Victoriana RPG Review

[Scythe]

I picked this game up last fall, but until recently haven't had the time to sit down with it and really absorb it. So I though I'd write a quick review, a summary and my personal likes and dislikes.

Summary of the World:

The year is 1867, it's the height of Victorian England, and Romance Europe. The world is as we know it, but not. The world is the same world we live in, but just oddly different. There are multiple races of man, that all are considered part of "humanity" the graceful Eldred (elves), Brutish Ogres, inventive Dwarves, curious Gnomes and many other standard fantasy races. The world is also slightly different. Technology is slightly more advanced then in our own time line. Though not ridiculously so. Technology that was not perfected until the early 1900's such as modern rifled weapons, steam engines, personal automobiles all exist in this world but are primitive and expensive. Different too are the religions of this alter ego world. The same major religions exist, but are fundamentally different. Ancient lore and dark magic are still fresh in the minds of the people, and who knows what secrets sorcerers and medicine men in the far empire know? So this world is very much the same world we know in 1867 but even so, slightly different.

Themes and Moods:

A Dark & Gothic world: The game's main focus is England. But they certainly describe the rest of the world at this time. It is the world of H G Wells, Jack the Ripper, Sweeny Todd and other untold urban horrors and backwards outlands rife with folk lore and mystery.

A time of Revolution and Change: This is also the age of Dickens, Frost, Thoreau, Engles & Marx, and other social and political commentary as well as social reform. The official Feminism movement was formed during this period. This was the beginnings of the industrial revolution and the height of robber baron corruption, in which children, women and others are exploited as cheap or slave labor. The is one of the games primary focuses, your characters are various members of society, a very strict society were people's social status don't change, poverty is widespread because once you sink into poverty you can not breed out of it, it is your permanent social class. You are a "gutter runner" who is fighting some form of social injustice, including ancient religions and cultures that instill repression as a important tenant of faith. Weather that is a tribal caste system of India, a Christian Europe in which breeding and social status was divine right as well as other countries cultures.

A World of Fantastic Technology: As noted above there is a large "Steam Punk" element of advanced technology and science. Historically this time period was the foundation of a lot of modern technology and science that we take for granted now. In this world this technology is revolutionizing the life of every day people.

A Time of Social Intrigue: As mentioned in the revolutionary description there is a lot of social structure in Victorian England, left over feudal systems not only rule here but to far India and China, and back to the new world where the world over the gentry rule, the middle class toils, and the lower class scrapes by.. or not. The industrial revolution has only heightened this social and economic disparity. The rich are richer, the poor, well they haven't even been afforded the luxury or being poorer, they get when they get and they'll like it. So the game focuses on social struggles, as well as people's place in society, courtly intrigue and the difficulties of middle and upper class social life are just as much a plague and a source of struggle to the players as the fight to afford food. If someone rich or powerful doesn't like you then you might be doomed to eternal shame, disinheritance or worse.

Mechanics:

The game uses a dice pool system, which I am a big fan of. It uses D6 as it's primary die. 1s and 6s are successes, which means that a standard action will succeed 1/3 of the time(one a single die). This is similar to World of Darkness in which 7+ or 30% of a standard (D10) die will succeed. They use a 6 again rule, similar to WOD's 10 again rule. Dice pools are modified by how routine the action, and factors such as environment, abundance or lack of required equipment etc. I always liked the dice pool system, I think it provides enough "guaranteed" action with out being able to ensure every roll of the die will succeed. I don't like the fixed variable systems such as D&D which often make the game to mathematically predictable. The game uses "black dice" like black sheep, these dice are included in your dice pool and their success subtract from your overall success. They too are representative of environmental factors, difficulty, magical, spiritual, or other worldly interference etc. The game mechanics which cover skill checks and combat, as well as other "dramatic" systems only occupy maybe 25-35 pages of the book, which is relatively small compared to many RPGs, so they are complex enough to be descriptive but simple enough that there are not fifteen thousand nuanced rules to remember. You calculate your dice pool (the hardest part of a task) then roll, if your total # of successes is positive you succeed. There are degrees of success but generally 1 success is enough, though 2 is considered standard.

Game World Info:
The game/book does a good job of providing sources and it's own description of both the mundane historical setting for the game (the codes and expectations of classes, the legal system, money system, social practices, vocations and trades, political and social forces etc) as well as the fantastical ( the steam punk element isn't overly strong in the game though present, and the same with magic which I like.)

Character Creation & Advancement:

You build your character based on a social class and a vocation rather then what skill tree you want to climb so you have have the most amount of cheesy feats. The game is classless though they recommend skills based on background and adult vocation. Also every player from poor to rich, Doctor to street urchin has the same amount of points to gain access to the same amount (and type) of feats, resources and other attributes (though class restriction comes in, a lower class person can't own a country estate, though they can squat in one). Also since there is limited amounts of points every character is mathematically the same when starting and easily accountable to the GM since the math has to balance, where they go from there is there own prerogative.

The game features a feat system much more like WOD which is a good thing, people don't just choose supper attack, supper supper attack, supper diving attack, Improved two handed diving supper attack, or book worm. You divide your "feats" up into physical feats (just called feats), social feats called Privileges, and economic feats called Assets, what I like is that if you spend your feat allowance on being a uber marksman you won't have the points left to spend on things like oh lets say income, a place to sleep. So the game forces you to make a balanced character. Unless you are playing a street urchin, in which case you don't have an income or somewhere to sleep but your vast array of talents and skills will get you out of the gutter one day... not necessarily soon. I like the Exp system, it's similar to Star Wars by WEG, and WOD. There are three ways to advance your character. The first is Rank, rank is like level in most other RPGs, 1-20 which is a standard scale. Rank represents your potential in the game for fame, skill, and experience, your rank caps skill levels, how many talents (Physical) that you can have, as well as mana & health dice. As you go up in rank you have have higher skills, attributes, talents, extra mana, health, and free bonus skill dice for common skill that the game tries to pass of as skills that everyone of the time would have been decently trained in (horseback riding, general knowledge, etiquette (by class) and other basic physical and mental skills that don't require much training). The second advancement technique is experience, this directly lets you buy new talents, increase assets, add more contacts (the 4th form of feats), increase your privileges, learn new skills, add experience to skills, become better (physically or mentally through attributes) though all this (minus assets or privileges are capped by rank). Rank points can also be traded in for "scripting dice" which are a pool of fate and action points that can be spent to re-roll things, or do heroic actions (or not die gruesomely). The last advance is reputation, these points are not capped and a running tally of both negative and positive points should be kept as well as titles that can be received. An extremely brave middle or upper class officer might be knighted and be a "hero" or "doctor" who performs "experiments" might be a known quack who people avoid. So these are all ways you can expand your character. Some with restrictions others with out.

Likes:
* Dice Pool System
* Top Hats, Knickers, Spatter-dashers, Gentlemanly Walking Canes, Cigars at the Men's club.
* Real world setting with a strong spiced flavor of Sci-Fi and Fantasy that's now overpowering
* Detailed character creation that is a fixed system of point building that reflects the opportunities and disadvantages of class and race.
* Simplified Income system.
* Free rules and game preview @ 7-Cubicle site.

Dislikes:
* Religion: their modifications of religion are part of the social revolution, all the religions come across as crap, which is part of the whole you job is to try to change things part of the game, which I understand, which is also why the modified the regions and took out a lot of the positive values.
* Some period information is incomplete, like how to generate a rough yearly income, they give you average income by class, but a struggling middle class journalist and a upper middle class physician a St. Thomas' medical hospital don't make the same income despite being socially part of the same class.
* No errata as of yet to clarify minor rules

~ it should be noted I haven't played the game in sessions yet so I can't comment further on what I think works and dosen't this is just my initial observations.

Future Support/ Product Line:

Victoriana 2nd Ed Core
Faulkner's Millinery & Miscellanea - detailed equipment guide and sample NPCs who deal in those goods (pretty in depth from goods, to also services and other expenses)
The Marylebone Mummy - a pre-made adventure that involves both social intrigue and SP science/magic.

Future Works (announced or desired by 7-Cubical)

Faces in the Smoke - a detailed description of societies, gangs, and organizations religious, political or otherwise that can be involved in a campaign.
Jewel of the Empire: India - a guide to England's most exotic and popular colony.

Horror/Oddity book ( I don't remember the name) - a book detailing how to set your game in Victoriana with either a HG Wells or Lovecraftian theme

Other hinted works:
An America's guide - British America (Canada), The American Republic, The South American Confederation
Magic and Religion guide - more in depth about all the religions including those not already mentioned in the main book, and more about the magic world of Victoriana
Steam Punk Book- about the tech and science of the period
A far east guide- China, Burma and Japan
A europe guide- including info about the other major countries, and the Crimean war.

There will be other's I'm sure.