[3.x] Steampunk help?

[Xero_Mobius]

Hello all! I've been DMing for 11 years now, and I've finally decided to deviate from the usual D&D style (in a way more significant than tossing more sourcebooks in) to try to spice things up. In that spirit, I've decided to try and get a steampunk game going, but I keep running into a few roadblocks:

- I need a good gadget-building system. Steamworks' gadgets-as-spells way of doing things doesn't particularly satisfy my needs. It feels like the D&D spell system spray-painted as steampunk

- I found Victoriana's Engines system to be good for creating vehicles and constructs, but I need a way to integrate Engine Points with d20.

Any suggestions on those points, or anything else really would be helpful.

[Doc Roc]

Iron Kingdoms is incredible.
Seriously incredible. I prefer it to the Steamworks system by a wide margin.

You'll need to give their fire arms clips, and lower the prices of mechanika by about 14% across the board, but other than that, you should be good. The PDFs are now available through Paizo.

[Deth Muncher]

Hit up Goodman Games' "Dragonmech" books. They're what you're looking for, and they're 3.5.

[Pika...]

The Tinker class from the 3.5 World of Warcraft book is pretty fun.

[wizuriel]

Iron Kingdoms: Liber Mechanika is the book you want.

there is also legends & lairs sorcery & steam

[deuxhero]

On the suggestions for "everything else" bit

If you are making a new setting, I'm going to suggest you take the opertunity to get rid of (or rather, prevent from existing) the lazy Tolkien plagiarism and not use Elfs, Orc, Dwarfs ect.

[Jergmo]

I haven't looked into it extensively, but I've been using Steam & Sorcery for my Steampunk needs.


On the suggestions for "everything else" bit

If you are making a new setting, I'm going to suggest you take the opertunity to get rid of (or rather, prevent from existing) the lazy Tolkien plagiarism and not use Elfs, Orc, Dwarfs ect.

...Or, he could just do something else instead of getting rid of them completely? Halflings are the only things Tolkien has a real claim to. (Stupid halflings. :smallmad:)

[Ravens_cry]

On the suggestions for "everything else" bit

If you are making a new setting, I'm going to suggest you take the opertunity to get rid of (or rather, prevent from existing) the lazy Tolkien plagiarism and not use Elfs, Orc, Dwarfs ect.
Actually, I like them incorporated, though changed of course. It makes it feel like you are in a future, not simply a world that has been steampunkin' away since the dawn of time. Getting out of the quasi-medieval stasis and into steampunk stasis doesn't sound like a terrible amount of improvement.

[Xero_Mobius]

I've looked into Iron Kingdoms, and managed to plow through most of the core book, without crossing much that looked helpful to me, though to be fair I was skimming (the good folks at B&N give you mean looks when you have a 2' tall stack of books) through most of it. A friend of mine suggested Dragonmech, does it have gadget-building? It's definitely going on my to-look-at list.

As for de-tolkienizing the game, I've canned most of the standard fare except dwarves and gnomes, and am looking for suitable replacements. Goblins like those from Mirrodin (M:TG) are going into the lineup once I find good stats, as well as any other good races I find. Warforged (or automata in general) seemed tempting, but I decided against for non-abuse reasons.

Thank you for the suggestions so far. Ideas for good, off-the-beaten-path races would be welcome, as well as any more sourcebook or house-rule input.

[mabriss lethe]

some nonstandard races for a steampunk setting.

Maybe stat out some sort of Gremlins for anti-tech saboteurs.

[deuxhero]

As for de-tolkienizing the game, I've canned most of the standard fare except dwarves and gnomes,

Actually Gnomes don't come from Tolkien IIRC.


If you are ok with existing races, you may want to look at some LA+1 races (because a very good portion of them do not deserve it and only get it because some edict in 3.5 was made to discourage not stealing from Tolkien) Goliaths (races of stone) Planetouched, some of the psionic races and a few others are good here.

[Callos_DeTerran]

I second the Dragonmech setting and classes. The setting itself is, frankly, absolutely top-notch in my mind and the steampunk is very serviceable. (Steampunk weaponry=weapons finally worth exotic weapon prof.)

[TheNifty]

GURPS has a Steampunk sourcebook that you might wanna take a look at. The nice thing about GURPS is, the system is designed to translate into other systems, so it'd be fairly easy to convert it to 3e. There's guides for doing so at sjgames.com

Oh, and you also might want to hunt down Castle Falkenstein or Deadlands - the first is more fantasy and the second western, but they take place in steampunky worlds with lots of ideas to steal for your own game :smallcool:.

[Tyrmatt]

GURPS has a Steampunk sourcebook that you might wanna take a look at. The nice thing about GURPS is, the system is designed to translate into other systems, so it'd be fairly easy to convert it to 3e. There's guides for doing so at sjgames.com

Oh, and you also might want to hunt down Castle Falkenstein or Deadlands - the first is more fantasy and the second western, but they take place in steampunky worlds with lots of ideas to steal for your own game :smallcool:.

I second the GURPS movement. The U stands for Universal! Also, I think the 3e GURPs books are probably easier to convert to 3.5 D&D than the newer tweaked 4e GURPS. Steve Jackson will tell you how though.
I do however heartily recommend the Tinkerer from the Warcraft books. Friend of mine once told about the "Sand Shifter" he built. Basically, a mechanical crab platform dealie to help move the party across the desert. No idea how in line with the rules it was, but damn it sounded cool.

[Xero_Mobius]

I'm reeeeaaally digging DragonMech, it's pretty sharp. I looked around and couldn't find anything about converting GURPS to d20, except a few cockamamy half-thought-out procedures; if anyone can point me, I'd be very grateful, 'cause I love GURPS for character building. Liber Mechanika is ok, but it puts too much emphasis on magic for my liking (I'm running a very low magic setting).

I meant that Gnomes and Dwarves are pretty much the only standards I'm bringing over from D&D. Still looking for a few other good ones. Goliaths are a possibility, along with Aasimar, and Tieflings.

Does anyone have any expansion ideas for DragonMech's steam powers? they're nice, but the selection feels a little skimpy. Right now, I'm thinking to hybridize DragonMech's mech building with Victoriana's Engines and use steampowers and a little GURPS gadgeteering for the gizmos.

Here's what I've got for custom adaptations:


Mechanical Points = (INT + Ranks) * 10

[ranks purchased as if it were a skill, with mechanically inclined classes having it as a class-skill]

Each level, this pool resets to it's maximum, representing the unique parts and ideas that a character gets through adventuring. A second, non-recharging pool is composed of MP the character picks up by searching junk piles and scavenging destroyed machines. The character chooses which points are used in construction at the time of construction, and may split the bill as they choose between the pools.

Mech Points translate to Victoriana's Engine Points directly (cost increases proportionally increase MP cost as well), allowing for DragonMech's stats and enhancements. Steam Powers require 10 MP/day during construction (round up).

Repairing a machine expends MP proportional to the amount repaired versus the mech's total health. Dismantling a device (taking the same amount of time it took to construct) yields back it's MP cost (modified for damage), and requires no check if it's your own construction. If it's not, the DC for the Craft (Mechanical) check is 10 + Constructors INT, with a failure of 5 or less indicating the machine is intact but non-functional, and 6 or more indicating that the mech was damaged for d% of it's health (round off) but is still intact.

Thoughts?