Victorian Steampunk Monster Hunters - Best System?

[Hella_Tellah]

I'm thinking of running a game set in Victorian London, in which the players will be a team of monster hunters going after werewolves, vampires, giant steampunk robots, crazy science experiments, and other such weirdness. Is there a gaming system that would be well-suited to this kind of game?

So you'll better know my tastes, I really like the following game systems:
-New World of Darkness
-Nobilis
-Spirit of the Century
-Mutants and Masterminds d20
-D&D 4th Edition

I could probably adapt any one of those, but if you guys know of a system that supports a steampunk game more fully, I'd love to try it out.

 

[jaerdaph]

Take a look at d20 Modern and Adamant Entertainment's Imperial Age line:

http://www.rpgnow.com/index.php?cPath=4158

 

[xechnao]

Victoriana is what you want. Or Castle Falkenstein (uses cards, Victoriana uses dice instead).

 

[Silver Moon]

I've been playing in a Victorian London Monster Hunters game for a few years now. The GM uses D20Modern with the D20Past suppliment.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Victoriana is what you want. Or Castle Falkenstein (uses cards, Victoriana uses dice instead).

Victoriana was interesting to play. I had only one session, but it didn't look too bad. A few interesting concept, though I think there is a lot that could be expanded on.

I would seriously consider looking that game up!

 

[jdrakeh]

vs. Monsters is the only way to go if extremely fast, cinematic, action is what you're after. It's also inexpensive (or free if you want the non-deluxe version), as well as available in PDF, hardcover, or softcover formats. From my now black-holed RPGNow review:

Atmosphere drips from the pages of vs. Monsters like blood drips from the blade of a madman's knife, setting the stage for a night of horrifically fun roleplay in the vein of authors such as Washington Irving and Bram Stoker. The Deluxe Edition of vs. Monsters is, quite possibly, the best horror roleplaying game that I've ever read.

At its core, vs. Monsters is very much a minimalist game system that focuses squarely on horror and monsters, forsaking an angst-ridden, philosophical, treatise on modern life for a bucket full of blood-drenched, visceral, action that grabs hold of your throat and doesn't let go until you lay down your dice for the night.

[Edit: I was so enthused when writing the review that I neglected to realize a rather important error -- vs. Monsters uses playing cards to resolve actions ]

 

[Psychotic Jim]

I'm not familiar with any of those systems except for M&M, but I feel it has a fairly good support of building custum steamtech devices with the Inventor and Artificer feats as well as Devices. If you're into more heroic/cinematic action, M&M might work well for you. The Worlds of Freedom sourcebook has a chapter on heroes by Gaslight with a number of archetypes (mostly nonpowered, though most also don't meet their caps) as well as rules for inventing technology that was beyond the capability of the time and social class rank. Whatever rules system you get, you might want to pick up the Masque of the Red Death ravenloft supplement for a few good ideas on a more horrific game, though the rules of the supplement itself are fairly glitchy.

 

[Boarstorm]

You've already got Spirit of the Century. Isn't it designed to handle a game like this?

Disclaimer: I've only read about SotC. I have not played it. Forgive my ignorance if I'm completely wrong.

 

[Masquerade]

I use Etherscope for all my steampunk gaming needs. It's a surprisingly robust variant of d20 Modern that includes just about everything you'd want out of the genre and then some. It may be a little more fantastic than you're looking for, but I've found it easy to tone down.

That aside, there's no reason Spirit of the Century can't be used here, if that's the kind of game you're looking to run.

 

[Hella_Tellah]

Thanks for the suggestions! I took some time to look over the systems you guys suggested, and although I'm inspired by each of them, I feel like they're all missing a few key notes for me.

Victoriana is achingly close to what I want, but it has two liabilities for me. First, it's very much a game of fantasy, whereas I had envisioned a more Jules Verne science fiction vibe. Second, it has no rules for steampunk gadgetry. The first is easily patched up by requiring players to play as humans, or to describe their non-human characters as humans with special characteristics, but the second is a pretty tough thing to fix. I absolutely love the amount of detail that's gone into the setting, the emphasis on social class, and the excellent sections on Victorian ethics and ways of thinking, so I'm going to consider this my most promising option for now. Really good suggestion, xechnao!

d20 Modern's Past supplement approaches what I want, but I find that d20 Modern's combat mechanics are less cinematic (or free-form, if you like) than I'd prefer. It's a very mechanics-heavy system, and although my players are well-versed in d20 mechanics, combat is just too focused on number-crunching for my liking. It also lacks steampunk gadgetry. On the other hand, my players wouldn't need much study to be proficient, so it's worth a closer look.

I hadn't really thought about using Mutants and Masterminds to do this game, but it's a really intriguing idea. The Device and Gadget powers in particular really capture the feel I'm looking for. Still, the lack of pre-existing monsters means more prep-work on my end, and I fear that using a system built for something else will leave my players without a book full of Victorian-era fluff to round out their characters. Maybe I could hand them the Victoriana book for reference and use M&M mechanics otherwise.

vs. Monsters is very impressive for a game designed in 24 hours, but it just doesn't have the depth I want. 4 attributes, "stuff", and no equipment doesn't really give my players a lot to hang their hats on. That kind of stripped-down system works for a game like Nobilis, where things are so far into the realm of myth, but I think I need a more robust system to get a really gritty feel. I think it would be a cool pickup game, but I couldn't stretch it into a campaign.

I think Spirit of the Century could do this decently well, if I were to strip it of its basic premise that everyone was born on January 1st, 1901. It has the same problems as the others, though, in lacking that steampunk element I want, and I think the characters are, by default, a bit too powerful.

Thanks again, and please post if you have any other system recommendations. I love reading new RPG books, and I'm certainly not opposed to cobbling together rules from various systems to make my dream game.