The first post
So I've tried this new an novel idea of creating a blog for my campaign. Not so much for anyone but my players and the whole 6 other people in the world who might be interested in it. This is a place to publish my ideas about the game, some of my views about gaming, and create a campaign log to keep track of the characters progress. I did this for my Warhammer Fantasy Game and it worked well. Since it is a public forum I couldn't give the PC's all of the information that might be available in an adventure log book, so I'll not refer to specifics here but it will give me, and hopefully them, an opportunity to know what is going all in a multi faceted light. I hope that this will also let me develop the world a little bit more as well as get feedback from certain people who are in the know. My last reason for this is sort of a sentimental one. One of my players is getting ready to have a baby which prevents her from playing with us. I hope that this minute gesture will help her feel connected to the happenings of the game in some way and allow her, between midnight feedings and constant diaper changes, some amount of amusement. Her husband, who is also part of the group, is getting ready to take off and enjoy the role of fatherhood. Because of this I also wanted to give him a means of keeping track of what happens for his return. Additionally, other players are hopefully going to be joining the group in their stead so this is a means to help the understand the world and my processes as well.
My inspiration for this campaign came primarily from the computer game Arcanum and the Studio Foglio Comic book Girl Genius. Hands down Girl Genius is the best comic ever. Not withstanding the fact that it's purely an online comic and as such it is only published every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, it is by far the best example of my little world. Like in Girl Genius, the campaign takes place on Earth in many of the same locals that exist today. There is little difference in all honesty. The British Empire is the strongest and most wide spread in the world, and so far no other industrialized nation has come close to achieving what it has. America is about where it is supposed to be historically with a few minor changes. The US has never moved beyond the original 13 states really. Florida has been added but the land beyond the Appalachian mountains is grossly different that what it was historically. I love the idea of Sparks. Hands down one of the best parts of Girl Genius. Because of that I borrow liberally from the concepts of what sparks are. In my world they are super intelligent, nearly megalomanicial mad scientist bent on ruling the world. The advances of the world are all due pretty much completely to them. At any rate, Sparks exist in my game and most of them live between the Appalachian mountains and the Mississippi river. Originally part of the Louisiana purchase, in my world, the American president became fearful that the sparks of the America's would try to take over the country, so in 1804 he offered them land in the new Louisiana territory. Cheap. Very Cheap. Many of them took up the presidents offer and the US made a killing in profit. Unfortunately, many of the sparks came into conflict with each other, resulting in an area of fiefdoms not unlike feudal Japan or Europe where each spark builds towns and industry and then wages war against the other sparks.
The fantasy of Arcanum is also a huge influence. I didn't want to do strict steampunk because I wanted to cater to the desires of some of my groups love of fantasy gaming. I had always like Arcanum and the concept intrigued me, so when it came time to run my own steampunk world I decided that a fantasy element would be present. I think that it provides a wonderful contrast between the technology that the sparks use and the powers that wizards have access to. I liked the idea of magic users and sparks having a more purposeful reason for hating each other but that gets into the mythology of the world which is outside of the scope of my first post. For the most part, the fantasy element of my world ranges from high fantasy to low fantasy based on where everyone is. In the Black Forest, home of the Erl (Elves), it is high fantasy, complete with Dragons, ogres, demons, Gods and unbelievably powerful magical areas. In London or Berlin, highly industrialized cities, there is little indication of magic and it is certainly controlled if not outlawed.
Some other inspiration for the game, in case anyone is wondering is:
Mage: The Ascension A good Transcendent magic concept that I wanted to use but never got around to. Instead the dichotomous relationship between the traditions and the technocracy is very similar to the contrasts of sparks and technology versus wizards and magic.
Rifts: The idea of a highly magical and highly technological world is explored in depths in Rifts. I never cared for the ease with which a character could get unbelievably powerful weapons in Rifts but I liked the fact that for the most part the people in the world were divided in to two groups--those with magic or those with technology. I'm hoping to explore this in my own campaign. Rifts made it so that magic and technology could more or less counter each other, or at least be mingled together.
Shadowrun: I use this mainly as a really cool way of looking at magic and magical ideas in a modern society.
There is also countless other inspirations not gaming oriented. Some of them include
Wild Wild West--both the movie and the series
Adventures of Brisco County Jr.--Bruce Campbell at his best.
From Hell--Make the Freemasons to a magical order and you've got a super sweet Victorian era supernatural story that could easily be seen in a steampunk game.
Lord of the Rings Trilogy--a commentary on the evils of industry can be seen in Sarumon and his Black Orcs.
The Rocketeer--Man flies with a rocketpack and fights Nazi spies. What isn't to love.
Firefly--it was a travesty of justice that they took this off the air. The rough frontier like feel is pretty much what the world of the American Spark is like.
Ok. So you know my inspiration. Hopefully it will give you some insight into where the game might go.
My inspiration for this campaign came primarily from the computer game Arcanum and the Studio Foglio Comic book Girl Genius. Hands down Girl Genius is the best comic ever. Not withstanding the fact that it's purely an online comic and as such it is only published every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, it is by far the best example of my little world. Like in Girl Genius, the campaign takes place on Earth in many of the same locals that exist today. There is little difference in all honesty. The British Empire is the strongest and most wide spread in the world, and so far no other industrialized nation has come close to achieving what it has. America is about where it is supposed to be historically with a few minor changes. The US has never moved beyond the original 13 states really. Florida has been added but the land beyond the Appalachian mountains is grossly different that what it was historically. I love the idea of Sparks. Hands down one of the best parts of Girl Genius. Because of that I borrow liberally from the concepts of what sparks are. In my world they are super intelligent, nearly megalomanicial mad scientist bent on ruling the world. The advances of the world are all due pretty much completely to them. At any rate, Sparks exist in my game and most of them live between the Appalachian mountains and the Mississippi river. Originally part of the Louisiana purchase, in my world, the American president became fearful that the sparks of the America's would try to take over the country, so in 1804 he offered them land in the new Louisiana territory. Cheap. Very Cheap. Many of them took up the presidents offer and the US made a killing in profit. Unfortunately, many of the sparks came into conflict with each other, resulting in an area of fiefdoms not unlike feudal Japan or Europe where each spark builds towns and industry and then wages war against the other sparks.
The fantasy of Arcanum is also a huge influence. I didn't want to do strict steampunk because I wanted to cater to the desires of some of my groups love of fantasy gaming. I had always like Arcanum and the concept intrigued me, so when it came time to run my own steampunk world I decided that a fantasy element would be present. I think that it provides a wonderful contrast between the technology that the sparks use and the powers that wizards have access to. I liked the idea of magic users and sparks having a more purposeful reason for hating each other but that gets into the mythology of the world which is outside of the scope of my first post. For the most part, the fantasy element of my world ranges from high fantasy to low fantasy based on where everyone is. In the Black Forest, home of the Erl (Elves), it is high fantasy, complete with Dragons, ogres, demons, Gods and unbelievably powerful magical areas. In London or Berlin, highly industrialized cities, there is little indication of magic and it is certainly controlled if not outlawed.
Some other inspiration for the game, in case anyone is wondering is:
Mage: The Ascension A good Transcendent magic concept that I wanted to use but never got around to. Instead the dichotomous relationship between the traditions and the technocracy is very similar to the contrasts of sparks and technology versus wizards and magic.
Rifts: The idea of a highly magical and highly technological world is explored in depths in Rifts. I never cared for the ease with which a character could get unbelievably powerful weapons in Rifts but I liked the fact that for the most part the people in the world were divided in to two groups--those with magic or those with technology. I'm hoping to explore this in my own campaign. Rifts made it so that magic and technology could more or less counter each other, or at least be mingled together.
Shadowrun: I use this mainly as a really cool way of looking at magic and magical ideas in a modern society.
There is also countless other inspirations not gaming oriented. Some of them include
Wild Wild West--both the movie and the series
Adventures of Brisco County Jr.--Bruce Campbell at his best.
From Hell--Make the Freemasons to a magical order and you've got a super sweet Victorian era supernatural story that could easily be seen in a steampunk game.
Lord of the Rings Trilogy--a commentary on the evils of industry can be seen in Sarumon and his Black Orcs.
The Rocketeer--Man flies with a rocketpack and fights Nazi spies. What isn't to love.
Firefly--it was a travesty of justice that they took this off the air. The rough frontier like feel is pretty much what the world of the American Spark is like.
Ok. So you know my inspiration. Hopefully it will give you some insight into where the game might go.
posted by Aleris at 10:26 PM
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