'ow would you 'ave a game in a fantasy version of Victorian-era France, mon amis?

>Don't the French technically do steampunk WAY better than the British anyway
Yes, but in different ways. Better electrical engineering, better huge public works, but less actual steam.

The Belle Époque has the same role in the French mythos as the Victorian-era has in the English's: an era where people were civilized, everything was neat and simple, France was en exceptional country with an exceptional empire on the path to greatness, when women were women, men were men, when great scientists changed the world and when the light of civilization shone to the barbarians' eyes.

All very far from reality, of course.

That feel when Germany never had such an era.

I honestly don't know very much about German history. Surely not between the WWs with the Spartacus revolution and economic issues and Hitler and whatnot, but surely between the Prussian war and WW1? There wasn't an era of greatness then?

It can be argued that the beginning of WW2 is the Belle Époque/Victorian Era of Germany. It is certainly debatable, and will attract a lot of trolls, but it is a time when the country was at its greatest and the Germans believed themselves invincible.

>ow would you 'ave a game in a fantasy version of Victorian-era France, mon amis?

France changed significantly several times during the period.

The July Monarchy is replaced by the Second Republic. That government is then overthrown in a coup and the Second Empire established. The Second Empire gets it's shit pushed in by the Prussians and the Third Republic comes out the rubble. The Third Republic first had to put down the Paris Commune, then suffered nearly a decade of royalist agitation, and then settled down under the rule of so-called "radicals" until 1940. Between roughly 1890 and 1914, you looking at the Belle Epoque too.

That's a lot of different types of "France", so each should have it's own fantasy version.

It was an era of creation, and Germany only can destroy

>I honestly don't know very much about German history.

>It can be argued that the beginning of WW2 is the Belle Époque/Victorian Era of Germany.

You're correct. You don't know very much about German history.

Well, enlighten me then. It's an interesting topic, watching how countries see their own history.

From my uncultured standpoint, the beginning of WWII, while absolutely reviled nowadays, was a point when the German people believed to be the most civilized, great, powerful, when men were men and women were women. There is a parallel to be made with the Belle Époque/Victorian Era.

>It was an era of creation, and Germany only can destroy
There is an era of German history literally called "The Time of Creators". But it was very short and it was also a time of suppression of ideas and political oppression.

Because they weren't neither cultured nor civilized at that point.

Because it was a delusion caused by the intense psychological trauma of Versailles.

They have a nice flavour you can include, though few do - which is odd, with Verne right there as an inspiration.

The french were also obsessed with flight, for another thing

Some pretty cool turn-of-the-century french stuff about what they thought the future of war would be like here
merveilleuxscientifique.fr/auteurs/robida-alfred-la-guerre-infernale/

>better huge public works
Like what? I'm intrigued

>merveilleuxscientifique.fr/auteurs/robida-alfred-la-guerre-infernale/
I think this article is a much better illustration to Frenchpunk:
publicdomainreview.org/collections/france-in-the-year-2000-1899-1910/

In France the late 19th century was the one of the big public works, like the Rhin-Rhône canal (artificial river linking the two rivers for river boats), lots of hydroelectric power plants and other waterworks being built, whole cities being rebuilt/built (Paris, Lyon), bridges (especially in the Alps, a lot of the bridges there are still from that time).

>Well, enlighten me then.

Google the phrase "Wilhelmine Germany".

>From my uncultured standpoint...

Your uncultured "standpoint" is completely wrong. Read and listen more. Post and speak less.

Also of course the Metropolitain in Paris, along with multiples Palais for the Exposition Internationale

>Like what? I'm intrigued

Along with canals, railways, hydropower, electrification, bridge, tunnels, etc. they basically bulldozed most of Paris and rebuilt it.

Check out Baron Haussmann.

I mean the fragmented german states saw various different times of peace and many contributed to science and learning. Unless you mean Unified germany.

>Victorian era France
REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

It's either Second Empire or Belle Époque ENCULÉ

You're a dumbass, you really have no idea how Fourier Theory makes everything so much easier.

>Victorian
>France
I vomited in my mouth a little.

That said, in a "France, but not really" twist the Foreign Legion in Africa could make for a great campaign. I believe it has two great advantages over strolling around in Paris:
1. The Dark Continent. It's unknown, uncharted, filled with fantastic animals, strange diseases and superstitious savages. And those savages couldn't be right about all the jungle spirits, right? Riiiiiiiiiiight?
2. One of the more involved military units in French Africa was the Foreign Legion. This means you can, but aren't forced to, play a Frenchman. You could play a huge variation of characters, from a grizzled British marine who decides to pick up arms again despite getting too old for this shit, an Argentinian smuggler on the run from the law, or even an exiled prince from one of Germany's many stamp-sized "kingdoms". It allows for a lot of character variation.

The only problem is that it might trigger some SJWs, but if you keep the most radical ones away from the table and don't go full /pol/ you should be fine. Alternatively move everything to the Sahel region: less jungle, but more black people who aren't spearchuckers.

the french victorian time is the Second Empire of Napleon III

I said Germany, why would I mean anything else?

In terms of "optimist era in which nothing can possibly go wrong (except that whole world war we're not expecting)" Belle Époque covers the era better.

Still, Napoleon III is IMO one of the most criminally underrated rulers, only detested because Victor Hugo didn't like him (and Victor Hugo more or less defined how France at the time thought, so now everyone either hates him or doesn't care).

>you are veterans of the June uprising
>then, you were beaten and your companions got killed
>but it's been 10 years ago already
>you smell the wind of change
>will you be brave enough to organise the workers again?

Seriously, XIX century in France is so full of revolutions, it's hard not to base your campaign on them.
Maybe make the players lead the Paris commune so they actually attack Versailles. Or, if you don't want revolutions, what about the war against Prussia?

Losing the Prussian war was unbelievable and unforgivable.

>unbelievable
Yeah, kinda unexpected
>unforgivable
Not really. The Germans at the time really pioneered the whole military staff system. They were just really good at organizing wars not so much geopolitics, as they'd spend the next decades throwing as many allies at France as they could

Still, that war doesn't erase everything else he did including but not limited to the (second) abolition of slavery, the whole renovation of Paris, colonial expansion, industrialization, the (second) introduction of universal suffrage, opening up the education system for women et cetera. He was nowhere as brilliant as his uncle, but doesn't deserve to be as universally hated as he is.

He isn't that hated, just forgotten. Or if he's remembered, it's with a big meh.

>(second)
>(second)
Oops.

Let me tell you about the Bourbons, who managed to produce ONE (1) good king, then proceeded to fuck up everything. Despite being given THREE (3) chances to get their shit together.

The Restoration was a mistake.

>Rhin-Rhône canal
Man, the wikipedia page in English is so amazingly shit compared to the French one.

I'd heard of Haussmann, but I often get him confused with someone else who wanted to re-design Paris from the ground up

Also keking at the REEEs from the frogs over "Victorian Era France"

>tfw never again Napoléon Empereur and never de Gaulle dictateur à vie.
Why even live.

He never should have married Eugenie, never should got involved in the Mexico fiasco, and never should have garrisoned Rome among many other things.

Like nearly every other European statesman of the period, he also had the misfortune of attempting to deal with Bismarck. Only Disraeli got the better of Bismarck and then not for long.

Still, Napoleon III doesn't deserve to be as hated as he is.

>He was nowhere as brilliant as his uncle
Stop with the Napoleon worship he was a piece of trash. He threw half the country into the meatgrinder for FUCKING NOTHING

>He never should have married Eugenie
Most European monarchs didn't want to touch early Napoleon III with a ten foot pole because he was still considered a kicked up peasant. He almost married a relative of Victoria, if not for those pesky laws that British royals aren't allowed to marry Catholics. Eugenie was the best he could've done.

>Mexico Fiasco
Yeah, bad move. Still, it would've turned out okay had the US civil war lasted a year or so longer.

>Garrisoned Rome
Napoleon III was hated by parliament but beloved by the people at large, he was a legit populist. Abandoning Rome would've made him really unpopular with the masses he so relied on.

But he could've handled those last two better, that much is true.

Fuck off Lindybeige.

>tfw never again such revolutionary spirit will be felt as when the Bastille fell
>tfw you will never again organise your society according to the reason, beauty and virtue
>tfw clocks will never have 10 hours

>I'd heard of Haussmann, but I often get him confused with someone else who wanted to re-design Paris from the ground up
What? Not only did he want to redesign Paris from the ground up, he did it.

>10 hours
>100 minutes
Why did the rest of the decimalization efforts survive but not this?

>Google the phrase "Wilhelmine Germany".

Thanks mate. That was the answer I wanted.

>Your uncultured "standpoint" is completely wrong. Read and listen more. Post and speak less.

Rude. Very rude. Did you get thrashed by your girlfriend today or something?

>I'd heard of Haussmann, but I often get him confused with someone else who wanted to re-design Paris from the ground up
He did it, the absolute madman. Le Corbusier wanted to 70 years after but was denied because his ideas were shit.

>Also keking at the REEEs from the frogs over "Victorian Era France"
You're "keking" at your own ignorance and bad education.

Drifting clouds of cigarette smoke obscure the landscape as you anxiously finger the hilt of your baguette. From directly behind your left shoulder you hear the soft warning of an imminent attack: 'Oi ya bastahd welcoom to fahkin' Crecy.'

The french fantasy is usually a bit different from the anglo themes.
I think you'd see a bigger emphasis on nature as an undominable force, even if you don't go full Gaia.

It's the same with their post-apocalyptic works. Instead of Mad Max, they make La Foret d'Iscambre.

The french revolution could have gone either way, with the revolutionaries being magicians, so you would have a magocracy until Napoleon arrives, or with the terror getting rid of the court wizards and leaving only the hedgewizards alive, with the french fantasy society emerging again from them. There are still a lot of magnetizers in france today, not to mention the african marabouts that immigrated (wonder if other countries also find pic related in their mailboxes).

Also keep in mind that France, compared to Germany and England, was always a land of farmers and artisans, even during the Industrial Revolution.

>Paris Commune
France had a lot of revolts during 19th century (during the rest of its history too, but that's another story).
The july revolution, the canut revolts, the june uprisings,...

Have some french steampunk revolution:
youtube.com/watch?v=_sseXUlSoU0

And some ttrpg with a lot of RL occultist texts:
nephilimlejeu.free.fr/spip/spip.php?rubrique59

Being proud of his own ignorance is the defining point of the anglo.

>tfw when the 10 days workweek

because imperial inch feet yard miles is dumb as fuck but the sexadecimal basis for angles and time is godlike due to 60 having many divisors[/spoilers]

>Only Disraeli got the better of Bismarck and then not for long.
Gorchakov used his help to lift the sanctions imposed on Russia after the Crimean War and gave nothing in return. Nobody remembers him though because he was a Russian.

>Still, Napoleon III is IMO one of the most criminally underrated rulers, only detested because Victor Hugo didn't like him
He did a lot of things wrong, very, very, very wrong. Like that He was a somewhat bad ruler, though not a horrible one by any means. The Napoleon III apologists trend we have nowadays are mostly ultra-liberals who liked his economic reforms. Papers like Le Figaro try very hard to make him appear like a badly understood, underrated genius, which he honestly wasn't.

>Papers like Le Figaro try very hard to make him appear like a badly understood, underrated genius
Are you implying there are French newspapers left that don't make France out to be history's bad guy? This makes me smile.

No, I'm aware of le Belle Epoque, it's just amusing to see frogs ree about it.

>Le Corbusier
Thank you. I knew two guys wanted to redesign Paris, one got to do it, possibly making the streets wide for (what would end up being the German) army and hard to barricade.

>Are you implying there are French newspapers left that don't make France out to be history's bad guy?
There is literally no french newspapers that try to make France out to be history's bad guy.

>Rude. Very rude.

Rude? You admit you know nothing about the topic yet still voice an opinion?

You're akin to some moron who breaks in on a conversation with an asinine and unrelated comment. That is rude.

That's called having a discussion, my angry friend.

Being open about what you want to learn, and defining what makes sense from what little you already know. It's healthy.

>France had a lot of revolts during 19th century (during the rest of its history too, but that's another story).

True, but the Commune was nasty in it's own special way.

Where are you getting these wonderful pre-dred photos?

>Where are you getting these wonderful pre-dred photos?
From my collection of wonderful french pre-dreadnoughts

Since the topic is France.

>That's called having a discussion

No, We were having a discussion and you had the bad manners to interrupt it in order to display your ignorance.

You could asked what Germany's equivalent of the Victorian/Bell Epoque eras were. Instead you stated an opinion based solely on your ignorance.

Read and listen more. Post and talk less.

Of course! I should have known. :)

>12 months, 30 days each, so you have 5 days left to worship virtues
My guillotine can only get so erect

Something that can be considered is that 19th century France was highly factious, so it wouldn't be only the poor workers vs L'HOMME but some libertine shit with the bureaucracy, the politicians, the rich, the poor, the army, the militias, the reds, the whites, the regionalists, the jacobins, and all of them can be the bad guys or the good guys depending on the point of view

>Muh Cult of the Supreme Being
Robespierre made exactly one mistake and it was disgusting.

Learning by being corrected is still learning.

And Veeky Forums being Veeky Forums, are very quick to correct if you say something wrong - and, quite usefully, people are often very targeted on where you're wrong

Not saying the guy's not dumb though, but saying something stupid in a venue where people are sure to correct you is a pretty good way to get info

ze waerm grasp of ze octopus enveloped me like a womb

>the Commune was nasty in it's own special way.

Oh god, not again.

Define 'nasty'. Except a score of priests at the very end, the Commune never killed anyone.

The end of the Commune was certainly nasty, as rivers of blood flooded Paris, but that's not the Commune's fault, that's the nascent Third Republic. Which wasn't really the Third Republic at that time, given.

Vilifying the Commune is one of the most difficult task to be found, when one's look closely at history. There is very few revolts ending in brutal murder that was less grey. After all, you can always say that the Revolution ended with the Terror and was morally black as a result.

So, he said dumb shit, outright admitting that it may be dumb, and when called out on it, actually asked for info, and you're still not satisfied?

This is Veeky Forums on best behaviour, what more could you possibly want?

>Oh god, not again.

My apologies. I should have wrote "crushing the Commune was nasty in it's own special way".

>So, he said dumb shit, outright admitting that it may be dumb, and when called out on it, actually asked for info, and you're still not satisfied?

There's a great difference between writing "I don't know anything. When was Germany's Bell Epoque?" and writing TWICE "I don't know anything, but Germany's Belle Epoque was just prior to WW2.:

>This is Veeky Forums on best behaviour, what more could you possibly want?

Veeky Forums learning to behave better?

Really though, I've just picked them up - ship threads on /k/, steampunk and naval wargames threads here and so on.

I do like the idea of doing steampunk (or transitioning into dieselpunk) france (and other non-britain nations), so finding out more stuff like to draw inspiration from is always good

Thanks for sharing them. You got to love that tumblehome hull style.

I found some turn-of-the-century (1900 that is) hand tinted postcards of US warships several years back and had them framed. I was hoping I'd stumbled across another source.

Which one again's the one that looks weird because it was built in the middle of the transition from pre-dread to dread, or dread to battleship?

What's Authorian lore?

blog.livedoor.jp/irootoko_jr/

>Also keking at the REEEs from the frogs over "Victorian Era France".
That's like asking for the american civil war in England. People won't know if you meant the period or the event.

Assuming you mean Arthurian lore, I'm not an expert on this but I think I can give somewhat of an answer. British (well, Welsh) Arthurian tales were the original ones. The popular ones you know of today were stories written down by the Frenchman Chrétien de Troyes, who is among others responsible for the OC do not steal we know as Lancelot.

This probably happened because he was in the service of Éleonore of Aquitaine, who married I think Henry II of England, starting the Angevin bloodline to which among others Richard Lionheart belongs.

Thank you very much.

Not sure - the difference between the last french pre-dreads is pretty big

This is the last pre-dread (note big centre turret and smaller side turrets)

And the pretty normal-looking dreadnought that followed

What I remember is that it had two turrets side by side on the front and two huge bulges on each side.

Pass

>British (well, Welsh) Arthurian tales were the original ones.
Brittany was home to some of the early material as well; sadly at least one relevant book that may have been referenced by Geoffrey of Monmouth that was from Brittany was lost in the 19th century.

Also British (as in English) arthurian lore draws a hell of a lot more from Chretien de Troyes and le Morte d'Artur than on the original material.

I'd start by building a wall around the Eiffel Tower to protect it from blacks.

I mean arabs.

I mean terrorists.

Yeah. Terrorists.

>Le Corbusier
fuck this man everything he did was shit

We need to build a wall, and Brussels will pay for it!

I want /pol/ to leave. I'm tired of having to skim between stormniggers posts to find some content worth reading.

That balcony is cute as fuck.
>Ah, of course, it iz completely useless, but the panache, mon ami, the beau geste.... Having it iz simply mandotory.

He's a shit architect, but his furniture is pretty great.

He actually wasn't even French. Romandie specialises in exporting pretentious faggots like Le Corbusier or Jean-Luc Godard.

The balcony is pretty cute, and while it is small, I bet you could get a folding chair or two on there, watch the sun go down over Tianjin or Saigon with a bottle of wine

Use " Cuthulu by gaslight", but add more garlic!

...

Baguette simple weapon one handed 1d4 bludgeoning