| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Steampunk Musha was created by professional illustrator Rick Hershey (Art Director for Adamant Entertainment's Far West, Art Director for Fat Goblin Games, owner of Empty Room Studios) over 8 years ago as a collection of all the content he wanted in his "dream" adventure game.
Now Fat Goblin Games has launched a kickstarter project to bring this imaginitive and detailed setting to the Pathfinder Roleplaying game system.
Steampunk Musha draws on East Asian mythology and history and combines aspects of several cultural traditions along with Victorian-era technology. The traditional Oriental setting is thrown into a roaring industrial age, where incredible new inventions contrast with ancient mysteries and restless spirits. High fantasy and science fiction clash and combine in the middle of the conflict between old and new, father and son, mechanical and spiritual.
To learn more and back the project, please visit the Steampunk Musha Kickstarter page.
I got Rick's notification about this yesterday. Let's see how much plasma I can sell and how much I really enjoy eating ramen. ;-)
The 3.5 book suffered from too many cooks in the kitchen. I have that manuscript unedited (over 250 pages) and there was a lot of god content that will be converted over, but certain areas sacrificed the setting content in order to fit 3.5 rules.
Pathfinder offers a lot more versatility, and I know Jason understands what I want done, not to mention I myself having a better grasp on designing for Pathfinder.
We are also still have the other system we designed, and hope to eventually release games using it as well.
Anyways, we hope everyone checks it out and backs the project. The books are going to be awesome, the content and art top notch.
Answering some FAQ, including book sizes, and "how much steampunk" - check it out. Steampunk Musha Kickstarter
So, in the next few days we'll be posting various updates and previews of what we want to do with this kickstarter. My questions is, what can we show you that would help convince you to back this?
Awesome thanks!
Thanks for the feedback Benly, Steampunk Musha is not a japanese setting, but we appreciate your comment and opinion.
Hey Benly, "Rosuto" is an Anglicisation of a Japanese term borrowed from English, "Lost". "Shima" is one Japanese word (of several) for "island". We chose the word 8 years ago due to it's popularity in modern Japanese entertainment, such as movies, anime, manga, etc.
i do want to say, if you are looking for something historical or accurate, even in naming conventions, this isn't the book for you, as we take a lot of liberties to capture the feel we want for the setting.
Jason & Rick, Benly does have a point. It wouldn't hurt to have someone with a passing proficiency in certain Asian languages (that is if you are indeed using Japanese words) to offer some pointers and/or advice as to the best nomenclature so you don't offer up something silly like the whole urban legend of Kennedy's "Ich bin ein Berliner" remark.
I know Jess Door has spent some time in Japan and could offer advice if solicited. She is hip to anime, too. You may know others as well that could offer likewise.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
We did when we first started developing the setting, naming conventions were chosen for reasons, and we borrow heavily from a lot of eastern languages for various flavor reasons. In the end, some decisions were made for flavor.
I will say that I only seem to see these types of discussions come up when dealing with Asian inspired settings. . . never with European settings, that always take liberties with naming conventions. In the end, SM is a fantasy setting, and I'm not willing to change names we used for years to appease a few that don't particularly like it.
I will say that I only seem to see these types of discussions come up when dealing with Asian inspired settings. . . never with European settings, that always take liberties with naming conventions. In the end, SM is a fantasy setting, and I'm not willing to change names we used for years to appease a few that don't particularly like it.
+1
If this is considered bad, then all the typical western fantasy settings that butcher various European languages, living and dead, deserve death sentences. Golarion or [Insert favorite setting here] included.
Even if a company or designer attempted to use the actual languages in the setting, the tiniest mistake would get them mountains of corrections from fans. By that logic, why not just write the book in the native language the setting is inspired by, the text, the mechanics, all of it.
Yes! Awesome!
Despite running a steampunk world that incorporates "Victorian Tech meets The Orient" I've passed this up on RPGNow quite a few times now because I play PFRPG.
I'm glad to see this is running and (most importantly) on a system that I play. I am certainly backing it!
I for my part also am annoyed as hell about faulty German or French or Scandinavian name-conventions as well. *cough* Fairy-tale the demonwolf *cough*
I get why you want to keep adhering to the name you've been using.Personally, I understand why mixed name-conventions annoy some people.
We'll be doing a video blog update for the Kickstarter project, mainly talking about the various races in this episode. Any questions, specific things wanting to see discussed?
To each their own, I suppose. I just chuckle when I read faux pas like these.
I'd love to see a sample of your crunch -the products by Fat Goblin Games I've read and reviewed so far have potential galore, but need more care regarding editing etc. A sample preview that made me buy a product was Fire Mountain Games' preview of "Knot of Thorns".
Just my 2 cents! I might actually join this one!
You are right Endz, we finally can afford an editor and have been going back and updating all our back products. SM will have an editor, if not more then one.
I'll see about putting a sample page together. I work doing layout with InDesign, so it's a bit more complicated then just tossing it together.
Excellent news regarding the editor(s)! I look forward to seeing the writing!
Just posted a preview image of one of the sample races from the Steampunk Musha setting. Check it out on the kickstarter page. STEAMPUNK MUSHA KICKSTARTER
Looks Great!
Really glad to see your funding doing so well already.
Thanks, we are happy with the support as well. We should have a video blog post up tonight, we went with some art last night as we were focusing on creaturedaily.com content as well.
And fee free to ask any questions you might have, here or over there. chances are we'll be covering a lot of the topics you might be curious about in the video update, but you never know.
Thanks, we are happy with the support as well. We should have a video blog post up tonight, we went with some art last night as we were focusing on creaturedaily.com content as well.
And fee free to ask any questions you might have, here or over there. chances are we'll be covering a lot of the topics you might be curious about in the video update, but you never know.
The only question I have right now is:
Is that amazing samurai-esque guy with a gun-arm a playable reality in the setting?
Because that is amazing.
Yeah, that's a Keshou. Distant cousin to the goblin. . . the former slave race build a lot of the technology on the island.
Update #3, this time we give you a free creature - Tokutaro-san & Otoku-san: The Clockwork Children.
Update #4 - We talk about the races of Steampunk Musha.
As per request. We added some concept art of the races.
I love the clockwork Ronin! The artwork is amazing!
Currently, I use Synthetics from NoTNW and Ironborn from Rite, with a mad scientist trying to force collected spirit essence into machinery, to be "cleaner power" than coal. This race fits perfectly into our campaign.
The more I see about Steampunk Musha, the more I hope to see it released!
And there is still so much more to see. I think people are going to be amazed at the wealth of history, adventure elements, and pure awesomeness pact in the entire setting. And we hope the "steampunk" element doesn't put people off, as the setting is really a budding industrial age, and could even be played without steampunk elements, or full blown steampunk. Fat Goblin is just excited to see this moving forward.
We're going to talk about classes next.
And there is still so much more to see. I think people are going to be amazed at the wealth of history, adventure elements, and pure awesomeness pact in the entire setting. And we hope the "steampunk" element doesn't put people off, as the setting is really a budding industrial age, and could even be played without steampunk elements, or full blown steampunk. Fat Goblin is just excited to see this moving forward.
We're going to talk about classes next.
We've got Pure Steam and Steampunk Musha trending to go over their Kickstarter goals and Terah's steampunk addition is coming to Paizocon. Not to mention Pirate's of The Bronze Sky is starting to perk up. I don't think it's turning people off. ;)
Just wanted to thank all the backers so far. Pleasantly surprised to see so much support at the higher tiers.
Anyways, getting the classes info ready to go up.
Just wanted to thank all the backers so far. Pleasantly surprised to see so much support at the higher tiers.
Anyways, getting the classes info ready to go up.
Woot!
As a backer, I really think it's great that you guys aren't being stingy with information and art, like a few other projects have been in the past.
I upped my pledge today.
You're definitely going to meet goal with no problem. Even a few friends have taken interest in Rosuto-Shima after sharing some info on Facebook.
That's awesome and good to hear! Just posted some information on the classes. I'm sure this is where the questions come in :)
Steampunk Musha just got funded!!!
Now we can start aiming for those milestone rewards for even more great content.
And our next update will show off some of the progress on the world map :)
Map preview is up. Everyone gets it in either digital or print when we hit the 4k milestone reward!
Map preview is up. Everyone gets it in either digital or print when we hit the 4k milestone reward!
By the looks of it, that may happen tomorrow.
I wish that every pfrpg kickstarter project *got* the whole "information brings interest" like you guy have.
I would send a message to the "Multiculturalism for Steampunk" Facebook page about the Kickstarter. They've linked other cultural rpg projects in the past.
I've been thinking about going for the 3-dead tree level, but I'd want to know something first: How long do you guys expect to make these books? A general estimate of page-count would really help me!
Thanks in advance!
The Core book will be around 250 pages, each soft book will be around 100 or so pages- The Master edition, over 500 pages.
Also, we hit the 4k milestone, so all backers are getting a copy of the world map of Rosuto-Shima. Next milestone is at 5k, where we release 4 new classes (bringing the total to 12 classes). If you haven't backed Steampunk Musha, now is the time! I'll be releasing details on these new classes when we hit $4,500!
I hate kickstarter, so many cool things to support. Looking forward to the books, and hopefully, you will hit many more stretch goals.
Cheers,
We hope to hit many of those milestone rewards, but since we have had a healthy number of very supportive backers getting Master editions, those books will have all the milestone rewards even if they are not reached.
We are very happy with the support so far and will continue previewing all the goodies we have planned.
Want to learn more about the Steampunk Musha setting before backing us on Kickstarter? Download the Explorer's Guide and get to know some of the history of the island and it's inhabitants! 15 pages of free content to get you excited.
Only $100 to the I announce the 4 bonus classes for the Milestone at 5k. Download the Explorer's Guide and back Steampunk Musha!
This kind of seems like taking cyberpunk, which sometimes has a Japanese mecha feel to it, and making it steampunk. Looks interesting.
All right, you got me - 3 hardcovers, over 400 pages and an innovative, cool concept that has not been done to death. I'm looking forward to seeing the fruits of your labor and love!
Great to have you on board! Just posted about the new classes!
We hit the 5k mark and unlocked those 4 new classes! Next Milestone we unlock the Juunishi-p'o, a race that has 12 variants based on the chinese zodiac. Check out Steampunk Musha and help us reach that next milestone!