Steampunk: The Skill List

Since the skill list also helps to define the genre, let's take a look at the skills for steampunk. Again, the default skill list will be our guide to the discussion.

The skills Athletics, Burglary, Contacts, Deceit, Empathy, Intimidation, Investigation, Notice, Physique, Rapport, Resources, Shooting, Stealth, Will are alright and will do for a steampunk setting. That leaves Crafts, Drive, Fighting and Lore to be discussed.

Crafts will be changed to Mechanics. This is a central skill of Steampunk as it will allow you to create and repair steampunk devices. The devices themselves will either be scene aspects or stunts. Aspects will be handy, when creating helpful devices on the fly or as part of the story. Stunts (or Extras) represent more permanent Steampunk gadgets you own.

The skill Drive could be used as is for steam carriages or horse carriages, but I'd rather not bloat the skill list with additional skills unless absolutely necessary. So I'll replace Drive with Ride to reflect that horses are still the prefered method of getting around. If your character ever needs to drive a steam carriage, he can either use mechanics or ride, depending on the whims of the gamemaster.

Fighting could simply be renamed to Fisticuffs to give a little period flavor to the skill list. Functions remain unchanged.

Lore will have to be split this time. Since I'd like to have magic separate from sciene, it makes sense to split Lore into a knowledge about science skill and a knowledge about magic skill. Since Steampunk is often about mad scientists and wonderous inventions, I am going for Science! as skill, instead of a more genteel Academics. Occultism or Occult fits the period as well. So the second skill derived from Lore will be Occultism. It does everything that the Lore skill does, but relates to magic. Also, if you don't want to have magic in your Steampunk, you can simply drop the Occultism skill.

The final Steampunk skill list looks like this:

• Athletics
• Burglary
• Contacts
• Deceit
• Empathy
• Fisticuffs
• Intimidation
• Investigation
• Mechanics
• Notice
• Occultism
• Physique
• Rapport
• Resources
• Ride
• Science!
• Shooting
• Stealth
• Will

Steampunk: Design Guidelines

Last time I discussed the various Steampunk RPGs I own with quick notes about what I like and dislike about them. Now, let's get this focused for an actual Steampunk setting.

The setting will:

• Be set in the actual 19th century as a starting point.
• Be set on Earth. Countries and cities will conform to real world historical cities and countries.
• Have a divergent history from our own.
• Have devices running on steam and mechanics instead of electricity and electronics.
• Have actual magic. System needs to be discussed.
• Include some discussion on Victorian values (slightly updated, but recognizable).

The setting will not:

• Have fantasy races. In my opinion they don't fit with a believable Victorian aesthetic and serve no real purpose except sell the game to die hard fantasy fans.
• Be set on a pseudo-Earth. Serves no purposes, except increasing the amount of detail that has to be created.
• Feature regular trips to other planets. If I want to do that, I can play Space 1889.

Genre: Steampunk

I want Wings of FATE to be about more than just urban fantasy, therefore I will branch out the discussion somewhat. Another genre besides urban fantasy that has always sparked my interest is Steampunk. I own a variety of Steampunk games, but have never run any one of them for any length of time. That is due to a variety of reasons that I'll explain for each product.

Space 1889 was the earliest Steampunk game I know of. In 1989 the genre Steampunk didn't even exist. My gaming group at that time couldn't get behind the concept of a Victorian Age space game, so we never played more than one or two sessions. I still like Space 1889 best of all the games. Today you can even chose between different flavors: the original game, Savage Worlds and Ubiquity (German only). 

Airship Pirates, the RPG inspired by the awesome Steampunk band Abney Park. Go and check out their music. It's fantastic. The game runs on a streamlined version of Heresy engine (as is Victoriana). As much as I like the music, I dislike the postapocalyptic setting. Steampunk is in my opinion a fusion of Victorian historical background and a divergent technological angle. Airship Pirates takes away the Victorian values of the setting in my opinion.

Victoriana also runs on the Heresy Engine, but with levels and magic and stuff. I like the idea of "gutterrunners" put forth in the game. The emphasis is more on magic than on technology (at least in the corebook). Also the period illustrations by Gustave Doré are elegantly and effectively used as chapter openers. It's supposed to be a game about conflicting ideals and ideas, but tries (too) hard to be different. It's got dwarves, elves, orcs and the whole gamut of fantasy races. In the end too much Tolkien in a world that is similar to earth, yet not identical.

In a similar vein I dislike Wolsung. The rules are overly complex, fantasy races are used to stereotype ethnic minorities, and the world is still earth-like, but even more changed than in Victoriana. Who ever decided that pairing Tolkien races with a pseudo-Earth makes a great steampunk game? What I absolutely like about Wolsung is the genre discussion, the encounter locations and extensive beastiary.

Unhallowed Metropolis has the right vibe. Carefully modernized Victorian values in a new dark age. One of the creators called the game "Medicinepunk". In my opinion a fitting moniker. The setting description is very thorough and hits the right notes (I especially dig the intelligent discussion on prostitution and corsets for men - but that's just me). The game system is serviceable but a bit overly complex, especially at character creation.

There is one Austrian Steampunk RPG called Finsterland. It is a great effort, especially since it less about  Victorian flavor than Wilhelmian flavor. Especially for German gaming groups somewhat more recognizable and an interesting outlook on the own history before the great war. It is set in a fantasy world and uses a d10 pool system.

Last, but not least there is of course GURPS Steampunk. An invaluable resource, even if you do not play GURPS (which I don't). But it discusses character archetypes and possible technological innovations.

All in all, I like something about most of the Steampunk games I own, but none of them are the perfect fit. FATE Core might be of some help here. So I expect to see some posts about Steampunk in the future.