Continuing from my previous post, where I looked at the first part of the Victoriana 3rd Edition Core Rulebook, today I am moving on to the next part: "Book 2: One's Full Measure - Adventurer Creation".
Seeing as character creation is an extremely important part of every RPG system, and given how much I enjoy it as part of the gaming process in every game I play in, I was excited to see how Cubicle 7 might have changed the way things worked an what they had kept the same.
So the first thing I noticed upon turning to this section was the addition of a new first step in creating your character: Associations. The idea of these is to give the party in a game a reason to be working together, something that I have seen to be a problem in several games and campaigns I have been involved in. I like the idea of having an Association as it provides the adventurers with some background and drive and can help the player with ideas. I particularly enjoyed reading the sample Associations included in the book, especially The Selenium, "an exclusive upper class gentleman's club dedicated to the art of monster hunting" (to the extent that I am preparing to run a short game with this Association in the near future).
Next the player chooses their background (vocation and childhood) - this has not changed very much at all from 2nd Edition, bar the addition of some new vocation and childhood options, and I think it was a good plan to keep it much the same as before.
Next comes breeding, where the player chooses whether to be upper, middle or lower class, and their subspecies (more on this shortly). I found it interesting that this has been moved to later on in the process. Previously players would choose their class first and foremost, as it is one of the greatest influences in the game, and everything else would come later, but with the introduction of Associations it makes sense for this to have been changed, as the Association could influence or limit the classes the players may choose from.
The races are also presented somewhat differently compared to the 2nd Edition book: the various sapients retain pretty much the same racial traits but instead of being considered as separate races as they were before, they are considered subspecies of homo sapiens (this isn't a new thing for RPGs to do; Shadowrun has the same kind of setup). Crossbreeding is treated much the same as before: you are what you look like and no one looks like a mix of two sapients, end of story (as a GM, this is a nice way to side-step the players wanting to play some weird half-race). With Beastfolk, Dwarfs, Eldren, Gnomes, Huldufolk (halflings/hobbits to anyone unfamiliar), Humans, Ogres and Orcs to choose from, all with distinct racial traits and aesthetics, there is plenty for players to choose from (even discounting the 2nd Edition splash books that have even more and which are backwards-compatible with this edition). Some sapients are pre-disposed to Order or Entropy on the Celestial engine (more on that in a future post), allowing players to specialise in a particular area if they so wish.
Attributes and skills are the next stage of character creation, and these are again not very different from the previous edition. The attributes cover Strength, Dexterity, Fortitude, Presence, Wits and Resolve, while the skills (common, speciality, magical and group) cover almost any facet of life in the world of Victoriana, and if players think of a skill they want that isn't there the book encourages the creation of extra skills. Something I appreciate (and appreciated in 2nd Edition) is the inclusion of what each skill does and how it can be used.
Talents, Privileges and Assets are next, which I have always found are some of the best and most interesting details of player characters in Victoriana. Whatever you want your character to be able to do alongside their skills comes from here, and I am glad to see that the layout and proofing have been tightened since the last edition (my hard copy of the 2nd Edition core book had an entire page of Talents accidentally transposed into the middle of the Privilege descriptions).
After choosing what player characters are good at, it's time to decide what might hold them back in the world of Victoriana. In my opinion, Complications are some of the most interesting parts of the character creation process for this system. They award back build points for being taken (but only to a maximum of ten!) and help to make characters feel three-dimensional. Whether you want your character to be a hoarder or be haunted by a ghost, you can find it here. It's also perfectly possible to create your own complication to take.
After this, the character is almost complete! The book covers other finishing touches quickly and concisely, including choosing a name, age and contacts. The section is clear and easy to follow.
After this, the Victorian money system is introduced - fortunately with conversion tables! - and items can be bought for characters, including weapons and clothing. In the previous edition of Victoriana, the characters were not given starting cash but instead allowed to choose five items for their character. Cue penniless prostitutes and mudlarks getting themselves lined soldiers' coats and powerful guns despite it not fitting in with their lifestyle or character. Any sensible GM would veto their choices and make them choose something more sensible, but with the introduction of starting cash instead, this issue can be sidestepped completely.
The variety of items available, combined with the choices presented at each stage of character gen previous to choosing them, makes sure that player characters are very unlikely to be exactly the same as one another. While two characters might both use guns (and perhaps choose to buy the same guns), one might use sigil magic in combination with it, while the other uses just the guns and intimidation to get things done. The possibilities are wide, and can be adapted to just about any need the campaign has.
Overall, I think that while much of the content of the character generation remains similar to 2nd Edition, this edition's addition of Association is a good way to streamline characters and give players an idea of the feel of the campaign they will play in. Having used this process both as a GM and a player I think it works beautifully for the game.
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