Inventor's Guild (mechanists)

[Macsen]

I'd prefer it if they just punched you. The screen would wobble a bit and blur when you got hit. So you would run away from guards, past a civilian who would wallop you in the face, causing you to lose your bearings.

[Ishtvan]

I agree that they (the Mechanites) should at least carry a dagger.

 

It's pretty naive to go unarmed in this world. Also, a dagger is a good general tool for some things, like eating dinner, prying stuff open, disabling a malfunctioning bot that has decided to kill everyone, etc.

Edited April 29, 2005 by Ishtvan

[Springheel]

It was quite customary in medieval/renaissance times to carry a dagger, so I have no problem with this. It should be something small, and it won't need to be visible on the model, as it could be tucked away in a boot or under a piece of clothing. I'd love to see a player's face the first time he's about to knock out a cowering AI and the AI suddenly lunges forward with a dagger!

[oDDity]

Civilians wielding weapions is only going to encourage combat with them. There's no enjoyment in killing a cowering one, but fun to be had fighting with one. It's hardly worth the effort of the 'surprise' considering it's only going to work once. The rest of the time the player now knows he can get a fight from a civilian. This leaves no innocents any more, everyone is fair game.

[Springheel]

I wasn't suggesting they actually engage in combat, just that they lunge forward, stab at the thief, and then run past him. Civilians would never pull out daggers until they were cornered, and even then only some of them would. It's more interesting (and believable) than having them all cower and wait to be pummeled.

[Springheel]

Here's another version of a mechanite with the funky goggles.

 

[Macsen]

Heh, you've also solved the 'what weapon should they carry?' question there.

[Ishtvan]

Looks good!

 

Btw, I agree these guys' first course of action should be to run for help / call the bots. I wonder if it would make sense to give them some sort of wireless transmitter that they could press that would actually call nearby bots to their location when the mechanites felt threatened?

 

That being said, I think if you corner them they should have some tricks up their sleeve rather than just cowering. Like a flashbomb, or teargas bomb or something that would disorient you while they push you aside and run away.

[New Horizon]

Looks Great Spring. Nice job.

[Alexius]

how about givin' em these kinda robots:

now that would be truly steam-punkish machinery

Edited May 17, 2005 by Alexius

[Springheel]

Heh. They're mechanists, not mechwarriors.

[Alexius]

well this would be more funky then their usual mech-bots.

[Macsen]

I still think they should be wearing Victorian style suits under those aprons and other bits and bobs. It makes them much more eccentric, more Victorian Gothic, and somewhat Frankenstine-ey. It adds a lot more flavour, basically. They should be spindlier, lankier, less portly also.

[Ishtvan]

When's the last time you saw an engineer wearing a suit at work?

[Springheel]

Not only that, but none of our other characters (with the possible exception of the Founders) have any clothing that is remotely Victorian. We don't want the inventors to look totally out of place.

[oDDity]

I agree with Macsen here. EVERYONE wore a black suit to work in Victorian times, whether you were a road digger or a clerk, it was virtually the only clothing available for men.

I'd like to see them in flat caps as well, with a kind of brown lab coat over their suit. In other words, more realistically dressed. THey are the faction of science and reason after all. You had enough room to be flamboyant and fantasical with the mages.

In fact, some of them could wear bowler hats too. I just had a great vision of them looking like a lanky Charlie Chalin in a baggy suit and bowler

Edited May 18, 2005 by oDDity

[Macsen]

Not only that, but none of our other characters (with the possible exception of the Founders) have any clothing that is remotely Victorian. We don't want the inventors to look totally out of place.

And their Victorian steampunk inventions don't? And their big red brick Victorian mansions don't?

 

Let's face it, these are Victorian guys dropped into a medieval world. They've got Victorian architecture and steampunk technology, so clothes from the period would probably be the least jarring thing about them.

 

When's the last time you saw an engineer wearing a suit at work?

 

Not recently, because I'm a bit chronologically challanged in this regard. But these guys wouldn't be working in tuxedos, but a dirty black suit, something almost everyone who didn't reside in the bowels of s steam ship wore bck then. And again, it gives them that Victorian gothic edge that really fits in with their 'mad inventor' eccentricities.

[Springheel]

In other words, more realistically dressed. THey are the faction of science and reason after all. You had enough room to be flamboyant and fantasical with the mages.

 

"Realistically dressed" in relation to what? Real life steampunk victorian scientists?

 

At the moment, they are anything but flamboyant, other than a flourish or two on the apron so you can tell them apart from shop-keepers.

 

Let's face it, these are Victorian guys dropped into a medieval world. They've got Victorian architecture and steampunk technology, so clothes from the period would probably be the least jarring thing about them.

 

They actually *build* the technology. Who designs the clothes? Do they have a tailor's division at the guild? People who can't figure out the robots but can invent advanced fashion?

 

These guys are going to wear the same clothes anyone else would wear, with an occasional innovation for utility (they are the only ones with pockets). Since they don't have a 'uniform', I don't think it makes sense to have this guild dress in totally different fashions than the rest of the population.

[Macsen]

They actually *build* the technology. Who designs the clothes? Do they have a tailor's division at the guild? People who can't figure out the robots but can invent advanced fashion?

You can believe steampunk machines, but your imagination doesn't strech as far as a fashion the Mechanists have clung to and made their own? Why the hell do the Builders wear different stuff to everyone else? Or the Mages? Where did all the Victorian architecture come from? Do they have an architect division at the guild, for people who can't figure out the robots but can create advanced architecture? We have to presme that at some point these kind of suits came into fashion, in real life and in this game world. There's nothing very advanced about this fashion, other than it grew in popularity, in our world, after the renaissance style fashions. The rest of the game world makes a huge leap from 1603 to the 1830s, why can't their clothes?

[Springheel]

Why the hell do the Builders wear different stuff to everyone else? Or the Mages?

 

The builders have a "uniform" as most religious organizations do. The mages create outlandish outifts to suit their personality and project their status.

 

We agreed the inventor's guild doesn't need a uniform, so that means they would dress pretty much like average people.

 

Where did all the Victorian architecture come from?

 

What kind of Victorian architecture are you talking about? Red brick? Chimneys? We haven't really planned anything distinctly Victorian. Besides, the architecture is used all over the place, not by a single faction. If we had lots of people wearing victorian clothing, then there would be no problem with inventors favouring it over other clothing (for whatever reason). But if they're the only ones wearing it, then it raises the question why.

[Macsen]

If there's no Victorian architecture than all those Victorian textures, wardrobes, lamps, metalwork... pretty much everything, will look very out of place. To argue that all those things could have come about while Victorian dress could never have been created is absurd.

 

The Mechaists' clothes isn't an uniform. It's a fashion they have created in rebellion, to mark themselves out like Goths do with their black t-shirts and funny painted faces, as they're outcasts from the rest of the rich folk of the City. However, since they are in many ways the future, their style of dress is bound to become more popular with non-Mechanists as well after some time, so we could have the occasional noble wearing a top hat or something similar.

[Springheel]

To argue that all those things could have come about while Victorian dress could never have been created is absurd.

 

Equipment and architecture impact a setting in a different way than clothing does, especially when mixed liberally with other styles.

 

A scouting orb is a pretty modern piece of technology, and we might even include a Zepplin--both relatively modern things, but they wouldn't stand out that much. But a cowboy hat or blue jeans would definitely look out of place, even though they're from around the same time period.

 

I personally think it would look ridiculous to mix victorian clothing into the mostly medieval style we currently have (top-hats and chainmail just do not work in my mind), but perhaps I'm in the minority. I'll let others have their say.

[Fingernail]

I'd welcome some variation in the form of more Victorian outfits. But since it refers to such a wide range of styles, as a period it's quite forgiving.