A Beginner Steampunk/Sparkpunk game

[Utopia]

I am contemplating a beginner game. Something to help people evolve their roleplaying into intermediate/advanced levels.

It would be a group game with a steampunk/sparkpunk theme (sparkpunk being like steampunk but with electricity all Tesla Style). It would be set in an alternate Earth where the Archduke Franz Ferdinand sponsored Nicola Tesla so he never went to America and had all of his awesomeness shut down by Edison. Because Tesla's genius was sponsored and supported, he and other scientists led a scientific renaissance that led to advancements not only in their fields they pioneered, but also in government and politics. Europe formed a Confederacy under a single set of laws and government (led by the Archduke, Queen Victoria and the French Government) rather than building up into what would eventually cause WW1.

The European Confederacy would be new, maybe 6 years old in the setting. The players would be part of a group that helps keep things in order. With quick advancement, you always have a backlash- so they help the Government and the International Police investigate crimes and organizations that seek to end the Confederacy. As well as other organized crime.

The game would have a scientific theme with an underlay of the supernatural- specifically things like the loch ness monster, bigfoot, trolls (cryptozoology stuff- not vampires or werewolves or demons or magic).

The Eight Roles in the group would have images, names, primary and secondary expertise, a couple of hobbies and a very brief synopsis outlined- but the player would get to fill in all the rest.

Thoughts?

[Omlyt]

I would love to play this kind of role play! Got my vote!

[Utopia]

Character Sketches

Homeland: England Age: 33 Birthday: December 23, 1862 Primary Expertise: Medicine Secondary Expertise: Criminal Psychology Hobbies: Collecting Rare Books, Spectral Phenomena Relationships: Married to Lady Lillian. Long time friend of Basil McTabbish. Brief Synopsis: Lord and Lady Coal married four years ago. Rumor on the ton says that they were a love match. The Coal family is known to be eccentric- often sending their children to boarding school with the "underprivileged". They all tend to hold actual jobs rather than rely on their title and inherited wealth.

Homeland: England Age: 27 Birthday: January 2, 1869 Primary Expertise: Botany Secondary Expertise: Cryptobiology Hobbies: Haberdashery, Butterfly Collecting Relationships: Married to Lord Coal. Went to boarding school with Josephine Rousseau. Long time telegraph and mail correspondent with Lawrence Smithe. Brief Synopsis: Lord and Lady Coal married four years ago. Rumor on the ton says that they were a love match. Lady Lillian comes from a wealthy, elite family that has been long time supporters of the women's suffrage movement. Many in her family have taken up various scientific pursuits.

Homeland: Scotland Age: 32 Birthday: May 18, 1864 Primary Expertise: Natural History Secondary Expertise: Chemistry Hobbies: [B]Geology, Fossil Collecting Relationships: Older brother of Edgar McTabbish. Long time friend of Lord Coal. Brief Synopsis: The first born of five children, Basil rejected living off of his father's estate, instead giving it over to his younger brother Lewis. Instead of taking over the family business of horse rearing, he pursued his scholarly interests of Natural History and Chemistry. He picked up his interest from his father's hobby of fossil collecting.

Homeland: Scotland Age: 26 Birthday: June 10, 1870 Primary Expertise: Spark Engineering Secondary Expertise: Locksmithing Hobbies: Model Trains, Fossil Collecting Relationships: Younger brother of Basil McTabbish. Brief Synopsis: Fourth born of the McTabbish clan, Edgar, much like his brother was single minded determined to pursue his interests. After seeing a demonstration of an electricity machine as a child, his love has only grown for the Spark and his hero Nicola Tesla. The "wild" one of the McTabbish clan, he is a bit of a rogue and more street savvy than the rest. Like Basil and his father, he has a fondness for fossil collecting.

Homeland: Switzerland Age: 22 Birthday: October 17, 1874 Primary Expertise: Piloting Secondary Expertise: Linguistics Hobbies: Knitting, Cricket Relationships: Her great uncle was Lady Lillian's Mother's personal coachman. Brief Synopsis: Larisa is the youngest member of the Society, but has proven herself to Lady Coal with her fluent expert flying skills and knowledge of eight separate languages- four of which she is native to due to her upbringing in Switzerland (Italian, French, Romansch and German). She also speaks English, Spanish, Russian and Turkish. In addition to the languages she is fluent in, she speaks a smattering of Arabic and Portuguese.

Homeland: France Age: 27 Birthday: September 12, 1869 Primary Expertise: Marksmanship Secondary Expertise: European Confederacy Law Hobbies: Safari Hunting, Pressing Flowers Relationships: Went to boarding school with Lady Lillian. Brief Synopsis: Josephine has always been a bit of a tomboy. Her mother died along with her younger brother from malaria when the family was on safari. Since then, she has been raised by her father and uncles which has only made her boyish tendencies more ingrained.

Homeland: California Union of America Age: 28 Birthday: July 30, 1868 Primary Expertise: Cryptozoology Secondary Expertise: Tracking and Exploration Hobbies: Tea Tasting, Fishing Relationships: Long time telegraph and mail correspondent with Lady Lillian. Brief Synopsis: A runaway slave from the Southern Confederacy, Lawrence became a citizen of the California Union. He went to University there where he studied cryptozoology. He is famous for his discovery and capture of the California Scrub Troll. His find led to the formation of the California Free Preserve system that preserves land for native and rare creatures.

Homeland: Germany Age: 25 Birthday: May 1, 1871 Primary Expertise: Steam Engineering Secondary Expertise: Theology Hobbies: Gemology, Collecting Religious Icons Relationships: Rescued by the DTC from the Black Inquisitors. Brief Synopsis: Raised in a very religious household, Sabine is the black sheep of her family. Drawn to science from a young age, she had to keep it quiet lest her overly religious and stodgy family throw her out. When it was discovered that she was dabbling in science, her family turned her over to the Black Inquisitors- a sect of the Catholic Church against science and technology deemed terrorists within the EC.

[Utopia]

History Ideas

The Scientific Renaissance was brought about when the Austrian Prince, Archduke Franz Ferdinand sponsored the Austrian born, Serbian genius Nicola Tesla after hearing about the AC motor. His foresight in giving the man a royal sponsorship for his invention and research ushered forth a new era of scientific achievement. Under Tesla's innovation, electric transmission coils became commonplace, making electricity available around the country safely and cheaply. This lead to the growth of the spark in parallel to the growth of steam as common power sources for invention. Other revolutionaries like Louis Pasteur, Nicolaus August Otto, Charles Parson, Charles Babbage and Beatrix Potter contributed greatly to the world of medicine, biology, mathematics, engineering and botany.

It is currently the year 1896. Just six years ago now, the countries of Europe have banded together to form the European Confederacy. The Scientific Renaissance directly led to the formation of the European Confederacy, uniting all the countries of Europe into one country with separate states. Led by Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Queen Victoria and a small group of rationalists (including Tesla and other famous scientists and philosophers) the EC was founded by the desire to share knowledge and prosper. The EC adopted a democratic, free-trade Government under the Articles of Progress and Law that was ratified by the former countries of Europe (including Poland, Romania and Serbia, but not Bulgaria or Turkey) in the summer of 1890.

Far to the west, the United States is suffering greatly during their prolonged Civil War. Rather than choosing sides, the Western Territories have formed their own country, keeping out of the increasingly futile fighting between the Northern United States and Southern Confederacy. The Western Territories have united under the banner of the California Union of America. This country has allied itself with the European Confederacy, using their ample resources of copper, gold and silver to open up trade.