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Old 08-03-2017, 02:33 PM   #1
PK
 
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Default GURPS Vehicles: Steampunk Conveyances


Stopping the villain:
Almost as important as
Arriving in style.
— "High Flying" Sally, on her way to a confrontation
A true steampunk adventurer (or scoundrel) needs to travel with panache. And what better place to hold a dangerous fight than on or in the gasbag of a P-class zeppelin? Vehicles are an indelible part of the steampunk genre -- in many ways the perfect intersection of style, utility, and scientific advancement. So whether your gaslight romance game is a globetrotting adventure or limited to a single city, it needs GURPS Vehicles: Steampunk Conveyances.

This book launches our GURPS Vehicles series: collections of ready-to-use transports, including both historical or fictional descriptions and full GURPS stats. For GURPS Vehicles: Steampunk Conveyances, this means over 30 machines drawn from both history and period fiction that embody the tropes of the genre as presented in GURPS Steampunk 1: Settings and Style: steam engines, outsize clockwork gears, luminiferous ether sails, and more.

Pit the Stanley Steamer against a hansom cab in a breathless chase through the cramped streets of Sussex. Broker tense negotiations in the massive Steam House as it slowly plows through the Indian jungles. Defend humanity against dinosaurs from the center of the Earth with your O-Daisuchiimu mecha. Sail across the ether to infiltrate Venusian society in an electric astronef. With GURPS Vehicles: Steampunk Conveyances, the possibilities are endless!


Store Link: http://www.warehouse23.com/products/SJG37-1731
Preview PDF: http://www.warehouse23.com/media/SJG37-1731_preview.pdf
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Last edited by PK; 08-03-2017 at 02:40 PM.
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Old 08-03-2017, 03:28 PM   #2
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Default Re: GURPS Vehicles: Steampunk Conveyances

Quote:
Originally Posted by PK View Post
So whether your gaslight romance game
Are you teasing us, or teasing a resurrected project?
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Old 08-03-2017, 03:42 PM   #3
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Default Re: GURPS Vehicles: Steampunk Conveyances

Quote:
Originally Posted by dbm View Post
Are you teasing us, or teasing a resurrected project?
Well, GURPS Steampunk 1: Settings and Style is a thing, after all.

PK: can you tease us with any other Vehicles books currently in the pipeline?
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Old 08-03-2017, 03:48 PM   #4
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Default Re: GURPS Vehicles: Steampunk Conveyances

What I've read so far of this is just what the doctor ordered!

"GURPS Vehicles: Death Race 2000" and "GURPS Vehicles: Road Warrior" are next up, right?
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Old 08-03-2017, 04:08 PM   #5
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Default Re: GURPS Vehicles: Steampunk Conveyances

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Originally Posted by PK View Post
With GURPS Vehicles: Steampunk Conveyances, the possibilities are endless"
*sigh* So when you say, "the possibilities are endless", what you seem to mean is, "The possibilities are 90% copied and pasted from GURPS Steampunk and Steam-Tech, just with the stats changed to the current system, something nearly any fan could have done on their own, given that both 3rd ed and 4th ed are based on real world measurements, and also we chose not to reprint most of the art of these vehicles, despite the fact that we already own it."

I'm sorry, I know these forums are supposed to be the "Rah, rah, go Steve Jackson Games!" section, but the potential customers should know that there's almost nothing new in here, to the point where it seems genuinely unethical for SJGames to represent it the way they are. The description doesn't even mention the fact that the book is an update to existing 3rd ed vehicles! If you have those books, don't bother buying this, and if you don't have those books, still don't buy this book. Buy the originals and do the conversion work yourself, you'll get a much more detailed description, more vehicles, and some award winning art that was left out of this for reasons I can't fathom.
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Old 08-03-2017, 04:20 PM   #6
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Default Re: GURPS Vehicles: Steampunk Conveyances

Some of the vehicles in there are from the 3e books, certainly. Others aren't. It's a lot less than "90%". And there was virtually no copy-and-paste as such.

And you get an actual torpedo ram, a pre-dreadnought, a hansom cab, a Stanley steamer, Le Géant, Wells's very own land ironclad, the Steam Man of the Prairies, the Mallard, L'Obéissante, and Santos-Dumont's one-man airship, among many other things. I think all of those are new to GURPS.
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Last edited by Phil Masters; 08-03-2017 at 04:47 PM.
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Old 08-03-2017, 05:24 PM   #7
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Default Re: GURPS Vehicles: Steampunk Conveyances

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Originally Posted by wabishtar View Post
90% copied and pasted from GURPS Steampunk and Steam-Tech, just with the stats changed to the current system, something nearly any fan could have done on their own
That is an inaccurate and, I have to say, unfair statement.

First, the majority (nowhere near a mere 10%) of the vehicles in this book are completely new; see more on this below.

Second, it's one of the mandates of Phil's Steampunk series (of which this is a sister product) to show how to use material from the Third Edition books as inspiration for Fourth Edition campaigns. (Also, several of the things which appear in both products are literary classics; I'd hope we can all agree that any book on steampunk vehicles would be incomplete without Verne's Nautilus.) So not only am I not trying to gloss over the existence of a few updated classics, I consider it a selling point.

Third, nothing here was "converted" from one system to another. Even when a vehicle was drawn from a Third Edition book, Phil crafted it from the ground up using Fourth Edition stats. You say, "something nearly any fan could have done on their own," but I disagree with that completely; consider the number of people demanding David's Vehicle Design system because they don't want to deal with the hassle of turning real-world values into Fourth Edition statistics. By definition, the Vehicles series is for people who want the work done for them.

Quote:
there's almost nothing new in here, to the point where it seems genuinely unethical for SJGames to represent it the way they are
I'm confused as to how anything we've said or done is disingenuous. The Table of Contents lists every single vehicle in the book, and (without consciously intending it) my announcement post here even mentions a mix of old and new vehicles. Please explain how this was misrepresented, or explain what other breach of ethics you're referring to.

As to the collection itself, here's the actual breakdown of completely new vehicles versus those that had appeared in previous products. However, even in the latter case, the only actual overlap is in inspiration and concept alone, along with perhaps a few words from the description.

(I made this list by hand just now, since, as stated, this wasn't something that was even on anyone's radar as a potential issue. So if there are any errors, let me know and I'll gladly edit it.)

Completely New
  1. Stephenson's Rocket
  2. The Mallard
  3. Hansom Cab
  4. Trevithick Steam Carriage (different from Steampunk's general Steam Carriage)
  5. L’Obéissante
  6. Steam Tricycle
  7. Stanley Steamer
  8. Steam Wagon
  9. The Steam Man of the Prairies
  10. The Steam House (different from Steam-Tech's general Steam Elephant)
  11. Small Steam Launch
  12. Steam Yacht
  13. Torpedo Ram
  14. Pre-Dreadnought Battleship
  15. B-Class Submarine
  16. Le Géant
  17. Santos Dumont No. 9
  18. Adventurers’ Dirigible
  19. P-Class Zeppelin (different from Steam-Tech's Luftschiff Zeppelin)
  20. Victorian Glider
  21. Santos Dumont Demoiselle
  22. Blériot XI
  23. The Albatross

Appeared Previously (or something very similar did):
  1. Colonial Locomotive
  2. Iron Horse
  3. Land Ironclad (though heavily redesigned)
  4. O-Daisuchiimu
  5. Armed Launch
  6. Fulton's Nautilus
  7. Verne's Nautilus
  8. Observation Balloon
  9. Aerial Battleship (close to Steampunk's Aerial Dreadnought)
  10. Clockpunk Hang-Glider (close to Steampunk's Prototype Glider)
  11. Steampunk Ornithopter
  12. Electric Aeronef
  13. Electric Astronef
  14. Solar Steamer
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Last edited by PK; 08-08-2017 at 07:54 AM.
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Old 08-03-2017, 05:24 PM   #8
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Default Re: GURPS Vehicles: Steampunk Conveyances

Quote:
Originally Posted by dbm View Post
Are you teasing us, or teasing a resurrected project?
There's a subtle difference between "gaslight romance" and "gaslamp fantasy". Let's just enjoy what we've got, and leave the future for the future.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil Masters View Post
And you get an actual torpedo ram, a pre-dreadnought, a hansom cab, a Stanley steamer, Le Géant, Wells's very own land ironclad, the Steam Man of the Prairies, the Mallard, L'Obéissante, and Santos-Dumont's one-man airship, among many other things. I think all of those are new to GURPS.
I recognize more than a few of those as real-world vehicles - Hansom cab, Stanley Steamer, and Santos-Dumont's one-man airship, to name just three. I wasn't expecting real-world vehicles in a steampunk supplement... although I have no idea why not.
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Last edited by robkelk; 08-03-2017 at 05:36 PM.
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Old 08-03-2017, 05:30 PM   #9
PK
 
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Default Re: GURPS Vehicles: Steampunk Conveyances

Quote:
Originally Posted by dbm View Post
Are you teasing us, or teasing a resurrected project?
Gaslight romance is one of the many subgenres of steampunk, so that was a nod to the author's other recent work, GURPS Steampunk 1: Settings and Style.
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Old 08-03-2017, 05:39 PM   #10
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Default Re: GURPS Vehicles: Steampunk Conveyances

(raises hand)
"Reverend Pee Kitty, permission to squee?"

(calmly awaits permission)
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