Cubicle 7 has their newest game coming to Kickstarter July 17, 2024: Victoriana! While I’m not the biggest fan of the 5e system, I’m pumped for this release for the setting. I recently watched Carnival Row on Amazon Prime Video and I couldn’t get enough (two seasons was not enough!), so much so that I’m trying to find books that have the same feel (currently reading Steel Crow Saga by Paul Krueger) and Victoriana looks like it’ll fit the bill. I haven’t played previous editions of the game, but I’ve been looking forward to the release since the Free RPG Day release a few years ago that teased the game. If you’re reading this before July 17, make sure to get notified of the Kickstarter launch here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cubicle-7-games/victoriana-5th-edition-rpg

If you’re reading this between July 17 and August 7, 2024, get to the Kickstarter now! If you’re reading it after that, make sure to check out DriveThruRPG and see if it’s out now!

There’s been quite a while since the initial announcement of this edition of Victoriana, and it looks like Cubicle 7 was not wasting any of that time! There is going to be a lot more than a simple sourcebook available during the campaign including:

• The Victoriana Corebook in splendid standard and gorgeous collector’s editions. Contains the Victoriana-specific rules, character creation and presents the Victoriana setting!
• The Victoriana Menagerie brings together a collection of creatures both mundane and magical who populate London’s buildings, streets, and sewers. With information on each creature’s place in London, advice on how to use them in your game, and adventure hooks. 
• Dreadful Inquiries bring players on five intertwining adventures, pitting them against the mysterious Pyrophonic League, a secret society determined to force the world into uncompromising Order at any cost.

I really love that there’s a bestiary and an adventure book at launch. I love homebrewing adventures, naturally, but it takes much less time (and brain power) to run an adventure that someone else came up with! Based on what I’ve seen from Cubicle 7, I trust that these five adventures in Dreadful Inquiries will be great.

Other than a magicpunk setting, Cubicle 7 has given me this snippet to sell you the Victoriana setting:

It is 1887 – the year of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee – a time of opportunity, revolution, and magic. Fantastical folk and strange creatures walk the streets while Wyvern-riders and commercial aerostats dot the skies. Magic and science coalesce in magnificent technological advancements. Old social orders creak under the strain as the balances of power move. The world is in upheaval, change is coming, and everyone will have to choose a side.

At the heart of the setting are the Irregulars, called by purpose, compassion or duty to steer a course through the turmoil and guide the world to a better future. Coming from all walks of life, they are prepared to stand and be counted, to do what needs to be done. Tracking down a ruthless killer in the rookeries of Whitechapel, overthrowing greedy bourgeois captains of industry in Bermondsey, or throwing a wrench in the plans of desperate nobles attempting to summon evil gods in Kensington Gardens – Irregulars will be found where they are most needed.

Victoriana sounds like just what I’ve been looking for lately, and I can’t wait to dive in. Cubicle 7 has had great success with their Kickstarter projects like Uncharted Journeys, Broken Weave, A Life Well Lived, and The Laundry Roleplaying Game, and I don’t doubt that Victoriana will join those ranks. Look here for more info as it comes out!

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