Victorian Era Champions

[Mindscape]

I am going to be running a Gotham By Gaslight like game for my group in the near future. I plan to set it in either London or turn of the century New York. While it will contain several elements from Champions it will also contain a large of amount of Pulp elements. Mostly I'm thinking of limiting players to costumed vigilantes (Batman), inventors (Steam-punk power armor ), or mystical powers to a degree (illusions, mind control, etc).

 

I'm looking to the boards for some feedback. Obviously the players will be facing threats of the time (Jack the Ripper, some Pulp or Champions villains that have been reworked, etc). So feel free to post comments, suggestions, resources that might be helpful, or anything that you feel like. Thanks in advance.

 

Also I hope this is in the right area of the boards if it is not I apologize and would be most appreciative if someone would move it.

[Escafarc]

Re: Victorian Era Champions

 

If you go the NYC route I would track down a copy of The Alienist by Caleb Carr it should inspire the right mood.

[Beast]

Re: Victorian Era Champions

 

Check out Ghosts of Albion(the books,flash movies,and the unisystem RPG)

lots of good back ground stuff for magic and the fae

[kahuna's bro]

Re: Victorian Era Champions

 

limit any character wih powers as onl having one at low level

[Captain Obvious]

Re: Victorian Era Champions

 

Check out the Kerberos Club if you can find a copy to borrow, or don't mind dropping the money to buy one. It's a pretty interesting Victorian supers setting.

[Cancer]

Re: Victorian Era Champions

 

Echo the Kerberos Club. That campaign book is tightly coupled to an overall world history which it sounds like you don't want, but there are good ideas there that can be used.

[Clonus]

Re: Victorian Era Champions

 

Charles-Edouard Brown-Sequard (the guy who discovered we need adrenalin to live and what spnal cords do) toward the end of his life in the 1880s advocated the use of an extract of ground-up dog and guinea pig testicles in order to rejuvenate elderly men. Obviously that didn't work but when he tried it out on himself, he reported a temporary sensation of greater strength and health. Given that report, one James "Pud" Galvin, nearing the end of his baseball career, was eager to try this proto-steroid for himself and as the papers reported, did experience improved performance on the field in a stirring tribute to the placebo effect. There was of course no rule against performance enhancers at the time.

 

This indirectly led to one of the dumbest Sherlock Holmes stories ever written, "The Crawling Man" where injections of monkey testosterone rejuvenate a scientist but lead to behaviour altering side-effects as the man becomes monkey-like in behaviour as well as agility.

 

This was also the kind of scientific experiment which led to the creation of the Invisible Man, Mr. Hyde, and the Gibberne Accelerator. A version of the Brown-Sequard elixir might create a super-strong character, but would probably lead to insanity since that's how it usually goes in Victorian SF

[Mindscape]

Re: Victorian Era Champions

 

Thanks for the help guys, I'll try and find the books you have mentioned and will seriously consider limiting player with powers to only one power at the start (that may cut down on balance issues). Also, thanks Clonus, I hadn't considered the fact that other powers may be possible because of Steam-punk science, that opens up more options for my players.

[JohnTaber]

Re: Victorian Era Champions

 

Check out the Kerberos Club if you can find a copy to borrow' date=' or don't mind dropping the money to buy one. It's a pretty interesting Victorian supers setting.[/quote']

 

Or...um..wait for Darren to finish converting Kerberos Club to Hero THEN buy it! That is my plan.

[torchwolf]

Re: Victorian Era Champions

 

This might also be worth checking out, since it's free:

http://www.forgottenfutures.com/game/index.htm

[Tasha]

Re: Victorian Era Champions

 

Castle Falkenstein is also a good resources esp for the Magical Steampunk stuff. Either the R.Talsorian version (Original ver) or the GURPS translation can be good resources.

[Captain Obvious]

Re: Victorian Era Champions

 

Or...um..wait for Darren to finish converting Kerberos Club to Hero THEN buy it! That is my plan.

 

Oh I didn't realize Darren was converting it...that's worth the wait I'd bet.

[Spence]

Re: Victorian Era Champions

 

Or...um..wait for Darren to finish converting Kerberos Club to Hero THEN buy it! That is my plan.

 

Oh I didn't realize Darren was converting it...that's worth the wait I'd bet.

 

I posted to the companies website (Arc Dream Publishing) asking about when they expect the Hero version to hit the street (their site said August 2010) and one of the poster said.

 

"After GenCon. Soon after GenCon, I hope. The Hero guys who are doing the conversion work have been overwhelmed with other things and it's way behind.After GenCon. Soon after GenCon, I hope."

 

Not an official word and no one has said who 'Hero guys' referred to. But it makes sense to me for them to wait for a good product rather than rush it.

 

And hearing that it is Darren doing the writing makes me immediately think two things:

 

1) Cool! The conversion will be written by someone that really understands the Hero System.

 

2) Even though it is none of my business, I hope he and his are doing fine and that there is nothing serious happening family wise.

[Spence]

Re: Victorian Era Champions

 

I just got done reading George Mann's Newbury & Hobbs story 'The Affinity Bridge' and am halfway through the next volume ‘The Osiris Ritual’ .

Think a Sherlock Holmes/James Bond in a Steampunk London that works for Queen Victoria herself.

[Mindscape]

Re: Victorian Era Champions

 

I picked up The Affinity Bridge a little while back but it got moved to the bottom of my stack of books that I need to read. From your description, I might have to move it to the top.