Friday, January 25, 2019

House Rules and Habits- Complications and Fate Points

Victoriana’s baroque and elegant rules fit the Victorian age, but certain jumbles of rules need simplification. Some mechanics have too many exceptions and specifics, while others seem completely contradictory. I think one of the worst snarls of rules in the book is Fate Points. There are too many clauses and seemingly unnecessary sidebars for something so small in the game.
I propose the following simplification:

Player Characters start each session with 3 Fate Points which may be spent before rolling dice to add one automatic success per fate point to the result of the roll. These successes can still be negated by success on black dice. Up to three fate points may be spent this way on a single roll. Fate Points can be spent on skill, attribute, or damage rolls.
Players earn more Fate Points from their Complications. A Complication earns it’s player a Fate Point the first time it is invoked by the Gamemaster each session. A player may earn one Fate Point for each of their Complications in this way. Gamemasters may also reward a player with Fate Points for good role-play, furthering the story, helping others play etc. as they see fit. Fate points do not carry over into the following sessions. At the start of each session, a PC’s Fate Points refresh back to three.

This simplified version of the rules works well in my games. No Script Dice or the other applications of Fate Points. I’ve added nothing new here. I’m only streamlining, but I’m not done meddling yet. I also have a simplified system for Complications. A Victoriana character has enough going on without every Complication having its own mechanics.  Instead of remembering all those specific rules for each Complication, there are two effects in the game for a Complication’s baleful handicap.

A Complication can be woven narratively into the adventure as an obstacle or to pull the PC into a certain direction. If a high class PC’s meddling parents demand they host a banquet for a visiting bigwig, rescuing a famous chef from mummies becomes a much more desirable adventure. Or a PC with the “Wanted Criminal” complication will have obvious problems sneaking past the constables into the crime scene.
In both scenarios, the player gets to act out their character’s flaws and dreads and the Gamemaster get’s easy player buy-in for the next step in the story. It’s good for everybody.
The other use is a simple and quick penalty. Gamemasters (and players with Gamemaster approval) can invoke a complication to give a PC 3 black dice (or six if the circumstances are particularly dire) to any relevant rolls until the circumstance is resolved. If a PC with a “Bad Temper” Complication is already angry when they try a Hide and Sneak test, the Gamemaster could invoke the complication for a 3 black dice penalty. This represents them spitefully muttering to themselves or being incautious in their rage.

Making a complication more like an NPC Trait frees the Gamemaster to use complications in adventure creation or on the fly at the table, and let’s players come up with Complications that fit their character. Slimming down these two mechanics gives the rest of the game room to breathe and help the session flow. 

Friday, January 18, 2019

House Rules and Habits- The First Adventure

Creating the first adventure in a new Victoriana campaign is a very daunting task to me, and I imagine most Gamemasters feel the same way. There is no momentum, no clue how the new Player Characters are going to mesh, no obvious starting point and that’s just the start of the headache.
Fortunately, the slate isn’t completely blank. The Skills, Talents, Assets, Privileges, and Complications the players give their characters tell the Gamemaster how the players want to solve their problems and what sorts of problems they want to encounter. A brief examination of the character sheet can inspire themes, obstacles, locations, and starting points of the adventure.

Most obviously, players want to solve problems utilizing their PC’s highest skills. They paid the points at character creation so they want to use those skills the most. Take the hint and make those skills important in the first adventure. This is even more important and helpful to GMs formulating the first adventure if the skill doesn’t come up very often. When the players max out the Legal Matters and Accounting skills that should lead to more interesting and specific investigations. Is the mysterious money that keeps arriving in the mail embezzled from the crime boss? Does anyone know when would be the easiest time to free a friend from police custody?
Similarly, Talents like Eidetic Memory and Drink like a Fish suggest alternative problem-solving methods.

Assets can be very helpful because they give the GM resources that the PC’s care about. For example, if a PC takes the Shop or Barge Asset, the GM has a starting location for the adventure. They are all on the barge when something strange swims past. The butcher next door to the PC’s shop thinks’ his assistant is acting suspicious.
The same goes for Privileges. If a PC takes the Gang Member Privilege, the lucky GM has an entire criminal gang in play. What rumor did they hear? What is the rival gang up to? What strange danger stalks their territory? This doesn’t mean the Gamemaster should endanger these resources in the first adventure. They should be integrated into the story, not negated. That’s important to keep in mind.

Building an adventure around PC Complications requires a bit more care and tact. You don’t want their flaws to be pulled up again and again in the first adventure, but you can add flavor by putting a few specific obstacles tailored to these qualities. Phobias work nicely this way. If a PC is afraid of dogs, throw in a watchdog, or task them with tracking down a lost dog. Other Complications such as Rebel, Watched, or Theological Debate set up antagonists which could be behind the inciting incident starting the adventure. The office of a heretical publisher of religious tracts has been ransacked, or the police have a fellow member of the rebellion trapped on a rooftop.

Finally and most helpfully, every PC starts with Contacts, people they know who are willing to help out on occasion. These are fantastically useful for planning a starting adventure. If a Contact comes to their PC for help, the player is already invested and excited to see their GM use an NPC they made.

A canny GM could make an adventure by picking two or three of these elements inspired by the PCs and seeing what evolves out of mixing them together. Best of all, the PCs have both a personal attachment to the problem and the pertinent skill to solve it. 

Friday, January 11, 2019

House Rules and Habits- NPC Traits

When I started running Victoriana, it was the Second Edition. All the bits and pieces were identifiably present in that version but Third Edition cleaned up the game, making it a lot more cohesive. It’s much easier to read and understand but there are a couple of great pieces of Second Edition that got lost. One of these is NPC Traits.

Player characters in Victoriana are very complicated and comprehensive with lists of skills, talents, assets, privileges, and spells. It’s just too much to go through that for every Non-Player Character, so I use Competencies and Traits. While NPC Traits are mentioned in 3rd Edition, they deserve to be a more integral part of an NPC’s stat block. I think these quick descriptions can do so much more than they currently do.
The three main stats of an NPC are the Competencies: Physical, Mental, and Social. These are analogous to the attributes of a Player Character (Strength, Dexterity, Fortitude etc). They provide 90% of the mechanics needed, but I go a bit further for named NPCs that needs to react and interact with the player characters.  Here is an NPC as an example:

Jeroboam Hinge (Orc Chimney Sweep)
Initiative: 4
Physical: 4
Mental: 2
Social: 4
Health: 10
Combat: Work knife (4)

It’s not bad, but there is nothing distinctive about Jeroboam Hinge, nothing about how to portray him or his modus operandi. Instead of skills, privileges, and talents, a couple of descriptive traits give me exactly what I need. These traits give bonus dice just like skills when Jeroboam Hinge performs any action to which the traits might apply. So Jeroboam has:

Traits: Things go missing around him +3, Protective of his apprentices +2

Now Hinge has some life in him. He’s a sneak thief, but he watches out for the people in his care. These traits tell me exactly what kinds of choices he’ll make around the player characters. He steals small things when people aren't looking while gaining +2 dice to his pickpocket, Conceal,  and Hide and Sneak pools. These might also be more than just bonus dice. If Hinge has to make a mental competency test against a player character threatening one of his apprentices to make Hinge surrender, that +2 bonus could become a +2 black dice penalty or he may just automatically give in.

Traits can also differentiate characters with very similar stats. If I make another chimney sweep keeping all of the competencies the same but give the character new traits, such as Good judge of horseflesh at the track +2 and Small frame +3, they become a completely different character without requiring looking up skills and talents. Mind you, if I still need some special rules, I can still add special rules. I don’t want to have to remember how a monster’s regeneration works or how to calculate their speed burrowing underground. I’ll write down whatever details I need about a monster’s rules, but in general, traits boil down an NPC’s stats down to what I really need and give me quick reminders how they operate. Traits simplify creating NPCs and make them easier to use at the table.

Thursday, January 3, 2019

House Rules and Habits- Notations for Initiative


As the New Year sees me about to start running Victoriana again, I thought it might be helpful to share some of the idiosyncrasies and shortcuts I usein my games. Victoriana is my favorite role-playing game (hence this blog), however, I can still see the rules are as clunky as they are elegant. Certain rules I simplify, and others I ignore. We’ll begin with a piece of mechanics central of what makes Victoriana special: Initiative.

In Victoriana, the character who rolled the lowest initiative declares their actions for the round first, then we proceed with everyone else in ascending order. Once everyone has stated their action for the round we resolve their actions starting with the person with the highest initiative. This is pretty unique and knowing what your slower opponents are going to do gives interesting strategic options, however, without a little bookkeeping it will slow down your game. I have developed a couple of shortcuts to help keep track of actions and oppositions to keep the combat flowing. 
Here is my list of participants in the fight listed in the order of their initiatives, highest on top and descending. PC 1 had the most successes on their initiative roll, and a PC 3 rolled the least. We have three player characters fighting three monsters. This is pretty standard so far, however in Victoriana, we start with the character with the lowest initiative declaring their actions for the round.
In this example, PC 3 rolled the lowest initiative and declares she’s going to attack monster 2. To keep track of this in shorthand, I draw an arrow from PC 3 to Monster 2 in my initiative order. Remember we don’t resolve these actions until everyone declares their actions for the round. Next, it’s Monster 3’s turn.
As Gamemaster, I decided Monster 3 will attack PC 2, so I draw another arrow from Monster 3 to PC 2. Then it’s time for Monster 3 to choose a victim.
I decided Monster 2 will attack back at PC 3, making their combat contested, meaning they will both roll against each other on their turns. I note this by adding another arrowhead to the arrow connecting Monster 2 and PC 3. Exciting stuff, I know, but it helps me keep a complicated system straight in my head. Now it’s PC 2's turn.
PC 2 chooses to ignore Monster 3’s assault and instead piles another attack on Monster 2. Monster 2 already declared their action so the attacks of PC 2 will go uncontested, however so will the attacks of Monster 3 on PC 2. The arrows quickly remind me which combats have already happened, which ones are about to happen, and which are contested, but we can do more.
Monster 1 breaks the mold and chooses to run off and do something instead of attack a PC. I note this with a line pointing straight out, away from all of the fight’s participants and if I need more information I‘ll write a short one-word descriptor with more specific information. In this case, he plans to spend his turn pulling a lever releasing a horde of hungry rats into the room. Only PC 1 has a chance to stop this from happening.
But No, PC 1 follows the example of PC 2 and PC 3 and attacks Monster 2. Monster 2 will probably not live through the round, but there will be a horde of rats to fight instead. Now that everyone has declared their actions, we proceed to resolve their actions starting with PC 1, then Monster 1, PC 2, Monster 2 (if he lasts that long), Monster 3, and finally PC 3. Once all surviving participants complete their turns, a new round begins with a fresh initiative roll. 

Once everyone understands these basic notations, you can start adding in your own short hand symbols, such as a square for defensive actions, a circle for reloading, or a frown face for running away. These are basic examples, but the system holds up well when characters take multiple actions. The game master doesn’t have to remember everything. The players should be able to remember what they are doing, but it helps to smooth out the wrinkles if everyone can quickly grasp what comes next. This is my system for doing just that.