Good perspectives

Victorian is the real world base for Steampunk. So understanding the real Victorian is important for SP gamers and authors. Like how Robert Jordan based many of his Wheel of Time cultures on assorted real cultures. Then modified them. Tolkien much the same including his elves being not the baby stealing type of elves but the Nolder type of graceful elves.

Thank you for acknowledging the difference between Tolkien's elves and Typical British isle folklore elves! The distinction is important...

I know this is a bit old, and I don't mean to necro it, but I could not put down "The Scar" by China Mieville. I'm not quite sure it counts as Steampunk (I'd be interested to hear others' thoughts on that) but it certainly had that feel to me, and it was like nothing I've ever read.

I personally havent read it. I just recently opened the door to Steampunk literature and havent really found anything particularly awesome yet...something that is both a good, cleverly written book AND that yells out "Steampunk."

Of course that doesnt account for some books I have read previous to knowing what steampunk is. His Dark Materials trilogy stood out when I discovered Steampunk, and it stands out as being just a damn good set of books.

...on a side note, totally unrelated to books, I've been familiarizing myself a bit with the science anf engineering common in the Steam Age, and I'm actually amazed at how functional it is. Why DON'T we still use some of this stuff? It's surprisingly more efficient than you'd think. I'm amazed...

Didn't know this... first of the revived Olympic games are smack dab in the middle of the period 1896

http://www.ask.com/wiki/1896_S...n=apn&ap=ask.com

Now there's a setting

Periodic reminder

This is question/answer type board with saved messages.

So we get new activity by questions being asked. Ask and thou shall receive.

Good point on the Olympics.  One could certain spin some plots around them or move them earlier if needed to better fit.

How cool is that, well I never.  That would really be a great setting, thanks for info link.

Just a heads up!

February is the month for "Steampunk Hands Across the World", a month-long event celebrating the worldwide steampunk community:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1398953240354180/

How it all ended..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...t=PL40A6146642DEAF47

Current post on science thread reminded me of something (but I didn't want to put this over there since someone might want to discuss science of exsercellular material). Anyway, I was at a few steampunk discussions over last several months and I heard definition of steampunk as retrotech SF based on Victorian science, fashion and lifestyle. Now the definition looks all right to me, but as it turned out, chance decided that I actually got to play cyberpunk as retrotech SF. I actually mean as retrotech SF, rather than actual SF, because the GM explicitly said that we'd be playing cyberpunk as people in the 80s were imagining the future, rather than either as we imagine the future or the way that future is going to be.

Now has anyone done any other retrotech SF, other than steampunk, dieselpunk and cyberpunk?

Steampunk is sort of the opposite of cyberpunk in that regard.

Cyberpunk is how people in the 80s saw the future.

Steampunk isn't how victorians saw the future. Steampunk is modern people applying modern technological innovation to victorian technology.

It's using anachronistic design elements to mimic modern technology that the Victorians didn't forsee.

Frankly the difference seems moot to me and it doesn't really answer my question. (Has anyone tried any other retrotech?)


Of course we can debate your point too, if you wish, as I will readily boast that the way I saw future during the 80s looks much more like we have today than cyberpunk.

As for how Victorian age people saw future, do we have any actual traces, other than Jules Verne of course?

Well let's see what a 5 minute google search comes up with:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/briang...aring-in#.itkGAeJLko

http://www.ifisoft.ch/test/andrea/victorian-visions-1/

http://paleofuture.com/blog/20...-year-2000-1910.html

http://aeon.co/magazine/societ...invented-the-future/

H.G. Wells. Rudyard Kipling. George Griffith. Edward Bulwer-Lytton. And those are just the better known British ones.

Aren't they also a bunch of early steampunk influences?

Retroactively.

Steampunk as a literary genre was invented in the 80s by KW Jeter, Tim Powers, and James Blaylock started writing "Victorian Fantasies". Jeter invented the term "steampunk" to describe them in 1987.

Though these days Steampunk is more of an artistic/DIY craft movement than a literary movement; it's moved on from how it started.

In reply to Tortuga (msg # 50):

Sorry I missed this one.

Tortuga, these are so cooooool.


But more to the point, if that is how Victorian folks saw the future, it's damn close to steampunk.

The Fallout series is supposed to be retrotech sf, based on cold war imagined future tech (atompunk?), I believe.  That's the only retrotech sf I can think of, that I've played in.

Edit: check http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki...turistic_derivatives .  I think it's got the info you want.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:00, Fri 01 May 2015.

I'm sure everybody else already knows this, but there's a new competition show debuting in August that deal strictly with steampunk!

I think it's called Steampunk'd. Don't know what day it starts or what channel it is on at the moment. I've seen the ads for it.

EDIT: Found it. August 19 at 10pm EDT on GSN (Game Show Network).

Looks like it'll be fun.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:32, Mon 20 July 2015.

In reply to CoyotesGrin (msg # 55):

That is, "Retraux" (retro + faux)?
http://allthetropes.org/wiki/Retraux

In reply to Brygun (msg # 35):

Great Expectations was written in 1861, so is definitely Victorian and not Edwardian

In reply to tsofian (msg # 58):

Not sure if this is the right place but I hope so. As has been mentioned other places I have a current Kickstarter for a Victorian Science Fiction Role Playing game titled Stars of Empire.  https://www.kickstarter.com/pr...steampunk-rpg.gamers looking for a detailed universe with playable rules might be well rewarded

This is a hard science science fiction setting. We have done a lot of research, into technology, science, social structures and history.

If you want to know more about the game universe I've done a number of interviews

http://www.madadventurers.com/...-66-venusian-shadow/

http://www.madadventurers.com/...e-queen-and-country/

https://gmshoe.wordpress.com/2...ian-stars-of-empire/

There will be others to come. This might be a quick way to learn more about the game universe and what the project will accomplish

Footnote:

Im okay with Kickstarters/Early Access/Greenlights being posted as was above. The General Discussion Thread. No graphics or images just links. Seems a good way to do it. Of course a Steampunk theme is needed.

A call to all for questions, thoughts, debates, remarks, joys and sorrows of the Steampunk setting.

We are after all a Q&A style board so we want questions.

RPOL game advertisements go and can be found here:
link to a message in this game