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View Full Version : One Part Victorian Era, Three Parts Mad Scientist(What makes a Dungeonpunk Setting?)



Anderlith
2013-05-31, 03:42 PM
Dungeonpunk, Magitek, Gaslight Fantasy, doesn't matter what name you call it, what do you believe are the staples that identify the genre?

Flickerdart
2013-05-31, 03:56 PM
It seems that the one constant aspect is a certain relationship between magic and technology needs to exist. A setting that simply has magic and technology in it is not dungeonpunk. A setting where you can have magical machines might be dungeonpunk. A setting where magic and technology are polar opposites and go wibbly when brought into proximity might be dungeonpunk.

Xuc Xac
2013-06-01, 02:19 AM
Dungeonpunk, Magitek, Gaslight Fantasy, doesn't matter what name you call it, what do you believe are the staples that identify the genre?

Which genre? Those are all different.

Magitek (by various spellings) usually implies that magic is being used to simulate and augment advanced technology of at least the mid- to late-Industrial age. No one ever uses it to refer to magically creating medieval technology, such as grinding grain with a windmill powered by a bound air elemental or something. Magitek usually means "20th+ century machines with the complex moving parts, electronic components, and/or software replaced by a relatively undefined and generic force called 'magic'".

Gaslight Fantasy is basically urban fantasy set during Victorian times. The urban component is important. The American Civil War and the "Old West" were during Victorian times too, but they had a definite rural character that does not fit with "Gaslight".

Dungeonpunk is D&D that stops pretending to be based on medieval Europe and fully embraces the weird conceit that the world is full of booby-trapped, monster-infested ruins (dungeons) that are explored and raided for treasure by social misfits called adventurers (punk). Although many people mistakenly use "punk" as a suffix to mean "characterized by heavy use of the element to which the suffix is attached" (i.e. "cyberpunk" features a lot of cybernetics, "steampunk" features a lot of steam engines, etc.), "punk" actually refers to the powerless lower classes and disenfranchised outsiders.

For example, "cyberpunk" (where it all started) is usually thought of as a dystopic vision of the future, but it wasn't. William Gibson, the father of cyberpunk, wrote about a future that he considered to be a utopia; however, his stories focused on the outsiders who fell through the cracks of that glorious future. He wrote about people who chose not to participate in the utopia, or who operated outside of it for various reasons. Saying that cyberpunk was a dystopia would be like saying that life today is much worse than in the Middle Ages, because there are homeless people living in cardboard boxes today but in the Middle Ages you could always be a slave with a little hut.

Steampunk that focuses on how fun it is for a Lord in a top hat and goggles and a Lady in a corset to fly a dirigible around the world while blasting coal-powered robots with lightning guns isn't really "punk" at all. If the heroes are aristocrats or gentry, then no amount of steam will make it "punk". In order to be truly "punk", the protagonists need to be working class and fighting against the oppression of the upper classes. Punks fight the Man. That's what cyberpunk was originally about: people outside of, or held down by, the system but who tried to get their own piece of the pie in spite of that.

Anderlith
2013-06-01, 03:26 PM
Which genre? Those are all different.

Magitek (by various spellings) usually implies that magic is being used to simulate and augment advanced technology of at least the mid- to late-Industrial age. No one ever uses it to refer to magically creating medieval technology, such as grinding grain with a windmill powered by a bound air elemental or something. Magitek usually means "20th+ century machines with the complex moving parts, electronic components, and/or software replaced by a relatively undefined and generic force called 'magic'".

Gaslight Fantasy is basically urban fantasy set during Victorian times. The urban component is important. The American Civil War and the "Old West" were during Victorian times too, but they had a definite rural character that does not fit with "Gaslight".

Dungeonpunk is D&D that stops pretending to be based on medieval Europe and fully embraces the weird conceit that the world is full of booby-trapped, monster-infested ruins (dungeons) that are explored and raided for treasure by social misfits called adventurers (punk). Although many people mistakenly use "punk" as a suffix to mean "characterized by heavy use of the element to which the suffix is attached" (i.e. "cyberpunk" features a lot of cybernetics, "steampunk" features a lot of steam engines, etc.), "punk" actually refers to the powerless lower classes and disenfranchised outsiders.

For example, "cyberpunk" (where it all started) is usually thought of as a dystopic vision of the future, but it wasn't. William Gibson, the father of cyberpunk, wrote about a future that he considered to be a utopia; however, his stories focused on the outsiders who fell through the cracks of that glorious future. He wrote about people who chose not to participate in the utopia, or who operated outside of it for various reasons. Saying that cyberpunk was a dystopia would be like saying that life today is much worse than in the Middle Ages, because there are homeless people living in cardboard boxes today but in the Middle Ages you could always be a slave with a little hut.

Steampunk that focuses on how fun it is for a Lord in a top hat and goggles and a Lady in a corset to fly a dirigible around the world while blasting coal-powered robots with lightning guns isn't really "punk" at all. If the heroes are aristocrats or gentry, then no amount of steam will make it "punk". In order to be truly "punk", the protagonists need to be working class and fighting against the oppression of the upper classes. Punks fight the Man. That's what cyberpunk was originally about: people outside of, or held down by, the system but who tried to get their own piece of the pie in spite of that.

You seem really entrenched in your opinion... :/

Magitek, can be defined as any combination of technology & magic. From clockwork men running on magic, to magic streetlights, to guns that shoot fireballs, to magical airships... Anything really.

Dragonpunk is... Eberron Campaign Setting

& Steampunk means a world/timeline/whatever where advanced industrial revolutionary machines are powered by steam. What kind of character or tone of the game is up to the people playing.

"punk" is a term that has been passed around the ages. You're definition of "punk" is apt, but it's also extremely limited. Widen your horizons a bit?