Review: "Victoriana 3rd Edition Core Rulebook" Part 1: "Encyclopaedia Victoriana"

Today I have a slightly different review for you all: a review of a roleplaying rulebook for one of my favourite systems I have ever played or run in!

I have mentioned before in my blog posts that I frequently play in RPGs (roleplaying games). I started in my first year of university playing in a 3.5 Dungeons and Dragons game and haven't looked back since! In my third year of university I ran my very first campaign in the 2nd Edition Victoriana system/setting, and since have run over fifty sessions using that rulebook. It is one of my favourite RPGs out there as it appeals to both my interest in steampunk and Victorian settings and my love of magic.

When I heard a new edition was coming out I was extremely excited, and now, having been given the book for Christmas, I want to take a look at it in the sections it is divided into, and look at how the game has changed from the previous edition. Today I am looking at "Book 1: The Encyclopaedia Victoriana and Selected Articles".

(I'd like to just take a moment to say that I love the art in this book a lot and will endeavour to put some of my favourite images from the book in these posts.)

After the introduction (which I did take some time to look through and which gives a nice overview of roleplaying games and the feel of Victoriana in general) the Encyclopaedia Victoriana is written "in-character", from the point of view of Countess Lyonesse, an upper-class Eldren lady writing her memoirs and charged with chaperoning a young American lady about London for the coming season. I think this was an interesting choice, and the inclusion of the articles from various journals was a good way to capture the language and general feel of the setting so that players and GMs understand it better.

I think I should note one of the more obvious changes from the 2nd Edition: the date. While 2nd Edition was set in the year 1867, with a few historical changes, this edition is set in 1856. I feel, as I think Cubicle 7 did, that this is a good idea as spiritually I think Victoriana has always been better suited to 1856. It allows the Crimean War, for example, to be a backdrop without having to re-write history.

The "Religion" section features some fairly clear changes from 2nd Edition: the names of some of the religions have changed (and all the better for it: having the Victoriana equivalent of Islam be called Followers of the Word instead of just Ismal makes the distinction between them clearer and more flavourful for the setting). The history of the religions is also very different from 2nd Edition, and while the names will still invoke enough of a familiarity with real-world religions, they feel like less of a re-write of reality and more discrete.

The "Society" section is relatively unchanged from 2nd Edition, and remains fairly close in detail to real-world Victorian history, from the discussion of clothing (including discussing different styles for different occasions and the kind of dress Guild hermeticists would wear) to presentation balls and an overview of vices available to those with the money and inclination to seek them out.

After this, the book moves on to the "Pocket Gazetteer of the World", which details the history of the world in the setting. While the history of some countries is similar to real-world history, such as Britain, others have been altered more, including the addition of Kvenland, a country to the north of Sweden/Norway (known here as The Scandinavian Confederation) ruled by a giant, King Donar III. At first I thought that this felt a little contrived - making the world different for the sake of making it different - but then I realised that the idea of a country ruled by a giant was really quite wonderful, and in-keeping with the feel of the setting. Occasionally I found that this section read very slowly, probably because geography has never been a subject I have been particularly enamoured with, but I'm sure that those with a keener interest would find this section less dry than myself.

And with that, we reach the end of "Book 1: The Encyclopaedia Victoriana". Overall I am really pleased with how the setting looks in this new edition: the overall feel of the game is very much the same as before, but enough detail has been changed to give the new edition a sense of purpose beyond being a rules-update.

In my next review I will look at "Book 2: One's Full Measure: Adventurer Creation", where we will get a look at some of the rules and building a character to play in the game.

Have you ever played Victoriana? What do you think of it?

---

Don't forget you can follow my blog by email, Google, Bloglovin' and many other ways, all of which are in the side bar! If you want updates on Facebook I also have a Facebook page where I share all my blog posts: Scribblings Unbound.