"Investigate the impossible, survive the Calamity, and keep the boiler singing." Step into an alternate 1897 where steam engines cross continents, airships test the patience of gravity, ghosts leave messages in cooling glass, impossible creatures turn up in railway tunnels, and respectable scientists are trying very hard not to admit that some doors lead somewhere else entirely.
Steampunk Beyond RPG Essentials: A Stand-Alone Field Manual for Agents and Directors (Tabletop Roleplaying Wyrd Musical Goodness) is a compact, stand-alone field manual for players and Directors who want to jump quickly into the world of the Bureau of Odd Phenomena, better known as BOP. Powered by the Awfully Cheerful Engine!, the tabletop roleplaying game blends steampunk adventure, paranormal investigation, Wyrd Wyld Science, dimensional travel, action, mystery, strange humor, and a strong helping of musical weirdness.
Players take the roles of BOP field agents sent to investigate the things ordinary authorities cannot explain. A case might involve a haunting, a rogue invention, an alien visitor, a dangerous portal, a creature in need of rescue, or something that has already eaten the customs declaration. The Bureau prefers investigation, protection, diplomacy, rescue, and humane containment, although sometimes the situation does require a very large hammer.
This book gives you everything needed to create and play BOP agents, including Roles, Stats, Foci, Traits, Karma, Power, musical specialties, field equipment, Harmonic Resonators, Wyrd Wyld devices, and Fast Portal travel. The essential rules are presented for quick table use, with the Calamity Die ready to turn a failed plan into a much more interesting failed plan. Musical performance is part of the setting, but nobody has to sing or play an instrument at the table. Describing what your Hero does works perfectly well.
Directors get practical tools for building and running original BOP cases, creating clues, setting clocks, handling complications, designing Extras and creatures, and keeping failure moving the story forward rather than stopping it cold. The emphasis stays where it belongs: on playable situations, meaningful choices, fast rulings, cinematic action, and memorable trouble.
The book also includes The Devil's Due at Barlow Arcade, a complete starter case designed for one substantial session or two shorter sessions. You can bring your own newly created agents or choose from eight ready-to-play members of the original BOP field team. Quick-reference pages and field sheets make it easier to keep the game moving once the oddness begins.
If you want steampunk without giving up ghosts, science fiction, fantasy, mystery, comedy, or the possibility that Headquarters may be in a different city when you return, Steampunk Beyond Essentials opens the door. Just remember that the Bureau put that warning label there for a reason.
