Didn’t have a great deal of time to commit to TTRPG projects this last week. Hunting for work has been the priority, though I might have some good news on that front, soon.
I chipped away at Steam Thieves, though. You can see the developments below:
Steam Thieves
(Steampunk x Forged in the Dark, Ashcan here [link])
I basically adapted ‘The Game Structure’ section of the SRD for Steam Thieves, notably removing the mention of ‘vice’, since that won’t be a mechanical factor in my game.
The Game Structure
Steam Thieves has a structure to play, with four parts. By default, the game is in free play—characters talk to each other, they go places, they do things, they make rolls as needed.
When the group is ready, they choose a target for their next operation, then choose a type of plan to employ. This triggers the engagement roll (which establishes the situation as the operation starts) and then the game shifts into the score phase.
During the score, the PCs engage the target—they make rolls, overcome obstacles, call for flashbacks, and complete the operation (successfully or not). When the score is finished, the game shifts into the downtime phase.
During the downtime phase, the Operator engages the systems for payoff, heat, and entanglements, to determine all the fallout from the score. Then the PCs each get their downtime activities, such as community actions to remove stress or working on a long-term project. When all the downtime activities are complete, the game returns to free play and the cycle starts over again.
The phases are a conceptual model to help you organize the game. They’re not meant to be rigid structures that restrict your options (this is why they’re presented as amorphous blobs of ink without hard edges). Think of the phases as a menu of options to fit whatever it is you’re trying to accomplish in play. Each phase suits a different goal.
Worldbuilding scribbles:
Here are some things I daubed across my phone while walking to pick my kid up from preschool this week:
Areas of the city
Portside boroughs: Divided into Port-Bow boroughs and Port-Quarter boroughs.
Starboard boroughs: Divided into Starboard-Bow boroughs and Starboard-Quarter boroughs.
Stern boroughs
The Centre: Home to The Brass Palace.
The Bowels: Hot, clogged with soot. This is home to the workers who stoke the fires, maintain the pressurizers and pipes that keep the city soaring.
The Outer Rails: Domiciles that hang off the edge of the city. Home to people who live “off the valve” and don’t use steam. They survive in the extreme cold.
Each borough has a police station. Each station has an airborne detachment (a “squadron”).
De-icers work the bow areas of the city. The bow boroughs are extremely cold. The stern boroughs are more temperate, but are choked with smog.
Steam measured in ‘cans’ (canisters). Universal fittings on cans so they can be refilled from various pipes, fit onto steam packs and power households.
Spark measured in ‘coils’.
Pigeons and rats everywhere.
Then cats and dogs.
Ravens and some hawks.
Chickens and pigs for the rich.
Eel farms.
‘Big Pete’, a giant excavator scoop that lowers from the bottom of the city and harvests materials off of the ground below. Mostly it targets wood for the fires that heat water vats (filled from the clouds) to create steam.
The scoop sometimes brings up strange artifacts and mutants from the surface.
Mutants are feral humanoids that will try and devour anything with a pulse.
Mutants are known as “abominations”, '“boms” for short.
Alright, back to it!