Victorian
Victorian refers to a subgenre where the aesthetics or setting of a work are directly placed in or inspired by Britain's Victorian period. Spanning from the mid-19th to the turn of the 20th century, this period was characterized by industrial revolution, strict social class hierarchy, wealth disparity, imperialist expansion, evolving moral, social, political, and religious values, opulent architecture and ostentatious fashion, and an explosion of art and literature. This relatively rapid era of change and upheaval has many parallels to the Information Age, making it a great setting for stories with different aesthetics, yet familiar themes. Plenty of tabletop roleplaying games opt for a Victorian or inspired setting for this reason; it feels relevant, but maintains an appreciable distance. Depending on the larger genre of the game, it might fill this gap with magic, steampunk technology, or supernatural horror. The beauty of the Victorian setting for games is its flexibility: players can take on the roles of the wealthy aristocracy, the growing working class, the scientists, engineers, and artists chasing progress, or even the people of the wider world resisting the oppression emanating from the center of the empire.
Popular Victorian RPGs
Blades In The Dark
A crew of scoundrels gathers round a stolen blueprint as they plan their big score. Their target has them outnumbered and outgunned; they’re just a no-name street gang up against the rich and powerful. But they have something their mark never expects: the stone cold audacity. The guts to risk everything. And a desperate hunger to get rich or die trying. Blades in the Dark is a tabletop roleplaying game, or TTRPG, about building a criminal empire in the industrial fantasy city of Duskwall. Inspired by video games like Thief, Dishonored, and Bloodborne, as well as crime drama films and television like Heat and Peaky Blinders, players create scrappy scoundrels who commit crimes in a haunted city. They might play a smooth-talking Slide, a bloody Cutter, an ingenious Leech, or a weird Whisper (among others) to lie, cheat, and steal their way to the top. They’ll also create a Crew, the gang they operate, and which, through a series of criminal jobs, will attempt to conquer the city’s underworld. One player, the Game Master (GM), takes on the role of the world those players inhabit; they’ll play as the rival gangs, wealthy nobles, and corrupt Bluecoats that pressure the player characters from all sides; the haunted, sunless, industrial city of Duskwall; and the ghosts, demons, and occult forces that lurk behind it all.
Candela Obscura
Candela Obscura is a tabletop roleplaying game, or TTRPG, about a circle of paranormal investigators who analyze occult phenomena in the turn-of-the-nineteenth century industrial fantasy city of Newfaire. In this game of monstrous gaslamp horror, players create intrepid characters who solve mysteries and defeat monsters with their various skills and specialties. They might play a smooth-talking Face with a knack for mesmerism, a soldiering Muscle bearing scars from the Great War, an ingenious Scholar of magick from the university, the sly Slink of a private detective or a Weird spirit medium. This crew, called the Circle, will take on jobs to set right the problems caused by supernatural phenomena. One player, the Lightkeeper or Game Master (GM), takes on the role of the world those players inhabit. They’ll play as the eponymous Lightkeeper, a character who dispenses assignments and information from the occult organization Candela Obscura. They’ll also play the environment, the city, and of course, the mysterious and even malevolent forces the Circle is called to confront.
Vaesen
In dark forests, beyond the mountains, by black lakes in hidden groves. At your doorstep. In the shadows, something stirs. Strange beings. Twisted creatures, lurking at the edge of vision. Watching. Waiting. Unseen by most, but not by you. You see them for what they really are. Vaesen. Welcome to the Mythic North – northern Europe of the nineteenth century, but not as we know it today. A land where the myths are real. A cold reach covered by vast forests, its few cities lonely beacons of industry and enlightenment – a new civilization dawning. But in the countryside, the old ways still hold sway. There, people know what lurks in the dark. They know to fear it.
Frequently asked questions about Victorian
Blog links about Victorian
Victorian Reviews and Actual Plays
Quinns Quest Reviews: Vaesen
Quintin Smith reviews Vaesen, a game of Nordic horror, mystery-solving, and monster hunting.
Haunted City | Blades in the Dark
The Glass Cannon Network travels to the dark world of Duskwall, where criminal scoundrels pull daring heists in a world without a sun.
Candela Obscura Live | Circle of the Silver Screen
Critical Role plays Candela Obscura with designer Spenser Starke in a unique, LARP-inspired format.