Hello everyone.

As I've not got a web site or access to someone else's, this is going to be a long post. I wanted to attach a pdf, but can't. Instead, I've pasted the relevant sections of the game I've been working on. Apologies in advance for that.

OK. The game is called Victorian Gothic and is very similar to Clehrich's excellent Shadows in the Fog (posted in this forum) in terms of both setting and genre. There are, of course, very big differences between the two. I've pasted two chapters to this message (character creation and conflict resolution) and would, obvisouly, appreciate any feed back you may have to offer. In particular, I would like to hear ideas, suggestions, etc. regarding the possible use of passions. If VG has a premise it is this: that victories come with a price and even in defeat some advantage can be won. What I'm stuck with at the moment is how to include passions (these are explained below) in the resolution system so as to give mechanical expression to the premise and focus on the occult setting at the same time. I'd also like to incorporate it into a character development system which as yet is totally blank.

Thanks to all who take the trouble to read this.


1. CHARACTER CREATION


1.1 The group creation session
It is strongly advised that character creation be a group process. Not only will this provide more ideas and inputs from which to develop a truly interesting character, and one that you want to play, but it will also provide a general consensus as to what sort of group players want, what sort of adventures they wish to be involved in, etc. Developing your characters together in the context of the game itself, therefore, adds both to the enjoyment of the player and the actual creation of the character. Furthermore, it is necessary for characters to have some shared history before actual play begins. The reasons for this are discussed later, but the important thing to recognise here is that such inter-connecting histories between the characters is best resolved as a group project.


1.2 Conceptualising your character
You should already have a vague idea of what sort of character you want to play. Remember that this is a Victorian role-playing game, and it is strongly recommended that you read at least something relating to the period. A bibliography is provided in the appendices for this end. When detailing and developing your concept, several distinct but inter-related issues will have to be dealt with. What follows is a guide, a suggested outline. It is not intended as a definitive process for creating a character. Nor is it necessary to follow the guide in the order in which it is offered here. That said, it does provide a thorough and focused procedure through which to develop your character. The guide offered here covers typologies, education, drives & passions, occult lore and relationship maps.

1.2.1 Types & Careers
What type are you? A military type? An official type? A scientist type? A burly engineer? Identifying your typology should not only give you information about the characters past, but also provide clues as to his or her personality and physical appearance. Remember that you will be from a relatively affluent social group, even if your actual origins are otherwise. This means that certain careers such as army colonel, naturalist explorer, Christian missionary, navy doctor, civil engineer, etc. are much more common than factory operative, shoe maker, etc. Bare this in mind when outlining your type. It should also be noted that the type need not necessarily translate literarily into a given career. Your military type need not actually have served in the army. Maybe he or she comes from a family of distinguished army officers, but he for some reason never entered the armed services. The typology is there, through family influence, but your character was in fact a dilettante unable to take up a commission because of health reasons. However, you should also consider what career you have followed or are still following, if any. Whatever the relationship between type and actual career, be sure to introduce a bit of description. In particular, does that large moustache betray a military background? Does that sun-bleached hair belie years spent in India curing the natives of various tropical diseases? Do your thick spectacles speak of too many hours spent over books or laboratory equipment? Try to relate your type to a physical description and in doing so think about how typical/atypical you are of your type, to what extent you are an archetype and to what extent you are untypical.


1.2.2 Education & Social Background
What education does your character have? Consider both formal and informal education. Did he or she go to university? Which one? Remember that there were only 3 universities when Queen Victoria ascended to the throne in 1837: Oxford, Cambridge and London, with the latter being for more radical, non-Anglican members of the middle class and Oxford and Cambridge being the establishment institutions. What did you study? What about pre-university education? Did you go to Eton or Winchester or some other public school? Maybe you are self-educated or educated in popular institutions such as Mechanics’ Institutes. What sort of people did you mix with at school and university? While compulsory elementary education was introduced in 1875, you should also consider less formal education. Did you have a patron of some sort who encouraged you to learn? Have you learned things by living on the street? What have you learned in your life, and what have you failed to learn? Where? Why? What does your education say abut your background? Where, on the social scale, would people place you given your education? How accurate would this be? What is your family like? How has your family’s station and standing changed, if at all, since you were a child? What occupation did your father do, or still does? What is the social circle of your family like? Is it an Anglican family, non-conformist, catholic or, incredibly rarely, atheist? How many brothers and sisters do you have? What defining family moments can you remember? Examples may include the death of a sibling, a change in family circumstances, a move to one of the colonies or something similar. What about non-family relationships you have built over the years? Do you have any particularly close friends? Why are they close? Who are they? How would you describe your social circle of friends and family?


1.2.3 Styles & Demeanours
What is your general demeanour? How do you normally carry yourself in public? Think here not simply of physical appearance, clothing, grooming and such like, but also of your posturing, gesturing and character traits which manifest themselves physically. How does this relate to your style, by which is meant your general approach to problems and confrontations? What is your style? Are you bullish, reserved, methodical, a can-do-will-do person or a deeply thoughtful one? How do these styles and demeanours relate to your typology and education? Maybe you are a little nervous in high society because your childhood, unknown to most, was in the slums of London. Your science education at London university among Christian and political radicals may be the source of your aggressiveness in debating. Your involvement in mysticism while serving in India may be the source of your detachedness and ‘otherworldly’ demeanour.

1.2.4 Occult Lore
What does your character know about the occult? What has he or she experienced? In what circumstances did he or she come to experience the occult? Why does your character fear and loath it so much? The final aspect of your character which needs fleshing out is the occult lore which he or she is acquainted with and how this acquaintance relates to the characters drives and passions. You should aim to integrate the sort of occult lore your character is familiar with into the history, background and personality of the character, but there is no particular hard and fast rule as to what areas of occult lore figure prominently for your character. Maybe you are steeped in astrology, maybe you have learned some of the secrets of Hermeticism. The decision is up to the player, but we recommend some reading around the history of occultism so as to make informed decisions. Your character was brought up in India? Maybe you’d like him to have some sort of occult lore which relates to that context: read up on Kali, Hindu cults, mysticism in Indian religion and belief. It is not that you as a player need to become an expert scholar in such fields. Rather, the aim is to provide a rich source of ideas which will be fun to bring to the game both for the player and the group as a whole. When deciding your occult knowledge and experience, give your character one occult lore at Good and one at Poor. They function like skills, on which see below. The two areas need not be connected to each other, but they should fit well into the character concept you have developed. Some examples of occult lore areas would be alchemy, astrology, divination, rossicruciansim, voodoo, hermeticism, spiritualism. Players should be free to develop fields of occult lore as they see fit, basing their choices on the possible forms of occult that could have existed historically. For example, a player may wish to develop an occult lore rating of poor in the sacred geometry of ancient Britain and include Arthurian legends in her ambit of expertise. As long as the occult lore provides rich gaming opportunities, potential for fun and fits the character concept, any such creation should be allowed.

1.2.5 Relationship Maps
Characters in Victorian Gothic are members of a secret society whose aim is to combat the occult forces which are at work in the world. It is a sort of gentleman’s club of old friends and acquaintances. Old school friends, ex-army mates, chance encounters in some foreign country, even family relationships: all of these can be used to connect the characters to each other. The bonds need not be strong nor the relationships deep or long lasting, but each character should have some previous relationship or connection of some sort. Usually, these relationships between characters can be easily tracked and noted. However, with larger groups of players and in cases where the secret society is made up of other characters in addition to those of the players it may be necessary to outline a relationship map. In such cases it is advisable to draw lines between the names of the characters with short descriptions of the relationships written above those lines. This can be added to as new relationships grow and as new characters enter the relationship map. Moreover, not all relationships will be friendly. They could easily include rivalry, jealousy, personality clashes. Whatever the nature of the relationship, a relationship map will show clearly the various connections each character has with the other characters and can therefore provide a role-playing resource when such relationships have important story-line inputs.

1.3 Skills
Having considered your character concept, you will be in a position to say what sort of things he or she is good at and what sort of things he or she is bad at. This is covered under the umbrella-term ‘skills’. Skills provide a focus for your character as much as a resolution mechanic and therefore should be used as a rich role-playing resource. Skills are divided into three different areas: Trivia, Talents and Expertise. All skills are ranked according to a five-stage grading system: Abysmal, Poor, Decent, Good, Excellent. When deciding what skills your character has, look at the concept you have developed and deduce what sorts of trivia, what sorts of talents and what sorts of expertise your character possesses. Focus on what the character knows and does well and what he or she is terrible at. Skills in Victorian Gothic cover not just those areas your character is good at, but also those areas in which he or she is atrociously bad. For example, you may well have training in surgery, and even know the theory. But in practice you just can’t hack it. Your hand shakes, you sweat profusely, you have a tendency to panic. You get nausea. In fact, you’re an abysmal surgeon. Also consider, before starting the game proper, what sort of precision your group is going to give to skills. This will depend on what sort of adventures you decide to play, advice on which is given in chapter 4. But will the skill soldier be enough, or do you need to divide it up into marksmanship, military etiquette, combat tactics, etc.

1.3.1 Trivia skills
Trivia are those skills which are very narrowly focused, hobbyist in nature and, in game terms, skills which will probably have very limited conflict resolution uses. They do, however, concretise in some way the personality of your character. Trivia skills are those which will have grown out of personal interest and shared social interests with your friends and family. Examples of trivia skills may be Fine Wines, Bridge Playing, Pigeon Breeding, Opera, and Tobacco Connoisseur. Players have 5 ranks to put into trivia skills. These could be put into one skill at rank excellent, 5 skills at rank abysmal or any combination thereof.
The sheer array of interests in the nineteenth century astounds for its diversity. Organised clubs, associations, societies and institutes existed in their multitudes for all manner of leisure activities. Among the most popular were card games such as Whist and Bridge and sports such as cricket, billiards and tennis. Natural history pursuits such as shell collecting, fossil collecting, pigeon breeding, bird watching, dog breeding and locally focused botany were also extremely popular. The nineteenth century saw crazes in fern collecting, aquarium building, flower growing and even microscopy. Most practitioners were amateur enthusiasts, several of working class background. As well as sports and games, and natural history, social interests such as music, dance and theatre were also very popular. Individuals may also choose to have trivia skill in various aspects of connoisseurship: tobacco, wine, whisky, fine silks, art and just about anything with exotic or aesthetic value. Think of your characters wider interests and hobbies, and how these would fit in with your concept when selecting trivia skills.

1.3.2 Talents
Talents are those skills which, while not particularly requiring any specific training, do nonetheless require a certain characteristic or personality trait to be done effectively. To see which talents you have, look back at your conceptualisation and identify any personality traits, aspects of character or personal convictions which would make you skilled in an area which requires little or no training. Examples of talents include Writing, Oratory, Brawling, Tinkering, Musical Instrument, Athleticism, Singing, Shooting and similar skills. There is no limit to the number of talent skills a character can have, but they must fit well with the concept and they should include at least one ‘bad’ skill ranked abysmal or poor and one ‘good’ skill ranked good or better.
Given a different culture, one would expect that the sorts of things people could have a talent in would be different as well. A talent for gardening, for example, is much more diffused in cultures which rely more on self-sufficiency in providing ones foodstuffs than in ones were most people buy all of their food. Fire-building would be another good example. Characters in Victorian Gothic should be assigned talents which have relevance to Victorian culture more generally. A talent, as mentioned above, is a sort of innate ability which has been developed and honed over time. Players need to think about what sort of talent could have been developed in the context of his or her characters experience of and interaction with Victorian culture and society.

1.3.3. Expertise
Expertise covers those skill areas which require training to acquire and practice to maintain. They are those skill areas associated with specific careers. Such skills can also be improved by further training, practice and research. To decide which areas of expertise your character has look at the type and career background and consider also education. Is your character’s expertise professionally based? Maybe he is a lawyer and an expert in law, or an agriculturalist expert in chemistry. Or maybe he is a paragon of liberal virtues and has no real professional expertise but is nonetheless expert in Latin & Greek, Classical Literature and Church history. There is no limit to the number of expert skills a character can have, but they must fit well with the concept. If desired, poor or even abysmal levels of expert skills can be taken.
Expert skills will present the most difficulty in trying to make sure they fit with the Victorian context of the game. Just what sort of professions existed? First, it should be remembered that Victorian society was one in the process of professionalisation in several areas and as such liberal amateurism was still valued, as in politics and government for example and in certain conceptions of a university education. That said, professionalisation and the profusion of possible professions was both rapid and far reaching. Engineers, scientists, doctors, lawyers and accountants as we now them now all took their shape in the late nineteenth century. Other professions such as agronomist, clerk, salesman, author and journalist also developed in the period. When thinking about such career types, you also need to bare in mind the sorts of technical skills and enabling technologies that existed. Steam-power was ubiquitous; this is the age of the machine. Wireless communication was being developed, transport, even though the horse and carriage remained standard, was revolutionised by trains, automobiles, steam ships and even some forms of air transport. Electricity at a municipal level was being developed and introduced steadily during the period while mining and related sciences were also highly professionalised. By the end of the century the typewriter revolutionised authorship and journalism where before printing innovations had made possible a mass reading public. When deciding on expert skills, consult the relevant appendices.


1.4. Attributes
All characters have scores in three attributes: Mind, Body and Soul. Scores range from 1-5, which can be considered just like the skill grading ladder (abysmal, poor, decent, good, excellent) so as to get a feel for what they numbers mean. There is a maximum of 10 points to distribute between all three, giving the options of 3-3-4, 4-4-2, 5-4-1, 5-3-2 when using all 10 points. The attributes form the basis of the die pools which are used to resolve conflicts. Each attribute is also accompanied by one or more each of qualities and quirks. The attributes can – in fact they inevitably will – be changed during the course of play. In this section, and in Chapter 2, attributes will be more thoroughly defined.

1.4.1 Mind
Mind measures the characters mental capacities, but is not intended to be the intelligence statistic commonly found in role-playing games. Rather, mind measures those character traits which belong more properly to the cerebral sphere than to either the physical or spiritual. Determination, will power, ability to think quickly, wits, mental health, susceptibility to mental control and similar areas are covered by this attribute. The mind attribute must be given at least one mental quality and one mental quirk.

1.4.2 Body
This attribute covers all things physical, including strength, agility, stamina, endurance, hand-eye coordination, physical health and beauty. This attribute must be given at least one physical quality and one physical quirk.

1.4.3 Soul
The soul attribute measures a variety of spiritual aspects including your charisma, presence, anima, inner vitality, conscience, and also your connection to the occult forces which operate in the world. As well as having a numerical score the soul attribute must be given one passion and one drive.


1.4.4. Qualities and quirks
As well as having a numerical rating from 1 to 5, Mind and Body attributes are further defined by qualities and quirks. Qualities are those descriptions which would be considered a good thing, a blessing or a beneficial aspect by most people. Mental qualities could include “quick to learn”, “iron willed”, “unshakable sanity”, “super-observant”, “natural polyglot” and “mechanically minded”. Physical qualities could be “very strong”, “fast as lightning”, “quick reflexes”, “stunningly handsome”, “iron constitution” and “resistant to alcohol”. Quirks are those descriptions which would generally be considered a misfortune or a handicap in some way. Mental quirks might include “slow to learn”, “easily convinced”, “unbalanced psychology” and “claustrophobic”. Physical quirks might be “poor sighted”, “clumsy”, “prone to illness” or “brittle boned”. Obviously, it is important not to have conflicting qualities and quirks; a character couldn’t, for example, have the body quality “very strong” and the quirk “weakling”. Players are encouraged to develop their own qualities and quirks which best represent the character they have developed.

1.4.5 Drives and Passions
Drives and passion are to Soul what qualities and quirks are to Mind and Body, with some other additional aspects as well. A drive is what makes you interested in the occult and keeps you going in the pursuit of cultists and monsters. Drives might be “destroy the ring of Chinese occultists infiltrating London”, “Avenge the death of a loved one at the hands of occultists” or “get back your cousin from the Voodoo priests who convinced him to practice the Black Arts”. As you can see, drives tend to be finite in nature and provide the player with a reason for playing and the Referee with a series of possible plot-lines. All characters should start with one drive, but others can be added during play depending on the contexts and plots which unfold.
Passions are those unstoppable interests, fascinations you have that you just can’t help pursuing. These should be related to the occult in some way. They could include “collecting the extremely rare and powerful occult symbols of the Mayan culture”, “Understanding the activities and members of the Order of the Sleeping Dragon” or “The magical devices of the Ancient Britons”. While drives drive you in your hatred of the occult, passions drive you in your fascination with the occult. Thus, while you may be driven to wipe out the Egyptian cultists of the Golden Triangle, a group whom you encountered and narrowly escaped from while operating as a trader in ancient artefacts in Egypt, you are also fascinated by the little you know about the Rite of the Dead and its place in Egyptian magic, your passion here being to “gain knowledge of Egyptian magic rituals”. As with drives, you start with one passion but can add others as the game progresses.
Drives and passions should also relate to each other, although the connection can be more tangential than the example offered above. Unlike qualities and quirks, drives and passions can influence other die pools beyond the attribute to which they relate. This is discussed in greater detail in Chapter 2.


1.5. The Character Description
Having conceptualised and given skills and attribute ratings to your character, the next step is to synthesise the information in a descriptive account. This need not be long, nor need it be complete in the sense that some aspects of the character will develop during play. It is primarily intended to help players organise their thoughts about the character they have developed and to relate appearance with reality. For this end, the description should made in two parts: exterior and interior. Background and history are less important to note here than the characters appearance and personality.

1.5.1 Exterior description
Here you should include all those aspects which can be immediately noted of your character. Physical appearance, height, weight, accent, his or her dress, apparent social class, comportment: all these should be described here. Try to include descriptions which incorporate your character’s Body attribute score, including qualities and quirks. You could also include some aspects of your Mind attribute which have immediately visible manifestations. You are absent minded? Maybe you always forget to comb your hair. The exterior description should leave clues at to your inner self, which is described in the Interior Description.

1.5.2 Interior description
Here you should describe your character, his or her ambitions, personality traits, passions and drives. How far are these made evident by your exterior description? How far does the exterior description mask or conceal your true, inner self? Note here the overriding concerns, traits and desires of your character, but pay attention also to those traits and aspects of character which, while maybe indicated by your exterior description, are really of no or very little importance to your character.

1.6. Money
You will probably want to know something about the financial resources of your character. Most of the information you need can be garnered from what you have already noted about your characters social background and family. That said, there is no simple and straightforward connection between these. You may well be a member of the nobility, but that does not in itself mean that you are super-rich. Nor should you be too occupied in determining exactly how much income you have each year. For game purposes it is enough to know whether you have scarce, low, average, good or excellent financial resources.

1.6.1 Currency in Victorian Britain
The second thing to note is the actual currency of Victorian Britain. Money is divided into pounds (£), shillings (s) and pence (d), with several other ‘denominations’, such as a crown and a guinea, made up of varying amounts of these. It is not important to understand and be able to do accounting in this currency. For game purposes it is enough to know that 20 shillings make up 1 pound and that 12 pence make up 1 shilling. The full range is as follows:

Farthing ¼d
Halfpenny (pronounced haypnee) ½d
Penny 1d
Threepence (pronounced ‘thrupence’) 3d
Groat 4d
Sixpence 6d
Shilling 1s
Florin 2s
Half-crown 2s 6d
Crown 5s
Sovereign £1
Guinea £1 1s 0d

1.6.2 Income and Expenditure
While for player characters the level of income and expenditure does not demand too much in-game attention, it will at times be necessary to know what general incomes were like and what sort of expenditure levels people in different social groups could and did maintain. Where this is necessary, consult the relevant appendices and bibliography.

1.6.3 Buying things
It is suggested that purchase of ordinary equipment, that which is readily available and even that which has no direct impact on the plot or adventure just be made without role-playing it. Simply assume that the characters found the time and a vendor to make the purchase. At times, however, you may wish to role-play the purchase of items, especially if these are of direct relevance to the story. Examples may include antiques, rare books, exotic items and such like. As such actual prices are of little importance. It is enough to judge whether the characters have the financial resources to make the purchase. For this, however, it may at times be necessary to know how much things cost in Victorian Britain, as well as what sorts of consumer items were available. If this is the case, see the appendices for guidelines.


1.7 Character Development


2. CONFLICT RESOLUTION

2.1 Dice Pools
The central mechanic of Victorian Gothic is that of the dice pool. Each character has three dice pools – the Mental, the Physical and the Spiritual Pool. When it is deemed necessary to introduce chance into the resolution of certain conflicts and situations, players will roll an amount of dice equal to one of these pools. Each player should have about 10 six-sided dice for use in resolving conflicts using the dice pools. These mechanics are described in greater detail in the following sections of this chapter.

2.1.1 The Mental Dice Pool
The base mental dice pool is equal to the current rating of Mind and is used in situations which depend upon mental or cerebral aspects of character. Reading a foreign language, playing a game of chess, trying to convince someone of something in a discussion, trying to remain focused on a certain issue in difficult circumstances, trying to remember something: all these are examples of tasks and conflicts which would require a Mental Dice Pool (MDP) check.

2.1.2 The Physical Dice Pool
This is equal to the current rating of the Body attribute and in used in situations which require physical force, manual dexterity, agility and similar physical traits. Picking a lock, bashing down a door, hitting somebody, dodging a speeding coach, climbing a wall: all these are examples of situations in which a the Physical Dice Pool (PDP) would be rolled.

2.1.3 The Spiritual Dice Pool
The Spiritual Dice Pool (SDP) is equal to the current rating of the character’s Soul attribute. It is used in situations which require or call upon the character’s inner vitality or anima in order to succeed. Examples of such situations would be to resist loosing Mind and Body points as a result of occult forces such as magic, maintain communication with spirits while engaging in a séance, stay alive while unconscious and bleeding heavily, and resisting the degenerative effects of using occult rites, rituals and magic. It would also be used in situations where neither Mind or Body seem appropriate. Intimidating people by looking at them, or making sure people follow your instructions or orders simply through fear of your presence would be examples of this.



2.2 Resolving Conflicts
Conflict resolution in Victorian Gothic is designed to be something of a double-edged sword. In any conflict situation, there is rarely an outright winner and an absolute looser. Certainly, there is usually a winner and a looser, but victories come with a price and even the darkest of clouds have silver linings. This is reflected in Victorian Gothic where each dice can either be counted as a victory or a defeat, the relative total number of each deciding in any particular case who is the ‘winner’.

2.2.1 When to resolve conflicts
Use of the dice pools as conflict resolution mechanics should only really be made where it is necessary. Conflict resolution should be just that – the resolution of a conflict. Conflicts, in the context of the story unfolding in any Victorian Gothic game, should be important points in the plot which require or call for randomised resolution. Where the outcome of a task or situation is of no importance in terms of plot development, simply role-play the resolution. In situations where conflict resolution is needed, however, players will have to know what is expected of them. The following sections cover this.

2.2.2 How to resolve conflicts
To resolve conflicts or actions, acting players need to state the intended outcome of the conflict or action. The referee, considering such things as the nature of the opponent, focus of the conflict or action, the sort of skills and their rankings which the acting character has, environmental factors, etc., sets a number of required number of victories to achieve this intended result. At this point, the player and the referee (or, indeed, another player who may be controlling an NPC or even his or her own character) need to work out their dice pool totals. The pool used will depend upon the type of conflict or action at hand and the exact number of dice is determined using the base number plus/minus modifiers. Simultaneously, both parties roll their dice thereby making all conflict resolution opposed. Results are paired highest with highest. Ties are ignored. For each die which is higher for the acting character, he or she gains a victory. For each dice which is lower, he or she suffers a defeat. This is best illustrated by examples.

Example 1: Arthur Hobblethwaite has managed to break into the mysterious doctor’s house and has found what he believes to be the door to the laboratory. Arthur has no skill in lock picking (but could attempt this nonetheless) and has no tools which would allow him to do so anyway. He is, however, a strong man (Body 4, quality ‘very strong’). He announces he is going to shoulder barge the door with the intention breaking the lock. The referee considers this. The door is just a normal door (Mind 0, Body 3, Soul 0) but, given the contents of the room behind it, it has a quality of ‘robust lock’. The door and Arthur are therefore pretty even matches, so the referee says that Arthur needs only one victory to break the lock. Paul (playing Arthur) gets to roll 5 dice (4 for his Body score, plus 1 for his quality). The referee rolls 4 dice (3 for the door’s Body score, plus 1 for the quality of ‘robust lock’). The results are as follows:-

· Paul/Arthur 6, 4, 3, 3, 1
· Referee/Door 5, 4, 4, 3, 2

Arthur therefore succeeds in breaking the lock (6 is higher than 5, giving him the one victory he needed). At the same time, however, he has suffered two defeats (his 3 versus the door’s 4 and his 1 versus the door’s 2). The ties (4/4 and 3/3) are ignored. At the end of the resolution, Paul has to narrate the outcome including both his success in the intended outcome and the defeats he suffered. Thus, although Arthur succeeded, he has to include 2 defeats when narrating what happens. This could be anything that Paul chooses. He could have awakened a guardian or the mysterious doctor himself, damaged his shoulder, anything that is plausible and consistent with taking 2 defeats. More is said about narration later, but it should be clear here that narration can change or add to the story outline or plot which the referee has outlined. This is intentional and the referee has to work into the plot such additions to the story..

Example 2: Lady Anne Worthswick is trying to learn a little Spanish with which to impress the Mexican ambassador whom she will meet at a soiree in fashionable London next week while brushing shoulders with the great and the good. She already knows some Italian (expert skill, decent) and so Spanish, being closely related to Italian, should prove easier than usual. However, she has the Mind quirk of ‘poor concentration’ and finds it difficult to maintain study. Her mind score is 3, but she only gets to roll 2 dice (minus one for the quirk). To learn basic conversational Spanish to a level which would impress the ambassador in one week is quite difficult. The referee states that 2 victories are required; it would have been 3, making it impossible, if she did not have a decent level of Italian. Dice are rolled. In this situation, the referee elects to use the same number of dice as required victories as there is no real opposing force to give attributes for.

· Lady Worthswick 5, 5
· Referee: 4, 3

Despite the problems, Lady Worthswick manages it and now has Spanish at a skill rating of Poor. Within a week, unless study is maintained, this will drop to Abysmal. Let’s consider a different result, though.

· Lady Worthswick 4, 2
· Referee 3, 3

Here some progress has clearly been made (one victory – 4/3). But not enough to achieve the desired end. There is a defeat to take into account. This needs to be incorporated into the story-line. Lady Worthswick’s player, Sarah, decides that her character makes a remarkable faux pas at the soiree, saying something crude and offensive where she wanted to be polite and flattering. In narrating the effects of the conflict resolution, Sarah assumes that her character has abysmal Spanish and that this will last a week. The defeat comes into effect later, when she actually meets the ambassador. Just what the consequences are will depend upon further conflict resolution, this time perhaps taking into account Lady Worthswick’s Body quality of ‘drop dead gorgeous’ and her Mind quality of ‘Charming’. And of course, the ambassador’s Mind quirk of “easily offended” will affect the situation as well, but that is another story.

Example 3: Charles McLoughlin has been on the trail of a particularly loathsome group of occultists operating in the Highlands of Scotland and plotting for the re-establishment of a Celtic kingdom based on Druidism. Unknown to him, however, the landlord of the Inn in which he is staying is a member of this occult group and has managed to collect some vital ingredients (some of his hair, a drop of blood given voluntarily, etc.) for a magic ritual which aims to possess his soul. The magic works at distance and Charles is completely unaware of the attempt. At night Charles feels particularly ill and has difficulty controlling his thoughts. He also starts to feel drowsy and as if he were somehow disconnected from his body. The referee asks him to roll his SDP. His soul rating is 4 and he has the drive “Stop the Scottish druids from infesting my beloved Scotland”. However, as Charles’ player doesn’t actually know who is affecting him (he could and indeed should make a decent guess, but may equally think it was the lobster thermador he ate for dinner), the additional dice for his drive is rolled by the referee and represents subconscious knowledge or inner-gnosis. The cultists undertaking the magic rite have a collective Soul of 5, and the lead cultist has the skill “Druidical Rites” (rank 4, or Good), giving him 5 base dice and 2 bonus dice for his pool. The cultists need 5 victories to completely possess Charles’ soul as this is a particularly difficult rite. Dice are rolled.

· Charles’ player 6, 6, 4, 2, 2
· Referee (for Charles) 5
· Referee (for cultists) 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 2, 1

Here the cultists have just 1 victory (the final unopposed dice which came up 1). They suffered, however, 3 defeats (6/5, 5/4 and 4/3). Charles was lucky. Here the Referee must narrate because the conflict was secret and at a distance. The referee should, however, give clues as to what went on. A fair narration might go like this: “After about 15 minutes of stomach-doubling pain and hallucination you suddenly feel relaxed and calm. In that moment a vision appears before you of six people, one of whom you recognise as the landlord, dancing around a flame-filled cauldron. In the background you notice 3 tall yew trees and a small church with several celtic crosses clear under the moonlight in the adjoining graveyard. You have a deja-vu sense that you’ve seen that Church before, and quite recently. The vision vanishes and leaves you feeling washed out, thin, sort of semi-transparent” Here the referee has given information regarding the cultic centre of the group (the Church which stands on an ancient Celtic site) and the involvement of the landlord. In addition, but not narrated, the referee has decided that the ritual affected the soul of the leader of the group, tearing part of it away. His Soul attribute is lowered by 1. These count as the 3 defeats suffered by the cultists. In addition, however, the victory also caused Charles to loose 1 point of soul, narrated as Charles’ sense of feeling washed out, weak and thin.

The above examples show how the basic dice pools are used and how quirks, qualities and drives can affect the number of dice which make up the pool. It also offers some suggestions about narrating victories and defeats. More will be said of these things shortly. Firstly, though, let’s take a closer look at the use of qualities, quirks and drives.

2.2.3 Using qualities, quirks and drives
Qualities, quirks and drives can all affect the dice pools. Qualities and quirks can only affect the dice pool to which they relate. Thus, for example, in conflict resolutions which are based on Body and in which agility would be advantageous any quality which emphasises agility will gain a bonus of +1 dice. It is up to the player to demonstrate that the quality of either Mind or Body gives an advantage in any particular situation. Conversely, quirks work to give disadvantages. In our example offered here, any Body quirk which affects agility will carry a penalty of –1 dice to the pool. It is up to the referee to show how the quirk works as a hindrance. However, quirks can also be used to advantage in some situations. Again, it is up to the player to identify possible reasons as to why a given quirk should confer bonus dice to the active pool. For particularly clever uses of quirks, this bonus should be +2 rather than +1 dice. Let’s look at an example.

Example 4: Thomas Harding is talking with a beautiful woman who he knows to be an Egyptian High Priestess. He recognises that, while talking in the hotel bar in Cairo, she is attempting to use some ancient seduction magic. What he doesn’t know is that the woman is actually over four thousand years old and is a highly skilled magician. Thomas, however, has the rather irksome Body quirk of ‘Disgusting Body Odour’ and, while this gives him plenty of penalties usually, this time his player thinks that his arm-pit smell is just so strong that the attempt to seduce him, even though it uses magic, is made more difficult. “I can’t help noticing that as the woman inches closer to me, her eyes reel slightly and her lips curl. Why does she move sharply back just as she is about to kiss me? I ask myself. My curse. Not even Carbolic Soap can liberate me from it. And such full lips…” says Rich, Thomas’ player. Cool, the referee silently admits. When the time comes to resolve the conflict, he has a +2 bonus to his BDP (the magic here works directly on the body: hormones, pheromones, etc.) because of imaginative use of a quirk.

Drives are slightly different than qualities and quirks in that they can grant bonus dice to pools other than the SDP. A character who has the drive “destroy the vampire of High Gate Cemetry” and who finds himself in a rather nasty fight with one of the vampire’s minions would get a bonus of +1 on top of any Body bonuses related directly to the conflict at hand. Look at the example below.

Example 5: Jean-Paul De Folqalquier, a French scientist of debatable reputation, has the drive “Find and destroy the African mask, and those who control it, which killed his twin brother and explorer, Gaston”. In Paris he meets a young African man who has drawn around him a group of occult enthusiasts and Jean-Paul wants to infiltrate this group, posing as an occultist. He needs to convince the young African man, actually a witch doctor, to let him join the group and teach him some occult secrets. As Jean-Paul decides to reason with the young man to achieve this, the dice pool used is MDP. As well as a bonus for his Mind quality of “Convincing debater” he also gets a further bonus for his drive as Jean-Paul recognises the body markings on the African man as indicating his initiation into the use of African Death Masks.

2.2.4 Skills
Skills do not normally affect the dice pools as drives, qualities and quirks do. However, they do nonetheless have an important impact on conflict resolution in as much as they are taken into account by the referee when assigning the number of victories that need to be won in order for the stated achievement to take effect. Normally, the referee assumes an unskilled person is undertaking the action. Where skills are clearly applicable to the resolution of a given conflict or action, the number of victories required will be altered accordingly. Abysmal skill levels will require more victories, excellent skill levels will require less. All this depends on the context of the action, the applicability of the skill and similar factors. Furthermore, certain skills are necessary for certain actions. Attempting to speak Greek, for example, requires at least a classical education and more likely some training in spoken Greek language. Without skill, the number of victories required would be astronomical. Impossible, practically.

Example 6: James Bull is aiming his rifle at a Zulu witch doctor while hiding in the bushes. As a military man he has the expert skill ‘Rifleman’, rank Good. Instead of needing 4 victories to shoot dead the witch doctor, he needs only 3. If his skill was ranked excellent, he may have needed only two victories. And in addition he gets 1 extra dice for his Body quality ‘superb hand-eye coordination’ and 1 for his drive ‘avenge the death of his army friends at the hands of Zulu witch doctors’. Having rolled his BDP, he watches the witch doctor fall to the ground, his heart pierced by a single bullet. But what about those two defeats as well? Well, rifles make a lot of sound; there are sure to be other Zulus nearby. And who knows what magic may be at work here?

Skills can also be used to grant directorial power to players in what is referred to as “Assertion of Fact”. Here, an appropriate skill can be invoked to narrate facts about an item, a situation, a person, or whatever, where the skill has appropriate relevance. This can only be done with ranks Good and Excellent. Skills ranked Good allow the player to make 1 factual statement, skills ranked excellent allows the player to make 1 or 2 (players choice) assertions of fact. It should be noted that this use of skills is designed to encourage dramatic play, the increase of mystery and mystique in any given story. Players should attempt to offer rich descriptions which, while stating facts about the objects, do not give definitive accounts but rather open up possible plots and story-lines for future play. Players should not worry about being historically or scientifically accurate, either. Your character is steeped in astrology? Simply use astrological babble in your Assertion of Fact. Your character knows a lot about electromagnetism? Just use the jargon, even if you’re inventing it! Clever and cool use of skills to assert facts about the world should be encouraged.

Example 7: Captain William Henry Goldsmith and his colleague George Thackeray have found a strange ancient Egyptian artefact in a bazaar in the back streets of Cairo. The Captain has the Trivia Skill Egyptology, ranked excellent, and George has the Expertise skill Mineralogy, rank good. Between them they state that the artefact dates from before the building of the pyramids and, according to myth and legend, is part of a set of 3 artefacts which are said to grant the wielder immense magical powers. George’s player, having his character examine the artefact after its purchase claims that it is impossible to determine the material with which it was constructed, being something like a metal, but not quite, and nothing like any known metals. Such information has simply to be worked into the story line by the referee. Maybe the referee did not envisage a further two related artefacts, or a mythic legend surrounding them. He probably didn’t envisage that the artefact was made of some weird material either. All of this, however, gives plot ideas and story-lines for the referee and, more importantly, story-lines which the players themselves want to be involved in. The referee needs to rethink the artefact’s significance and incorporate this back into the story or plot-line.

2.2.5 Passions
Passions are similar to but different from drives. They work in two ways and present players with both advantages and disadvantages for their characters.

2.2.6 Narrating resolved conflicts
When an action is completed or a conflict resolved, players have to say what happens. There are no charts, tables or lists of effects to be implemented in each situation. Rather, players should offer interesting accounts of what happens based on the relative number of victories and defeats Players should try and work out what defeats may have meant in the context of the action or conflict being resolved.

2.2.7 A special note about combat
Combat in Victorian Gothic is lethal. Killing people is a criminal act, punishable by hanging. Ownership of guns is rare. That said, there will be times when combat of some description occurs. This could be a brawl, a gun fight, a knife fight, or anything else which intends physical harm to an opponent. When initiating combat players, as in any other situation, must state their intended outcome. This could be anything from rendering unconscious an opponent, to wounding him or her to killing him or her. The number of victories required will depend upon the skills the acting character has, the sort of weapon (if any) being used and environmental factors. Intended outcomes themselves will also affect the number of difficulties required. For example, punching someone will be easier than knocking someone out with an upper-cut. With firearms, however, wounding someone is not intrinsically less difficult than killing someone and, indeed, defeats suffered in an attempt to wound someone using a revolver could actually mean that the target is killed rather than simply wounded if the acting player did not achieve the number of victories required to realise a wound. Care and thought should therefore be taken when deciding whether to shoot at people. The mechanical effects of gun-shot wounds should be related to the Body score of the target. Wounding will decrease the Body score. For example, a rifle shot which strikes the knee of a target will mean a loss of 2 or 3 body points as well as any qualities relating to movement (running, agility, etc.). In addition permanent quirks could be given due to the wound. In the example offered here, after medical treatment, the target could have the quirk “limps badly” and would loose any body quality relating to movement. Such effects should be adjudicated by the referee on the basis of the narration given by the player.

2.2.8 Conflict Resolution Schema
The following is a schematic step-by-step summary of the conflict resolution procedure which is used to determine the outcome of an action or confrontation as described in this chapter

1. The player wishing to initiate an action or confrontation states the intended outcome
2. The referee decides and states how many victories are required to achieve that intended outcome based on difficulty, appropriate skills and other influencing factors.
3. All parties determine the number of dice available for the relevant dice pool. This could be the PDP, the MDP or the SDP.
a. Decide on the most appropriate pool to be used.
b. Calculate the size of the dice pool by modifying the appropriate attribute rating for qualities and quirks of that rating. This can give both positive and negative modifiers.
c. Modify further the number of dice used in the pool by considering the appropriateness of the character’s drive. If appropriate this will give a +1 dice bonus. When a drive is of no relevance to the conflict there is simply no bonus.
d. Make a final modification to the total number of dice used in the pool by considering the characters passion. If the action or conflict can possibly further the passion, there is a +1 dice bonus. If it is opposed to the characters passion, then the modifier will be negative: –1 dice to the pool total.
4. Acting players (including, where appropriate, the referee) roll a number of six-sided dice equal to the dice pool total calculated in 3 above.
5. Dice rolls are compared by matching the highest numbers of the initiating player’s roll with the highest numbers of the opponents dice rolls.
a. Tied rolls are ignored.
b. For each compared roll which is higher for the initiating player a victory is achieved towards the realisation of the intended outcome.
c. For each compared roll which is lower for the initiating player a defeat is suffered in trying to achieve the intended outcome
6. If the initiating player achieves the intended outcome, regardless of how many defeats were suffered, that player narrates the outcome. This includes, however, having to narrate the defeats.
7. If the initiating player does not achieve enough victories to realise his or her intended outcome, but still has more victories than the opposition, the player retains narrative rights over the conflict and narrates the results.
8. If the initiating player does not achieve enough victories to realise the intended outcome and suffered more defeats than victories, narrative rights pass to the referee or, where appropriate, to another player.
9. Whoever won the most victories can decide whether to state a new intended outcome, continue to accumulate further victories in order to realise the original outcome or stop the action altogether.
a. If a new intended outcome is chosen, the process is repeated from step 1.
b. If further resolution of the original intended outcome is chosen then a number of victories equal to the original requirement minus the number of victories already chosen is required. The process starts again at step 1 at this point.
c. If the player chooses to stop the action, then initiative passes to the opposition who can now begin a conflict resolution of his or her (or its!) own. Again, the process is repeated from step 1 but this time with a new initiating character.


Thanks again,

Simon.

I would treat passions as both positive and negative dice pool modifiers, as a suggesstion. Since Passions are like Drive, they can be positive modifiers and operate in exactly the same way as a drive can.

Thus a passion to learn Egyptian magic could add an additional dice onto the detroy Egyptian occult group drive if you plan on taking their magical tomes as plunder.

However, passions should act as a negative modifer (even a behavior modifier) when it comes to acting against the passion, such as destroying Egyptian artifacts. You need to break the Rod of Horus but your passion to preserve it acts against you -2 dice. Any time someone is reduced to 0 or a negative numebr of dice then they simply must behave otherwise. Like hoarding or hiding the object of there passion.

And like you said, passions never go away. So should someone in the group have a conflicting passion then the true group dynamic tension creates some fun roleplaying ops.

my 2 cents

JOE--

Greetings simon,

Howdy doodle do!

simon wrote: As I've not got a web site or access to someone else's, this is going to be a long post. I wanted to attach a pdf, but can't. Instead, I've pasted the relevant sections of the game I've been working on. Apologies in advance for that.

1.6. Money
You will probably want to know something about the financial resources of your character. Most of the information you need can be garnered from what you have already noted about your characters social background and family. That said, there is no simple and straightforward connection between these. You may well be a member of the nobility, but that does not in itself mean that you are super-rich. Nor should you be too occupied in determining exactly how much income you have each year. For game purposes it is enough to know whether you have scarce, low, average, good or excellent financial resources.

So, in the group creation portion, the players decide on what sort of adventures they want the characters to experience? This seems sort of odd. I mean what you seem to have here is a generic Victorian spiritualist RPG. Seems almost a contradiction. You provide for building characters well, but they you don't have much of a "what the characters do". It's like you've said, "here's how to build a very specific type of character", and then said, "now do anything you want with it."

Is this what you're shooting for?

Mike

Since I read these responses in reverse order, I'll respond to them it that way. Thanks for responses guys.

MIKE:

Firstly, thanks: you must have infinite energy or something as you respond to pratically every post in this forum. Hats off to ya! But to answer your query: maybe I wasn't too clear about this, but the group creation sesssion is more about creating shared character histories than deciding on what sort of scenario/game to play. The reason for this, as I see it, is that story lines/plots/adventures/whatever you want to call them will be more fun for everything if they are based on, or at least take into account, the characters as protagonists of the story. In other words, I envisaged a state of affairs in which the actual chatracterisation of characters provides plot lines/story ideas for the referee and for this to work well, to my mind, it needs to be done collectively: all players (including the referee) need to find a common ground for their characters in order to provide fun rpging sessions. That was the main idea. That said, though, even within a something as setting specific as Victorian Gothic, there will be room for difference and I don't want to kill that: vampire hunting alla Dracula is as Victorian Gothic as communion with malign spirits and other more "cerebral" stuff. So, in a sense, yes: groups should take some time to consider what sort of Victorian Gothic climate they want to play in. Personally, I don't see the issue here and for that reason it may read like 'do what you want with your character'.

KESTER: Umm... I'm really sorry to have cheesed you off with the length of the thing. But: Ruleses...rulesezzzes and all that. This boils down, I think, to a personal preference. You'd like clear guidlines, maybe even pigeon-holed steps for character development (and that is fine). For me, however, the development of the character is better based on the setting of the game and the sort of character you and the group are happy with than anything else. having said that, what I tried to do was give idea-fodder for conceptualising a character (again, sorry you don't like the word, and other terminiology I used. But what the heck?). Reading back on the money stuff, you're probably right. Drop it! But I suppose I was thinking of players who may be stumped by asking the question What do I have? What can I get? It was intended as a response to that.

JOE: Strange as it may seem to you (and it struck me as obvious once I read your post) I didn't even consider the sort of doubling up of drives by using passions the way you suggest. And I don't know why either. But however it seems obvious know, I still feel there is someting missing: maybe passions could give permanent bonus dice for whole scenarios/ campaigns/stories in which the passion is relevant? Maybe it wasn't clear, but the way I envisged them, they were sort of more fundamental, more broad and longer lasting than drives. I'd also like to use them (and maybe drives, I'm not sure) as sort of power giving (for players) but soul corrupting (for characters) sources. Just not sure which way to go on that. Lastly, I'd also like to include some sort of character development mechanic which ideally would include this sweet-sour aspect of passions. Anway, thanks for the suggestions.

Simon,

Don't get me wrong. I'm all behind the group generation session idea (though with some caveats). What I'm saying here is that hunting Dracula as an option didn't even occur to me when reading the text. I was thinking something more Cthulhu-esque, but that's my personal bias showing.

I guess my question is whether or not you are going to have more sections on suitable material to play. What the game is good for. What materials inspired it.

Basically I read it, and I go, "Hmm. OK, I have a character in my head, now what should he do?" I can even go further and say what I'd like to play, I suppose, but Cthulhu Gaslight already exists. Why should I play this game instead? I mean, the rules are better, but CG has cuthuloid monsters to deal with already outlined.

Let's say that I said that I wanted to play that way to you as GM. What would you have to do then?

You're close to your game. I'm sure you know exactly what you'd do with it. Why not put that in there so that other players can do that, too?

Mike

Greetings simon,

simon wrote: KESTER: Umm... I'm really sorry to have cheesed you off with the length of the thing.

simon wrote: But: Ruleses...rulesezzzes and all that. This boils down, I think, to a personal preference. You'd like clear guidlines, maybe even pigeon-holed steps for character development (and that is fine). For me, however, the development of the character is better based on the setting of the game and the sort of character you and the group are happy with than anything else. having said that, what I tried to do was give idea-fodder for conceptualising a character (again, sorry you don't like the word, and other terminiology I used. But what the heck?).

simon wrote: Reading back on the money stuff, you're probably right. Drop it! But I suppose I was thinking of players who may be stumped by asking the question What do I have? What can I get? It was intended as a response to that.

What do you mean, exactly, by 'hard information' up front? I ask because in a way I thought I was doing that by giving players suggestions and asking them questions about what sort of characters they want. Chargen is just one part of the game, so I think there is a difference between offering my (and others) preference for what you'd likely describe as free-form chargen and giving rules to make a whole RPG on the fly. I'm asking because I think I've misunderstood or need more info to take on borad what you're saying.

Greetings simon,

simon wrote: What do you mean, exactly, by 'hard information' up front? I ask because in a way I thought I was doing that by giving players suggestions and asking them questions about what sort of characters they want. Chargen is just one part of the game, so I think there is a difference between offering my (and others) preference for what you'd likely describe as free-form chargen and giving rules to make a whole RPG on the fly. I'm asking because I think I've misunderstood or need more info to take on borad what you're saying.