There is sad news

So the drive returned, and the MySQL databases (which is what the Tiki data was) could not be retrieved. I'm sorry, J.

An update

The drive from the wikiserver is due for return on Wednesday. We should be able to pick our future course from there.

Building Fu

I apologize for being less than active recently. I've been occupied with making sure that I have enough work coming in so that Triv and I don't starve. That said, here's how we plan to put this very unique grid together...

London and Environs
This is the center of our world. Although we'd love to use the simplified borough structure from 1900-1965, the old district/vestry system from 1855 contains more flavor if less organization. These regions will be individual groups of rooms, only connected with themselves. For example, Westminster will be a collection of rooms that have no exits save those shared amongst other Westminster rooms. To get to other regional groups, we'd like to implement a +travel system, with a twist.

On CC, once we set up the Sky rooms, code provided a list once someone typed in '+land' or whatever it was. That list involved the numbered ground rooms that could only be reached by that sky room in particular, flagged appropriately if I'm not mistaken. We'd like to set up a single appropriate room per regional group (probably marked with an asterisk *) that allows folks to type '+travel' and bring up a list of the other single +travellable room per region. Whether the PC gets there by foot or by hansom is up to individual RP, and since every room within a regional group will be connected by exits to one another, players need only travel perhaps a single room before hitting +travel to get from, say, Westminster to Chelsea. Then another exit to the room in that region of their choice, if desired.

As we'd love to implement a form of the subway rail map that Prospero provided, +travel would only bring up the other subway rooms on their list. The same would go for aboveground railway to other parts of the country, once those get added to the 'grid'.

The Rest of the World
These rooms will be segregated into groups much like the regions of London, save that they'll be other places of note around the world. The asterisked rooms to get around these would be the ports, the airship docks, the hidden underground tunnels that lead from Tibet to Shangri-La and so on. World travel will always be a step away from the players.

The beauty here is that every player will know that when they're in an asterisked room, they can hit +travel and it will bring up the selection of destinations, whatever the RPed variety of travel it represents. If they don't hit one of the available numbers, the code will null and kick them out of the list and back to regular MU reality. I rather doubt I've got the code available that Forge on CC used to put this together, but it seemed a relatively simple process. At least from the building side, where we just had to make sure a certain attribute was set on all of the 'reachable' rooms. So, what's the concensus?

Frumple

So, the wikiserver is having a Moment with sufficient drama to keep a slew of tech-savvy drag queens happy for a while. It'll be back; ours is not the only domain hosted thereupon. It just...may take a little bit longer. I'm sorry for that, as it is quite the bother. What happened is that someone/thing hacked it and deleted everything it could. The worst of this means that anything that wasn't backed up may be lost for ever, though the drive was sent for such recovery as can be made.

I had written up some documentation on the wiki for the chargen and it was all entertaining and stuff. Being a genius, I also didn't back it up in a text file the way I do my code. Ah well! Here is a terse repeat:

Start with +setup. Do not start with anything else. I could not figure out a way to make the room force people to do this the first time they entered it.

Next, choose a background. Now, the backgrounds are listed on the wiki for the most part--but choose one first anyway! +bkground .

Then, set your attributes. +setstr # does Strength. Obvious variants are Dex, Con, Int, Wis and Cha.

Next, choose a role. There are seven total choices, also previously detailed on the wiki, and they are selected with +role . Man with the Machine is abbreviate to MWTM.

Next, choose feats, skills and powers. These can really be done in any order, but it's fairly important that they be done AFTER background, attributes and role. Feats don't limit your choices based on role, but powers do. The commands for this are +addfeat and +delfeat, +power , and +skill . Using +power or +skill for a power or skill you already have will delete it and free up the choice.

The usual stuff like desc, backgrounds, &etc is handled the usual way. I haven't installed a multi-descer, as I think about it, but I can probably find one somewhere, or if y'all have one you like we can use that. +notes are handled with +note--a command I had to write myself because the +cnote listed in +help is a lie.

+noteadd = to add, +notedel to delete, +nedit = to edit. +notes to list your notes, or +notes to list somebody elses. +note = to view notes. They are not limited in visibility at present.

+sheet views your own sheet, and +sheet looks at somebody else. Your innards are all exposed! Get used to it. My current revision makes feats that add a single bonus to stats show up in +sheet at this point, which means stuff like Iron Will and Lightning Reflexes and Wealthy should be reflected by immediate changes in stats. Things that have to manually set a bonus like Skill Focus and Talented will just have to be listed in +notes and remembered for now.

That should be it. If you can give it a shot, please do.

Enter the maze, rodents!

The chargen code is largely complete in its basic incarnation. This means I would like it very much if you all, especially those who love making characters, which is the same as saying "You all", would go try to stat them up for first level in my fiendish engine.

The commands are documented on the wiki under "MUX Commands" from the start page. They should all be accurate to the current version of stuff, but obviously if I mis-documented something I need to know. The code to view one's stats is +sheet . I will make it so you can view your own stats with just +sheet soon. Right now it does not add in attributes to skill ranks, nor does it add feat bonuses to specific things that can take feat bonuses.

Right as of this moment the wiki is inconveniently down, but it'll bounce back soon I'm sure. Along with our project it also runs a 24-7 NWN server, and those folks don't like their persistent worlds not to persist. It may also be the reason why the server itself occasionally crashes.

Lastly, I have turned on the Conviction system. This should not affect any player objects who have the Uninspected or Wizard flags. If you check +xp or +cp for any such characters and discover Conviction points accruing (most likely on Sunday), do let me know. You can also toy with +voting for each other to see how that works out.

Victorian Subway Routes

A helpful map with dates. I leave it to our builders to decide how much to incorporate.

Victorian Underground

Martial Arts

Adepts have their Hermetic Magic, their Mesmerism, and their Theosophy. Experts have their Inventions and amazing Vehicles. The Warriors out there are pouting because they haven't gotten any love. My goal is to make so much cool shit available in this game that everyone wants to make ten characters.

I use "Martial Arts" in the broadest sense, and my short list includes the following forms:

• Bartitsu: Publicized by Barton-Wright, this was a boxing/judo combination. It was made famous when, in "The Empty House," Holmes reveals he defeated Moriarty at the Falls thanks to his mastery of Bartitsu.
• Boxing: London Prize Ring and Queensbury Rules; John Sullivan is the greatest boxer of the age.
• Fencing: Foil, Epee, Rapier, and German Schlager fencing.
• Hung Gar Kung Fu: The style of Wong Fei Hong, star of over a hundred Hong Kong action pictures, and a valid Literary Character* from the period.
• La Cane du Combat: French cane-fighting techniques developed in the Napoleonic era. Now taught along with Savate.
• Quarterstaff: A popular British sport in the period, with many combat moves.
• Savate: The first Savate academy, the Charlemont Academy, opened in Paris during our period and accepted all classes and genders. Kicking, grappling, punching, and panache.
• Shao Lin Kung Fu: The style of Kane. The Shao Lin Temple was also notable for its resistance to the Manchus.
• Victorian Singlestick: This is a sport in our period; Teddy Roosevelt would later become an avid singlestick player.
• Wrestling: Mostly Greco-Roman in character.

My current plan is inspired by the OGL Martial Arts Mayhem: each style will have a list of requirements, with up to three degrees for especially robust styles. Characters who fulfill the requirements for a given degree of a given style will get, for free, a minor ability unique to that style. They will also gain access to a special technique, purchased as a feat. The system is designed to reward characters who collect feats and skills from a small list.

* This is the term I am using for what might be called a "Feature" in other games. That word is no good, as such characters are not actually "featured" in Penny Dreadful. They are no more or less important than "original characters" and are distinguished by one thing: they are Literary. Thus: LCs and OCs.

Villains

We have our first member of the World Crime League.

The Man with the Devil's Eyes

Invention

The rules for player inventions and patents have been drafted.

Tremble before Professor Grordbort's Patented Freeze Cannon!

Men With Their Machines

The rules for vehicles have been drafted.

Behold, the Amazing Steve!

Courage of our Conviction

So, Conviction, or Hero Points, or whatever you want to call player-controlled dramatic editing doohickeys are sometimes a tricky wicket in a MU* environment. On the one hand, simple regaining by time ends up with players pretty much never running out. On the other, +voting tends to be a popularity contest with little recourse. This latter is handled somewhat by Conviction having a hard maximum based upon your level, period. My further solution is to make Conviction regain at a set rate regardless of how many votes are received, with excess votes being saved for time periods when a player may be less active. Some players will still regain faster than others, but nobody will be constantly full if they use it at all.

Specifically, I think players should regain one point per day if they have four Conviction votes. I say four because my perception of the average scene size, or perhaps optimum scene size, is around five people. That's about as big as a social scene can get before wooziness sets in for a lot of folks, and for action scenes, the more is emphatically NOT the merrier. Conviction votes are supposed to be for acting in accordance with one's Virtue or Vice, but I read this with an addendum of "in a dramatically appropriate way" which is of course open to interpretation. If my numbers prove too generous, we can raise the number of votes required to regain. Currently, I figure letting people vote for a person once every three days is enough since I am sure that social interactions will be taken for fodder as readily as adventure scenes.

Now, in addition to votegain, I'd like to let players gain one point per week for free, as a special gift. Probably at a set time on Sunday morning, with a pithy comment about days of rest. This would permit players to regain a maximum of eight Conviction per week, which is enough to completely refill a 12th level character. If they're spending more than eight in one day (thus to be completely empty) they are quite busy indeed, and may wish to take a holiday before they get themselves killed.

This should result in characters always having a little Conviction, but not usually a lot all at once. It removes the more dynamic ability to award Conviction on the fly, but I think this is a little bit more stable for an uncontrolled environment such as ours rather than a tabletop setting with a single permanent GM. There is also the option to let players "cash in" votes at a premium to regain a Conviction point immediately. Including that, or not, is undecided as yet. I am also undecided on allowing Conviction vote transfers between alts. Unlike with XP, there's a hard maximum they will reach, so pumping all one's votes into a single alt really doesn't make a lot of sense--or difference. I'd like to consider XP transfers as well, but that is a subject for later.

Magic

I've worked the various elements of our magic system up into something we can reasonably work with. It will need to be tested, especially at medium and high levels. I am worried that a Magician with the right feats will be able to get his power checks up to absurd levels; but then each feat spent on something like this is one less power the same magician can use, so perhaps it will balance out.

So what you have are a large number of Adept feats which allow Magicians to add extra ritual stuff to their spells in exchange for a better success rate. The Spiritualist Role also got a couple of major tweaks: two separate power lists have been made, one for the Theosophist/Spirit Medium and the other for the Mesmerist. While the two do overlap in some areas, the former has the Cure powers while the latter has Dominate, Illusion, and other more traditional "mind control" powers. The Mesmerist also has a new Core Ability which allows the player to point at a bad guy and say, "Remember yesterday when we had tea with that guy? Well, I mesmerized him then, and told him to ignore us the next time he sees us!" It's retroactive hypnosis. Should be fun. This does not make the Mesmerist a new Role; it still uses all the other rules of the Spiritualist, it just has a custom power list and core ability.

There are four magical Traditions which are open to characters at this time. That's not as many as I would like, but I do not have the time to learn historically accurate voodoo or Confucian ritual magic. (Oh, but I will. I will.) Until then, players must pick one of these four Traditions: Hermetic Magic, Theosophy, Mesmerism, and Spirit Mediums.

I'm moving on to finish out the Invention rules tomorrow.

Sins of the Youth

So, Prospero asked the million-dollar question there about people and their character ideas. It's a good one to think about, a little, though working up a whole bunch of excitement behind a concept might be a little premature. But there's a question yet unanswered, for me--young characters.

Teenagers, really. I hate 'em, generally, and while I've enjoyed some teen drama shows/comics/what have you, most Mu* teen characters just bug the piss out of me. There are a few exceptions who actually manage to act somewhat like teens rather than playing adults freed from normal senses of responsibility while expecting adult authority. Of course, my not liking them is not reason enough to ban the whole species (and spray lest infestation return) but I do think it is a question to address.

In the 19th century, the idea of an idealistic 'childhood' was a thing somewhat newly manufactured, and there were a large number of children and teens working full-time jobs in horrible conditions as a part of the dark underside of the gleaming new industry. Adulthood came at a somewhat younger age, in that social sense. Still, teenagers are not the equals of adults--and I propose we handle it thusly: Create a Youth background which kinda sucks. Maybe +1 Con or something to represent youthful spryness, with no bonus feats or skills. Limit age to be above 14 or 16 no matter what.

What who where?

Is anyone working on a character yet?

I'm pretty certain I am going to make a Magician, to test out those Hermetic magic rules I am tinkering with. I'm doing research on names right now, looking for occult/Masonic connections.

Anyone else?

Another interesting tidbit..

This'd appear to be what the hip kids in our setting would be into!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vin_Mariani

More TikiWiki

Player background got another pass a couple days ago, resulting a lot of small changes and what I am now calling "Background 2.0" The Occult Detective (ala Carnacki) got added and descriptive text for each BG was also written.

Most of character creation is pretty good now; there are still many feats without explanation yet and I have not bothered to repeat info found in the Companion. Advancement includes an experience point chart, a faster rate for ability score bonuses, and the option to "retrain" things you don't like when you go up in level. The latter is swiped from the Players Handbook II. All six Roles are described. The Magician's High Ritual and the MWTM's Vehicle will need more explanation in the near future. New and modified skills have a basic description. I added a link in character creation to Triv's helpful collection of names. A new adversary was added: the Tong Enforcer.

Wiki Updates

I've been at THIS for hours today.

The "Fear & Terror" page is, I believe, done. The antagonists I have already shown you all have been uploaded along with notes on monsters included in True20 books. I have the two completed supernatural backgrounds up in rough draft form, and the raw text of the other backgrounds. I have a table that shows what an item's cost in pounds and dollars comes out to as a Purchase DC. I have outlines for my bibliography and the Stories chapter.

Idle Musings

So, I was thinking on the idea of having FCs in our setting, the historicals and literarys, and I still think the current iteration we were working with will be an entertaining one--but one problem does come to mind. Fictional characters of this time period will often be co-existing with their creators. How shall we handle this? Are the famous creators simply not FCs, given that most of them were considerably less well-suited by nature to the adventuresome life we have chosen for our PCs? Are they intrepid journalists and biographers of their age rather than imaginative visionaries of fiction?

I am truly unsure what answer to give to that question at present. It may just have to be decided on a case-by-case basis depending on the author and creation involved, since we are muddling time a bit to our own purposes anyway.

Feat namings

This is a relatively minor thing which has no overall system effect, but feat names must be less than twenty five characters to fit in the three-column display on a mu*. Any longer and they just get cut off. This affects relatively few feats--most notably Greater Attack Specialization got whacked down to Grt. Attack Specialization for lack of any better ideas. Others that I had to alter a little:

Improvised Weapon Proficiency was shortened to just Improvised Weapon
Armor Training (Battlesuits) was just changed to Battlesuit Training

Skills will need to be less than 29 characters, roughly speaking, to fit both the skill and the ranks and the ranks including attribute bonuses if I can ever figure out how to make that display. Right now that doesn't affect anything particularly, and even something crazy like Knowledge/Paleolepidoptery is only 25 characters long.

Little info tidbits.

This is the stuff that really brings the Victorian era home to me. Specifically the much mentioned 'saloop' that was the hot drink of choice before the arrival of tea and coffee as well as 'mignonette' apparently Victorians equivalent to air fresheners along with general eau de toilette.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salep

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mignonette

Magic V: High Ritual (Secret/Visible, Low/High, Structured)

Okay, so, it's no secret I was not sold on any of our three magic systems. The group consensus seemed to be for the True20 Arcanist, but I realized a few days ago that this option had one more ugly feature: while it initially sounds great that Arcanists get 8 skill ranks a level to compenate for their low magic power, this pretty much removes the best thing the Expert role has going for it. (The Expert's core ability is notoriously weak.)

I continued to think, and decided I would have to make may own magic system in order to satisfy my desires for both genre and mechanics. I found some inspiration in GURPS Cabal, which has historically accurate Hermetic Magic welded onto the GURPS magic system. This convinced me I did not need to remake True20 magic, so much as create rule changes which simulated what I wanted.

Susan Temple IV

One small link

I added a link to the right, the Rude Travel Guide one. It isn't meant to be informative of the times as they actually were, but as one insulated English person thought them to be--full of offensive stereotypes and narrow-minded chatter. It's instructive, in some ways, depressing in others. At the least, it's an authentic voice from outside the normal literary canon.

Celebrations!

pennydreadfulmux.com now contains a very barebones TikiWiki install that we can play with. You can sign up for an account on the page. I'm still messing about with making it acknowledge my adminly rights but most of that won't be essential right away.

Also: In the vein of additional blood again, do you all remember Jones/Septimus from CC/Lucretius from LJ? He is a 19th century literature professor guy, but more than that, he is brilliant. Perhaps not very free time-ful, but now that we have a place to dump content, I think he might be a nice addition for just coming up with and scribbling down odd but brilliant ideas, generally of individual people or places.

Resurrection Men

Today's effort was to make another low-level foe for beginning adventurers.

The Resurrection Man

Additional blood

Not so much new, as I kind of need some coding help, and Jorg from CC is willing to assist a bit; he doesn't know how very productive he can be, but he might at least be able to solve some of the knotty problems I've run across. He and Josephine often come as a set, so this is a query: Do you all mind me bringing them by? I do not know that both will come, or either, but I think they could be good additions, at least friendly conversation, for the workings-on.

Ladies Fashion

Let's face it: getting around in a crinoline is hard enough, without accounting for demons, dinosaurs, and sky-pirates. The bustle keeps you from sitting down, and even with the collapsible versions that came on the market in the 1880s was still a very unnatural profile. I'm leaning towards a fashion aesthetic which is very late for our period, sometime in the 1890s.

All this art comes from Marcus Rowland's fine Forgotten Futures CD Gallery.

Penny plays dress-up!

Personal Armour

It feels like I am neglecting Penny's supernatural side, but a lot of my reference material is Victorian sci-fi and steam age gadgetry. I have been thinking about the occult, however, and expect to put some attention there before too long.

In the meantime, we add personal armour to player options today, including everything from the Buffalo Coat to the Steam-Powered Battlesuit.

Personal Armour

The Eisensoldat

Let's see how your saber gun fares against this.

Each nation in Penny's world will have some examples of steam-tech that are especially noteworthy: the French will have inhumanly precise artillery engines (inspired by a scene from Gibson & Sterling's Difference Engine), while the Germans have 18' tall, four-and-a-half ton lumbering humanoid war machines. The Eisensoldat is based on a GURPS design in the Steamtech book.

The Iron Soldier

Weapons

Today's project was to start on weaponry lists. These things will all be put into a table once our final wiki is up; I have not gone through that formatting chore as of yet.

Simple, Martial, and Exotic Melee Weapons
Pistols

A Question of Veils

This is a fairly short and simple question, on the surface. My sheet code, while not doing all the things I would like it to do yet, does display stats. You can +sheet Test Wizard to see what exists thus far.

The question, then, is this: Do we want stats to be public/visible to all PCs? My inclination is to open them up, as PCs are not antagonistically arranged and people tend to share and compare about stats fairly freely anyway, on games where secrecy is not encouraged. It would also spare me having to code a /show type command, though that isn't a real barrier. The usual argument against has to do with competition or something, but I just never really saw the benefit of secret stats that much.

Thoughts?

The laying of the grid.

I thought I'd take Props up on this whole blog thing and add a query of my own.
Specifically, I and Dee have been talking about layout ideas for the grid. In the past we've of course gone with the 'tree' model of such, which'd be on our game something like Earth -> Europe -> England -> London -> Charing Cross -> Charing Cross Railway Station -> Charing Cross Railway Station Cafe. That kind of thing.
Now, whereas that's quite different to the generic MU* grid of streets lain out in the directions of the compass, it's still gotten a bit old hat to yours truly. ;D So, I'd like a third option. Something different from the above, but still easy to navigate and all that. Ideas?
ETA: Well, judging by your comments, the tree model is still the preferred choice. Let it be so!

Inspector LeStrade

LeStrade is the most capable detective in Scotland Yard, according to Holmes, but that's not really saying much.

I wanted to make a law enforcement NPC whom GMs could use and players would recognize.

Inspector LeStrade

Reanimated Corpse

Since JD expressed interest in playing a Reanimated Corpse, I spent today drafting the rules for such a Background.

The Reanimated Corpse Background: HERE

It will be noted that supernatural characters -- including not only Reanimated Corpses, but also Mechanical Men and Beast People -- are intentionally designed to be unattractive to players. That is because such characters -- while possible -- should be rare. Rather than impose a hard ceiling on the number of such characters that can be played (a restriction that often goes awry when player activity and quality becomes an issue), the characters are instead made to be relatively inefficient in terms of effectiveness. In this way, min/maxers who wish to milk the game system will avoid supernatural characters. Only players who really want to play such "monster characters" will do so.

Cultists and Morlocks

Today's labor was to create some adversaries. I'm very much into creating bad guys of multiple levels right now -- folks which scale according to the level of the heroes. This may not be the best way to go, since everyone is 1st level to start out with, but perhaps it is good to plan ahead.

Cultists: http://pennydreadfulmux.pbwiki.com/Cultists

Morlocks: http://pennydreadfulmux.pbwiki.com/Morlocks

Magic IV: True Sorcery (Visible, Low Magic, Spontaneous)

[ Edited to add a shield spell for Susan, and to correct an error in her force blow spell. ]

True Sorcery is a substantial change from True20. Contrary to its name, it is not actually intended for True20; it is an alternate magic system for d20 games in general. It replaces the “spells per day” system with a spontaneous skill-based system. Conversion notes to True20 are written by Kenson.

Spellcasters spend feat slots to learn spells. As in True20, each spell is actually an effect, but where True20 gives a few specific effects which scale by adept level, True Sorcery gives a palette of enhancements which can be added to each spell, thereby increasing its difficulty and making it harder to cast. Spells can easily reach very high difficulty – DC 40 or more being quite common. Magicians reach these totals through feat specialization and by using casting tools for bonuses to the Spellcraft check.

Spells are grouped into “Magnitudes” which are increasingly accessed as the spellcaster gains in level. At first he can choose only from the simpler effects. There are several limits on casting; first, spells take longer than they do in True20. The exact length of time depends on the difference between your skill and the difficulty of the spell you are trying to cast, but can easily be several rounds and might be hours. Casters can partially bypass this restriction by “partially-casting” a very few spells and keeping their last words ready in their mind; magicians can do this with no more than a few spells at once, and sleep or unconsciousness clears the prepared spell.

The more significant restriction to casting is the “casting buffer.” In brief, every spellcaster has a reservoir of points called his casting buffer. Each time he casts a spell, a number of points are deducted from the buffer. This “drain” is based on a die roll and is modified by the power of the spell. Magicians of higher level and greater Constitution will be able to reduce the drain of a spell, thereby casting more spells. Casting buffer replenishes at a small but steady rate, typically replenishing entirely in about four hours.

Finally, several of the most basic spell effects – detect magic, prestidigitation – are skills rather than spells.

Susan Temple
Type: Spellcaster 1st (the Talent)
Abilities: Str –2, Dex +0, Con +2, Int +3, Wis +1, Cha +2
Background: Spiritualist
Skills: Concentration 4 (+6) (B), Detect Magic 4 (+7), Gather Information +5, Knowledge (supernatural) 4 (+10), Knowledge (theology & philosophy) 4 (+7), Language 4, Ride 4 (+4), Spellcraft 4 (+12) (B)
Feats: Skill Focus (Spellcraft) (B), Student of Magic (B), Wealthy
Spells: Dispel, Force, Spirit Lore
Spell Energy 3; Casting Buffer 6
Combat: Attack +0 (-4 with derringer); Damage +2 derringer, -1 hatpin, –2 unarmed; Defense +0; Initiative +0
Saving Throws: Toughness +3; Fortitude +2; Reflex +0; Will +3; Sanity +5
Conviction 3; Wealth 12; Reputation +1; Virtue; Vice
Equipment: hatpin (Dmg +1), whalebone corset (+1 Toughness saves), derringer (Dmg +2), Amulet focus

The Spiritualist Background was redesigned for True Sorcery. First, working magic required that Susan take the feat Student of Magic, so this was one of the Spiritualist background feats. Then, since all spells are cast using Spellcraft, Skill Focus fleshed out that part of the background. Concentration and Spellcraft were her Background skills.

We changed some of Susan’s ability scores for True Sorcery, which places much more emphasis on the spellcaster’s Constitution. Constitution governs how much spell energy the character has, and also increases the size of her casting buffer. True20 Adepts, however, just make Will saves to resist fatigue. This reduced her Dexterity and Charisma. Her saves changed considerably; she is now harder to hurt, but less likely to hit anyone and more likely to be hit. Her Sanity is also lower since she lost the Jaded feat.

Because she had to buy Spellcraft and Detect Magic as skills, Susan lost Diplomacy and Notice. However, many True Sorcery spells grant a +3 bonus to a specific skill, so she gained some Gather Information (from Spirit Lore) and Knowledge (supernatural) (from Dispel).

When it came time to pick Susan’s spells, we were forced to make some choices. It is not possible for a 1st level spellcaster to ignite fire. Seeking a combat magic, we bought her Force instead (the spell for magic missile, shield and spiritual weapon). Instead of Ward she has Dispel. Teleport is not available until 4th level, and is much harder to cast, so we picked Spirit Lore instead.

Susan can modify any of her three spells moment-by-moment. An example might serve best. She is attacked by three thugs in a Limehouse alley. Being a bit unsure in the use of her derringer, she decides to use magic force to defeat the cads.

The Force spell does a non-lethal +0 damage attack on one foe within 10 feet. There is no saving throw. It’s basically a non-lethal magic missile. Susan is armed with a magical focus (an amulet) that adds +10 to her Spellcraft checks, for a total modifier of +22. She could cast this spell easily – the DC is only 10 – and it would be only a swift action, but she would suffer 1d8 drain and she only has 6 points in her casting buffer. Chances are she will get only one shot.

She decides to strike all three thugs at once. This adds +8 to the DC of the spell, and she must add +2 more because the farthest thug is 30 feet away. Now the DC is 20. Still well within her skill. The drain for this would be 1d8+1; likely to take all her reserves, but will it defeat the thugs?

She decides to add more damage. If she makes the force blow a +2 damage effect, the DC rises to 30. The resulting spell takes a full round for her to cast, and will require a verbal component. Invoking the Angel of the 12th Decan, Susan forces each of the three thugs to make a DC 17 Toughness save. Susan suffers Drain of 1d8+3. At best she has 2 points of Buffer remaining; more likely, she is empty. Her casting buffer replenishes at 1 point her hour. Lets hope that derringer is loaded with lucky bullets.

Alternately, Susan could have used her Force to create a defensive shield and kept it ready for emergencies. Such an effect might add +5 to her Defense and last for 1 minute, again requiring a verbal component. Such a spell would have a DC of 40 and would normally take 5 actions to cast. However, in the peace and quiet of her parlour she could add a somatic component (arcane gestures) and take extra time, casting the spell in 3 minutes and holding the final word for the attack of the thugs. When that happens, she would make a Spellcraft check with a +33 die roll modifier, and need a 7 or better for success. At that time, the spell would require a magic word, a gesture, and a standard action. It would cause 1d8+5 drain and empty her casting buffer.

Susan’s other two spells – Dispel and Spirit Lore – are equally customizable. The latter effect is that used to create the Speak With Dead spell, and (with a DC of 55!) can be used to ask a question of an actual spirit instead of just interrogating a dead corpse. Dispel works more or like less Ward does, but requires an additional roll: before Susan can try to dispel a supernatural power, she first has to roll to cast the dispel in the first place.

The result: Because working magic requires starting feats, skills, and more ability scores, Spellcasters are more focused on working magic than Adepts are, and less likely to have other useful talents. (That is, a Spellcaster has to min/max more if she wants to be effective.) Magic is less secret, since spellcasters are more likely to be waving their arms, chanting incantations, or using objects of sympathy to help them cast a spell. Far fewer spells are cast: Susan might have gotten off a couple of force spells in one hour, but it would have taken her half a dozen hours to recover. An adept can cast a half dozen spells in a single hour with the same luck. Spontaneous spell design means that casters can tailor-make their spells for each occasion, but it also means delay of game as the player gets the information he needs from the GM, does the math, and makes tough decisions on benefit vs. cost. Also, requires an extra book – do not even attempt True Sorcery unless you have the book.

Magic III: True20 Companion (Secret, Low Magic, Structured)

The True20 Companion has a chapter on horror adventure and includes a couple of alternate Roles for this genre. The Arcanist is the magic-using Role, while the Spiritualist is a psychic. The psychic gains powers normally – just like the True20 Adept above – but must select powers from a list of about twenty psychic powers. The Arcanist is a spellcasting magician with access to all powers, but whose power grows at a slower rate. In compensation, the Arcanist gets more skill points.

Susan Temple
Type: Arcanist 1st (the Talent)
Abilities: Str –2, Dex +1, Con +0, Int +3, Wis +1, Cha +3
Background: Spiritualist
Skills: Bluff 4 (+7), Concentration 4 (+4), Diplomacy 4 (+7), Knowledge (current events) 4 (+7), Knowledge (history) 4 (+7), Knowledge (supernatural) 4 (+7) (B), Knowledge (theology & philosophy) 4 (+7) (B), Language 4, Notice 4 (+5), Stealth 4 (+5), Ride 4 (+5)
Feats: Jaded (B), Supernatural Focus (Ward) (B), Wealthy
Supernatural Powers: Fire Shaping +4, Teleport +4, Ward +7
Combat: Attack +1 (-3 with derringer); Damage +2 derringer or Fire Shaping, -1 hatpin, or –2 unarmed; Defense +1 (+0 flat-footed); Initiative +1
Saving Throws: Toughness +0; Fortitude +0; Reflex +1; Will +3; Sanity +7
Conviction 3; Wealth 12; Reputation +1; Virtue; Vice
Equipment: hatpin (Dmg +1), whalebone corset (+1 Toughness saves), derringer (Dmg +2)

(B) denotes bonus feats and skills derived from Susan’s background. Her key ability score is still Intelligence.

The slow advancement version of Susan doesn’t change any of her abilities, it just makes her spells harder to cast. She can still set a man on fire with Fire Shaping, but she has only a 50% chance of success. (Were she to try to set three men’s clothes on fire, this would drop to 30%). She can still teleport to anywhere she can see with a DC 10 check or back to her home with a DC 15, but her chance of success is lower (75% and 50%). Her Ward works just as before, but as a contested check, her die roll is now 1d20+7 instead of 1d20+10.

Susan’s fatigue check does not change; it is usually Will DC 11, +1 to the DC for every power she uses in one hour. Because the rank of her powers has gone down, her Ward is slightly easier to maintain, requiring only a DC 11 Concentration check instead of DC 14.

The result: More skill points for Adepts means more diverse characters who will do things besides work magic. The skill and rank differences mean that powers are not as potent as before, and fail more often, but they remain quick and easy to cast, with the primary limit being increasing fatigue saves after several casts in a one hour period. Magic is still an easily-kept secret, probably more secret than before since powers are less useful in general and less obvious when they are used. Players require nothing besides the True20 book; the slower power-growth of the Arcanist can be reproduced on the wiki or hard coded into character generation.

Magic II: True20 (Secret, High Magic, Structured)

True20 Version (Secret, High Magic, Structured)
Magicians in True20 select “powers” as if they were feats. Each power gives access to specific effects which generally scale by level; the more adept levels you have, the more powerful your effects will be. There are over 50 different powers and a starting adept will only have a few of them. Even an experienced adept will only have a portion (albeit as many as a quarter) of all the possible powers.

Let me introduce Susan Temple, a genteel young woman whose husband, recently dead, had enough money to leave her essentially idle. She has used her time and access to books to become a practicing magician, and is looking to join an order like the Golden Dawn (which, unique among Rosicrucian orders, admits women). She’s made strictly according to True20 rules.

Susan Temple
Type: Adept 1st (the Talent)
Abilities: Str –2, Dex +1, Con +0, Int +3, Wis +1, Cha +3
Background: Spiritualist
Skills: Concentration 4 (+4), Diplomacy 4 (+7), Knowledge (supernatural) 4 (+7) (B), Knowledge (theology & philosophy) 4 (+7) (B), Language 4, Notice 4 (+5), Ride 4 (+5)
Feats: Jaded (B), Supernatural Focus (Ward) (B), Wealthy
Supernatural Powers: Fire Shaping +7, Teleport +7, Ward +10
Combat: Attack +1 (-3 with Derringer); Damage +2 derringer or Fire Shaping, -1 hatpin, or –2 unarmed; Defense +1 (+0 flat-footed); Initiative +1
Saving Throws: Toughness +1; Fortitude +0; Reflex +1; Will +3; Sanity +7
Conviction 3; Wealth 12; Reputation +1; Virtue; Vice
Equipment: hatpin (Dmg +1), whalebone corset (+1 Toughness saves), derringer (Dmg +2)

(B) denotes bonus feats and skills derived from Susan’s background. As a Rosicrucian, Susan’s magic is governed by her Intelligence score. (Other traditions will use Charisma or Wisdom.)

This is the straight True20 version of Susan Temple. Presuming she is wearing 20 lbs or less of clothing (and with that whalebone corset of hers, it might be close), she needs to make a DC 15 Teleport check to travel instantly to anywhere she is very familiar with (such as her home) and only DC 10 to travel to anywhere she can see. However, she must also make a DC 11 Will save or be fatigued (she has a 50% chance of success). Every additional use of a power within the same hour increases the DC of future fatigue saves by 1. Her powers require no gestures, no spoken incantations, no eye of newt or magic talisman. She just thinks about it, and it happens.

Her Fire Shaping is a workable combat power, should her derringer fail her. If attacked by a thug, she can set his clothes on fire with a DC 15 Fire Shaping check (65% chance of success), forcing a Reflex save DC 15 or take +2 damage every round until a successful Reflex save is made. She would face the same fatigue save as for Teleport: DC 11 Will. She could even try to set three men on fire at once; DC 19 (45% chance of success).

Susan’s Ward has three basic functions. She can create the equivalent of spell resistance in an area around herself, out to 5 feet. Any power used in that area must beat her Ward in a contested roll. Or, she can focus her ward on one target within line of sight; that target must overcome the Ward on a contested check each time a power is used. Finally, she can create a barrier against some supernatural creatures; the barrier is a 5 foot diameter circle and the creature must succeed in a Will save (against Susan’s 1d20+10 roll) to cross the circle or affect anything within so long as she is maintaining it. Susan has to make a normal Fatigue save for Ward, once for every use of it, but Ward must use concentration. This means it is a Standard action to maintain, unless she succeeds in a Concentration check (DC 14) to do so as a move action. If she tries to do this and fails, the power lapses and she must cast it again (with a new fatigue save).

The result? Magic is powerful (“high magic”) and relatively easy to use, but because of the lack of gestures or the like, it is easy to keep secret. The rules are simple and require only the True20 book. Powers are clearly delineated in the book, each power giving a few different specific abilities. The primary limit on adepts is fatigue; repeated spell use during the course of an adventure will result in exhausted adepts.

Magic I: Intro and the Core Ability

There are several different ways we could go with our magic system. I’m going to outline each option and illustrate each with a single sample character, so you can se the differences between each approach. I should say right off that I think each method has some attractive elements, but I don’t feel any system is perfect. I’m very eager for your thoughts and, especially, questions, which could lead us to discoveries not immediately apparent.

One thing, however, is fairly sure: we won’t be using the standard Core Ability for Adepts given in True20, “The Talent.” The Talent allows any Adept to, for the cost of a point of Conviction, cast a level-appropriate version of any spell. This is great for some games, and in a tabletop it is a godsend for the adept, who can be fairly relied upon to deliver any magic required for the story. And it makes a lot of sense for settings like Harry Potter, where wizards are trained in a wide diversity of effects, any of which they can try at low level.

But both the literature and the real world occultism of our period does not fit that pattern. The literature presents occultists (when it presents them at all, more on this later) as each capable of some pretty astounding things, but an individual always has a set arsenal of powers and doesn’t manifest the sort of spontaneous magic the Talent would allow. Likewise, real-world occultism such as that practiced by the Golden Dawn or other Rosicrucian groups focuses on the rigorous learning of particular rituals, and not free-form spontaneous magic. Finally, with a large player base, there is a meta-need for niche protection. Eliminating the Talent means that individual magicians will not all be casting the same spells, preserving unique PC specialties.

There are some options on replacing the Talent; I’m not going to try to answer that question right now. Just ignore the Adept Core Ability in all these systems for now; presume that whatever it is, it makes PCs who take their first level in Adept much better magicians than those who don’t.

The Magic Question

Welcome back, JD!

I'm going to give JD a day to get caught up and then I'll ask for everyone's thoughts on the shape of our magic system. I've been doing a lot of research this last week, we have a number of options, and I'm not wedded to any particular method, so I'll be very eager for your thoughts.

World Crime League

Today I finished reading through Jess' Fantastic Victoriana site. I was specifically looking for bad guys, but also got a few monsters, inventions, and supernatural items out of it. The named antagonists went into a list which I am calling "the World Crime League," not because they are actually aligned into a single conspiracy, but because I thought that would make a good name for an Antagonists file.

I would like to eventually get to the point where we can offer a special badge or title to players who go to the trouble of reading one of the stories these characters appears in and then writing up said villain for the game. Until that day, I will slowly work through the list as time and enthusiasm permits, writing up the villains for True20 and giving story advice. My list includes almost 60 names, but here is the "short list" whom I would do before any others.

Ayesha, She Who Must Be Obeyed
The Beetle, Shapechanging Priestess of Isis
Carmilla, Lesbian Vampire
Count Dracula, Carpathian Un-Dead
Djara Singh, Tibetan Prince and Psychic Thief
Dr. Caresco, Mad Scientist
Dr. Quartz, Vivisectionist, Mesmerist, Creator of the Crime School
Dr. Nikola, Criminal Genius
Duchess da Carpi, Femme Fatale from Beyond the Grave
Duncan Warner, Train Robber, Murderer, Electric Superman
Fantomas, the Lord of Terror, the Genius of Evil
Father Rodin, Master Criminal and Aspiring Pope
Helen Vaughn, Daughter of the Great God Pan
Jocko Kelly, Elusive Jewel-Thief
Julius Courtney, Sociopathic Psychic Vampire
Kiang Ho, Chinese Mastermind of Sea-Crime
The King in Yellow, Cosmic Horror
Lord Ruthven, Womanizing Vampyre
Madame Felician, Russian Master Criminal and Body-Hopper
Madame Koluchy, Scientist Leader of the Brotherhood of the Seven Kings
Margrave, Master of the Occult
Pharos the Egyptian, Magician Priest Damned to Eternal Life
Quong Long, Lord of Chinatown
Robur the Conqueror, Master of the Air
Sir Dunstan Gryme, Leader of the Council of Anarchists
Yue-Laou, Asian Sorcerer and Master of the Xin

General Tso's Ten Points of Game Design

"Emperor Wu wished to publish a game. He consulted his advisors, asking them, How can I best accomplish this? His advisors gave their opinions..."

This is not only very funny (no, it's not an actual translation of ancient Chinese wisdom) but struck me as very useful.

Adventure Locales

When I saw Jess Nevins list of some fantastic places from Victorian fiction I wondered, "How many of these can we add to our grid?"

Click and let your eyes be opened.

Peruvian Meteorite Causes Bizarre Sickness

One of my joys is finding plot hooks in actual events. I should think of a clever name for them. In the meantime, click and read National Geographic.

Edward, Lord Hinton

Today I wrote up the creation of a sample character, Edward, Lord Hinton. Trivia mentioned not long ago that she wanted to make sure we had fewer plots in which the player/storyteller had his own character kidnapped and in need of rescue. Accordingly, I'll be making up some NPC hostages for just this reason; I really do think that players kidnap their own heroes more out of laziness than anything else. After all, you seldom have any NPCs on a MUX whom you have authority to kidnap, especially if you would like your heroes to have some personal connection to the victim. Kidnapping another PC, even one made to be kidnapped, is notoriously boring for the victim. Click on the title of this post to see Edward on a small pbwiki I made to hold my notes until a more robust version comes on board.

In other notes, I found an excellent biography of Doctor Nikola, master criminal, Bond-villain-prototype, and wielder of occult powers, which you can find HERE and my copy of Marcus Rowland's Forgotten Futures is acting up, but I hope he can get me through it.

Backgrounds

I know True20 is only a tentative system, but I figure one of the ways we'll find out if it should stay our system is if we work with it.

Today I made Backgrounds. Backgrounds are what True20 has instead of d20 Races. Every player gets to pick a Background, which gives you two background-specific feats, two skills at 4 ranks each, and two "Favored Feats" which I will explain another time. You don't have to pick one of these Backgrounds; you can always take the "Human" Background: one feat of your choice, one skill at 4 ranks. Backgrounds give you twice as many goodies, but you have to pick from a list.

The following Backgrounds were drafted: Academic, Adventurer, Aristocrat, Barrister. Beggar, Clergyman, Constable, Consulting Detective, Cowboy, Criminal, Engineer, Entertainer, Governess, Industrialist, Journalist, Labourer, Native, New Woman, Officer, Politician, Rogue, Seaman, Servant, Soldier, Solicitor, Spiritualist, Sportsman, Spy, Suffragette, Surgeon.

This is enough for us to get started; I am confident new ones will be added as players request them but most characters should find one that fits. There are three Supernatural Backgrounds planned but not drafted: Mechanical Man, Moreau, and Reanimated Corpse. They pose special challenges.

Bookshelf: Baedeker's Guide to London, 1885 edition

For all you Grid-Demons out there...

The entire text of Baedeker's Guide to London and its Environs (1885) edition is available, for free, from Google Books. The travel guide was scanned in from Stanford University Library. It's entire text is in the public domain, so you may quote it or snip images from it at will.

Flip through its pages or download the entire thing HERE.

The Crystal Palace is on page 293 of the original, pdf page 320.

London and Its Environs: Including Excursions to Brighton, the Isle of Wight ... By Karl Baedeker (Firm): ""

Penny's Bookshelf

I am starting a reference shelf. Books and games which are inspirational and useful to the game we are building. I'll go over one book at a time, and encourage anyone else who wishes to bring something to our attention to do the same.

GURPS Horror, 3rd edition: In addition to lots of great advice on horror gaming in general, Ken Hite ncluded a "post-Martian Invasion" campaign setting in this book, in which Martians who survived Earth viruses have set up shop under London and are bio-engineering their guerilla war on humanity above. I intend to incorporate this into a pre-Martian Invasion "Fifth Column" set of antagonists -- Martians who have been lurking in Penny's world for a few years, making minions and plotting. This will give us, in addition to the Martians themselves (who have game stats in many products), Martian-uplifted animals called Marauds, ant-swarm minions called Myrmidons, psychic "ghosts" of humans created when a Martian psychic-blasts someone to death (used by the Martians as guards and alarms) and Martian Ghouls -- vat-grown scavengers and agents which fill the role of zombie minions. All these foes will be written up in True20 and made available to player GMs with story suggestions and GM notes.

Otherwise, the book has some solid tips on creating horror scenarios and the unique challenges of horror RPing. It has some frequently-appearing magic items which I will make up for our True20 toolbox.

Concept Draft

Penny Dreadful MUSH is a game of Victorian supernatural horror, heroic adventure, and scientific romance using the True20 system. Players create intrepid adventurers of the late 19th century and, although based in London, pursue stories which take them to the farthest reaches of the globe (and beyond). Personalities from literary fiction exist in this setting alongside historical figures, and it is possible for veteran players to take on these literary fictions as characters of their own. Most stories are created by players who, acting as Narrators, guide a few of their fellow players through harrowing or amazing scenes to a dramatic climax (and rewards).

“Scientific romance” is the Victorian term for what we now call early science fiction, typified by the works of Jules Verne and HG Wells. Stories in this mode typically involve amazing inventions based on an understanding of physical laws different than our own, and can include travel to other planets, the discovery of Lost Worlds, or struggles against mad geniuses who seek to use their new inventions to terrorize mankind. The technology of the Scientific Romance often crosses over with the genre of heroic adventure in this “age of steam”; this style of story emphasizes swashbuckling melodrama, True Love, dastardly archfoes, and dashing heroes. Finally, the powers of magic and mysticism are explored by real groups like the Golden Dawn, by spiritualists and mediums, and in fiction that portrays awful monstrosities, the living dead, or Things Which Should Not Be.

No specific date is set for stories in Penny Dreadful MUSH. Instead, the setting is “Timeless Victoriana”, encompassing the second half of the 19th century. Some major events are definitively in the past (the American Civil War, for example) while others have yet to occur (the Martian Invasion), but by avoiding a specific date we allow literary and historical figures from throughout the period to appear as protagonists, supporting characters, or foes. The players are based in London but travel frequently throughout genteel Europe, to the rough and tumble Americas, the exotic Orient, the Dark Continent of Africa, the inhospitable poles, and even through space to the Moon, Venus, or Mars.

Characters can take many forms, but are at least nominally action-worthy. Supernatural and psychic talents exist and can be explored by those of intrepid spirit and keen mind. Military careers are common in a time of aggressive colonialism and new, ever more dangerous, weapons. Inventors can develop amazing engines encompassing everything from hand-held weaponry to fantastic vehicles. Many new inventions have already become fairly common in the setting of Penny Dreadful, and are available to adventurers with the resources (or pluck) to acquire them. (Player inventors can add their own patents to this catalog, ensuring their fortune and everlasting fame.) Limited super-human characteristics can appear in characters, but will be narrowly defined and single-purpose. Non-human characters (animals surgically altered to human shape, re-animated corpses , mechanical men) are rare but extant, and generally not as competent as ordinary mortals. After playing Penny Dreadful for a time, players have the option to apply for a literary character from the period; these characters are created using Mutants and Masterminds. They do not rise in skill or competence once created and players who have them are expected to act as Narrators, creating stories for other players to enjoy. The primary way most players interact with literary charactes from the period is when these characters appear in stories as non-player villains.

While some stories are designed and Narrated by Penny Dreadful’s staff, this is not the emphasis of the game. (Staff Narrators exist to ensure a minimum level of activity on the game, and their stories are differentiated not by scope or setting-impact but by access to secrets not known to the general player base.) Instead, effort is made to provide a large toolbox of antagonists, rewards, and story guidelines which make it easy for players to create and narrate stories for their fellow players. These stories require approval from an experienced Narrator, who checks to ensure the antagonists and rewards are appropriate to the level of the player characters. Once complete, the story is posted in a public place, and it becomes a part of the ever-growing world of Penny Dreadful MUSH.

Game Concept

Over a week ago, when we first mentioned doing a Western, I figured out an exchange rate for 1870 dollars and a way of finding Purchase DCs for 1800s era equipment in the True20/M&M system. After some more exploration, it looks like those numbers are going to work just fine for us at PDMUX, though I will also supply notes on converting $ to pounds and shillings. The economics may require a bit more testing, but it is in a workable state right now.

I intend today to sketch out a draft of the game concept: a brief essay which describes the game we are making and the sort of adventures people will have in it. Until Dee returns from his nautical excursion, this will be a draft text, and I will encourage all of you to suggest changes, additions, or removals in order to get us to a game we are all excited about. This concept essay will be our "Charter" if you will, the target to which we all are aiming.

In other to-do notes: rules for new inventions, and character packages for those who a) want to play a former animal, surgically altered into semi-human shape at the hands of Dr. Moreau (or a PC with enough skill); b) want to play a person assembled out of corpses and animated at the hands of a Frankenstein (or a PC with enough skill), or c) Mechanical Men. These packages may not work out; they may be unbalanced. But True20 is a pretty flexible system and since M&M lies underneath it there is some leeway. My intention is to make packages which are, if anything, substandard to normal human characters, thus ensuring that the monsters that result are both rare, and selected by players for their RP value rather than any min/max ability.

Victoriana Reference Links

I've added a couple of links to the right, but I encourage anyone else to do the same. If you can't figure it out, post it here and I will add it.

Welcome

Welcome to Victoriana MUX (name pending). So far, it is just staff here, talking about the game, what we want to do, what we're working on, and what we feel like eating for lunch. (Hint: it's Turkish.)

I have decided my first project is figuring out the economics of the game: how do prices in the Victorian era line up with Purchase DCs in the True20/M&M system? I have some initial ballpark figures, but will make up a Cost table and a price list of common items in the hope of giving us some sort of reality check. Prices will be assembed from GURPS Steampunk and anywhere else I can get some hard data.