Steampunk Feminists Vs. Zombies

[BanZeus]

Sorry, but I personally know a few raging fems and they enjoy their corsets. One of them told me she wears one as a top to clubs just to lure in unsuspecting guys so she can rip em apart with intelligent conversation and debate. She has a 4.0 and BS in Psychiatry.

A BS in Psychiatry indeed, I'm sure she had a super healthy relationship with her dad.

 

[crimson sickle2]

I'd donate to that, sadly I don't have any money.

 

[maninahat]

This is alarmingly on the nose.

Now I'm going to spend the next half hour, wondering what kind of context the game would provide to justify the central conceit.

 

[maninahat]

Sorry, but I personally know a few raging fems and they enjoy their corsets. One of them told me she wears one as a top to clubs just to lure in unsuspecting guys so she can rip em apart with intelligent conversation and debate. She has a 4.0 and BS in Psychiatry.

Pfft, corsets were the Victorian patriarchy's primary tool of oppressing the feminazguls of their time.

See! This game has layers and everything. Genius, really.

 

[SnakeCL]

I would much rather donate to this than anything Sarkeesian does.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

Yeah, the joke is overshadowed by the funny game idea and amazing concept art.

 

[Elamdri]

Steampunk Feminists Vs. Zombies

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Kickstarter in a nutshell. Love it.

 

[Therumancer]

If someone actually made this, they'd probably fuck it up and fill it full of second and third wave terminology that completely fails to reflect the beliefs or work of the early first-wave feminist thinkers who actually belong in this setting (this happens even within just this comic strip). This is unfortunate, because a lot of people (including many contemporary feminists) could do with a reminder of who they were and what they did.

Missed this on the initial read through.

To be honest your correct, one of the big problems with doing a "period" game is avoiding having all of the morality defined by the liberal outlook of the last few decades. The point of playing in unusual periods is to get away from the real world.

In games attempting to do this kind of thing, the locations that tend to work best for adventuring are the same settings they used in old adventure stories. Having Africa again be "the Dark Continent" or explorers and soldiers of The British Empire (on which the sun never sets) run afoul of dark magic in India or China. Battling enemies inspired by the likes of Fu Manchu. Hardly politically correct by today's standards but it captures the period, which doesn't hold up in terms of motivation, attitudes, etc... if you attempt to insert a modern morality into it.

I'd kind of point fingers at things like the old "Space 1889" game, along with various "Wierd West" games like "Deadlands" given that around the time the victorian stuff was going on in Europe, we had a lot of the late end western stuff going on down here in the US. Things like "The Wild Wild West" (the TV series, as much, or more so than the Will Smith vehicle) were touching on these elements. While set a bit earlier, than the "Steampunk" era, Robert Howard's "Solomon Kane" tales also work as decent inspiration as to what a hero who doesn't subscribe entirely to what is considered modern morality but is still a good guy might function like (Kane is a puritan and travels the world).

That said for those that read my babbling this far, those looking for a fix of "Steampunk" type goodness might consider taking a look at "Martian Dreams" on Good Old Games, which was just added as a FREE title not too long ago (and mentioned here on The Escapist). Elizabeth Cochran/Nellie Bly is even a playable character (one of your party members) and actually is one of the feminists of that period. Then of course there is "Arcanum" which is the best work in the genere (with magic thrown in) but that's a paid game to download, which I already mentioned.

I'll also say that Grey's art is clever since despite being feminists the only girl in that picture dressed anywhere near practically for zombie fighting is the one in the middle and she's the closest to the usual fantasy fair.

 

[Mouse One]

I'd kind of point fingers at things like the old "Space 1889" game, along with various "Wierd West" games like "Deadlands" given that around the time the victorian stuff was going on in Europe, we had a lot of the late end western stuff going on down here in the US.

Cool, somebody remembered Space 1889! Actually, first a PnP RPG before it became a videogame hampered by the tech of its time, then on to become a radio series, and currently a tie-in book series. One of the main characters is a typical "American tough gal" (Annabelle Somerset) who is a cowgirl turned space explorer. Total Annie Oakley type-- not a suffragette but doesn't really have time for men who think she's likely to faint at the first sign of a Big Dangerous Alien. There were a lot of real women like that on the frontier (see also Nellie Bly-- like you said, a totally real and kick butt feminist of the time. She went around the world in LESS than 80 days!).

I think Space 1889 and similar universes have the right idea: put it all on fiction versions of Mars and such. Modern sensibilities wince at some of the patronizing attitudes the colonials had towards natives, but nobody blinks when you call the bestial High Martians bestial. Because, after all, they are!

 

[RJ 17]

You missed a word, it should have been "Feminist Nazis vs Steampunk Zombies."

 

[Vault101]

I think the comic kind of faild in that everyone wants this imaginairy game...I know I do

 

[Something Amyss]

I would totally play that game.

Hell yes!

...Actually, when I first heard "Tropes vs Women," I thought it was going to be something like that concept art.

And this one has steampunk! And zombies!

So seriously! Someone make this and I will actually kickstart it!

 

[frizzlebyte]

Looks a whole lot like Lady Mechanika, actually. Still, I'd totally throw money at that proposal.

 

[Wolfbane_Daoine]

I'd kind of point fingers at things like the old "Space 1889" game, along with various "Wierd West" games like "Deadlands" given that around the time the victorian stuff was going on in Europe, we had a lot of the late end western stuff going on down here in the US.

Cool, somebody remembered Space 1889! Actually, first a PnP RPG before it became a videogame hampered by the tech of its time, then on to become a radio series, and currently a tie-in book series. One of the main characters is a typical "American tough gal" (Annabelle Somerset) who is a cowgirl turned space explorer. Total Annie Oakley type-- not a suffragette but doesn't really have time for men who think she's likely to faint at the first sign of a Big Dangerous Alien. There were a lot of real women like that on the frontier (see also Nellie Bly-- like you said, a totally real and kick butt feminist of the time. She went around the world in LESS than 80 days!).

I think Space 1889 and similar universes have the right idea: put it all on fiction versions of Mars and such. Modern sensibilities wince at some of the patronizing attitudes the colonials had towards natives, but nobody blinks when you call the bestial High Martians bestial. Because, after all, they are!

Whoa. Space 1889 flashback inbound! I'm glad someone else remembers that game. I could never really get into it, being as young as I was at the time, but it seemed wonderfully complex and completely awesome in scope. I've still got the disks and manual I believe, but no way to install it. (Sadness)

On topic: This does seem like it could be turned into something fairly grand, with the right team on it. And I agree with some of other folks, the artwork presented is simply fantastic!

 

[jamuszero]

Alright, I'm done~ Here's my treatment of "Steampunk Feminists Vs. Zombies". Post that gorgeous header art from the comic, clean up the concept cards, record some bold statements about the game's revolutionary educational values, and you can get yourself a Kickstarter worth tens of thousands. Have fun:

http://alexszeto.blogspot.com/2012/07/game-design-bonus-tuesday-steampunk.html

 

[Evil Smurf]

*throws money at screen*

, but its not very effective.

credit card in the cd slot works

 

[Ghonzor]

This actually reminds me of Sucker Punch (the movie, not the company)

 

[Hiroshi Mishima]

Ya, funny that. A cynical person may suspect those who bombed her, or at least started the bombing, as being plants.

I'll tell you what's funnier. I've become increasingly cynical and jaded with a rather depressingly pessimistic view on life and Humanity in general.. and I wouldn't have pegged those as plants.

Probably cause I'm not a conspiracy theorist, I guess.

OT: I actually did think this was a real game. I don't know if I'd want to play it, but I certainly loved the concept artwork he did, and I do agree that it kind of overshadowed the intended joke.

I don't visit Kickstarter much, only ever went there because of the Double Fine Adventure which I donated about $30 to. We get plenty of updates and it sure seems like everyone is hard at work and having a good time making something they enjoy working on. I realize this may not be the norm, but that was my impression of what Kickstarter was intended to do. Whether it is or isn't, is a matter of opinion.. or more likely people from the future who could look back and see how it turned out. *shrug*

 

[ZexionSephiroth]

What do you mean it's not a real kickstarter?

Shut up and find someone to take our Money!

... Um... If you wouldn't mind.

Wait, did I just get possessed by Fluttershy?

...

 

[Ohlookit'sMatty]

Grey, you mentioned wanted to make this into a mini-series // I say go for it, with your twisted sense of humor and Cory's Art it will be a winner

-M