Vernian 19th Century

[Shireling]

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I had the idea of an RP set in a fictional 19th Century where basically all of Jules Verne's characters exist. So Captain Nemo is running around in the <em>Nautilus</em> being pissy about the Brits being in India. Robur is buzzing around here there and everywhere in his flying contraption. Professor Lidenbock is about to take his second voyage to the center of the Earth. Barbicane and the Baltimore Gun Club are building a bigger Columbiad to launch themselves to Mars. Phileas Fogg is globetrotting as a British diplomat with Passepartout close on his heels. Dr. Moreau is still creating his hybrid beasts. That sort of craziness. The setting has multiple ways it could be played out. It could be a nation-builder, with players assuming the roles of Imperial powers forced to deal with rapidly advancing technological discoveries. OR I was also thinking it could be a character RP focusing on a gaggle of reporters going from one ecentric genius to another to get the scoop for their newspapers. And various other ways the settings could be come manifest. What I want to know is: 1. Are there too many or not enough fictional characters shaping the world? Should I dial back and just use say Nemo and Lidenbock and everything else is straight historical, or should I take a <em>League of Extraordinary Gentlemen</em> approach and add in characters from other science fiction writers of the day, like the Inventor from the <em>Time Machine</em>, the Invisible Man, Sherlock Holmes and Watson, Professor Challenger from Doyle's <em>The Lost World</em>, Dr. Cavor from <em>The First Men in the Moon</em>, and fictionalized versions of real-world characters from the era like Florence Nightingale, Theodore Roosevelt, and John Wilkes Booth? 2. Tips on how I should cobble the characters together to form a single, unified, canonical world. 3. What the best approach would be to how the setting should be used, as a nation-builder or a character RP?


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[Grey]

Clockwork Publishing just released a new edition of Space 1889 that might prove useful reference material for you. Spirit of the Century is pretty good at this kind of thing, too. Oh! And you can't forget Atomic Robo which features some of those characters.


1. Really up to you, to be honest.


2. Start with a strong idea of what the players will be doing and go from there; do some research, see how things fit together, try to keep it logically internally consistent.


3. Too soon to say, but it screams character-driven pulp adventure.

 

[Bone2pick]

1. Are there too many or not enough fictional characters shaping the world? Should I dial back and just use say Nemo and Lidenbock and everything else is straight historical, or should I take a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen approach and add in characters from other science fiction writers of the day, like the Inventor from the Time Machine, the Invisible Man, Sherlock Holmes and Watson, Professor Challenger from Doyle's The Lost World, Dr. Cavor from The First Men in the Moon, and fictionalized versions of real-world characters from the era like Florence Nightingale, Theodore Roosevelt, and John Wilkes Booth?

My preference would be to dial up the fantasy of the setting and include all of the wonderfully appropriate characters my heart desired. For what it's worth, I think you could brew up something special with those themes, assuming you're willing to put in the work.


I also agree with Grey, character-driven pulp adventure should fit like a glove.

 

[Shireling]

My preference would be to dial up the fantasy of the setting and include all of the wonderfully appropriate characters my heart desired. For what it's worth, I think you could brew up something special with those themes, assuming you're willing to put in the work.
I also agree with Grey, character-driven pulp adventure should fit like a glove.

I really like the "gaggle of reporters chasing a story" angle, and since most of the "great people" of the setting have some mode of transportation (submarine, airship, etc.) that would allow the characters to easily hop between them.

 

[Grey]

Just mind the players don't end up feeling like the audience to your awesome whistle-stop tour of great people.

 

[Shireling]

Just mind the players don't end up feeling like the audience to your awesome whistle-stop tour of great people.

Very true. I think that since they are reporters, I should encourage them to write snippets to their editors. Get each character's perspective.

 

[Grey]

I'd say try to build a plot in there; suddenly the reporters find themselves embroiled in a conspiracy and able to help thwart it. Perhaps even save the Heroic types in the process. Let them be actual protagonists rather than spectators, you know?


It's perhaps cheesy and unrealistic but so is the setting.

 

[Shireling]

I'd say try to build a plot in there; suddenly the reporters find themselves embroiled in a conspiracy and able to help thwart it. Perhaps even save the Heroic types in the process. Let them be actual protagonists rather than spectators, you know?
It's perhaps cheesy and unrealistic but so is the setting.

I like it. I've been punting around the idea of a villain. I could use Moriarty, like in LEG. But I wanted to steer clear of that. I was thinking they might thwart an attempt to kill President Cleveland by Confederate sympathizers, only for him to in turn get shot and killed (as it happened historically). That would be a nice touch of irony. Or they could follow the tried and true "avert the First World War (until next year) trope." It's kind of hard to think of a villain or disaster on a global scale in the late 1800's.

 

[Grey]

Pers'nally I'd go Lovecraft on it, but that's me. Alistair Crowley, maybe?

 

[Shireling]

Pers'nally I'd go Lovecraft on it, but that's me. Alistair Crowley, maybe?

Ooooh. I do love Lovecraft. But it doesn't really coincide with the time period and theme as far as the tone of Lovecraft's stories are concerned.


Then again, Captain Nemo discovered Atlantis, who is to say that there wasn't a leviathan of some sort hidden down there?