Gaslamp Fantasy/Steampunk Group Forming

Hello Virtuites!

This is an idea that grew out of a thread discussing steampunk costume options, Gaslamp fantasy and the webcomic Girl Genius in the Player Questions forum.

There seems to be some interest in forming a supergroup based around steampunk aesthetics and Girl Genius fan fiction. The first question is whether to form a hero supergroup, a villain supergroup or both. My first thoughts are that two groups might dilute membership, but there are two "schools" of society possible: the "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" type, and the "Mad Science" type. I thought I'd start this thread so as to bring the conversation here instead of continuing it in the Player Questions forum, as the subject of the thread had changed.

Also, feel free to post pictures of your steampunk-influenced characters here, no matter their affiliation or desire to join in this nascent society. I'll start off with The Gaslamp Golem, my SS/Inv brute (it's hard to get the steam jets aura in a shot) :

I have a Pulp/Steampunk SG that has concepts formed from the time frame of 1800s to 1930. It's called The Anachronism Society. Definitely influenced by the League, general Pulp era fiction and all things Steampunk. It's always been rather small with about 16 great roleplayers who put in Alts into the SG. It's currently inactive but it has about 1.6 mil prestige and no base yet to burn it on. I always wanted to get a skill base builder to make a Victorian/Steampunk/Occult base.

If you decide to go Blue side and want to coalition then that'd be great or if the name strikes your fancy I can certainly open it up to other people for leadership and we can kick start it up again.

That would be great, having an established group already on blueside. How many still play their alts in this group?

I'd actually be quite interested in trying this idea out with ya. Though it'd be nice to be able to contact you if you're willing to give out your global so people can contact you for the idea.

Grf, now I can't remember his name, there was a guy who showed up to my show in Praetoria at some point who was from a Steampunk group...

I have a steampunk character on Virtue named Amelia Gearheart (Claws/SR brute) but she's already in an SG. Still I'll keep up on this thread and maybe she can team up with some of the gaslamp crowd!

I'm trying to find a hosting site so I can post pictures. I really like her costumes. The steamjet aura is so fantastic I'm thinking about adding another steam powered armor to her costume set! She's got a sleek set of armor now, I'm thinking of going all out huge and making a giant set as well.

My global is Dr Occult, btw. I'll probably take a stab at another Jagermonster character, and have ideas for one or two others.

I'd so be down for this.

In the hopes of this starting up, I made a Elec/SS tank on Virtue tonight, under the name of Prof. Sophia Wyatt

My global is my signature, and thought I'm usually on Freedom, (and late at night between midnight and whenever I get tired CST) I can always switch servers to kick start some fun.

Hit me up.

I didn't get on until late last night, but Goblin Queen and I hashed out some ideas (some of which we aren't *quite* ready to reveal yet.)

What we can say is that Anachronism Society remains open to all steampunk/gaslamp fantasy characters (mid-19th Century to 1930s.) All present members are "grandfathered in" regardless of character. Anything from Jules Verne/H.G. Wells inspired to 30s "pulp novels" like Doc Savage or The Shadow is allowed.

There will NOT be "RP Police" concerning daily activity (we believe that trying to "force" people to play only in a certain way is not fun for anyone involved) but we WILL "lead by example" and encourage people to RP as much as they are comfortable with. However, new members will be required to have steampunk-themed characters and names, and also a short bio/background story. Work will soon begin on a base.

As a counter to AS, there will be an as-yet unnamed villain group that will be solely for "Girl Genius" -inspired mad scientists and their constructions. This will be the place for your "FOOLS! I'll show them ALL!" characters, as opposed to the "gentlemen adventurer" vibe of the Anachronism Society.

I will soon be setting up a site that will be shared by both groups (with portions open to all steampunk/gaslamp fantasy players,) but in the meantime, please use this thread to share ideas, costumes, etc.

Hey Doc and Queen, if you guys are in need of a base builder, I'm more than willing to spend HOURS in a base, designing it to fit the needs/look/theme of the SG.

Give me a shout in-game and we'll bandy ideas about. I don't want to go all dark and dreary stone, I want to have some nice wood floors and paneling 19th Century "gentlemen's society" parts to it as well. I started a thread in the base construction forum. We can discuss it there to avoid this thread turning into a "topic hydra."

Also, welcome Captain Hawker as the newest member of The Anachronism Society!

And lastly, I've purchased a domain name and freed up some space on my webserver account. We will have a site up by tomorrow night! I'm using this as an opportunity to install the Dolphin social networking app and see how it works. Announcement soon!

Check out the Adventure Brigade base that we're in a coalition in. They have a few really nice rooms. I don't see ours being a verbatim copy but could definitely provide bits of inspiration. I'd also like to see a really nice library, an occult studies area, science areas of course, etc.! As an aside - they're a great Pulp group. I don't know if anyone still plays much in that SG but someone is keeping up the rent as you can still enter their base and use their teleporters, ect. until ours are up!

We can scour the Base forums as well. I know I used to check in there and found some inspirational bases.

Also Obsidian and High Jinks and anyone else interested - shoot us messages on our globals. I'm @Goblin Queen and as Doc said he's at @Dr Occult I think globals are working once more (they were down after the patch today).

Here is the Base forum thread for any who want to chime in or keep an eye on what is said.

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showt...=1#post3571694

Here is my "less sophisticated" Gaslamp Golem costume. He'll get the nice shiny one once he's been "overhauled" (i.e. get high level.)

Hmmm, I have a couple concepts that I could finally firm up to take advantage of this idea.... I'll be in touch.

I saw how dingy the Resistance armor looked with certain color settings, which is what prompted the "de-modernization" on GG's look. (That picture is too bright though.)

GQ, that concept we were discussing? Take a look at these and give me your feedback please:

Ok, I'm going to post this link even though everything is still generic on the site. I've bought the domain http://gaslampfantasy.net/ and installed a forum. There's a Shoutbox and a real-time chat in addition to the forum.

If anyone knows of royalty-free steampunk/gaslamp illustrations or graphics, please let me know as I work on customizing the template. I'll be adding steampunk links as well, with the goal of making this a steampunk portal instead of just a SG forum. It seemed like a waste of such a nice URL to limit it so.

To anyone who tried to register for the forum/chat, I SINCERELY apologize for forgetting to remove all the "dating site" information fields on the registration page! Dolphin is mainly used for dating sites, and since my admin account was made during install, I didn't realize all the personal info it was asking for, much less that it was mandatory!