Scarrport: Get Some Steampunk in your 4e
There’s a lot to like about Scarrport: City of Secrets, the new setting book from Reality Deviant Productions. It features a full setting based around a trade city, populated with NPCs and adventure hooks. It also features new races, and a new class. But what really makes it stand out to me are the rules for Steampunk-style items in your 4e game. By incorporating these kind of items, it adds a different genre to 4e, instead of just being another setting using the same D&D elements.
The items come primarily from Gremlins, who look like the creatures from the classic movies. (A little strange, but the idea of a sinister fey race exiled from the feywild is pretty cool).
First up, we’ve got everybody’s favorite way to introduce a little bit of the future into your D&D games: firearms. They’re all pretty similar to the existing ranged weapons, with each having a number of shots they can fire before they need reloading. They can be used in ranged weapon powers, except for the all-mighty shotgun (aka Boomstick) that fires in a Blast 3. Backing up the firearms are magical versions of each, and a paragon path for the Gunslinger.
Of course, what steampunk items would be complete without ways to blow stuff up? The steampunk items include grenades of all kinds, which pack more of a punch than the alchemist equivalents. Plus there’s power armor which lets small creatures pull their weight (as it were), a wrist-strapped dart shooter, and the ever popular rocket pack for when you really need to fly.
There are other transportation options too for the party on the go. Steam powered horses and steamships let you get around without having a rocket strapped to your back.
Is there a ton there as far as steampunk equipment goes? No, nor are there rules for making your own new gadgets, and the rules follow the way magic items already work. But if you want a way to introduce a touch of gadgetry and firearms to your game- perhaps as rare items, perhaps from a colony of dwarves, or perhaps you want to go full-on Gremlin, you’ll want to pick up Scarrport.
Want to learn more about Scarrport? Read on…
- Atomic Array: Scarrport (Atomic Array 022)
- Game Cryer: Review by Chris Perrin
- AllGeekTout: Call to Adventure in the City of Secrets
- Dice Monkey: Scarrport: City of Secrets
- The Core Mechanic: Review by Jonathan Jacobs
- Kobold Quarterly: Why I Like Scarrport, City of Secrets
Drop by RPG Now to pick up your copy today!
TheGame is Dave Chalker, a lifelong gamer, freelance game designer, Master of Arts, and son of Jack L. Chalker. Dave is the Editor-in-Chief of Critical Hits and so runs the place. He is the envy of geeks everywhere because he's dating e, the Geek's Dream Girl. (Email Dave or follow him on Twitter).
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I also really liked the fluff presented in this, but I still haven’t gotten a chance to fully read the crunch. I always love having more steampunk options in D&D, even if I never use them I like to have them nearby just incase.
Thanks for the great review Dave!
I really enjoyed tackling all the fun design challenges of Scarrport, but the hardest was the firearms. The goal was to make them good but not so good that they become the default weapon for any ranged combat. Balancing high concept items is tough, but I think we settled on something that was both limited and added flavor with the Shot weapon ability.
There is something great about firing off 6 shots and running out of bullets. You get that duck-under-cover-and-reload moment, something that never happens in D&D.
Thanks for reading Scarrport, I think you’ll definitely find something in the book to add a little variety to your game.
Greg Tito
Now that is an interesting read. The preview (even if it does still have the InDesign filename listed) seems to show just enough to get me interested and to show off the quality, but then leaves me wanting more.
Also, it doesn’t hurt that I am a sucker for faeries and steampunk…
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I can see myself running a Freeport + Scarrport game. It would be rad.
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