Part 1: Introduction

High steampunk. Massive dirigibles and flying trains. Biplanes! Pirates, privateers, ninjas, and mobsters. Victorian gentlemen, nobles, political intrigue. Gaslamp gutter rats, degenerates, criminal underground. Gadgets! Airborne swashbuckling action.

Welcome, Starcatcher.

This is a steampunk RPG campaign setting I created some years ago called “Starcatchers”. It’s about bi-plane flying mercenaries who chase and snag falling meteorites mid-air (among other things). It’s bloody epic.

Welcome to Thame's End

Far, far away, on the other side of the Milky Way, a small blue planet revolves around a bright orange star. It is a warmish planet, with vast oceans and tropical islands, deserts and rainforests, and not much in the way of ice or snow.

There are people on this planet — a highly developed civilization with many advances in science and technology. They are, however, oblivious to the physics of space travel (never mind the existence of the Earth), and therefore look up into the vast reaches of the night sky not to see the marvels of the Milky Way, but to see a breathtaking river of stars, which they call the River Thames. And thus, being at the end of this river, that is what they call their world: Thame's End.

In the east of this planet is a largish continent ruled by the slowly crumbling Empire of Saint Victor. To the south are the Free Kingdoms, an archipelago of tiny nation-states and fiefdoms, ruled by free-thinking emigrants who left the Empire to stake their own claims. To the north you have the enigmatic Arcans, a reserved and mysterious people who live in a flying island miles above the ocean.

And in the middle of it all, is the island of Cog: a crossroads trade-hub island-city governed by several factions and guilds, most of which are shady or criminal. The Cog is the place where riches are won or lost, dreams are made or broken. It’s the richest and most degenerate place on the planet. And it’s made its riches by catching the stars....

The Empire of St. Victor and the Free Kingdoms, with the Cog in the middle and Arc floating high above.

Eighty years ago, Thames End began to be slowly bombarded by a never-ending meteor shower. Over and over the meteors fell, seemingly without end. Except these weren't regular meteors. They fell slowly — slowly drifting balls of flame wafting through the sky. They would plummet through the atmosphere, and then suddenly stop, hanging in the sky like blue and green stars, before finally wafting down towards the oceans and lands of Thame's End.

It was soon discovered that locked within the meteors was a new mineral that was extremely flammable. When this mineral was ignited, an extremely buoyant gas was released, a gas that was actually a brand new element, lighter than any other element known to man. Much, much lighter than hydrogen, in fact. The mineral they dubbed "Stradium", and the new gaseous element "Aeflor".

The Aeflor caused the meteors to stop plummeting groundward when they ignited upon contact with the atmosphere. Instead, the meteors would fall for a bit, float for a bit, fall, and then float, as pockets of chemical compounds burned up and gave the space-rocks buoyancy.

Of course it was soon realized how valuable this chemical was. It was the perfect fuel, easily flammable and light enough to lift even the heaviest of vessels. Buoyant enough to lift a train! Or even a city, if you had enough of it! Thus began the biggest technological revolution in the history of mankind, which would soon lead to a bedazzling array of steam-powered marvels.

Governments around the world started sending out aerial mining teams dubbed "Starcatchers" to seize the meteors and bring them safely down to land (or into the ocean, whichever was easier). Many an aerial war was waged over these rocks, as Starcatchers from different allegiances came into conflict with one another. Eventually (and inevitably), groups of Starcatchers broke away from their respective lieges, bringing the star wars to the streets and the criminal underground. In the Cog, a Starcatchers Guild sprung up, a cooperative for free-contract privateers to take the stars to the masses. And thus, the fight for the stars rages even more fiercely to this very day.

PCs in this campaign world take on the role of a group of Starcatchers in the Cog — free contract privateers of the air, sea, and city — working for, with, and against various Factions in an effort to strike it rich or die trying. Accounting for the dangerous nature of their job, the latter result is more probable. Good luck....

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This campaign setting was originally written to be played with the FATE RPG. Actually, it was a hack of Spirit of the Century (that’s how long ago I wrote this). I’ve run a full campaign and a few one shots in this world. It’s always a lot of fun. :)

I suppose you could use this campaign setting with FATE or any other game system you like, but I would like to offer my own RPG system custom-written for the type of exciting scenarios you’ll encounter in this awesome setting. More information can be found in future blog posts and in the games section of this website.

I should mention that the inspiration for this campaign setting came entirely from a single mention in an early (very early, wayyyyy back) Fear the Boot podcast episode in which the main host said his friend was obsessed with the concept of flying trains. I was like, “Huh! I have an idea for that!” And thus, Thame’s End came into being and has been living rent-free in my head ever since.

I have more where this came from, including crunchy mechanics and setting neutral fluff. Next time around: history!