House Rules and Habits- Surviving Character Creation

When I started this series, I had no idea how many idiosyncrasies I’ve developed to help me run Victoriana. As I thought over my house rules and started a brand new campaign, more and more came to mind. This week I’m stepping off my soapbox with a little advice for players about to start building their characters. Certainly, the most complex series of rules for almost any role-playing game is character creation, and that process in Victoriana especially lengthy and detailed. The multitude of options spread through the core rulebook can leave players confused, frustrated, or worse left with a character they don’t want to play.

One simple step streamlines the entire process and can make sense of all the wonderful madness of Victoriana character creations. Try to come into character generation with a strong concept. You don’t need all the blanks filled in, just a few key ideas such as occupation, subspecies, personality, and most importantly their class. Victoriana is a class-based game, but you’re not choosing between rogue, paladin, and warlock, you’re choosing your character’s place in society. Class dominates every aspect of your character and defines your options. Combined with a couple other specific details in mind, you will be able to navigate character generation and bring your character to the table.

Starting blank and writing down whichever options sound like fun at the time to can work but I do not recommend it. In my epicene, players that try this get overwhelmed or end up with a bundle of disconnected ideas and rules that don’t spark play. Having a few key ideas helps to quickly shave away anything that doesn’t reinforce your character’s concept. As long as you are making a character suitable to adventuring in gaslight fantasy you will find options befitting your concept during Victoriana Character Generation.

To simplify it further, I recommend my first-time players think of a cliché Victoriana archetype and a fantasy trope and then combine the two. That mixture can’t help but start ideas flowing or at least suggest a direction they could go. For example, go ahead and pick something from the Victorian Trope and the Fantasy Trope tables below:

Victorian Trope

Anatomist

Detective

 Gasfitter

Aristocrat

Ladies Maid

Stage Magician

Pickpocket

Music Hall Singer

Fantasy Trope

Animal Loving Druid

The Lost Prince

Uncivilized Barbarian

Peasant Hero

Tavern keeper

Balladeer Bard

Righteous Paladin

Bookish Wizard

Some of these ideas connect very naturally, for example, balladeer bard and music hall singer, done. Others are more interesting such as aristocrat and uncivilized barbarian. That strange juxtaposition is enough to get us thinking. I’m picturing a stranger to England with strange habits, a royal pedigree, and a keenness for hunting monsters. Or take gasfitter and bookish wizard. What modern convenience (or modern for the 1850s) would a wizard come to a middle-class house and install? Sigils, wards, or homunculi servants bound to the home?

Combining fantasy and the Victorian era lies at the heart of what makes Victoriana special, and it’s a great place to start building a character. Don’t let the plethora of options get you down. Start with an idea and chip away everything that doesn’t’ match what you want to play.

That finishes up this self-aggrandizing look at my house rules and habits. I hope this encourages those of you who haven’t had great experiences with Victoriana to give it another try, and give a long time Victoriana veterans food for thought. Next week we will start our multipart examination of Burial Clubs.