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.
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