Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => VSF Adventures => Topic started by: gloriousbattle on December 26, 2011, 05:34:24 PM
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British VSF is great fun, but there are other nations out there too, each with their own charm. I'd like to compile a list that we could all share.
I am not concerned about system, and this is a personal preference of mine, but I just don't think it is necessary. Once you have decided on a system, the fluff books can afford to be just that. Chances are that if you need rules for something, you can do a quick conversion of something similar from what you already have, or perhaps just a cosmetic change.
For the same reason, I'm not too concerned about books with army lists and lengthy military descriptions. By all means, add any of these that you like, but, for the purpose of this list, I think it is more fun to get sourcebooks on adventure, culture, religion, government, local color, etc. Why? Because we are all wargamers, and most of us already have buckets of books on painting and playing our favorite armies. Chances are that if you are into the Luxembourgian Grand Duke's Own Death's Head Grenadier Guards Cuirassiers, you already know all about those guys, but how much do you know about Luxembourg?
Trouble is, it can be difficult finding sourcebooks. I'll start by contributing two GURPS books:
GURPS Castle Falkenstein: The Ottoman Empire
Like so many GURPS sets, this one has a lot of cultural flavor, and was well researched. As it is Castle Falkenstein it is as much fantasy as steam tech, and djinns and afrits play a big part in it. If you don't like that stuff, just lower the power level, or turn it into superstition. For me, I love adding in all that Solomonic magic tradition.
My one quibble is that it is sometimes difficult to tell where the Falkensteinian stuff begins, and the real world history and mythology ends, but if you wanted to become a history Phd, go to college. This book gives a great flavor for a vastly underappreciated part of the Victorian world.
GURPS Russia (Available as a pdf on-demand print only)
This might seem a funny choice, as it runs from the earliest mythological origins of Rus/Scythia/Sarmatia through the death of Peter the Great. However, the book is a great source for the general culture of this complex and intriguing land, and contains a lot of fantastic and adventure material as well. Remember also that, culturally, Russia changed much less after the Golden Horde was overthrown, as compared to the rest of Europe. Cossacks, Tartars, the Orthodox priesthood, vodka and the typical bearded Russian peasant are all here.
It would not be a complete sourcebook for 19th century Russia by any means, but it is a great start.
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Sorry about this. I don't know why I keep putting my VSF stuff in the Colonial area. :(
Anyway, no harm intended. Hopefully, it will be moved, as I think it would make a nice resource.
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I just mix Spanish Colonial history (loosely) and mix it with VSF bits...
Gracias,
Glenn
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Well, no great rush toward this one... :(
Okay, I'll ask for one. Does anyone have an rpg or sourcebook for the foreign legion? As romanticized as it is, and as popular as VSF has become, I'm surprised I can't find any such. Then again, my google skills are not great. :( :(
Again, thanks
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Not an RPG or sourcebook. but if you want inspiration for FFL games look no further than this site for the Amazing Adventures of the Red Shadow:
http://www.warflag.com/shadow/index.html (http://www.warflag.com/shadow/index.html)
My own French force is based on a core of VSF legionairres in breathing masks (I use Warrior Miniatures FFL figures from their WW1/VSF 'England Invaded' range or alternatively you could use similar from the Parroom Station VSF range sold through Brigade Games).
I just re-named them as Legion Extraterrestrial and deposited them on Venus. More recently I have moved the Legion to Mars, where you can run any North African scenario by replacing Morroccans/Algerians with Martians. Add flyers/airboats and local carnivorous beasties and you have a perfect VSF setting.
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Not an RPG or sourcebook. but if you want inspiration for FFL games look no further than this site for the Amazing Adventures of the Red Shadow
Just fell in love with the Red Shadow! It's amazing how much of this pulp and VSF is out there, just under the surface. I had heard Red Shadow bandied about, but I thought it was a character from some rpg like the GASLIGHT rpg supplement (Expeditions by Gaslight?). ANyway, I will have to get into that series.
Also, I really like the little diorama on your page, of the zamburak lazing down the river past the old, Turkish fort. Good stuff!
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Continuing with the Ottoman theme, this one http://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/50789/the-last-days-of-constantinople is a small print D&D3.0 publication from about 350-450 years before our period, when Constantinople fell to the Turks.
So why use it in a VSF/Steampunk game? It gives a lot of historical background, a nice map of the Sublime Porte, and lots of dungeon adventuring information that might well be accurate even in the 19th century. If, for example, you are going to try to steal back the professor's plucky daughter from the Grand Turk's harem, chances are you will need to find a way in, and, more importantly, a way out of Istanbul when your theft is discovered.
This does not seems to be carried even by rpgnow/drivethrurpg, but it does surface on ebay and other sites now and then, usually cheaply enough to be well worth having.
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Maybe you can add "Six Guns & Sorcery" also for Castle of Falkenstein but from their first edition (Talsorian), really VSF.
http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=25131&it=1
The Deadlands stuff migth have a place in this list maybe?
One more, GURPS Atlantis, http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/atlantis/
i always perceived it as a great sourcebook for VSF/steampunk, but that could be a mere personal perception.
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All great additions, most especially Deadlands. That game was a genre all by itself.
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Recently stumbled across "Tephra", described as "Steampunk Tabletop RPG".
Hadn't the time yet to check it out, though ::)
http://www.crackedmonocle.com/tephra/
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Here is another, though I'm not so sure about this one:
http://www.thecompleatstrategist.com/paristhespectralcityd20modernforbiddenkingdoms.aspx
Of course, second only to London (if even that) Paris is going to be a major center of VSFing. However, based only on the cover (I know, I know...) and the advertising blurb, this looks like it is way too weirded out for me. I love the genre, but if Paris is completelymade into a den of monsters then... well... it's no longer Paris. I fully intend to run into Napoleon's ghost and a group of Cthulhu things eating pastries and arguing politics on the Champs Elysees, but this seems like it might be overdoing it, with the monsters packed so tight that all the Parisiens are squeezed out.
Anybody know?
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Recently stumbled across "Tephra", described as "Steampunk Tabletop RPG".
Hadn't the time yet to check it out, though ::)
http://www.crackedmonocle.com/tephra/
Interesting. Seems to have a trace of Renaissance Italy to it, somehow.
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VSF-useful Dungeon Crawls:
The next two are d20 3.5 adventures loosely based on our world:
Bloody Jack's Gold http://www.goodmangames.com/5003preview.html
This is a typical pirate's ghosts guarding their buried treasure adventure. While not set in any world that includes a Europe, it nonetheless makes reference to an entity called the "Empire" which, according to the authors, is loosley based on the British and Spanish maritime empires of the 17th century. Thus, with a few name changes; a great backdrop for a VSF treasure hunt.
Lost Tomb of the Sphinx Queen
http://index.rpg.net/display-entry.phtml?mainid=3315
Again, not set in our world, but an easily convertible lost world style adventure that could be set "somewhere near" Egypt, or perhaps the Yucatan.
Please not that both of these adventures involve the highly magical style of game associated with all versions of Dungeons and Dragons, so if you are not into that, steer clear.
Interestingly, I've found it much easier to find this type of adventure than a more 'Hard VSF' (if that has any meaning) style. However, my campaign is pretty whacky, so it's cool with me.
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And two from Call of Cthulhu:
Secrets of Kenya
http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Kenya-Mythos-Roams-Cthulhu/dp/1568821883
and
Secrets of Morocco
http://www.ogrecave.com/reviews/secrets_morocco.shtml
The second link is to a review in Ogre's Cave. Ogre doesn't like it. At all. Still, the setting is interesting enough that I plan on giving it a look.
Of course, much like Castle Falkenstein, CoC gives its own Cthulhuesque take on everything (nothing wrong with that) but I am hoping that there is enough flavor and period depth to these to make them useful outside of the great old ones arena.
I'm optimistic; Chaosium usually puts out good stuff.
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Mars or Die
http://regimentgames.com/rules.html
The French Foreign Legion, because of all the richness of its traditions, warriors and the settings in which it fought, is, IMHO, the premier vehicle for VSF gaming. Just the fun of having your player characters narrowly avoid a firing squad after each adventure -but still be tortured- in some way, usually involving thirst or dodging the Tuaregs, makes it worthwhile, as of course, do it's brutal officers, even more brutal NCOs and the fact that all of its forts are built close to some lost pyramid or whatever.
Anyway, I include the above, even though it is not an rpg, just because it gives at least a nod to the FFL, that is, IMO useful for VSF gaming.
March or die, peegs!
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Lady Blackbird
http://www.onesevendesign.com/ladyblackbird/lady_blackbird.pdf
I don't know that this quite fits my criteria (not a foreign nation sourcebook, rather VSF in SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE...) but it looks like great fun, so it gets included.
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Masks of Nyarlathotep
http://www.chaosium.com/article.php?story_id=448
This one, of course, is well known, well respected, and has been around for a long time. However, I think it is still worth noting in this list because a lot of very gameable places: New York, London, Cairo, Kenya, Australia and Shanghai are all briefly covered. None of them in any great depth, of course, but enough for a one-off adventure or to get things started on a New campaign.
Also, it is worth noting that, unlike many companies, Chaosium usually makes it quite clear whether they are giving you historical or fictional information about an area.
Well worth adding to any VSF game.
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Ravenloft Guide to Transylvania
http://www.fraternityofshadows.com/DrawingRoom/Ravenloft_Products/1st_2nd_Edition/GuideToTransylvania.html
Here is one I knew nothing about until I started this thread, and it seems like quite a find. From a very quick look-see, it seems nicely detailed. It deals with it's own version of our world -Gothic Earth- but so does pretty much everything else in this list.
If your VSF game is going to have some magic and horror elements rather than being just 'hard VSF' (does that even mean anything?) you'll probably have to deal with our favorite bloodsucking Eastern European nobleman at least on some level. This seems like an excellent place to start.
As an aside, I once read an interesting intro to VSF (called 'Good Grief Carruthers' or something like that) that suggested Austria-Hungary's failure to become a real colonial power probably had a lot to do with the fact that all of their resources are going into suppressing the local vampires and werewolves. If so, this would fit right in.
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I wonder if that one could be on that list too.
Dark Continent. Adventure and Exploration in Darkest Africa
It's not a sourcebook but a complete rpg game on itself about Africa expeditions, tons of info and rules about how to organize expeditions.
It's rpg but I think it could be useful even for campaing miniature games, to handle staff and ressources between game sessions.
It really matches the feeling for Richard Burton or Livingstone style games, it's very Victorian but would need to add the SF factor.
http://rpggeek.com/rpg/2020/dark-continent-adventure-and-exploration-in-darke
http://index.rpg.net/display-entry.phtml?mainid=332
"Dark Continent is a roleplaying game of African adventure and exploration set in the age of colonialism. Players can take the role of Victorian adventurers emulating the real-life exploits of Burton, Livingstone and Stanley or the literary fictions of Edward Rice Burroughs, Henry Rice Haggard and Joseph Conrad.
This box set is a complete game in itself, with all the rules and setting information needed to create characters and expeditions and send them into the unknown. It contains two guides for players and gamemasters, a booklet with information on Zanzibar,and two blank maps for the players to charter the course of their adventures into Darkest Africa."
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I wonder if that one could be on that list too.
"Good Grief Carruthers"? I wish I could find it.
Dark Continent. Adventure and Exploration in Darkest Africa
This one sounds great, and I'd love to find a copy, but it truly seems to have been expunged from the internet.
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+++DARK CONTINENT SPOILER WARNING+++ +++PLAYERS MAY WISH TO SKIP THIS POST+++
It really matches the feeling for Richard Burton or Livingstone style games, it's very Victorian but would need to add the SF factor.
Not entirely. While the players' book is vanilla historical, there is a load of 'secret stuff' in the GM's book for supernatural Africa and what the game calls "the hungry night", a dark presence that haunts the continent. Both the provided adventures in the GM's book are supernatural or Sci-Fi in nature. The players' book gives absolutely no hint that the game is anything other than 100% historical in nature, so that when the GM springs this stuff on them for the first time it will be all the more of a curveball. While that is a really cool idea, I think if I had signed up for a Burton & Speke game and when played it turned out to be Jurassic Park, I think I might be a bit pissed off with the GM. :)
There is nothing steampunky about it (no weird contraptions, walkers, any of that rot), but it is not a straight historical game. Unless your GM wants it to be, in which case it is. The 'hungry night' stuff is kept nicely separate in its own chapter. Everything else is history.
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Any idea what happened to it? I don't think I've ever seen a game that was so completely gone from the web.
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And while plynikes is thinking about that, I'll continue with another of these Gothic Earth pieces, namely the Gothic Earth Gazetteer.
This one also seems to be really nice. It gives a little information about the whole earth, mainly centered around a group of cabals. However, I like the flavor of the whole thing, especially the description of such events as the Dreyfuss affair in a historical manner, but followed up by a supernatural 'explanantion of what really happened.'
http://www.fraternityofshadows.com/DrawingRoom/Ravenloft_Products/1st_2nd_Edition/GothicEarthGazateer.html
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Heart of the Jungle
http://www.amazon.com/Pathfinder-Chronicles-Heart-Jungle-Supplement/dp/1601252471
It should be noted that this is very much a typical D&D setting (elves with vorpal swords) rather than a colonial one, but, given the dearth of colonial jungle adventures and sourcebooks, it is probably the best you'll get.
It certainly does contain a lot of info, and a lot of stuff on lost cities, which would be pretty much the same whether the elves or the foreign legion were investigating them.
Anyway, I think it is a worthy addition to a COlonial rpg resource list.
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http://www.amazon.com/Pathfinder-Companion-Sargava-Lost-Colony/dp/1601252552/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b
Also looks interesting, and from the same people. I have not had time to give it a read, but it seems to be about a colony in a jungle area that was cut off and left on it's own.
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The Isle of Dread
http://www.amazon.com/Dread-Fantasy-Roleplaying-Expert-Module/dp/093569630X
And while we're on the subject of jungle adventures, who could forget this grand old module? Granted, we are now well into pure D&D land, but the isle has several things to recommend, including simplicity and an exploration style mapping system not all that unlike Source of the Nile's. In fact, there is no reason why you couldn't put a few changes into it, such as a British outpost, to make it a bit more colonial.
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Thanks Plynkes! to be honest i never read the game entirely, I only used the ressources info chapters, but the "hungry night" idea sounds really interesting, the "empty maps" are also a fun item.
About the game itself I have no idea where to find it nowadays, was a compulsive acquisition 10 years ago in a trip to Notthingham and never seen it again in Uk or Spain stores.
One more for the list.
Les Annes Folles
http://boardgamegeek.com/rpgitem/56047/les-annees-folles-investigations-dans-la-france-de
Call of Cthulhu sourcebook of Paris, Paris 1920, not too victorian but still useful as info source for gaming session in paris, its a big box full of stuff, includes :
-Sourcebook about life in france from 1920 to 1929, laws, events, chronology, fashion, war sequels, etc
-Street sourcebook of Paris, arrondissement by arrondissement, useful infos, stores, police stations, doctors, hotels, it includes libraries and bookstores of course.
-Scenario book, some CoC adventures
-60x80cm map, facsimile of a 1900 paris map on one side, and a map of France with interesting landmarks (castles, druidic settlements, abbeys, stonage menhir, etc)
Very cool and useful to play CoC in France/Paris, but sadly I would say it has been only published in french
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Les Annes Folles... ...Call of Cthulhu sourcebook of Paris... ...but sadly I would say it has been only published in french
Bummer. :( Still, a good addition to the list, for anyone who has that language.
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Voyage across the north in a Zeppelin
http://www.sarkomand.de/Steampunk_Expeditionen.html
Does this really belong on this list? Maybe not, but I think it's quite cool.
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Some more
- Forgotten Futures http://www.forgottenfutures.com/game/index.htm
From Marcus Rowland, tons full of info and good literature, and many sourcebooks for non british locations, from the Mapple White Land to the Tzar's Russia
- Transactions of The Royal Martian Geographical Society
http://www.heliograph.com/trmgs/
Very centered on Space 1889, but great source of ideas
- Space 1889
For all their non-british sourcebooks: Steppelords of Mars, Caravans of Mars, Cloud Captains of Mars, Conklin's Atlas of the Worlds, Beastmen of Mars, Canal Priests of Mars. Heliogrph reprinted them. http://www.heliograph.com/buy.shtml#HEL5811
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Some more
- Forgotten Futures http://www.forgottenfutures.com/game/index.htm
From Marcus Rowland, tons full of info and good literature, and many sourcebooks for non british locations, from the Mapple White Land to the Tzar's Russia
Well done old chap! I have the Forgotten Futures rules, and really enjoy them, though I've never had the chance to play the game. However, I did not know all this adventure material was out there. It looks great. I'll have to get "Tsar Wars" just based on the name alone! :-*
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http://madbrewlabs.com/steampunk-klokwerks-roundup/
Neat little steampunk site. I really add it in here because I just found it, and don't want to lose it before I read it. Great links page.