I tend to prefer location-locked campaigns: they encourage Player Characters to perform their tasks with some mind of the consequences so as not to get run out of town. The ability to showcase different locales is also neccessary in a lot of campaigns, however: Creation in Exalted, for example, is so damn diverse it’s a lot of fun to romp around in. Large vehicles can accomplish this, allowing a recurring cast and offering the ability to pick up and leave at the same time.
The Lady of Leisure takes place in the steampunk world of the 17th-18th century Carribean Sea. The assumption of this world is that most people live their lives as someone of the late 1700’s does, but exceptional people have access to advanced technology and unexplained wonders: airships, sniper matchlocks, and exceptional martial arts abilities are all possible here. Clockwork airplanes fight dogfights against lightning-throwing hot air balloons while piston-enhanced muscle wrestles with cultists of the all-seeing crystal skull.
In the universe, there are five “factions” amongst the isles, who represent a very stripped down geopolitical map: Monarchists, who support the Old World nobility, Republicans, seeking to create a more democratic system, Bolsheviks, who follow a marxist ideal of overthrowing the current capitalist system, Pirates, (who just wanna be free,) and those few unaligned Bohemians just trying to make a place in the world for art’s sake. The islands are governed by various Old World nations, and governors tend to be scheming members of some faction or another seeking to push their agenda through the power they have as governors of an island.
The Lady of Leisure, meanwhile, is an airship harem, a floating garden of delights. The Player Characters are all people connected to the Lady: clients, sky pirate fighters, crew, prostitute, scholar, etc. The ship cruises from island to island, plying its wares while the characters engage in derring-do, exploration and adventure, from foiling a Bolshevik plot to blow up the ship to serving as the secret detail to the Queen’s service. The Player Characters should represent a Pulp sort of mentality: excellent people in a situation far beyond what the average man might dream: Adventure!, Shadowrun, or Spirit of the Century might all be good candidates for the engine, but anything could really work.
The trick to character creation is to focus on three elements of the setting:
1) Political upheaval and struggle as the nobility is dying out, the colonies seek independence, and the bolsheviks struggle against imperialism throughout the isles and Victorian sensibilities place the bohemians in a complicated situation. Characters feel strongly about their allegiances, and should be able to discuss them cogently.
2) Advanced technology and the unexplained: want cyberware? Great? Cool inventions? Go for it, just explain that your plasma thrower’s got a clockwork key on the back of it. Player Characters in this setting are outrageous compared to the standard agrarian life of an 18th century colonial, and this serves to set them apart as great heroes, or villains. On this note, while natural sciences are starting to catalogue all of the unusual phenomenon of the world, that isn’t to say that it’s there, yet, so there’s also elements of magic and the supernatural lurking beyond the lighted fortresses.
3) A willingness towards camaraderie and adventure: While political motivations and differing views on the role of technology in the world, the Lady of Leisure is a place of friendship and esprit de corps. Build characters who WANT to help each other. This one is a common pitfall that Player Characters do not consider very often.
Tags: Lady of Leisure, pulp, steampunk
