My Foray into Steampunk

I am but an infant standing before an ocean when it comes to the genre of Steampunk, but I am quite excited about the gaming opportunities it extends. A gnome escaping from a train heist by sealing the dining car's door with a glue bomb would be amazing. Or a group of half-orc tribesmen that take down the zeppelin of the local oppressive duke with bows and arrows, yeah, that's the ticket!

I'm a long way from making this a true sustained campaign reality, but so far here's what I know.

The world will be my own (sort of).
The geography will match that of our Earth, but history shall be quite different.
The 'civilized' world at this point currently reside on the continent we call North America.
There are approximately 36 nation-states. The two most powerful of which are the Federated States of Ullera and the Sovereign Kingdom of Rausch, currently allies which share borders.

Ullera sits between what we know as the Mississippi River and the East Coast, going north to the shores of the Great Lakes and south to the Everglades. It is a technologically driven state which in many ways mirrors the U.S. in the 1860s. Magecraft has long been outlawed here, but it is rumored to exist.

West of the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean spans the vast, sparsely populated Kingdom of Rausch. It's king rose from despondent orphanhood to a high position in the state church, eventually securing royal status by marrying ALL THREE of the prior king's daughters. He is highly respected and quite just.

Ulleran settlers, sick of coalsmoke-clogged cities, set east decades ago on all manner of craft (from dirigible to clipper to ship), but the harsh conditions and violent natives in the continents to the east have prevented Ullera from establishing meaningful colonies.

Gameplay will likely be limited to three player characters at a time. Pathfinder RPG rules will be used, augmented by third party steampunk expansions (mainly 3.0 books, actually). Players will all run gestalt characters (taking the best of any two classes).

Gameplay in the first campaign will include limited options. Greater options will be 'unlocked' as the world is explored (Example: once players encounter Knights of Rausch, the paladin class will become available.)

Players will start in Ullera (in game one), and race/class options will be limited to:

Races: Human, Half-elf, Elf, Gnome, Dwarf, Halfling.
Classes: Barbarian, Bard, Fighter, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer.

Magic knowledge available to players will be limited to 3rd level spells until higher knowledge is unlocked.

Equipment: Modified black powder weapons exist. Reloading will take something like two full rounds (anything more will make it little fun for an RPG), which can be reduced by feats and class features.

There's plenty to flesh out here. Hit me up with questions. I'm sure there are aspects I haven't considered yet!

100% Random Character

I was so bored and The Simpsons Movie wasn't doing it for me at that moment. Sorry, SpiderPig.

Here's what I did. I wanted to make character 100% randomly. None of those burdensome decisions, just pure dice rolls. I did this for EVERY aspect: ability scores, race, class, skills, weapons, armor, deity, alignment, etc. Using only the rules found at www.d20srd.org, and rolling via Wizards' Dungeons and Dragons Dice Roller, I set off on my ridiculous quest. No rerolls!

I figure I'll create his story AFTER I randomly generate every aspect of him. Could I possibly fashion a credible storyline for this gent, or would it be mayhem? Either way, let's check it out.

Ability scores. 4d6, drop the lowest. Straight down the line. Strength 13, Dexterity 10, Constitution 8, Intelligence 12, Wisdom 16 Charisma 8.

Race. 7 core races, so d8 (8 means reroll). Roll: 3. Elf. This adjusts my ability scores to: Strength 13, Dexterity 12, Constitution 6, Intelligence 12, Wisdom 16 Charisma 8.

Class. 11 core classes, so d12 (11 means reroll). Roll: 11. Wizard. So far so good, we'll have to do something about that average intellect.

So after three rolls this is what I have: A sickly elven wizard who doesn't show much promise in his chosen profession. No worries, plenty of people seem to become successful, even against the odds. Case in point: Dustin Diamond.

Alignment. There are 9, so d10 (10 means reroll). Lawful Good is a 1, Neutral is a 5, and Chaotic Evil is a 9. Roll: 8. Neutral Evil.

Class Options: Familiar. There are 10, so d10. Roll: 1. He has a pet bat.

Skills. I get 12 skill points, so I'm going to roll to see how I spend each one. d20srd shows 36 skills. The dice roller has a custom die, so d36. If I hit a skill with options I'll roll that out too. Roll: 32,12,6,36,24,17,34,25,30,20,21,6. I add one point to: Survival, Forgery, Craft (Trapmaking?), Use Rope, Profession (Teamster?), Intimidate, Tumble, Ride, Spellcraft!, Listen, Move Silently, Craft (Trapmaking!) WOW. Most of these make no sense, and all but a couple don't even provide for a full +1, as they're cross-class skills. Must have went to a liberal arts school.

Feats. 71 feats without prerequisite feats, so d71!. Roll: 66. Toughness. Eh...ok.

Religion. 19 deities. d20 (20 means no deity). Roll: 4. Erythnul, god of slaughter. At least the creepy motif plays so far.

Wealth. I rolled out 90gp for the guy to start with. I'm going to roll a d% to see how much he spends. Roll: 55. He'll spend just over half, or 47gp 5sp. How to roll what he buys is a tough one.

Weapon: No weapons are off limits. 72 core weapons. Roll: 8. A club. How very...blah.

50% chance he'll carry a ranged weapon. Roll: 56. No ranged.

Armor: I know, wouldn't this guy NOT wear armor? He's 100% random, so, that's not for me to decide. Roll: 28 (lower 50%) so yes, he wears armor. Chain Shirt!

But a chain shirt costs 100gp. Does he really want it? The dice say YES (50%). What is he willing to give up for it? d%: 1-50= he's in debt. 51-75= he stole the money. 76-90= it's rusty, discount! 91-100= he's paid for it, with a body part! Roll: 89. Rusty chain mail. Sounds like a dirty sex act in medieval times.

I forgot to roll up the gender! d%. Roll: 16, male!

Ok. That's it. To recap: A Lawful Evil male Elf wizard, severely unfit for his current profession, with a ridiculous spread of skills, extra hit points, rusty chain mail and a club. At least he has his pet bat, Slugger, to help him out.

To the dungeons!

Roll up a random character and post a comment!