Police Interest Dice Pools- Cheese it! It's the Heat!

A shocking number of plans undertaken by Player Characters involve breaking and entering. From finding evidence, planting evidence or an old fashioned distraction, the art of housebreaking has helped adventuring parties overcome their obstacles, and create new ones.

In “Those that will not work, comprising; Prostitutes. Thieves. Swindlers. Beggars” Victorian Journalist and activist Henry Mayhew describes the one of the methods used by Victorian burglars.

They close the outer door after them when they enter a shop or warehouse, most of which have spring locks. When the policeman comes round on his beat he finds the door shut, and there is nothing to excite his suspicion. The cart is never seen loitering at the door above a couple of minutes, and does not make its appearance on the spot till the robbery is about to be committed, when the signal is given. 

Part of a policeman’s beat was checking the locks on the doors, and keeping an eye open for anything strange, like an open window or someone loitering outside. The art of evidence collection is just getting underway at this time, so catching criminals in the act is a good chunk of a peeler’s job. If a dedicated policeman thinks something is off he will investigate.

The supplement covering Victorian London “the Smoke” (which is the most essential supplement for Victoriana in my opinion) has rules for the amount of police activity in a neighborhood. Each neighborhood has a Police Presence rating of Low, Average, High, Very High, or Heavy.

If you want a bit of crunch telling you whether or not a policeman has noticed a possible in progress use a Police Interest dice pool as shown on the chart below:

Police Presence/Police Interest Dice Pools
Low                    1
Average              3
High                   6
Very High          9
Heavy               12

Roll a dice pool equal to the neighborhood’s Police Interest rating. Sixes explode as normal with one suspicious policeman per success. Each miss on a die represents the policeman missing the crime entirely or just not wanting to get involved.

If a GM wants an even greater chance of the burglars being caught, add the highest Notoriety rating among the participants. This represents snitches seeing the person of interest in the area, the policemen recognizing their M.O. etc.
Pools can be used anytime a Policeman may be nearby, such as a fight in an alley, a society party, or even if they police are aware the PC’s are in town.
This rule is probably most effective during a sandbox “what do you want to do?” kind of session where the players can instigate the most trouble.

If the players are on the side of law and order, the tables could be flipped with the Neighborhood‘s Crime Rating standing for the Police Presence. Then successes are whether or not a crime is happening near the PC’s. The Dice pool could be increased by a successful criminology check.
In either case the check results can always be modified or ignored to move the story forward

Skullduggery in Motion! -The Befuddled Man

I've put all of the session reports for the second adventure of Skullduggery in the Smoke, the Befuddled Man, on the Victoriana Campaigns Page.
This adventure was easy to start. I gave the PCs a Sunday to do whatever they wanted.  J. Wolfington III lost a few fingers in the first scenario to a very well rolled dog bite, so his PC was really wanting rune-enhanced steampunk fingers. I was more than happy to oblige.
The idea of magic being a higher form of math tends to turn up in all my games. The chaotic architecture of London, and the presence of a Guild that controls the research and practice of magic pushed the idea of enchanted architecture to the head of the line.
I was inspired by the treatment of a likable Jewish merchent in the Aubrey-Maturin series of books, to portray  a successful and thriving immigrant community held back by their station. I was very happy with the player's reactions to the Jewish Dwarves plight.  After a session of just shopping in London, they were so happy to find the quest they jumped in with both feet!

How to Counterfeit a Shilling in the 1850's

As a starter here is the recipe given for how to counterfeit a shilling transcribed from Mayhew's “Those that will not work, comprising; Prostitutes. Thieves. Swindlers. Beggars”:

 “It is generally effected in this way. Take a shilling, or other sterling coin, scour it    well with soap and water; dry it, and then grease it with suet or tallow ; partly wipe this off, but not wholly. Take some plaster of Paris, and make a collar either of paper or tin. Pour the plaster of Paris on the piece of coin in the collar or band round it. Leave it until it sets or hardens, when the impression will be made. You turn it up and the piece sticks in the mould. Turn the reverse side, and you take a similar impression from it ; then you have the mould complete. You put the pieces of the mould together, and then pare it. You make a channel in order to pour the metal into it in a state of fusion, having the neck of the channel as small as possible. The smaller the channel the less the imperfection in the " knerling."

You make claws to the mould, so that it will stick together while you pour the metal into it. But before doing so, you must properly dry it. If you pour the hot metal into it when damp, it will fly in pieces. This is the general process by which counterfeit coin is made.

When you have your coin cast, there is a "gat," or piece of refuse metal, sticks to it. You pair this off with a pair of scissors or a knife—generally a pair of scissors—then you file the edges of the coin to perfect the " knerling."

The coin is then considered finished, except the coating. At this time it is of a bluish colour, and not in a state fit for circulation, as the colour would excite suspicion.

You get a galvanic battery with nitric acid and sulphuric acid, a mixture of each diluted in water to a certain strength. You then get some cyanide and attach a copper wire to a screw of the battery. Immerse that in the cyanide of silver when the process of electro-plating commences.

The coin has to pass through another process. Get a little lampblack and oil, and make it into a sort of composition "slumming” the coin with it. This takes the bright colour away, and makes it fit for circulation. Then wrap the coins up separately in paper so as to prevent them rubbing_._

When coiners are going to circulate them, they take them up and rub each piece separately. The counterfeit coin will then have the greatest resemblance to genuine coin, if well-manufactured.

While this is the general mode by which it is made, a skilful artificer, or keen-eyed detective can trace the workmanship of different makers.”


It’s easy to take for granted the ingenuity of a low-class criminal, but that process is terrific. Victorian Ghetto Electroplating! Mayhew continues with how much each fake shilling could be sold for, and gives accounts of several police raids on counterfeiters.
If you’re a GM that recipe should give you more than a few plot hooks. Here’s a couple to chew on:

Someone is selling counterfeit undead-repelling charms emblazoned with an easily replicated religious seal. After a few encounters that highlight the charms ineffectiveness, perhaps the players are called into search for the mighty entity that is able to ignore the once protective wards.
The players will have to find the counterfeiters before something worse stumbles into the now unsafe neighborhood.

Or maybe someone is forging Sigil Magic, but stealing finished runes and replacing them with inert fakes to drive a rune shop out of business.

More mundane but still interesting, a certain neighborhood is being flooded with high quality counterfeit coins. A PC with some knowledge of the process might be able to follow the trail of ingredients at local chemist’s shops and keep an eye open for forges.

Or maybe a couple of down on their luck PC’s need a little money. A galvanic battery can’t be that hard to make right?

If you want to turn this on its ear, instead of something worthless being made into something that looks valuable, something valuable might be used for raw scrap metal used to forge the coins. Maybe lost in the utensils and nails, a conjuring focus get’s melted and now whenever a coin from that batch changes hands something odd happens. Maybe the person being paid feels more generous than usual, or greedier. Or any actual Shilling that come in contact with the counterfeit ones rot away.

Henry Mayhew- Tour Guide to Crime

In an average Roleplaying Game, a good half or more of the actions undertaken by an adventuring party are illegal or at least of dubious legality. The world of grift, grabs, and gangs is ripe with ingenuity, and danger. Even more so, in 1800's London. It’s a foreign world, but there's a great guide book available for free online.

Henry Mayhew was a researcher, journalist, and civil agitator of the mid 1800’s who wrote a 4 volume report on the experience of being poor in London. The last volume “Those that will not work, comprising; Prostitutes. Thieves. Swindlers. Beggars” is just about Criminals. Mayhew gives great details like what percentage of an items worth does a fence give to a thief, common pickpocket strategies, and  a narrative of “A Ramble Among the Thieves’ Dens in the Borough”.
There is something here for GM and player alike. I recommend this book, however the first third of the book is about Prostitution. While this section is tactfully written and surprisingly compassionate (Mayhew seems to write with compassion about all his subjects, unless you’re foreign), this section is not for everyone.

I’ll be posting a couple fun Mayhew How-to-Crime articles soon.

Ghost Story- Burton Agnes Hall

In a beautiful Elizabethan mansion lived three daughters who worked endlessly to improve their home. The youngest named Anne was particularly obsessed with the renovation. While walking, Anne was attacked by ruffians and died a few days later. Before her death she made her sisters promise to keep her head in the house and never bury it, or she would return and make them regret it.

Anne’s sisters promised, but after her death the sisters buried her, head and all, in the family crypts. Soon loud crashing noises, slamming doors, and loud groans, disrupted the family’s life in the hall.

The sisters investigated their sister’s remains and discovered that while her body was in a normal state of decay; her head was only a skull. Anne’s skull was dutifully placed in her home.
Anne’s spirit has been quiet since except for a few instances when her skull has been disturbed, such as when a servant girl threw it out a window into a passing cart. The horse pulling the cart refused to move forward, despite a savage whipping, until the head was removed.

This story is a great subversion of player expectation. We’ve all seen stories with ghosts looking for their lost head, but this ghost doesn’t want to be reunited with its body.

I also like that Anne loved her home so much she wouldn’t leave it. A ghost may not be malevolent, just protective of its home, but still be in the way or dangerous.  A player could be at a friend’s home and disturb a previous occupant, and then have a slight curse until it’s made right (say 2 black dice to all actions or initiative pools are halved due to being kept up all night by ghostly noises).

Maybe Anne is guarding something in her home and the renovations are all attempts to hide it from someone. Her skull could be the keyhole she peeks through from the other side, to keep an eye on her secret. So if you need a hiding place for a Tudor Artifact, Burton Agnes Hall could be the place.

Or if you want Anne to be a more sinister figure, it could be that Anne was so obsessed with renovations because the improvements on her house were an attempt to tap into the massive house’s Genus Loci to make a magical siphon. Her skull is kept so her spirit can watch over and influence all later improvements to that end.

 During the late 1800s Sir Henry Somerville Boynton kept a large collection of stuffed birds in the hall, so if you want a creepy or memorable manifestation of Anne’s ghost that is a possibility.

Ghost Story- Brede Place

Brede Place,

This is a very old manor house, (complete with dungeons) which was used for smuggling in the 1700s. It’s believed that smugglers started a ghost story about Sir Goddard Oxenbridge, a former owner.
According to the story Goddard was an evil giant that ate babies. He was captured and cut into pieces, and now his body parts haunt the house!
There are several other ghosts, Marthe, a maid servant and a priest named Father John, but nothing as interesting a giant’s severed limbs and organs.

This is such a great haunting, even if it was a rumor started by criminals. If you’re feeling like you want to pull away from the more fantastic elements, this haunting can be just some smugglers, or you really could have a gigantic hand chase players down a hallway on its fingertips! Or open a closet and a massive glowing liver falls out and disappears. This could also work well out in the open, a giant farmhand was killed unjustly and now his hacked limbs haunt the hills.
Traditionally, players may need to assemble the lost parts (perhaps mummified in private collections and museums as interesting medical specimens), or the limbs are searching for each other and seeking revenge on their killer's ancestors.

Ghost Story- Bisham Abbey

This great Tudor house has a history featuring many striking figures of English history. The Knights Templar used the house, Queen Ann lived there, Princess Elisabeth was confined here, but the ghost of interest is Lady Elizabeth Hoby.
Lady Elizabeth was a meticulous and brilliant woman, but her son William was slow and unable to meet her standards. She beat him often in frustration, and after one beating he died from his injuries. Lady Elizabeth died soon afterward.
Her Ghost has been seen silently gliding across the hallway washing her hands in a basin, perhaps trying to clean her son’s blood from her hands. Strangely she is described as appearing like a photo negative, her skin black, and her dress white.

In 1840 her son Williams work books were found, full of sloppy writings and ink-spills, by several workmen updating the house.

The cruelty of her son’s death and her brilliant scholarly brain builds the ghost of Lady Elizabeth into a great villain. Her story has a lot potential for hidden magical lore or darker arts. Perhaps the religious treatises she wrote contains a rite which sent her to a different magical plain after she faked her death. Maybe the ghost is simply the shadow left behind by the ritual.

The copybooks found in the 1840’s is close enough to the Victoriana setting that the players could have to deal with the other book the workmen decided not to talk about: A necromantic Grimoire. Lady Elizabeth’s ghosts haunts the book, not the Abbey, so any player keeping the book will have to deal with her or worse accept her as a very strict teacher.

Ghost Story- Battle, Sussex

Battle, Sussex

William the Conqueror built an abbey to commemorate his victory over King Harold. Even better he built the abbey on the battleground, complete with an altar right where King Harold was slain.

The abbey is a ruin now, but every so often a fountain gushing with the blood of William and Harold’s soldiers appears, and the bloody figure of King Harold haunts the site, an arrow sticking out of his eye socket.

That’s a bit gory for a haunting, but it’s still pretty good. Harold can provide exposition or be a bogyman for an archeological adventure looking for treasure in the Abby’s remains.

The Abby itself could be a ghost. So many spirits have lingered as ghosts here, that even the destruction of the Abby leaves a spiritual mark. The players enter the abbey’s crumbling walls and find it completely restored, but can they figure out how to leave the abbey haunted by medieval ghosts?
While it lacks subtlety, the ghostly blood fountain can be adapted to the site of any grisly crime.  If a player has committed a murder in cold blood, why not increase the anxiety of being caught with a pesky blood stain or have their shoes leave bloody footprints. Start with only the character noticing, but NPCs might complain about the mess they are making over time.
Maybe the players have gotten off track or accidentally burned a clue; a vanishing blood stain is a great arrow in the right direction.

Ghost Stories - Spiritual Manifestations to Animate your Campaign

Few subjects are as stereotypically Victorian to me as a Ghost Story, but beyond the appropriateness of setting, ghosts are a terrific add to any adventure for one simple reason: Atmospheric Story Control.

A Game Master can show a ghost to the players, present a cryptic clue, and the ghost vanishes before the players can ask questions or if the players have missed something important, a trail of glowing footprints accompanied by moans and clattering sounds behind the walls can lead the way.

Or if your villain has died partway through the campaign, why not bring him back with the help of séance and a couple willing followers. Everyone loves a Vengeful ghost.

There is no end of unexpected plot holes that ghosts can fill perfectly.

Right now I’m reading “Gazetteer of British Scottish & IrishGhosts” by Peter Underwood and each entry is a great encounter ready to be plugged into a Victoriana Scenario.  I’m only up to the Fs but I’ve already been inspired with loads of scenarios, clues and investigation ideas. This book is terrific.
Before I post a few favorite haunting and the adventure ideas they give me, here is a quick rule to make the ghost a bit more unworldly.

Unless you intend for a ghost to be beaten in combat, I suggest not giving any stats to ghosts. I think that if the players can quantify what the ghost can do, the unnaturalness fades somewhat. Instead if you aren’t sure what a ghost could do, leave it up to the player’s stats.

If a poltergeist throws a painting at a player character, make it a Dodge test to get out of the way.

If a specter tries to scare a player character out of the haunted room, make it a Resolve test to see if they are courageous enough to stay. Add some black dice, if your ghost is more malicious.

That should help ghosts stay mysterious and keep the spotlight on the player’s skills.

Victoriana Ogre Portrait

Last of the first batch. This one is my favorite. I love Ogres, and the face I started with had just enough to room to grow to get me there. Obviously, I added the tusks, spread out some serious jowl, and shrunk his head to complete the look.

Victoriana Deerfolk Portrait

This is the tricky one. In Victoriana, beastfolk stand out among the Tolkien-inspired orcs, dwarves and halflings, in their originality. Basically, a beastman is a human being with the physical traits of a specific mammal. I found a set of shoulders that would be a reasonable match for the floating deer head, then I nudged the features to (hopefully) add some intelligence to the deer's face.

Victoriana Dwarf Portrait

Of my first portraits, this dwarf turned out the best. Like the gnome I made his head bigger, then I shifted his facial features slightly, to make them more blocky and exaggerated.

Victoriana Eldren Portrait

Moving up in height, here is an Eldren.
Eldren are the Victoriana equivalent of High Class Elves with slim builds and pointy ears, but Eldren also have cat like eyes. The eyes were the hardest part, with the ear a close second. Again, some of the stretches are too obvious, but it's a good starting point.

Victoriana Gnome Portrait

Here is the first altered Flickr portrait.
To keep the process as simple as possible, I try to find images that already have the basic head shapes and features suggested by the sub-race's descriptions in the Core-Rule Book. Victoriana's Gnomes are short and wiry with lined old-manish faces, so I started with a craggy, heavy-browed head, the goatish facial hair was just a bonus.
With any sub-races that are smaller than a human, I increase the size of the head and make certain  facial features more dominant. In this case the eyes, nose, and a pointed ear. Simple, a bit sloppy, but a good starting place. I like how he turned out.