Let me expand on that: Science Fiction is, for me, about examining issues of humanity, politics, sexuality etc. by taking them out of our context and placing them in another, very realistic and plausible one. Fantasy is about escapism - getting out of this world and exploring a better and more interesting one. Horror is about "the oldest and strongest emotion" and the adrenaline kick it gives you. But what is steampunk about, other than the certain visual style with which it is associated? Is it just a sub-genre of Fantasy or Science Fiction, or is it there to explore something else?
One idea is that Steampunk is about the fraught and nervous relationship between mankind and technology. New things are being created, but their very production and maintenance - the coal it wastes and pollution it produces - is debilitating for society as much as it works for the good. This neatly reflects our uncomfortable relationship with scientific progress, wherein new technologies create further problems for our culture and the environment.
In that respect Steampunk should be the genre of choice for a new supplement for 'legacy' games: as Gamma World was a way to play around with the world's crisis of the day (nuclear war), so a Steampunk game would be ideal for tapping into some form of zeitgeist or contemporary angst about environmental catastrophe. I can envisage a world in which the Industrial Revolution never stopped, and pollution-belching factories and vehicles ruined the atmosphere to such an extent that global warming has become frightening reality, with sea levels rising, desertification increasing and disappearance of animals. As land becomes scarcer wars and famine ravage the nations and societies collapse. And hey presto, Steampunk post-apocalypse is the result.
You could call it, "Carbon World".
Great insight noisms. I never thought about it this way before. I also think of steampunk in terms of expressionism, following M John Harrison's interpretation of Viriconium. It's not simply a general treatment of environmental catastrophe, but also an expression of general malaise, a sense of alienation from modern culture. This sets humanity against paradoxical machinery, rendering human motivation surreal and dislocated, the whole thing one scream of horror and isolation in a world saturated with colours and shapes and noise, everything jumbled and chaotic and nightmarish. I think modern steampunk (and I include China Mieville in this) has failed to understand the great insights Harrison made and the opportunities he opened up for linking art and literature in an exploration of the modern subconscious and its disnfranchisement from its environment.
ReplyDeleteWorking from the novel "The Difference Engine", steampunk always seemed to me to be a sub-genre of alternative history. I don't see it particularly tied to environmental crisis (although nothing says such a thing cannot be handled in a steampunk fashion), but rather as the industrial revolution mixed with Victorian sensibilities of style replacing bland utilitarianism. Hence the often over-decorated gizmos which in our world would be simple and straightforward, but in a steampunk world are full of Victorian-style decoration.
ReplyDeleteDo you think there is room for some kind of post-apocalyptic steampunk game? (I'm speaking from ignorance, there could very well already be such a game)
ReplyDeleteAny kind of post-apocalypse scenario that I have seen in fiction always seems to be post-the-present, you know? What if some kind of major worldshattering event happened in the early 1900s, trapping technology at those levels, feeding a rich world of possibilities as things get built up again?
(if there is already a scenario/game like this, let me know, I'd be interested in hearing about it)
I know I am arriving late to the party but I MUST tell you about this post-apocalyptic early 20th century setting. It is homebrew and never released as a product, but the posts in the author's blog (Frankenrol) are highly evocative. The blog is in Spanish, but the gist of the setting is:
DeleteOn the year 1904 something fell in the isolated region of Tunguska. During the next six years, Europe and Russia (at least) are colonized by strange and lethal red plants. England survives through extreme measures, but loses all contact with the rest of the world.
The campaing starts in 1920, when a group of explorers (the PCs) are sent to the continent on a rescue and research mission.
zero-zero-one - one game that does spring to mind is _Unhallowed Metropolis_, by Eos Press. It is precisely that - a post-apocalytpic steampunk game. It seems to have great atmosphere, though I've never played it.Also worth noting is A/State, by Contested Ground Studios, a game which aims to depict "A sepiatone world lit by guttering gas lamps and the flickering filaments of electric bulbs". Again, I have the rules and never played it, but it looks great.
ReplyDeleteAnd hey presto, Steampunk post-apocalypse is the result.
ReplyDeleteYou could call it, "Carbon World".
Hmmm. Gamma Punk?, Gamma Steam? You may have just given me an idea for a GW/MF game I have been toying with.
Viriconium: Yes, that's true. Alienation from the environment goes along with alienation from the technology itself, and thus from society.
ReplyDeleteJoseph: Yeah, as I said, I love the aesthetic aspect of Steampunk. I'm a big fan of Victoriana in general, actually.
Brothershinrin: Be my guest!
From Cory Doctorow in Make Magazine:
ReplyDeleteFor me, the biggest appeal to steampunk is that it exalts the machine and disparages the factory (this is the motto of the excellent and free *Steampunk* magazine: “Love the Machine, Hate the Factory”). It celebrates the elaborate inventions of the scientifically managed enterprise, but imagines those machines coming from individuals who are their own masters. Steampunk doesn’t rail against efficiency — but it never puts efficiency ahead of self-determination. If you’re going to raise your workbench to spare your back, that’s *your* decision, not something imposed on you from the top down.
How about that?
That certainly puts the punk in it. Although in some ways I prefer the dystopian vision of a world in which the factory is everything and only a very few individuals (the players, in an RPG, or the characters, in a novel) have the wherewithal to rebel and pursue their own self-determination.
ReplyDeleteThe more I look at steampunk, the more I see it as a broader category than when I read the Difference Engine. I'd classify it as similar to medieval fantasy. A fantasy of the Victorian era, as it often include horror elements such as vampires, werewolves and the stock "magic" of a Haggard novel. This as well as the alternate history standbys of zeppelins and wondrous, yet out of era machines. The definition has grown to encompass Michael Moorcock's Nomad of Time series, as well as the mix of computers and Dickens of the Difference Engine.
ReplyDeleteYou are digging up some old posts! You may be right; for some reason I am thinking of an old Arcane article which postulated the idea of running D&D in the Victorian era or during WWI.
Delete