Steampunk Archaeology Ideas?

[TheAuldGrump]

Next Saturday I start up the Steampunk Archaeology/Exploration (I will be calling it Archaeopunk, I think) game. Like the recent Scoobypunk game it will be episodic in nature, rather than a single cohesive story. I have about eight of the scenarios planned, and there is plenty of room at this point for more. This is also going to be a looser game than is my norm, with room for side treks.

Settings so far:
A dig in the Outer Hebrides - where the story begins, and the team gathers. The theme of Baal/Molech is first encountered here.
Atlantis - and an ancient orrery, still functional. Inhabited by creatures that may never have been human....
Mars and/or the Moon (Parts were originally written for Space:1889....)
Boston (The first time that the game will be taking place in the U.S.) Alas, unless the team is more foresightful than I expect the man they are supposed to contact is going to end up rather messily dead.
Baltimore, Ireland - A theological thinking machine (Molech in steam Buddha form). In early appearances the organization that is building the construct will be the patrons of the team. Later they are the villains, corrupted as Molech's influence spreads.

I plan on having a lost continent at some point, and possibly dinosaurs. (Every lost continent should have dinosaurs....)

Any ideas?

The Auld Grump

[Wolverine]

For the dinosaurs, either have them on a plateau reachable only by airship, or somewhere like Skull Island.

Or, even better, perhaps the dinosaurs are found in some sort of wildlife preserve on either the Moon or Mars. They were bought there from Earth to save them from extinction, and have been living there since.

[Mister Andersen]

Hollow Earth, dude. find them in the Hollow Earth.

[Desertpuma]

Hollow Earth sounds the best to me as well.

[TheAuldGrump]

Nah, I have an allergic reaction to the concept of Hollow Earth - my inner physical science majors jumping up and down yelling 'No! No! No!'

Besides, I already have critters lurking in the honeycomb of the world, goblins and darker things. In the very first game I ever ran in this setting the PCs ran across some of the goblins in London Below - saw them going to town on a pair of villains that the PCs were following.... The brave and bold PCs turned back around and headed back to London Above.

One of the bits of background on my world - several of the elder species have come back. Elves, dwarfs, mers, faeries, goblins.... One of the first was Ogres who reappeared in Switzerland. Oddly, the Swiss just absorbed them, with no fuss or fanfare. Just some slightly larger Swiss. Ogres aren't as powerful as they once were, but they are no longer all devouring, either. They feel that it is a good trade off.

There are no orcs.

As for Atlantis - I have it placed off of the coasts of the Hebrides - and a megalith that they will find in the first adventure can be used to find it. If they think to do so. A simple three stone megalith - two short uprights side by side and a longer, slightly pointed stone that rests on  and between the first two at an angle. Two much more refined stelles can be found at the Atlantis site - the stone points directly between them. (And, though it is unlikely to come into play, the setting sun passes between them on the last day of summer.)

A second megalithic site for another scenario involves a large number of ghostly Celts who were interred in a series of barrows. The barrows predate the Celts by a good long time.... Not quite a red herring.

The Auld Grump, heading off to run Pathfinder for a bunch of kids....

[TheAuldGrump]

I also intend to use my Giant Octopus Attack in this campaign. A giant octopus grapples someone, then doesn't let go. Not dealing any damage, just latching on and being carried around until it gets bored or they somehow get it off. (Borrowed from the behavior of real giant octopi - for some reason they seem to think that humans are nifty.) And with the strength and eight arms it gets quite a bonus to grappling, too....

The critter is scary, but not aggressive, just curious.

The Auld Grump

[Txabier_Arrizotegui]

Any ideas?

Just don't call it "Archaeopunk", please. Pulp adventure... heck! Even SteamPulp Adventure will sound better!

[TheAuldGrump]

Any ideas?

Just don't call it "Archaeopunk", please. Pulp adventure... heck! Even SteamPulp Adventure will sound better!

Thank you! That was the reaction I was waiting for! (For what it is worth - I have never referred to my previous campaign as 'Scoobypunk' to my players, such terms are purely for my own amusement.) I will continue to just call it My Steampunk Campaign, or Steampunk Archaeologist Game.

I may be delaying the first session for a couple of weeks - one of the players is talking about running his O' Canada campaign for the first time in something like two years. It would be good to get to play for a change, and I like my character. I am hoping for at least four weeks of his game, then he will have run his setting as often as I have.... (Something that I grump about on occasion.)

The Auld Grump

[Aldus Vertten]

Any ideas?

Just don't call it "Archaeopunk", please. Pulp adventure... heck! Even SteamPulp Adventure will sound better!

Thank you! That was the reaction I was waiting for! (For what it is worth - I have never referred to my previous campaign as 'Scoobypunk' to my players, such terms are purely for my own amusement.) I will continue to just call it My Steampunk Campaign, or Steampunk Archaeologist Game.

Somehow, Raiders of the Steam Age came to my mind...

[TheAuldGrump]

Any ideas?

Just don't call it "Archaeopunk", please. Pulp adventure... heck! Even SteamPulp Adventure will sound better!

Thank you! That was the reaction I was waiting for! (For what it is worth - I have never referred to my previous campaign as 'Scoobypunk' to my players, such terms are purely for my own amusement.) I will continue to just call it My Steampunk Campaign, or Steampunk Archaeologist Game.

Somehow, Raiders of the Steam Age came to my mind...

Ummm, it's possible that the good Dr. Jones was one of the inspirations for this.... Jules Verne was another, in particular Journey to the Center of the Earth, as was the Mummy with Brendan Frazier (the Karloff Mummy is in there too).

But yeah, I want to focus more on action than on good archaeological protocols. (I may also end up borrowing a bit from The Bone Wars - much as Dr. Jones had Beloq.

The Auld Grump

[gaghiel42]

Some things that came to mind as I was thinking about all this.  You should send them into different habitats as well.  If you do the whole lost continent thing, you need jungles and natives and the whole nine yards.  Giant animals galore.  Perhaps this lost continent is hidden in some sort of paradox that is only discovered by activating some sort of buried relic every so many centuries. 

Aliens are always fun to find buried somewhere.  The Antarctic is fun for that, although it lacks in dangerous wildlife outside of penguins.  (Unless of course its just hiding in the ice with the aliens)  There is always room to find giant snakes, sharks, trilobites, octopi, T-rexes, Godzilla, Human imitating aliens, hostile parasitic aliens, transformers, etc frozen in the glaciers. 

Could always take them somewhere like Pompeii too.  Have them digging up something buried under a long dead (or so they think) volcano.  You could even toss in a chase scene at the end where the predator is the lava.

[Aldus Vertten]

I really like the your idea, and probably will try something along the lines if i get to reunite my old rpg group when i go back to spain this summer... But adding some elements from League of Extraordinarie Gentlemen... I just came from an event with Moore and O'Neill and the wonderful inspiration that the comic gave me in the moment is back again...

[Krensky]

Aliens are always fun to find buried somewhere.  The Antarctic is fun for that, although it lacks in dangerous wildlife outside of penguins.

Leopard Seals and Humans. Plenty of danger.

[TheAuldGrump]

Some things that came to mind as I was thinking about all this.  You should send them into different habitats as well.  If you do the whole lost continent thing, you need jungles and natives and the whole nine yards.  Giant animals galore.  Perhaps this lost continent is hidden in some sort of paradox that is only discovered by activating some sort of buried relic every so many centuries. 

Aliens are always fun to find buried somewhere.  The Antarctic is fun for that, although it lacks in dangerous wildlife outside of penguins.  (Unless of course its just hiding in the ice with the aliens)  There is always room to find giant snakes, sharks, trilobites, octopi, T-rexes, Godzilla, Human imitating aliens, hostile parasitic aliens, transformers, etc frozen in the glaciers. 

Could always take them somewhere like Pompeii too.  Have them digging up something buried under a long dead (or so they think) volcano.  You could even toss in a chase scene at the end where the predator is the lava.

Heh - that triggered something - and the Lost Continent may not be as lost as all that. Welcome to the Dreamtime. 

The Auld Grump, besides, who hasn't wanted to use a bunyip?

[TheAuldGrump]

Aand something that I have no idea how I will work it in, or even if - it may be something to use in another campaign instead. A scene involving chambers off of the sluice tunnels for an industrial dam. Not quite the Grand Cooley Dam, but quite lethal if things go wrong.

There is some World Works terrain that I can use for this, created for a D20 scenario that they have had available for a while now. Anyone who has seen the channels for 19th century industrial use know the power behind the wheels. And if someone were to open the sluices for a draw down while the PCs were in the tunnels... 

The Auld Grump, such a senseless waste of human life....

*EDIT* One of those ideas for a scene that come when I am asleep. I am fairly certain that Vanishing Point was part of the source for the dream