News

Steampunk Role-Playing Tips

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Are you looking to GM a steampunk role-playing game campaign? I just stumbled upon this recent article on CBR.com that has a nice top-ten list of steampunk RPG tips. Some of these are pretty good tips for creating a steampunk world or plotline for a novel or short story as well.

Basically:

  1. Make sure you understand your reason for running a steampunk campaign.
  2. Find a good game system that works (D20, GURPS, Iron Kingdom, etc.).
  3. This is steampunk, so steam should power your vehicles, ships, war machines, automatons, etc.
  4. Give your NPCs a distinctive steampunk feel.
  5. Consider the impact on the natural world (the environment, animals, monsters, etc).
  6. Make steampunk-oriented adventure hooks.
  7. Make sure the main villain is steampunk, too.
  8. Be sure to have maps and props.
  9. Subvert a few steampunk tropes!
  10. Setting is everything. A good setting can really breathe life into your campaign.

You can read all about here here: https://www.cbr.com/pro-tips-need-to-know-dming-steampunk-campaign-dungeons-dragons-pathfinder-dnd-tabeltop-rpg-castle-falkenstein

Evermor Sculpture Park

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I hadn’t heard of this place until now, but Dr. Evermor’s Sculpture Park sounds like a really cool place. Apparently, it’s hope to a bunch of steampunk sculptures dating back to before steampunk was even a term. According to the article, its in Sumpter, Wisconsin. Might be worth checking out, if you happen to be in the area. They have a website, and it looks like you do have to contact someone if you want to visit.

You can read more about it on this article on SyFy Wire.

New Site Design

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Welcome to the 2020 website refresh!

The new design is much more streamline and modern now, and should work better on mobile browsers. More and more, mobile browsers are gaining ground over desktop browsers, and those who don’t keep up will invariably be left behind.

The site will probably undergo a few more tweaks and adjustments in the weeks to come, but this is should be it for the most part. If you have questions, comments, or suggestions, feel free to contact me.

His Dark Materials HBO Series

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Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” series is coming to HBO! Although some are hesitant to call the world of “His Dark Materials” steampunk, it carries a great many steampunk elements, being set in a Victoria-era alternate history, with clockwork gadgets and airships. There’s also magic, non-human races, parallel universes, and sentient armored polar bears. Who doesn’t love sentient armored polar bears?

I also enjoyed the movie “The Golden Compass,” which came out 2007. It certainly wasn’t perfect–no move adaption is–but with the upcoming HBO series, there’s a lot more screen time to work with. Here’s hoping for the best!

Alita: Battle Angel

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Valentine’s day, 2019, will see the release of the (hopefully) awesome Hollywood adaptation of Battle Angel Alita, titled (backwardsly) Alita: Battle Angel.

Directed by Robert Rodriguez and produced by James Cameron and Jon Landau, this movie has all the making’s a major blockbuster. However, the source material is pretty obscure. Back in the day, I was a huge Battle Angel Alita fan, as were some of my friends (we were all into anime and manga in the 1990s), to the point that I even wrote a little world book for the GURPS role-playing game systems. I still have the nine original manga graphic novels, which I’m now in the process of re-reading. Even so, Battle Angel Alita is almost completely unknown outside it’s limited fan base, and I fear that will work to the detriment of the movie.

The movie appears to loosely cover the first four graphic novels, which is good, since there probably won’t be a sequel. I honestly wish this was a streaming series for Netflix or Amazon, or maybe HBO or Starz, as it could be so much more than a one-shot movie. But it is what it is, and the latest trailer looks absolutely marvelous, and shows that the movie will at least touch on most of the key elements and themes of the manga.

Mortal Engines Teaser

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The teaser trailer for Peter Jackson’s movie adaptation “Mortal Engines” looks absolutely phenomenal! Judging from the fact that the teaser says “An Epic New Saga” I am going to guess he plans on adapting several of the Mortal Engine books (I believe there are 4 books).

Anyway, have a look at the teaser!

Science Kombat!

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Now this is a fantastic 8-bit game idea! A Mortal Kombat-style fighting game with legendary scientists and inventors duking it out with superhuman powers and abilities reflecting their most famous discoveries. The game features an evolving Charles Darwin, a space-warping Albert Einstein, a lightning-throwing Nikola Tesla, a spectrum-blasting Isaac Newton, a black hole-hurling Stephen Hawking, an angle-kicking Pythagoras, a robot-commanding Alan Turing, and the ever-radiant Marie Curie (oh… too soon?).

It’s probably not a bad way for kids to learn about historical figures in science. You can find out more about it in this article on the Nerdist.