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Kingscourt
2015-12-15, 04:21 AM
Hey playground, just wondering if anyone knew of any good systems that might be useful for creating an industrial/diesel punk style RPG world. I've only had experience with classic DnD so far so I'm looking for something a little different.

I'm trying to evoke something like Peaky Blinders/Dishonored/Fallen London/Sherlock Holmes (The RDJ films) esque, I know that's more up to the GM but if there are any systems that are particularly good at this I'd love to hear them. Thanks!

Mutazoia
2015-12-15, 04:55 AM
Hey playground, just wondering if anyone knew of any good systems that might be useful for creating an industrial/diesel punk style RPG world. I've only had experience with classic DnD so far so I'm looking for something a little different.

I'm trying to evoke something like Peaky Blinders/Dishonored/Fallen London/Sherlock Holmes (The RDJ films) esque, I know that's more up to the GM but if there are any systems that are particularly good at this I'd love to hear them. Thanks!

Other than the obvious universal systems such as GURPS and D6 (and some one is going to pop in and suggest FATE (some one always does)), you should take a look at Tehpara (http://tephrarpg.com/)

themaque
2015-12-15, 09:21 AM
DEADLANDS

It's basic setting is steampunk/horror/western but very little tweaking brings you right into early diesel if you want to up the timeline. I think they have a few books set in teh great wars as well, but don't quote me on that. Savage worlds system is very flexible with a good decent core mechanic to work with.

Eisenheim
2015-12-15, 09:56 AM
I never actually played it, but there is something called aetherscope that transplants some cyberpunk tropes to a victoriana kind of setting.

Also, I'll take up that gauntlet and say you could use fate, if you like the kind of game that fate is.

Milodiah
2015-12-15, 05:07 PM
Other than the obvious universal systems such as GURPS and D6 (and some one is going to pop in and suggest FATE (some one always does)), you should take a look at Tehpara (http://tephrarpg.com/)

I'm not a huge fan of Tephra, given that it seems to have left a bunch of unbalancing loopholes and setups lying out there almost on purpose. It's just got a lot of inherent jank which can be fun if you all sit down and agree that this is what the game is about, but if you try to play it straight and one person's build happens to be one of the permutations that slaps the game down and calls it a *****, then that's what the game will be: that player slapping the game down and calling it a *****.
Case in point: An (ex-)friend of mine built a swordsman who rolls in the mid-40s on a regular basis by abusing a synergy between a few of the abilities. I forget what it was specifically, I think the semi-infamous Wild Slash/Roulette pairing stacked with a bunch of other stuff.

We've been having a good amount of success with steampunk in Old World of Darkness, but that's specifically because the GM wanted a Steampunk WoD game. I wouldn't really recommend it for general use; my main complaint about White Wolf is that once one strips the supernatural from it, the system becomes very bare-bones. We didn't do so because, again, Steampunk World of Darkness.

GURPS is always a good choice, they have steampunk supplements because it's GURPS and of course they do. It's also designed to be played either way, as a grittier, realistic game with normal people as characters, or a pulpy, over-the-top adventure with gadgeteers, fencing masters, and sharpshooters abound.


If you want to do Call of Cthulhu, the Cthulhu by Gaslight line is exactly what you want. Victorian-era Industrial Revolution Call of Cthulhu, which uses the Basic Roleplaying System. It's a system that's very light and can be picked up extremely easily, and is generic enough to allow you to really sort of do anything with it (with editing, unlike GURPS), but it can sometimes lack the character-design complexity people are used to seeing in D&D, GURPS, etc. "Wanna be a soldier? Raise your constitution and size, put points in firearms skills. Wanna be a detective? Raise your intelligence and education, put points into investigation skills."
It also somewhat suffers from the White Wolf problem, but not to the same extent. Call of Cthulhu is, naturally, centered around the Cthulhu Mythos, so extracting that leaves it a little hollow. But unlike World of Darkness, the Mythos is the antagonistic force, rather than a key part of character design. You still have a viable system with a hole that you can fill back in with a little work.