Evolving a Setting

How would you fluff a world composed of the punk settings?

At what point in time should a Steampunk world slowly transition to a Dieselpunk settings, and later into an Atompunk?

I don't think the transition even works like that. Part of the thing with steampunk is that it's completely alternative technology, diverging at a certain point. Same with Diesel and Atom.

>the punk settings?
. . . It's not really anything to do with "punk" anymore.

Cyberpunk was "Hey, what are the crazy technological advances going to be like?" And they were wildly fanciful.

Steampunk, diesel/atom are "Hey, what if the older technological advances were wildly fanciful?"


It's not actually one cohesive setting, it's just "hey, let's overblow technological singularities".

>How would you fluff a world composed

. . . You could keep the exact fluff of reality. IE, history. But instead of FDR getting pushed around in a wheelchair, his mechanical spider-leg machine scuttles around. Instead of paratroopers, theres.... guys like your image.

While the technology is wildly different, the outcome could be completely the same, and the fluff progresses just as history. You know, until players are involved in any way. Railroads suck.
If you want to think about how DIFFERENT everything would be if we had giant clock-work androids in 1782.... then there probably would never be a diesel engine. Like how a mage that can teleport would never go into the effort of... making a diesel engine. BUT HEY! sure, let's say tech keeps advancing and the giant clockwork bots get out-classed by ICE bots.

Diesel to Atom could work. Steam is its own pandoras box of technological retardation so I wouldn't even bother with that. Space WW2 experimenting with nuclear power and eventually going full pre-war Fallout would be cool as fuck though.

It should never transition. Steampunk should die a slow, painful death.

>At what point in time should a Steampunk world slowly transition to a Dieselpunk settings, and later into an Atompunk?
When Tesla/Nyarlathotep arrives on the scene.

Like what said, Dieselpunk can translate to Atompunk. See Wolfenstein New Order and Colossus for a prime example.

>tfw you didn't stop Mecha-Hitler when he only had WW2 tech and now you have to fight nuclear powered Mecha-Hitler.

>TFW when you need to fly to the Moon on a Nazi Flying Space Saucer to kill Mecha Hitler.

It also depends on the type of stuff the Diesel setting has.

It is sorta hard to have one point in time have Occult Nazis, and when the power of the Atom is mastered, never mention them again.

>killing Mecha-Hitler
You fool! Haven't you seen enough of this timeline to know that he was right all along?

Same as real life? New fuels are made, technology advances and I imagine by the end of "atompunk" technology has advanced too much and too fast and it either becomes a cyberpunk dystopia or one of those pulpy sci fi's where every man has a space ship and the universe is one big wild west.

I agree. Advancement in a Steampunk world could look something like Girl Genius, where alternate forms of power are discovered but still harnessed in ornate, clunky ways that defy logic. Cyberpunk advances relentlessly from near future to something like Shadowrun, then (depending on a good or bad ending) Alien's world of corporate-sponsored offworld colonies. Etc.

>Not just advancing the weird WW2 up too and now having Occult Nazis with fission rifles.
Or worse yet, befitting the atomic age foes, Occult Commies.

If we were to make a transition between Steampunk and Dieselpunk, consider the different 'feel' both setting has. Steampunk has the feel of unbridled optimism in inventions and exploration, with a shade of oppression and exotic-ism. Dieselpunk has this patriotic, but overall 'under hard times' feel.
So what would cause the cheery, optimistic, carefree Steampunk to turn into a more realpolitik Dieselpunk? Would a worker's revolution happen, that utilizes the new diesel fuel instead of steam? Would a global war expose the frailty of steam technology, and show the durability of diesel-based tech? Were there a slow but steady improvements that replaced steam with diesel in the technology used?

what about gothic punk?

Utopia Punk?
Also known as cyberpreppie?

Its like star trek, but for some reason you're miserable.

these are real tropes, I didn't just make them up.

Problem is, too much (Blank) not enough PUNK. Our kids today are such little dweebs. I just want to hand them a BB gun and say, "Go cause trouble."

The punk part is the important part. Getting kids to question authority and take cheap shots at a broken system. No risk no reward. If you're game doesn't have anti-authority/ anti-establishment themes, its not punk.

So like ST:D? That's not me making a jab at the show for being terrible, that's me making a jab at the show because apparently even Star Trek needs to be filled with pointless squabbling and conflict for the sake of being DRAMATIC

-punk genres have never been punk, besides Cyberpunk. Your post shows you are, in fact, a little dweeb who has never lived in a time steampunk didn't exist

>punk settings

The only punk one is cyberpunk

Thats the kind of thing that'll get a kid shot these days.

it has to start somewhere
it has to start sometime
what better place than here
what better place than now

Depends on the story you're telling.

for me, I usually like to set things at the transition between eras. in my current DnD campaign, the setting is just beginning to evolve from Renaissance towards Enlightenment (so, technically, the players would find themselves in the age of piracy if they weren't inland right now)

Now if I were to write a steampunk setting, I'd probably expressly have the players be working alongside or cross paths with hints of the first diesel-engines and such, and maybe towards end-game, a sort of sign the players have changed the world is the unveiling of the new technology. (and of course the subtle kick in the player's dicks that they, and everything they have done is now on the path to irrelevancy in the world. At best, a mention in history books. At worse, caricaturized as relics.)

Then why aren't we making it about punk?
Why not have the tinkering factory urchins cause unrest because of how the nobles treated them?
Why not have the young veteran with the three mile stare rouse the populace because of how the government treats their soldiers like cannon fodder?
Why not have the once-bright-eyed journalist expose the dangers of unbridled atomic technology, and how little the government cares about them?

If it's broken, why don't we fix it?

If we wanna go with the historical route, we can always throw the optimistic, and romantic age of steam into World War 1.