RPG in Progress - Victorian Monsters

[Zak Arntson]

Talking with Jared about Victorian-era Monster Roleplaying, he came upon the name SuperFiends. I am going to use this name for another game, though this game started out as SuperFiends. So ... any suggestions for names on this RPG?

Victorian Monster RPG

And since this is Game Design, here we go: I set off to get players involved with literary Monsters (Dracula, Dr. Jekyll, Invisible Man, etc) and have the main mechanic employ the stifling atmosphere of the Victorian Era. This could become SuperFiends if played for laughs, but I think the greatest humor for this system would be for the PCs to take things in all seriousness, while the Players knew it was for laughs.

The only system involves a Vice score (measurement of terribleness and effectiveness of PC --> The more monstrous, the less proper). A single roll provides no whiffing (i.e., 100% success/failure). It provides

a) How properly the action was performed.
b) How much influence the group has on the narrating Player. In fact, the Player ALWAYS narrates her PCs actions.

The way the numbers work, the higher your Vice, the more likely your action will be horrible and the more likely the GM will decide the outcome. The less monstrous you are, you will be able to act with greater propriety, and have more freedom in your narration.

Anyhow, just wanted to get input from y'all before writing this up as the official April Harlekin-Maus game.

Questions/Issues:
* Is 0-10 Vice a good score? Should there even be a beginning Vice chosen? Maybe it should start at 5, and go up and down depending on fate (and the system, which can earn or lose you Vice).

* Does it sound fun?

* Where does this fall in GNS? It was originally intended to be Sim (i.e., system is rules-light, but still places simulating Victorian values & monsters above all). I'm thinking it's heavy Director Stance Sim, but I'm still figuring out this GNS stuff. At the moment of decision, the player weighs power of narration vs. propriety.

[Valamir]

I'm not clear on how the mechanic as posted on the web link works.  It seems as if most characters will be rolling 8-10 dice for a particularly egregious act.  But inorder for the action to be terrible you need 5 matching dice.  Even on d6s 5 matches on 10 dice is not terribly likely, although 2 matches is certain and 3 is probably.  The most dice I could possibly have is 13 which makes 3 matches guarenteed.

Is this the effect you're going for?  It seems you need a fairly high level of Vice in order to have good odds of getting 4 Matches.

Plus you say the die size doesn't matter.  Unless I'm missing something, it matters a whole lot.  Getting 5 matches on 10d20 is a whole lot different from 5 matches on 10d4.

I like the feel of it, but you might need to play with it to get the odds you want.  My only real suggestions mechanically are 1) settle on a die type in line with the odds you're looking for.  2) allow modifiers greater than +2 dice for truely egregious actions.  


Beyond that my questions are these.
1)  For those not steeped in Victorian Lore will you provide a list of typical "faux pas" and such?
2)  I'm not clear about WHAT players would do with this game.  What would constitute an "adventure".  What type of scenes are being played out.  I mean I could mimic Frankenstein but then what?

[Zak Arntson]

I'm not clear on how the mechanic as posted on the web link works.

You're totally right here. I need to fiddle with the odds and pick a die-size. I don't know whether to go with d6s or d10s, and whether Vice should be 0-5 or 0-10. Hrm ... anyone have pros/cons?

Beyond that my questions are these.
1)  For those not steeped in Victorian Lore will you provide a list of typical "faux pas" and such?
2)  I'm not clear about WHAT players would do with this game.  What would constitute an "adventure".  What type of scenes are being played out.  I mean I could mimic Frankenstein but then what?

1) Probably. The HMaus version will certainly have more examples, and hopefully links to Victoriana on the net. I'm also not steeped in the Lore, but I love idea of monsters coping with their horrible nature and the cultural values of the time.

2) Um, I don't know either. It's pretty open-ended. You could all be monsters, teaming up against the frightful secret forces of evil. You could be ordinary citizens coping with extraordinary situations. The system may even work well for Victorian Lovecraft, since sanity in Victorian terms may be propriety.

[Matt Steflik]

Penny Dreadful?
Victorian Villians?
Gaslight Ghoulies/Ghastlies?
Monsters & Manners?
Cultured Creatures?
Fear & Feasibility (for the Austen-esque)?
Fops & Fiends?
Debutantes & Deviltry?

Have you considered the comic "The League of Exceptional Gentlemen" as a possible resource for this game?  Conceptually, your idea sounds cool!

[quozl]

Zak, see my thread on my idea for Modern Monsters.  It seems to me like that would be a good direction for your rpg to take.  Interested in collaboration or are you just obsessed with the whole Victorian thing? :-)

---Jon

[quozl]

O.K., how about Vicious Victorians?  A slight double-meaning there if you keep it vague as to who the vicious victorians actually are (normal people or the monsters).  Maybe some other double-meaning title would be better but this is all I can think of at the moment.

---Jon

[Blake Hutchins]

My vote goes for Penny Dreadful, for what it's worth.  Elegant and apropos.

Best,

Blake

[Zak Arntson]

Penny Dreadful it is. Maybe Pennies Dreadful.

I'll clean it up and make it the April HMaus game. Next Up? SuperFiends supplement for InSpectres. I think after that I'll be sick of Victorian gaming.