Sample file CONTENTS 1 Contents

A World Of Adventure 166 A World Of Adventure Character Background 7 Character Background Introduction Introduction 2 Classes & Vocations 28 Skills Feats & Traits 132 Equipment & Wealth 104 68 The Power of Steam 223 The Occult Index License 263 301 304 Sample file Sample August Hahn as open content. Printed in Canada. as open content. Printed Editor Scott Clark Cover Art Ian Barstow Adrian Bott Adrian Richard Neale Richard Playtesting Proofreading Alexander Fennell Alejandro Melchor Alejandro Additional Text Studio Manager Production Manager Interior Illustrations Development and Layout Development and Quennell & Lucya Szachnowski & Lucya Quennell Thornton, Bill 'Urklore' Schwartz 'Urklore' Thornton, Bill Ronald Smith, Sami Walu & Leo Winstead & Leo Walu Sami Smith, Ronald this work by any means without the written permission of the publisher is expressly forbidden. OGL Steampunk is forbidden. OGL Steampunk any means without the written permission of the publisher is expressly by this work OGL Steampunk is ©2004 Mongoose Publishing. All rights reserved. Reproduction of non-Open Game Content of Game of non-Open All rights reserved. Reproduction Publishing. is ©2004 Mongoose OGL Steampunk presented under the Open Game License. See page 304 for the text of this licence. With the exception of boxed story of boxed the exception With the text of this licence. page 304 for License. See Game under the Open presented text and character names, character creation rules detailing the mechanics of assigning dice roll results to attributes and rules results detailing the mechanics of assigning dice roll text and character names, character creation the character advancement rules detailing the effects of applying experience, all text within OGL Steampunk is declared is declared rulesthe character advancement text within OGL Steampunk detailing the effects of applying experience, all Mark Gedak, Kent Little, Murry Perry, Patrick Patrick Perry, Little, Murry Kent Gedak, Mark Howe, Mark Gedak, Tammy A. Kossmann, Billanie, Scothorne, Mark Daniel Sizer, Mark Haslam, Daniel Alan Moore, Young, Micheal Shannon Sparling, James Godfrey, Jamie Jason Braun, Jimi Sparling, Shannon Sparling, Eric Bergeron, Jim Brady, Stephen Cook, Anthea Stephen Brady, Jim Bergeron, Eric Slough, Pete McSweeny, John Kythera, Dilly, Richard Ford, Ian Finch, Fred Herman, Sarah Sarah Herman, Fred Finch, Ian Ford, Richard

iintroductionntroduction magine a world where computers were developed period never occurred. What kind of world may have a century before their time, powered by levers evolved from networked computing based on clicking iand steam engines instead of microprocessors machines and mechanical modems? Such are the kinds of or even light bulbs; a world where the zeppelin never questions that you can answer in Steampunk. went out of fashion as new technology made it safer and faster; where brave men and women explored a yet Technology in a Steampunk setting is either stylish and undiscovered world to find the wondrous ruins of lost elegant or incredibly clunky, using basic mechanisms civilisations or entrances to entirely new worlds; where and primitive wiring to achieve the levels of performance the mysterious age of magic is slowly fading away to usher for which modern technology would need far less space, in an age of jaded, even cynical reason. This is the world with a wildly different appearance to boot. Brass tubes, of Steampunk, a shadowy subgenre of fantasy and science wooden handles and incandescent lamps (also known as fiction that is more devoted to marrying the possible with ‘light bulbs’) replace fibre optics, touch screens and LEDs the improbable than to exploring the future or exploring as the materials of choice for machinery. Steam-powered fantastic themes. Steampunk investigates a fantasy past cars roam the streets while monstrous airships crawl that might have been, had some things happened a little through the skies. All the while, the people lost through introduction differently. the cracks in the ‘modern world’ scratch out a living in the shadows of a concrete nightmare.

The Age That Never Was The Fantastic and the Occult (And Should Have Been) Another common element of many Steampunk stories Steampunk as a genre grew from revisiting the old scientific is the presence of magic and the supernatural. In the romance novels, such as the likes of 20,000 Leagues Under backdrop of scientific progress, magic begins to enjoy the Sea, The Time Machine and The Lost World, which a renaissance, with mediums and magicians practicing took the spirit of progress, exploration and exploitation a dying art while humanoids wrestle with their own th prevalent during the 19 Century and translated it inventions in the wild. Secret societies organise rituals to into stories of speculation, wonder and excitement. As contact occult powers from beyond time and the stronger literature that explored the future as moulded by progress, communication with distant lands opens the way for the scientific romance is the great-grandfather of modern an influx of exotic cultural imports, including grossly science fiction. At its core, Steampunk is a look back at misunderstood traditions and beliefs. those times through the eye of imagination. Sample Magicfile and the occult are so prevalent that they mingle Steampunk either takes a typical world of the fantasy with science, with the most prominent example being genre and changes it by adding the darker elements of the mind’s psychic potential. Magic is a palpable reality science and invention, or investigates alternate worlds that the heroes of the day must discover and contend where technology took a different turn than it has in with. Cultists seek to awaken the power of ancient races, ours. The subgenre of Steampunk fantasy adds its own alchemists use arcane formulae to power their infernal ingredients of magic and mythical elements to such a devices and creatures of legend walk alongside the human world. In essence, Steampunk is about playing in an age occupants of major cities, either adopting the science of that was not, but could have been. the day or enslaved because of it.

Retrotech The Great Malaise Steampunk stories are dominated by strange technology Above all, the feeling that dominates Steampunk is a and weird science. While hard science-fiction bases its sense of despair, a certainty that while any challenge can principles on proven or theoretical science in our time such doubtless be defeated through ingenuity, this will always as quantum physics and the advances in biotechnology, be achieved at a terrible cost. The scientific worldview saw Steampunk takes a look backwards at the early advances Nature more as an enemy to be conquered than as an ally; in scientific and technological inspiration. in the worlds of Steampunk, this is precisely what it has done. There was a pervading sense of adventure, in which In the Victorian epoch, phenomena like electricity are the world offered untold opportunities for discovery and beginning to be fully understood, steam and mechanics exploration; in the aftermath, the great challenges have move most of the age’s machinery and telecommunications come and gone. Following a period of relative stability, the are being born in the form of the telegraph. One can look dominant people of the fantasy world had a chance to look even further back; consider that if early inventors had around and see what surrounded them. They reached out received sufficient funding, the first computer could have their grasp to chart what had remained unexplored until, been created in feudal times, especially if a Dark Ages 2 introduction 3 , each player creates a character a character creates , each player Empire and Expansion and Empire

OGL Steampunk

What is a Roleplaying Game? What is a Roleplaying following the outlines in the following chapters and the the outlines in the following following a story in which the characters will prepares Master Games effort trusting as a group or by Either be the protagonists. design a setting in imagination, you Master’s the Games which the stories will take place, whether it is the darkest scientific advances era imaginable with weird Steampunk or a parallel world similar to and constantly raging war, will give This book Earth with similar developments. need to craft your all the pieces of the puzzle you you to mix and how and tell you adventures Steampunk own match them. In general terms, it is a game where you and a group of and a group you where general terms, it is a game In assume the you Specifically, a story build players together. (which could while one of the players of a character, role the person Master, becomes the Games as well) be you playing all the in charge of running by the narrative story along. secondary characters and steering the game’s In Just as the Industrial Revolution is one of the main of the main is one Revolution the Industrial as Just is another imperialism of Steampunk, backdrops People romances. tenet of the old scientific fundamental world Steampunk of the fantasy expanses the sylvan homes up their ancestral give to refuse who with elves alongside ken humans’ beyond magic powers and wield mountain dwarves for the who compete with humans of a all the makings have you there mining of resources; toxic about expansion and imperialism set amid epic dark and burning blood. clouds of steam, smoke is a platform for stories, a ‘safe’ provides What Empire into the unknown. which characters can jump place from but the inside the Empire, even does lurk Danger is important.institution itself is what danger is outside, If the comforting existence of King provides the Empire the danger exists within, then Empire If and Country. of internal is what must be preserved the forces against When the tables are to tear it apart. chaos that threaten it of the Empire, not citizens turned and the characters are whose the oppressor then becomes the monolithic enemy, stopped or at least curbed, if must be advances ravenous the characters want to preserve their way of life. for expansion a drive is tied with The notion of Empire in the jungles are and colonisation, whether the ‘colonies’ distant world nation, the canals of a of some primitive the forsaken of in another dimension, or the lost valleys doings of the on the While not impacting directly elves. will characters most of the time, imperial expansionism Angry whose land many situations that do. natives create of to members well upon will not react encroaches Empire their intentions. whatever the Empire, Sample file Sample spell when it could

; steeped in the advances of a medieval of a medieval ; steeped in the advances Progress and its Flipside OGL Steampunk Industrial machineryIndustrial is hungry for labour and resources painfully behind has lagged and social progress moral and This clash between technological advances. of a economic principle is one with which all citizens A world will constantly be confronted. Steampunk story the can be about the struggleSteampunk to resist fangs of industryiron exploration, just as it can be about liberation with oppression, wonder with despair, replacing corridors. virgin land with claustrophobic undiscovered and it contrast is also partThis dark of the genre element. factor to the ‘steam’ the ‘punk’ usually provides often about man against the machine is more Steampunk than man and machine in harmony. Industrial Revolution, this technological progress has also this technological progress Revolution, Industrial rise to abuse and exploitation. given Advances in investigation as well as invention bring as invention as well in investigation Advances number of tools and theories that optimise forth a great the word recite Industrialists industry and society. mantra and it is in the name of as a religious ‘progress’ most wonderful inventions that Steampunk’s progress is that so- The problem labs. their creators’ emerge from often has quite unsavoury consequences. called ‘progress’ little is shiny brass and polished wood in the world Very of Lastly, exploration and discovery brings the people of brings the people exploration and discovery Lastly, The most cultures. into conflict with other Steampunk apparently when facing a weaker, common response them and expand uncivilised people is, after all, to conquer their hunger to learn about new things, the In the empire. world incorporate, misinterpret people of a Steampunk mostly cultures, and import wholesale aspects of foreign seen sciences are as foreign of art and culture, in the realms as somewhat clear advantages inferior if they do not offer mastered. the disciplines already over and improvements in the wake of amazing new even sciences this way, In man, man of elf versus the old stresses and inventions, not the monsters of the night are and all versus orc, versus science to an by heightened They are just perpetuated. apocalyptic degree. just carry a rune cannon? However, the tangible world is not the only one where one where is not the only the tangible world However, in Interest influence. its dark has spread Steampunk become rampant, trying the supernatural has magic and to cannot completely that science darkness fill the remaining is of science the same time, the power illuminate. At making many of swiftly crushing magic by the life from for the ‘common easier to replicate wonders the latter’s of its short an orc shaman waste years Why would man’. a magical missile life learning to cast assuming that they had discovered everything, turned they had discovered that they assuming of infinite the face world. In of the rest backs on the their cut off. increasingly becoming are cities possibility, What You Need to Play The type of task determines the Modifiers and the A roleplaying game is not like any board game. For one Difficulty Class. If the result of the d20 roll plus the thing, there is no board! It is played entirely in your Modifiers equals or exceeds the Difficulty Class, the test imagination. However, there are some things you need in is successful. Any other result is a failure. Other than in order to start playing. combat situations, a ‘natural 20’ on the die roll is not an automatic success and a ‘natural 1’ on the die roll is not
A copy of this book. The OGL Steampunk book an automatic failure. See the chapter titled A World of contains all the rules and information you need Adventure for more details on automatic hits and misses. to play. You may want to have extra copies for all players but this is not strictly necessary. You may also need to roll other kinds of dice as described
One copy of the character sheet for each player. in the rules. The game uses the following notations to See the back of the book for this. On the character determine the type and number of dice you need to roll sheet, you write down all the information that for any given result: defines the character, such as his abilities, skills,
equipment and other special features like magic d4 = four-sided die
and mechanical companions, if the setting allows d6 = six-sided die
them. You will find the character sheet at the end d8 = eight-sided die
of this book and you can make as many copies as d10 = ten-sided die
d12 = twelve-sided die introduction you need.

Dice. The main tool of a roleplaying game, d20 = twenty-sided die
you need at least one set of dice which includes d% = percentile dice a four-sided die (d4), a six-sided die (d6), an eight-sided die (d8), a ten-sided die (d10), a When there is a number before the ‘d’, it means that you seldom-used twelve-sided die (d12) and the must roll that number of dice of that type and add the very important twenty-sided die (d20). Each results together, so 2d4 means you roll two four-sided dice, player may want to have his own dice set, so that while 5d6 means that you roll five six-sided dice. When curses and maledictions due to bad luck are more the die designation is followed by a plus or minus (+ or personalised. -) sign and a number, it means that you add or subtract that amount from the final die result. In this case, 3d8-4 As an option, you can use figures to represent the means that you roll three eight-sided dice, adding together characters, so that you know where everyone is during a each die’s result and then subtract four. combat scene. Likewise, the tactically minded may want a ‘battlemat’ or a flat grid to measure the movement of Multipliers characters and vehicles. Music is likewise recommended Certain modifications to dice rolls exist within the rules for setting the mood and if you expect your Samplegame to last filethat multiply the result instead of adding a set number or for more than a couple of hours, food and drinks are also an addition die or dice to a roll. These are listed as ‘x2’ good to have around. or some other multiplication value. Multipliers apply to every numeric modifier and to the basic dice involved in Basic Rules the roll but not to additional dice added as a modifier to the roll. The core of a roleplaying game is the way that characters perform tasks like climbing a rope, building a clockwork For example, if Heshia has an runic ring of iron-biting automaton, piloting an airship through a storm, reading fitted on her ornithopter’s cannon (3d6 damage) which the future with a psychic power, shooting a rune rifle doubles projectile weapon damage against metallic armour at a rampaging centaur, avoiding a falling boulder, types, plus a special shell type that adds 2d6 explosive chanting the words of a magic ritual accurately or fighting damage to every shot, then a single attack against an with a sword. The rules of OGL Steampunk assume a ironclad ship would do the weapon’s usual 3d6 damage standardised system for determining the success or failure multiplied by 2 plus the 2d6 explosive damage, for a grand of any given task. That core mechanic is: total of 6d6 ballistic damage plus 2d6 explosive damage. d20 + Modifiers vs. Target Number, usually referred to as Multipliers can stack but regardless of their values, they Difficulty Class or DC always stack in a specific way. When a check or value has two or more multipliers, the highest value multiplier The game uses a simple task resolution method in which is kept and every additional multiplier increases the first you roll a d20 (a twenty-sided die) to see if the character one’s value by 1. For example, if Gearbolt the automaton succeeds at any sort of task. When used for resolving tasks were to score a critical hit with his voltaic claws (a besides attack rolls and saving throws, this test is referred 1d4 +1d8 electrical attack, doubled by the critical hit) to as a ‘check’ and this title is thus applied to skill checks, on a person armoured with a jacket that has a special ability checks and caster checks, on which there will be vulnerability that multiplied all electrical damage by x3, more information later. 4 introduction 5 A measure A measure A character’s race does not A character’s A character created and controlled and controlled A character created A special d20 roll made to avoid made to avoid A special d20 roll A character created and controlled by by and controlled A character created The player in charge of runningThe player the game, A special kind of class feature, the racial A special kind of class feature, A value that adds or subtracts a number to and that adds or subtracts a number to and A value A negative modifier. A negative A measure of advancement or power relative to relative or power of advancement A measure An area of expertise, in which a character has devoted An area A special ability or quality that a character gains by that a character gains by A special ability or quality

Experience (and experience points, XP): points, experience (and Experience of his in the course learned has a character of what in his ways he has much stronger how and adventures defeating by gain experience points Characters grown. to make a running adding the points together challenges, they gain a specific number, When this total reaches total. a new level. Feat: virtue of his birth, talent, training or other circumstance. at every and at character creation A character gains feats classes grant character The various levels. character three to characters who belong to them. additional bonus feats Master: Games and disputes resolving Characters, Non-Player controlling adjudicating results. Level: or in the game. A character reaches other similar areas as he gains experience. gains class and character levels Modifier: of the same kind or which have Modifiers a die roll. from that is to say, the same descriptors do not stack together; of adding them the highest such modifier is used instead below. Stacking, See together. Character: Non-Player Character. as opposed to a Player Master, the Games by Penalty: Character: Player one of the players. Racial Trait: from that a character chooses trait is an ability or power at makes these choices his race. He a list determined by that indicate that he can choose either a the class levels talent or a racial trait. vocation Race (character race): ethnicity but rather a wholesale species. In represent games, the only character race mundane Steampunk settings, a character exotic more is human. In available of animal and may be a hybrid, that is, a crossbreed a human; a construct, or sentient mechanical creature; a member of or ghost; or even such as a vampire revenant, the faerie race, such as an elf or dwarf. Throw (save): Saving The three in full or in part some sort of damage or harm. Will. and Fortitude Reflex, are saving throws different Skill: with time to learn or train, which he continues to improve practice. A character gains skill points during character These points can and every creation time he gains a level. Sample file Sample the are OGL Steampunk A special ability or power A special ability or power The measure of how difficult it of how The measure The target number that a d20 An archetype a character follows a character follows An archetype A piece of machinery created Concepts A label that defines a particular subset of 5 times. A particular challenge that characters meet

A quality that describes the innate talent of a A quality that describes A die roll intended to resolve whether a character intended to resolve A die roll A positive modifier. A positive OGL Steampunk’s Game OGL Steampunk’s Difficulty Class (DC): Difficulty can be combat, action Encounters and must overcome. experience and most of them award or social in nature points. Descriptor: Descriptor: a type of damage or other general a creature, a power, certain used to determine how are concepts. Descriptors abilities affect each other. Encounter: that a character gains when he reaches a particular in level that a character gains when he reaches a character class. modifiers, must equal or along with the appropriate roll, successful. for a task to be considered exceed Class Feature/Class Ability: Ability: Class Feature/Class that describes his general aptitudes and abilities. The seven The seven that describes his general aptitudes and abilities. character classes in archetypal the genius, the journeyman, the investigator, adventurer, the noble. and the occultist, the scoundrel Class (character class): is to defeat a particular encounter. The higher the CR, the is to defeat a particular encounter. the encounter but the richer the is to overcome it harder be victorious. will be, should you rewards Amazing (Machine): Amazing (Machine): Bonus: Check: Challenge Rating (CR): Ability: Ability: Dexterity (Str), Strength six abilities are The character. Wisdom (Int), Intelligence Constitution (Con), (Dex), (Wis) and Charisma (Cha). of Types revolutionary science and technology. through personal automata, equipment, amazing machines are mounted and vehicle vehicles structures, weapons, artillery weapons. a d20 checks roll task. Ability succeeds or fails at a given a d20 while skill checks roll and add an ability modifier, skill bonus. and add the appropriate The following is a list of the most common basic concepts basic concepts a list of the most common is The following find the full will You book. this used throughout this reference chapters and may explanation in the proper list for quick clarification. any successful attack would inflict 4 times (x3 modified modified 4 times (x3 inflict would attack any successful normal the modifier) x2 critical the additional by to x4 damage, not