SCIENCEPUNK

The final hack of the year is out!

What a year! Okay, although I've been playing the game designer for 3 year or so, publishing started in late November this year. Even so, if we can all agree is a tough year regardless. Anyway, I'm happy I was able to start this...dream project I had for so long. I don't know where it will take me, but a saying says: "Life is like riding a bike, you'll fall if you stop" Moving on then!

This time steampunk is the theme! This one was supposed to happen from the beginning, along with the samurais, pirates and gunslingers. Inquisitors Monster hunters were a later add, as well as the next one *spoilers*. Like I sad in previous post, the Beeple images are awesome but don't cover a big range of genres...imagine my delight when I came across the following image \o/
That image did two things for me: first it made me excited because i dare say is the nicest cover so far. Secondly it screamed there would be steampunk and biopunk at the game, which I didn't foresee but was welcome.

Initially, I was thinking something in the lines of Steamboy (anime movie) and suddenly it became clear the Leviathan book series (Scott Westerfield, IMHO, is YA gold) would also be a good source. Then I started wondering since there are two 'sciences' now, why not make it four? Maybe another close to reality and other even further from it? Aboard came Electricity and Alchemy. A part from tesla cameos in games and movies, I'm majored in Eletronical Engineering so I got that covered. Alchemy I just went with what I know from Fullmetal Alchemist (IMHO, the best short anime series) 

      

After deciding the four 'scientific approaches", i changed there names to be more fun. Gearers from steam and clank, Buzzer for electricity, Darwinian for bioengineering (total rip off from Leviathan) and Hermesian for alchemy (google Hermes Trimegistus).  The specialties were inspired a LOT from  Piltover and Zaum characters (league of legends 'steampunk' places)

Coming to the equipment section, I realized it would be hard to make a list of many interesting gadgets for 4 different philosophies in a quarter of page. Even if i did, I feel i would still me missing something and the players would have to create something *Spark* What if the game provided some method to create gadgets based on function and the players would flavor it as they like? So I did that. Maybe I'll add some tags at a further update, let's see if its needed.

For character advancement I felt the genre oozes evolution too much to be just skill rise and new gadgets. I added the breakthrough to twist a little the rules for the combination of specialty and approach a plyer chose. Interested in see what will come out of that

For the GM/adventure tables, every time I see a british setting, it remembers me of Sherlock Holmes and how the small mistery at hand is just a pawn in bigger game. That's when I came with the  'small' problem the player are dealing with but it's related to a bigger issue, all a plan from a mastermind.

The gm can reveal the bigger issue as a later part of a one shot or make it a campaign where the players slowly discovers the plot and whos behind it. Unless the GM leans heavily toward improv, I would suggest to roll many small problems first so it can figure it out how everything is connected.

I don't how much the games are improving but I truly feel I'm becoming increasingly more proud of them.

Like always, let's roll one mission!

 The queen has a mission: infiltrate an enemy nation to destroy a massive weapon. They have to hurry, security is tightening up, maybe the weapon will be moved soon.

What the scientists don't know is:

-The weapon is Hermessian, it uses alchemy via drawings...how can they destroy them?

-It's actually part of a plan to create social upheaval, maybe the weapons to be used at government sites only?

-The mastermind behind is Simon, an assassin with refined taste donning a porcelain mask and white robe. Underneath, it uses ancient darwinian gadgets, maybe dragon-like?

-He seems to works alone, protecting himself with a mix o Buzzer and  Gearer traps and defenses.

Hope you enjoy it! Get your copy here!