Are there steampunk resources for CC3+?
Rowan Hockema
Newcomer
I know someone asked roughly the same question a couple years ago, but that thread didn't get me anywhere. I'm having a difficult time figuring out if here are steampunk resources for CC3+ at all, let alone a way to download them. Please help.
Best Answer
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Rowan Hockema
Newcomer
Sorry, I should have worded my last comment better. It was a small pack, and while it was labeled Steampunk, it was mostly non-genre-specific pipes and vents that I could probably find in bigger packs anyway. I'd also like to apologize for being so confusing with what I want. I didn't realize "Anything labeled Steampunk" was such a subjective description, and now that I know I find myself struggling to actually define what I consider Steampunk. The most that I'm certain of has been posted in the thread about what is considered Steampunk. At this point I don't even know what I want anymore, and I might as well end this thread.
Not sure why I didn't think this would be brought to the top if I marked it as answering the question.
Answers
I don't think there are any at the moment, but you can easily import any set of png images to CC3 and use them as symbols. So it doesn't have to be a CC3 set you are looking for. Others here may have better information.
Alright. Do you know of any Victorian style assets I could use as a substitute for now? I just need to be able to get the right assets (or close enough) before I go with this software, since my school will be paying for it. I also don't want to use Inkarnate instead, since CC3+ is just functionally better.
Do you have an example you've seen elsewhere?
It's not easy trying to match something to a written description. Matching something with a picture is much easier.
I don't have any visual examples, since I'm not really looking for something specific, just anything in the genre. I apologize if this is unhelpful.
It has often occured to me that it can be quite difficult to both describe what is needed, and then in return to describe what is available, so I know you aren't deliberately being unhelpful - don't worry.
We do have example maps on the webpage, but these are quite small and low res, so I will show you things from my own album and hope that others will come along and show you what they have done that might fit the description of Victorian.
I have discussed the possibility of doing a steampunk city style, but there wasn't enough time to do it this year.
I may have overthought this. Your first three examples made me realize I don't really need to have a stylized map, and I can stick to more basic assets for now, just so I can plan out the map first.
That of course doesn't mean I wouldn't still like to have stylized assets, so I'll leave this open for people who might know where to look or already have the assets I'd want.
A little note though, the world I'm working with is steampunk but it also includes magic. If a steampunk style is eventually made, it'd be interesting to see a few assets that also incorporate magic in some way.
I think the issue is you need to define what you mean by a steampunk look. CC3 has Victorian flooplans, woodcut maps, and 1930's street maps. The 1930's can be modified to look period appropriate. I have found that a key way to do maps is to find a base and then learn how to do all the style sheet stuff.
It is difficult to think of specific steampunk stuff to add to any style map. I mean there can be an aeronautical port for ships. You could have a compass symbol that is a compass. So I think if we want a steampunk map style it would be important to say what assets you are looking for and for what map (overland, city, floorplan, etc.) That might help get the style started.
There aren't any steam driven vehicles that I have noticed. Or large gears.
But then I'm not sure what makes up this genre either.
There's also the point that there may be something similar already for whatever you have in mind as a map/drawing/setting; it's just a question of knowing where it is and then finding it when you need it! And also being able to think how items could be reused as something quite different to what they were initially intended sometimes, maybe just with something quite simple drawn on in addition. Plus CC3+ let's you draw a lot of things anyway, with precision.
Lots of hatches in the various Cosmographer sets, along with High Frontiers that includes deck plans.
I was mainly asking if anyone knew of or had existing assets that fit the genre in general -- or at least got close enough. A couple of these responses seem to be under the impression I was looking for something very specific. It doesn't help that I am completely brand new to everything about this, and I feel I'm missing some information on how questions or requests like this are usually conducted on these forums. Specifically it seems as though there are some assumptions that are made by default. Honestly I may have just done a poor job of clearly stating my question and/or overthought things and got anxious due to a lack of familiarity.
I would like cyberpunk and steampunk assets. While I can define things for cyberpunk, I have a hard time saying what steampunk assets are.
So I do not think that you were saying anything wrong/confusing. Rather, it was trying to pin point what things you were looking for that you would think of as steampunk. For example, the Victorian Floorplans seem steampunk to me. But they might not be steampunk enough for someone else.
Here is an example of a steampunk map I had done some work on. The map was made in CC3. I think using the 1930's map. I then applied some effects. After that, I distressed it in GIMP and added some gears. Why gears? Because that was pretty much the only thing I could think of to make it look steampunk :P So I am sympathetic on the looking for steampunk assets. I think we need some. But I have no idea what those particular assets would be.
I do have everything. But you can find symbols and Annuals that will help you create a map in almost any style.
Most of the symbols, as far as I can tell, are Midevil Europe, with some for Ancient Japan. With various Science fiction types of ships and down ports symbols and fills.
When I look it up Steampunk is described as "[A] subgenre of science fiction that incorporates retro-futuristic technology and aesthetics inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery." The more I think about it the more I realize just how much the idea of Steampunk can vary from person to person.
Try searching for is steampunk science fiction or fantasy. You can find a lot of pixel ink spilled on that. There is a Canadian professor who wrote his dissertation on steampunk not being a genre and not being science fiction. He used to be on the con circuit. I can't find his name to point you to his work.
My thoughts have always been that steampunk is an aesthetics in search of a genre. There is a reason that Professor Elemental had a hit with slap some gears on it and call it steampunk.
It is easier to think of steampunk aesthetics when it comes to clothing and gadgets. However, since it is supposed to be at least inspired by the Victorian era, then it basically means the maps would likely look very much like 19th century maps. So, how do you get a 19th century map to not look Victorian, but steampunk? That is the difficulty I see. I really wish I had a lot of ideas so that we could get a steampunk map style done.
We've had several discussions on the Forum here (and these have happened elsewhere too) over recent years as to exactly what this or that RPG/fiction genre term actually means - including Steampunk, Grimdark and Cyberpunk. The problem with all these is they mean different things to different people, which can be tied sometimes to what they are taken to mean by specific RPG systems. This makes it hard to say what assets a given person might consider satisfactory, aside from this also depending on what scale of mapping is intended - whole country/region (what we often call overland in CC3+ discussions), entire settlement (CC3+ "Cities"), or individual buildings ("Dungeons"), for example - and what the map is going to be used for (an individual building map might be used as a tabletop battlemap for miniature figures to move and act across, say).
Some kind of loosely 19th-century or "Victorian" mapping options might be easier to find, though there isn't a standard set of options even looking there, as most 19th century real-world styles started out in the previous century, and their 19th-century developments carried through into the first third or half of the 20th in different places. In terms of CC3+ assets, there are overland styles such as the late-18th century Ferraris Style from the February 2020 Annual, which general look of maps was still being used in places into the early 20th century, and some elements still feature in maps today. It works well for local areas/small regions and settlements. The August 2009 Annual covered Napoleonic battle maps, again suitable for relatively smaller areas, and a style used from the late 18th through to the early 20th centuries.
The Early Modern Cities style in the 2007 September Annual will fit with some later 19th-century city maps. For 18th-early 19th century sailing ships, try the March 2009 Annual, updated with additions in April this year. Although strip maps (May 2009 Annual) were a 17th-century development that was a method still being used well into the mid-late 19th, showing details just along and near a specific roadway.
These are only a few examples that come readily to my mind. I'd recommend taking a look at this Forum topic, which shows thumbnails from every Annual issue, and gives a simple guide to the general style presented in each issue, with a link to the PF website where you can find more information, including examples of the style in use.
@JulianDracos makes a good point regarding the vagueness of the genre, in common with what I've noted here. RPGs such as Castle Falkenstein and Space 1889, and also Cthulhu By Gaslight, which to me would fall into the loose Steampunk genre, tended to prefer clear, black-and-white line-drawing styles for their maps, sometimes with straightforward simple colours used to highlight particular things, which also seems comparable to how many 19th century maps come across to me.
There is the Wild West style. That would fit the period. There is also Annual #1. It has a modern maping style, but it has two styles. Once of which is for 19th century maps. Honestly, if you look at either the Cthulhu City or 1930's maps and then say Victorian Era map of London, you will see very little difference in style. I think annual #1 is likely the best. But if a new city style was going to be developed, I would take the Cthulhu City approach. That is, use annual 1, but then add in some new building symbols and more steampunk/Victorian era fonts.
As for overland, that is certainly missing. Based on what I have seen, it would look closer to contemporary map styles but some modification would be necessary.
Here is the dedication 19th Century city map style: https://www.profantasy.com/annual/2007/september07.html
I'd like to restate that my original question was simply if a Steampunk asset pack existed in any shape or form -- and where to find it if so. I can see how this may have been confusing, with Steampunk being a fairly broad label, but I still don't quite see why the specifics matter. Anything that falls under the label will do, regardless of your personal idea of what that looks like. So far the answer has been that ProFantasy does not have one, but there's still the matter of any community made packs. If someone has any information in regards to that matter, great. Otherwise I feel the discussion on what specifically counts as Steampunk should move to it's own thread, since the answer seems entirely subjective.
There is not any packs made officially or unofficially that anyone has ever labeled as steampunk. The reason that people went into other things is because people can use packs that are not listed as steampunk as steampunk.
I actually found one unofficial pack, but it was for dungeons and not really what I was looking for (mostly just vents, pipes, and rails that I could probably find in other packs). Inkarnate has Steampunk assets, but as far as I've seen they're also just for dungeons.
I think the problem we're having in helping you is we don't really know what YOU think constitutes Steampunk, or what it is you're trying to map, so just saying you want Steampunk assets without saying what they're for, is a little like asking us to give you a piece of string to accomplish a task you can't define. Now you're saying you found some Steampunk packs elsewhere but they weren't what you wanted (which rather goes against your prior comment that anything under the Steampunk label would do). Maybe if you could say what assets you DO want and what it is you want to map, instead of what you don't, we might be able to help more. It's clear you know what you're looking for, but we don't.
Certainly there is no ProFantasy pack that carries the specific "Steampunk" label, if that's all you were hoping for, although that doesn't mean there aren't assets you could use in that genre in many other packs, as we've tried to indicate in the notes above.
Sorry, I should have worded my last comment better. It was a small pack, and while it was labeled Steampunk, it was mostly non-genre-specific pipes and vents that I could probably find in bigger packs anyway. I'd also like to apologize for being so confusing with what I want. I didn't realize "Anything labeled Steampunk" was such a subjective description, and now that I know I find myself struggling to actually define what I consider Steampunk. The most that I'm certain of has been posted in the thread about what is considered Steampunk. At this point I don't even know what I want anymore, and I might as well end this thread.
Not sure why I didn't think this would be brought to the top if I marked it as answering the question.
Where did you find this?
I know in City Designer there is a Gothic style that is not Steampunk but did make me think of that.