Of Steam, Steel and Murder.
Game System: A Fate/Fudge system.
Game Time: Saturdays @ 6:30PM Eastern time
Software Needed: For the time being, only Skype. We may end up using Fantasy Grounds 2 or Vassal.
Podcast feed to the recorded games:
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Comments, questions or interested in joining? Leave email at:steamsteelmurder@gmail.com
Show notes and public forums can be found here.
The fogobscured my movements. Like most nights here in Metapol, the electricity being broadcast by the Tesla plants create a lot of water vapor when the temperatures drop. Tonight, I was thankful for the cover it brought. My Babbage Portable Engine was heavy. State of the art equipment they say, but the bloody thing still weighs the better part of twenty pounds. I’d just carried myself and this luggage five blocks through the cities sewers and emerged through a selected man hole cover. The sewer muck clung in great greasy clumps to my overcoat, but the maintenance of high fashion would have to wait till this run was over. A thick, steel door bars the way to the now empty tenement that is my goal. A puff of smoke and the doors security features overload as I apply enough pressure to shear through the doors bolts. I still miss my left arm now and then, but I have to say this mechanical graft I wear in its place does come in handy. Up two flights of stairs and I’m in a room with a nice view of the building across the street. The BPE is plugged in and set to record as I finish placing the shotgun microphone on a tripod that I have facing out the window. A chair conveniently left in the corner of the mostly bare room provides a good perch as I settle in for a long night’s surveillance. Seems like the Guilds are plotting again and it’s my job to catch them in the act.
Welcome to my role playing game of a dark alternate history. Many things may seem familiar to you. Some names, places and events share our own reality. I purposely leave exact dates and times nebulous. Your characters will know of course, but I want to keep the players guessing. The overall state of technology is very similar to what we have now: cell phones, televisions, cars, etc., but all the devices are built on larger scales. Integrated circuits and miniaturization technology has not been invented. Most objects of technology are heavy and ungainly, but crafted in a way to make them individual works of art. Guilds control things much in the way that large corporations do today. There is no mass-manufacturing available. If one wants a new car, one contracts the proper guild to have the car built to agreed upon specifications. Most all business is handled this way. Power is provided by a central broadcasting plant, a Tesla Plant that provides all the power the city needs to operate. The plant has an affective range that limits the size the city can be, outside this area other small plants or combustion power (steam primarily) must be used. The power is provided as a service for all who live in the city, operational expenses are part of one’s taxes. Huge, gas filled zeppelins provide shipping and transportation needs between cities. Broadcast powered busses and pneumatic subway cars provide mass transit for the populace. The style of clothing harkens back to an age of refinement. A man isn’t properly dressed without a coat, vest and hat; while the properly dressed lady will sport a many layered dress or a smart vest with shirt, and colorful leggings. The setting is decidedly steampunk with some Victorian sensibilities, but placed in a city and climate that are more akin to our 1800’s New York. The game is open to any that have access to the internet and Skype with some reliance on other freely available software for dice rolling and virtual tabletop use. Please contact us at steamsteelmurder@gmail.com if you are interested in joining our game. Games are episodic, meant to run in a 4-5 hour span with all plots tied up neatly that night, offering players the opportunity to game as they will with no obligation to show up for future games unless so inclined. A schedule with sign up sheets will be provided as this site develops. All games will be recorded and offered as a podcast.
