GURPS Steampunk is a genre sourcebook, published in September 2000. It received an Origins Award for Best RPG Supplement of 2000. The book covers steampunk (duh!). Steampunk is an alternate history: take the Age of Steam and change something. "What if the 19th century boom in science and technologies went faster and farther? What if electrical power was never harnessed?"
For the record, I don't own GURPS Basic Set. I've read only one other GURPS supplement, the excellent GURPS Discworld. The only other thing I've read about steampunk is The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling.
Contents
The book opens with an Introduction and The Steampunk Genre. Apart from talking about the trappings of the genre, eminent Victorians are mentioned: Charles Babbage, Maxwell and the like. Special mention deserves the Tech Level of Steampunk: TL (5+1): A TL 6 that diverged at TL 5 to other directions. I really liked this notation and it summons the question how TL(4+2) would look like.
Chapter Two, The Spirit of the Age, gives the reader a brief overview of the Victorian Age regarding subjects like science, warfare, politics, daily life etc. Not only does it provide the 'real' history of the world; it also gives ideas for steampunk differences. "What if Colonialism had not changed form after 1880?" "What if Morris's medievalism had been more successful (..)? Imagine an early 20th century with locomotives shaped like dragons and skyscrapers in the form of medieval towers!"
This approach stems from the idea that one cannot make a believable steampunk campaign if one doesn't know how it really was. "Knowing something about the reality makes the fantasy more understandable." This approach is found throughout the book: first the facts, and then the 'what-if'-options. And although it takes some time to get used to, it works wonderfully. The main focus is on the British Empire, but there are enough references to other countries, especially the United States of America.
Characters is the third chapter, featuring a lot of new character concepts, complete with customization notes. They range from the uninspiring Sportsman to the interesting Demimondaine. New and changed (dis)advantages are also found here, and notes on how Victorian people's views differed from other eras. Chapter four is about Matters of Life and Death and covers, among others, warfare, espionage, criminal investigation and medicine. It's a solid section and, like the second chapter, gives you a good feeling for the times.
Things get more interesting with the fifth chapter where we get to the mainstay of steampunk, its Marvellous Inventions. Again, we get the facts (real inventions of the Age) followed by TL (5+1) innovations such as an Iron Horse. Or, later on, the H.M.S. Dreadnought and the Verne-like Advanced Submarine. After vehicles we come to automata, mechanical men, weapons and personal equipment. This is probably the most rules-heavy chapter, with lots of tables and acronyms. Those who don't like the stats can ignore them relatively easily, for summaries in plain English are also provided.
Chapter 6: Weird Science, takes it one step further. The inventions in the previous chapter are real or could have been made with the understanding of the laws of nature at the time. But what if those laws are different? Then we could create living things from dead matter (Frankenstein), generate antigravity, or make intelligent animals (The Island of Doctor Moreau). This section really got me thinking.
From the alternate realities of Weird Science we go back to the real world: The Great Tour gives us a brief overview of the current state of affairs in the British Empire, the United States, Europe and the rest of the world. I said 'brief' because 14 pages isn't much. The author nevertheless manages to provide us with a wealth of information. We even get some information on the then known planets.
Chapter eight shows you how to create Steampunk Campaigns and briefly discusses mood, theme, premise and style. After this we get four sample settings. Each setting has a history, a year of divergence and a critical event. The critical event is the event that differs from history and thus a new history is created from this point on. The state of technology in each setting is discussed, as are the great powers in settings. Are those the same as we the ones we know from history? If not, what are those and how did they come to power? Following this are one or more adventure seeds. The only problem I had with this chapter is that there isn't more of it. The settings bring the rest of the book to life. Where the other chapters are sometimes a bit dull and exercises in theory, this final chapter brings it all together.
Wrapping it all up are a Glossary, Bibliography and an Index. Admirable, this kind of completeness.
Presentation
So far the contents, on to the style. Steampunk is a perfect-bound paperback and has the standard GURPS layout: one big column for the main text, with a sidebar with smaller print to discuss smaller topics. The book is illustrated by Paul Daly, David Hay and Zach Howard. They provide good, mostly functional greyscale illustrations that are mostly placed near the text describing their subject. The pictures are mostly done in a semi-Victorian way. Don't expect massive, half-to-full page illustrations (most illustrations are small) or pictures that only serve to illustrate a mood as done by White Wolf (most illustrations are functional). The page margins are very small; almost every inch of paper is covered with text. The main filler items are cogwheels of various sizes, which remind us again of the setting.
The full-colour front cover is done by Alan Gutierrez and can be found on the GURPS Steampunk homepage. I didn't like it, for the colours are much to bright for the dystopian times I see when imagining steampunk. Its subject, an inventor making various clockwork and steam-powered automata, is very appropriate, however.
The style of writing is a bit dry at times. This is more than made up for by the interesting ideas presented in the text. However, if you don't like history or historic facts, you won't like a fair size of the book. Then again, if you don't like history, why buy or play Steampunk?
The book is certainly more rules-heavy than the extraordinary accessible and sparkling Discworld, which is understandable given its subject matter.
Conclusion
This book is certainly worth you money. It is crammed with information, both real and fictional. While many readers won't need this depth of detail, its sheer volume almost guarantees that one can find something to his liking. Story ideas are embedded everywhere and examples of alternate histories abound.
While somewhat dry at places, the thoroughness of this supplement is admirable. The final chapter alone is worth half of the money, sketching four campaign worlds in quick, certain strokes. I give GURPS Steampunk a three out of five for its utilitarian style and dry text, and a five out of five for its overwhelmingly complete substance.
There's also good news for those who like hardcover books. The original printing of GURPS Steampunk sold out, and Steve Jackson Games will issue a hardcover version in January 2002. You can read all about it on the GURPS Steampunk homepage.
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