventions and anachronisms does a sandalpunk world have? How much “advanced” does this style of retrofuturism get (like, what can they achieve)? And how does it look (and feel) like?
2)   Candlepunk or Castlepunk. Other than the names, I know only that it’s supposed to be the retrofuturism of medieval times. But that doesn’t tell me much about the genre itself. So, what is candlepunk/castlepunk? (Questions made in the previous item are also valid here).
Any help is appreciated.

I'd suggest looking at GURPS Low-Tech for the Sandalpunk questions, as it outlines the differences between bronze age and iron age well.

I'd also suggest GURPS Time Travel for lots of reflections and options about how to run time-travel campaigns.

I've never heard of Candlepunk, Castlepunk, Stonepunk or Formicapunk ... it sounds like the -punk in Steampunk (which doesn't excite me much) has gone berserk in some people's minds, and that a different word would probably have been a better choice for whatever they're trying to convey.

I also find it pretty amazing that someone would be seeking the meaning of niche genres they don't even know about except their weird names - it seems backwards to me, like "I think I want to run Candlepunk, but I have no idea what that means" but I guess it's a way to try to find possibly interesting ideas.

Does -punk in general mean a setting where tech is vaguely modern in abilities but based via creative handwaving on some other technology that wouldn't really work (so everyone has to not care about that), such as steam power & gears? In that case, I would venture a guess that Candlepunk means instead of steam it's magic technology?

Yeah I'm not sure if it's what you're looking for - but maybe check out Hellas: Worlds of Sand and Stone (http://www.hellasrpg.com/)

is that something that fits into "sandalpunk"...

Quote from: Igwilly;947466So, recently, I’ve become quite interested in retrofuturism.

My favorite bit of RPG retrofuturism is Lowell Was Right, which takes a historical set of scientific beliefs and runs with those conclusions and the 'future' they might generate. It's not a '-punk' setting or about a particular visual style... but an alternate reality with alternate laws of nature. Very cool stuff and a bit of a mindbender.

Quote from: tenbones;947516Yeah I'm not sure if it's what you're looking for - but maybe check out Hellas: Worlds of Sand and Stone (http://www.hellasrpg.com/)

is that something that fits into "sandalpunk"...

Hellas is awesome and underloved and one of the weirdest freshest settings I've seen in some time.  But despite having a heavy Greek mythos fantasy vibe (and I mean -heavy-), it's probably too sci-fi and technologically advanced to really fit the "sandalpunk" sub-sub-sub-sub-genre*.  I mean, your character probably goes around in a toga and sandals, and attends a play in the town amphitheater that he walked to (because TVs and cars and such are so... vulgar).  But he also likely has a plasma sword, a robotic servant, and maybe a space ship that can travel at FTL speeds (by going through the Underworld no less!).

Honestly, I'm with Skarg in that it sounds to me the "punk" name is just tacked on to make things sound cooler, by some unclear measure of "cool".

That said....

I really want a setting now that's basically medieval/Renaissance Europe, but a select caste of people have learned how to animate and shape castles as giant moving vehicle things.  No mecha, but more like big tanks.  Or roving communities.  Or highly adaptable land boats, but on a larger scale.  And then (depending on when you want this set) some variant of Zheng He's fleet arrives... over land.

(*seriously.  "Ancient Greeks in Space" is almost it's own thing now)

Is "sandalpunk" different somehow from "Swords & Sandals"? Is there a reason "punk" is slapped on the end?

retrofuture recon-decon-reconstructive collectivist neo-post-punk nano-algorithm sounds are so five minutes ago. fire up the maker for some long pig take-out, i hear Spider Jerusalem has another article on the news-sim vapors and i hear it's a beauty!

--resident of Transmetropolitan.

"Sandalpunk" sounds like taking the Ancient Greek setting and approaching it with postmodern snark that has little or no relevance to the source material.
In other words, Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.  

JG

For some reason I'm having flashbacks of the Flash Gordon film from the '80's. FLASH! AAH AHHH! King of the impossible!

Quote from: Igwilly;9474661)   Sandalpunk. I know it's related to classic times, Ancient Rome and Greece. Some people differentiate between bronzepunk and ironpunk. I want to have a clearer picture about this (just as the other styles). What kind of inventions and anachronisms does a sandalpunk world have? How much "advanced" does this style of retrofuturism get (like, what can they achieve)? And how does it look (and feel) like?

The Ancient Greeks had clockwork computers like the Antikythera mechanism. There was experimentation with weak steam engines by Heron of Alexandria in the Roman Empire that weren't really followed up on.

If you want to presume these things were taken further, you get advanced steam power and sophisticated clockwork computers. Basically the exact kind of stuff that you see in steampunk settings. The difference would lie in the differences between Victorian and Roman culture.

Quote2)   Candlepunk or Castlepunk. Other than the names, I know only that it's supposed to be the retrofuturism of medieval times. But that doesn't tell me much about the genre itself. So, what is candlepunk/castlepunk? (Questions made in the previous item are also valid here).
Any help is appreciated.

What would Medieval Europe look like if it underwent a scientific revival that led to an industrial revolution? Well, that's exactly the direction Europe went in.

"-punk" generally indicates any "dystopian, urban, raw, and ugly" narrative genre where small bands of heroes (literally in the Punk music scene) fight against the entrenched powers of the world.

Thank you all for the help. I’m researching a little more about those things, so things are getting clearer now.
I didn’t want to start a discussion about what the “-punk” means, but apparently there are many forms of expressing that “-punk”.

Quote from: Skarg;947512I also find it pretty amazing that someone would be seeking the meaning of niche genres they don't even know about except their weird names - it seems backwards to me, like "I think I want to run Candlepunk, but I have no idea what that means" but I guess it's a way to try to find possibly interesting ideas.

Hahahaha, well I’m curious and my Google-fu didn’t solve things. And it’s an interesting subject for my time-travel campaign.

Quote from: Telarus;947762"-punk" generally indicates any "dystopian, urban, raw, and ugly" narrative genre where small bands of heroes (literally in the Punk music scene) fight against the entrenched powers of the world.

That is certainly what it seems to mean when added to the prefix "cyber-," but I don't think it has been used that way with any consistency. "Steam-punk," for instance, seems to have become* pretty much synonymous with what otherwise would be called "gaslamp fantasy" or "Verne-esque speculative fiction." I think "-punk" has become a relatively uninformative moniker to add to something.


* - in my opinion/perspective. To my knowledge, none of this has any formal definition.

Yeah does "steampunk" have anything to do with punk music?

Quote from: Telarus;947762"-punk" generally indicates any "dystopian, urban, raw, and ugly" narrative genre where small bands of heroes (literally in the Punk music scene) fight against the entrenched powers of the world.

Quote from: Willie the Duck;947869That is certainly what it seems to mean when added to the prefix "cyber-," but I don't think it has been used that way with any consistency. "Steam-punk," for instance, seems to have become* pretty much synonymous with what otherwise would be called "gaslamp fantasy" or "Verne-esque speculative fiction." I think "-punk" has become a relatively uninformative moniker to add to something.


* - in my opinion/perspective. To my knowledge, none of this has any formal definition.

Quote from: Skarg;947890Yeah does "steampunk" have anything to do with punk music?

I remember someone pointing out that it in "Steampunk" rather refer to a "Do It Yourself" - thought, but to be honest, I find the DIY to have arisen during the Rock'n'Roll era, rather than during Punk.