steamcraft

Hello everyone! Today I am launching a Kickstarter to fund the creation of the SteamCraft Mucker’s Guide (Player’s Guide) on Kickstarter. Funding runs through 11:59 PM on May 24th. Please help us out by backing and sharing information about the project. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/666449184/steamcraft-rpg-players-guide SteamCraft is a steampunk RPG. Why it might be of interest to people on this forum is that it is d100 based. It is very easy to pick up for those who know BRP. Thus, any official or homebrew mods you like to use with your games most likely can be used in SteamCraft as well. Additionally, Chad Bowser the co-writer and designer of Cthulhu Invictus is one of the writers. Please considering backing this project and sharing the link to the Kickstarter About Mucker’s Guide Faster character creation rules New edges/Flaws New items and equipment New steampunk gadgets New spells Introduce the societies mechanic to aid in character creation and development. PCs will have the option to join overt or secret societies at the beginning of the game. These societies will grant benefits to PCs but the societies will also require service from the characters. Societies is optional, but the goal of the mechanic is to help players understand how their characters fit into the world and give players and gamemasters ways to focus and structure play. Societies will provide agendas and personal goals for the characters that help develop your character’s story and the overall metaplot of your campaigns that goes beyond your character being a Mucker. And much more! About SteamCraft In the spirit of Gibson and Sterling's The Difference Engine, SteamCraft takes you to an alternate, dystopian world where gears, goggles, and airships dominate life. The Industrial Age is joined by an early Information Age, combining into a gritty world where corporations use technological advances to amass hordes of wealth and power at the expense of the working class. Meanwhile, technomages' ability to create by mixing magic with machine lurches ahead of their wisdom to control their creations and where scientific exploration is best done in coal powered airships venturing beyond the charted world maps. Just as Shadowrun mixes cyberpunk and fantasy, SteamCraft mixes steampunk and fantasy. The scientific wonders of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells mix with fantasy elements like dwarves and elves. The result is a world filled with ancient horrors as well as man-made beasts such as Clockwork Beholders. SteamCraft uses a d100/percentile system that is simple and intuitive to understand and easily modifiable to fit your game’s needs. Characters are skill-based enabling players to create and customize their team roles and individualize their characters as they prefer. About the Writers Monica Valentinelli is a writer, editor, and game developer. Her portfolio includes stories, games, comics, essays, and pop culture books. She is the Line Developer for the Firefly RPG. Additional gaming credits include Vampire: the Masquerade, Hunter: the Vigil, Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn, and Robert E. Howard’s Conan. Philip A Lee is a writer, editor, and game developer. In addition to his previous work on SteamCraft, he is most known in gaming circles for his work on BattleTech and Shadowrun. Chad Bowser is a game designer living in Kernersville, NC. He has done work for various gaming companies. His credits include co-writer and designer of Cthulhu Invictus and writer for Victoriana.

Ok, I understand the issue. One of the reasons I hate the Forgotten Realms setting. Everything is too detailed out and potentially everyone of the players knows too much about the world.

Why is EU out the window? You still have access to the information. You can even get the WEG books if you want. The only reason I could see if for 'canon' reasons, but let's face it Ep VII is essentially fan fiction. George Lucas has nothing to do with the content of the film nor did it directly or indirectly get his approval. At least with the old Lucasfilm there was a bit of Lucas control exercised through the hierarchy put together. It just happens that Disney can legally make the Star Wars films. The EU was legally made before Disney. I like the Old Republic. I would personally set a game in that time period, but not because of anything to do with EU.

Your RPGGeek post still says the Window. If you think that the system is off putting over there, then you might want to change it.

If it is worth picking up, I am sure Margret Weiss Press will do it. MWP tends to get the trendy TV licenses. Part of the if it is worth it really depends on who owns the rights and how much. It is based on a novel. It is possible the author still holds the rights. On the other hand, Universal could own the rights. That would likely cost a lot more money. However, you will usually have permission to use still shots from the TV show. In any case it comes down to ratings. If it is popular enough, then it will sell. I don't really know how popular it is. If the show was on the CW, I would say it would be more worth it than SyFy. SyFy generally has lower ratings and a tendency to cancel shows at the worst time. As mentioned, there is Eclipse Phase. I do not think that is a concern for licensing. You are licensing the IP because you think that the IP will bring people in. Eclipse Phase is an original product not based on an IP. Anyone who is interested in the IP won't care that Eclipse Phase is out.

That is interesting. Do all of the additional dice rolls and checks slow the action down?

I went looking through the description of most of the downloads. I didn't notice anything that looked like it was a wound system. Is it part of something else?

SteamCraft has fate points.

So, based on the ideas I have gotten, here is what I think I would do: If hit, then damage is rolled. The damage is then reduced by some rating that combines maybe toughness and armor (if any). If any damage gets through, each point does a level of wound. It starts off with bruised, light wound, moderate wound, severe, incapacitated, death. The one's digit determines the hit location. Each location can take wounds. Only head and torso can take a death wound. An incapacitated arm, for example, would just be incapable of being used until healed. Wounds do not stack. That is, two light wounds are just two light wounds. In applying penalties, you just go with the highest wound. So, a moderate wound and a light wound would be treated as a moderate wound.

I am very much a problem solver type of player. I look at this as how to accomplish the goal and there are various approaches. I learned how to do this from 1E AD&D.

I don't think we are saying anything different. By building the rules, you are building the way the world works for that game. Those need to be consistent and create immersion for the players. Humans could not live and function in a universe that had no rules that govern how the universe operates (gravity, friction, genetics, etc). In the same way PCs need a world built for them and that includes rules for how things work, whether it is the physical world, magic, damage, initiative, etc. There needs to be a regular order of cause and effect at the physical and societal level to be believable and make for a good story. Rules are needed to help you tell the story. Players need to know what the PCs can do. They need this information to make a decision. Do you live in a universe where your PC can do massive damage with a tea cup or not? Having rules and limitations are important for constructing a story. The randomness of probability helps create drama. It helps alter the story in ways that are not expected. Some types of rules are needed more than others depending on the type of setting and game feel you want. I believe in many cases weapons matter and in a few cases it does not matter that much. Since I see rules are part of the world design, I probably would not like to play in a game where Which is a GM, and probably why I am not a fan of purely narrative games.

Honestly, I am not sure balance is what he means. I think his argument is the following: Roleplaying games are about telling stories. You should only have rules that help you tell stories. Weapon damage for different items does not help you tell stories, therefore, you do not need weapon damage tables. (He then offers a few other rule examples that don't help you tell stories.) I do not see what any of this has to do with balance. Balance of what? Balance between whom? At most it seems that he is taking about balance between weapons, but that still does not make sense. Sticking with weapons I would say that his complain is that some people are fixated on making sure that differences between weapon abilities reflect differences and those differences play out in the game mechanics. For example, a large caliber weapon might do more damage but have a recoil that reduces accuracy and that guns do more damage than a tea cup. If RPGs are only about telling stories, do you need rules at all? Seems people can tell stories without them just fine. So, the rules are important, That leads to the question of what are the purpose of rules? I have a different take as both a game designer and a GM. I think my role is to create, insofar as it is possible, a coherent set of rules to create a internally coherent world to play in. Part of getting people to buy into the game is that the internal reasoning of the game/setting make sense to the players. It doesn't matter that in the real world magic does not exist. However, if you have magic in your game world, it needs to make sense both in terms of the setting and in terms of mechanics. You don't want to have inconsistencies that break the world and through your players out of the immersion. When your players think, 'wait, why does it work like X and this works like Y' then you have pulled them out of the game. So, if a tea cup does the same amount of damage as a gun, you could have problems with your players buying into that.

Interesting. How has play worked out for this? What genre are you using it with?

Interesting take on how to do things. Any other ideas that people have developed and used?

No idea about d100. I looked at RQ6 essentials before and it had hit points. No idea about the main rules of if there are options. If there is, I would like to see a description.

Has anyone tried to put together any type of wound system for damage instead of HP?

Influences? That is difficult. I looked at many RPGs including various d100 games. I wanted use a percentile system and a skill system. I do not like class/level games anymore. I suppose that Gary Gygax’s Lejendary games would have the most influence on game design. There might be some aspects similar to my 2nd edition of CoC as well. I am sure others might notice influences I am not aware of. Here are the differences I can think of: 1. Different attributes and the attribute ratings are percentile as well. 2. Complete point based character creation. No rolls for anything or options to roll. 3. You earn XP for play and accomplishing goals. There isn’t an XP check. 4. There is an edges and flaw system. 5. You have skill is pretty much ever ability. However, at the start of the game, you focus on 6 main skills. These will typically have ratings in the 40-60 range. The remaining abilities start at 10% of an attributes rating. 6. Ability ratings assume a stressful/combat situation. So, in a relaxed setting bonus apply or no skill check needed. 7. Abilities are skill-clusters. Skill-clusters allow you to perform related activities of a role. For example, instead of having a skill for picklocks, pickpocketing, and palming, you have a thieving skill that combines all of these together. Instead of specializing in each melee weapon, you just have a melee weapon skill. Investigation includes tracking, interrogation, collecting evidence, taking and analyzing fingerprints, knowledge of laws, knowledge of local criminal gangs, etc. 8. A simple specialization option is available. For example, suppose you wanted to specialize in pistols. You have a Ranged Weapons rating of 50. That will drop to 40. However, your pistol rating increases to 60. Then as an optional rule in an expansion, I introduced the 3d10 system. I will post more about this soon since it is the basis on the new games coming out. Essentially, you add a 3rd d10. That d10 tells you how well the action succeeded or failed. It provides both narrative and mechanical aspects depending on the result. It is much more similar to the threat/advantage system of FFG Star Wars than the fumble/critical system of BRP. Setting specific rules include rules for steampunk creations. These are detailed instead of a just one time check of a skill. There are also rules for creating airships. This is more akin to character creation than a building skill.

No problem. If you need any more of that type of info, just let me know and I will see if I can answer it for you.

Yes establishing a working relationship with artists is really important. Paying them an amount they are happy with is important. Finding reliable artists is very important.

Art cost are highly variable. Fundamentally, there is far more supply or art than there is demand. On the other hand, finding reliable artists that can meet deadlines is difficult. Many RPG artists like to charge by size. That is, 1/8 cost $X and 1/4 page costs $Y, This used to make sense because art needed to be done in a specific size. However, everything is digital now. I can make things whatever size I want. Hence, I refuse to pay like that. (If you pay like this, it really restricts what you can do with the art and I find it costs the publisher a lot more.) I pay by detail. The more detail/background required then the more I pay. Another issue with art has to do with who owns the rights. Do you let the artist keep the rights and you just purchase a license? Do you have some exclusivity to the art, but the artist still retains the copyrights? Do you own the copyright and it is just work for hire? Generally, the more rights the artist keeps the less your cost is going to be. Foriegn artists also tend to be cheaper because USD are worth a lot more in poorer nations. Another trick is to purchase B&W line art and then color it yourself. You won't get something that looks awesome, but it can look good. Additionally, if you can purchase artwork that is already done, it is cheaper. I highly recommend that for cover art. In any case, here is a rough guide per piece based on prices I know people have paid: B&W line art: $10-$30 B&W art: $30-$60 Color art: $30-$100 Full page color interior art: $100-$250 Color cover art: $150-$1000 (A lot of color cover art prices I have seen recently tend to be around $300 for small press games.) I do not think there is much industry standard, although many people try to pretend there is. I do think that established top 5-10 publishers probably pay similar amounts that tend to be much higher than small indie publishers. Paying writers does have more of an industry standard rate.

Unless this game manages to be a break out success with minimal art, you won't be able to pay for art with sales. Say you produce a 200 pages book and have 1 piece of good color art per four pages, so 50 pieces. Then you need good cover art. Say you sell the same at $15 or DriveThruRPG. Once DTRPG takes its cut, you would need to have the game reach Electrum status to pay for artwork. Electrum status would mean that you sold more games that 96% of the other games on their website. There are direct sales, but cons cost money. Of course the smaller the book, the less art. You can always find other ways to get art costs down as well. But, if you want to get into retail, you will need to do a traditional print run, which costs lots of money upfront. Of course that carries a risk that distributors won't buy, or they won't sell enough to reorder. Based on your summer con thread, my advice would be to build up an audience and get people to know your game. Then, once you have some players out there, then do a Kickstarter to fund the art.

I probably should have made my way here a long time ago. I am the creator of the SteamCraft RPG. While not BRP based, it is percentile, which should be of interest to most players here. I have many other games in the pipeline that will be percentile based, so I thought this would be a good community to run ideas by and maybe have people test out a few things before going to press. Before posting up about the new games and the new percentile system I will be using with those, I thought I would post up about SteamCraft and see if people have any questions about the setting or game system. About SteamCraft (Short version where I have to describe it in 5 seconds: Steampunk Shadowrun set in an alternate world but with a much easier system.) SteamCraft is a steampunk rpg. It is not a steampunk RPG (which IMO is what most games that are labeled as steampunk really are.) This is not to say you cannot play it pulp style, but the game is dystopian in nature. SteamCraft takes you to an alternate, dystopian world where gears, goggles, and airships dominate life. The Industrial Age is joined by an early Information Age, combining into a gritty world where corporations use technological advances to amass hordes of wealth and power at the expense of the working class. Meanwhile, technomages' ability to create by mixing magic with machine lurches ahead of their wisdom to control their creations and where scientific exploration is best done in coal powered airships venturing beyond the charted world maps. Just as Shadowrun mixes cyberpunk and fantasy, SteamCraft mixes steampunk and fantasy. The scientific wonders of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells mix with fantasy elements like dwarves and elves. SteamCraft is set on an Earth based world, but one that is not Earth. This allows you more freedom to play without worrying about getting historical setting details always just right. The setting is focused on a “New-World” where colonies have become independent and are now gaining power and influence. A wild frontier, filled with ancient tombs and other curiosities begs to be explored. Steampunk (not Victorian) attire required of course. Game System SteamCraft uses a d100/percentile system that is simple and intuitive to understand and easily modifiable to fit your game’s needs. Abilities and Attributes are rating from 01-100. Characters are skill-based enabling players to create and customize their team roles and individualize their characters as they prefer. Archetypes are provided to aid in character creation and inspire players on the types of characters fitted to the genre. The SteamCraft core rulebook also includes rules for airship creation and combat and item creation and invention. Other Products Wake the Dead – A trilogy of adventures Rusting Sands – Setting supplement designed to give you a North African steampunk feel. Shadows Over Newport – Setting supplement that focuses on building up some of the mystery and horror elements loosely based on a steampunk New Orleans concept.

Hi, my name is Jamie Hardy and I am a game designer who probably should have come here years ago since I design percentile based games.