I've recently been looking for a generic skirmish level Steampunk/Victorian Sci Fi rule set. Then I started getting ideas and decided to just create my own.
The basic idea of C.O.G.S - Combat Operations in Generic Steampunk - is to produce a 28mm skirmish system which is flexible and generic, giving gamers a clean slate to develop their own Steampunk/VSF units, vehicles and heroes. A little like the way GruntZ allows you to create your own 15mm SF units, only with more steam, rivets and exposed gearing. I am aiming for a 'Penny Dreadful' feel - that's a Pulp feel from an era BEFORE the Pulps existed! To this end, Heroes and their Side Kicks are the focus of the game, and can do really epic things, while units are basically just there to fill out the numbers and provide moving scenery. I envision the game being more scenario driven that points based - I already have plans for Nuns defending mission stations against fiendish natives, and frenchmen in diving suits battling giant sharks.
At present I only have basic rule mechanics in place, and a lot more development to go. The core mechanics have been tested and work pretty nicely, but there's a lot of balancing and tweaking needed.
I am working on a system for designing your own vehicles with a range of power plants, drive trains and sizes.Although the system is generic, and encourages players to develop units and vehicles, I am considering making some paper craft starter armies with pre-generated rules for those who are not so interested in developing their own.
Some of my own conversions and scratchbuilds will be appearing on Terrain For Hippos over the month of January.
