I'm interested in one day doing a steampunk game (this will be hypothetical RPG game #413) and I'm wondering if there's a particularly good system/set of resources for that kind of thing? I've only played D&D, Vampire (not the newest version, the 1999/2000 version) and Call of Cthulu, so I'm not too familiar with other rules sets.
I looked at Iron Kingdoms (which I realize isn't as Victorian as the steampunk label might suggest) and it looks good but...I don't really want to pay $60-100 per book for out of print material. I have to eat, you know.
Have you checked out Etherscope? The books are available here on Paizo, I believe.
Mongoose Publishing produced "Steampunk OGL" a few years back.
Not too bad an adaptation of the d20 rules. A little thin on setting, if I recall correctly.
I won an ebay bid on a few Iron Kingdoms books, because they look good and the price was fair. So I'm going to check those out. Etherscope sounds cool, too and I'll definitely look into everything else. Thanks!
Somebody's doing a Bas Lag game; don't know who or when, don't remember...
I got the Witchfire Trilogy and Monsternomicon for I.K. Good stuff.
I've played through the Witchfire Trilogy. It was pretty dang fun.(thumbs up!)
The IK books have some pretty neat stuff in them overall, and its a decent enough setting. It was released as a RPG and as a miniatures game. the RPG doesnt have a ton of fluff books, but the Miniatures books for the individual contries have a good amount.
Somebody's doing a Bas Lag game; don't know who or when, don't remember...
I got the Witchfire Trilogy and Monsternomicon for I.K. Good stuff.
Yeah, I read a thread on the Bas Lag book. I gotta send those guys my portfolio.
I've heard good things about the Witchfire Trilogy (another out of print book, of course) and about Five Fingers, the city book. I'm getting the Monsternomicon, Player Guide and World Guide in this bundle for basically cover price, which is as good as I think I'll get.
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IK is a great dark techno-magical setting. Not Victorian at all, though, if that's what you're looking for.
Fantasty Flight had 'Steam & Magic,' a pretty good steampunk sourcebook.
There's a non-d20 game called 'Victoriana' that I've seen but never read through.
Ravenloft, especially 'Masque of the Red Death,' isn't particularly steampunk but it is Victorian.
I like the genre and may have some more references for you at home, I'll post more later. I'd be interested in hearing more about what you're working on.
Have you checked out D20 Past? It's got the D20 Modern crunch, and some interesting flavor. There's even a Mad Scientist-type Advanced Class that really simplifies the Crazy New Inventions crunch.
Witchfire was a lot of fun but I didn't care for the material the company released after. The afore mentioned Steam & Sorcery book was really good and inspiring if you want to create your own material.
For pre-made setting Deadlands d20 was fun but a little clunky in places. I never played the original rules version of the game.
When it comes to steampunk, the most fun I had running a game outside of the Witchfire trilogy modified to have industrial revolution era weapons was a custom thing I did in GURPS. I used the Old West supplement and the Steampunk supplement together for a really fun steampunk game. SJGames also released another steampunk book for pre-Fourth Edition GURPS that was full of inventions but I can't remember what it was called.
For a shameless self promotion check out this story: Big Sky Country. I love western steampunk and wrote this for a competition. I didn't win but I did get featured at MackBolan.com with it.
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Dragon 277 had some stuff on steam age adventures.
Wolfgang Baur's City-State of Zobek stuff has a lot of clockwork magic. He does a little about it in each issue of Kobold Quarterly, although the big write up was in "Steam & Brass," his first open design project. It went out to the original patrons and is unavailable to anyone else. Period. (I'd give my left ... kidney for a copy of that one!)
Bastion Press has "Doom Striders" on giant machines, and "Airships" on ... airships. The varieties of engines and fuels are one of the best things in these, things like steam engines versus necromantic soul-burners.
A company called '12 to Midnight' recently put out a big pdf called "Steamworks." I bought it but haven't had a chance to read it yet.
EN Publishing over at EN World also has a couple of steam titles - Steam & Steel, Mechamancy I: Clockwork Magic, Mechamancy II: Living Machines, and Fantastic Science: a Technologist's Handbook.
Adamant Entertainment does a whole line of Victorian pdf's called "The Imperial Age." The ones I've read seem pretty well thought out.