Victoriana (role-playing game)
Victoriana is a role-playing game published by Heresy Games in 2003, with second and third editions by Cubicle 7 in 2009 and 2013.
Description[edit]
Victoriana is a game of roleplay in a fantasy alternative Victorian era.
Publication history[edit]
Victoriana (2003) was a game by John Tuckey, Scott Rhymer and Richard Nunn that was built using the Fuzion gaming system, and published by British small-press publisher Heresy Games. The game was set in an alternate-reality fantasy steampunk 1867. In 2006, Cubicle 7 had bought Heresy Games, and brought in designer Ian Sturrock and new Victoriana Line Editor Andrew Peregrine to create a new edition of the game. Sturrock and Peregrine replaced Fuzion with their own Heresy Gaming System, which was a dice pool system that included both positive and negative dice, and was intended to be simple and thus to fade into the background. After previewing the system in 2007, Cubicle 7 got advance copies of the Victoriana Second Edition (2009) just in time for 2008's GenCon, but the rest of the run was not available until mid-2009.[1]:428
A third edition was published in 2013, again by Cubicle 7. This edition was designed to be compatible with the previous version of the game.
Supplements[edit]
- Streets of Shadow is a six adventure campaign published in 2013 for the third edition of the game.
- Liber Magica is a supplement covering the use of magic in the game, greatly expanding on the rules in the core rulebook. Published in 2014 (third edition).
- The Concert in Flames is a guide to Europe in the Victoriana game and includes a five-part scenario. Published in 2015 (third edition).
- Marvels of Science and Steampunk is a sourcebook featuring new technological marvels for the game and rules on how to use them (second edition).
- Falkner's Millinery and Miscellanea is a guide for equipment and supplies for use in the game in the style of a catalogue (second edition).
- The Havering Adventures is a series of three adventures featuring the Havering family and their retainers (second edition).
- The Marylebone Mummy is a standalone adventure (second edition).
- Jewel of the Empire is a guide to the Raj in India (second edition).
- Faces in the Smoke Volume One and Volume Two are guides on various cults and organisations at large in the game; to be used as competitors, adversaries or allies within the game (second edition).
Reception[edit]
Shannon Appelcline in his book Designers & Dragons describes that "Victoriana's setting was so 'punk' that some people called it 'Victorian Shadowrun'. When first released by Heresy Games, Victoriana had gotten average reviews, with most people saying that its strength lay in its setting. Meanwhile, there had been criticism over poor proofreading and poor attention to historical dates." Commenting on the second edition, he felt that "This new simplified game system combined well with strong editorial work from Peregrine and McDowall-Thomas to put the focus of the game on what was actually its strength: the setting." He further noted that "Victoriana Second Edition was an attractive book spotlighting a unique setting that got good reviews. Though it did not knock the ball out of the park, it was enough to show that Cubicle 7 was emerging on the RPG scene as a professional and notable company. It was also a strong enough product to receive continued support, with more than a half-dozen supplements published since… even as Cubicle 7 has gone on to much bigger things."[1]:428
Reviews[edit]
- Black Gate #15 (Spring 2011)
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Shannon Appelcline (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. ISBN 978-1-907702- 58-7. Search this book on
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