PDA

View Full Version : Steampunk campain (ironclaw)



Triskavanski
2011-11-04, 01:45 AM
I just recently got the Ironclaw 2.0 books and have been thinking about starting a campaign with them that is steampunk oriented. As its a new system for our group, the first portion of the quest is a number of "fetch" quests to put together the airship. (most of it is already done..)


I foresee probably two paths my PCs would take. Path of the Sneak and the Path of the Goodie.

Path of the sneak, the PCs decided to steal stuff to get the parts of the airship.
Path of the goodie, the PCs decided to work for the stuff legit.

Obviously, the price of the parts though is pretty high, so I doubt they will go goodie all the time.


One piece is the power crystal, the main part to power everything. It costs 2000 D to purchase, and that is the lowest grade one they can get.. the airship will barely run on it.

So some information comes in some how that tells them that a mafia lord has just recently got his paws on a crystal and is planning to trade it on the black market. The PC's could attack and steal it themselves earning the ire of the mafia. I foresee a few ways. The attack the transport that is delivering the crystal, they attack the warehouse, the attack during the trade, or the attack after the buyer has bought it and is leaving.


anycase, here is the first bit that i'm working with so far..


Required for Airship


Power Crystal - Airship needs at least a 2000 D crystal, but is designed for a 20000 D crystal. Better crystal, more power points you will have to destribute between devices. Power crystals provide 2 points per 0. Many functions take 1 point of energy.


Shield Crystal - If flying several miles in the air on a piece of wood when a cannon ball bursts through your ship destroying your flight crystal sounds like good fun to you, skip this. If you like living, get one of these! A ship requires a least a 100 D shield crystal. You get 1 additional soak die (d8) per each 0 past the first. In otherwords a 100 D crystal will give you 1 d8. For every two 0, gives you 1 armor die (d8) up to three die.


Flight Crystal - Can't call it an airship if it can't fly. For the ship you are starting off at, you need at least a 1500 D crystal. For every 0, you get 1 point of speed.


Heat Crystal - At least one is needed for the Ęther Collector, (a device that collects energy) Any others you collect would be for cooking food or controlling the climate of the ship. Perhaps you may find other uses for them. 50 D

Ice Crystal - The opposite of a heat crystal. Helps preserve food, without at least one for your ice chest you may have to make many stops for food.

Regen Crystal - Greatly helps in fixing any damage on the ship you may have taken.

Cannon - Need these things to shoot other peoples ships. Make sure to get cannonballs!






Important facts about the airship..

Sails - These things collect sunlight, moonlight and Ęther streams. Without them, your power crystal will quickly lose power. Remember, Moonlight is more powerful than sunlight for some purposes.

Mast - This holds your main sail and rests above your Ęther collector. If this goes down you are going to have a hard time keeping the ship up. The mast lays down on the ship when going into "jet mode". Suggested to also do this while fighting as your manuverability increases and your shields work a bit better too.

Wing Sails - These sit on the sides of the airship, and look like wings. Flight crystal energy can be pumped into these to acctivate Jet Mode.

Jet Mode - Winged Airships, such as yours, can go into a rapid speed flight. The wings fist extend, get pumped flight magics, then quickly retract unleashing the flight energy in a powerful burst.

The Ęther collector - This thing keeps power to your powercrystal. think of it as your alternator for an airship. The main power crystal is placed into this and kept under steam pressure to insure its usage. If the pressure ever goes too much, it might shatter the crystal, causing a micro-blackhole. If the pressure drops too fast the crystal might expand rapidly causing an explosion. Some Ęther Collecters purposly create the black-hole and use it to create Ęther for the rest of the ship. However your's is took weak and hob-cobbed together to do that.



Any thoughts on steampunk, ironclaw or ideas for quests or new parts would be appreciated.

Gavinfoxx
2011-11-04, 01:59 AM
I have Ironclaw 1.0 (and Sanguine's Usagi) ... and, well, this seems to be a dramatic departure from the capability of magic and tech in the setting. Does Ironclaw 2.0 talk about new ways to do different sorts of settings?

Triskavanski
2011-11-04, 09:53 AM
I don't understand what you mean.

I am a homebrewest, so I tend to make new stuff when needed. Everything here is stuff I came up with using what I've read so far from the book. Steam punk stuff just kinda seems logical to me since we already have muskets and the like.

Jolly
2011-11-04, 02:39 PM
Seems like it would be difficult to get much help under the circumstances: fairly obscure game system, lots of unspecified homebrew rules. Good luck, and perhaps if you more fully fleshed out what you're doing differently than the stock game that would be helpful?

Triskavanski
2011-11-04, 03:08 PM
Well mostly I'm asking about ways that people might go about things differently. I want to avoid bottle necks. Maybe someone might have an encounter idea for a random part. Basically I'm not asking for specifics for a setting, unless you have insight into, but rather plots or idea, maybe something cool for an airship I forgot about or other steampunkish stuff.

Right now the unspecified home brew rules mean nothing. I hope to actually run the campaign on the ground for a while before we start doing vehicle combat/travel.

I see two routes that they would take to get the parts, but their might be a third one.



They won't be able to steal another persons airship due to lock and password on the command crystal of the airships. But getting a brand new one would allow them to get control of their ship as it won't have the locks.

Triskavanski
2011-11-06, 12:17 AM
This is the start of my notes.


Chornoscape -


Players start in Ishanra.

Ishanra is the largest of all cities in Chronoscape. While the population is mainly rabbits, any race comes here to make money. Some key names..


Old Man Gruff- No one knows his real name, but he runs a pretty large tradeing company.. Often just called Old Gruff Trading Company.. yet no one really knows its name either. Some rumors suggest he is into some illicit trading. Rabbit.

Madam Mim - An old fortune teller. Mim is unlike most other fortune tellers, and rarely speaks in ryme or cryptic sayings. As a result, she is often thought of being one of the worst fortune tellers. Some people mutter though that she isn't a fortune teller, but a spell caster who uses magic to spy on people. Rabbit.

Miss Murry - A rather drab woman who runs a pie shop. Her business has suddenly picked up. Some people think that they might have saw her with Old Man Gruff just before her business picked up. A putrid sent comes from her shop. Wolf

Galorio - A barber known to be a gossiper. One of the few skunks who don't stink naturally.

Ferrius - The captian of the guard of Ishanra, Oddly he seems to be everywhere easily. Jackle

Soot Knife - A leader of a small rogue group. For some reason never gets arrested, but considering his group are terrible at thievery and stick mostly to mischief making.. its easy to see why. Rat

Shade - Not much is known about shade, other than his name. Much like Ferrius, he appears almost anywhere. Ferret



Path of the Sneak

Mission 1 - Steal the Power Stone!


Rumor has it Old man Gruff has gotten a hold of a powerstone and is getting ready to sell it on the blac market. Its unknown why he is selling it on the black market as its not something illegal to sell. The trade is going to happen tonight.

Combat will probably happen in a few locations...

1. OMG puts the crystal in a warehouse on the wharf guarded by a light guard.

2 guards, +1 per 2 players +1d4 guards. Basic low level guards, nothing major. Players should be encouraged however to avoid combat.



2. OMG is currently doing the trade of the powerstone to a currently unknown client at the warehouse.

Enemies OMG, Unknown, +4 guards, +1 guard per 2 players + 2d4 guards. Players should be encouraged to do try to steal the crystal before or after the trade, when the number of guards goes down.


3. UC is running off with the power crystal.

UC, +2 guards + 1 for every two players. CHASE!



If the players steal the crystal before the trade is done, the Rabbit mafia will start an investigation. If they are spotted and witness isn't killed or forced to forget before he can tell the mafia, the mafia will know where to look and begin chasing the players out of town.

As a result it is best to go to not tell the players about this mission until they are nearly ready. The time OMG is going to do the trade should be the night when the PCs first hear of it.



Old Man Gruff is connected to a Rabbit Mafia. Trust me, you don't want to enemies of the Rabbit Mafia.

erikun
2011-11-06, 03:08 AM
I'm not sure how much help you will get with the steampunk/airship designs. You're basically designing it all on your own, so anything that is required (or not) is entirely of your choosing.

IronClaw takes place in roughly the equilivant of 15th-to-17th century Europe, and has the same technology level. There most certainly were blackpowder muskets back then, and were used alongside armor, calvary, swords and pikes. (I'm hoping someone stopping by can provide more accurate information on this.) If you are basing your airship designs on the supposed fantastical-history of muskets alongside plate armor, then I hate to point out that such a thing really did happen.

--

As for your plot, the big questions I would ask are Who are they getting this for?, Who are they getting it from?, and How do they plan to get it? The first is just as important as the other two; an upstanding Avoirdupois will likely have a very different opinion on appropriate methods of acquiring it than a Doloreaux boar. And trust me, if getting into a fight with a city-wide mafia is just one of the expected outcomes, I'm sure that their employer would hear word of what they've been up to.

Once they have discovered Old Man Gruff, there will likely be one of three responses: Talk with him, kill him and take it, or sneak in and take it. More entrepreneurial players might try blackmailing it off of him. Other groups might just look around for other/more reputable sellers, or attempt to kill whoever buys the crystal instead. After all, if there are airships being constructed that make use of these crystals, then there must be other crystals available, correct? They may even try to visit a salvage yard or steal the crystal off another ship.

Assuming they don't try to grab it immediately, there is no guarantee that they will jump into a fight during the dealing either. They could call in the town guard to break up the illegal sale. They could try to bluff Old Man Gruff that the sale is a double-cross, or even try to bluff the other party into thinking that Old Man Bluff is selling them a fake crystal.

And, of course, they could just follow the buyer and steal/assassinate them when they go to sleep.

Triskavanski
2011-11-06, 02:15 PM
Well mostly the plot was they where getting them for themselves. Most of the players are ready to be airship something or another.


Those are some very good possible responses that I didn't think of when they go for this part.


I'm actually basing the design of an airship off more of a boat. I've always been a fan of the weatherlight's design. However the biggest aspect is that, if there is magic, there is a possibility of higher technology via magical means.