Review: "Victoriana 3rd Edition Core Rulebook" Part 5: "Trials and Tribulations"

Today I am continuing (and, in actual fact, finishing) my series on the Victoriana 3rd Edition Core Rulebook, the first four posts of which are here, here, here and here.

This chapter of the book is the gamemaster's section, and has information to help GMs run games, including information on creating an atmosphere, scripting adventures and stats for NPCs and monsters.

Review: "Victoriana 3rd Edition Core Rulebook" Part 4: "Sorcery and Steam"

(Before I start this post I'd like to apologise for the gap in posts lately - I don't like making excuses for not keeping up with this blog but I had a very stressful few months where I had no time or energy to post here. That period seems to be thankfully over now though, and I should be able to post more regularly again!)

To continue with my series on the Victoriana 3rd Edition Core Rulebook by Cubicle 7 (previous posts here, here and here), I am today looking at "Book 4: Steam and Sorcery".

As you might be able to guess from the title of the chapter, this part of the book has the rules for using magic and machinery in the game. It features a lot of similar content to the 2nd Edition splatbook Marvels of Science and Steampunk, but with the addition of the Celestial Engine (discussed in my previous post), some of the rules will obviously change.

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.

Review: "Victoriana 3rd Edition Core Rulebook" Part 2: "One's Full Measure

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.

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".

Book review: "Temeraire: Throne of Jade" by Naomi Novik

Warning: Possible spoilers for both Throne of Jade and Temeraire, the first novel in the series.

I read the first book in the Temeraire series (Temeraire  or His Majesty's Dragon) by Naomi Novik a few years ago, and thought it absolutely fantastic, and I was keen to read more of the series. It was not until relatively recently I was able to do so, but when I picked up Throne of Jade to read I was excited to revisit some of my favourite characters and the world they inhabited.

Book review: "In Great Waters" by Kit Whitfield

Warning: Possible spoilers.

A few years ago (or possibly longer), I read Kit Whitfield's first book, Bareback (released in the US as Benighted) and I found her prose to be wonderfully constructed and the topic - a world where werewolves not only exist but are the norm in society and those who do not shapeshift at the full moon are seen as the abnormalities - engaging and interesting. So when I found In Great Waters by chance a couple of years ago, I decided to buy it. It then spent some time on my bookshelf as I finished my degree, and now I have finally got around to reading it.