William Mumler- The Spirit Photographer

In the Victorian world, technology and spiritualism worked hand in hand. Spiritualist enthusiasts looked to new discoveries to shed light on the unknown, or fool the gullible. Typifying both sides of this phenomenon is Willliam H. Mumler, the spirit photographer. Mumler is the sort of historic character that cries out to be made into a Victoriana NPC.

In the 1860’s Mumler produced portraits of his subjects accompanied by the spirits of deceased loved ones. Originally a jeweler, he became a full-time photographer after developing a self-portrait with what appeared to be the spirit of his dead cousin in the picture. He soon became famous as a “Spirit Photographer”, and took numerous commissions from the grieving relatives of Civil War casualties.

In 1869 he was brought to court for fraud. He was acquitted but enough evidence was brought forth to ruin his reputation.

Nothing needs to be changed to bring Mumler into a Victoriana campaign. If Mumler is a conman there are some interesting stories to tell. The player character’s may need to discredit him, or something is accidentally caught in one of Mumler’s photos and he needs the player’s help to save his neck, but the stories really start flowing if Mumler is a genuine spirit photographer.

Mumler’s Methods
The method Mumler uses to photograph the dead will change the way he is used as an NPC.

If he is a genuine medium he has some Magnetic ability. He could simply able to use a variation of the ability “See the Supernatural”, with a +3 difficulty to be able to capture the spirits he sees in a photo.

Perhaps he has to add special ingredients to his developing process. The collodion mixture he uses to make photographic plates, may have an entheogen (a drug used in religious rituals) mixed in. The fumes of the collodion and the extracts of an Amazonian vine may put Mumler in a trance like state when he takes his spirit photographs.

Since Undead Creatures do not show up in mirrors backed with silver or photographs, the silver nitrate the photo plate is dipped in may have some other additive to make it usable for living and unliving subjects.

Mumler may have no magical abilities or processes. Maybe his camera lens is a scrying glass, a seer stone, or a material that give his camera the ability to photograph beyond the physical plane. He may not understand how it works, or even what is going on.

If a near overdose of irony is acceptable, maybe his photographs are faked. They are simply double exposures, but Mumler is a necromancer and he uses the reanimated corpses of the departed to make his fakes.
This is a bit overcomplicated, but he may need money badly or he learned a flawed raising spell so the process of photographing the dead may be how he gains control over them. Maybe the act of taking a picture of their corpse really is stealing the departed’s soul. This could make the undead portrait sessions very dangerous.

Stats:
William H. Mumler (Spirit Photographer)
Physical: 6 Initiative: 7
Mental: 9 Health: 8
Social: 8 Quintessence: 17
Complications: Bad Reputation
Damage: Punch (3),

Possible Special Traits:
Entropy 3
Clairvoyant or Spiritualist (See the Supernatural and one other ability)
Necromancy (Raise Lesser Undead, Requietum, and Séance)
Huckster+2, Photography Enthusiast +2

Adventure Idea- Mrs. Feldmans Tea and Automatic Handwriting Club

Originally, I was fooling around with today’s scenario idea for a different setting (1950’s alien conspiracy), but after a little research I discovered a similar occurrence was reported in the late 1800s. Naturally, if it’s good enough for Hélène Smith it’s good enough for Victoriana.

A visiting circle of upper middleclass wives all experience strange fits, with spasms in their off hands. When given a pencil and paper the motions write strange otherworldly symbols. None of the wives can understand the symbols beyond a few confusing mental pictures. 

Worried for  their reputations, the ladies repress their fits all week until they meet on Tuesday afternoons to experience their “spiritual telegraphy” together and to try and make sense of their messages.

What is going on really:
1. During a trip to the British Museum, the ladies were  present for a mummy unwrapping ceremony. In life the mummy was a half alien priest with tremendous powers of Magnetism. During the unwrapping, the mummies eyes flashed open for a moment, forming a connection between the ancient priest and the women.
The automatic writing is a symptom of the mummies influence. It is trying to control the women like psychic puppets to make them collect the alien artifacts from his burial site, now strew through the British museum and private collections. Using the items he can be revitalized and regain his unearthly powers.

Mesmerized, the housewives sneak out at night and commit burglaries imbued with alien energy giving them superhuman abilities and hypnotic powers.

Player Hooks:
A worried husband asks the players to keep an eye on his strange acting wife
If a player character has a medical background, the wife may consult him about her somnambulism.
Player characters may be interested in a string of Egyptian art thefts or a player may own a piece of mysterious Egyptian art, and will soon experience a burglary.

2. The ladies all live on the same street. Throughout history, the street has a reputation as the birthplace of witches.

Deep beneath their houses is a long forgotten prehistoric asteroid. Residual spiritual radiation from the object spread to their subconscious, and is now released through their fits. Their writing is the language of an alien presence in the asteroid, in a nonrandom pattern describing hidden truths of the cosmos.
Over time the ladies subconscious will be altered by the intruding alien presence, and strange abilities and reactions could manifest leading to the opening of a portal to whatever part of space the asteroid came from.

Player Hooks:

A worried husband asks the players to keep an eye on his strange acting wife.
Rumors of many strange occurrences and appearance on  a single London street will pull players in.

One of ladies asked an expert of linguistics to look at her writing, but she would not tell him where it came from. The expert  asks the player character’s to investigate for him.

3. The housewives are all being physically abused by their husbands. During a lecture on spiritualism and a séance demonstration, an archon, known as Diana to the ancient Greeks was summoned, and came into contact with the women.

She planted the knowledge of a ritual in their minds. The automatic handwriting sessions are letting the ritual come to light, and if the ladies ever translate the writing, their abusive marriages could be taken care of very quickly.
During each automatic writing session, latent magical energy floods the area around their houses causing mysterious brutal attacks on local men.

Player Hooks:

A worried husband asks the players to keep an eye on his strange acting wife.
Terrified locals call the player character’s in to investigate the attacks that occur every Tuesday afternoon.

An expert at the inciting lecture noticed something odd during the séance and would like help looking into it.

This adventure is of an admittedly weird scifi/spiritualism bent, but if that fits your campaign, feel free to use it. I still want to use this in my original 1950s’ Alien conspiracy game, but for now the trappings of Victorian Mysticism fit it well. 

Adventure Idea- the Butler Did It!

As an uncultured American almost all of my perception of the English Upper Crust comes from the Jeeves and Wooster stories by P.G Wodehouse (worth a read for the narrative conciseness alone), featuring a foolish man and his seemingly omniscient valet.  Among the many ideas worth stealing, is a Gentlemen’s club for Gentlemen’s Gentlemen: The Ganymede Club.

On their days off Valets come to the Ganymede club to enjoy the stoic camaraderie of their peers, read improving books, and enjoy a few moment of solace from the demands of their Gentlemen. Each member is required to write reports of their employers actions in the club’s record book to act as a warning to members seeking a new gentlemen and as entertainment to the club.

The idea of the Ganymede Club could make for a great opening adventure to a high class campaign.

A contact, a gentleman of means, sends a telegram asking the investigators to meet on a side street in Mayfair immediately.  On arrival, it is revealed that the contact’s Valet had sent the telegram, wishing the party to help with a delicate situation.

The valet belongs to a gentlemen’s club for male household staff (butlers, valets, and footmen). A fellow member has been murdered in the club. Senior initiates of the club are desperate to avoid scandal (its members work for important men of industry, government and finance), so they ask the investigators to collect evidence and solve the crime before the demands of propriety force them to inform the police.  If the murderer can be handed to the police when they are called, the club would be very grateful.

The players will have to act with total decorum, and undisciplined investigators will be tempted the continuous offers of food and drink by the club’s members. Potential wrinkles could include:

Blackmailing over an employer’s actions
Theft of the club book

The victim is a very new member

The victim is a senior member with something hidden in his pocket

The murder weapon is missing, but no one has left the club since the murder occurred

The porter’s keys are missing

Twin footmen who switch places sporadically unintentionally confusing others

A mysterious smelling bottle of wine in the room with the victim

The body moved to the kitchen so the carpet can be cleaned

The very stogy elderly porter constantly watching the investigators

Outsiders have never been allowed in the club since the days of Oliver Cromwell

A food delivery in the back

The victim was a notorious prankster and had nearly been kicked out 3 times

The members are so courteous and discreet, interrogation is nearly impossible!

If subtly and puzzle solving don’t work well with your group here are a couple complications that will add tension and action to a parlor mystery:

The murder has a trio of accomplices, three very sneaky ratmen thieves. The victim caught the murderer-to-be arraigning a high value theft in the club with the ratmen and had to be silenced. Until their job is done, the ratmen will use the over chintzed world of Victorian home décor to stay hidden, pop out at dramatically interesting moments to trip up the players investigation, then hide again. 

The murderer is a traitor to his country. The victim was killed to keep from divulging this fact. The traitor is trying to get a hold of secret government documents hidden in the club at an employer’s request. Agents of the czarina will visit the club in disguise to aid his search and take care of any busybodies. The players will have to deal with a deluge of chimney sweeps, deliverymen, and messengers all trying to find the documents. Senior club members will not turn them away as canceling scheduled deliveries and services would not add to an appearance of normality.

The victim was killed by a supernatural curse that followed him to the club. Anything from a barghest, mystic murderous runes, or necromantic spells. Is it a fellow member at all, or is everyone in danger?

If the crime is solved (or if an uninfluential patsy can be found) the club is very grateful and its members will prove valuable contacts. “Ordinarily I would not let sir into my master’s study while he is absent but after your service to the club I trust sir’s judgment…” “Perhaps our kitchen would prove an expedient hiding place for the moment, Sir?” “Would Sir care to use our carriage to back up his purposeful mistaken identity at the ball tonight?” etc.
 

For a predominantly lower class party, this scenario would open many doors and potential avenues for adventure.

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Adventure Idea- Bunyip Hunt

Seeing as I am about to take a break from running Victoriana at my table (Starwars if you want to know), the next few posts will be scenario ideas I don't want to forget over the summer. Feel free to take them or leave them.

Although Victoriana has a necessary element of alternate history (the world would be different given magic, elves, and giants), the real world is still ripe for story plundering. One of my favorite methods of adventure building is to take a real world occurrence and branch out from it.   
For example the Bunyip sightings in the mid 1800s. 

The Bunyip is a lake dwelling creature from Australian Aboriginal folklore. When Europeans started to colonize they were warned by the Aborigine of a terrifying man eater that lived the water. Descriptions of Bunyips are not consistent, ranging from dog like heads and walrus like bodies, horse like heads with feathers, or even gigantic starfish shaped bodies.
Sighting continued and expeditions were sent to try and find one, then in the 1840-50s a huge number of sightings were reported.  Whatever made for the increase in sightings would be ideal for an adventure in Australia. 

 A few possible stories with the Bunyip sightings:

1. The Bunyip could be an Archon invoked by powerful a Aborigine Goetist wishing to drive out squatters or rebel against the now independent colonial governors. Perhaps certain springs are cursed to cause horrible visions of a monster featuring whatever fearsome descriptions will scare its victims back to Europe. Or the emotion could be needed to fuel deep magic in the Dream Time.

2. The Bunyip is nothing but a ruse. A group of gold miners in New South Wales are trying to keep people away from a very prosperous claim. They are spreading rumors of the Bunyip and causing sightings with a stuffed seal carcass. Or a real Bunyip. 

3. With civilization pushing further into the outback, it’s possible a two groups not wanting to be found by settlers could bump into each other. A group of Bush Rangers uncovered something that prefers to be left alone. The  Bunyips are desperate to find something the Bush Rangers took. Life could get a bit unpleasant for isolated farms and settlements when the Bunyips come to search for their treasure. 

Whatever the case, this has to take place in Australia. There is too much flavor and background to take it anywhere else. Maybe the players have stepped on the toes of the law once too often, and are now among the last few groups of convicts sailing to Australia, or they have been expressly sent by a scientific institution to join an expedition looking for the Bunyip.

I am not planning on running this myself (Why leave London?) but I hope it sets you thinking about how simple it is to find a story in the gaps of history.  Just look for one interesting idea, see what is happening alongside it, and then add a layer of Victorian Fantasy.