RPGWatch Forums - Van Helsing - What is "Weird Science"?

Neocore writes about the setting for Van Helsing, saying it isn't really Steampunk but "weird science":

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"The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing" is set in the majestic town of Borgova, where soot covers the walls and giant machines rumble in the dark. It is a city of old brick, grey slate, ugly factories and cast-iron walkways.
It all sounds very much like a steampunk setting, doesn’t it? Well, the artwork of Borgova certainly incorporates some steampunk elements, but it is far from being a proper steampunk setting. Firstly, steampunk is a concept deeply rooted in Victorian society and technology, which is very far away from our game world. And secondly, we don’t really have magnificent, larger-than-life steam engines in the game.
What we have instead is weird science. And by weird science we mean proper Mad Scientist stuff, with lightning rods, sparkles, bubbling vats, strange devices and someone in a lab coat, cackling madly in the shadows.
The truth is that Borgova is the playground for all your favorite gothic villains, the mad scientists. And they just love to dabble into all sorts of obscure fields: electricity and clockwork and steam and things that never existed, like phlogiston, the highly flammable element that was supposed to be contained within combustible bodies, making them burn.

Or think of the fantastic devices of Nikola Tesla (who was not a mad scientist, by the way, but he was indeed brilliant). By the way, did you know that Nikola Tesla spent a couple of months in Budapest and worked for a telegraph company? Considering that Budapest is where the headquarters of NeocoreGames are located and it also serves as a constant inspiration to create parts of Borgova, it’s a nice connection.

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