under used Genre

[Maeglin Dubh]

I think I'm going to write (among all the other things I might get around to...) a Bronzepunk setting. Serious, with Archimedes and Socrates and Plato, nobody ever thinks to do a futuristic spin on the Bronze age. Solar mirrors are just the beginning...

[Kinslayer]

Some bright spots of the Bronze Age--such as Heron, Euclid or Archimedes--were way more Steampunk than the Victorian Era ever could be. I never cease to be amazed how many actual inventions of those early scientists and engineers can be plugged right into my Renaissance setting game... and they are still sci-fi-ish there.

[Maeglin Dubh]

Warning: My historical knowledge of the Bronze Age is sorely lacking, so this is likely going to be a non-historical approach to Bronzepunk.

Just warning any history junkies in advance. I'm going to do my best, but knowing my limits, I'm not going to try to fit my setting into Greece.

[kumakami]

there were believed to be plains for a simple steam engine in the library of Alexandria. They were simple and couldn't run much with it.....but there you go


can't wait to see what ylu come up with. I have often wanted to do a roman steampunk game.

[Rob Lang]

Some superb ideas in here. Bronzepunk sounds interesting. I wonder how punk attitudes might fit into a Bronze age society!

[kumakami]

well in my Roman Idea, Rome is Falling and its every rat of them selves...lots of political and social upheaval. Plus the barbarians from the north seem to be gaining tech from some one. They are using more modern tactics while the Romans are still using their modified versions of the old style they ALL way use.

[Chainsaw Aardvark]

I don't know if its still in print, but look for the game "Fvlminata" (subtitle: "Armed with Lightning") Its about a Roman empire that has managed to invent gunpowder.

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[Kinslayer]

Considering the close political ties between Rome and China (they traded embassies), having gunpowder was just a matter of time.

Rome didn't have gunpowder only if one defines 'Rome' exclusively as the western half of the Empire that ceased to be a continuously and contiguously governing body after 476CE.

The reconstituted Holy Roman Empire most certainly had gunpowder. That was the driving force of military might for most of the HRE's history, up until Napoleon destroyed it. Admittedly, the HRE's claims on being the Roman Empire were considered rather dubious, even at the time.

A much stronger claim on being 'the' Roman Empire was the eastern half. A continuation of government of the Roman emperors most certainly occurred there. Though in modern times we may think of this as the Byzantine Empire, folks living in the Middle Ages thought of them as being the real Rome.

[Thought]

A few years ago there used to be a forum game about "realistic" zombies, over at the Federal Vampire and Zombie Agency's website (http://www.fvza.org/). While not a standard RPG, I am sure that one could use that, and the website itself, as a splendid basis for a game. Just slap on a basic Conflict Resolution System and you'd be halfway there. That website also attempts to present reasonable zombies (and vampires; no sparkles there).

One of the problems with the survival horror genre in general (which is what zombie games often turn out to be) is that they seem to be fairly one-shot things. People escape the zombies, Yay! Next session? Well... more people escape zombies? The same people escape more zombies?

Zombie Survival is also hard to work into a real story. I am not well versed in the genre, but the only movie I can think of that tried for significant character development was Shawn of the Dead.

... you know, I don't think I've ever heard of a game that approaches the zombie survival genre from the perspective of the zombies.

[Chainsaw Aardvark]

As I can attest from the AFMBE forums and RPG - along with my own game extended survival horror is quite possible. The big issue is making sure that your sessions are more than run, shoot zombie, run, shoot zombie, repeat. Instead, the general idea is to focus on the longer term issues. After all, if society is gone, then supply runs and scavenging become important, but that means competing with other survivor groups (or working out a truce of some sort) The undead may be an incidental threat, but after the first session or two, its often a bit more like the TV show "Jericho" than "Tales from the Crypt".

Also, AFMBE does allow zombie characters in some circumstances. One of the sample "dead worlds" in the main book features a broken cycle of reincarnation - so players end up getting stuck in dead bodies rather than new ones.

Another genre/convention we don't see a lot of is games where you're playing someone who is playing someone else. For example - in Extreme Vengeance, the players are actors in a movie, or in Dream Park, they're role-players in a VR tournament. These are the case of the same character taking different rolls in different stories, thus having both continuity and the capacity to change up.

As to a place/time period - how about Aztec/Inca/Mayan empires? Really, what do most people know about these eras aside from one was renowned for human sacrifice and a basket-ball like sport? The old cartoon "" might be a good starting point.