GURPS Steampunk 2: Steam and Shellfire

[Phil Masters]

Originally Posted by Michael Thayne

The clothing rules seem important to have, though a bit bewildering for someone who didn't have much prior knowledge of Victorian fashion. I'm not sure I'd know where to draw the line between different degrees of embellishment or layering—more examples might have been nice.

Well, you can find a bit more about period fashion in volume 1, and a lot more online. And yes, of course, the difference between things like “embellished” and “layered” at the margins can be one of semantics rather than hard definitions... It really comes down to “take whatever the GM says is required by fashion or convention this season, and crunch the numbers to get the game effects.” Or just take everything, because Victorian fashion was nuts.

[Michael Thayne]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

To be honest, the power armour in the book is based on that in the old GURPS Steam-Tech, which in turn embodies some assumptions involved in applying some genre fudges to the old Vehicles design system.

If you prefer, you could always, say, attach phlebotonium-powered period-superscience motors to a more refined version of Ned Kelly’s body armour (as in the book), and get yourself DR 22.

Aha! Knowing the design was based on 3e Vehicles is enlightening. I like the idea of basing something on Ned Kelly's armor.

[Phil Masters]

Originally Posted by Michael Thayne

Aha! Knowing the design was based on 3e Vehicles is enlightening. I like the idea of basing something on Ned Kelly's armor.

Sorry, I should’ve said Steampunk not Steam-Tech.

Armour based on the Kelly pattern is going to have cylindrical helmets, which will make you look like the Champions villain the Juggernaut or AIM goons in Marvel comics. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing...

[Michael Thayne]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

Well, you can find a bit more about period fashion in volume 1, and a lot more online. And yes, of course, the difference between things like “embellished” and “layered” at the margins can be one of semantics rather than hard definitions... It really comes down to “take whatever the GM says is required by fashion or convention this season, and crunch the numbers to get the game effects.” Or just take everything, because Victorian fashion was nuts.

I mean, the "take everything" approach is basically the book's Example #2, which yields the 37 lb. women's outfits the Rational Dress Society campaigned against. I take it that that was an extreme and not universal for the entire Victorian era? I guess I could probably get a rough sense of cumbersomeness-of-fashion-by-decade on Google—you certainly piqued my interest, though I suppose some of the details I'm suddenly finding myself curious about would be more than most gamers would care for.

[Sam Baughn]

From a quick initial read, it looks good. Suffers slightly from being mostly based on existing material which I have already got, so it's difficult to get terribly excited about it. Really liked chapter 2 and the amount of detail in the clothing rules; they could easily work in other genres too. Will have to find some books on Victorian fashion, I think.

[Refplace]

Lot to digest here, I like the computer section, etheric energy is something I had forgotten about but can work into some games.
I dont plan on running a classic Steampunk type campaign but my dwarves use steam and electricity with Rune magic aiding materials technology.
So I can use some of this in my current fantasy setting.

[Phil Masters]

Originally Posted by Michael Thayne

I mean, the "take everything" approach is basically the book's Example #2, which yields the 37 lb. women's outfits the Rational Dress Society campaigned against. I take it that that was an extreme and not universal for the entire Victorian era?

I imagine that the Rational Dress Society was making a point based on an extreme case, yes. But Victorian fashion, especially upper-class women’s fashion, certainly tended to the extreme at times — which is clearly what appeals to a lot of modern fashion steampunks, because if you’re dressing for show, you might as well go the whole hog. (Even if some of them do forget to put anything on over their stays.) And, equally, the rational dressers weren’t just a small one-off group of cranks; throughout the Victorian period, you’d get social reformers and doctors coming out and saying “no, this stuff is crazy” and offering alternatives.

So I wanted to put together a descriptive system that gave these choices some game consequences. GMs can always take bits of it... “In this game, standard Status 0+ costumes for both sexes are layered, and women’s dress at Status 1+ has to be structured; all female formal wear is embellished. You can ignore this if you like, but you’ll be assumed to be a political radical.”

Plus, if you really want to have fun, you can take these things and run with them in fantasy settings. “All military uniforms are structured, and officers’ uniforms are very, very embellished. It’s all designed to look a bit like armour. Lower class civilians always go for layered outfits, because this is a sub-arctic setting and that’s the best cold-weather gear they can get. Men’s hats are just insane.”

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

Plus, if you really want to have fun, you can take these things and run with them in fantasy settings. “All military uniforms are structured, and officers’ uniforms are very, very embellished. It’s all designed to look a bit like armour. Lower class civilians always go for layered outfits, because this is a sub-arctic setting and that’s the best cold-weather gear they can get. Men’s hats are just insane.”

I see no reason why it can't happen in SF settings too. Hell, with ultra-tech fabrics, gravitic control, and air conditioning, there's no excuse for not going completely nuts. And then adding holograms and colourised force fields on top.

[Sam Baughn]

Phil (or indeed anyone else) can you recommend some good books / websites / documentaries about Victorian and steampunk clothing?

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Sam Baughn

Phil (or indeed anyone else) can you recommend some good books / websites / documentaries about Victorian and steampunk clothing?

When I was writing the original book, back around 2000, I found a marvelous book called Dressed for the Photographer, which was actual photographs of ordinary people taken in the course of their lives, with detailed commentaries on what they were wearing and when it came onto the market. It's out of print, but my university library had it. It's kind of a long shot, but if you can find this, it's well worth a look.