Adventuring with Class -Middle Class Adventures

The strength of the British Empire is industry, finance, and science, but the strength of industry, finance, and science is the middle class. They have risen above their humble beginnings to a skilled professional career.  Here is neither the freedom of the lower classes or the resources of the upper; there is only the ability, diligence, and responsibility of professionals.

The members of the middle class have worked to reach their success; they will work to keep it with equal tenacity.

Plot Hooks
Most middle class adventurers are a member of a trained profession. They rely on their learning and skills to make a comfortable living. Whether doctors, clerks, or magicians anything threatening or advancing their career is a plot hook. It’s not just money. Prestige, new discoveries, or competition in their area of expertise will drive them towards the plot.

A coffee house started up the block from the public house operated by the player character, a reclusive antiquarian‘s invitation to the historian in the party to catalog his collection, or a zoologist tasked with finding a rare ape escaped from the London Zoo are all scenarios using a middle class profession to introduce the adventure.

A plot hook can always come from the desk of their employer, someone they want to be their employer or even someone they wish to employ. Perhaps a trusted clerk cannot come to work until the threat on his life is taken care of, or a potential patron isn’t interested in hiring a magician that hasn’t given a lecture to their dining society.  Pressure and obligation can come from above or below in the world of business.

Middle class characters are in a bind when it comes to luxuries. They can save up to buy expensive gear, but if it breaks or disappears they will have to start saving all over again to replace it. Barring treasure and loot, a middleclass character might do the odd job in exchange for a precious piece of equipment.

Most unmarried professionals live in modest lodgings such as a room in a boarding house. The other tenants or even the owner may bring a problem to the character’s attention at a communal dinner. Perhaps small items have gone missing around the neighborhood, or a subsidence threatens the foundation of the house, or a known villain wants to buy the property. A player character will be more likely to investigate if the situation inconveniences them, and the character will definitely investigate if they actually own the house.

Similar to “why is a high class character adventuring” is the question, how did a middle class character become middle class.  Did he grow up in poverty, till a rich patron saw his potential, or was he shunned by his parents and forced to work for a living? Even if the answer is simply “His parents are middle class too”, the character may work in the same field as their father, or even work for father. Their schooling or apprenticeship will also add a small connection that can lead to obligations.

Locations

Places of work and education dominate middle class life during the day. Any canny player will be able to figure a way to use the resources available at work to gain an advantage in play (especially if they are playing a licensed Guild magician).

A skilled professional’s expertise can bring them to any worksite across London. The possibilities are only limited by a lack of knowledge or justification. A printer may need to deliver menus to the nicest restaurant in Soho, or a clerk can work any place with records and files (the Victorians did love to categorize).

This is a little more tricky if the adventure is in a lower-class neighborhood, but the City of London has plenty of organizations devoted to civic improvement or men of less than legal income that can pay for an excursion to the East end. 

The spread of railways from the heart of London into the surrounding countryside, make commuting to work much simpler. Many businessmen live in the cleaner air of the suburbs north of London and take a train to work each day. Life in the rural villages is getting more urban all the time. Ironically those that live here to avoid the corruption of the city often bring it back with them at the end of their work day.

Enemies and Obstacles

As mentioned, rivals to their professional life can be used to make life more difficult to a middle class character. Low end sabotage, customer poaching, and other shady business practices could get in the way of the player characters’ resources.

Adversity to a professional may not be personal. Social groups or agitators may be against their profession itself. Antivivisectionists may harass a biologist, socialist gangs might protest the work of a clockwork artificer making labor saving devices, and any number of persons would attack a police constable on sight in the rookery.

Because of the Middle Classes’ position, they are able to come into contact with almost any type of person above or below their social strata and members of both will look down on them. Old money can see the new money as upstarts or social climbers, and the poorer sections will be happy to remind a self-made man where he came from.

With specialized work comes specialized equipment. Tools get bent or chipped; kits can be stolen (particularly in the rough side of town). There may only be certain places that sell quality tools like that.

Respectable blue-blooded characters can get by on credit (their man will be by with a bank note in the morning), but a middleclass character will have to keep an eye on their money. A bank is a solid enough place to keep it, and their employer may already have an account for employees to use. Although banks can be robbed, it’s rarer than being pick-pocketed or mugged. A bank may not have very tight security on withdraws from accounts, or it may have restrictive security making it difficult to access funds in an emergency.

I’ll finish up this trilogy with Low Class Adventures in the next week. Since the last two posts have been GM specific, I think I will see what juice I can find in how class affects the players in character creation a bit later.