3.5 campgain setting idea

[Mr. Wimmer]

How could I make a Victorian era setting work?

I plan for some of the d&d races to make appearances, but not all

High arcane magic, medium divine

anyone have any good ideas?

[Tempest Fennac]

The Eberron setting could be useful to a degree due to its trains as well as it's general industry level. Why high Arcane, low Divine, though?

[Mr. Wimmer]

well, it feels like at a certain point, magic would stop being feared, and start being accepted and used more widely, leading to a slight decrease in divine belief.

I have no idea why I think that though.

[Tempest Fennac]

That's an interresting way of looking at it. Based on the normal beliefs at the time and the fact that there was a lot of interest in more Esoteric belief systems in the ate 1800s, I'd have it the other way around with Divine Magic being quite common while Arcane Magic is seen as more of a curiosity which only upper-middle class people (and higher) have any interest in. If the setting was used again, you could have it developing while having Arcane magic becoming more common with (possibly) a decline in Devine Magic (don't forget that healing magic will always be useful, though, so there probably won't be that much of a decline in Divine Magic).

[Mad Maudlin]

Several things I can think of (in no particular order)

Try getting your hands on a book called Sorcery And Steam (It's by the legends and lairs people - Fantasy Flight, I think?). The book as a whole is like 'introduction to Steampunk', but it has a lot of material on setting the victorian mood.

If you're not looking to buy any new books, then I suggest thinking about the impact of factory manufactured goods - In a victorian setting, I expect it would be pretty easy to get your hands on a poor quality weapon, and more difficult to find masterwork stuff. You might want to look into adjusting the book prices.

As well as the impact factories have on the goods produced, there's the social impact... small villages become rarer as easy jobs become available in big cities. People start 'commuting' (which is more viable in a world with Teleport - if you do go with high arcane) and their villages are left behind, until they get their own factories and then they aren't really villages anymore. Sorcerers would be more popular around town, as a given production line may require the same spell, cast over and over all day, making sorcerers more useful than wizards.

The victorian era is mainly typified as a period of very fast change. There's a reason it's called the industrial 'revolution' - people in victorian Britain were swept away by steam power and urbanisation of the country. The general populace are all going to have opinions on how the world is changing, and not everyone is going to be happy about it. Think about druids and rangers, barbarians and worshippers of Obad-Hai. And then set them up in stark contrast with the people who are embracing the industrial, who may scorn them for being 'behind the times', and throw themselves enthusiastically into anything that markets itself as 'new', whether it is or not.

Of course, along with all this, as with any historical period of change, comes a sense of stifling 'propriety'. People set up arbitrary rules of good behaviour and then use these to further look down on the barbarian types who don't know the rules until they break them. Maybe look into things like women's suffrage? Or, if you don't want to get too 'real world', maybe introduce a race of living constructs (Lord Gareth's Clockwork Men (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88100) come to mind) and play off society's uncertainty.

If you're not native British, there's a possibility you haven't come across the class divides that still linger even today. The most exciting thing about the victorian era is that these class divides were being torn down and trampled on. So you might want to throw that in as a theme of your game.

Also, as far as the possibility of firearms goes, I would probably make them difficult to get hold of, and an exotic weapon. High damage, but high cost for ammunition, and the chance of a natural one blowing up in your face, or damaging the weapon. But once an enemy sees you're carrying one of those gunpowder weapons, they're going to be worried...!

...As you can probably tell, I've put quite a bit of thought into this :smallbiggrin:

[Mr. Wimmer]

Those are all really good Ideas, I actually have that book Mad Maudlin

[Tempest Fennac]

Mad Maudlin's ideas are really good. In regards to chenge, and what people who are likely to be opposed to that sort of change go, you may want to have some countries where there's hardly any change at all due to a lack of any sort of need for it (eg: before the industrial revolution started, some aristocratic farmers improved on the crop rotation system which had been used since William the Conqurer took over while breeding better animals, which reduced the chance of famin, which (could have*) lead to a larger population, which in turn lead to higher demand for low-cost clothes and other goods). If you need anymore help with the history, I can help as well.

*The population went up rapidly starting in the 1700s, but there's some debate about what caused it; mosqueetos dying out due to marches being drained and a lack of Black Plague due to the cities being cleaned up could have been important as well.

[Bayar]

Reminds me of D20 Past with more spellcasters...

[Tempest Fennac]

Apart from the setting's era, how else was d20 Past different to normal D&D, Bayer? I've never heard of that one before.

[sigurd]

Mad Maudline's dirty toes are striking pay dirt.

One thing might consider in your setting is the value of empire. Victoria switched from a medieval structure where colonies owed the king taxes (say 3% of the real wealth in a region) to a structure where colonies guaranteed markets and resources for industry. The Empire made far more money with regular cheap raw materials and preferential sales than it ever could from actual transportable wealth.

If you want a steampunk world or a techno-magical world consider two things.

1. Industry creates a huge new need to sell things. Ya got too much to use yourself.

2. To keep plenty on the shelves you need plenty to create with. Colonial resource exploitation should be a part of your setting. It may be balanced somewhat by cheaper goods for everyone but the flavour, structure, and sense of the goods will always serve the capital more than the colony.

D20 Past does seem like a good place to start. The setting doesn't require the fantasy structure of normal D&D and can function without magic. Its broad but familiar.

Sorcery & Steam is an excellent source btw.
So might Steam & Steel by Enworld
And Steamworks by Sylvan Crossroads. (I haven't read it)

There's also a non d20 rpg called Victoriana and some really good support material for Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu by Gaslight.

One possible bit of fiction to read is The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathon Stroud.

Good luck - this can be a fun sort of setting.


Sigurd

I really like a product called "Northern Crown" by Atlas Games but its sort of dead ended and hard to find.

[DracoDei]

I am visiting my parents (as I often do) and so I don't have it with me, but I recently bought and read through "Clock and Steam" by Rodney Thompson for the Blackmoor setting.

[combatmedic]

I'd recommend making guns relatively cheap and useful. Yes, it seriously alters the combat dynamic, but I think it can be workable.

If you want to do this with D&D, I'd suggest the following:

Guns are usually either Simple or Martial weapons ,not Exotic.

The most advanced small arms are primitive ''pepperbox'' style revolvers and imperfectly sealed breechloading rifles. This is early 19th centuiry tech, not the much more advanced guns of the later Victorian Era.

Old school weapons remain useful for close combat, situations where guns are not permitted, and against certain nasty monsters [DR vs bullets!].