FASA Games, Inc.

What professions would you add or like to see someone else doing the work of adding to 1879?

My vote is for Artist. A talented artist, musician or actor might have a hold on the popular imagination, and would have access to all levels of society, without all of the obligations of the Aristocrat. Artists are also often amateur scientists or historians. The Impressionists were just ramping up in painting, and you had the Arts & Crafts movement in England, which was very skeptical of the rising influence of machine production.

Honestly, a witch profession would be kind of cool to me. Like a weird scientist version of a mage

I pitched artist too at one time too! What else might be nice ... Maybe something with animals. There's not really anything in there like that.

Slimcreeper wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 22, 2020 10:40 pm

I pitched artist too at one time too! What else might be nice ... Maybe something with animals. There's not really anything in there like that.

Something closer to the traditional ranger/druid?

Various things coming up. The Players Companion introduces the Cavalry variant of the Soldier, so you've got that for animals. The Saurids have the Packmaster, but that's a book or two down the road. The Brits are now fielding vulture handlers against the Samsut, so there's the option for a bird handler, like a falconer type. The Players Companion, which I have seen early layout galleys of, will introduce Variants, modifications of existing Professions and how to produce them, and some new Professions, and rules for how to build them. You'll have the mechanics for creating an Artist. There's also pre-built Variants for the Lodges already published. Let me list out what's in there.

Variants of existing Professions:
Armour (tank) Officer, Armour Trooper, Cavalry Officer, Cavalry Trooper, Dilettante (Aristocrat Variant), Galvanic Mage, Heron, Marine, Mumper, Naval Officer, Newtonian, OBV Officer, Outlaw (Cowboy Variant), Promethean

New Professions:
Engineer, Gambler, Lovelace (white hat admin), Mystic Warrior, Nurse, Police Officer, Spy

A Ranger/Druid doesn't fit well into the urban milieu of the steampunk world, but does fit passably in the Saurids' world. What we have planned for the Saurids:
Clivkondyos (Pilgrim, a sort of wandering mendicant priest who visits the shrines and does the physical and mystical upkeep)
Hapatsyteskvos (War Leader, an elected social position, not an appointed one)
Hapatvnorefvos (Sky Rider, yes they ride pteranodons)
Kyaldjaivos (Lawgiver, a sort of magistrate/sheriff)
Nicornudjavos (Messenger, not like the ED one, more of a professional diplomat)
Teskovgoirenkos (Packmaster)

As far as a Witch goes, write up a Lodge for them. The template is as follows:

Society Name
Description: A brief paragraph, laying out the basics of the society in a nutshell.

Origins
Why was the society founded? What event led to its formation? Who put it together? Were there any extraordinary events surrounding its formation / first adventure?

Goals and Methods
What does the society want? How do they go about getting it?

Organization
How is the society structured? Is it a monolithic entity with a single authoritarian leader, or is it broken into cells and operate by consensus? This affects how easily the society could be impaired or stamped out, the coherence of its operations and direction, and the ease of proving its existence.

Resources
How much money do they have? What special facilities? Political connections, blackmail, favors owed, support?

Membership
Who are the members? What special qualifications restrict who can join? Is there a ritual, a challenge, a task that must be performed? What is the nature of the commitment?

Enemies / Allies
Other secret societies, groups, government agencies, or individuals that support or oppose this society, whether or not they know of its existence. Similarly, groups or people whom the society supports or opposes, with or without informing them of the society's existence.

The Spell List for a new Order or Faith normally includes four Initiate spells, five Novice, and one Journeyman. Up to you what you include.

There are a lot of stray dogs and cats and rats and birds and horses in london ... maybe some Pied Piper stuff, maybe a touch of lycanthropy or shape shifting or mutating pets ...

Remember that a lot of professions (maybe most) can be done with very, very minor variants of existing ones. For example News Photographer could be a Journalist with a core skill of Photography instead of writing. (Note, in real world photographic plates with "snapshot" exposure times were developed in 1878, so are available, but cutting edge). Other writers could be variants of Journalist with a few different non-core skills, etc. You don't have to reinvent everything from scratch to get tons of variation.

I think a mix of explorer and journalist would be super interesting, ala James Audubon.

Magical roles that don't quite fit into mage or priest are going to take a bit of work to make fit. As might esoteric practices that resemble the mediums in some ways, but allow for more physical results, blurring the line between the imminent mystic warrior.

That could be interesting - I'd want to avoid the kung fu monk shtick, but fighters that had mystic powers that mostly helped them outside of combat - that would be pretty cool. Like a medium, but instead of a face they were really good at unarmed combat. Maybe they get disarm really early and can slap guns to the ground. That would be pretty entertaining