Their Finest Hour- Now With 100% More Vril!

The new version of the “The Blitz Spirit” PDF is now available for free! Before, the pdf ably covered the multitude of new character options brought to life by the 1940 setting. This new version features 10 new pages exploring the supernatural possibilities of World War II, such as Technological Magnetists, Ascended Magnetists, new spells, alternate uses for Vril, and the magical history of the 20^th century! This and many other resources for the Victoriana Roleplaying Game can be downloaded here:

Their Finest Hour- The Secrets of Vril

Mechanically, Vril dice work the same way as the Quintessence dice of Victoriana. Casting spells, using magnetic abilities, activating runes, etc. spends pips of Vril just like Quintessence. During character generation, player characters still start with Vril dice equal to their Resolve. Unlike Quintessence dice, Vril dice only have 4 pips each, to represent the world’s diminishing magical fields. While an hour’s rest still restores 1 pip, a good night’s sleep now only restores Vril dice equal to twice the caster’s Resolve Attribute.

However, Vril now has a few other uses:

Thaumaturgists

By precharging their Hermetic operations with an existing vril field, thaumaturgists momentarily soften the walls of reality making their spellcasting easier. When a thaumaturgist casts a spell, they may reduce the black dice in their pool by 1 for every 2 pips of vril they spend beyond the spell’s cost. Vril may be spent in the same manner to reduce the black dice of Concentration tests. In this way, thaumaturgists can reduce the black dice in a test down to zero.

Sigil Scribes

While a sigil’s activation lasts hours, sometimes that’s not long enough. A scribe's will creates a sigil. A scribe’s will sustains it. Sigil Scribes may spend 2 Vril pips to extend the duration of a sigil’s activation by an hour. They may keep the sigil active in this way until they run out of Vril. A sigil scribe can keep multiple sigils active at a time, but it still costs 2 Vril for each sigil every hour. While the sigil is active, the scribe can choose to extend its duration at any point.

Magnetists

A magnetist’s connection with the deeper world around them grants them amazing abilities. Sometimes their mind snatches insight from bursts of cosmic inspiration. Before a magnetist rolls any test using the Wits attribute, they may spend Vril to add dice to their pool. Every 4 Vril pips spent adds an extra dice to their pool. Dice added in this fashion cannot exceed the magnetist’s Presence attribute. A player character must have one of the Magnetists Talents to spend Vril in this way. Even though all Eldren start play with a magnetist ability, they cannot spend Vril in this way without a Magnetist Talent.

Conjurors

Conjurors call on nature’s power to create their enchantments. Wherever there is nature there are nature spirits. Conjurors make deals with nature spirits (such as Sprites, Nymphs, Leshy, Genius Loci, Kami, Vilas, and Dryads), leasing their vril for the spirit’s labor. Ordinarily, enchanting takes hours. With a little help, it takes minutes. For every 4 pips over the enchantment’s ritual cost, its ritual duration is halved (rounded down). For example, if a ritual duration is 3 hours long and the conjuror spends 8 extra vril, the ritual duration is now 45 minutes.

Vrility (New Talent)

Even as magic leaves the world, you spark with vestiges of its old power. Through strength of will, training, innate ability, or luck, your stores of vril surpass those of most magicians. All of your Vril Dice posses 5 pips instead of 4.

Group Rolls- A Helpful House Rule For Helpful People

During my most recent Victoriana Campaign, I thought up another quick house rule worth sharing on the blog. Everyone needs help sometimes, and this rule helps helpers dramatically helping.

In most cases, characters in Victoriana attempt tasks on their own, or everyone attempts similar tasks at the same time. For example, a dwarf, an elf, and an ogre suspect the library hides a secret passage. All three search for the entrance at the same time, probably at different heights. All three make a Perception + Wits test. Those that succeed, find the book that opens the secret door. Those that fail, look at their successful peers with admiration. Everyone had a chance, but nobody helped each other. They simply all tried the same task at the same time.

Sometimes a task depends on the effort of one person, but others can assist through Group Rolls. The same dwarf, elf, and ogre discover the secret passage leads down to a large sewer canal. A rowboat bobs in the murky sludge. They climb in. As the strongest member of the party, the ogre takes the oars. The elf holds up a lantern and points out obstacles as the dwarf stirs up the water in front of the boat with a stick to ease its passage through the sludge. In this case, the ogre is trying to perform a task, while the elf and dwarf assist.

Page 163 of the Victoriana 3^rd Edition rulebook explains how Group Rolls work. The primary (in this case the ogre) rolls the test as normal, while the assistants (the elf and dwarf) roll the test with only dice from skills in their pool (no attributes). Their net successes count as automatic successes in the primary’s test.

That’s fine, but this is Victoriana. Let’s roll lots of dice and embrace dramatic tension! Here is how Group Rolls work at my table: First the assistants test whatever Skill + Attribute is pertinent to the task just like a regular test. For every success rolled, the primary removes a black die from the dice pool for their test. Then the primary rolls their test with a normal pool and the reduced black dice. If the assistant’s dice pools had black dice, they may roll a foul failure. In which case, they add black dice equal to their test result to the primary’s dice pool.

In this case, the ogre is the primary and the other two adventurers assist them. The ogre is about to roll a Might+ Strength test with six black dice to row the boat through the canal. The elf snagged three successes, directing the ogre to duck their head at low ceilings and avoid rushing water, but the dwarf’s frantic stirrings netted one black die success. Together their efforts reduced the six black dice in the Ogre’s pool down to four. If the ogre succeeds in their test, the party navigates through the secret canal to the cabal’s lair. If not, they wind deeper into the sewer at a pace slow enough for something awful to catch up to them.

This house rule is really a matter of taste. In Victoriana, I prefer more dice and less automatic successes. The rule in the book is fine. It works, but I wholeheartedly prefer this method.

Dogfights- Now Available for Download

We’re starting off the year with a bang (or rather a daka-daka-daka) with the release of the Dogfighting rules for Their Finest Hour. This PDF contains everything needed for the aerial combats between the Luftwaffe and the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain. It’s my most game mechanic focused writing yet, with 13 pages of maneuvers, aircraft stats, armaments, monsters, situational rules, and scale silhouette charts.
As with all my PDF’s, I’d love to hear any corrections, quibbles, or playtest feedback you might have.

Dogfights is available for free on this Blog’s Resources page or right here.

Dogfights- Optional Rules

Optional Rule: Emergency Landings and Bailing Out

When an aircraft’s health reaches zero, it and all its occupants turn into a bullet hole-riddled fireball plummeting to the ground. Crew members must take desperate steps to avoid this ugly end before their craft’s health depletes.

Ordinarily, a pilot lucky or skilled enough to safely reach his airfield after a sortie lands his aircraft without needing to roll but normalcy dries out very quickly in war. Whether because of damage to their aircraft or their person, sometimes a pilot must land in terrible conditions. To attempt an emergency landing, the pilot makes an Aviation + Handling test with a black dice pool based on the landing environment. On landing, the aircraft takes damage equal to the Environment Damage minus the successes of the Aviation + Handling roll.

Environment                     Black Dice           Damage

Roads or fields                    0                              4

Lakes and thickets              3                              6

Open sea or villages           6                              8

Forests                                  9                              10

Cities                                      12                           12

At any time, the occupants of a plane may Bail Out and open their parachute with no roll necessary at the Gamemaster’s discretion. Once out of the plane, the evacuee no longer contributes to the Dogfight, but they may take potshots at other parachutists or make use of other opportunities as they crop up. They reach the ground in 1D6 Dogfight turns and suffer 8 pips of damage from the sudden impact. They may attempt an Athletics test (0 black dice). Each success negates a point of damage.  Those without a parachute need not roll the test; they simply start a new character.

Optional Rule: Crew Damage

The bullets tearing through an aircraft also tear through the aircraft’s crew. If an aircraft looses more health pips than its Armor Value x 2 in a single attack, someone’s been hit! The Gamemaster rolls a die to determine the casualty of a damage (5) hit.

Roll        Result

1-2          The pilot

3-5          A random crew member

6              Vital components (all actions undertaken by the aircraft during the combat phase suffer 3 black dice until the damage gets repaired)

Optional Rule: Weather and Night Fighting

While in the thick of it, pilots worry about wind, rain, and lightning almost as much as enemy bullets. On clear sunny days, Dogfighting actions suffer no penalties for the weather, but flying through a fog, blizzards, hail, or thunderclouds gets messy fast.

Weather Conditions        Black Dice penalty

Cloudy/Raining                   3

Thick fog/Storm                  6

Additionally during dark nights bereft of spotlights or a full moon, all Dogfighting Actions suffer +3 black dice.

Optional Rule: Skip the Squadron Phase

Obviously, the Squadron Phase is meant for massive air sorties with more than 10 aircraft battling through the skies. For smaller more mechanically nuanced fights, remove the Squadron Phase and move directly into the combat phase every round with a few adjustments. Instead of basing their initiative on the Squadron Roll, every pilot rolls their Aviation plus their aircraft’s Handling to determine their aircraft’s initiative. The crew then takes turns performing their actions as they see fit. In case of a disagreement, the aircraft’s pilot decides the order of crew actions.  Instead of the Tactical Action, pilots gain the Spot Action.

I’m very proud of the Dogfighting rules. With a little tweaking and some new Actions for the Combat Phase they could work very well for all sorts of Victoriana mass combats. Now that we have the rules, we just need some planes.

Dogfights- The Combat Phase

After the Squadron Roll’s resolution, the Combat Phase begins. PCs and important NPCs take turns performing actions much like a regular combat turn. Instead of rolling initiative, the aircraft belonging to the squadron which won the Squadron Roll perform their actions first, followed by the planes of the losing squadron. Ties break in favor of the side with the biggest dice pool in the previous Squadron Roll (which makes the Defend Maneuver a little more appealing). Players decide the order of friendly actions in the Combat phase as does the Gamemaster for the Enemy. The very first character to act each round receives the usual Initiative bonus.  Just like a combat round on the ground, combatants may take multi-action penalties to perform more than one action a turn.

Obviously, aircraft are constantly in motion. Pilots may position their craft and speed through the dogfight freely, although the Gamemaster may rule that it takes several turns to reach an objective. Characters piloting aircraft perform Pilot Actions, while characters operating other stations aboard an aircraft perform Crew Actions. While characters may perform other actions than those listed with Gamemaster approval, most actions fall within the following categories.

Pilot Actions

                Attack- The pilot chooses a target to attack with one of their aircraft’s pilot armaments and rolls a Gunnery + their aircraft’s Handling test against a black dice pool consisting of their target’s Handling +3. If the target’s Handling is black dice, they are added to the attack pool as bonus dice. On a success, the pilot rolls damage. Ties go in favor of the attacker.

                Defend- The pilot attempts a test using their Aviation + their aircraft’s Handling. Until the start of their next turn, they add the test’s net successes to their aircraft’s (or another friendly aircraft’s) Armor Value.

                Escape/Chase- The pilot tests their Aviation + their aircrafts’ Handling with 9 black dice if the enemy squadron outnumbers their friendly squadron. If the friendly squadron equals or outnumbers the enemy squadron, the Escape test suffers no black dice.  On a success, their aircraft leaves the dogfight. If unsuccessful, they remain in the dogfight and an enemy aircraft chosen by the Gamemaster makes a free attack against them.

This action may also be used to chase escaping aircraft. The pilot follows the same procedure to Pursue an enemy aircraft that successfully performed the Escape (or Chase) Action since the start of the Pilot’s last turn. If unsuccessful, the pilot loses his target and remains in the Dogfight. If successful the pilot and the target begin a vehicle chase as described starting on page 32 of the Victoriana Sourcebook Marvels of Science and Steampunk.

                Tactical- The Pilot attempts a test with their Aviation or Tactics skills + their aircraft’s Handling. If successful, their Squadron adds a number of dice equal to the number of successes to their next Squadron Roll. If multiple pilots in the same Squadron perform the Tactical Action in the same Combat Phase, only the highest counts towards the next Squadron Roll.

Crew Actions

                Attack- The gunner chooses a target to attack with one of their station’s armaments. They roll a Gunnery + their aircraft’s Handling test against a black dice pool of their target’s Handling +3. If the target’s Handling is black dice, they are added to the attack pool as bonus dice. On a success, they roll their armament’s damage. Ties go in favor of the attacker.

                Drop Bomb- The bombardier rolls a Gunnery test with 6 black dice. For each 500lbs worth of bomb weight (rounded down) dropped during a Drop Bomb action, the bombardier adds 2 dice to their pool.  If successful, the bombs fall right on target. With a failure they miss entirely, causing massive devastation to a random spot below. On a partial success, the bombardier rolls a d6. On a 6 or a 1, the desired target still sustained extensive damage but remains standing. On a 2 or a 5, the bomb causes savage destruction elsewhere.           

Repair- Any crewmember may attempt an Ad Hoc Repair test with 3 black dice to return lost health pips to their aircraft. Each success restores 1 health pip up to a maximum equal to their aircraft’s Armor Value.

Spot- Any crew member may attempt a Perception or Gunnery test and choose another member of their aircraft’s crew or pilot. That crew member reduces the black dice penalty of their next action by the number of successes generated by the test.

With all that out of the way, next week we’ll taste the frosting of our Dogfighting cake: Optional Rules

Dogfights- The Squadron Phase

A round of dogfighting consists of two phases: The Squadron Phase and the Combat Phase. During the Squadron phase, the chaotic cloud of feints, bullets, dives, and destruction buzzing through the heavens boils down to a single opposed roll called the Squadron Roll. Afterward, PCs and other characters more interesting than unnamed airmen perform individual actions during the Combat Phase. If the fight remains unresolved by the end of the Combat phase another round of dogfighting begins with the Squadron Phase.

The Squadron Phase

Every Squadron Phase, both sides of the dogfight gather a dice pool consisting of 1 die for every aircraft in their squadron, including fighters, bombers, monsters, and aircraft piloted by PCs. Each side also adds the highest Handling attribute among their aircraft to their Squadron’s pool. The friendly squadron rolls white dice and the enemy squadron rolls black. Black successes negate white, and white successes negate black just like a regular roll. Any remaining successes are net successes and their effects depend on the Squadron Maneuver chosen before the roll. Due to the opposed nature of the roll, any 6s rolled by black dice explode just like the white. Ties mean neither side accomplishes their maneuver. The players keep track of the number of planes in their squadron and choose their Squadron Maneuver. The Gamemaster performs the same tasks for the enemy squadron.

Example: The RAF 11 Group sends 3 Spitfires, 2 Wyverns, and 4 Hurricanes to intercept a Luftwaffe swarm of 7 Bf 109s, and 5 He 111s. The highest Handling attribute among the RAF’s aircraft is the Spitfire’s +5. For the Luftwaffe squadron, it’s the Bf 109’s +3. Therefore the RAF dice pool for the Squadron Roll is 14 dice and the Luftwaffe Pool is 15. Both sides choose the Attack Maneuver. The RAF Squadron rolls 4 successes while the Luftwaffe rolled 6, leaving the Luftwaffe 2 net successes.

Squadron Maneuvers

                Attack- For every net success in the winning squadron’s pool, the enemy removes a fighter from their squadron of their choice. If the winning squadron wishes to target special aircraft, such as enemy bombers, monsters, and planes piloted by PCs or important NPCs, for every 3 successes spent they make a damage roll against their chosen targets using one of their fighter’s armaments. The number of successes from the Squadron Maneuver does not contribute to the damage. The squadron engages the enemy’s planes in furious combat.

Defend- The squadron adds dice to their Squadron Roll pool equal to half of their current Squadron Roll pool (rounding up). However, if they win the Squadron roll, they remove enemy fighters from the dogfight for every 3 successes or damage special aircraft for every 6. The planes circle up, fly evasively, or avoid direct engagement with enemy fighters.

Escape- For every net success, 1 friendly aircraft safely leaves the battle to fight another day. Successes during an Escape maneuver do not remove enemy planes from the dogfight nor aircraft piloted by PCs. Planes perform an emergency landing, fly away, or escape in thick cloud banks.

Tactical- Net successes from the Squadron Roll contribute to this turn and boost the next turn’s Squadron Roll. Aside from canceling out the enemy squadron’s success, Net Successes from a Tactical Maneuver cause no other effect during that turn they were rolled. Successes from a previous Tactical Maneuver in the next turn count towards the net successes as normal and can remove enemy planes from the dogfight for an Attack, help more planes getaway during an Escape, etc. Tactical Maneuver successes do not contribute to a Tactical Maneuver in the following turn. The squadron climbs to a higher elevation to attack enemy planes from above, circle behind enemy formations, or maneuver out of the sun’s glare.

Next week we’ll look at the Combat Phase, where players and important NPC’s shine.

Beasts of England- Batfolk

The essential Victoriana supplement “Darwin’s Catalogue: Beastmen of Britain “lists a plethora of beast folk options available for player characters. However, it excludes two famous mammals: Bats and Whales. These atypical creatures could still work in the world of Victoriana. For now, cetacean categorization has to wait. Today we look at Batfolk!

Batfolk-( May use the Attributes of Agile Beast folk  or +2 Dexterity, -1 Presence, -1 Strength)

Batfolk are unique among beastmen both for their ability to fly and their malevolent appearance.

Although only a few batfolk actually possess wings, their natural head for heights makes all batfolk valuable additions to the crews of sailing ships and build sites. Even if a batfolk is born without wings their fingers still extend a few inches longer than a human’s.

Whether winged or long-fingered, batfolk posses sinister visages with their tall pointed ears, slim bodies, and sharp teeth. Neighbors often ostracize batfolk until they look past their dour exterior. While batfolk enjoy the company of others and the bustling activity of city life, their nocturnal nature restricts many to socialize solely with other night-dwelling denizens of London.

Batfolk may choose Animal Traits or Complications from the following list along with those from the Victoriana Core rulebook.

Nocturnal Senses

Your senses explore the night world in ways others cannot understand. Your sense of smell, sight, and echolocation overcome all penalties for darkness, and reduce black dice penalties for being blindfolded, or other visual impairments by three.

Flight

You can fly! Your hands end with five elongated fingers connected by sails of leathery skin giving you wings. Whilst air born, actions requiring the use of a single hand suffer three Black Dice. Performing any two-handed actions incurs no penalty but sends you plummeting ten feet towards the ground immediately or at the end of a combat round. You have a flying speed of 5 + Dexterity x 4 yards per round.

Spooky

Bats carry a stigma across many cultures around the world both good and bad. Europeans and Americans associate bats with the macabre while other cultures revere the bat as a bodiless soul or a good omen.  As a batfolk, you carry the weight of superstition wherever you go.  Your Presence tests suffer +2 black dice when interacting with strangers or the prejudiced.

Wings in the Way

While your wings propel you to the skies, they do not make great hands. Nor do they help you move along the ground. Any skill tests using the Dexterity attribute suffer one Black Dice unless you are flying. This complication may still be taken even if you do not have wings.

Making Friends and Losing Them- Privileged Reputation Dice

During my years of running Victoriana, I’ve noticed my players prefer to invest in raw dice-power stats like attributes or skills. If they do take some of the other character options, they gravitate towards the special rules of Talents and the material resources of Assets. Privileges get very little use. I have also seen that Reputation dice (which are rolled to see if people have heard anything about you) don’t very often get to pull the story in interesting directions. It takes a long time to accumulate enough dice through adventuring to cause offended gasps at the mention of your name or grateful glances toward you in the street. I say let’s point these problems at each other and make a house rule.

Some of the Privileges and Complications give Reputation Dice to a player character. If you are using my house rules for Complications, those Reputation Dice are gone, making the problem worse. So, I’ve gone through the Privileges in the 3^rd Edition Victoriana Core Rulebook and assigned each a Propriety or Notoriety Reputation Dice. When a Player Character gets the Privilege, they get the Reputation Dice attached to it. This represents their “public face” based on their social circles, uniforms, and titles, as opposed to Reputation Dice gained by their actions through play. If a Privilege already gives Reputation Dice, that text can be ignored. Those dice have been factored in the following list:

Privileges

Artificer’s License-Propriety 1

Barrister- License- Propriety 1

Blackguard- Notoriety 2

Ear of the Street- Notoriety 1

Engineering License- Propriety 1

Friend of the Library- Either Propriety 1 or Notoriety 1

Gang Member- Notoriety 2

Hero- Propriety 1

Higher Station-Propriety 1

Knighthood-Propriety 2

Livery Company-Propriety 1

Local Hero-Propriety 2

Maleficium- Notoriety 2

Medical Practitioner’s License- Propriety 1

Military Commission- Propriety 1

Museum Trustee- Propriety 1

Noble Tinkerer- Propriety 1

Notary Public- Propriety 1

Peer- Propriety 3

Police Officer- Either Propriety 1 or Notoriety 1

Political Legacy- Propriety 1

Private Club Membership- Either Propriety 1 or Notoriety 1

Private Club Membership Elite- Either Propriety 1 or Notoriety 1

Pub Regular- Either Propriety 1 or Notoriety 1

Public Carriage License- Propriety 1

Scrap Yard Source- Notoriety 1

Second Family- Either Propriety 1 or Notoriety 1

Social Anomaly- Either Propriety 1 or Notoriety 1

Society Friends- Propriety 1

Street Informant- Notoriety 1

Street Informant- Peeler’s Pet-Notoriety 1

Thaumaturgical Degree- Propriety 1

Theatre Box- Propriety 1

Theatrical Patron- Notoriety 1

Warrant Card- Either Propriety 1 or Notoriety 1

Certain Privileges listed come with the option of Propriety 1 or Notoriety 1. When a Player Character takes the Privilege, they choose whether this is seen in a notorious or proper light in society’s eyes. If a Private Club has a reputation for being full of Libertines with shocking vices, taking the Privilege gives your character a Notoriety die. Similarly, if polite society knows the Private Club for its charity work and stable political connections, the Privilege gives a Propriety Die.

Privileges aligned with Propriety heavily outnumber those with Notoriety dice, which is understandable. Most Privileges were built to fit upper-class characters, reflecting societal connections handy during an adventure. Only a handful could be considered scandalous enough to warrant a Notoriety point.

Remember, Notoriety is not a bad thing. It just means you get along better with the shadier or less accepted people in the Empire. A stage actor connected with revolutionaries won’t be keen to open up to a respectable citizen with close ties to the police. Of course, the respectable citizen won’t be pleased with it either. For the Rules for Reputation Dice see pages 190-193 in the Victoriana 3^rd Edition Core Rulebook. For the Rules for Privileges see pages 119-122.

Victorian Vice-Hazard

Every night, countless thousands of pounds switch owners at gambling halls and gentlemen’s clubs over games of Hazard. In the 1700s and early 1800s, the perilous game’s name turned into a synonym for dangerous obstacles. An appropriate appropriation, considering the many well-heeled sons of well-bred families left impoverished after a night’s play. Bored crusaders may have invented the game while besieging the Arabian castle “Asart”, or it may have been named after the Spanish word for an unlucky roll of the dice, “Azar”. Hazard was the staple game for displays of status and wealth at Crockford’s fashionable gambling house. It remains popular in golden halls catering to fun seekers of independent means.

Hazard may only require two six-sided dice to play, but that doesn’t mean it’s a simple game. Its finicky rules require memorization, an understanding of odds, and a personal fortune large enough to absorb sudden losses. Any number of players may gather around a Hazard table. One player at a time takes turns as the caster. The caster names a number between 5 and 9 (known as the main). If the dice roll the main, the caster wins a payout equaling his wager. If the dice roll a 2 or 3, the castor loses. An 11 or 12 on the dice means the caster either won or lost depending on their main number.

                -5 or 9 loses on an 11 or 12

                -6 or 8 loses on an 11 but wins on a 12

                -7 wins on an 11 but loses on a 12

Any other number rolled by the dice is called the chance. The caster rolls again. If the caster rolls their chance number a second time, they win back their stake plus a little more derived from a complicated set of odds based on their main and chance numbers. If they roll the main (their original number) the caster loses their stake. If the dice roll any other number the caster keeps rolling until they roll the main or the chance.

Casters play rounds of Hazard until three loses or they quit. Then the next player takes over as caster. If played outside a gambling hall, the other players act as the bank covering the caster’s winnings and sharing their losses among the group. Impatient for their turn as caster, players often make private side bets over the next number rolled, whether it will be even or odd, and the size of the next caster’s wager.

No matter the main or chance, the quick changing and complex odds of Hazard never favor the caster. Despite the handicap, cheating at hazard is rare. In games among the nobility, most of the caster’s know each other. Any hint of a scandal pulls the accused out of society. All castors share the same two dice and any alteration to make the dice roll a certain way would equally improve the odds for everyone provided they were not serendipitously swapped back out.

Hazard in Play

To play an entire game of Hazard in one roll, the caster makes a Gambling test with 6 black dice. On a success, the caster wins an amount equal to double their wager. For each net success, the castor wins another amount equal to their wager. On a partial success, the caster may roll again. On a failure, the castor loses their wager and must give up the dice to the next castor.

For a side bet, the player rolls an opposed Gambling test against their opponents with no black dice. This may be done while the player is the caster or just waiting their turn. To cheat at Hazard, the cheater rolls a Sleight of Hand test with 6 black dice to affect the caster’s outcome.

Victorian Vice- Faro

Whether it’s their main table or tucked in a corner, every Victorian gambling hall has a Faro (pronounced as the word “Pharaoh) table. The homonymic name stems from the game’s origin in the French court of Louis the XVI. Their standard deck featured cards depicting an Egyptian pharaoh. Faro spread to every saloon, gaming club across Europe and America in the 1800s. Punters (as Faro players are called) of all social classes crowd around the gaming table because of its simple rules and easily understood odds. Faro tables are generally square with a spot for the dealer cut out. The center of the table holds depictions of the thirteen types of cards in a suite (ace, two, three, etc all the way to king, excluding jokers). They might be painted on felt or the entire suite of spades glued to a wooden board.

At the start of a turn, punters place their stakes on their chosen cards. The dealer then draws the top card of a standard fifty-two card deck and places it on his right. This is the winning card. He then draws the losing card and places it on his left. Any punter lucky enough to bet on the winning card receives a payout equal to his stake (in other words a shilling bet wins a shilling). Those placing their faith on the losing card lose their stake. Gamblers whose cards neither won nor lost neither won nor lost their money. After payouts switched hands, new players joined the game, old players left, and stakes shifted from one card to another before the next round begins.

For further complication, punters may flip the game on its head by placing a marker next to their wager indicating that they are betting on that card to lose. If it wins, they lose their stake. If it loses, they win. Punters may also spread their stakes across multiple cards. A game of faro ends with one last bet over the order of the final three cards in the deck (ignoring the absolute last card which was revealed previously at the beginning of the game). If a punter guesses the order of all three cards he wins four-to-one. Guessing two of the three pays out two-to-one, and guessing one pays out one-to-one.

Among table games, Faro has the best odds unless the dealer cheats. To discourage cheating or to appear more honest despite cheating, faro begins by the dealer shuffling the deck, a punter cutting the cards, and the dealer revealing the card at the bottom of the deck. The deck was also kept in a special spring-fed box allowing the top cards to be pulled out one by one with little chance of manipulation. A small device similar to an abacus called “the case-keeper” recorded what cards had already been revealed from the deck and which cards remained. Despite these safeguards, few dealers played an honest table. Some dealers cheated with special decks designed to keep pairs of cards stuck together during a thorough shuffle. The box holding the cards could be altered allowing the dealer to pull certain cards at their whim. At a noisy and crowded table, a fellow conspirator could easily slide a wager from a winning card to a loser. In spite of widespread cheating, Faro’s quick and easy play, the comradery of punters eagerly tracking the deck’s progress, and the sudden wins and losses made it the most popular table game in Victorian England.

Faro in Play

To simulate an entire game of faro with a single test, the punter makes a Gambling test with 3 black dice. On a successful roll, they win an amount equal to their wager. For every net success, the punter wins another amount equal to their original wager. They break even with a partial success and lose their wager on a failure.

If the table is crooked, the punter’s roll remains the same, but the dealer makes a Gambling, or Mental competence test opposing the gambler.

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.

House Rules and Habits- Huldus and Halflings

As is inevitable with any series about house rules, we move on to discuss something that isn’t necessarily wrong. I just don’t like it. The corebook of Victoriana 3^rd edition avoids reinventing the classic fantasy races in favor of letting it’s unique mid-1800s setting bring out interesting juxtapositions and niches. Adventuring in the class-based society of London pulls these fantasy tropes into new places without requiring any additional reinvigoration. The familiar faces of the fantastic help pull players into the rich world of Victorian England.

So why change their names? Dwarves remain dwarves, gnomes remain gnomes, but calling “Halflings” and “Elves” “Huldus” and “Eldren” annoys me a bit. With the “Eldren” it’s not so bad. That name has been around since 2nd Edition and it perfectly evokes the subspecies place in Victorian society. On the other hand, “Huldu” derives from “Huldufolk”, creatures from Icelandic mythology roughly analogous to fairies. They live in specific stones set aside for their homes, and young Icelandic children are taught to never throw rocks for fear of hitting the hidden people. While there are some interesting connections between Huldufolk and Halflings, Halflings are already a fantasy trope so calling them Huldu just takes actual Huldu out of the game, and makes the Victoriana subspecies less accessible to new players. The name “Halfling” captures exactly what these creatures are, defines how they fit in society, and leaves the world wide open for stone-dwelling Icelandic elves.

I know this is nitpicking, but I do think it’s a good example of a problem with adapting real-world folklore for role-playing games. If you’re going to take folklore concept A and put it into your role-playing game as fantasy trope B, I think A should be as close to B as possible or B has to be made at least as interesting as A. I see this happen a lot. If werewolves are the result one curse and they live in one single forest, that’s very lame to me. Using these legends should make your world bigger, not smaller. In Victoriana’s case, it’s not so egregious, but I’m still calling them Halflings.

In case this rant left a bad taste in your mouth, I leave you with a few adventure ideas about Huldus and Halflings as your reward for reading this far.

Adventure Ideas:
A halfling master perfumer uses his naturally gifted nose to create the finest odors this side of the English channel. He detects certain charnel undertones in his competitor’s latest scent and notices those wearing the scent have a knack for bending others to their will.

Halflings' high fertility makes for large families. The miserly uncle of a halfling family died recently leaving his comfortable fortune to his nieces and nephews, or rather to the last surviving niece or nephew. Twelve of the inheritors mysteriously died. Is an heir killing off their competition to live as much their naturally short life span in luxury as they can? Or is the inheritance cursed from beyond the grave?

In the center of the tightly packed slums of London, an ancient stone sits surrounded by dilapidated houses. No windows look out over the stone, and no one ever takes the shortcut through the small courtyard. Locals know to leave the stone alone, but as the city grows and old houses crumble, progress demands the stone’s removal.

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. 

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.