The first preview of Cakebread & Walton's steampunk RPG based on the music of Abney Park.

1. Airship Pirates
“Am I the hero in my own daydream?
Am I the villain, are things as they seem?
Am I the villain in my own daydream?
Am I the hero, are things as they seem?”
– Abney Park, My Life
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2. Airship Pirates character creation
Character Concept to free the Neovictorian cities from the Emperor’s
Before you can start playing a character in Airship oppression if the players want to spend their time
Pirates, you need to create one. There are some ready raiding Neobedouin caravans for the loot.
made characters at the end of this chapter to choose The crew also need some sort of Schtick (see p.XX).
from, but it’s more fun (especially if you’re planning to The crew of the airship Ophelia are not just airship
play a long campaign) to come up with a character of pirates, they’re also the band Abney Park! What
your own, so that you can watch him or her grow and do your crew do when they’re not pirating? Are
change through a life of adventure. they musicians? Circus performers? Merchants?
There is one main choice you need to make, from Mercenaries? Mime artists? If you’re entering a port
which everything else flows. Which culture do you where piracy is frowned upon, it’s best to have a
come from? Are you from one of the Free Peoples trade, even if its only a cover story!
– the nomadic Neobedouin or the aerial-living folk Also, how did the crew get together in the first
of the Skyloft cities? Or have you escaped from the place? How do they know each other? Who’s the
decadence and squalor of one of the Neovictorian captain? (This may change through democracy,
Change Cage cities? And if so, are you human, incompetence, death or mutiny, but someone needs
automaton or misbegotten mutant? This first decision to be in charge to start with!). How did they get hold
will affect what professions were open to you in that of their ship?
life, which in turn affects what skills and talents you
have, the friends and enemies you have made, in fact
your entire back-story before you became a pirate. Putting It All Together
Once everyone’s got at least a vague idea of their
Have a look through the different cultures and see character and the group as a whole has some idea of
what the options are; if a culture takes your fancy, the crew, its time to start adding the game mechanics.
you might want to read more about it in Chapter XX, Players should work through this chapter, (probably
before settling on the sort of person you want to play. with the help of the GM), putting numbers to the
You may like to play a person who’s very similar to ideas. There are bound to be cool things that you
yourself in outlook, or someone completely different. come up with as you create your character that
It’s up to you. weren’t in your original concept, but don’t worry, go
with it. Once everyone’s got their character statted
Crew Concept and ready to play, the group can revisit their concept
Once each player has come up with some idea of what for the game and tweak accordingly. By the time
sort of character he or she wants to play, the group you’ve done, you should have a pirate crew who will
needs to get together and decide what sort of pirates stick together through thick and thin. There will be
they’re going to be. Are they freedom-loving rogues rivalries, friendly or otherwise, betrayals, deaths –
who fight against injustice, or ruthless cutthroats but the crew should have a reason to stay aboard
who rob from everyone and keep all the cash? Will ship. Think of your PCs as the characters in a long-
they take a principled stand if necessary, or run away running TV series – they might argue and fight, have
and let others take the fall? The GM may have some differences of opinion about what they should do
ideas about what sort of adventures he or she would next, fall out, make up, refuse to speak to each other
like to run, but it’s best to get this settled now – its no or whatever – but they’ll still be together for the next
good the GM planning a campaign around fighting episode...
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3. Airship Pirates character creation
Neobedouin
“Nomadic tribes of the last of man
Pull their caravans across the sand.
Gypsy wives hold their children tight
As the new superpower howls through the night.
Gods watch from above and wonder what went wrong;
The entropy of what once was strong.
The survivors of man stay up late to pray,
That the world will again be theirs one day!”
– Abney Park, The End of Days
The Neobedouin are a nomadic tribal people. They
live in huge brightly decorated caravans, often two
or three stories tall, pulled by giant diesel semi-
cabs, steam-trucks, and massive beasts such as
mammoths and indrikki. They also ride home-made
off-road vehicles, horses and camelops. They are a
freedom-loving people, determined to stay out of the
claustrophobic Imperial cities and prepared to face
the dangers of the wilderness to do so. Each tribe
has a “range” which they consider home, covering
thousands of square miles. Groups will often split
off from this range and travel across country into the
territories of other tribes, for trade, and to keep the
social links between the different tribes from dying.
Though each tribe has its own customs, they have
certain things in common; a love of fire, music, dance
and story-telling; strong family bonds; a martial art
known as Beast Dancing; and an intense dislike of the
Emperor Victor III and his repressive regime. They are
masters of wilderness lore and consummate hunters,
in tune with the land through which they wander.
Many have contacts with the sky cities, trading with
each other for things they each need – often food and
natural resources from the Neobedouin are traded
with finished technological goods and medicines from
the Skyloft. A few Neobedouin risk remaining in one
place in hidden settlements – these may be involved in
logging, farming, drilling for oil, or engaged in other
trades that are useful to their people but not possible
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4. Airship Pirates character creation
where survival for a human being can be measured
in days at best due to the ferocious man-eating
beasts which prowl outside. There are three major
Neovictorian cities in North America – Old Borealis
in the cold north of the continent, Desolation in the
south-western deserts, and Everglade in the sub-
tropical south-eastern swamps (see pp.XX-XX for
more details on these cities). In Neovictorian society,
conformity is everything. Any new idea disapproved
of by the government, or any person showing signs
of rebelling against the status quo, is thrown into
the Change Cage, a massive towering edifice at the
center of the city, from which escape is said to be
impossible. The lower classes are expected to return
to their home “block” at night, and the streets are
patrolled by the automaton “Peelers”, ruthless
mechanical policemen on the lookout for anyone
breaking the curfew.
How a person lives in such a city will very much
depend on their class.
Class
There are three classes in Neovictorian society – the
lower class, the servant class and the upper class.
Lower Class
Neovictorian
If you are unfortunate enough to be born into the
“I fear what they’d do if they find I’ve escaped.
lower class (and the vast majority are), your lot will
I fear what they’d say if they find I play, I get scraped.
be to live in the squalid, overcrowded slums, toil
They want you to think it’s possible to live a life
long hours in a bleak factory, and maybe spend your
without their chains,
meager earnings on gin to lighten your thankless,
But if you, if you go too far, you’ll find they’re pulling
futile life.
on your reins.”
– Abney Park, Fight or Flight Motivation
Neovictorians live in the squalid, overcrowded Why would a lower class Neovictorian become an
Change Cage cities ruled by the Emperor Victor III. airship pirate? Why wouldn’t you? There’s really not
This oppressive environment is all they have ever much joy to be had in the slums. How you would get
known, and they are taught from birth that beyond out is a different matter – but the ultimate punishment
the city walls lies an implacably hostile wilderness, for many deeds (not including “change crimes”) is to
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5. Airship Pirates character creation
In the sky above North America, and
built around remote mountaintops,
are the cities collectively known as the
Skyloft. Most are suspended beneath
great clusters of helium gasbags,
some floating freely, others tethered
to mountain peaks but able to cut
themselves loose in an emergency;
others have extended down from their
sky-living ways to colonize the tops of
mountains, high above the dangerous
beasts of the lowlands. The Skyfolk are
as varied as the cities in which they live,
for no two cities have the same form of
government, the same ideals, the same
beliefs. Some sky cities are capitalist,
some communist, some socialist; there
are matriarchies, slave cities and cities of
escaped slaves; democracies, autocracies
and technocracies; cities that worship
God, Allah, or the Sky Mother; atheist
cities that burn believers at the stake.
Yet whatever their religious and political
beliefs, they share a common interest in
technological progress – many Skyfolk are
knowledgeable on scientific subjects, and
children are encouraged to tinker, build,
Skyfolk and innovate from an early age. Strange
“This world is filled with islands, little specks of sand, gadgets and unlikely-looking flying machines are a
Mountain peaks in a cloudy sky feature of the sky cities. The various sky cities also
Each one’s a different world, and so my sails unfurled, have an alliance against the Emperor Victor III, who
And I will raise my sails high. would destroy them if he could. The Skyfolk grow up
When I am feeling stagnant, my lungs are full of mud, in the high air, immune to vertigo, at home in airships
I dream of Beijing and Molokai. and flying machines from an early age. Whatever their
When I am feeling down, get myself off the ground, beliefs, and no matter how much they disapprove
And throw my head back to the sky, of the beliefs of other sky cities, they tend to respect
their differences and save their enmity for the Empire,
And fly!
which would have all live in Neovictorian squalor. The
And fly!”
sky cities trade with each other and with their ground-
– Abney Park, Wanderlust bound allies, the Neobedouin.
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6. Airship Pirates character creation
there. Perhaps you revel in the freedom of the air, are aboard a pirate ship. Maybe you were demoted
or perhaps you were cast out of your tribe for some or cast out of the service for some infraction, maybe
misdemeanor and long to return to Mother Earth. you hated the orders you were given and rebelled.
Skills: Dodge, Firearms, Hide & Sneak, Perception, Now your previous background could be an asset or
Riding, Archery, Survival, Tracking a liability – it’s up to you.
Skills: Etiquette, Firearms, Fisticuffs, Intimidation,
Inventor Leadership, Swordplay, Tactics
“Test-tubes and Tesla coils,
Clockwork brain ‘n’ glowing oils...”
– Abney Park, The Secret Life of Doctor Calgori
Neovictorian (any), Skyfolk
You have always enjoyed designing new gadgets,
whether it be as small as a clockwork cigar-trimmer, or
as large as an intelligent automaton air-frigate. If you
grew up in the Skyloft, your talents would have been
encouraged, but as a Neovictorian, you would have
had to be secretive, or you would end up in the Change
Cage. As as pirate, your inventions are useful to your
fellow crewmates, but why are you not living a life of
fame and adulation with workshops and technicians
at your command? Maybe your rivals put you out of
business, one of your devices went wrong and caused
a major accident – or perhaps your inventions are not
as good as you think they are.
Skills: Ad Hoc Repair, Craft (any two), Engineer (any
two), Research
Marine Commander
Neovictorian (Upper Class males only), Skyfolk
You were once in charge of a regiment of air marines
and perhaps had hundreds of men under your
command. You were shown respect and lived a life of
relative luxury when in your home port. If you were Mercenary
an officer in the Imperial Air Marines, you were a Skyfolk
member of the upper class. Though the marines are Whether you fight in the Skyloft’s intermittent
not as glamorous as the Navy, you have the respect of skirmishes with each other and the Imperial Air
your peers, and your men respected your fist. Now you Navy, guard merchant vessels, or work as city militia,
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