Victoriana Player’s Guide for 5e - Cover Reveal!

Victoriana Player’s Guide

Murder and Mayhem on the streets of London! Read all about it! Come this way, folks, for a mere penny the stories in this tiny pamphlet will shock you to your core. They’re not called Penny Dreadfuls for nuffin’! Stuff it in your tweed pocket, or put it in your lace bag, just make sure you lock your door at night, darling!

Welcome back, Associates! Fancy a trip back to 1887? Then look no further, peer through  your monocle and read on. Last week we announced a brand new version of our Victoriana setting using the 5th edition of the world’s most popular roleplaying game. This week we’re incredibly excited to share the stunning cover for Victoriana for 5e and an overview of what you’ll find in the book.  

Cover illustration by Antonio De Luca.

What’s in the Book?

The Victoriana Player’s Guide gives players everything they need to create characters ready to take on the challenges of the fantastic, magical, steampunk world of Victoriana, powered by the 5th edition OGL rules. Victoriana’s penny dreadfuls (what we call adventures) typically involve heavy doses of action, investigation, and social interaction. Jam Packed with useful information, this guide will ensure your character is prepared for any situation. The book includes:

  1. Introduction: An introduction to the world of Victoriana and an overview of this fantastic alternate version of the year of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee.
  2. Character: An overview on designing player characters (known as Associates) to participate in penny dreadfuls. This chapter focuses on Associations (the types of challenges you’ll face), Lineages (there are six distinct lineages of Humanity, each with its own traits, including the aethereal Elderen, the powerful Gruagaches, and the industrial Muirlochs), and Upbringing (your social class and the skills and contacts you’ve acquired since your birth). 
  3. Roles: In Victoriana, your class refers to your social station, so what other OGL games call character classes, we call Roles. Your Role reflects your special skills and talents, and how you contribute to resolving penny dreadfuls. There are eight roles: Adventurer, Animist, Confidant, Dodger, Gadgeteer, Mystic, Scrapper, Sleuth, and Thaumaturge, along with several archetypes for each. You might be a noble Astrologer, an anarchic Demolitionist, a sleuthing Occultist, or a two-fisted Valet.
  4. Goods & Services: This chapter offers a wide selection of armour, weapons, and other equipment your Associates need in order to navigate the many challenges of a fantastic Victorian world. From unusual firearms and magical relics, to  clockwork limbs, you will find an impressive array of incredible items to prepare your party on their adventure.
  5. Magic: Magic and science aren’t so easily separated in Victoriana. Animism is the drawing of power from combining ingredients found in the natural world; Gadgeteering is the application of magic to fuel otherwise impossible technological marvels; Psychodunamy is the ability to touch the Aether with your mind, and Thaumaturgy is the exploration and exploitation of magic in its rawest form. Other magics exist as well, including Maleficium, in which you make contracts with the entropic Pallid Ones to perform magics ordinarily denied.
  6. Rules: This chapter tweaks the 5th edition OGL rules to emphasise Victoriana’s distinctiveness. There are new skills as well as advice on how to apply both old and new skills to investigations and social interactions. Given the prevalence of magical and technological vehicles in this setting, rules for vehicle chases and combat are also provided.
  7. Encyclopaedia Victoriana: An expanded look at the social classes, cosmology, religion, and revolutionary movements of Victoriana
  8. London: This chapter provides  a short, handy guide to London, the Centre of Empire and the setting for Victoriana’s penny dreadfuls. There is information on the various parts of London, crime and punishment, technologies, and social affairs, such as the home, education, customs, fashion, and leisure. In short, it’s everything you need to make your Associate feel like part of a living world!

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