Does Weird World War I equal VSF?

[DoctorPete]

Sometimes it is necessary to define the period just to get it on the right board?    Otherwise, how dare you get yer Pulp mixed with my VSF just after I finished purging it of gratuitous Steampunk! 

[the fallen scholar]

The problem with the Weird War thread is that is it is loaded down with WWW2 articles.  Not looking for advice on tanks and walkers from Dust or SOTR.  Prussians, English, Steam powered tanks or maxim guns are more to my liking.  Maybe a martian or two.

[Conquistador]

The problem with the Weird War thread is that is it is loaded down with WWW2 articles.  Not looking for advice on tanks and walkers from Dust or SOTR.  Prussians, English, Steam powered tanks or maxim guns are more to my liking.  Maybe a martian or two.

Seems like "the label on the tin" says it all:

Weird Wars
Superscience, Paranormal, and all the rest in WW1, WW2 and other wars.

VSF Adventures
Victorian Science-Fiction, Martian Invaders, Extraordinary Gentlemen, Steam-Punk etc.

What am I missing here?

Gracias,

Glenn

[Melnibonean]

So maybe "Edwardian" or "post-Edwardian" SciFi?   

ESF!

[abdul666lw]

The problem is rooted in the limitations of forums such as this dear one.
Compare with TMP: there a board can be 'embedded' in more than one 'subdirectory', thus the VSF board is accessible both from the '19th C.' and 'Science Fiction' forums.
Then, unlike TMP, technically forums don't allow cross-posting -yet a safety not to miss a post of interest or a potentially interested reader, and here moderators frown upon cross-linking.

The problem arises every time a combination genre (or setting) x period does not fit exactly with the defined content of a board (or would fit equally well in two boards: http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=43045.0). 'Ben Franklin's War' http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=43045.0 was posted on the VSF board, and thus was perhaps missed by some 18th C. gamers potentially interested. Anatoli posted his 'Strange Aeons in the 18th C.' on the Strange Aeons board, but '18th C. Gothic Horror' could equally appear in a 18th C. board; NOT in the 'hardboiled historical' Age of the Big Battalions' board, of course, but in the Pikes, Muskets and Flouncy Shirts: in my experience 18th C. aficionados are an open-minded and tolerant kind, and accept that the borders between historical / quasihistorical / "what-if?" / Imagi-Nations / swashbuckling / 18th C. gothic horror / pulp / science fiction are desperately fuzzy.  Besides, pirates not rarely encounter krakens, sea serpents, Deep Ones, King Kong, Dinosaurs, undead pirates or even all-female crews http://www.markusrothkranz.com/pirettes/pirettes_video2.html (another form of fantasy), so...
'Carnevale' (Lovecraftian adventures in late 18th C. Venice) was mentioned in both the Gothic Horror http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=33750.msg397408#msg397408 and Cthulhu boards, but would have fitted also in the Pikes, Muskets and Flouncy Shirts one, would it be only for the nice 'human' miniatures. 'A devil in Jerse'y is Gothic Horror, and was posted on the corresponding board, but is set during the AWI: how many 18th C. players would peruse the Gothic Horror board in search of beautiful photos of an 'adventure game' in tricornes?....

[Bogdanwaz]

This is just my personal view but I think Weird World War I should have a different tone and somewhat different style than VSF althouhg it can be close.  I've been doing VSF for years and recently ventured into Weird War I for the Cold Wars and Historicon conventions (I also ran a VSF game at Historicon).  Here's some pictures from the games:

http://bogdanwaz.blogspot.com/search/label/Word%20War%20I

I went for a drabber color scheme on vehicles (except for the airplanes) and bleaker landscape.  Most vehicles, like my Tsar and Tumbelweed tanks had some historical basis.  Also had fewer vehicles steam-powered.  What fantasy/magical/horror elements I had were related to a Dr. Frankenstein-like character that I got out of some old pulp stories about American flyer and secret agent G-8. 

I guess my take on it was more Pulp thatn VSF

[FramFramson]

I think you have to account for the degree to which WWI broke the Victorian spirit & optimism. WWI tends to the drab and horrifying, whereas the Victorian era wants bright colours (even if they all wind up totally blackened by soot   ) and elaborate mechanical contraptions. There's also the crucial rise of gasoline-powered engines and vehicles in WWI.

Obviously that's a gross oversimplification, but at the heart there's a different aesthetic to each period.