Legacy of the Lady Alice

Campaign Overview

This is the campaign Wiki for 'Legacy of the Lady Alice', run on the of Cthulhu Eternal-Victorian Age system.

This version of Cthulhu Eternal is specifically tailored to support Lovecraftian games set in the Victorian Age – that is, the world as it was in the mid-to-late 19th Century (when Queen Victoria ruled the British Empire). Outside of the Jazz era, this might be the second most popular time period for Lovecraftian gaming due to the rich history and atmosphere that this time period provides.

While before Lovecraft’s time, the Victorian Era was an important time for horror. During this time period, important works of cosmic horror, gothic horror, science fiction, detective fiction and weird fiction were brought into the collective imagination and forever changed the literary landscape.

For detective fiction, this is the period of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, a literary duo who brought much to RPGs revolving around solving mysteries such as Cthulhu Eternal and many Lovecraftian RPGs. In the horror landscape, important characters such as Dracula, Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, were born. In science fiction, Professor Challenger and Captain Nemo shared bold and often terrifying visions of the future as the world was rapidly changing due to new and exciting technologies.

This was also the era of the penny dreadful, cheap serial literature often telling horror stories containing such names as Varney the Vampire and Wagner the Werewolf. Specifically, horror fiction of the Victorian Era broadly fell into four categories: Gothic horror, the encroachment of paganism on modern society/Christendom, science fiction and ghost stories.

Characters

Player	Character	HP	WP	SAN	BP	Role
Eplov	Maggie Mar	13	16	79	64	Youthful grifter looking to survive in the shadows of the big city.
pstjmack	George Allardice	11	13	65	52	Retired military officer freshly returned from wildest Bengal.
Regular Guy	Emilie Garilound	12	11	55	44	Consulting detective and firm believer in the scientific method.
Phatty Dave	Eloise Bagley	12	15	75	60	Intrepid reporter of the supernatural and sole proprietor of the _____.
Sam I Am	Lucy Baker	10	14	70	56	Book seller and mother hen to those in need.

House Rules

Spending Willpower to Nudge Rolls

This optional rule delivers that, by allowing characters to sacrifice Willpower Points (WPs) to “nudge” the dice rolled for a skill or stat test. Using this optional rule makes the game slightly less harsh in terms of the randomness of the dice, but also adds a resource-management element to players rationing their Willpower Points.

Here’s how nudging works for skill tests and stat tests:

• After a test has been rolled, a player can elect to spend any number of WPs, with each spend adjusting the dice roll either up or down as the player prefers.

• Each WP spent adjusts the original dice roll by 1—5 percentiles (player’s choice).

• “Nudging” a dice roll that originally indicated a failure may convert it into a roll indicating standard success; alternatively, a dice roll that was originally a standard success may be turned into a failure.

• This process cannot be used to alter the dice roll for a test performed by someone other than the character making the WP spend. Specifically, it cannot be used to modify the dice roll of an adversary.

• The sacrifice of WPs represents the character investing extra energy and focus to ensure that a borderline situation is resolved in the desired way. Doing this can trigger exhaustion and may make the tired character more susceptible to being affected by arcane powers, and less prepared to participate in rituals.

• Nudging” a dice roll can never create a critical success or a fumble, and dice rolls that originally indicated a critical success or fumble cannot be “nudged”. Even if the dice roll total obtained after a “nudge” is applied happens to be a number with matching digits, the result is still either a standard success or a failure.

• Remember that, as described in WILLPOWER POINTS (page 43), consequences may apply to a character whose WP total falls below 3.

Note: only skill tests and stat tests can be “nudged” in this way; SAN test and Luck tests cannot be “nudged”.