More Steampunky Brew
In this week's Throwback Thursday post, we stick around with the Clockwork Campaign that I ran for Savage Worlds. Actually we had thirteen sessions of this game, so I've got enough material to run right into 2015 with these write-ups! So in this session I tried setting the groundwork for steampunk time-travel, which was supposed to be an underlying theme for the campaign. Heck, the name of the campaign SCREAMS for some Stampunk Temporal Dynamism! Unfortunately, we never were able to dig into it as much as I would've liked, but trying to explain how it all worked was pretty cool!
Even though he didn't join the campaign, I have to tip my hat to my pal Brett. When I was trying to brainstorm how time travel would work, Brett and I had an hour long conversation, discussing how Chronological and Kairological were different, and temporal ubiquity. I kept most of the notes from our chat and they ended up here.
So maybe Brett himself is the inspiration for the "Weird Doctor Kell!"
Session 2 - The Confounding Lectures of the Weird Doctor Kell
Journal Date
December 2nd, 1897
Cast
- Lady Selene Eva Thana - Eternal Noble - played by Melinda
- Inspector Robinson Gray - Idiot Savant Investigator - played by Randy
- Nigel Loring - Hunter/Adventurer/Explorer - played by Craig
- Fangzhi - Wudang Initiate - played by Frank
Notable NPC’s
Dr. Henry Kell, Dr. Stephen Addison
Plot Summary:
After a leisurely breakfast at Thana Manor the party was off to Ravenswood College, about halfway between Epping and London. Doctor Addison, an old friend of Lady Selene’s husband and also the current instructor of Robinson Gray, had arranged for a carriage ride, and wanted to tag along to hear all about the famed Jeweled Slate of Corvo. The carriage ride wasn’t too long, only a couple hours, and en route Lady Selene told all about her ascension to nobility, along with the death of two of her husbands. She didn’t give the cause of death for either, and no one really wanted to ask.
Once at Ravenswood College, a place of higher learning for mostly rich misfits, the characters were introduced to the South Wing of the school, where the real education was occurring. Theoretical physics was Dr. Henry Kell’s specialty, but also taught at the school were classes about the occult, weird science, fringe theory, and other outside concepts. The party fit right in. Dr. Kell was discussing the “Tri-Natured Temporal Dynamism” theory that he had put together, in particular the state of “Temporal Ubiquity”. You see, in Dr. Kell’s estimation, time could be manipulated in one of three ways. The first nature, Kairological Mechanics, is based upon tethers between two points of time. Chronological Mechanics was the theory (untested and unexperienced to date) of pure time travel through devices, akin to some popular fiction. Temporal Ubiquity was the third nature, and it had to do with powerful beings that could perceive all of time at once.
After being introduced to the party, Dr. Kell saw the slate and demanded that they experiment and research the object at once. Everyone in the party joined in! After a full day of testing, research in the library, manipulation of the object by a wudang master, and Lady Selene pulling information from every other professor in the college, the group was able to deduce the meaning of the device. The Jeweled Slate of Corvo was an ancient “punch card” that could amazingly be placed in a modern day analytical engine to display coordinates based on the angle of the north pole during it’s millennia long rotation cycle. Well, Dr. Kell had to take the slate to London at once!
Although he did not want them to tag along, Dr. Kell was convinced by the party to let them come, but vile darkness would strike while the party prepared for their trip. Almost to the carriage, Robinson noticed that something was “amiss” but could not put his finger on the situation. An assassin, from the shadowy organization known as Obscura, was waiting for the party by hanging below the carriage. Two more assassins, one with an air powered silent rifle and another an observer masquerading as a student, were also waiting. Dr. Kell was dropped by the air rifle, which silently blasted his right shoulder just before he could enter the carriage with the Lady Thana. Frantically, Fang and Nigel got the doctor out of the line of fire and into the carriage while Nigel tried to get a bead on the shooter. Before Robinson could react, he realized that the assassin under the carriage had manacled his foot to the cart, and was waiting with a shot gun to give him what for. Well Robinson wasn’t going to have that, so he dropped to a prone position and fired off three rounds, wounding the assassin but also spooking the horses. Luckily, Lady Selene was able to get the horses under control. Nigel was able to blast the shooter’s brains out, and the stealth assassin killed herself with a cyanide capsule. The last assassin, an observer, ran off.
After being healed by his friend, Dr. Addison, Dr. Kell insisted on continuing the trip to London. Amongst the dim lights of the smoggy city, Dr. Kell’s analysis with the analytical engine proved incredible! Not only could he calculate points of Karological Tethers, rifts in space-time connecting two time periods, he found that one existed right smack dab in the middle of Epping!
Interludes:
Lady Selene: When Selene met her first husband and was married into nobility. He went against his family to marry her. That was a short courtship. Luckily he introduced her to Lord Gordon Thana before passing. That courtship took a bit longer.
Quotes:
“Wait, wait... Melinda has a husband?” - Frank
“He’s deceased!” - Melinda
“So you had TWO husbands die?” - Fang shared his player’s confusion.
“Fang is related to the emperor of China.” - Nigel to Lady Selene, wanting to get her to marry Fangzhi.
“Look at this fine engineering!” - Robinson Grey tried to look nonchalant whilst reviewing the weird situation surrounding the carriage without concerning the rest of the party.
“Hey shnookums... I think it is in both of our best interests for you to untie me.” - Robinson Grey to the third Obscura woman.
Steampunky Brew
Back in the fall of 2012 I had hit a gaming slump. My three and a half year long D&D 3.5/4e Ravenloft/Planescape campaign had come to an end and I didn't have anything else on the "menu". Up until that point I was running a weekly Tuesday night game, but we had just concluded 30 levels, and finished our last battle with Orcus. We kicked around a couple of other campaign ideas, but in the end, after losing two of our players who wanted to take a break, the "Monster Squad" (that's what we called ourselves) went into retirement.
What was a desperate-to-game Game Master to do? I gave the D&D Next playtest a brief try, but it wasn't the same... I just needed a break from the traditional dungeon crawl.
That spring I had gotten my hands on the Savage Worlds Deluxe hardback and fell head over heels. I initially picked up the book to run some pulpy games. I'm a big fan of the tabletop game Crimson Skies, and thought I could try an RPG version. But there were so many amazing Steampunk and Victorian titles on the market, I couldn't resist! First I picked up Rippers, and then Space 1889 and Realms of Cthulhu. Toss in a few Deadlands books and I had everything I needed for a crazy romp arose time and space in old-timey dirigibles.
Incidentally, around the same time that I started thinking about the setting that would come to be called "Clockwork", I started watching Doctor Who for the first time, starting (obviously) with the 9th Doctor. I loved the idea that nothing was supernatural in Doctor Who, everything had some kind of scientific basis - even if it was far fetched! Well that's what I wanted to do with Clockwork. Victorian Steampunk, a hybrid of Rippers and Space 1889 with dashes of home-brewed goodness, where even the supernatural was entirely natural… just misunderstood.
So I grabbed a few players, tossed some character ideas around, and we took the first autogyro to London!
Just a couple of more things before we move forward. First, you may recognize some of these characters if you read my Savage Worlds tales from earlier this year. We had a second "season" of Clockwork that ran late last year and into this year. Second, this was written two years ago, and I think my game summaries have improved (maybe a little) since then, but this doesn't do much good just sitting on my Macbook's hard drive.
Even if only Craig, Mel, Randy, and Frank give this a read… it's worth posting!
Session 1 - An Unusual Happenstance in Essex County
Journal Date
December 1st, 1897
Cast
- Lady Selene Eva Thana - Eternal Noble - played by Melinda
- Inspector Robinson Gray - Idiot Savant Investigator - played by Randy
- Nigel Loring - Hunter/Adventurer/Explorer - played by Craig
- Fangzhi - Wudang Initiate - played by Frank
Notable NPC’s
Miss Elsie Morrow (servant girl of Lady Selene), Timmy Chadwick (servant boy of Lady Selene), Bernie (the wayward day laborer), Tor & Horrace the Rippers.
Plot Summary:
Our intrepid band of eccentrics met up at Thana Manor in Epping, Essex County, England. Nigel Loring had just returned from the Azores and was handing over the Jeweled Slate of Corvo to Lady Selene Eva Thana. Fangzhi, who was training Lady Selene in the Wudang arts, and Inspector Robinson Gray were attending the light dinner and “unveiling” of the ancient artifact. Upon first inspection of the artifact, Robinson realized that he could do a better job investigating if he had a magnifying glass, so Lady Selene sent her little chap Timmy down to the local general store to purchase one of the lenses.
When Timmy returned, however, he was completely terrified. He had been followed by a trio of strange day laborers. When Lady Selene noticed that one of the laborers was still outside the house, she approached the man, Bernie, and started questioning him. As the rest of the party started searching outside, they realized that some other blokes were trying to “visit” the house. Robinson, after deftly jumping a hedge and seeing a weird woman in the distance wearing pants making odd eye contact, heard a sound from behind him, so he jumped back and ran right into a stranger sniping him with a poisoned crossbow. Robinson non-skillfully stealth'd into a bush to not be seen, and after Lady Selene heard his cries, the vampiress came to the inspector’s aid... after biting poor Bernie’s neck. Nigel found another guy staking out the joint on the north end of the building, so he chased that man down.
Between the main house and the guest house Lady Selene and Robinson tried taking down the crossbow wielding sniper. Robinson was able to trip up the gent, and eventually his baton and the Lady’s steel dagger took the bastard down. Fangzhi eventually managed to jump the hedge as well (after failing repeatedly) just in time to take on the second brigand, but by that point with the first brigand unconscious, the second gave up hope of victory.
He surrendered.
The brigands were part of a cell of Rippers, a secret society of monster hunters. Lady Selene convinced them that she was not a threat, and that they should leave her alone (they had been after her in the first place due to her vampiric traits), and after feasting on the most injured Ripper (with his permission of course), Lady Selene ordered her maid to finish dinner. Once the wine was brought out, and Robinson had his magnifying glass, he realized that to further inspect the Jeweled Slate of Corvo, the full faculties of a college would be needed.
Interludes:
None this week
Quotes:
“Being part vampire, I have some quirks.” - Melinda describes Lady Selene Eva Thana
“What’s in the box!!!!” - Randy invokes a little ‘Seven’ when the case carrying the Jeweled Slate of Corvo is whipped out.
Fangzhi: “You have handcuffs?”
Robinson: “Sure, it gets you out of all kind of pickles!”
“This is an exquisite bush!” - Robinson felt the need to do some impromptu foliage inspecting.
“Wow, everyone can jump that hedgerow!” - Except for Frank!
