Rifts Steampunk?
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 4:59 pm
Would Steampunk be a viable culture for a Rifts community? How would you go about creating one? I have some ideas but any input would be welcome.
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say652 wrote:Yes.
New West.
Techno Wizardry.
I also like borgs in the setting.
IronWarrior wrote:say652 wrote:Yes.
New West.
Techno Wizardry.
I also like borgs in the setting.
well that's not quite the setting I'm imagining. I'm thinking more steam powered golems and robots, tesla guns and vampire hunting werewolf slaying leather clad victorian type warriors. At least in my mind thats steampunk. oh and lets not forget the dapper threads. dames and dudes.
eliakon wrote:The biggest issue with adding it to the current setting is answering the question of "why is everyone using this horribly less efficient and bulky technology"
Why have a tesla pistol with a giant back pack primary battery.....when I can have a nice e-clip powered weapon that does the same (or more)damage for a fraction the weight and size?
Why have a slow, noisy, steam powered ornithopter....when I can have a super sonic nuclear hover craft?
It might work if it was a specific variety of TW and the developers of the enhancement had to have all the TW that used its process look steampunk, but that may not be what your looking for and will be really high fantasy manapunk effects quickly
Nox Equites wrote:Steampunk doesn't require magic. Steampunk is the dystopian side of the 19th century. The haves are living in great houses with the latest gadgets and the have nots are living in overcrowded tenements. You have business magnates rubbing shoulders with old money and nobility. The expert craftsman are rioting because factories are taking away their livelihoods. The middle class want the vote, but are opposed to universal suffrage.
taalismn wrote:Nox Equites wrote:Steampunk doesn't require magic. Steampunk is the dystopian side of the 19th century. The haves are living in great houses with the latest gadgets and the have nots are living in overcrowded tenements. You have business magnates rubbing shoulders with old money and nobility. The expert craftsman are rioting because factories are taking away their livelihoods. The middle class want the vote, but are opposed to universal suffrage.
Coal smoke and ash settling across the cities, factories dominated by gears that chew up unlucky workers , kids crawling around inside massive machines, oiling them to keep the gears of industry working endlessly, giant brute force cannons and armor-plated dreadnoughts dominating the battlefield. Brass and iron and steel and maybe, if you're lucky, bakelite. Colonialism to keep the home country furnaces and foundries fed with raw materials.
eliakon wrote:If your setting it in Rifts its going to need a LOT of magic. Since the only way your going to get your 'steampunk gadgets' to work is with TW (or completely altering the (rather lax admittedly) rules of physics)
This is why I suggested doing it in another dimension. Then you can make the physics work for you instead of against you, and not have to worry about getting rid of all the non-thematic elements.
Colonel_Tetsuya wrote:IronWarrior wrote:say652 wrote:Yes.
New West.
Techno Wizardry.
I also like borgs in the setting.
well that's not quite the setting I'm imagining. I'm thinking more steam powered golems and robots, tesla guns and vampire hunting werewolf slaying leather clad victorian type warriors. At least in my mind thats steampunk. oh and lets not forget the dapper threads. dames and dudes.
Uh, just so we're clear.. Victorian England and the Wild West were the same time period, and the modes of dress were almost exactly the same. Western wear differed mostly in outer coats - England was damp, the Wild West was dry. That's about it though.
Wild Wild West (the Will Smith/Kevin Kline movie) was textbook steampunk.
gaby wrote:I think a Dimension book will be a better setting.
Do something like in 1870s 100 meteors the size of house hit the around the Earth,they are made of a Mineral that enchanced electricity to high levels just by using steam tech.
Mark Hall wrote:My first thought is techno-wizardry, as well... especially a TW who learned the "Cloud of Steam" spell and realized it could have a lot of applications to powering devices.
As it stands, I don't think there is a place where you could really stick your steampunk city without involving alternate dimensions. I don't know much about Rifts: China, but I do think such a setting could make an interesting one for Hong Kong, letting you bring in some of the Orientalism that Steampunk, especially Victorian steampunk, tends to include.
eliakon wrote:If your setting it in Rifts its going to need a LOT of magic. Since the only way your going to get your 'steampunk gadgets' to work is with TW (or completely altering the (rather lax admittedly) rules of physics)
This is why I suggested doing it in another dimension. Then you can make the physics work for you instead of against you, and not have to worry about getting rid of all the non-thematic elements.
IronWarrior wrote:same time period ..yes....same genre ...no. look up steam detective and you will have a general sense of where i want to go with this
IronWarrior wrote:eliakon wrote:If your setting it in Rifts its going to need a LOT of magic. Since the only way your going to get your 'steampunk gadgets' to work is with TW (or completely altering the (rather lax admittedly) rules of physics)
This is why I suggested doing it in another dimension. Then you can make the physics work for you instead of against you, and not have to worry about getting rid of all the non-thematic elements.
well Steampunk would be somewhat underpowered verses the current hightech weaponry and gadjets.
IronWarrior wrote:Actually the Rocky Mountains are fairly remote and have many hidden valleys. A nice place to start i think.
Colonel_Tetsuya wrote:IronWarrior wrote:Actually the Rocky Mountains are fairly remote and have many hidden valleys. A nice place to start i think.
True.... ish?
The setting says it is true, and that we somehow STILL dont know what is on the West Coast of America....
despite the CS and other tech powers possessing aircraft that can fly across the entire continent in less than 2 hours. The entire continent SHOULD be mapped in detail at this point.
But, i agree, as little sense as it makes, the New Rockies are, in canon, stated to be remote and unexplored.
Jorick wrote:This is gonna be a digression probably (apologies), but...
I think it makes sense the CS doesn't really know what's going on on the west coast. Flyovers, if they occur on occasion, would not see much. Actual exploration probably doesn't occur too often either, given the effort required to hold back the Xiticix, Tolkeen, Pecos Bandits, and I dunno what.
The resources needed are used elsewhere,
and while the East is somewhat accessible (at least to Free Quebec and Lazlo), the vastness of the west and its mountains make the other coast much less so.
There is no satellite communication. That is a huge thing. Long distance patrols have a huge chance at failure, never communicating back a single thing before they die.
Getting lost (or going way off course) would be incredibly easy, especially when flying and dealing with clouds and other weather.
There are no reliable maps, and making new ones that allowed for accurate navigation would require a lot of effort. I think the dinosaur swamp's description of the exploration of the East by Lazlo is convincing, and I would expect something similar would have to occur in the West (and maybe it has, it just hasn't been written yet).
There really is no way for a purely technologically equipped force to survive for a good length of time in the wilderness past the domain of man (or self sufficient base/city).
A player group like this would run out of ammo and armor quick, and have no way to resupply.
Sending a Death's head transport might allow for mapping of coastlines and ley lines (assuming very helpful weather), but very little actual useful information would be collected without putting the troops on the ground in a very inhospitable environment. Accurate mapping would take time.
[/quote][/quote]I'm happy with the idea that any flying convoy/transport/squad of SAMAS would be pestered beyond effectiveness by flying monsters, especially trying to cross the Rockies (you may have flown over those, and seen nothing but a line of rock above clouds...just asking to get picked off by something hungry/territorial, and seeing nothing).
It's a crazy world out there, and there is plenty of room to hide.
Colonel_Tetsuya wrote: a whole bunch of good points
Colonel_Tetsuya wrote:[
Youre actually describing (as is the poster above you) the thematically very distinct Dieselpunk.
Colonel_Tetsuya wrote:IronWarrior wrote:same time period ..yes....same genre ...no. look up steam detective and you will have a general sense of where i want to go with this
Bleh, hate to drop a textbook appeal to authority here, but it's about the only way i can make my point. I help put on 3 different Steampunk conventions around the country, and worked on or with a half a dozen others in the past 6-10 years, regularly work with Abney Park (and other musical acts that are steampunk - mostly from the EU), Kato (Steamgirl), John Strangeway (Steampunk Bobafett), am on fairly good terms with the Foglios (Girl Genius), Evelyn Kreite, G.D Falksen, and others that are the backbone of the Steampunk community here and in the EU.
I have a fairly good idea of what is, and is not Steampunk.
Wild Wild West is core steampunk:
Set in Victorian times (or during a victorian resurgence) - check
Mode of dress is Victorian or neo-victorian - check
High Technology is retro-futuristic (giant steam powered robot spider) and has an industrial or Victorian design aesthetic - check
Design aesthetic of architecture is Victorian - check
Jules-verne esque super science - check.
Guess what, it's Steampunk.
Now, watching a ~10 minute blurb of "Steam Detectives" - reminds me of what happens every time the Japanese get their hands on a western concept. To make an analogy, its about as Steampunk as buying a bowler hat, a cheap pair of welding goggles (and spray painting them brass), and sticking a gear on it and calling it a "Steampunk Cosplay".
YMMV, i guess, but when you say "steampunk", most people are seeing Wild Wild West (the movie), League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the Adventures of Brisco County Jr, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, or something similar (like a lot of the stuff presented in Warehouse 13 and Sanctuary)... not a rather lackluster looking anime.