Victorious reviewed over at the Hardboiled GMshoe's Office

Forum for discussion of Victorious, the upcoming Siege Engine RPG

Moderator: DMMike

Post Reply
DMMike
Unkbartig
Posts: 905
Joined: Wed Dec 14, 2011 10:38 pm

Victorious reviewed over at the Hardboiled GMshoe's Office

Post by DMMike »

Dan Davenport over at the Hardboiled GMshoe's blog reviewed the Victorious rulebook and gave some pretty fair comments. Check it out at:

https://gmshoe.wordpress.com/2017/09/04 ... ictorious/

Mike
The Save for Half Podcast: Old School RPGs Reviewed
http://www.saveforhalf.com

Victorious: Steampunk Adventure in the Age of SuperMankind
http://www.victoriousrpg.com

User avatar
Rigon
Clang lives!
Posts: 7352
Joined: Mon May 01, 2006 7:00 am
Location: Conneaut Lake, PA

Re: Victorious reviewed over at the Hardboiled GMshoe's Offi

Post by Rigon »

Nice review.

R-
Castles & Crusades: What 3rd Edition AD&D should have been.
TLG Forum Moderator
House Rules & Whatnots
My Game Threads
Monday Night Online Group Member since 2007

Treebore
Mogrl
Posts: 20660
Joined: Mon May 01, 2006 7:00 am
Location: Arizona and St Louis

Re: Victorious reviewed over at the Hardboiled GMshoe's Offi

Post by Treebore »

I commented.
Since its 20,000 I suggest "Captain Nemo" as his title. Beyond the obvious connection, he is one who sails on his own terms and ignores those he doesn't agree with...confident in his journey and goals.
Sounds obvious to me! -Gm Michael

Grand Knight Commander of the Society.

DMMike
Unkbartig
Posts: 905
Joined: Wed Dec 14, 2011 10:38 pm

Re: Victorious reviewed over at the Hardboiled GMshoe's Offi

Post by DMMike »

Thanks. On the whole I think the review is fair, but the part about the 21sters in the game seems to have missed the point a bit. The "fish out of water" aspect was partly there to allow people who don't know about the Victorian era to play characters who are also uninformed, thus making RP easier and more entertaining. I do accept its not for everyone though. :)

Also, there was some commentary on a lack of canonical events in the timeline. I know I'm against the grain compared to modern game designers, but I'm old school in that I want to give the GM a baseline to then make the world their own; not "tell them" what should and shouldn't happen. Even the historical timeline is only there as a starting point, for GMs to ignore or change at will.

Still, I do think there's some good constructive criticism that I will take to heart!

Mike
The Save for Half Podcast: Old School RPGs Reviewed
http://www.saveforhalf.com

Victorious: Steampunk Adventure in the Age of SuperMankind
http://www.victoriousrpg.com

Treebore
Mogrl
Posts: 20660
Joined: Mon May 01, 2006 7:00 am
Location: Arizona and St Louis

Re: Victorious reviewed over at the Hardboiled GMshoe's Offi

Post by Treebore »

DMMike wrote:Thanks. On the whole I think the review is fair, but the part about the 21sters in the game seems to have missed the point a bit. The "fish out of water" aspect was partly there to allow people who don't know about the Victorian era to play characters who are also uninformed, thus making RP easier and more entertaining. I do accept its not for everyone though. :)

Also, there was some commentary on a lack of canonical events in the timeline. I know I'm against the grain compared to modern game designers, but I'm old school in that I want to give the GM a baseline to then make the world their own; not "tell them" what should and shouldn't happen. Even the historical timeline is only there as a starting point, for GMs to ignore or change at will.

Still, I do think there's some good constructive criticism that I will take to heart!

Mike

As you will see, beyond what clues and maps I already have given, I am doing precisely that! I don't need to either. I own other Victorian era RPGS with their own alternate history that I could just use. Just with two history buffs in my immediate family, its become a group project for us to play around with the other possibilities that could have happened.
Since its 20,000 I suggest "Captain Nemo" as his title. Beyond the obvious connection, he is one who sails on his own terms and ignores those he doesn't agree with...confident in his journey and goals.
Sounds obvious to me! -Gm Michael

Grand Knight Commander of the Society.

User avatar
Lurker
Greater Lore Drake
Posts: 4348
Joined: Thu Jan 18, 2007 8:00 am
Location: Oklahoma

Re: Victorious reviewed over at the Hardboiled GMshoe's Offi

Post by Lurker »

Treebore wrote:
DMMike wrote:Thanks. On the whole I think the review is fair, but the part about the 21sters in the game seems to have missed the point a bit. The "fish out of water" aspect was partly there to allow people who don't know about the Victorian era to play characters who are also uninformed, thus making RP easier and more entertaining. I do accept its not for everyone though. :)

Also, there was some commentary on a lack of canonical events in the timeline. I know I'm against the grain compared to modern game designers, but I'm old school in that I want to give the GM a baseline to then make the world their own; not "tell them" what should and shouldn't happen. Even the historical timeline is only there as a starting point, for GMs to ignore or change at will.

Still, I do think there's some good constructive criticism that I will take to heart!

Mike

As you will see, beyond what clues and maps I already have given, I am doing precisely that! I don't need to either. I own other Victorian era RPGS with their own alternate history that I could just use. Just with two history buffs in my immediate family, its become a group project for us to play around with the other possibilities that could have happened.
& that drives a novice history buff (with admitted little experience with the late age of reason and more recent eras) in the party crazy trying to think through the dominos that are being rearranged with your changes ... No end of slavery, no 1st & 2nd generation leaders, no Tuskegee no George Washington Carver / Cuba already an American possession, no need for the Rough Rider's charge, no publicity for a up start politician, no President Teddy Bear ; England selling her African Colony, no war with the Dutch / Boer no Zulu War no dividing Africa between England S & E Africa, and France N & West Africa (and Germany and Italy fighting for the scraps) No French Foreign Legion ... Ohhh the confusion !!! ;)

On a serious note - good review. Like tree pointed out, I think he over relies on a 'set in stone' setting time line. I much prefer how it is, with Tree being able to willy nilly changing history to make the setting his own, but then If I ran it it would deviate only slightly form historic (or novel influenced historic) time line, then another more grim setting would be dark twisted history and neither breaks the system or cause wide swaths of the book to be unusable.

One thing I would point out (I tried to leave a comment on the review. but the site and my laptop didn't play well together) is that in the character build, you can use power points / negatives to increase the skills the character has, and that through role playing - and as a character advancement mechanism - a character can buy off the negatives, buy additional powers or skills &/or improve the powers skills they already have. To me, that is one of the bigger improvements over other 'hero' games. The character development is very fluid and allows a player to develop the character instead of following a set progression.
"And so I am become a knight of the Kingdom of Dreams and Shadows!" - Mark Twain

Forgive all spelling errors.

Knight Errant & Humble C&C Society Contributor
C&C Society

Treebore
Mogrl
Posts: 20660
Joined: Mon May 01, 2006 7:00 am
Location: Arizona and St Louis

Re: Victorious reviewed over at the Hardboiled GMshoe's Offi

Post by Treebore »

Don't get confused yet, I haven't finalized everything just yet. Wait until I post my "official" time line to worry about such things. I am doing one completely "fun" thing, though. No idea if you guys will even ever go to China, but you will probably never guess, who I decided just for the hades of it, is the ruler of China since the Tai Ping Rebellion. Hint. If I had the Sudan area in Africa follow actual history, he would be dead.
Since its 20,000 I suggest "Captain Nemo" as his title. Beyond the obvious connection, he is one who sails on his own terms and ignores those he doesn't agree with...confident in his journey and goals.
Sounds obvious to me! -Gm Michael

Grand Knight Commander of the Society.

DMMike
Unkbartig
Posts: 905
Joined: Wed Dec 14, 2011 10:38 pm

Re: Victorious reviewed over at the Hardboiled GMshoe's Offi

Post by DMMike »

OMG....His last name wouldn't be "Gordon" would it? :D

Though don't count Teddy Roosevelt out yet. At this time he's Commissioner of Police of New York City and might still be part of McKinley's cabinet. Assuming McKinley (former Union Major during the CW) goes into politics anyway.

BTW, TR is supposed to be at the World's Fair...in the Hunters Camp on the island in the lagoon!

GM "Bully!" Mike
The Save for Half Podcast: Old School RPGs Reviewed
http://www.saveforhalf.com

Victorious: Steampunk Adventure in the Age of SuperMankind
http://www.victoriousrpg.com

Treebore
Mogrl
Posts: 20660
Joined: Mon May 01, 2006 7:00 am
Location: Arizona and St Louis

Re: Victorious reviewed over at the Hardboiled GMshoe's Offi

Post by Treebore »

DMMike wrote:OMG....His last name wouldn't be "Gordon" would it? :D

Though don't count Teddy Roosevelt out yet. At this time he's Commissioner of Police of New York City and might still be part of McKinley's cabinet. Assuming McKinley (former Union Major during the CW) goes into politics anyway.

BTW, TR is supposed to be at the World's Fair...in the Hunters Camp on the island in the lagoon!

GM "Bully!" Mike

I thought you might be able to guess...
Since its 20,000 I suggest "Captain Nemo" as his title. Beyond the obvious connection, he is one who sails on his own terms and ignores those he doesn't agree with...confident in his journey and goals.
Sounds obvious to me! -Gm Michael

Grand Knight Commander of the Society.

User avatar
Traveller
Greater Lore Drake
Posts: 2032
Joined: Tue May 02, 2006 7:00 am

Re: Victorious reviewed over at the Hardboiled GMshoe's Offi

Post by Traveller »

*grumbles about editing*

Thanks Tree for pointing out where the editing went wrong. Book publishers should have a process in place for their editors to "Alan Smithee" a book.

Post Reply