Poll: Why has no one made a Steampunk RPG recently

[OneEyeX]

As a big fan of the epic (but okay buggy) Arcanum I find myself longing for a game that mixes elves and steam trains, dwarves and hydraulic axes, orcs in tuxes and evil gnome inventors.

Truthfully?

Steampunk alienates based on level of detail. With traditional fantasy, there is little to explain, maybe the source of divine beings or the use of magic, but even then, those can be told be how characters use magic. A lot of the time, it's based on folk-lore and traditional fantasy-trope.

Steampunk never happened, it's sorta based on the Victorian era but not as deeply as fantasy is related to medieval. Thus there isn't much of a bases for everyone to dive into; what is the traditional Steam-punk hero? There is no strong answer for this; where as with Cyberpunk it's normally some sort of Loner-Recluse-Hacker.

Truthfully, for a lot of people Steampunk feels very exclusive. It's nice to look at; but it's very hard to dig deeper into a setting like that simply because of how obtuse it can be at times.

Edit; anything made by Troika is built-to-break. There is a story on Escapist of some guys computer breaking when playing Bloodlines.

Doesn't the very fact that it's obtuse make it more open for interpretation. I would say a good Steampunk hero would be a pilot or even pirate. There are plenty of things you could do with the Steampunk style. You could get people arguind that a dwarf would live in a tree top for example but with steampunk its all there to be laid down

DON'T YOU ARGUE WITH ME I'LL BE SO MAD AND ANGRY YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW!

Kidding.

Pilot and Pirate aren't Steampunk exclusive. You could easily have a Dragon Rider or Space Scavengers in a Fantasy/Sci-fi setting.

Going back to Cyber-punk, a Hacker who deals with large corporations is kinda exclusive.
With Steam-punk, because there is a lot less to assume and a lot more to explain. The reason for this is that it takes place in an altered past with various amounts of this that are just weird. Extra arms powered by steam and riveted metal. Magic and fire-arms co-existing (along with people who still wield swords because they think it's cool.).

Steampunk stuffs too much into a setting, theres so much to be done and the player has to figure it all out. Even Arcanum at times felt like there was just TOO much to figure out, and as a protagonist, they have be relatable.

And that's hard, a lot harder then it is to relate to a Starship Captain or a Knight-in-shining armor.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

Yeah but you are making alot of assumptions there I'm pretty sure that a writer could come up with a background to explain a character in steampunk setting as much as any other.

For example two things there you could have a Fae companion who still uses a sword and charcters who use magic becuase in mythology iron is a anathema to magic and magical creatures. There are plenty of scenarios you could invent.

 

[StormShaun]

I would like to see something like this exept done by Bethesda or just in first person, then it would be very intresting..

 

[Hatchet90]

Play Machinarium. It's not an RPG, but it IS an awesome steam punk point and click adventure. It's beautifully hand drawn and just a joy to play even if you're frustrated at the harder puzzles.

 

[RevRaptor]

I would love to see an Iron kingdoms game come out, that would be awesome.

 

[emeraldrafael]

They probably saw the sales figures for that Steampunk Alt. history FPS game Damnation and decided it wouldnt sell well.

Besides, you could always pay those free adbanner games that you have to pay for to get better stuff if you're really jonesing for steam punk (though at that point it gets to be an addiction).

 

[OneEyeX]

Yeah but you are making alot of assumptions there I'm pretty sure that a writer could come up with a background to explain a character in steampunk setting as much as any other.

For example two things there you could have a Fae companion who still uses a sword and charcters who use magic becuase in mythology iron is a anathema to magic and magical creatures. There are plenty of scenarios you could invent.

NO YOU'RE WRONG BAD AND SHOULD FEEL TERRIBLE ABOUT IS AND WITHDRAW ALL YOUR MONEY AND MAIL IT TO ME!

Your question for this thread was Why has no one made a Steampunk RPG recently. My answer, which uses assumptions, is a detail of the problems that plague the setting. I'm allowed to assume, because I'm just using my information at the time to get an objective look at things.

I'm not looking for anecdotes; a good writer can make a setting out of anything. Steampunk is just more difficult because of it's 'altered past' vibe and steamtechyness.
Talking about Fae and Irons Anti-Magic properties (always hated that in games, I like my mages like I like my food; with plates.) but in the end; it's not the swords that are the problem, it's the GUNS and technology that make armor and swords feel weird. That, and Steampunk also requires a lot of imaginative technology and such to make the setting vibe; and if people don't like that vibe then you're out of luck.

If Steampunk were a food; it'd be blowfish, if you don't get it done right, it's just terrible mess (of me dead on the floor).

 

[OneEyeX]

I would love to see an Iron kingdoms game come out, that would be awesome.

Privateer press is my gold standard for putting out Steampunk settings. Warmachine does it right, feels deep and has a lot intrigue to it.

 

[PoweD]

I wish some setting like Braid,Early 20th century or even older.But around that time.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

Resonance of Fate is steampunk. I plan to get it sometime because it looks fun as hell.

 

[Mordekaien]

Project Nomads...

It's not RPG, but it is certainly fun game

 

[InnerRebellion]

I really don't know why. I absolutely love Steampunk to the point that I'm using a Steampunk Minecraft texture pack.

 

[Alar]

I'm fairly certain I remember this old Steampunk RPG that was Steampunk and magic... it was kind of similar to Evil Islands, but that's all I remember about it. I think I enjoyed it, and also believe it was released somewhere after Evil Islands.

 

[Axolotl]

Why has no one made a Steampunk RPG recently?

The OP mentions Arcanum, How is Troika doing now? Because there's you're answer.

 

[WolfThomas]

I've always dreamt of a sequel to Arcanum. I think a first person/3rd person rpg would be fantastic set in Tarant, the reason I'd want a 1st person perspective would be because the interactions would be vastly different if you where a halfing or a half ogre, people would bend down to talk to you or look up as you tower over them. Also if you where a gunslinger there'd be nothing cooler than looking down the sights of your modified pistol.

 

[CobraX]

I will now go see where I can buy this kick ass sounding "Arcanum"

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

Yeah but you are making alot of assumptions there I'm pretty sure that a writer could come up with a background to explain a character in steampunk setting as much as any other.

For example two things there you could have a Fae companion who still uses a sword and charcters who use magic becuase in mythology iron is a anathema to magic and magical creatures. There are plenty of scenarios you could invent.

NO YOU'RE WRONG BAD AND SHOULD FEEL TERRIBLE ABOUT IS AND WITHDRAW ALL YOUR MONEY AND MAIL IT TO ME!

Your question for this thread was Why has no one made a Steampunk RPG recently. My answer, which uses assumptions, is a detail of the problems that plague the setting. I'm allowed to assume, because I'm just using my information at the time to get an objective look at things.

I'm not looking for anecdotes; a good writer can make a setting out of anything. Steampunk is just more difficult because of it's 'altered past' vibe and steamtechyness.
Talking about Fae and Irons Anti-Magic properties (always hated that in games, I like my mages like I like my food; with plates.) but in the end; it's not the swords that are the problem, it's the GUNS and technology that make armor and swords feel weird. That, and Steampunk also requires a lot of imaginative technology and such to make the setting vibe; and if people don't like that vibe then you're out of luck.

If Steampunk were a food; it'd be blowfish, if you don't get it done right, it's just terrible mess (of me dead on the floor).

I'm not saying it would be easy to do it right but it's not impossible which is what you seem to try and put across. Why I brought up the Fae argument is that you can think up reasons why people couldn't use the technology and prefer and sword and sorcery style instead, hell why even include swords and sorcery it's not compulsary.

I agree on the issue of making the inventions likable though but who doesn't like a top hat that deflects bullets and a monocle that acts like a scope Gamers tend to have that sort of love for gadgets anyway.

Sorry btw I don't mean to argue but I like to discuss