"Do you play Steampunk or VSF" Topic

Do you consider them to be the same genre?

Back when I played Space 1889 I always called it Victorian Science Fiction. The world basically took place in a Victorian era we all knew from history but there was steam technology and aether ships and martian races.

Now it seems Steampunk is taking over where the Victorian setting is less historical and instead a more goth/punk/dark cartoony world of oversized weapons and over the top feel.

Which setting do you use for your games?

I use both. One has more laser (or whatever) guns and zombies, the other has the occasional one

"…punk" is synonymous with "garbage" to me.
So, no. I do not play anything …punk.

VSF for me, please. Heavy on the V, and light on the SF.

They're different genres to me, but I play both when the opportunity arises.

as above.
We used Space 1889 for colonials.First. Then later other stuff.

VSF for me.

VSF

VSF for me. Adventures in Darkest Africa. SteamPunk does not appeal.

They're all the same to me. History with anachronisms and equivalent but clunky technology.

a glorious blend of each

I'm just happy to get miniatures on the table while rolling dice, personally.

Al | rivetsandsteam.com

I don't characterize my games beyond "black powder fantasy".

Obviously, as one of the authors of In Her Majesty's Name, I vote for Victorian Science Fiction.
Don't get me wrong Steampunk is an interesting genre and a quite fun one at that, but it is just a little bit too far 'out there' for me. Somehow I don't see young ladies dressed in naught but their undergarments, a hat with goggles on and riding boots as quite proper for any gentleman of note to get mixed up with.
I grew up reading Arthur Conan Doyle, H.G Wells, Jules Verne, H Rider Haggard and Rudyard Kipling. Thus when we wrote IHMN we based ii firmly in VSF, not Steampunk.
However, our publishers did contract us to write Steampunk rules so the word is on the cover.

To me (I know, I am odd…)
Steampunk is small scale skrimish (no more than 15 figs a side).
VSF is armies battling it out.

So yea.
I do both.

I am with Flintloque on this one.

Steampunk, to me, is a fashion trend. I don't see much Victorian Sci Fi in steampunk. It's Industrial Revolution fantasy in unlikely garments and Nerf guns.

"alternate-history" for me please…

The fewer goggles the better, VSF.

VSF of course.

Steampunk is VSF with more boobies…

I game VSF, Steampunk, pre-WWI pulp, Historical "What If?" (like a battle at Fashoda using the actual forces), Victorian Call of Cthulu, actual colonial battles, the Crimean War (plans for the future), and 19th Century espionage RPGing.

There are differences and overlap among all of them. The differences are what set the timbre for the game.

I suppose I do both. But my steampunky bit is limited to a few amazing gadgets, the flying ships (which could easily be construed as VSF, thanks to Mr. Burroughs) and automatons. Lots and lots of automatons.

Girls in corsets and goggles do not appear on my gaming table.

Girls in corsets and goggles do not appear on my gaming table.

Nor mine, but a lot of them show up at my booth during Renaissance!

I'm with Flintloque too, that's a big V with little sf. I really prefer the more literary inspire VSF like Wells, Verne, Burroughs with some Kipling for good measure.

Craig Cartmell, I haven't bought "In Her Majesty's Name" yet but it's on my radar.

Since Hive, Queen and Country is very much a hard science setting I'm VSF, although I can go with SteamPULP instead of punk.

Terry

link

VSF by thunder!

It depends on what I'm playing/running:

Castle Falkenstein: Victorian Fantasy/Science Fiction. Very little (if any) "punk" in that game.

Airship Pirates: Steampunk. It was based on the songs of Abney Park, after all.

To me "Victorian Science Fiction" is a setting using Victorian ideas of science and society, while "Steampunk" is a setting a Victorian "look and feel" but modern sensibilities. Either is fine.

Honestly, it's a matter of degrees for me. Goggles and extraneous cogs certainly add to the look.

Girls in corsets and goggles do not appear on my gaming table.

They do on mine, and they're awful hard to run a game around …

I gave up arguing this a long time ago, when the Godfather said they were one and the same. Because some author said so. As if coining a phrase is OWNING a phrase…

I'm willing to mix it a bit now and then, and am not historically conversant enough to be TOO picky. However, I do accept a glimpse of stocking SHOULD be shocking.

They do on mine, and they're awful hard to run a game around …

I has GOTS to check out the Virginia gaming scene!

Doug

Steampunk isn't all about fashion. A lot of the Steampunk crowd make or modify things.

That said, there isn't a hard definition of what Steampunk really is. From what I've read in different forums, it seems to be an ongoing debate in the community.

That said, there isn't a hard definition of what Steampunk really is. 

Thank God we all participate in the well-defined hobby of wargaming! :-)

Now we can all spend our energy on arguing about which genre to play.

Heavy on the V but with lots of goggles – and punk?! Never.

Are we talking about 'steampunk' or 'steamporn' here? From the occasional Cosplay photos that crop up on FB and other places I'm thinking the two are beginning to merge… :O

Girls in corsets and goggles do not appear on my gaming table.

I cannot find them in 15mm or they well might

VSF or pulp for me. There might be magic shenanigans, but I try to keep it pretty firmly Victorian. Lots of Sherlock Holmes in my past, and I'm adding others (like Howard, because El Bourak is an awesome character).

XYZ-punk implies a rebellion against the powers that be. We call those anarchists and Luddites around here, and arrest (or shoot) them. After all, can't have the idiots damaging the Imperial Prestige!

(And this is coming from a guy who created an egalitarian Major in the Royal Engineers for a game. If someone does good work, it didn't matter what color their skin was to him. He also was something of a linguist, but not as impressive as old Flashy.)

As I understand the situation, VSF is more the great adventures and doings of Empire and intrepid explorers, with heavy doses of hard science fiction to give colour and direction to what is primarily a military genre. Of course there is ‘What if', but mostly along realistic lines. Wonderful times are had playing that scenario or encounter to its bitter sweet or triumphant end.
Steampunk, however, is a stranger animal entirely. It is not just a fashion, or different take on the same theme. It is an organic thing, growing out of and into many different sub cultures, games, novels, comics and SF/Fantasy genres. It visits history, horror, comedy, tragedy and high fantasy amongst many others. It influences so much of modern life and is influenced by life in its turn. To many people it is a lifestyle choice, but to some of us it is also a damn fine way to play a wargame too.
I like both ways of doing ‘this thang'.

Ironpony
I consider Hive, Queen and Country to be more VSF than Steampunk. I would contend that except for the high fantasy and perhaps some of the horror it also meets your definition of Steampunk. I don't see VSF as primarily military. The Earth to the Moon is period VSF but is not military.

Terry

Well, Terry
You have a good point about VSF being almost inseperable in essence from Steampunk in wargaming. I was trying to point out that VSF is almost purely SF in all its variety, whilst Steampunk encompasses a much wider range of influences. VSF takes on elements of horror and low fantasy from literary and pen and paper roleplaying. Steampunk has input from high fantasy and Larp, as well as high street fashion and Pagan/alternative ways of living.
All of the above is irrelevant when it comes to crafting your own games. I'm as happy facing alien or horrific forces with a few trusty men as I am planning strategy against the forces of whichever empire is trying to take my land.
Tony

I was pondering this point earlier today and reached the following revelation.

VSF is like Indian food.
Steampunk is like hot spicy food.

Not all Indian food is hot & spicy. Not all hot & spicy food is Indian. Same goes for VSF and Steampunk.

One is a flavour that can be applied to a greater or lesser extent to the other. But it can also be applied to other types of cooking.

I like Indian food, sometimes because it is hot and spicy, but sometimes I enjoy a nice mild Korma. But I can also go out and enjoy a nice sizzling Tex-Mex or Thai meal.

In exactly the same way, I play VSF, usually with plenty of Steampunk elemments, but sometimes I might enjoy playing almost a straight pseudo-historical Victoriana game, or one with 19th century vampires or werewolves or zombies. Or maybe a fantasy battle with dwarven steamtanks.

VSF and Steampunk are not an either/or proposition, nor are they one and the same thing. One is a flavour to the other, that can be dialled up and down to your personal taste. Or left out altogether.

Does that make sense?

DrVesuvius
I think you've hit the nail on the head.

Excellent analogy, DrVesuvius.

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