Review: "Victoriana 3rd Edition Core Rulebook" Part 3: "Cogs and Wheels - The Prime Mover"

Following on from my previous two posts where I review the Victoriana 3rd Edition Core Rulebook by Cubicle 7 (Part One, Part Two), here is the third: "Book 3: Cogs and Wheels - The Prime Mover".

This chapter in the book concerns the system that is used to determine how and to what effect the actions of the characters, NPCs and plot happen - as such it is a very detailed chapter! Once again I was curious about the things that had changed and not changed from the Victoriana 2nd Edition Core Rulebook, especially considering that combat appears in this chapter, something I often found difficult in the 2nd Edition rules.

So the first thing that I noticed upon beginning to read the chapter was that the Heresy Engine (the base mechanic for the system) has not changed from 2nd Edition, and I think this was a very good thing, partially to keep the games feeling the same and partially because I think it is a simple system which works well and is very newbie friendly. Players roll a number of 6-sided dice and any that roll a 1 or a 6 are considered to be a success (with any instance of a 6 being rolled again for additional chances at success). The number of successes control what happens as a result of the roll.

One thing that I and my usual roleplaying circles have found that we dislike about the Heresy Engine is the mechanic of black dice: dice rolled by the GM in opposition to the players' dice rolls, and which can reduce the number of successes scored by the players. In general I find that the inclusion of an extra mechanic to oppose players is unnecessary and if I feel that the roll needs to be harder to make I will up the number of successes they need to score. However, I do find that black dice are very pertinent to magic rolls. Magic in Victoriana is always meant to be slightly more fluid and chaotic than other rolls, an idea that is supported by the Celestial Engine, which shows up later in this chapter.

The next part of the chapter covers many players' favourite aspect of roleplaying - combat. This section of the chapter is incredibly detailed, giving information about basics such as initiative and making attacks to more intricate rules for cover, grappling, chase scenes and area effect attacks. While it is possible to play without these extra rules, for those familiar with the system they can add a fun layer of detail and as a GM I have found that they make for more dynamic and interesting fight scenes. (The "Slapping a Cad in the Face" paragraph is also particularly funny if it comes up in game.) The rules, while they do spread over quite a large number of pages, are clearly written and I have found that combat has been faster to run than with the 2nd Edition rules.

The next section of the chapter is titled "Dramatic Systems" and covers information about events in the game-world outside of combat that the players may have to deal with. If the players are talking to people to get them to help or going out for a pint, dealing with poisons or falling off a roof, this section covers it. This section is not massive but contains a lot of important information, especially if the players do anything vaguely daft (and let's face it, they will) and it is almost guaranteed to come up in a campaign.

Next we see another mechanic in the Heresy Engine: fate points. These were present in the 2nd Edition rules, but in order to regain them players had to spend points that could instead have been used to level up, and many in my games simply didn't bother, and so fate points gradually vanished from the games I ran. Now each player has a fate pool that re-fills at the start of each adventure, which I think helps players remember that they have them, along with invoking complications to be awarded fate points.

One of the new mechanics for this edition of Victoriana is the Celestial Engine. In-game, the conflict between order and entropy is a constant and vital thing to the setting and characters. The Aluminat religion places emphasis on heavenly order (as does any character who likes to invent things!), while the forces of entropy help those with magic powers and are associated with demons and the undead. Player characters on the "order" side of the dial are granted automatic successes on rolls involving guns or marvels, while those who use magic gain additional dice to roll if they are on the entropic side of the dial. However, should the character reach the maximum level in either order or entropy, they are considered lost - either turned into a higher being of  This addition to the new edition rules is interesting, and in practice it has been a fun mechanic to use.

The next section discusses characters' reputation and what can be done with it. In 2nd Edition, reputation was only one number and the ways to use it were rather unclear - even reputation names were not all that useful in practice. Now, however, reputation is separated into good reputation (Propriety) and bad reputation (Notoriety), with Talents, Privileges, Assets and Complications (seen in "Book 2: One's Full Measure - Adventurer Creation") to affect the number as well as in-game actions. I have yet to see this (or the wonderfully-named "Puffery and Slander") used fully in a game, but the decision to refine the reputation system is one I am overall pleased with.

The next and final part of the chapter covers spending experience points gained while playing. Obviously this is a very important part of the game, as I don't know a single player who doesn't enjoy levelling up their character, whether they enjoy the game from a roleplaying standpoint or a simpler smash-down-the-door perspective. The points cost hasn't changed much from 2nd Edition.

Overall, I think the chapter is well-written and organised, and the information is useful to any GM or player.

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