Cortex Steampunk Game 2 OOC Discussion

[IsabellaRose]

This is for Group 2, consisting of @SataiRolePlayingGuy, @AsBloodTurnsEverCold, @Warning, and @DreamsnThings.

We're still working from the basic setup premise as described in the original "Interest Check" thread:

"My favorite game system is Cortex, or more specifically, the Cortex Drama system originally developed for the Smallville RPG, improved with suggestions in the Cortex Hacker's Guide, and then brought all together in the latest version of the system, Cortex Prime.

I'm considering running a dramatic game centered around a small group of PCs and their connected NPCs set in an 1880s wild west / steampunk / weird science world. Imagine someone combined the works of Jules Verne, Mary Shelley, Edgar Allen Poe, HP Lovecraft, and HG Wells, added in a dash of Nikola Tesla, a pinch of Indiana Jones (without the Crystal Skull nonsense), mixed in Billy the Kid, Wyatt Earp, Calamity Jane, Wild Bill Hickok, Annie Oakley, Doc Holliday and all the wild west tropes you can imagine, maybe added a bit of mad scientist and supernatural weird west nonsense, and dressed it all up in steampunk finery... and you're looking at the general idea for the setting. There will be over-the-top villains, square-jawed heroes, and buxom babes a plenty. Obviously, given our site, there were be lewd content and a deviation from the more buttoned-down, puritanical ways of the colonial western expansion and Victorian era, and I expect most characters to "get some" on a regular basis. In fact, I intend to add a mechanic that will make it imperative that you keep your honey pot stirred or your wick well dipped regularly in order to keep functioning at your highest level."

 

Let's start with the basics of worldbuilding. Working from that original description:

1. Write down anything that YOU WANT to be in this game, concepts, set pieces, species, tech, etc., for you to enjoy it. If you want there to be Automaton's write it down. If you just think they'd be cool, but you don't really care one way or the other, don't write it down. This is the list of "I want this to be in the world!"
    
2. Write down anything that you DO NOT WANT in the game. If zombies will ruin the setting for you, let us know.

Once we get input from everyone, we'll move on to the Pathways system.

[SataiRolePlayingGuy]

Well this is going to be rather short to start.  Off the top of my head, I cannot think of anything that I strongly do not want, I am rather open minded.  Though I will mention it if someone else suggests something that falls in that category.  I would have to think a little more about things I would strongly like, I am rather open-minded.  But following Isabella’s advice, won’t list things I am just okay with or kind of like, have to consider if anything falls into the stronger like category.

Edited 13 hours ago by SataiRolePlayingGuy

[IsabellaRose]

Okay, so... not a lot of discussion going on here. I'm going to post my lists of what I imagine for this setting and you guys can work from there.

Things I Imagine Being in an 1880s/Wild West/Steampunk/Weird West Flavored Game

• Dusty boomtowns, saloons, and lawless frontier towns.
• Railroads, train robberies.
• Airships.
• Cursed mines.
• Traveling carnivals and bizarre expositions.
• Mad scientists in brass-and-copper laboratories.
• Automatons and clockwork men questioning their humanity.
• Creepy experiments.
• Tesla coils, pneumatic weapons, and steam-powered contraptions.
• Strange inventions with unintended consequences.
• Poe-style hauntings and spiritualism (séances, mediums, spirit boards).
• Folk religion and superstition (totem cults, skinwalker legends).
• Themes & Drama including Progress vs. Peril – new technology brings danger as often as salvation, and Law vs. Chaos – marshals, outlaws, and vigilantes clashing.

Things I Don't Imagine Being in the Game

• Romero-style zombies (mindless hordes shambling about).
• Goofy slapstick steampunk tropes (overly cartoonish tech).
• Overly modern politics or moralizing that break the 1880s frontier feel.
• Alien invasions from outer space (though alien fossils, crashed remnants, or hints of otherworldly influence are fair game).
• High fantasy elves/dwarves or Tolkien tropes. Stick to Gothic, Weird West, and pulp science.
• Overt superhero tropes (no caped crusaders or spandex heroes, this is pulp adventure, not comic book).
• Pure comedy tone. Humor is fine, but the core is dramatic, atmospheric, and weird.

Work from there - add to the lists, delete stuff from them, alter and edit. Let's make something interesting!

[SataiRolePlayingGuy]

Will see about getting a response with some thoughts in tonight, whether starting the conversation, or building on the replies of others (a chance I will be able to during the day, but can’t guess how likely it will be).