THE VOX ORBIS PROJECT

Here's ‘Brad Elliott’s Big Compiled List of Steampunk RPGs’! I chose to only include games that were still buyable – in stores or from publishers, or coming onto the market in the near future. So some Out-of-Print games will be in this list, but others will not be – my call, to focus on games you can actually get! Finally, all due credit to burningcrow and others from the RPG.net thread, who got me started!

My general definition of steampunk is that it is a vague term, like anime. Steampunk tends to cover alternate histories that exploit technologies that either have since been moved on or were never extensively used, with some degree of fantastical elements. There are sub-categories to Steampunk – such as ‘Dieselpunk’ that covers the aesthetics found in the 30s and 40s, and gaslamp, which is Steampunk with overt fantasy elements.

If I’ve missed anything, please let me know and I will edit the list. I put Castle Falk first because it’s vintage Pondsmith – maybe he’s not the first, but he’s always striking and charts new territory.

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Of this list, I can’t say I have much interest in most of them; they just don’t do anything for me. The ones I positively like, other than Castle Falkenstein (to keep things positive) are: Brass and Steel by Pamean Games,  Blades in the Dark & Kerberos Club (because nothing John Harper and Bailywolf do is ever boring) and Unhallowed Metropolis, as I got to work on that one.

I suppose if there’s to be a steampunk game I truly love beyond Castle Falk, I’ll have to write it!

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USEFUL REFERENCES!

Age of Ravens' Chronological Steampunk RPG List

TVTropes Steampunk Page

TVTropes Steampunk Index