Victorian RPG

[davedoty]

My friend GMs a long-running Doctor Who rpg, but is about to do his first historical, set in Victorian London, and is somewhat apprehensive about creating an appropriate historical setting. History isn't really his thing, as witness he has a long-running time travel campaign and is doing his first historical story.

I'm fishing around for some good rpg sourcebooks for him. The splat is irrelevant, since he has a system he's very conversant with. He's worried about the flavor of a historical setting. Can anyone recommend a good Victorian sourcebook to help with that?

 

[Umbran]

My first thought would be to rip the useful bits out of any version of Space: 1889 you could get your hands on.

 

[LWDLiz]

I'm a big fan of the "Life Through History" series for historical source books. There is one for Victorian England called "Daily Life in Victorian England" by Sally Mitchell. I would recommend checking out that book.

 

[dm4hire]

Check out Renaissance-Deluxe which is a stripped down version of Clockwork & Chivalry 2nd Ed which is designed for those not wanting to play a steampunk game, though it does have rules for magic if desired. If anything it will give you a good mechanic system and some general historical info you can start with.

 

[Hella_Tellah]

I highly recommend Victoriana. Beyond having a game system that's well suited to Victorian-era gaming, it has tons of relevant information for running a game in the period. There's a great timeline in there that has all kinds of inventions, with a line in the middle for 1867, so you can easily tell know if something exists or not. Steel, ice cream, underground railways, and the Football Association Rules are all less than 20 years old. Typewriters, the Periodic Table, and light bulbs are still a few years off. It does have some fantasy elements, but those are easily adjusted.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Besides those suggestions above- esp. Space:1889- check out For Faerie Queene and Country for the Amazing Engine system.

 

[davedoty]

Thanks for the suggestions! Instead of summarizing them for him, I just gave him a link to this thread.

 

[NanocTheCivilized]

Imperial Age from Adamant Entertainment is pretty comprehensive.

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/index.php?keywords=imperial+age&x=-1636&y=-185&author=&artist=&pfrom=&pto=

Back to lurking.

 

[gweinel]

I would second Cubicle's 7 Victoriana. They just lunch the 3rd edition of the setting. The 3rd edition is a more generic victorian-magic-steampunk setting. The 2nd edition gave more impact to the social struggle (which is dominant in the 19th century - a feature which i loved) and the information about the era while the 3rd edition wanted to "open" to more themes.