OGL Steampunk Opponents

[Mark_Gedak]

OGL Steampunk is missing an opponents section. Which monsters would you think appropriate for this setting and why?

Orcish Bodyguards
Goblin Thieves
Gremlin Sabotaers

 

[Anonymous]

This rather suggests that the Steampunk book contains the standard fantasy races. Oh dear. It does rather mess around with history and though it has been attempted before it never works very well, only Castle Falkenstein came close to pulling it off.

One accepts Lost Worlds and some exotic races, even some aliens as par for the course but the standard fantasy races don't really seem to fit, they belong in a different genre, one that adds steam-age technology to a fantasy world. I suppose this might be described as steampunk.

One novel that does spring to mind is China Melville's 'Perdido Street Station' which has steampunk technology, some magic and a lot of more or less intelligent races.

It seems I have countered my own point.

Michael

 

[Stratos]

OGL Steampunk is missing an opponents section. Which monsters would you think appropriate for this setting and why?

Orcish Bodyguards
Goblin Thieves
Gremlin Sabotaers

Here's my list... which should be out in print & PDF around Thanksgiving/Boxing Day!

http://forum.donpedicinijr.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=49

Cheers mate!

- Stratos

 

[Arabin]

Here's my list... which should be out in print & PDF around Thanksgiving/Boxing Day!

http://forum.donpedicinijr.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=49

Cheers mate!

- Stratos

Thanksgiving = November 25th (this year)
Boxing Day = December 26th (every year)

That was a crafty way of saying it'll be released sometime in the next few months

Arabin

 

[Jason Durall]

Have you given thought to a similar book with mundane opponents? For example, I would find writeups for 30 generic NPCs far more useful than a roster of dozen all-star celebrities of the period.

In fact, I'd find a dozen generic NPCs more useful.

 

[kiln publications]

Very good idea thank you, it is being taken into very careful consideration by us.... BTW: what price would you find fair for 10 newly created NPC's for OGL Steampunk via a pdf file???

 

[mthomason]

Very good idea thank you, it is being taken into very careful consideration by us.... BTW: what price would you find fair for 10 newly created NPC's for OGL Steampunk via a pdf file???

Assuming a standard cost of $10 for a 32-page adventure module, I'd be willing to pay approximately 50% of that for something as a PDF. So thats $5 for 32 pages. If you're going to do about 2 pages per character for a total of 20 (stretched to 24 with a decent cover art picture and a contents/credits page, and a coupleof pages of bumph) , I'd be willing to go to about $4 for the PDF.

 

[Camelon75]

Hold up a minute I wonder why no one from mongoose has replied to these calls for more Steam punk stuff.

So far we have people crying out for

Character sheet

opponents both mundane and of a steam nature, i.e. genre specific

Now given that the steam punk blurb that convinced me to buy this uncompleted product was

"The Core Rulebooks from Mongoose Publishing are a series of full-blown RPGs designed to fully explore individual genres, giving players and Games Masters all the tools they need to create their own settings and scenarios."

I feel some official response from mongoose would be fair comment, if they can tear them selves away from gen con prep that is.

p.s. don't get me wrong I love mongoose stuff but I feel that steam punk is a worse book than the original Conan print and yet we are offered a reduced price reprint of Conan, at least that had everything you needed to ply in the book apart from the typos and rules contradictions now fixed.

 

[mthomason]

Now given that the steam punk blurb that convinced me to buy this uncompleted product was

"The Core Rulebooks from Mongoose Publishing are a series of full-blown RPGs designed to fully explore individual genres, giving players and Games Masters all the tools they need to create their own settings and scenarios."

Personally, I read that blurb as saying "this book only contains the genre material, and no setting to fit that genre. The GM will have the tools to (and will need to) create a setting (world, NPCs, scenarios, a few world-specific skills, the odd piece of technology, etc) themselves."

I think the idea behind it was that other parties (The GMs themselves, third party publication companies) are free to pick up the OGL content at that point and run with it in whichever direction they see fit. The fact that everyone is clamouring for this stuff just shows they've produced what they said they would, and that there is an opening here for companies such as Kiln Publications to "extend" the nonspecific genre-only book with setting-specific material for those GMs who don't wish to do it themselves.

 

[kiln publications]

Exactly, the reason Mongoose put out the OGL books in the first place was basically for GM's and third party companies to create material based on the rulebook. I don't expect Mongoose to produce anything extra in relation to the OGL rulebooks that they put out. Maybe an errata or something to that effect but that is it. Since we are the only third party company (so far) putting out licensed material from the OGL books there will be only so much material coming out within a certain time period....

 

[Stratos]

Have you given thought to a similar book with mundane opponents? For example, I would find writeups for 30 generic NPCs far more useful than a roster of dozen all-star celebrities of the period.

In fact, I'd find a dozen generic NPCs more useful.

We will include mundanes in all our actual supplement books. However, for our Adversaries & Adventurers line you'll be getting the cream of the crop heroes and villians! That's just the way we're setting it up. Sorry.

- Stratos

 

[Stratos]

We will include mundanes in all our actual supplement books. However, for our Adversaries & Adventurers line you'll be getting the cream of the crop heroes and villians! That's just the way we're setting it up. Sorry.

- Stratos

Well... the boss e-mailed me and apparently I missed a memo or two on this subject!

Kiln Publications will be doing a download PDF of 10 "non-historical / non-known" mundanes for OGL Steampunk. This won't officially be part of our A&A line of releases... and may eventually be reprinted (with others) in a future sourcebook. I have my ideas already jotted down and submitted for approval. I'll work on them at GenCon. Stop by the Mongoose booth (1041) for some insight or your input!

Cheers!

 

[kiln publications]

Jason how does that sound???

 

[Jason Durall]

Jason how does that sound???

Pretty good.

I'll be at Gen Con - and will swing by the Mongoose booth and say hello.

 

[Camelon75]

Personally, I read that blurb as saying "this book only contains the genre material, and no setting to fit that genre. The GM will have the tools to (and will need to) create a setting (world, NPCs, scenarios, a few world-specific skills, the odd piece of technology, etc) themselves."

Sorry mthomason But I just cannot agree with your reading.

Page 221 of OGL has a paragraph entitled Detrermine individual challenge ratings which has a phrase

"creatures have their CR listed in their discriptions..."

Now where in this book do I get the discriptions, I would argue that all is not contained in this one book and all the tools required are alos not contained within this book If I had only purchased this book as my first OGL product I would be missing an importnat element to my creation of scenarios.

in fact the previous chapter contians many specail abilities but does not tell me how they affect a CR or even how a CR is calculated for a creature
only how an ordinary is level -1

so I say the book does have some element s missing and is incomplete as a whole set of tools to create your own world in which to play.

 

[mthomason]

Personally, I read that blurb as saying "this book only contains the genre material, and no setting to fit that genre. The GM will have the tools to (and will need to) create a setting (world, NPCs, scenarios, a few world-specific skills, the odd piece of technology, etc) themselves."

Sorry mthomason But I just cannot agree with your reading.

Page 221 of OGL has a paragraph entitled Detrermine individual challenge ratings which has a phrase

"creatures have their CR listed in their discriptions..."

Ah, well, now you're giving me more to work with. Before I was only referencing the blurb you quoted, and not anything else from the book.

Now where in this book do I get the discriptions, I would argue that all is not contained in this one book and all the tools required are alos not contained within this book If I had only purchased this book as my first OGL product I would be missing an importnat element to my creation of scenarios.

in fact the previous chapter contians many specail abilities but does not tell me how they affect a CR or even how a CR is calculated for a creature
only how an ordinary is level -1

Okay, thats certainly an omission. A small one, but pretty important if you're not familiar with the concept from other D20 games (and I believe this is supposed to be self-contained and not require you to own any other rulebooks).

The author should have stated that CRs aren't calculated, but are set by the GM based on finding something similar (in other words, an educated guess.)

Now, if the book doesn't at least contain some example creatures to do that "CR modelling" against, then it's certainly missing some pretty important content, and I would then agree it doesn't give you everything you need to create your game setting. Of course, you could go raid the SRD online, but the book promises more and you shouldn't need to do that.