[Celyddon]

With the return of half my players from a trip to japan that took 2 weeks we are having a D&D game on the friday we have off from school.
Since the trial run of my personal setting did not get off the ground at all, mainly due to the activites of Amy the catfolk cleric, and her brother wilson the gunslinger.
Their actions made them wanted and I did not want to suffer using the court system since they would metagame me to the bowls of insanity.
Since the two best players in my group like using guns and messing with science I looked for a pregen setting at my local comic shop to fulfill their tastes.
I found a copy of the IronKingdoms charecter guide, showing the setting and the races and all the other assorted material and I instantly knew this would be the perfect world for both myself and them.
The reason I chose this was so they could get away with what they do and not destroy style of the setting.

The book details a contenient mainly populated by humans, other racea are gobbers (goblin) , Orgun, Trollkin, Two breeds of elves which are both xenophobic, and Dwarves.
All these races are playable for the setting and the way it set up is very interesting.
I bought the book and the interduction pregen adventures called the Witch Fire trilogy.
The detail of the charecter sheets for this setting is amazing, a total of 6 pages in all.
The options of weapons and firearms are also very good along with the patheon which includes a group of ascended humans.

I thought it would be good to bring up this setting since it could be what some people on the boards are looking for.


Link to the puplishers homepage:
http://privateerpres...oms/default.php

[Dthclaw]

(OT: My Orwell post... #1984...)

Anyway, looks like an interesting find, Cely. Definitely looks good for steampunk type campaigns, or even for campaigns that incorporate ~Renaissance-era technology.

[Celyddon]

I have been reading the books I bought and it really is a good setting but its not percisley steampunk.
It incorperates technology and steam into balance, their is things like robots running off steam but controlled via magic itsems called cortexs, their is trains line int he two biggest nations also.

[Dthclaw]

Uh, Cely? That is very much steampunk, incorporating magic and technology into a blended whole.

Still, looks good. Probably won't buy it, but I would recommend it to anyone that plans on playing a campaign like that.

[Celyddon]

Sorry about my mistake, I always thought steampunk was mainly technology taking the place of magic.

[Oneiros]

Technology in the place of magic would pretty much be the real world, wouldn't it

Seriously, though, you're actually kinda right, in that steampunk as a literary genre doesn't neccessarily rely on the existence of magic for the story. Usually it's more about a historical setting in which more modern technical achievements happen, but using the technology of time period. The Difference Engine, by Bruce Sterling and William Gibson, is one good example, where a steam-powered computer is invented during the Victorian Age (which almost did happen in the real world. Google Charles Babbage sometime.)

For more info check out the Wikipeida Steampunk entry. Also check out the link on the bottom of that page for the list of steampunk works. I personally highly recommend Perdido Street Station, The Scar, Iron Council by China Miéville.

When gamers refer to steampunk, however, they're usually referring to fantasy steampunk, a subgenre where these outlandish technical inventions (or even just ordinary technology) exist side-by-side in a historical or psuedo-historical setting. Sometimes they exist in harmony, or might be at odds with each other.

Another factor of steampunk is often the "gritty" feel it has, taken from its "parent" genre, cyberpunk. I think Iron Kingdoms also does this well, both from a "fluff" standpoint and from the changes in rules mechanics for things like healing and raising the dead.

However, I'm not crazy about the gun rules in IK. They have long reloading times, with strange "multiple standard action" rules rather than a full round rule like heavy crossbows. You have to take an exotic weapon feat to use them, and invest skill points in order to reload them properly. Plus, they cost hundreds of gold pieces. Overall, they're a subpar weapon which a character would be better off sticking with a longbow or even crossbow if they want to be effective in combat.

Also, some of the authors' grasp of d20 rules design in other areas are a bit poor. The rules for Mechanika (arcane-powered steampunk items) are convoluted in the extreme, and some of the classes suffer from over-detailing how their class features work. The gunmage, a very cool concept, can possibly suffer a penalty due to eyestrain from crafting their expensive, magical bullets. Huh? Sometimes I think IK was really intended for it's own system, but turned to the d20 bandwagon at the last minute.

However, for those that like a lot of fluff in their prefab campaign worlds, IK has it in spades. This is where the authors really shine. In fact, I'd almost recommend ditching the d20 stuff and run the game using an RPG that might be a more appropriate fit for the gritty setting - GURPS, for instance.

Also, the art for these books is stunning. Long, long ago, I picked up the first adventure of Privateer's Witchfire Trilogy based mostly off the cover art alone. There was so much schlock in the early d20 days, content and production wise, that it really stood out. The campaign itself had quite a bit of plot holes and railroading, but overall, my group enjoyed it.

[Celyddon]

The other night with some friends I tried running the IronKingdoms setting for the first time but we only did it for a hour or so.
The charecters were all human with two having feline features like cat ears and tail since two of the people playing are obessed with cat girls/boys.
Their was a arcane mechanik, A cleric , A gunmage and a Fighter.
I ran the first book of the 'Witch fire Trilogy' for the hour of play we could do.
It went rather well after each player telling the group what type of charecter they were playing , they started off on a caravan going through a place called the widower wood to the city of corvis.
The Caravan is ambushed by swamp gobbers, They were able to fend off most of the gobbes from raiding the carvan.
The adventure was well written and is a good way to interduce charecters to the campaign.

[Dthclaw]

OK, so how did the system fare compared to 'normal' DnD?

Glad to hear that the adventures (well, at least the one you used) are well written. If you decide to keep going with the system, let us know of any quirks and developments you run across.

[Celyddon]

Its actually rather similair, the reason the gun prices are high is cause they want to encourage bow and crssbow to stay in.
They players did not even get half the adventure done, its a 3 book series each with 3 act adventures.
I been reading the charecter guid for more and more things, the alchemy chapter is amazing. Also all the other things you can do with this setting, magical power channelrs and such.

[Raven Bloodmoon]

You know, one way you can encourage the crossbow to remain is its silence and penetrating power. Silencing a gun is incredibly difficult and requires three seperate mechanisms, one of which must be built into the weapon itself. Thus, guns are noisy. Crossbows are silent by comparison. The other thing is that modern corssbows are small, portable, and have insane penetrating power. Most modern crossbows are capable fo punching a bolt through bullet-proof glass (assuming we aren't talking about something like a fighter cockpit....). While there are rifles that can manage that, they aren't quiet. Just a little thought, though I don't know that it would really encourage people to go gungho for crossbows over a nice, mud-caked AK-47.

[Celyddon]

In the added weapons for the book their was many upgrades to old weapons like injectors for example.
If i can remember with out looking their was a crossbow built to fasten onto the persons hand for quick attack. And yes If it was a assisination attempt I would prrefer a crossbow over a gun.
One of my players asked if he could modify a crossbow with a steam mechanism for more power. I'm still making my judgement but I think its a good example on how to use the abilitys of this settting.

[Raven Bloodmoon]

Sounds interesting. Keep us posted for sure.

[Axel]

Crossbows also have the advantage of being able to be produced from home made glue, newspaper, underwear elastic, and bits of plastic from a food tray.

I've never heard the term "steampunk" before, although I am familiar with the genre. One of the difficulties in that sort of story is combining the two very different elements, you've got to decide whether to give the medieval flavor or the industrial flavor precedence, and both have their own failings. Well, I certainly look foreward to hearing how you manage to run the world once you get out of the prewritten adventure. I'd like to know how well homebrew adventures and campaigns fit in this setting.

[Celyddon]

I'm thinking of using the local area i have already started to interduce that is the city of corvis and the near by lands.
The adventure actually gives me allot of information about the area I can use.
I was thinking of making a advenure similair to Gygaxs old dungeonland adventure by basing a little escapade after 'Alice in Wonderland'. I will also keep track of the steampowerd crossbow development.
I'm currently designing my own charecter for the setting for fun in case I can ever use it. I'm making a Arcane Mechanik since I find them one of the best classes personally.

To answer you question Axel I have seen a bit of a mix of the standard fantasy setting of monarchy and in two countrys case a theocracy.
Their is kings and lord ruling over the lower class but they have also printed information for such groups as a steam workers union which has been set up for the trade of what its name comes from. You actually need to be a union member to do work legally in the trade or else you might get in troulbe.
This union comes in chapters in most big citys all over the contenient.
Their is also a entire frat of wizards which also excludes females and also all sorcerers since its considerd a dangearous art.

[Celyddon]

I have now actually been made a player for our Iron Kingdoms campaign.
Since we barely scratched the surface of the adventure and one of my players noticed how much I enjoyed the world he said we would take over as gm.
I will be taking his charecters place as the arcane mechanik, and out party we have a druid wielding a fullblade joing our group.
I admit that my group is slightly disorganzied sometimes, I'm happy about this since it will be my first chance to actually play in such a long time.
I will actually be working on the steampowerd crossbow myself with my gm apprioval which is likely to be yes.