Victorious: A Brief Introduction

[sieg]

Forgive the blatant pimping, please. Since this product has been 4 years in the making I just wanted to remind people. Its a Siege Engine Game (like Castles & Crusades) but his a bit differenn in its rules. I'd say its 90% compatible though.

It will be published this year by Arcana Creations, and Brave Halfling Publishing.

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Victorious!

Heroic Role Playing in the Age of SuperMankind

By Mike Stewart

2006,2010 Mike Stewart, All Rights Reserved

Introduction

Gaslight street lamps pour fitful illumination through the fog-shrouded streets of 19th century London. Menacing figures lurk in darkened alleyways; desperate men with nothing to lose and the determination to take what they can from others. Mutterings abound at the local pubs, working men who cant even afford their daily bread wish for more and listen to radicals and anarchists preaching fire and revolution. Parentless children, called Street Arabs in the East End vernacular, pick pockets and snatch purses from those not Wiley enough to protect their meager funds. In these dangerous streets Saucy Jack, known to the papers as Jack the Ripper slew with impunity while Sherlock Holmes battled crime from petty larceny to the machinations of the mastermind Dr. James Moriarty himself. Chinese Tongs battle East End mobs for control of Opium dens and other rackets, all at the behest of their shadowy master, Weng-Chiang.

Meanwhile on the high seas Captain Nemo and his Submarine The Nautilus wage a one man war against British imperialism and perhaps war itself. In the skies Robur the Conqueror makes elaborate plans to rule the world with powerful airships, and who knows what secret powers lurk beneath the Earths surface or watch our globe from the sandy wastes of Mars; planning the death of Humanity itself?

All the while, the gentry and social elite live glittering lives amongst champagne and Worth gowns, silk suits and noble titles, living lives of idleness and comfort; thinking nothing of the people beyond their glittering manors and opulent mansions. Whether the Robber Barons of the United States, the Old Nobility of Europe or the teetering monarchies of the Royal Houses themselves the world at the end of the 19th century was a time fraught with change.

Compounded upon this is the emergence of the masked vigilantes. These 'Mystery Men' use phantasmagoria to battle crime, the forces of law, and each other through the alleys of London and New York. Are they demons? Angels? Persons from a occult past or the scions of a far future science. Strange figures such as Mr. Hyde, the Invisible Man, Frankensteins Monster and others defy the laws of God and man. The ogress witch Baba Yaga haunts the barren steppes of Russia, and ancient gods of the Near East and America rouse from their millennial slumbers to again walk as demigods upon the Earth. Add to this the threats of Dracula, The Martian Invaders and prehistoric worlds and lands that time forgot, it is true that those within the era live in 'Interesting Times', indeed!

What will the results of all this technology, magick and diabolic creatures be? Only time will tell, and the citizens of the end of the 19th century can only watch and wait.

INTRODUCTION:

This is the world of Victorious, a Role-playing game set amongst the rich tapestry of Victorian England and the rising power of the United States. But not exactly the world of history, for in this world Sherlock Holmes and his manifold opponents are real. Spring Heel Jack vies with other menaces to threaten the peace of Great Britain. In America, the New Jersey Devil wreaks havoc in the countryside and secret cults plan to turn New York into a haven for their Occult designs. Put simply, the world of Victorious is the world of Victorian fiction as much as fact; a world rife with the strange and bizarre as well as the more mundane events we are familiar with.
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Always remember, as a first principle of all D&D: playing BtB is not now, never was and never will be old school.- Tim Kask, Dragonsfoot

[Omote]

Looking forward.

~O
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> Omote's Advanced C&C stuff <
Duke Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Prince of the Castles & Crusades Society

[dachda]

Here's a fantastic website detailing the history/geography/sociology and more of Victorian London. Heard about it on the Dragon's Landing website. Should be a great help for a London based Victorious campaign!
http://www.victorianlondon.org/
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Sir Dachda McKinty,

Margrave and Knight of Portlandia
Castles & Crusades Society

[Go0gleplex]

GIMME! GIMME! GIMME! GIMME! GIMME!
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The obvious will always trip you up FAR more than the obscure.

Baron Grignak Hammerhand of the Pacifica Provinces-

High Warden of the Castles & Crusades Society

[Lurker]

I was iffy on the "suppers" side of this, but the more I think about it the more I want it for the victorian setting. Now if I can just get a little breathing room on the finance side of real life, ...
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"And so I am become a knight of the Kingdom of Dreams and Shadows!" - Mark Twain

Forgive all spelling errors.

Knight Errant & Humble C&C Society Contributor
C&C Society

[sieg]

Thanks for the interest!

Lurker, the Victorious game will have a sort of 'alignment' system for individual campaigns. Namely Lawful, Neutral and Chaotic as well as Grand, Grim, or Gritty.

Lawful = Two fisted, Rocky chinned heroes battling fell villans. Very black and white; no grays points of view. Good is Good and Evil is Evil.

Neutral: Regarding themes, there are some blacks and whites, but many greys as well; notably honorable villains or nasty heroes.

Chaotic: In these settings there is little to no B&W, Events are covered by PoV and nothing is good or evil. Most people driven by ulterior motives rather than ideals.

Then there is the second part of the 'Alignment':

Grand: High powered, superheroes in the 4 color vein. Beings leaping buildings in a single bound, flying to the moon, etc. The Victorian (real life) legend of Spring Heel Jack or the New Jersey Devil fits here, as does Count Dracula.

Grim: Lower power beings, usually gifted types with minor supernatural powers. Perhaps one hears ghosts, or has a single unusual knack. This style tends to be more like the Scientific Romances of the age, with heroes and villans of great ability but not demigods. The Invisible Man and Sherlock Holmes would be closer to this category than either Grand or Gritty.

Gritty: This setting is that of trained normal men & women fighting evil as best they can using normal skills. This is closer to Lovecraftian stories in the 1890s than either Holmsian deductions or Spring Heel Jack's escapades.

So, when adventures come out they will be given a suggested alignment of "Lawful Grand" or Neutral Gritty" to let the purchaser know what kind of power level and campaign mood the adventure is set for. Does that mean you can't use it in others? Of course not! But some modifications might be needed.

So in sum, you can set the 'alignment' of your game to whatever level of the supernatural you feel comfortable with!

Hope this helps,

Mike
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Always remember, as a first principle of all D&D: playing BtB is not now, never was and never will be old school.- Tim Kask, Dragonsfoot

[Lurker]

Seig

Thanks for the info, this is quickly climbing up my list of must haves!
_________________
"And so I am become a knight of the Kingdom of Dreams and Shadows!" - Mark Twain

Forgive all spelling errors.

Knight Errant & Humble C&C Society Contributor
C&C Society