Hobs- Evil minded rural runts that can hold a grudge

One of my players did not want to start his campaign in London. The English countryside is a bit sparsely described in our current Victoriana sources (understandably so, it’s Victorian England, why wouldn’t you start in London?).

Realizing that I would be going to the countryside, and needing a simple fight to teach some of the rule mechanics, I looked around for a low level encounter creature. I found Hobs.
In folklore Hobs are domestic spirits in the North of England that make deals with villagers to do farm work. If the Hobs ever feel slighted or cheated by the villagers they cause trouble.

A group of mischievous or aggrandized hobs can be a great low level menace to players or a small adventure opponent.

Hobs
Physical 3
Mental 2
Social: 3
Initiative 4
Health Pips: 6
Special Traits: Fickle and Suspicious +2
Damage: Bite (3), Crude Weapons (4)

Hobs are squat, yellow-eyed trouble makers with bulbous head. Thick black hairs sparsely dot their pitted filthy skin. Feraly intelligent, hobs dress in whatever rags they can find, but shun actual clothes. Their voices are coarse and croaking, and their pronunciation of human languages is nearly incomprehensible. Hobs live in dug out warrens in groups of 10-20.

It’s uncertain how their arrangement with farmers first started, but in exchange for produce, tools and any bugs they find Hobs do any labor the farms needs. Digging, planting, weeding, clearing land, hobs are surprisingly capable farm hands, until inevitably some small incident insults the hobs petty pride and the whole band turns against the farm. The worst most Hobs do is vandalism and petty theft, but some accounts of abductions and farmhouse sieges whisper the danger of slighting a Hob. Still, with more and more laborers moving to the city, good help is hard to find.

A couple hooks for their use:
Players encounter a small band of hobs ravaging a field of crops, bothering livestock, or competitively throwing their feces at a barn.

A local farmer needs more farm hands this season, and needs someone persuasive to make the Hobs an offer.

A troop of Hobs uncovered a brass crown buried in a field. The leader of the troop believes it is a sign of his right to rule the nearby village. The Revolution begins!

An eccentric scientist wishes to study the link between the Hob’s dialect and ancient Halfling languages. Can the players arrange a conversation? Maybe even civil discourse!

Etiquette- Staying afloat in an Ocean of Manners

Hardened adventurer’s might scoff at the practicality of manners in tense situations but the Etiquette skill is a vital tool for anyone digging beneath the ordered veneer of the Empire.

Sample Etiquette Uses 
A man of uncultured living will stick out in any but the most debased surroundings. Etiquette can show who does not belong in Lady Matilda’s reception, or what thug is next in line to take over the gang.

Anyone wishing to impress their betters will need to know what actions will aid their cause. An Etiquette roll can suggest that a nice note tucked into a stolen copy of “Burchess’ Guide to Salamanders” is the perfect way to get the professor’s attention.

When looking for a bomb in a fine banquet, Etiquette can reveal which place settings might have been switched, how many bottles of wine have been switched with flammables, and what table decoration is too big to be tasteful which may be hiding the explosive.

Skill Overlap
Certain aspects of Etiquette can overlap with other Specialty Skills. This won’t outshine the other skill’s usefulness but it will help round out a party’s abilities when stuck.

Bribery
In some situations bribery is as acceptable as tipping a porter. A “fellow man of the world” will know how to act gracefully in such a situation. Refined manners will help lubricate the unhelpful to your cause with a small donation or a drink at the public house.

Fashion
The fiddly rules of society extend to clothing too. From dark gloves in the morning, light in the evening to which flowers go in corsages, Etiquette can indicate who does not belong, and keep you from attracting the wrong attentions. It would not do to overdress for a rat baiting.

Forgery
Etiquette can’t help counterfeit bank notes, but if you want to send an invitation to a nonexistent ball, it will work in a pinch. As long as the correct terms of address are used, and the details current to this social season you can pull it off.

High Society
Who is the hostess obligated to invite to the ball tonight? When should we expect the owners of this house to return from the dinner party? These questions are reasonable answered by an Etiquette roll.

Politics
Identifying a person of position and treating them with expected courtesy is what politics is all about.

Foreign Customs
Any Etiquette roll involving foreign customs or secretive social circles (such as gentlemen’s clubs, fraternal orders, cults etc) have a 3 black dice penalty due to the lack of experience an outsider would have in their conduct.

Alternate Reputation Modifiers Afforded by Etiquette Rolls 
A man of ill reputation wishing to improve his standing may wish to be seen acting in a civilized fashion. Particularly well heeled actions may counter some notoriety, turning an uncouth brute into a charming blackguard.
When a reputation roll has ended with more Notoriety success than Propriety, a character may try to minimize his failure by being on his best manners. A successful Etiquette roll against the remaining Notoriety successes reduces the failure by 1. There is only so much manners can do against a bad reputation.
This can also be done in reverse. A character wanting to capitalize on a bad Reputation can roll against remaining Proprietary Dice as well, but it may add a permanent Point of Notoriety if the success is particularly spectacular.

Skullduggery in Motion! -The Unappreciated Man

The conclusion to my first Victoriana Campaign is now online!
Running this one was simple, I just had to load any information the players had missed or forgotten in their path. Aware they had missed a few clues, the players knew exactly where to go, I just needed to keep it exciting. 
The ending did not quite work. The players were stumped on how to send the water spirits away and had to call in outside consultants, but all in all it worked out well. I love the idea of magic being math-based but advancing the idea further into architecture and music has been a leitmotif of my games for a while, and Victorian London pulled it's weight as a setting in spades.
This campaign is the favorite campaign  I have run so far. All the information, backstory and research I put in came into play and each player has a character that matches their play style to a "T". The only downside is I can't kill any of their characters. They like them to much.
It's a nice problem to have.

Newspapers, Periodicals and Broadsheets- a solid investigative association for a muckraking party

One of the best additions to Victoriana’s 3rd Edition rules is Associations. No real rules, just a simple framework for how the player character’s know each other and why they adventure they way they do. The rulebook provides enough examples to let a group develop their own association. Here is a small write up for anyone looking for an association of a journalistic bent.

Breaking news from the telegraph operator, local human interest stories, and public scandals sell papers. It’s the job of reporters to track down stories, find and keep sources, write up the news in a style appropriate to the paper’s political leaning, and stay on the right side of the law. Reporters do what is necessary to keep the broadsheets moving.
The editor of a newspaper may assign a specific beat to a staff reporter or send them abroad as a correspondent. An editor also may or may not put up a bail for their news hounds, respect the confidential relationships of their sources, or fact check their stories. Most papers pay their staff enough to get by, although more respected names, popular authors, or famous crusaders will be better paid for their pieces.
The type of newspaper will greatly affect the news reported, the tone of the reporting, and the standard of journalist integrity. A paper funded by a political party will be well connected and funded, but only stories supporting their views are wanted and indelicate research of certain persons will not be tolerated. A mercantile sheet will be filled with dryly reported shipping schedules, foreign affairs, stock prices and exchanges. Specialty periodicals feature articles from prominent experts, and well researched lists and guides alongside themed news items. Penny papers cater to the lower and working classes. Sensational crime stories, human interest pieces, weather, entertainment, advertisements, all written simply and briefly. Their long standing reporters may be particularly look down on as penny papers were illegal as recently as 1855 due to the Stamp Tax.

Skills: Bribery, Charm, Empathy, Photography, Research, Streetwise, Telegraphy
Privileges: Ear of the Street, Pub Regular
Assets: Contact, Library (local history and who’s who)
Complications: Bad Reputation, Police Harassment, Policy of Truth, Zealot,

Potential Paper Names: The Wormwood Street Sage, the Discoveries of the Empire, Samaritan, Challenger’s Conquests of Science, the Torch of Reason, The Telegraphic Messenger