Every other week I’m going to offer a sketch from my Steamshaft Chronicles sketchbook for viewing, along with a little bit of information regarding the world setting and how the sketch relates to the work in progress. These sketches won’t be worked on before upload but many will be produced in a better format for later use.
This week I am going to talk about factions, I like the idea of reputation and I’m going to play test one such system as an expansion unit for the AG core rules or the fantasy variant of those rules (@DrMagister seems to be hooked on making the fantasy transition and since I’m building TSC to work with the AG rules, it makes sense to delay some rule modifications.) at some stage. I am largely working on the idea of two main factions, rather than a multitude of small factions whom are the key to extra perks, privileges, and dangers.
The Steamshaft Chronicles: Climbers faction. (Faction Crest)
The Climbers – They seek to claim back the highest reaches of the Steamshaft and perhaps even forge a path to the paradise they know awaits them on the surface. They are dominated by Elves, the seers of which paint a vivid memory of the world they lost, the heaven that awaits those who seek the road upwards. The climbers reward the repair of upward tunnels, supply routes and the clearing of the great staircases among other things. Could you be the key to the final freedom and victory of this powerful faction?
The Steamshaft Chronicles: Delvers faction. (Faction Crest)
The Delvers – As the Climbers house many Elves, do the Delvers provide a place for the Dwarven folk and their agenda is just as simple, head downwards. They believe that salvation and paradise await in the furthest deeps and will do anything to lay claim to that dark future. They reward the forging of downward paths, support networks and many other things. Could you be the key to unlocking a legacy long denied to the people of the Steamshaft?
The two additional factions I have toyed with are The Cropmasters and The Waymakers, the former are a hostile and ritualistic organisation who own almost all of the underground fields. These fields are part of an often precarious life support system and the method of maintenance is lost to all but the quirky members of this faction. The Waymakers tend to maintain a good relationship with The Climbers and The Delvers as they busy themselves with reclaiming and building collapsed or decaying regions of the shaft often to the benefit of the upwards and downwards agenda, they have at times been at odds with The Cropmasters for trespassing on the dead fields.
Interested? Want to know more? What is this Steamshaft Chronicles? The Steamshaft Chronicles is a fantasy steampunk world setting for Anno Geometrica, set in a world that I describe as Games Workshops Necromunda, only upside down (and strangely it works really well). Currently the intent is to create a supplement about the world above, which will provide ideas about follow-up campaigns for player parties who choose to head upwards and emerge… because the GM will be the one to decide if they find a wasteland, a renewed world or even a future/modern day us… (raising questions about how the Steamshaft had remained undetected for so long). I have some very exciting plot hooks, villains and heroes prepared with some very unusual settlements but much is still forming and reforming on paper and in the mind. The greatest challenge so far has been establishing the exact structure in a way that works, I’m close but some things still don’t make sense in a way that will allow a more casual GM to relax.
As this series develops I will be constructing a bigger information page, if you think you’d like to contribute in some way feel free to drop me a tweet @tompl with the hashtag #steamshaft, or in comments here and we can get talking. This also applies should you want to be an on-line playtester and have Skype, though these tests are a long way off yet… Working 39hrs a week limits my creative time. 
-Tom
Tags: AG, Anno Geometrica, Factions, Pen & Paper RPG, Roleplay, The Steamshaft Chronicles, World setting
