Excuse the long post but I'd just like to post some info and rules tasters for the uninitiated.
What is Steam & Aether?
Steam & Aether is a rule set and game setting that I developed with the assistance of Mark Latham last year during and following my successful Staempunk army
KS campaign. Rules are downloadable here:
http://steamandaether.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/steam-aether-quick-play-rules.html
Backstory starts here:http://steamandaether.blogspot.co.
uk/2013/10/in-aftermath-of-napoleonic-wars-peace.html
The beast!
After the Aetheric catastrophe, much of Western Europe was permeated with cosmic emanations, transdimensional elements and particles were strewn about the land, wreaking chaos everywhere. While the Consulate's portals remained open, stranger things still crawled, strode, slithered and floated through into our dimension. With the Low Countries and Northern France falling into the sea at worst, and flooded at best, many loathsome things made their home there. Most often encountered by interlopers into the Wasteland is an insatiably ravenous tentacled hulk, officially dubbed Aequatherium Magnus by British scientific expeditions although it is known by many colloquial names by footsloggers on both sides of the cataclysm. Aequatherium Magnus, or the so-called ‘ditch prince’ or Prussian ‘Flutfresser’ is a towering acreage of preternaturally resilient hide, a simulacrum of the any mariner’s worst nightmares made flesh. The tentacled entity is amphibious and regularly hauls itself onto dry land, making ingress into the continent, seeking dark ruins and damp basements to aid its terrible fecundity. Aequatherium Magnus is a being best avoided, being able to shrug off huge amounts of damage, its wounds sometimes re-knitting in mere moments while it consumes its attackers with its huge, cruel mandibles. While the beast itself is a nigh-unstoppable brute, a hefty price could be fetched for captured eggs and subdued whelps, which of course present their own dangers!
from whence it came....
As expeditions into post-catastrophe France increased in frequency, so too did the discovery of bizarre and monstrous forms of life inhabiting the Aetheric wasteland. Whether these creatures are divergent mutant strains of life corrupted by the Aether explosion, or are not of this world at all, remains to be seen. The Prussian science ministry and British Royal Society demanded military missions into the wasteland carry out research and bring back samples, both mineral and biological.
The Prussian Guildmasters and British regimental commanders were initially reticent to endanger their men by subduing some of the more ferocious beasts of the Wasteland, but as soon they saw the rewards offered by the authorities, they danced to a different tune. To bring back biological material for study is one thing, but the true prize lies in capturing living specimens. The practise of smuggling such dangerous creatures into uncontaminated lands is a point of contention in Britain, and strictly verboten in Prussia – and yet this does not stop the military, privateers and mercenary regiments from ignoring the sanctions in order to line their pockets. Many specimens, it is rumoured, do not end up in the hands of science ministries or Royal societies at all, but are instead delivered to wealthy individuals for private collections or diabolical research, or even to insane gourmands who crave the forbidden meat of potentially alien beasts.
Of course, to seek such beasts is one thing, but in the unpredictable Wasteland, capturing them is quite another. Many soldiers and collectors have lost their lives in the pursuit of these terrifying monsters, but their high demand and sky-rocketing value ensures that there are always others willing to risk life and limb for the sake of the hunt.
New special rules for Steam & Aether.
Monsters often use one or more of the following special rules:
Act on Instinct: A model with this special rule must move towards the closest human model each round. It can adjust its course if it would be forced to end its movement in the open – a monster may always strive to reach cover, as long as it ends its move closer to the target model than it started. A model Acting on Instinct will always Engage an enemy if it is able to do so.
Aquatic: An aquatic model may move at double its normal speed in water terrain (lakes, rivers, streams, marshes, etc).
Fearsome: Enemies wishing to Engage this model/element must first pass a Qtest or remain stationary. Their Engage Action is still expended.
Mass: Mass is a measure of a model’s size, physical power and toughness. A lowly human has a Mass of 1 meaning he will perish after only one successful wound whereas a towering dimensional horror or clanking mechanical construct might have a Mass of anything up to 20. Every time a model is successfully hit, it will lose one Mass point until it is reduced to zero, at which point it is removed from play. In addition, a creature with a high Mass may make a number of strikes in combat equal to its current Mass points – so a creature with a Mass of 10, for example, may attack 10 times in melee.
Regenerate: A model or element with the Regenerate special rule has the ability to recover lost Mass points (for single figures) or recover lost casualties (for an element). For every Mass point lost or casualty sustained in the previous round, take a Qtest. Each successful test restores a Mass/casualty to the model/element. This rule can be used if the element/figure is reduced to zero Mass in the previous round, but in this instance the model is permanently removed from play if the test is failed.
Rules for the creatures.
Aequatherium Magnus Q8 Mass 15 Act on Instinct, Aquatic, Fearsome, Regenerate. NB. The Aequatherium Magnus is a large model, which forms an element all on its own.
Aequatherium Spawn Q4 Act on Instinct, Aquatic NB. Aequatherium spawn form swarms, usually of 5-20 models, which are treated as elements just like human troop elements.
Egg Cluster Q4 Mass 5 Immobile: Egg Clusters are in effect scenery pieces, which can be attacked as though they were large models. They may not perform any actions except Engage. When they are able to Engage a foe, the Egg Cluster model is removed, and is replaced with a swarm of Aequatherium spawn, which then completes the Engage action and thereafter behaves as a normal Element.
If youre interested in Steam & Aether and want to contribute to the latest campaign then please head over to the
KS page.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2004599158/interdimensional-bestiary
Many thanks
Andrew
Automatically Appended Next Post: What a great afternoon, thanks so much to all those new backers that came on board today!
You can add these figures to your pledge for £5 per set (I'll ask which ones you want after the campaign has finished) they make great objective markers, diorama components or even basing elements.
I'm sorry that I can't offer these for free to higher level backers even as they cost to much to produce, the total met means that I can offset the potential added postage and spin cost alone.
Let me know if you have any ideas for further goals? I am working on those diver figures still and hope to be able to add them soon bur I need to confirm costings and have more to show you, I don't like having backers "pledge blind" so to speak.
Thanks again every one, I'll be back with those size pics in the
AM.
Andrew
