In thread in Soc.History.What-if about earlier RPGs during the Great Depression, Earlier Role-playing Games, there was speculation as to what form an earlier RPG would take.

My own take is that companies like Parker Brothers wouldn't stray too far from what they would be comfortable with: Boards, cards, playing pieces. They would keep the board, find a way to use the cards and the playing pieces would be for the little theater play the players would put on. Oh and dice, gotta have dice.

But they wouldn't use terms like "non-player characters" and "game master". No, the terms would come from fiction and plays: Actors, Director, Extras, Antagonist, Protagonist. You'd have Sets and Scenes, and of course the Plot.

The players would take the roles of the Actors, each given a set of motivations and goals. The "Director" would be the player who gets to read the plot and play the extras in the game, and layout the sets and scenes. The plot would be broken down into scenes, each with a specific goal for the actors. One actor is designated as the Antagonist, and leads the scene. The Protagonist will try to prevent the Antagonist from succeeding in reaching his goal. The other actors will try to help or hinder the Antagonist, based on their own goals and motivations.

There are also the cards. They could provide clues, special events, other items for the current story.

So each of these games come with cardboard flats for scenery, lead figures for the actors and extras, and a set of cards for that game. The plot could be divided into ten or more scenes, with each scene taking an hour or more to complete.

So how would the game work? That's what I'm not sure about. More thought on the actual mechanics later

I know I'm a day late and a dollar short, but this is a great blog: Star Wars reimaged in the Steampunk genre.

http://ericpoulton.blogspot.com/search/label/steampunk%20star%20wars

Eric Poulton decided to see how the different Stars Wars characters would look reimaged as Steampunk characters. In particular, Darth Vader came out particularly eerie.

It then spawned another group of artists to make some more Star Wars Steampunk art!

In particular I found this version of Vader to be very creepy.

Another artist, System404, AKA Marcel E. Mercado, has done some marvelous pieces of art:

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=4351232&postcount=59
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=4353413&postcount=61
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=4358373&postcount=63
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=4377021&postcount=70
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=4388178&postcount=72

But nothing says Steampunk Star Wars but a pair of Imperial Battle Airships!

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=4365636&postcount=65

(From ffutures)

When you see this post, quote from Doctor Who on your blog/journal.

"What's that awful noise?"

"I beg your pardon... 'Awful noise'? A good way to talk about my singing!"

"No, Doctor, not that awful noise -- the other one!"

Barbara and the Doctor, in "The Chase"

Snagged from botgrrrl

The Book Meme:

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 23.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
5. Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.

Page 23, 5th Sentence:
John Evelyn kept the thing in proportion when he wrote: 'Everybody brings in his plans,' and cheerfully admitted that when he put in his idea two days later, 'Dr Wren had got a start on me.'
London as it might have been

Sounds about right.

How to make a John Reiher

Ingredients: 1 part pride 3 parts humour 3 parts instinct

Method: Blend at a low speed for 30 seconds. Add a little lovability if desired!

With the success of the "re-imagined" Battlestar Galactica, you gotta wonder if there aren't execs at Paramount looking at the new, this grittier BSG and wondering if they could do the same thing with the Franchise? Well I am.


James T. Kirk, a brash young Star Fleet officer, noted not only as an up and coming officer, but the biggest womanizer SF has ever seen. Since his older brother, George Samuel Kirk decided that the colonies were for him and not the family history of joining Star Fleet, there was a lot of pressure on the younger Kirk. Especially now that he is taking over the USS Enterprise from Captain Christopher Pike, who is getting a promotion to Commodore.

Spock, shunned by his world for being a half-human, half-Vulcan hybrid born of a unethical genetic experiment to fuse what most people thought was incompatible genetic material, is wracked by the wash of emotions that course through him, his Vulcan emotions, and strives to keep his demons in check. It doesn't help that his father, Sarek, is the Vulcan Ambassador to the Federation and is in love with his human "wife", Amanda. The union was never sanction on Vulcan, or in the Federation, and Sarek is officially married to T'Pon and has had two children from this union. Spock's older brother has not been seen since he decided to follow the path of emotion, not logic. Spock is Kirk's new burden, as he decided to stay on the Enterprise and become the chief science officer. He later becomes First Officer after the Mitchell incident.

Leonard "Bones" McCoy, a man who turned down a job as an administrator at a major SF hospital, primarily to hide his alcoholism and addiction to Romulan Ale. He's also a sufferer of polycythemia, a condition where his body produces too many red blood cells. This will come back to haunt him when it changes to the more deadlier xenopolycythemia, where his body starts producing alien blood cells. He wasn't Kirk's first choice, but after losing both his old friend, Doctor Mark Piper, and the ship's psychologist, Elizabeth Dehner, to monster that his best friend Gary Mitchell became on their first voyage, he had to find a replacement. McCoy was his only choice.

Montgomery "Scotty" Scot, a brilliant Warp Drive engineer and experienced officer, who is happier working on engines than he is when he is alone with women. Scotty is a mystery, he's fairly famous in Star Fleet for the innovations he created in the Warp Drive and other ship's systems, he could have gotten a comfy position at the Academy or in Star Fleet Research and Development. But instead, he opted to sign on the Enterprise as Chief Engineer.

Hiraku Sulu, another young star in SF and many wonder why he was assigned to the Enterprise. Many felt that he should have been given command on a smaller ship. The answer is that he wants Kirk's job, and what better way than to work from within? He is driven to take Kirk's place, and will report anything that is out of line to Star Fleet.

Pavel Chekov, a young ensign proud of his Russian heritage, he grew up on New Moscow, but is quite unsure of his ability to do his job, and wonders if his decision to join Star Fleet was a wise one. He is a Neo-Communist, and fully believes that the current policies of the Federation are making it into an empire, not the benevolent society that it paints itself as.

Nyota Uhura, a competent officer, still fighting the good fight when it comes to SF's mindset on women commanders. Currently she is in charge of the communications group onboard the Enterprise, but she has her eyes on the captain's seat as well. She joined Star Fleet to help fulfill a dream held by her father, a pastor, to help spread peace among the galaxy.

Christine Chapel, is hopelessly in love with Spock, a desire she keeps to herself. Otherwise she performs her role as head of the nursing staff onboard the Enterprise, and covers for McCoy when he's had a little too much ale.

Janice Rand, Captain Kirk's "Yeoman". Many a rumor has gone around about her and Kirk, all false. She's Kirk's cousin, assigned to the Enterprise at Kirk's request. Kirk thinks Rand is competent, but his family pressured him to "take care of her" while she learns the ropes. Otherwise she would have been assigned to some scout ship or destroyer.

The Enterprise's mission is to boldly go where no man has gone before, while at the same time show the flag and let the Federation's neighbors, the Klingon Empire and the Romulan Confederation, who is the big boy on the block.

The other thing is that when do you send a capital ship out without support ships? The Enterprise should be the primary ship of a small task group, consisting of four to five ships. Kirk would be the highest ranking officer of the task group, and the interplay between him and the other ships' commanders would add another element to the series. We all would know that at least one of the ships would be a "red shirt" ship, doomed to be destroyed before the season is over.

This is a start, and I have other ideas how to re-imagine different episodes to reflect this grittier, more realistic version of Star Trek.