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agumathebear
2010-05-09, 05:04 PM
hey guys, my party was always split about what they all wanted in my game, so i got everyone together and said "were going to work on a world together, that way everyone's happy." we set up everything, including what races were playable, what races dont exsist, do we want reality or fantasy, steampunk or magic, etc.

overall it came out to this;
on a scale of 1 to 10 they chose a 5 for dungeons (every other game is a dungeon), 4 for dragons, they only want choices to effect them, not the world. (meaning they dont want to have to choose to save the world from the evil villain or join him and destroy the world), there are 3 nations, all are at war with one another, nation 1 is Shakizaar which is like the east, middle east, and russia combined (north being like russia), nation 2 is the United Lands (usa lmao), which is half woodlands and half desert, like cracked desert with buzzards and stuff. the third is Eldeland, which is like a mix of scotland, england and france.

we've decided there will be drugs in the game (good for roleplay and quests and stuff), and on a scale of 1-10 its a 4 for steampunk.

the only thing that threw me off is everyone wanted the era to victorian. it was a unanimous decision and all of them voted on it...so i want to make the party happy, but i have no idea where to start. i've watched gangs of new york, sherlock holmes, and alot of other victorian type era movies and im stumped...mostly just because i have only done medieval campaigns.

i was thinking about making it a type of mystery campaign, where the party investigates murders, stuff like that, but idk, like i said, i just dont know where to start.

Swordgleam
2010-05-09, 05:37 PM
Soulless (http://www.amazon.com/Soulless-Parasol-Protectorate-Gail-Carriger/dp/0316056634) is a nice fast read with some great action in a Victorian setting. It's kind of a comedy of manners but with vampires and werewolves. Reading it might help.

Irreverent Fool
2010-05-09, 06:36 PM
You might try Etherscope (http://www.goodman-games.com/etherscope.html). It's d20, so (unless for some reason your group isn't familiar with d20) it's a fairly easy transition. Really though, you can turn any game into a Victorian steampunk setting with the right fluff and since you've already constructed the basics you want for the world, your choice of system could easily be a matter of selecting the mechanics you like.

obnoxious
sig

Pechvarry
2010-05-09, 06:45 PM
Apparently, true Victorian is late 1800s, basically. But you could probably extend your campaign to include elements of everything from the end of the Renaissance up to 1900s. So that's roughly 150-200 years of culture to pick-and-choose from. Reading about the Renaissance, I found this:


On the other hand, many historians now point out that most of the negative social factors popularly associated with the "medieval" period – poverty, warfare, religious and political persecution, for example – seem to have worsened in this era which saw the rise of Machiavelli, the Wars of Religion, the corrupt Borgia Popes, and the intensified witch-hunts of the 16th century. Many people who lived during the Renaissance did not view it as the "golden age" imagined by certain 19th-century authors, but were concerned by these social maladies.

Which paints an interesting picture for a time when all of this is winding down. You have all of this cultural growth and secularization and what-have-you from your previous generation's exploits. But you also have all of these people clinging desperately to the old ways. Sure, a lot of people are scientifically liberated, but maybe their "modern thinking" has turned into self-justification for materialism. So perhaps this is a time of clashing societies living amongst each other. This could be an era where, for the first time, even the people on the bottom of the social structure have an active interest in politics, even if they're not necessarily in positions to affect them.

Togo
2010-05-09, 07:04 PM
Military style
party are a rifles platoon, airship crew, or naval crew, sent to deal with dangerous situation

Investigation
You have all been invited to Lord Caruthers Ball, but no sooner have the port and walnuts been distributed than it turns out he;s been murdered. Find out who the cad responsible before the fog lifts and the villain can make his get away.

Occult
While accompanying Uncle Virgil on his Eypgtian expedition, you discover that the temple he was trying to find has been opened by strange cultists, chanting a dread ceronmony that will bring DYLLZyy the unpronouncible, who's squaemous tentacled form will blot out the stars...

Mad science
The Evil Dr Morville is trying to put the finishing touches to his doomsday machine, with which he will hold the city to ransom. With the Help of professor Dogood and his amazing mole machine, you break into his heavily guarded fortress, filled with diabolical traps, goons, and fiendish clockwork horrors. Can you reach his laborotory before it's too late...

Social
Lady Haversham is inviting everyone to her ball, and everyone who is anyone will be there. You make sure noone sabotages isolbels grand entrance to society in her new dress, catch up with Bertrand before the evil dualist Carruthers manages to goad him into a duel, and find out who has stolen the love letters before the people who wrote them get disinherited!

The new scum
The thing about being gentlemen of liesure, is that it's bloody 'ard work. We've got three days to work out how we're going to lift the jewels travelling by diplomatic pouch on the mail coach, and get away from the Peelers, or the Upright Man will call in his marker and we'll all be fed to the crocadiles you get in London's deeper sewers...

Another_Poet
2010-05-09, 09:06 PM
This (http://www.victorianlondon.org/) ought to help for a lot of information & inspiration.