Victorious the Role Playing Game by Michael Stewart is a role playing game supplement published by Troll Lord Games. This is the core book for a Victorian-era superhero game based on the Siege Engine and, as such, is covered by the Open Game License with some parts being considered Open Game Content as a result.
The supplement is available as a 146-page PDF from DriveThruRPG for $20 and is also available in printed form from sites such as Amazon. The PDF is the version reviewed, although it was purchased at a reduced price as part of a special bundle. Two pages are the front and rear covers, one the front matter, two the Table of Contents and one the Open Game License.
The Introduction talks about the Victorian Age and its belief in progress, and how the idea of superheroes fits into that period. This is followed by a general introduction as to what a role playing game is, and that this section can be skipped by those familiar with such. A World Undreamt Of has some brief details on the setting, in which famous fictional characters from the period are real. Each chapter has some introductory fluff text.
Chapter 1: Character Creation starts with an overview of the steps. This is followed by a description of the Attributes, which should be familiar for those who have played any Dungeons & Dragons-derived game, as they are the standard six ranging from 3-18, though the modifier chart goes up to 32+ (this is a game with superheroes). Attributes are generated by rolling 4d6 and discarding the lowest; they can change later with power slots.
Skills follow, including how many a character starts with, and are listed and described together with the attribute that is relevant to the skill. How skills can be improved is then followed by supernatural powers which are the various abilities that make a character more than human. Some of the powers are split up; the overall power then has a specific type. Power Benefits & Liabilities has some packages of powers; a way of linking powers together along a theme, whether these be supernatural or through such as a battle suit. Shortcomings are the liabilities; the GM (in this game, the Genteel Magistrate) should ensure that any shortcomings are genuine ones. Not being vulnerable to things that don’t exist is not a liability. Experience and money are briefly covered.
Heroic Classes covers seven different classes. The Contraptionist builds gadgets. The Hypnotist, well, hypnotises people. The Inquiry Agent is the consulting detective. The Paragon is faster and stronger than others. The Radiant has strange powers. The Strongarm relies on strength. The Vigilante is the masked hunter of villains. Finally, the last few stages of character creation are covered.
Chapter Two: Rules of the Game starts with a piece of fiction. This is followed by experience; how it improves the character and a number of different ways of rewarding it, depending on game style. How combat plays out follows, with the combat round described, initiative and surprise and a list of combat terms, together with actions. Armour is next, including some super materials.
Attributes and the Game covers using attributes in the game, with attribute checks. Each of the six attributes is described an has an example of their use in play. Saving throws are next, divided into different types and how they are used. Finally, Victory Points are granted for exemplary actions; these can be used to alter rolls or exchanged for experience. Only those of Good Alignment can earn them. The alignment of the chronicle is next, and has two axes. Lawful, Neutral and Chaotic is one, a fairly standard arrangement. Grand, Gilded and Grim is the other axis.
Chapter Three: Equipment and Encounters covers the cost of living and various common items and services. This is followed by transportation, both that of the time and custom, probably unusual, vehicles, including rules on chases. The Great Game: Espionage and Factions in the Victorious Era has details on various organisations. This starts with those backed by governments followed by non-governmental organisations. Each organisation is described in the same manner and the majority of them are real groups; the Moriarty Family, for instance, is not.
Chapter 4: The Victorious Era covers the Victorian Era, or the Gilded Era, in which the game is set. This includes such things as sexism and racism, often to a level that would be incomprehensible to modern-day people, and other areas in which life was not great. Health, medicine, crime, punishment, criminal slang and criminology, which was just getting started, are followed by a chronology of some major events of the last two decades of the 19th century.
Chapter 5: Bestiary has various different creatures to encounter. Each creature has some introductory fluff text, taken from different books, some of which are definitely fictional. The Bestiary is divided into different sections. Creatures of the Earth are normal creatures; normal does not mean safe. Horrors Out of Time has dinosaurs, but also morlocks and yeti. Horrors of the Living Dead gas undead. Horrors of Nature are strange creatures.
Chapter 6: The SuperMankind starts by explaining that the NPCs in this chapter haven’t been created using the rules for player characters. The chapter is divided into three sections. The Great and the Good are the heroes, Persons of Dubious Intent are neither truly heroes or villains and Villainy of the Deepest Dye are, of course, villains. Some of the characters are taken from fiction and some are superpowered individuals from the 21st century.
Hyde and Seek is a short, introductory adventure in which the characters deal with the theft of Dr Jekyll’s body by parties interested in his serum.
Appendices begins with Designer’s Notes for Victorious, which explains why certain things were done.
Appendix A: Combat on the Cheap is a way of streamlining the combat between large numbers of people, and a brief note on psychic or magical powers.
Appendix B: Those Dastardly Dice is how to use sic-sided dice to substitute for polyhedral dice (though, truthfully, anyone likely to buy this system is unlikely not to have polyhedral dice).
Appendix C: Mob Rules for Victorious has ways of dealing with mobs, battling them and different types of riot.
Appendix D: Puttin’ on the Ritz explains how the Wealthy skill is useful.
Appendix E: History vs. Fantasy? considers how realistic to make a campaign; the author’s own campaign has become less historically accurate as the actions of SuperMankind have altered history.
Appendix F: Resources has a list of novels, factual books, role playing games, comic books, film, television and music that can be used for inspiration.
The final two pages of content are the character sheet.
Victorious the Role Playing Game in Review
The PDF is reasonably well bookmarked with major and minor sections linked, although they could go a bit deeper. The Table of Contents is to a similar level of depth and is hyperlinked. Navigation is okay. The text maintains a two-column black and white format and appeared to be largely free of errors. There are a number of black and white illustrations, albeit not all in the same style, and most appear to be custom. Presentation is decent.
D&D-derived games, and Siege Engine effectively is, seem to work reasonably well for superpowered games, perhaps because the average D&D character is already pretty powerful (and that has got worse in newer editions). So, the system seems to work with the concept. In addition, despite the changes from the standard Siege Engine rules, it is also reasonably compatible with other Siege Engine games and, for those familiar with D&D-based games, much of the actual core of the system should be easy enough to understand.
Victorian-era games that are fictional do tend to lead to steampunk assumptions, and this game really isn’t steampunk. There is advanced technology but, in at least some cases, this has come from the 21st century. Though there is only a brief coverage of how.
That may be where one problem does lie for a core book; the setting. Mostly, there isn’t one. There are some details on the historical period and the various described characters have background information, but there’s nothing to tie them together into a setting. From the looks of it, the setting is in separate books. Perhaps that keeps the core book to a reasonable length, but it does mean anyone who doesn’t want to create their own Victorian-era setting will need to pick up more books. There is enough to play the game in the supplement, but more work will need to be done by a GM to build their own setting if other supplements aren’t purchased. Consequently, it feels a little incomplete. Victorious the Role Playing Game is a decent attempt at a historical superhero game and it can be found by clicking here.
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