[Game] Work Up a Steampunk Setting

[Daigoro]

Originally Posted by Dr. Beckenstein

By the way, i can not find Question 66

I think this....

Originally Posted by tshiggins

Question 64
...
Who are the major bad guys, in the Far East, if they're not the Japanese?

...was mistaken by (E) as being unnumbered and marked it as Qn 66

Originally Posted by (E)

As well as the unnumbered question about bad guys in the Asian region (arbitrarily numbered 66)
Answer to question 66, The conglomerate
Mitsui (a major Zaibatsu) ...

But an easy mistake, as there were some simultaneous posts and back-editing.

To get back on track and avoid too much hassle, these are the recent questions:

Question 64 Asia-Pacific Villains
Who are the major bad guys, in the Far East, if they're not the Japanese?

Question 65 Houdini
Harry Houdini is well known for being an occultist/debunker in OTL. In this setting, magic exists. Does Houdini use magic to aid his performances in this setting?

Question 66 No question
Null question: (E), if you could change your 66 to 64, that'd help.

Question 67 The Conglomerate
How wide spread is the Conglomerate's influence?

Question 68 Greenland
Who owns Greenland?

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

I think this....

...was mistaken by (E) as being unnumbered and marked it as Qn 66

But an easy mistake, as there were some simultaneous posts and back-editing.

(SNIP)

Yeah, I should have been more clear that the post was all part of one big question about Big Bads in East Asia, given that the Japanese no longer qualify.

My apologies.

[Daigoro]

Question 62- Land Vehicle Rally
Given the state of land transportation technology, what is the longest rally for single, privately-owned vehicles, who won the last rally, what type of land vehicle did he or she drive, and who sponsored the team?

Originally Posted by Dr. Beckenstein

This is of course the notorious Transeurasian Motor Race, aka the "Transeurasia"…. It covers a distance of more than 16.000 km

Answer 62b)- The Condessa's Ribbon- Carreira dos Andes
While technically the Transeurasia is a longer race, and admittedly very gruelling, many consider the Condessa's Ribbon, the flagship event of the Industry Olympics, to be a more useful testbed for new motoring technology. That is, the eyes of the public are on the Transeurasian, but the eyes of the manufacturers are very closely focussed on the Condessa's Ribbon.

Imperador Pedro IV Industry Olympics-
Olimpíadas Industriais do Imperador Dom Pedro IV
The emperor of Brazil, Dom Pedro III, after seeing the inaugural Athens Olympics in 1896, decided to hold something similar, but grander, in Brazil to showcase the country's wealth, development and industrial glory. Thus, every four years from 1899, Brazil has played host to this competition-festival-circus-machine exhibition-industry convention, with the fourth and latest games just finishing. Dom Pedro III passed away in 1903, so the Industry Olympics continue under the patronage of his heir, Dom Pedro IV, sponsored by the deep coffers of the Brazilain crown.

The competition lasts 40 days, originally just 41 events in 9 different fields, growing to this year's 800 events across a plethora of industries, with thousands of competitors from across the globe. Competitive events pit inventors, manufacturers, machinists, adventurers, industrialists and daredevils against each other for the glory of the Olympic ribbons- a blue ribbon for first place, then yellow, green and white ribbons for the second to fourth place-getters. Additionally, for the whole Olympics, the Imperador grants three Imperial Sable Ribbons by decree, for the best competitors in the whole games, with a further ten Imperial Silver Ribbons for other notable efforts.

While the main event is a 40-day steam car rally around Brazil, other events test the best the world's factories and inventors can wring out of their machines. Sao Paolo hosts a 1 mile sprint car race down the main boulevard, and there's the Principe's Ribbon Six Peaks Airship Rally, but the more excruciatingly technical competitions include Hector's Ribbon Half-Tonne Motor Torque Output Challenge, Duque Alberto's 1 in 20 Grade 1000-Tonne Load Locomotive Time Trials, or Coronel Arashiro's Ribbon Ranged Field Rifles Accuracy Trials.

The Rally-
Condessa's Ribbon- Carreira dos Andes
This is the main event of the Industry Olympics, with its cohort of 30 drivers setting off at the end of the opening ceremony, for a 12,000 km, 40 day trip around most of Brazil. From Sao Paolo, it starts north then follows the Amazon River back up towards the Andes mountains. Departing from the river, the racers head to the Andean Plateau in Bolivia and the world's highest capital city, La Paz, at 11,900 feet. It's this mix of climates and atmospheric conditions, from the humid tropical Amazon Basin to arid cold high-plateau salt lakes, that makes this rally extremely technically challenging for the manufacturers and their drivers. Returning to Brazil, the race continues to its southern-most city of Montevideo in the state of Cisplatina, before racing back up the coast for the final leg to Sao Paolo.

The Winner-
Felix du Ptolemie, driving the Abel, Sutton & de Guille Locomotives of Arkansas Valley Team entry, their production line 12-valve High Plains Roarer
The 22-year old Felix du Ptolemie is a former bison herder from Louisiana. When ASG Locomotives held a driving competition to find their inaugural Olympic driver, he applied on a dare from his brother and won. The High Plains Roarer is a high-end working vehicle aimed at ranchers, so has some early off-road adaptations, as well as high-altitude atmospheric controls, which came in handy for Felix's climb to La Paz.

Upon his win, winning both the Condessa's Blue Ribbon and the Imperador's Sable Ribbon, there was a moment of consternation when the unmannered country boy forgot to remove his 10-gallon hat in their august presence. Fortunately, his easy charm smoothed over the breach of protocol, with journalists reporting his quip to His Faithful Majesty, "I think it froze to ma head in them mountains."

Question 69- Industry Olympics
What are 5 other events held at the Imperador's Industry Olympics?

Question 70- NA States & Territories
Do the North American countries have states, territories or provinces? Or is it all Louisiana, say, from tip to tail? And is this a reasonable map to base our version on?

[Daigoro]

Regarding Japan, I don't think I got across quite what I was aiming at.

Originally Posted by Daigoro

Indeed conflict is good for a setting, but by setting up Japan as a cliched, completely evil empire means that any PCs who wanted to have a Japanese background or play in a steampunk Edo setting would have to justify being completely evil themselves. We can aim for a bit more nuance from our world-building. We can still say that they have their imperialistic power over the Asia-Pacific, achieved by military conquest and now in an uneasy status quo, but I see no reason to make them any worse than the European colonial powers.

I should possibly have said "I see no reason yet to make them any worse." Meaning, if we want to make Japan out to be evil in the setting, we need to show some more working, rather than just say that they're the same as OTL, considering there are different starting conditions.

Also, let me repeat the "not any worse than the European colonial powers" line- my understanding is that the behaviour of any of the European colonial powers was harsh and brutal in a lot of instances, therefore seeming avaricious and evil to those at the receiving end. So this was the yardstick I was applying to Japanese imperialism.

Originally Posted by tshiggins

Okay, I find these arguments compelling, now that you've presented them all comprehensively, in a single post. Imperial Japan is much more laid back in this timeline, as compared to our history, and the more peaceful Buddhist tendencies of the emperors seem to reign in Japan's powerful military.

Laid back might be overstating it, especially as we've already laid down a lot of background predicated on the notion of Japanese expansionism, and that's not going to be rewritten.

So, to be clear, my view is that the Japanese are as equally bad as the European powers in running their colonial campaigns. And if we want to paint them as being worse than the Europeans, we need to fit that into the historical context of them being active participants in the region for some time and therefore reaching a kind of power equilibrium with their neighbour states.

I thought the inherent tension would be enough of a source of conflict. Instead of the Japanese playing catch-up empire building, they're a playing ***-for-tat acquisition to preserve a power balance against the incoming Europeans. I can see though that a big bad, Sith/Nazi/Mordor-style antagonist might be needed by some. Perhaps the Emperor's waning health means a waning influence, so the more martial portion of his cabinet is gaining power.

However, I do think making Japan the main antagonist also needs to be done in a way that leaves it open for adventures to be able to take place there or to allow interesting Japanese PC's. You know, nuanced.

Question 64
Who are the major bad guys, in the Far East, if they're not the Japanese?

On the other hand, this line of questioning has opened up some new threads we can follow, so it's been a fruitful discussion.

Originally Posted by tshiggins

As a side-note, I just looked up the term, "Meifumado," and now I think I have a better idea where you're coming from, in terms of Imperial Japan. It's from L5R, right? You're liking steampunk samurai?

It's from Lone Wolf and Cub, the manga and the movie series, as is my username and profile icon. I was reading the manga at the time when I made my account here, if I recall. I don't know about steampunk samurai, but this setting has taken a different direction to what I was expecting when it started. But that makes things interesting.

[(E)]

Answer 44
The Accompanier
This small lighter than air device resembles a balloon or paper lantern, it gently reproduces music, the shape of the Ballon acts as a membrane to transform mechanical movement into the vibrations of sound. A complex arrangement of foil cylinders and music box drums ensure a multilayered and complex sound. A tiny motor provides power to run the Accompanier for hours.

((I think I have the questions straight, Daigoro, check post 141, is 64 answered?))

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

(SNIP)

It's from Lone Wolf and Cub, the manga and the movie series, as is my username and profile icon. I was reading the manga at the time when I made my account here, if I recall. I don't know about steampunk samurai, but this setting has taken a different direction to what I was expecting when it started. But that makes things interesting.

Ah, I remember Lone Wolf & Cub. An English translation came out in the United States, back when I worked for Mile High Comics, in the early 1980s. I recall that it was very popular, but I hadn't thought about it in years -- probably not since I read it had influenced the Tom Hanks film, Road to Perdition.

As for "steampunk samurai," I learned about these guys when I did research for my G: Castle Falkenstein campaign, and decided they existed pretty much as described, and the PCs could run into them, if they stumbled across the right klews:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C5%8Dsh%C5%AB_Five

In Falkenstein, though, Japan has a Meiji Restoration that came off the rails, when a sixth student, Yoshikazu Tomino, turned out to be a Mastermind. He took what he learned in England -- the most advanced city in CF's techno-magical setting -- returned to Japan, and built a giant steam automaton and used it to take control of Tokyo.

That one got destroyed by samurai loyal to the emperor (with some help from James West and Artemus Gordon, who are never mentioned by name, in CF, but show up periodically as background characters with identities unmistakable to those who love the genre). After that, those in power Took Steps, and Tomino lacked the manpower and resources to try to take Tokyo, again.

Instead, he built an even larger and more advanced automaton (100 feet tall, in the shape of a giant armored warrior armed with a huge gatling auto-cannon), and proceeded to take over the northern islands. The Japanese who live under his (giant, steam-powered) boot worship him almost as a god (and provide him with the labor he needs to continue his work).

In my CF campaign, I said the Chōshū Five were sent by clans loyal to the emperor, who realized that Japan had to learn technology, or fall once again to either Tomino or some other Science Pirate. The adventure seed involved learning that secretive (and unexpectedly well-funded) men based in Limehouse had made quiet inquiries about the presence of five sons of Japanese daimyos, in England in violation of Japanese law.

The discovery would have eventually pulled the party into a nasty clandestine fight that involved plenty of cloaks, even more daggers, a passel of ninjas, and a surfeit of skullduggery of the more general sort, in which the minions of Lord Tomino sought to assassinate the Five before they could return to Japan with their knowledge and trigger the Meiji Restoration.

That story-line is too over-the-top for this setting, I think, although the presence of a Japanese science pirate or three (such as CF's Lord Tomino), might make good additions, and provide interesting wild cards for any adventures that take place in the Far East. ("Wait. Who are these guys?!")

Given that Japanese technological development followed a completely different path, in this setting, that raises an interesting question:

Question 71

Do the Chōshū Five exist in this world (they would be in their 60s, now) and, if so, what are they doing?

[Warlockco]

I think the anime series Samurai 7 is "steampunk"/"cyberpunk" samurai, at least from what little of it, I had seen.

[Daigoro]

Originally Posted by tshiggins

Question 71

Do the Chōshū Five exist in this world (they would be in their 60s, now) and, if so, what are they doing?

Can I stake a claim to this question? I've got a pretty solid answer worked out, but I might take a day or two to write it up after work commitments.

[Daigoro]

Originally Posted by (E)

((I think I have the questions straight, Daigoro, check post 141, is 64 answered?))

Looks good. For Qn 64, I wasn't sure if we should have The Conglomerate as the only bad guys, or one set of major bad guys and we'd wait to see other entries. I'm fine either way- what do other peeps think?

Question 44- Standing question on Everyday Tech
#5- The Accompanier (above)
#6- The Clockwork Ballgown
As you waltz in time with the music, so too will the frills on your splendid new crinoline. Tiny vanes on the surface of your petticoat flitter and flap to make your frills quiver in a most alluring manner. For even more delight, webs of coloured silk or gaily patterned feathers can be revealed from under a more modest covering of lace.

With the wind-up clockwork mechanism distributed with an even balance throughout the whale-bone hoop cage, and the motorised support pinions, you'll hardly notice the additional weight. For the cautious lady about town, consider a concealed spring blade or semi-automatic pistolet, in the case that some uncouth varlet should accost you on the way to the major's cotillion.

And rest assured, where other unfortunate ladies have been known to perish due to a careless cinder catching in their hem, our superior product contains a reservoir of dousing water directed by internal pipettes to extinguish any such occurrence.

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

Looks good. For Qn 64, I wasn't sure if we should have The Conglomerate as the only bad guys, or one set of major bad guys and we'd wait to see other entries. I'm fine either way- what do other peeps think?

(SNIP)

Moar badguys!

(That's always the right choice, in an RPG setting.)

:)