Read alot of Wells recently. Interesting to contrast his stated political opinions with his expressions in his works.

Also interesting was picking up a random book in an airport and having Wells be a main character (The Map of Time).

He is definitely adaptable to the whole Steampunk thing.  I do feel I should have dropped a few non-rpg sources into my... essay. Not Wells, but Girl Genius and other early precursors. I did want to demonstrate the visual and detail oriented aesthetic by showing a random artist's work in designing steampunk renders. For free, as a hobby and showing far more concern for artistic and detail elements than many paid artists I've seen over the recent decades, but fitting everything I wanted to in was out of hte question.

I would prefer a steampunk setting sometime in the 1990s USA. Just as many tech gadgets, but more trains and steam-powered stuff in general. Victorian times are boring as hell to me (outside the Old West).

Something with "punk" in it absolutely SHOULD be political!

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.

Um, you do realize steampunk was a literary genre decades before anyone decided to cosplay it, right?

Hell, I think even GURPS Steampunk predates any steampunk-fashion/craft culture.

Quote from: RPGPundit;643604Something with "punk" in it absolutely SHOULD be political!

I always found the whole "punk" ending in the term Steampunk a bit of a misnomer, probably only attributed to the fact that Gibson wrote both the original Cyberpunk and the original Steampunk novels. Not that I have a terrible problem with it, but while the archeotypical characters  of Cyberpunk novels are definitely "punk" - as they are usually rebels, outlaws, bandits, prostitutes and various trash that would (and often did) sell their livers for the next fix, while at the same time - ultimately fight the system. On the other hand, in Steampunk, it's at best 50/50 - on one hand you have the airpirates, "clackers" and mad artists/poets, but I feel like the vast majority of archeotypes are part of the establishment - members of gentry, officers, doctors, detectives, etc. etc.

I would certainly agree though to that sentence - and perhaps in a way, a key is to shift the typical Steampunk character, from a member of establishment, to someone fighting it. And really, you have a lot of establishment to fight in the typical 1870 -1920 setting of steampunk. From the last vestiges of feudalism to the falling of colonies, there is a plethora of political issues to tackle.

Quote from: TristramEvans;643606Um, you do realize steampunk was a literary genre decades before anyone decided to cosplay it, right?

Hell, I think even GURPS Steampunk predates any steampunk-fashion/craft culture.

I'd say that Steampunk has one interesting feature - I sometimes feel like there's more RPG material to it, than the source material for RPGs. Though admittedly that seems to change, as Steampunk is The Shit at the moment.

Punk in the social context usually refers to a movement where the protagonists create their own stuff rather than just consuming it.

The Teddy boys buy old edwardian clothes and reimage them, the rockers buy military jackets and ride motorbikes. The 1970's punks created their own music, fashions etc from bits of junk, safety pins, black plastic sheets etc , they created their own music with little or no professional equipment or experience.

This is the punk that we see in cyber punk - the creation of home produced tech to outsmart the evil coporations

It's what we also see in Steam-punk  - the same self created stuff, in this case highly crafted with a specific esthetic.

Punk has come somehow to mean "lippy rude little wankers" but I believe that this is the result of the term being applied to the behaviour of the early adopters.

In the archaic parlance of course a punk is a young male homosexual prostitute, although I do not think that usage is particularly relevant.

Hey, All!

Steampunk has been an abiding interest of mine since I saw the original 1954 Disney 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea... followed by Island at the Top of the World. (No, not in 1954 - I'm not that old! Probably more like 1969 to 1970. Sheesh.)

I thought I'd throw my contribution of this big Steampunk RPG List up where everybody can find it - at fifty roleplaying games of various vintages and being available. You might find John Harper's GHOST LINES of interest. At least I did.

Brad Elliott's Massive Steampunk RPG List!

And I agree with Pundit, here - something with 'punk' in the name SHOULD have some politics in it!

Finally, this is a living document - if there should be Steampunk RPGs that I've missed, let me know in the comments! Be warned, though, I am spectacularly uninterested in being told what Steampunk is. I have my opinion and that works for me. Make a polite case for your inclusions, and I'll listen!

Forgotten Futures is pretty nifty, with game versions of actual Victorian science fiction novels.

Space 1889 is what one might expect from GDW, especially the treatment of military affairs.

"Steampunk" still strikes as a silly term, but I don't lose sleep over it.

For people looking to get all detail oriented with their Victorian Steampunk, I cannot recommend Jess Nevin's Encyclopedia of Fantastic Victoriana highly enough.

It's breadth is astounding and intimidating. It is truly encyclopedic. Jess left few stones unturned, and you can readily read up on stories and authors long since forgotten by time.

Unfortunately, it's out of print and copies are very expensive. Still, worth it if you've a yen to explore history and literature of that era. (As opposed to literature about that era.)

Punk in this context means disruptive technologies changing the entrenched social order. So even stuffy old Baron Waxytache can be punk as long as he's building things to help strive towards a new era of enlightenment, completely unaware that it will almost certainly eventually end in the overthrow of the society he rigidly adheres to.

Punk in steampunk means the search for knowledge and technology undermining layers of impenetrable social strata, caste systems, and centuries of custom. So it definetely is political even if the scientist or adventurer is not aware of this.

The age we're living in right now for example could be called "digipunk" in the exact same way. Maybe a couple of centuries from now gamers will be sporting circuit board earrings and wearing anonymous masks, and talking about computer viruses that create zombie viruses.

Although primarily a fantasy game Castle Falkenstein had several things in its favour:

1. the magic system was excellent (if magic is your thing in steampunk).
2. the overall rules/presentation was excellent.
3. there was at the back of the book a mechanically light system for building steampunk marvels that was exceptionally flavourful.

For me something between 1889 and Falkenstein would have been excellent. 1889 was just a little too poe faced - particularly with it's relatively staid rulesset.

Etherspace was the most interesting recent steampunk game, but again staid (d20) rules made it seem needlessly stuffy and the setting, while overall conceptually very interesting, didn't seem to go anywhere.

Castle Falkenstein is to steampunk as Shadowrun is to cyberpunk.

Love me some CF. Pity it's been OOP for so long, never really got around to snag a copy.

BTW what's Goober's Steampunk, link please?

Quote from: flyingcircus;643808BTW what's Goober's Steampunk, link please?

From my Massive Steampunk RPGs List:

http://steampunkrpg.com/

My current favorite Steampunk novel is Sanderson's "Alloy of Law" book, which added on to the Mistborn series by advancing the date.