Hello, Stephen.
Here are the promised pictures of steamer trunks and the design elements I feel they have that are applicable to the purposes of holding your Firefly game.
Trunk Anatomy
Just to make sure we're on the same page when discussing design elements, here is a quick trunk anatomy picture.
It's fairly self-explanatory, but a couple features are the slats (typically of oak or some other high-contrast hardwood (high contrast as compared to the body of the trunk) the corner bumps and slat clamps (which are effectively the same thing; one is simply designed to go on the edge and the other goes on the corner) and the drawbolts (also known as draw hasps)
There are often brass or silver corner bumps for the upper and lower lips. The trim is typically leather or hardwood, and the strap tabs are either leather or brass.
Down to Brass Tacks
These trunks tend to be really elaborate (a hallmark of the Victorian Era)
This one has black powder-coated corner bumps, slat clamps, and draw hasps. It has what looks to be oak casing and walnut or walnut-stained wood for the slats.
The biggest thing with this piece is all the brass nails and screws with the darker colors and especially the dark leather.
Variations on a Theme
Although this piece is actually a dresser, it has an interesting design element: copper tubing as trim. Just an interesting design element. Notice that it continues up the front and sides and onto the lid, as well as across the face of the bottom drawer.
Smaller, more trunk-like. If you don't like it, I get that; just throwing ideas about is all.
Flat Top or Round
Note that some are round top, while others are flat.
Flat is obviously easier to make, as well as easier to stack. If you have a round top, the box then has to be at the top of any stack upon which it rests.
Whichever you like is your business, but an arched or round top is more labor-intensive and thus more expensive.
Gallery of Standard Steamers
The following steamers are fairly standard (although there really is no "standard" as such, but by and large they tend to look like this)
Things like elaborate draw hasps, most with leather straps, a lock, corner bumps, slats, slat clamps, etc, all as covered in the anatomy.
Natural Wood or Textile?
Notice that the casework for some of these is plainly some sort of natural wood. However others, like this one, have some sort of textile covering it.
Covering it with textile certainly has advantages, such as being able to use a lower-grade wood that has more knots and is less "pretty". Also, leather can take dings and knocks better than wood.
That said, wood has class, beauty, and longevity as well. You can also have the wood painted instead of varnished.
One isn't necessarily better than the others; it's all a matter of taste.
Hardware
This is a good close-up of most of the hardware generally involved.
This piece has corner bumps on the upper and lower lips, but also has front alignment pins. Originally, these helped keep the trunk's shape (being filled with clothes and such would warp and distort the shape of the face of the trunk; these supports helped keep that shape while still being yet another detail in the standard Victorian overly-lavish style) but for the purposes of this box they would be decorative.
Gallery of Guts
I won't say anything about these, as they are pretty self-explanatory. Just remember as you look at these, if you like something as a whole or simply as a design element, don't worry about how it would work or be possible; that's my job. I may not have an answer to its possibility right away, but I will try my damndest to make it work.
Within this gallery, about the only thing that I currently cannot do is the relief carving (ala "The Truth is in the Details" in the final two images in this set)
The Camelback
The final image here is a trunk that is most interesting from a design perspective.
It's called the Camelback because of the dromadory-style hump in the top, which I am fair certain I cannot replicate without a long time's research and development.
However, note first the weird swirls and rays in the grain pattern of the wood. That only happens to one type of wood: Oak. Also, it happens only when the miller cuts the wood exactly perpendicular to the dead center of the tree, a process known as quartersawing, which is labor-intensive, but not only renders this interesting swirl pattern in the oak, but also creates the most stable and least likely to warp, twist, swell, shrink, move, or bend as the lumber ages and is exposed to changes in temperature and humidity. (furniture-grade plywood also has these properties, but lacks the quartersawn oak-style rays, and in this instance the plies would show because of the joinery)
Quartersawn lumber is very strong, and very stable, but usually about half again as expensive as its flatsawn or riftsawn counterparts (jargon, I know; just trust me on this.)
Next, note the joinery on the corners, how the panels come together. These are known as proud finger joints, half-lap tenons, and a ton of other names. I have made these before (you can see it in the gallery of shelving and storage)
My thought here was that mayhap each of these slats either on the side or on the front could be hidden organizational drawers, possibly with an addition of the multi-boxed top of the "Anastasia" chest previous.
This ends the gallery. If you have any questions you can, of course, call me any time during the day or night until about 9:00 (that's about the time my brain shuts down getting ready for bed)
I will also see you Thursday evening, provided nothing prevents said meeting.