Re: Steampunk Jammer

>I know people who played adventuring Alchemists as a player
>character class since the late 1970s, using the rules in an early
>"Dragon" magazine - arguably they work best as a split/dual/multi
>class with something like Bard, or maybe Priest. There are some
>bits developed over the last 30+yrs at:
>
>http://www.romsys.demon.co.uk/frpg/alchemy/

Omg! Thank you so much! That link is awesome, you just saved me a whole
crapload of work and research!

>Smokepowder allows explosives to enter the game, which is a major
>change in the amount of force that can be applied without magic
>(unless you count ramming). It is just that I would recommend not
>having anything better than smokepower, or at least that is what
>a look at the RW history of explosives suggests to me.

Oh! In that case, no, smoke powder is going to be as good as it gets. Giff
running around with sticks of tnt is just too scary for me to imagine.

>You might want to think carefully about telegraphs, as they
>introduce cheap and accurate long distance communication,
>something that really changes a culture. Terry Pratchett's
>"Discworld" stories have recently shown what can be done with
>just mechanical semaphores and the right (or wrong) attitude -
>clever use of signal fires/smoke, or more powerfully heliographs,
>can do quite a lot.

Now that you mention it, I just bought a Pratchett book not too long ago.
Haven't gotten started with it yet though. I guess the same could be done
(planet wise) with a kite (conditions allowing).

But whats a heliograph? Isn't that a sort of telephone that uses light
instead of electricity as a transfer medium for sound? Or am I totally off
the mark?

>Look at Shinto, or Buddhism - if your ancestor does well enough
>(or maybe was important enough before death), or you are really
>good at reincarnation (or inspire enough people), then it may be
>very difficult to tell the result from at least demi-gods. Once
>you get a heirarchy those further up the ladder may well assume
>god-like attributes.

Good point. I guess its kind of hard to keep it from becoming deified hu?

>Now, if your democratic militarism extends to the afterlife, then
>the idea might be that some spirits are in elected positions of
>power, or have certain jobs as a result of being skillful at them
>that give them more power. Praying to divine union leaders? [grin]

Does create an interesting religion doesn't it? Kinda sounds like the
Egyptian idea of the afterlife where its just regular life after death.

>Maybe their idea is that the afterlife just gets on with itself,
>and you have your funerals and baptisms, to celebrate people
>entering and leaving life, maybe with the occasional memorial
>service, but nothing else. "Maybe we will meet in our next
>lives?" [grin]
>
>It could be that the idea is that you do as good a job as
>possible at being whatever your life has led you to, and,
>eventually, you get to leave the Wheel Of Incarnation, and ascend
>to a higher, unknown, plane of existence.
>
>Whatever produces the right results for your campaign!

That would definitely fit the feel of the nation. I'd start posting what I
have now, but a) its 30 pages long and b) no where near complete.


> > >How much is magic effected by the belief of the people, in your
> > >world? If magic is believed to be weak and primitive, then you
> > >might put a penalty of -1 level of (conscious) magic use in towns
> > >beyond a certain size, -2 levels in cities, maybe even -3 levels
> > >in the capital city. This penalty might be even worse if someone
> > >was doing magical research. This would mean anyone involved in
> > >magic in the steampunk nation would be in out-of-the-way places,
> > >with few locals around.
> >
> > Hm, would that be a penalty against the spell level or the actual success
> > of casting the spells?
>
>I was thinking more the caster level, which means less than a 4th
>level caster will be incapable of anything but cantrips in the
>capital city. High level casters may loose access to their most
>powerful spells, and have reduced effect on the ones they can
>still cast, but are still useful to have around.

Oh. Definitely, gives magic users a reason to get the hell out of dodge as
soon as possible. And it would explain why a small class of wizards never
developed.


> > >Is planar access limited in the steampunk nation - maybe in
> > >similar ways to magic use being restricted? Even so, are there
> > >any extra planar entities around, stirring the pot, such as
> > >demons or devils which have aspects tied to the abuse of
> > >technology, or the nasty living conditions that tend to come with
> > >an industrial revolution? Might there be a divine avatar or two,
> > >trying to make things better?
> >
> > That would definitely work. I imagine some demon selling snake oil remedies
> > that cause possession or a plague. Great idea for an adventure. As far as
> > divinities though, I doubt there would be one since as I mentioned above
> > they don't have a true god-worshipping religion. So demons slip in, but
> > divinities can't or wont.
>
>Avatars might well be able to go places that the gods have little
>or no power, and servants of the gods can act even if they
>receive no benefit from their gods in terms of magic. There might
>well be multiple attempts in progress to try and start (or
>restart) religions. If there were god wars back in history, and
>the people turned against gods in general, you might use this to
>explain the current beliefs. Maybe they have Faith Police? [grin]

Faith police? lol I dunno, I've used the entire "god-war" theme far too
often in my settings. I think I might just use the "scientific advancement
naturally opposes religious advancement". But that still doesn't explain
why the gods wouldn't interfere. Maybe they don't want to be bothered with
an upstart nation who thinks that they don't need gods? Makes for a very
helenistic pantheon. ;)

>It is possible that scientists are treated in the same way as
>priests of gods, people with a strong belief in the Scientific
>Method, and the sacred Null Hypothesis, and this is one reason
>they are uncommon, and treated with suspicion.

Have you read "Foundation" too? Its a good way to keep the common man from
attaining technology. But that also has the impact of making technology
slightly out of reach for the common person because they would regard it as
holy. If taken to such a point, it would require someone from a "holy
scientist" to operate a train. That's definitely not a position one would
imagine someone as high up as a scientist filling.

>I think you can go a long way with trial-and-error, and a bit of
>luck, in a craftman orientated set-up, as long as the skills are
>passed on effectively. This probably means open training, without
>guild secrets, which in the RW some people believe hindered
>progress in medieval times.

Good point.

> > >Just a few random thoughts...
> >
> > That was more then random I think. Thanks you helped a lot.
>
>We aim to confuse! Or, was that help? Anyhow, glad to be of
>assistance!
>
>--
>Dreamer
>dreamer@??????.?????.??.uk
>http://www.romsys.demon.co.uk/

Lol thanks. I'll be sure to try and show off what I have once I'm done with
all of this. But as it stands I keep focusing on my new ideas and
forgetting to finish the old ones. XD