I'm looking for suggestions for legendary objects in the Steamroller setting. These are objects that can be either magical or ancient technology or modern steamtech that has a profound effect on the imaginations and desires of people in the setting.
This is your chance to affect development.
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Arcanic Clockwork Puzzlebox. Similar to the puzzle box of Hellraiser lore but kept as a city secret. The Box holds a great and powerful energy that requires several correct key actions on the puzzle box to fully open when the box is in several strange positions. Nobody knows what will happen if the box is fully opened but many have theorized that it will release entities of raw magic from a prison dimension, any one of these creatures powerful enough to lay waste to a city within hours.
Enchant-O-Trons: In the past wizards would spend day and night imbuing their raw energies into items to make them permanently magical. But fret no more, friend! With the Enchant-O-Tron at your disposal simply allow the device to drain some of your precious energies into it's Crobb Co. patented containment vessel where it will stay, fresh and potent, to be used when needed. Merely insert the item you wish to enchant into the pressure sealed oven, set the settings on your Enchant-O-Tron, and press the big red button and PRESTO! Custom enchanted items with no fatigue, no drained strength, and a fresh minty smell! Buy all our patent-pending extensions for more complicated enchanting today! WARNING: Do not over-fill the Crobb Co. containment vessel. For Factory Use Only.
Iron Guard: During the Iron Revolution Crobb Co. created massive war golems dubbed "The Iron Guard". Standing twenty feet tall and fifteen feet wide they acted like extensions to the Crescent Guard, the royal wizards guild and guardians of the Empire, who could pilot them from within using their magical energies to fuel the contraptions for a short time. The golems stored and amplified the pilot's magical abilities making them formidable enemies on the battlefield. Unfortunately just as the first batch of Iron Guard rolled off the assembly line the Iron Revolution ended in a truce, ending Crobb Co.'s war-time funding and moth balling the only order of Iron Guard. The location of that fateful bath of Iron Guard is unknown.
A little too common on the magic. In Steamroller, the magic is rare. I like where you're head's at, though. See my blog:
An Explanation of Magic in the Steamroller™ Setting
However, the Arcanic Clockwork Puzzlebox does fit with one of my plot lines.
Oh....well you said either magical or ancient technology and stuff. :P I'll read the setting and get back to you.
Well, I did also specify "legendary". Legendary, at least to me, is likely one-of-a-kind and very specific. Something sought after and rare with the possibility of being simply myth. You presented the second two as common objects for sale on the market.
It doesn't have to be magical. Just legendary.
Hmmm....well take away the magical element of the Iron Guard and they'd be like walking battle suits reliant on a fuel source of your choice. That could still be something since there's a finite amount of them which are held somewhere in secret.
Now that I think on it, it's very hard to think up Legendary, non-magical items that aren't at the very least mundane or easily reproducible through mechanics. It's kinda like looking at Da Vinci's notebook drawings and seeing the wonderful pictures and knowing you could make them but they wouldn't do what they're supposed to. Either that or I just don't have the capacity to think of an interesting item that doesn't have some eerie element or suspend disbelief in that way. :P
EDIT: Now if you go "Wonders of the World" Legendary you could go steam powered bullet trains in far off cities, motorcycles more in the way of metal horses, and skyscrapers that transform like automated puzzle boxes.
Well, on the converse, I'm not saying they can't be magical. They just need to be extremely special and unique.
Suspending disbelief is just fine.
Transforming skyscrapers, while not entirely restricted from the setting, would definitely be a one-of-a-kind item, and likely nothing of any great significance to one's power beyond revealing a super cannon. (Not getting up and walking.) And it's really not far off cities I'm concerned with in this setting, nor anything that can't be brought back from somewhere.
I'm thinking more along the lines of portable constructs and adventure plothooks.
Sorry for not being more clear before. I didn't think about the fact that people might have different ideas of what a legendary object is.
I would take a look at my friend's roleplaying game, Tephra. It's ALL Steampunk, all the time. I haven't had time to flip through my copy yet but it's bound to have a lot of stuff in there.