Steampunk Archaeology Ideas?

[TheAuldGrump]

Not exactly archaeological, but I did decide on a theme song for the city of Blythe (Blight)... The Pogues version of Dirty Old Town.

I found my love by the gasworks croft
Dreamed a dream by the old canal
Kissed my girl by the factory wall
Dirty old town, dirty old town.

Clouds are drifting across the moon
Cats are prowling on their beat
Spring's a girl in the street at night
Dirty old town, dirty old town.

I heard a siren from the docks
Saw a train set the night on fire
Smelled the spring in the smokey wind
Dirty old town, dirty old town.

I'm going to make a good sharp axe
Shining steel tempered in the fire
We'll chop you down like an old dead tree
Dirty old town, dirty old town.

The Pogue's version has a touch more anger than the Dubliner's rendition.

The Auld Grump, not the first time to use the Pogues for theme music - I used Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash for a pirates game back when Skull & Bones was new.

[TheAuldGrump]

I am moving the in game start date to May of 1880 - three years before Krakatoa let loose. One way or another the team may have something to do with that....

I had also considered a campaign culminating on 12 December 1811, somewhere near New Madrid, Nevada.... But I decided that I really did not want to deal with the whole issue of the pre-Civil War United States, and the very different mores that held sway. (Yep, I am chickening out on that one. )

The Auld Grump, even when I was a child they were still talking about the quake that 'rang church bells in Boston', 'course I was living in Boston, so there might be reason for it to be remembered....

[Eärendle]

Happiness!

I had also considered a campaign culminating on 12 December 1811, somewhere near New Madrid, Nevada....

I'm curious what event this date and location references. My web-fu is giving conflicting information.

[MugMug]

I'm curious what event this date and location references. My web-fu is giving conflicting information.

I'm not exactly sure, since the Grump can be a little obscure at times. There were, however, a series of large earthquakes commonly called the "New Madrid Earthquakes" (of Missouri, not Nevada) which began in December (16th, not 12th).

Those earthquakes were said to ring the bells in Boston -- note the Grump's closing remark.

Walter

[TheAuldGrump]

I'm curious what event this date and location references. My web-fu is giving conflicting information.

I'm not exactly sure, since the Grump can be a little obscure at times. There were, however, a series of large earthquakes commonly called the "New Madrid Earthquakes" (of Missouri, not Nevada) which began in December (16th, not 12th).

Those earthquakes were said to ring the bells in Boston -- note the Grump's closing remark.

Walter

Yep, I had the right town, wrong state. There was a New Madrid Nevada, once upon a time (all that is left now are some chimneys, a few brick walls, and a bank vault), but it was not where the earthquake took place. The quake actually reversed the flow of the Mississippi for a moment, and yeah, on the 16th. This is an excellent example of why one should not use memory instead of looking things up.... The New Madrid seismic event was powerful enough to damage the Capitol Building in Washington D.C., while the San Fransico quake of 1906 (hey look! I actually went and looked it up this time! So of course I was right on my guess this time, and didn't need to look it up. Grrr....)

Krakatoa was also heard in Boston - not quite as impressive as the church bells ringing, but a heck of a lot louder than the little firecracker set off on Bikini Atoll. As for Thera....

The Auld Grump, who needs to go to bed now, apartment hunting tomorrow... then a game.

 

[Desertpuma]

You should also look in to the meteor crash in the Siberian wilderness around 1908-1912. I forget the exact year but when it hit there were horses 400 miles away that were knocked off their feet.

[Eärendle]

Living near St Louis has made me aware of the particulars for the New Madrid event. I merely thought I might have misinferred its context based on the Krakatoa comments but didn't find another likely topic. My search did inform me of an interesting connection Tecumseh had to the quake that I don't remember from US History classes and another site implied that the quake might have been triggered by a fragment of the Great Comet of 1811.

Tunguska was not a meteor however. That was Tesla.

[TheAuldGrump]

You should also look in to the meteor crash in the Siberian wilderness around 1908-1912. I forget the exact year but when it hit there were horses 400 miles away that were knocked off their feet.

The Tunguska event - 1908. I thought about it, a little late period, but very interesting. If I recall correctly only one fatality, someone was knocked into a tree by the explosion, and later died. (Interesting - Tunguska makes it through the spell checker....) I did a paper on it back in junior high. When I was a kid the favored explanation was the detonation of a meteorite of ice. I don't know what the current hypothesis is.

It would also give me an excuse to have the PCs slogging around the taiga. For the New Madrid quake it will just have to be high chaparral. (Both are very different forms of misery disguised as terrain. Given a choice of which I would rather travel through I would take the taiga, I hate chaparral....)

The Auld Grump

[MugMug]

I hear you on the chaparral business, especially as fire suppression strategies tend to let it get overly mature.

Walter

[TheAuldGrump]

Mentioned that I was thinking of running Fallout instead of the Steampunk campaign for a few weeks. The players expressed a strong preference for steampunk.

And one of them even called my old campaign 'Scoobypunk'. I am pretty sure that he lurks on these fora now. (Hi Eric! Sign in and post, why don't you? We won't bite! Well, they won't, anyway.)

I was hoping for some Canadian Northwest gaming, but the GC is still working on it. So, it looks like episode one of SteamCraft Archaeology tomorrow after all.

The Auld Grump

[TheAuldGrump]

Mostly character introductions, and trying to beat the resulting mix into a coherent team.

One player brought in his own mini for his character - rolled up sleeves, armband, derby, big wrench, and gear tattoos on his face... and is building toward Firebrand, at least for now. I am pretty sure that the base mini is by Copplestone Castings, though I will need to rummage around a bit to be sure.

One change is that I have put in a steam shovel for the opening excavation scene. (Gotta love 19th century dynamite archaeology. The shovel is of course barred from the area of the barrow proper.

The Auld Grump

*EDIT* Nope - the figure is from Pulp Figures, with a headswap between two of the Dime Store Tough Guys. He added a wrench form somewhere as well.

[MilitiaJim]

*EDIT* Nope - the figure is from Pulp Figures, with a headswap between two of the Dime Store Tough Guys. He added a wrench form somewhere as well.

It's the sort of wrench mechanics use, for hurting people.   

I was flipping through their catalog, and I'm not sure they're clear on what the term "tramp steamer" means.

[TheAuldGrump]

I am kind of embarrassed that I was able to locate the minis that quickly... then again, I was pretty sure it was either Copplestone or Bob Murch.


The two top left figures.
He swapped out the baseball bat for a wrench, added an armband (I guess the guy is coming from a funeral. Either that or he is a ribbonman*).

The Auld Grump
*It's fun listening to your great grandfather talking about how he blew up police stations before coming to the United States.... The ribbon was more typically worn through a buttonhole - the whole point was a 'uniform' that you could pull off and drop in the street when the deed was done....

[TheAuldGrump]

The game started late, and ended early - and confirmed my rule that 'No Plan Survives Contact With Your Players.'

The teams 'mission' was to recover artifacts from an enormous (and vastly atypical) round barrow, in particular a large inscribed stone slab in the center of the barrow, somewhere. The Scientist in the group did realize that the barrow was anomalous, and did not fit the design of any barrows that he had previously heard of - large enough that it was mistaken for a motte for several centuries. The discovery of the sealing slab following a huge rainstorm that washed part of the hill way gave the lie to this theory, as did the large rectangular(ish) stone altar that was uncovered in the same wash out. Within the barrow is a twisting maze of belled corridors. (Belled arch, not ding dong bell.)

The Wheelman (soon to be Firebrand) used the steam shovel to remove the sealing slab from the entrance - driving spikes into the slab, fastening chains, and lifting it out of the way rather than smashing it or blowing it up with dynamite. (Gotta love 19th century archaeology, they could have gotten away with blowing it up, with no questions. )

Soon the team was fighting ghostly Celts that came screaming out of the barrow. Another anomaly - the Celts did not build the barrows. In this case they 'borrowed' an already extant barrow to inter their chief and his fallen warriors. Which is also  why they did not pass on the the Island of the Young.... It is not truly a barrow.

Half of the team fled immediately, leaving the wheelman, the scientist, and the sleuth behind. Two of them had no weapons that would affect the spirits - only the enormous steamfitter's wrench in the hands of the wheelman. Rather than just over run the team I had a champion challenge the wheelman to single combat (badly translated by both the sleuth and the scientist). I did not really expect the champion to win, but as they say, crit happens.

Incidentally, if the players remember the previous campaign then they will realize that there is no reason that a steamfitter's wrench should affect ghosts - iron and steel are a ward and menace against fey, not ghosts.... And these are most definitely ghosts.

The end result is half the team has now been taken prisoner by a bunch of ghosts. Not what I was planning, not at all.

Oddly, it actually leaves them in a possibly better position - the ghosts are Celts - and will be demanding ransom for the teams fallen champion (the wheelman). The ransom will be starting at two hundred cows, but can be bargained lower (all the way down to twenty - but the higher the ransom the higher the regard for the captives). I have plans for those cows. In the meanwhile the captured half of the team will be treated not only with honor, but enthusiasm, and offered a feast. (Those who partake will be getting a Subplot, absolutely free with their meal.) The wheelman will be treated as their leader.

The Auld Grump, who was kind of expecting the team to just tear into the top of the barrow with the steam shovel. Amazingly no one even suggested this.

[TheAuldGrump]

Hmmm, a bit pricey, but Micro Art Studio has a base that I think would work quite well mounted to a wall or other piece of terrain, as part of the Moloch Engine. I just can't see using it as a base for a miniature though.



They also make a line of Discworld figures....

The Auld Grump