- Language And Units
- Playing Games
- Weird Science, Magic and the Supernatural
- Weird History
- Technical notes
- Acknowledgements
by Marcus L. Rowland
Copyright © 2002, portions Copyright © 1993-2001
This material is published as shareware; if you find it useful you are asked to register; see the copyright page for information on why this is a good idea.
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PREVIOUS Forgotten Futures collections have dealt with a range of topics, from airship Utopias and Edwardian space flight to worlds of the strange, supernatural, and melodramatic. This collection ventures into the world of children's fantasy, as it appeared in Britain from the end of the nineteenth century onwards. While the aim is to cover the whole genre, for copyright reasons all of the source material included with this collection was written by Edith Nesbit (1858-1924), a prolific author who can still be read with pleasure by a modern audience. Most of the sources suggested for further reading are modern authors, since their books are much more readily available than period works.
Why children's fantasy? It's a field that has received relatively little coverage in RPGs, and requires a different style of role-playing. Characters aren't the combat monsters of most genres; even with the aid of magic a child is usually no match for a determined adult. Children also have different priorities to adults; rather than saving the world, typical goals for adventures might be to pacify angry parents, eat every flavour of ice cream sold in a particular cafe (with lashings of ginger beer), or recover a favourite toy from the school bully. Saving the world might be an unintended side effect of these plans (see, for example, Diane Duane's So You Want To Be A Wizard), but in period stories it is rarely the original intention of characters. Adventures in this genre can be immense fun, a refreshing change from RPGs where every action is a matter of life or death, or can be played entirely seriously.
Most of the stories originally appeared in the Strand Magazine, where they were illustrated by H. R. Millar, an influential artist who was even more prolific than Nesbit. His pictures accompanied most children's, historical and fantasy stories in the Strand for many years, and set a distinctive stamp on much of this fiction, a style which is instantly recognisable. Millar died in 1940, and due to the eccentricities of European law remains in copyright until 2010; all attempts to contact the copyright holders have failed, so it has not been possible to include his work. Instead the stories have been illustrated with edited artwork from a variety of copyright-expired sources. As a result some of the continuity of the artwork in the three novels has been lost, and the main characters sometimes change appearance from one picture to the next. Indiana University maintains a web site for Nesbit's work which includes several novels, stories, and poems, some with Millar's illustrations. See the appendix on Nesbit for more details of on-line resources.
This collection also includes one piece of non-fiction; My School Days, an account of Nesbit's childhood which was serialised in The Girl's Own Paper in 1896-7 and sheds some interesting light on the background to the fiction.
For convenience the following abbreviations are used for the fiction;
5C Five Children And It. PC The Phoenix and the Carpet. AM The Story of the Amulet. 7D The Seven Dragons and Other Stories.
- The Book of Beasts
- The Purple Stranger
- The Deliverers of Their Country
- The Ice Dragon; or Do As You Are Told
- The Island of the Nine Whirlpools
- The Dragon Tamers
- The Fiery Dragon or The Heart of Stone and the Heart of Gold
- The Last of the Dragons
- Whereyouwantogoto or The Bouncible Ball
- Kind Little Edmund or The Caves and the Cockatrice
- The Cockatoucan: or Great Aunt Willoughby
MW The Magic World.
Usually these abbreviations are bracketed and followed by a chapter reference and function as links; for example, [5C 8] is a link to Five Children and It Chapter 8, [7D 3] links to The Deliverers of Their Country
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THE author of Forgotten Futures is British, as was E. Nesbit. American readers will occasionally notice that there are differences in spelling and use of language between our 'common' tongues. If that worries you, you are welcome to run documents through a spell checker, but please DON'T distribute modified versions. Please also note that the English of the fiction has some very minor Victorian idiosyncrasies, spellings and turns of phrase which have fallen out of common usage today. There is a glossary below.
The stories occasionally use Imperial measurements; feet and inches, ounces and pounds, miles and horsepower. To retain their flavour these units have been used in the worldbook and adventures. Readers who are unfamiliar with the British (and American) system of weights, or with pre-decimal British currency, will find the awful details in Appendix A of the Forgotten Futures rules.
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THIS collection is a source for game referees, and most sections contain notes for their use. A few sections are written primarily for games and will be of little interest to other readers. Statistics for the Forgotten Futures rules are included, but you are welcome to use the game of your choice and add game statistics to fit its rules. No one will complain, provided you don't distribute a modified version of these files, but if you like the game setting and adventures please register. Please note that mention of a game at any point below does NOT mean that this is an approved playing aid for the system concerned!
Changeling (White Wolf) is another RPG emphasising the theme of children and magic, although with a rather different background. It is most suitable for mature readers. Puppetland (Hogshead Publishing) is an RPG exploring the horrific elements of the traditional Punch and Judy puppet show, and is again recommended for mature readers. Once Upon A Time (Atlas Games) is an excellent card-based story telling game based on traditional fairy tale themes. Naturally many other RPGs include rules for magic etc., but generally the settings and atmosphere are less relevant to the themes of this collection. Games dealing with the world of children without magic include The Skool Rules by Phil Masters, which simulates life in an English boarding school (included with FF III) and Teenagers From Outer Space (R. Talsorian Games). Rumours of an RPG based on the Harry Potter books have been denied by Wizards of the Coast, but it's possible that one may eventually appear.
Three previous Forgotten Futures collections have dealt with magic, to a limited extent, or included material related to children:
Since the Professor Challenger stories and Nesbit's work share an origin in The Strand Magazine, and there are references to Doyle's stories (and other material from this source) at several points in her work, it can be fun to assume that that the Britain of Nesbit's stories is Britain as described in the popular periodicals of the time. Sherlock Holmes possibly lives (but is unlikely to have much time for children unless they are members of the Baker Street Irregulars), there may be dinosaurs in South America, Atlantis once existed, burglars are kind to little girls and there are fairies at the bottom of the garden - or at least the bottom of the nearest quarry! In most respects it is indistinguishable from our own world, there's just a little more weirdness, magic, and adventure going on behind the scenes.
Two of the novels and some of the stories are set in London. FF V: Goodbye Piccadilly is a source-book for adventures set in London, albeit the London of Victorian and Edwardian disaster stories. The information in this supplement may be useful if adventures are set in London. One of the adventures is a sequel (of sorts) to The Wages of Sin, an adventure in FF VI: Victorian Villainy.
This collection expands considerably on the existing rules for children in Forgotten Futures. Most of these additions are optional, but with the exception of the magic system can be used in any FF setting.
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THIS worldbook barely mentions science, although an interest in science was of course expected of every schoolboy at the time. Generally speaking the stories with a British setting assume late Victorian technology without any unusual refinements; gas, candles and oil lamps are still used for lighting in most homes, messages are sent by penny post or telegraph rather than the telephone, except in wealthy homes, and transport is still largely dependent on horse power. While more advanced technology is in development it is very unlikely to fall into the hands of children. Fortunately, they may have magic instead...
In the stories magic is usually a property of magical objects (the Carpet, the Amulet, the Bouncible Ball, the Book of Beasts, the Brass Telescope), creatures (the Psammead, the Phoenix, the Cockatoucan and various dragons), supernatural entities (Nisroch), and occasional magicians (often named James) who generally turn out to be villainous. Children rarely create magic; they are usually its users, not its makers. Nevertheless they seem to be more "magic-prone" than adults. Although there are few examples of child magicians in Nesbit's stories, it is assumed that children may be more powerful than most adult magicians if they can learn how to use spells, but gradually lose this natural talent as they grow up. Adult magicians are comparatively rare, somehow retaining their childish talents or acquiring magical power by intense study. Referees are advised to think very carefully before allowing characters direct access to spells; magic in this setting can be extraordinarily powerful, and it may be best to provide it from an external source.
Alert readers will notice that this is apparently a universe in which conservation of mass and energy work sporadically, there are at least four physical dimensions, and time travel into the past and future is possible. Interestingly, Nesbit anticipates many later authors in making the past unchangeable (any influence exerted by the characters helps to ensure that history comes out as it should), the future a world of possibilities shaped by events in the present. The mechanics of this process are discussed in later sections.
Finally, the "supernatural" undoubtedly exists in this world, but exactly what this means may be open to interpretation. In the main sequence of novels magic undoubtedly works, and at least one god (Nisroch) appears, but there is little evidence for other forms of supernatural activity. Theosophy and mediumship are mentioned, but there is no proof that they work.
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MOSTLY these stories ignore history; there may be wars going on in the background, but children are unlikely to participate, or even give them much thought, apart from worrying if their parents or other relatives are involved. The setting for the novels and several of the stories is the golden "now" of the late Victorian and Edwardian period, the heyday of the "Empire On Which The Sun Never Sets". It's a period of calm before the storm of the First World War.
The broader historical picture is mostly of interest in the third book of the Psammead sequence, The Story of the Amulet, which involves time travel to several historical periods and places. These include Babylon, pre-Roman Britain, Egypt in several periods, Atlantis, and a future London. Generally speaking the historical civilisations conform to the generally accepted view of history current in Nesbit's day; she had expert help from the British Museum's Dr. Wallace Budge, and made good use of it. At the time the existence of Atlantis seemed plausible; today it is much more dubious, but Nesbit's description of its destruction could apply to several of the historical catastrophes currently believed to be the source of the myth. A good overview of the myths and historical background to Atlantis can be found in GURPS Atlantis (Steve Jackson Games).
The future London Nesbit describes is obviously heavily influenced by Wells, and seems to fall into the broad class of socialist Utopia found in many books of the period. It could even be the world of The Angel of the Revolution (See FF VII: Tsar Wars) but a peaceful transition seems more likely.
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THESE documents were mostly typed using Borland's Sprint word processor, a DOS program so old that it would probably run on a Babbage engine if I owned one, or with NoteTab Pro, an excellent Windows text editor. HTML was hand coded to minimise size, and tested using Internet Explorer 4, 5 and 5.5, Opera 5 and 6, and Netscape Navigator. They do not attempt to change the default font or style for your browser, but a font that includes the UK pound "£", half "½" and quarter "¼" signs will give best results.
The novels were scanned with an HP Scanjet 5P scanner, using Caere Omnipage Pro software for OCR. Micrografx Photomagic and Paintshop Pro were used for graphics editing. TrueSpace 2 was used for three-dimensional modelling.
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MANY friends and acquaintances helped with ideas and material for this collection. First and foremost was Alex Stewart, who suggested elements of the magic system. Arnold, Small God of Teddy Bears, previously appeared in a GURPS Diskworld scenario by Mike Cule published in Steve Jackson Games' Pyramid web-magazine, and is included by permission of the author and Steve Jackson Games. Louise Holden provided an expendable copy of most of the short stories for scanning, saving wear and tear on my Strand volumes. John Dallman provided a crucial insight into the future of characters from Nesbit's stories. Numerous users of the CIX conferencing service helped to find source material and identify places, products, etc. Some statistics are taken from What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew by Daniel Pool. Much of the material on working-class childhood derives from the (currently unpublished) memoirs of my aunt and other family accounts of life in the poorer areas of London in the early decades of the twentieth century. Several users of CIX and rec.arts.sf.fandom helped with proof-reading of Nesbit's biography and some of the fiction. Finally, the title was suggested by Megan C. Robertson.
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NESBIT'S English is exceptionally clear, and modern readers rarely encounter problems with it. However, there are a few words and phrases that have fallen out of use, refer to things, persons, places and events that are now obscure, or may be unfamiliar to readers outside Britain. Some other terms that have different meanings in Britain and elsewhere are also covered below.
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"We come from the world where the sun never sets. And peace with honour is what we want. We are the great Anglo-Saxon or conquering race. Not that we want to conquer you" [AM 4]
THESE stories were written in, and mostly begin in, the "real" world of Britain around 1895-1910. It's a time when the British Empire is reaching its maximum size and starting to show signs of the stagnation and over-extension which will eventually lead to its collapse; the Boer War (1899-1902) is an early indication of things to come, as is Britain's unnecessary and ultimately abortive invasion of Tibet (1903 - see FF III). Britain is now primarily an industrial and commercial nation, and with the change from agriculture to industry needs imported food to survive. Steam and occasional motor cars are replacing horse and sail power, experimental aeroplanes and the first airships suggest the future of aviation, and the telegraph and telephone, and most recently radio, are revolutionising communications. Meanwhile political and economic tension in Europe is already escalating and will eventually lead to the First World War. However, very little of this is apparent to the average British child, who is almost always jingoistic to the point of parody.
| Class and Adventurers
In most adventures it is preferable for all characters to have roughly the same social status, since none of the natural "units" in which children work together (such as families, gangs, and groups of school friends) cross class boundaries easily in this period. Players should be free to ignore this if they like - for example, it's possible to make up a background in which a young aristocrat joins forces with the children of the local doctor and a game-keeper's daughter - but parents and other interested parties are unlikely to welcome such associations, and there is a built-in assumption that the aristocrat will lead the group, which may cause problems. In fiction groups of this type are generally considered to be funny, typical examples being the British comic strip Lord Snooty And His Pals and the American Richie Rich (although the latter lacks the class implications of the British strip). Later sections deal with character generation, including social class. |
Home life in this period is best described as cluttered, although the worst excesses of Victorian over-ornamentation are past. Middle-class houses tend to be decorated with hundreds of mass-produced ornaments and pictures, small ornamental tables and shelves, huge plants, and elaborately embroidered fabrics; the house described in [AM 1] is less cluttered than most, but still boasts an impressive assortment of useless junk. In the last twenty years there has been a backlash against this style, and the smartest homes are comparatively free of unnecessary bric-a-brac, though still over-ornamented by modern standards, but most people aren't so fashionable. For children, the practical consequence is that in most homes it is difficult to play indoors without breaking something.
All middle- to upper-class homes employ servants; the minimum complement is a maid (and probably a cook-housekeeper), with more servants a necessary ingredient of any show of wealth. The family of the Psammead stories don't appear to be unusually prosperous; their home in Camden Town isn't particularly nice, and some furnishings are purchased second hand [PC 1]. Nevertheless they can afford to employ a succession of nursemaids, housemaids and cooks. With servants so common children spend much of their time under the care of a nursemaid, with well-to-do families employing a nanny and governess to teach the children until they are ready to go to boarding school. Only working class parents raise their own children and spend much time with them. Lucky middle-class children may be allowed a remarkable amount of freedom under these conditions (as in the Psammead stories), but restrictive supervision is more common [7D 9] [7D 11].
Domestic "conveniences" at this time usually include indoor lavatories and piped cold water; hot water plumbing is a new innovation and rarely works well. In typical homes hot water is still carried by hand, and wood, coal and paraffin stoves are generally used for cooking and heat. Nesbit mentions that "...more than three thousand children are burned to death every year." [AM 12]; the main causes are sparks and coals from open fires, scalds from water heated for washing clothing and bathing, and accidents with paraffin and other fuels [PC 1], combined with fabrics and bedding which have no fire retardant properties. In towns gas is the preferred form of lighting, and is relatively safe compared to most alternatives (usually: ...the gas which had not been allowed to be lighted since the day when Lionel made a swing by tying his skipping-rope to the gas-bracket. [7D 1]), but paraffin lamps and candles still cause many fires. Electric lighting is just starting to appear in public buildings and a few wealthy homes, as is the telephone, but both are only found in cities. Meanwhile children and fire are a dangerous combination: [PC 1], [MW 9]
Entertainment is almost always live; the phonograph is still more of a curiosity than a serious rival to live music, and moving pictures are a rare novelty. It's the heyday of the music hall, variety theatre, pantomime, and theatre; as seen in [PC] there are theatres and music halls all over London, especially in the "West End" around Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross Road, and Leicester Square, including such specialised shows as Maskelyne and Cooke's magic show, the Egyptian Hall, England's Home of Mystery [AM 14]. Home entertainments might include amateur dramatics [MW 11], recitals, and above all else music. Most middle-class families own musical instruments, with pianos and harmoniums very popular. Common hobbies for adults (and many children) include photography, various forms of collecting, handicrafts, gardening, and reading. There are also many amateur scientists, especially naturalists and fossil-hunters, and children are often involved in these activities, either as assistants to their parents or working alone. Amateur taxidermy and egg-collecting are widespread childhood hobbies in the country, bird watching and other forms of observational study are less popular. City children generally lack opportunity for these interests, but make up for it by access to "improving" attractions such as zoos and museums, and to theatres and the music hall.
Another common interest is spiritualism; reports of psychic phenomena swept across America in the 1850s and soon reached Europe, and, almost uniquely, attained the status of a religion and an area of scientific study simultaneously. To an extent the fashion waned as some of the most prominent American and European mediums were unmasked as fakes, but organisations such as the Psychic Research Society and the Spiritualist Church survive into the twentieth century. One reason for this interest is relatively high mortality amongst younger children; most childhood diseases can't be prevented, and it is usual to suffer measles, German measles, chicken pox and mumps in the first few years of life. Whooping cough, tuberculosis, polio and scarlet fever are less common but far from rare, and have high mortality. As a result most families have experienced death, and it is sometimes assumed that children are "attuned" to the psychic "powers". A mischievous child might learn to take advantage by faking psychic phenomena. There are numerous accounts of suspiciously playful poltergeists and spirits associated with the presence of a child medium. If real psychic phenomena exist, a child medium might be exposed to corrupting influences from beyond the grave, or forced to perform by unscrupulous parents (see The Land of Mists by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in FF III, for more on this). Alternatively, spirits may be useful as sources of information or more active forms of help.
Fashions for children tends to fall into two main categories; scaled down versions of adult clothing, and simple garments such as pinafores designed for utility rather than style. The Millar illustrations of the children of the Psammead stories show typical middle-class styles. Both girls wear pinafores indoors and in the country, and dresses in town. The latter usually have knee-length skirts, much shorter than adult styles, worn with stockings and buttoned boots. The boys generally wear Norfolk jackets with knee breeches (long "shorts" coming down to below the knee) and long wool stockings with boots, but Robert is shown wearing a sailor suit in most of the illustrations of the second novel, and Anthea sometimes wears a longer dress with a sailor-style collar in this story. Coats and scarfs are worn in winter, augmented by muffs (girls only) or gloves. All four of the older children wear sun hats in summer, caps (boys) or bonnets (girls) in the winter.
Education (in reading, writing, and arithmetic) to the age of 14 is theoretically universal in Britain; it became compulsory in 1870. In practice many working-class children avoid education, usually by connivance with their parents, and are expected to work. If they attend school at all they usually work during the holidays; the school year is geared to the needs of agriculture, and many families spend the summer holidays in the country as fruit pickers or farm labourers. Middle- and upper-class children naturally avoid these activities (which killed a few score labourers every year) and expect to spend the holidays with their families, or may be packed off to a resort or the country in the care of a servant. Parents do not usually take their children with them on foreign holidays or business trips [5C 1]; it is felt that they are safer with relatives, at home in the care of servants, or or left at boarding school (as in Nesbit's The Enchanted Castle) where they will not be exposed to "nasty foreign food", diseases and other risks. Schools are run by church parishes, charities, and other interested bodies (such as various guilds, e.g. the goldsmiths), or for profit. State schools are in their infancy, and mostly reserved for the working classes. Single-gender education is almost universal; even those schools which accept pupils of both sexes have separate classrooms for boys and girls. At fourteen a boy can leave school and take a job, become an apprentice, even join the army as a boy soldier or the navy as a cadet. With parental support it is possible to continue education and eventually go to university, but university education is extremely expensive with few scholarships and places are awarded more by class and connection than by ability. Girls have fewer career options; middle- and upper-class children were expected to go to a "finishing school" for training in the arts and social skills needed to attract a husband, working-class girls were mostly limited to marriage or work. There are a few university places for women, but a woman with a higher education is extraordinarily rare; see Dorothy L. Sayers' Gaudy Night for an example of the treatment of educated women.
Railways apart, private transport is mostly horse-drawn, with bicycles the most common alternative, and a few cars owned by the wealthy. Other forms of transportation include electric trams and petrol-engined buses, horse-drawn buses, and electric underground trains (in London). There are efficient telegraph, postal, pneumatic tube, and messenger services; in cities it is routine to send a letter and receive a reply before lunch, and it is possible for a Londoner to send a letter to Scotland and get a reply the following day. Rural children will find it difficult to get far from home, unless they are lucky enough to own a horse or a bicycle (or have some other form of transport), but the town child usually has enough pocket money for occasional journeys.
Although this period is in some ways the golden age of children's fiction, it should not be assumed that it was a golden age for children. Common themes of the more sensational forms of fiction included abduction (by tramps, gypsies, or criminals) for ransom or menial work, or as part of some more complex plot, cruel masters of apprentices, and abusive parents and guardians [MW 8].
"...I hope every boy in this room has in his heart the seeds of courage and heroism and self-sacrifice, and I wish that every one of you may grow up to be noble and brave and unselfish, worthy citizens of this great Empire for whom our soldiers have freely given their lives."And, of course, this came true- which was a distinct score for Camden Town. [AM 14]
| Is Ageing Necessary?
For the purposes of children's fiction, or an RPG based on it, it isn't essential for children to age; until comparatively recently most examples of the genre ignored ageing completely, allowing the author to keep writing stories indefinitely without having to think up new characters. Later sections discuss the rules implications of this choice, and their implications for the background and continuity of adventures. |
The last paragraph was deliberately misleading - guessing the future of the children is an interesting exercise, but the attempt to do so is based on our current perceptions of a tragic period. Nesbit and the other fantasy authors of the period had no way of knowing what was coming, neither did their characters, and most of the political and economic forces that would lead to WW1 are totally invisible to a child in 1901. The logical prediction, based on the perceived "truths" of the period, would be the continued spread of enlightened civilisation (typified, at least for British children, by the Empire) and the gradual eradication of poverty and disease. In Nesbit's case this would involve the spread of socialism and possibly some degree of mystical revelation; she was a socialist and former member of the Golden Dawn. A campaign using Nesbit's world as its background could take these ideas on board and run with them; the campaign would start in the 1901 we know, but over the course of years would gradually drift towards a socialist Utopia based on these premises. By 1914, far from being at war, the world might be in the process of forging a League of Nations to end war, aided by Higher Beings with an interest in perfecting the human race. This background will not be explored in detail in this collection; it's simply mentioned here as one of many alternative to a campaign based on historical fact. Later sections will explore various possibilities including entirely magical kingdoms, as in [7D 1], [MW 4], [MW 5], [MW 7], [MW 12] and [7D 2], worlds resembling our own in which magic is known to exist (as in [7D 3]), worlds which are apparently like our own but occasionally function by magical rules (The Psammead stories, [7D 4], [MW 1], [MW 2], [MW 3], [MW 11] and [7D 11]), and magical worlds which seem to link to ours but can only be entered by will or imagination ([MW 6], [MW 8], [MW 10], [7D 9], and [7D 11]).
The remainder of this section covers more of the real-world historical background - events and people that might be useful in setting the scene or act as a seed for adventure ideas - and a small selection of things for children to do with their pocket money.
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CHILDREN are usually self-centred and rarely have much interest in current events, unless they involve their own interests. The list that follows shows a few events that might relate to childhood hobbies, crop up in a child's reading, etc. Events which would only be of interest to adults have mostly been omitted, unless they are historically important.
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MORE facts for any self-respecting child to forget... These details are mostly useful in scene-setting, but could conceivably lead to adventures.
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THIS section lists things that a child might buy circa 1900, with a few items that are more likely a little later. See previous Forgotten Futures collections for prices of most items for adults. Naturally there is considerable variation depending on the source (for example, Harrods or the Army and Navy Stores are usually a lot more expensive than the average street market, Gamages buy in bulk and sell cheap and have an unusually good selection of mechanical toys from Germany) and quality of goods. Some items were sold in multiple sizes or quality, and prices at the ends of the range are shown hyphenated; for example, 3d - 2s 6d may indicate several different models in this price range. Some items (especially pets) are mainly private sales, with quality and price very variable; the main avenues for such sales were private advertising in newspapers and periodicals such as Exchange and Mart. Wherever possible an average price is provided for such items. The primary sources for this section are:
Pocket money for the average middle-class child is rarely more than a shilling (12d) a week, often less. Working-class children will rarely see more than 2d or 3d. Children tend to spend money when they get it, and rarely save much. Accordingly the more expensive items below are most likely to be Christmas or birthday presents. Children of the rich might be assumed to get more pocket money, but in practice parents rarely trust them with huge amounts of cash; at boarding school they are often dependent on the good-will of relatives (see e.g. Frank Richards' Billy Bunter stories) rather than any predictable form of income.
Publications
Various comics - Comic Cuts, Chips, Larks, Comic Life, Jolly Bits,
Halfpenny Comic, Dan Leno's Comic Journal (1898-99 only) all ½d.
Most cheap newspapers 1d.
The Girl's Own Paper ("improving" articles, fashion, etc. aimed mainly at teenagers and young adults) 1d.
The Boy's Own Paper (articles and fiction, aimed at schoolboys) 1d.
"Penny Dreadful" books containing serialised stories 1d.
Exchange and Mart 2d.
The Times 3d
Sheet music 7½d.
Juggling Secrets, Conjuring for Amateurs, Thurston's Card Tricks all 1s.
Scott's Stamp Catalogue 2s 5d
Transport, Communications, and Activities
Ponies etc. are listed under animals, below
Bus or tram ride up to two miles, or an underground railway journey
anywhere in London, 1d (adult fares are higher).
Postage for a letter anywhere in Britain 1d.
Telegram, up to 12 words 6d (extra words ½d per word).
Wooden 4-wheeled cart (17"x9") 3s 11d to 7s 11d (23"x14").
Scooter 7s 11d.
Pedal-driven toy car, for 3-6 year old £1 5s 9d; £4 19s 6d for 6-10 year old (1914)
Pedal-driven toy car, for two 3-6 year old children £11 9s 6d (1914)
Tricycle (ages 4-7) 15s - 19s 11d
Child's bicycle £6 10s (Note: This is a sale price circa 1889 and may not be typical of the period.)
Bicycle accessories: Three speed gear £1 5s, acetylene bicycle lamp 6s 9d,
dynamo headlamp and rear lamp £1 8s (1914), celluloid gear wheel cover 2s, bell 1s 6d, pump 7s 6d, tool kit 5s, puncture outfit 9d.
Museum visits: free, or up to 2d per child, Kew Botanical Gardens: 1d per child, London Zoo: 3d per child.
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The Importance of Eating Ice Cream
In some campaigns ice cream may be a stronger motivating force than magic or a quest to save the world. Here's an optional rule: all children regardless of their origin and background will do almost anything to get hold of the stuff; if there is some reason why this is a bad idea - for example, an evil witch is offering the ice cream or getting it will take all of the children's money and leave them stranded miles from home - they must roll their MIND versus their own BODY to resist temptation. This roll is made at -1 to MIND if the character suffers from the Greedy trait (see later sections). In traditional dairy farming areas ice cream should be delicious (especially when accompanied by strawberries and "lashings of ginger beer"), but in towns most is fairly poor stuff; it's often made with lard and other non-dairy fats to cut costs. It's no coincidence that today Britain's largest ice cream manufacturer is also famous for its sausages and other meat products... The worst is probably ice cream sold by street vendors, nicknamed "Hokey-Pokey" (a corruption of "Hocus Pocus") which may be adulterated with chalk and other unusual substances. The most common flavours are vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate, all containing minimal amounts of the substance in question and substantial amounts of food colouring. Optionally rolls to resist ice cream have a bonus of +1 to MIND in urban areas. |
Toys and Games
Must you make that NOISE?
Wooden toy police rattle (similar to modern football rattle) 2d.
Rubber bagpipes 6d to 3s 6d depending on quality and number of drones.
Mandolin 6d, concertinas 6d and 1s, metal drum 6½d, toy guitar 6½d, toy cornet 6½d, toy
zither 6½d, mouth organ with built-in drum and spring-loaded drumsticks 1s, vellum-topped toy drum 2s 6d, 10-key accordion 3s, accordion with 2 stops, treble bellows, 19 keys, 4 bass chords 15s 9d.
Singing top 6d - 10½d, musical box 1s.
Serious Fun...
Rubber plate lifter joke 3d, scent bottle joke 3d, squinting eyeglass joke 4½d, "crash bang" joke (sound of breaking glass) 5½d, Invisible ink 6d, water spray ring 9d, hinged pencil 2d.
Sebackroscope (look behind and to one side while appearing to look forward) 6d.
"Yapper" rubber dog noise 6d, extra-strong rubber "dying" rubber baby 6½d, twelve inflatable "dying" rubber toys 1s.
"Dribble" beer mug 2s 9d
Card tricks 6d - 1s 6d, conjuring set (7 tricks) 1s 9d.
The Armoury
Cap gun 1s 4d (100 caps 7d), Derringer cap gun 2s 11d, cannon firing caps and rubber shells 5s 11d, 6-shot revolver firing caps and rubber shells 6s 11d.
Air pistol with six darts 1s 10½d (12 darts 6½d, 1000 slugs 7d).
Daisy BB rifle 2s 11d (box BB shot 6d).
Catapult gun (catapult on rifle stock) 3s 6d.
Air rifle 13s 6d - £1 15s (1000 Slugs 8d, 12 darts 6½d).
Models and Mechanical Marvels
Model soldiers sets, mostly 7 figures: British regiments 4½d - 10½d, Indian Army 10½d, Indian
cavalry (10 horses and riders) 1s 9d, full band of the Coldstream Guards (21
figures) 3s 3d, Camel corps (3 figures) 10½d, Royal horse artillery (with firing
gun, limber, 7 horses, 6 soldiers) 4s 11d, field gun 6d to 11d.
Gyroscope 6½d - 1s 4½d
Clockwork monkey, boy on hobby horse, baby, clowns, rabbit, duck, hen, automobile all 10½d.
Model garage with two clockwork motor cars 1s (1914), 12" clockwork model motor bus 2s 11d.
O-gauge steam train set (locomotive, carriages, and track loop) 11s 6d - £2 5s, O-gauge clockwork train set with points, station, bridge, etc. £1 5s 6d - £6 10s, 28" 3-gauge steam locomotive model £4 17s 6d.
Steam motor car 12s 6d, steam engine and five working workshop tools 14s 6d, steam traction engine 15s - £1.
Steam torpedo boat 17s 6d, 27" clockwork or steam-driven model destroyer £1 3s 6d (39" model £1 19s 6d), 32" steam-driven model battleship £4 4s.
Rubber-band powered model monoplane 1s 6d (1914), Sopwith biplane, rubber band propulsion £1 1s (1914), Model monoplane, compressed air engine with pump and propeller 25 MPH £5 15s (biplane version £8 8s, both 1914).
Games and Pastimes
Cut-out toy theatre: monochrome 1d, coloured print 2d.
100 foreign stamps for collectors 5d.
Playing cards and other card games 9d.
skittles game (five sizes) 10½d - 2s 4½d.
Boy's cricket bat 15s, stumps 9d, cricket ball 4s 6d
Close Companions
Golliwog doll small 6d, large 1s
Dressed doll, wax head, 9" 8½d, 13" 1s 11d
Undressed doll, china head, 12" 4s 11d, 16" 9s 6d, 28" £1 5s
Wooden doll small 4s 11d, large 9s 11d
Teddy bears, 4 sizes (yellow) 4s 3d - 18s 6d, (white) 3s 3d - 14s 6d.
Stuffed toys: Bear (realistic, 7 sizes) 2s 3d - 18s 6d, cat or Pomeranian dog (3 sizes) 2s - 5s 11d, donkey (4 sizes) 2s 6d - 7s 11d, Puss in Boots 6s 11d, monkey (green) 7s 6d, (red) 8s 11d, (brown) 12s 6d.
Elephant on wheels 10½d - 16s 6d
Alternative lifestyles
Squinting eyeglasses ("make everyone laugh - mechanical movements") 4½d
False beard 1s to 1s 4½d (with real hair 5s 6d), false moustache 1s 4½d.
Wigs 2s 9d to 4s 6d, Chinese pigtail wig 9d (better quality up to 21s), spirit gum 4½d
Pocket grease paint kit 3s 4½d
Red Indian costume 3s 11d (better quality up to 17s 6d).
5 ft. 3-pole wigwam 6s 11d, 8 ft. 5-pole waterproof wigwam £1 17s 6d
Pets and Other Animals
Goldfish 3d.
120 silkworms 7d.
Hedgehog 1s 6d
Rodents: Tame rats 5d, Guinea pig 7d, breeding pair of mice 7d.
Cats: Domestic kitten 3s 6d, Persian kitten 6s 6d, pedigree Persian kitten £1.
Ferrets 3s 6d
Birds: Tame British thrush 3s, pair doves 4s 6d, canaries cock 6s, hen 3s 6d, magpie 10s 6d, golden eagle £3 10s.
Puppies: Sheep dog 10s 6d, Fox-terrier 12s 6d, Spaniel 17s 6d, Great Dane £1, Retriever £1 5s, Bulldog £3, Borzoi £3
Rabbits etc.: Flemish Giant 5s, Belgian Hare 5s, Lops 5s, Angora pair 12s, Wild 15s dozen.
Reptiles: Lizards 9d pair, slow-worm (legless lizard) 1s, terrapin 1s 6d, grass snake 1s 6d.
Marmosets (wild caught) 15s 6d
Donkey with saddle etc. £3 10s.
Pony £8, with saddle £12, with small carriage and harness £15-20.
Miscellaneous
12 boxes of Lucifers (non-safety matches) 6d, safety matches 8d.
Banger [firecracker] 1d, Catherine wheel firework 8d.
A pound of candles 10d.
A cheap pocket knife
with a glazer's diamond, two blades, a file, scissors, corkscrew, gimlet, and
other tools 11d.
Opera glasses 5s.
Microscope (adult size) £1 15s, Microscope slides: 12 assorted specimens 2s 9d.
| To contents |
THE Forgotten Futures rules include a section on child characters. This supplement expands it, adding a variety of options which should help to "flesh out" their backgrounds and personalities. Characters generated by this system are compatible with children produced by the rules in the basic game, but have traits (and possibly magic) which they will lack. This scheme is entirely optional; feel free to discard part or all if you don't like it. For convenience the existing rules for children have been incorporated below.
First select the child's social class (or roll 2D6 as follows):
| Roll | Class | Sample parent professions | Points | Traits | Pocket Money |
| Working | Army private, servant, labourer, cab driver, policeman. | -1 | +2 | 1-3d | |
| Middle | Army captain, journalist, Doctor, lawyer, clergyman, manager, businessman. | - | +1 | 6d-1s | |
| Upper | General, magistrate, squire, gentleman farmer, Admiral, MP, landed gentry. | +1 | - | 6d-2s |
If characters are to be members of the same family all will normally be of the same class, unless some very unusual circumstance arises (such as adoption, or the theft of a child). Generate children using a number of points equal to the character's age (it is strongly suggested that this should be at least five or six, old enough to read and go to school - if you have no preference roll 5+1D6), with the modifier for social class above. A child gets one trait (described below) for every two years of age (round UP), with the modifiers shown above - working class children get more because they are educated in the "school of life", upper class children get less because they are sheltered from some of life's harsh realities. Thus an eight year old middle-class child gets eight points and five traits, a working class child aged ten gets nine points and seven traits, and so forth.
| Jobs
Working for parents: Usually unpaid, but may be reflected in an increase in pocket money (see main text) Baby sitting: 3d per evening. Milk / paper / bread round: 4d per day. Chimney sweep: Illegal under the child labour laws, which are often ignored, pays 3d per chimney climbed. Sabbath fire / gas lighting: Gentile children in Orthodox Jewish areas can earn 6d per house to light fires, kitchen ranges, and gas mantles (more if they have to build fires as well as light them). This work must be arranged in advance (doing business on the Sabbath isn't allowed), and is only available on Friday evenings and Saturdays. It is also seasonal; relatively few fires are needed in summer. Shop boy: Delivering goods, sweeping the floor, etc. pays 6d an evening, 1s on Saturday, and may offer "perks" such as cheap and free goods. Any failure or theft may result in instant dismissal. Farm work: Seasonal labour such as fruit and hop picking pays according to the weight of the produce harvested. Usually the payment structure, and the prices the farmer charges for food etc., only make this worthwhile if an entire family sleeps under canvas and works together. |
Example: Faith O'Donnell
Faith is the six-year-old daughter of Fergus O'Donnell, a private in the Indian Army and his Eurasian mistress, currently living with her parents in an encampment near Simla in India. She is working class, getting five points for characteristics and skills and five traits.Example: Gordon Drood
Gordon is the son of a busy family doctor in London. He is nine, middle class, and gets nine points and six traits.Example: Alaric Fitzroy
Alaric is the younger son of Sir Edmund Fitzroy, a gentleman farmer with several thousand acres in the Cotswolds. He is eight, upper class, and gets nine points and four traits.None of these children have jobs
Points can be spent in the normal way, on characteristics and skills, except that a maximum of 2 points can be spent on any skill, and some skills are not available. Points may not be spent on the Wizardry skill described below. The Doctor skill is not normally available unless there is an extremely unusual rationale (for example, a character might be the child of a herbalist in a fantasy world where there are no formal medical qualifications), and referees are strongly advised to prohibit the Driving, Martial Arts, Military Arms, and Pilot skills, or at least demand an extremely good rationale for their acquisition (cadet corps training is one possibility for older children). One extra language is available to characters with the Linguist skill; Bosh is the speech of babies and very small children, normally unintelligable to anyone aged three or more. Optionally this language is available via the Child Minder trait below.
Unusually destructive use of skills should be discouraged; while real children with (for example) an extensive knowledge of chemistry may occasionally dream of blowing up their schools, very few actually do it. Optionally it may be useful to remember that a normal education doesn't instantly put every fact at a child's disposal; for example, Science [5] for a child aged 10 in a Victorian school implies a basic knowledge of natural history, with limited knowledge of chemistry and physics, whereas an adult would be assumed to have a broad general knowledge of all areas of science plus detailed knowledge of at least one specialised area. A successful Science roll for a child may mean that the child simply knows that he or she hasn't studied a particular topic yet!
While some children may have higher BODY than some adults, you should normally assume that any adult is more than a match for any child; high BODY is offset by smaller stature and poorer co-ordination.
Since the physical size of children is small, the Stealth skill begins at a higher value than BODY/2. For children, this is related to age. For a child aged eight or less, the base value of Stealth should be BODY. For a child aged 9-12 the base value of Stealth should be BODY -1, minimum 1. After this age assume that puberty cuts in, with a spurt in body size, and Stealth drops to normal levels.
Example: Faith O'Donnell
Faith is a tomboy, with characteristics BODY [2], MIND [1], SOUL [2] for 4 points. This leaves only one point for skills, taken as Linguist [3] (Urdu, Punjabi). Her characteristics automatically give her Brawling [2] and Stealth [2].Example: Gordon Drood
Gordon runs more to brains than brawn, with BODY [1], MIND [3], SOUL [2] for five points. He wants to be a doctor eventually, and is heavily influenced by his mother, who is a spiritualist. His skills are First Aid [4], Medium [3], Scientist [4] plus the default Brawling [1], Stealth [1]Example: Alaric Fitzroy
Alaric is a sturdy child who will one day be a "chinless wonder"; BODY [4], MIND [1], SOUL [1] cost 5 points, leaving 4 points for Athlete (cricket) [5], Brawling [5], Marksman [2], Riding [4] and the default Stealth [3]
Traits should be selected next. The list below contains a few possibilities, but referees and players should feel free to add more. Traits should not function as skills; they include abilities (including some physical attributes such as unusual beauty) that may come in useful or add colour to a character, family circumstances, and the like. A few are inconsistent with one or another class and should not be allowed inappropriately without a suitable rationale; for example, an upper-class child is unlikely to have Begging or Poaching as a trait. Some traits may seem negative in nature, although the results are sometimes useful; for example, Coward is a useful trait if you want to run or hide! Some have previously been described in FF VI in somewhat different form, or in the article Accidents of Birth (FF CD-ROM and Pyramid 26/5/2000). Most traits are lost as children grow up.
It's usually fun to choose your own Traits, but to select them randomly roll two dice, or one dice twice, with possible results shown in brackets at the start of each trait. For example, a roll of 1 then 2 is shown as [1,2] Beautiful:... below. With one or two exceptions any duplicates or obvious incompatibilities should be re-rolled. Optionally the Referee should reserve the right to decide one or more Trait for each character, and keep it secret until it becomes important in play. This is especially appropriate for Traits such as Long Lost Heir and Romantic Illegitimacy. Note that some traits, such as Long Lost Heir, are circumstances which the child may initially be unaware of; players will naturally know that the child has this trait, but won't know the details until it becomes important in play. See FF VI for more suggestions on methods of keeping the knowledge of players and characters separate.
Example: Gordon Drood
Example: Alaric Fitzroy
Magic is an important element of this genre. Most stories make it clear that children are especially attuned to magic, an ability that is usually lost with age: Animals that are innately magical (such as cats) always have A baby aged one or less always has MAGIC [10], but with Wizardry [0] there is no way to harness it consciously. Nevertheless it is obvious from Nesbit's stories that any babies in the vicinity of magic are unusually likely to be affected by it; in various stories the Lamb (aged approximately one year) is made unnaturally desirable, aged to an adult, and accidentally hijacks a flying carpet! He also seems to be able to see invisible objects.
Magic is discussed in a later chapter - all relevant spells etc. are governed by the MAGIC characteristic and Wizardry, with occasional help from normal characteristics and skills, and can be ignored for now.
Note: One previous Forgotten Futures collection dealt with magic. Referees who wish to apply this new system to existing FF IV characters should give them Wizardry at the same value as the old Scholar (Magic) skill, and MAGIC equal to half their Wizardry rating. They will still be relatively powerful magicians, but in the world of Ab-Natural forces that is probably a plus. Note that most spells described below won't work in the Carnacki universe, where the main uses for magic are protection and summoning of Ab-Natural entities.
Optional Rule: Staying Awake
Optional Rule: Attention Span
A better way to use both options is for the referee to impose them by fiat,
without rolling dice, when the adventurers seem to be badly off-track and are
wasting time. For example: The remainder of this section covers parents and other relatives, the
most loathed word in a child's vocabulary - school, final details
of character design and ideas on how to run child characters, and notes on ageing
children and converting the characters to adults.
Example: Faith O'Donnell
Faith often dresses as a boy. She is usually covered with dirt, and occasionally begs to get money for sweets and toys. She has been bullied occasionally and has learned to resist pain. The referee assigns her one secret trait. This is recorded as
Traits: Androgynous, Beggar, Grubby, Stoic; the referee secretly notes that she is a Long Lost Heir, but isn't yet sure whose heir she is or how he will work this into the plot of adventures.
Gordon is a well-behaved middle-class boy living in the county; he takes
the traits Hobby (cricket statistic analysis), Hobby (insect collector), Loner,
Pet (a dog, Tommy), and Prig, surprising the referee by adding Reborn.
The referee decides that Gordon is Erasmus Darwin (Charles Darwin's grandfather)
reincarnated; this won't immediately have any effect in the game, but sooner
or later there might be some way to use the idea. He has a vague idea of using
the Amulet, or something like it, to allow Gordon to visit his spiritual
ancestor in the past.
Alaric's player has been reading the Flashman novels and wants to model the character on this "hero". Alaric spends much of his time at boarding school where he intends to be a bully (and secretly a coward). Liar seems a natural accompaniment; none of the others seem quite right, so he asks if the fourth can be "vain" - Alaric is proud of his (non-existent) good looks. The referee rules that this will make him more confident and add a certain amount of conviction to his lies (+1 in attacks against the MIND of the person he is lying to), but that he will always pause in front of mirrors to admire his appearance, even when it is unwise to do so.
This supplement uses two measurements of magical ability; a new characteristic, MAGIC, and a new skill, Wizardry. It is planned that this system will be used for any future releases which involve magic, although the means by which the characteristic and skill are calculated may vary for different settings, and more magical skills might be available in some settings.
Age 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
SOUL
1 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
2 - 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
3 - - 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
4 - - - - 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
5 - - - - - - 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
6 - - - - - - - - - 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
7 - - - - - - - - - - - - - 3 2 1 0
Most untrained children lose this characteristic completely as they grow up. Some animals (most notably cats) always have MAGIC [1] or better.
Example: Faith, Gordon, and Alaric
Faith is 6 with SOUL [2]; she begins with MAGIC [6], Wizardry [0]
Alaric is 8 with SOUL [1]; he begins with MAGIC [3], Wizardry [0]
Gordon is 9 with SOUL [2]; he also begins with MAGIC [3], Wizardry [0]
Children need plenty of sleep. If the time (pm) exceeds a character's age,
start to roll age versus time every hour; after midnight add 12 to the time (am)
for this roll. If the roll is failed, the character falls asleep. If the roll
is exactly what is needed for success, the character stays awake but starts to
yawn frequently and loudly, and makes all subsequent rolls at -1 to age;
because yawning is infectious, everyone else trying to stay awake should also
roll at -1!
Children have short attention spans; if they are waiting for something to
happen, they may lose interest. One way to simulate this is to ask for an
occasional roll of the child's MIND versus the number of hours that pass. If this is combined with the Staying Awake roll, above, it can be almost impossible to accomplish anything at night; referees are advised to use one or the other, but not both.
| To contents |
PLAYERS may have already described family circumstances while designing their characters, especially if they have chosen a trait that mentions them: Long-Lost Heir, Romantic Illegitimacy, Separated at Birth or Swapped at Birth are the obvious examples, but the status of parents may also be important in traits such as Reborn, Secret and Wanted. The tables that follow can be used to generate family details if they haven't already been decided, but their use is entirely optional, since players may prefer to leave their character's background vague or make up the details without rolling dice. The ramifications of some of these results are discussed in more detail after the table. Note the tables can't cover all possibilities without getting grotesquely complicated. For example, it is possible that a sibling of marriageable age could have children of his or her own, making the character an aunt or uncle. Parents (especially in upper class families) might be divorced, although this is extremely rare. Some religions allow multiple wives. And so on...
While the broad circumstances of family background are left in the hands of players, the referee should feel free to invent plots that that use it. For example, if a character's father remarries the player may decide (or roll dice to decide) that the new stepmother treats the adventurer well. The referee may note the marriage but decide the stepmother is faking affection for her new family; maybe she simply doesn't like children very much, maybe she plans to make sure that they won't be around to inherit after father's "mysterious accident" next year... This is an extreme example, but the general principle should always be that players are free to choose whatever background they like, the referee is free to mess it up as creatively or cruelly as seems appropriate. A "riches to rags" plot, with the family initially wealthy but ending up in the gutter, the asylum, and the workhouse, might be fun if players can cope with it. See the freeware RPG Wuthering Heights for some ideas on this theme.
It should be obvious that in games with multiple characters from the same family the background should usually be consistent; for convenience, use the table below to generate details for one of the characters then fit the others into the results, making changes as needed. For example, if the first character has three siblings and ten cousins it shouldn't be hard to slot the other adventurers in! Some details (such as a family Secret or Pet) may have to be common to all of the characters; for example, in Enid Blyton's Famous Five stories the dog Timmy seems to be owned in common by all of the other characters.
Parents | Roll 2D6, modifier +1 if upper class, -1 if working class | |
| 3 or less | Orphan - both parents dead (roll 2D6, modifiers as above) | |
3 4-5 6-9 10+ | Sent out to work * Living in workhouse / orphanage * Living with unrelated guardian or adopted by unrelated parents * * Roll 2D6; on 2 or 12 the child is a foundling with unknown parents. Living with relatives (not adopted) ** Adopted by relatives ** ** (1-2) Uncle or aunt (3-4) Grandparents (5-6) More distant relative | |
| 4 | One parent dead (roll 2D6, modifiers as above) | 2-5 6-8 9-10 11+ |
Mother dead, father widower Mother dead, father remarried Father dead, mother widow Father dead, mother remarried |
| 5-12 | Both parents alive (roll 2D6) | |
| 2 3-9 10-12 |
Separated from both parents (e.g. in workhouse)
Both parents present One parent missing (in armed forces, imprisoned, asylum, etc.) * * Roll 1D6, (1-5) Father absent, (6) Mother absent | |
Attitude of parents (Optional - Roll 2D6 separately for each parent or guardian, -1 if a step parent, guardian, or adoptive parent) | ||
4 5-9 10+ |
Parent hostile to child (1-3) Abusive, (4-5) Violent, (6) Murderous rage
Parent indifferent to child (1-3) Physical neglect, (4-6) No affection. Normal parent-child relationship and affection Stifling affection | |
Siblings | Roll 2D6, modifier -1 per parent dead, +1 if working class Note: This term is used loosely to include members of an adoptive family. | |
3-4 5-6 7-8 9 10 11 12 13+ |
Only child One sibling Two siblings Three siblings Four siblings Five siblings Six siblings Seven siblings Eight siblings For each sibling roll 2D6 for relative age compared to the character: | |
3 4 5 6-7 8 9 10 11 | The sibling is the character's twin, triplet, etc. *
The sibling is 2D6 years younger than the character. ** The sibling is 1D6 years younger than the character. ** The sibling is 2 years younger than the character. ** The sibling is a year younger than the character. ** The sibling is a year older than the character. The sibling is 2 years older than the character. The sibling is 1D6 years older than the character. The sibling is 2D6 years older than the character. | |
|
* For twins roll 1D6, on a roll of 1 the sibling is the character's identical
twin (Identical twins must be the same gender as the character, so ignore the gender
roll below). If multiple siblings are the same age they are triplets etc.
** If this result gives a sibling a negative age (for example, the sibling is nine years younger than a six-year-old character) it should be interpreted as the mother being pregnant or the child being newly born, at the referee's discretion. If this is combined with a dead mother the mother should be assumed to have died in childbirth. For each sibling (except identical twins) roll for gender (1-3) male, (4-6) female If either parent has remarried roll 1D6 for each child (other than twins): | ||
| 1 2-3 4-6 |
Child of previous marriage - not a blood relative of the character
Half-brother or half-sister Full brother or sister | |
If adopted roll 1D6 for each child (other than twins): | ||
| 1-4 5-6 |
A member of the adopting family, not a blood relative of the character
A brother or sister of the character | |
Attitude of siblings (Roll 2D6 separately for each sibling, -1 for half-siblings, -2 if adopted) | ||
4-6 7-12 |
Sibling hostile Sibling indifferent Normal sibling affection |
|
Other Relatives | For each character (or each family): Roll 1D6-2 for the number of living grandparents (to a maximum of four, of course), modifier -1 per parent dead, -1 if working class, +1 if upper class Roll 2D6-2 for the number of aunts and uncles in the family (determine their sexes randomly; includes aunts and uncles by marriage) Roll 1D6-1 for the number of cousins per pair of aunts and uncles. Finally, think of names for all of the above, jobs or professions for all adults, etc.! Referee's Note: Any uncle named James is practically guaranteed to be an evil magician; players should not be informed of this when choosing the names of their relatives!
| |
The Role of Parents
Parents are the everyday "gods" of a child-based campaign, appearing like unstoppable elemental forces to disrupt plans or set wrongs to right. Since they have immense power over children it is essential to use them with care; they must be controlled by the referee, not players, and mustn't be the answer to
every problem. It's important to be consistent; a loving parent may be stern
when a child misbehaves but won't suddenly become hostile to meet the needs of
the plot, an indifferent or bad parent may grudgingly bail out a child in trouble but is unlikely to go beyond the minimum demanded by the situation.
The ideal use of parents (and other adults left in charge of children) is as a friendly obstacle to the adventurers' plans. For example, a group of children may plan to spend several hours waiting for the Tooth Fairy to enter a carefully laid trap. Needless to say Mother won't want them to stay up late, and Father might intend to replace the tooth they are using as bait with a shiny shilling. Parents usually have an agenda which demands priority over the desires of the child, so if there's any need to slow a child down it's easy to think of a few "duties" such as tidying a bedroom and other housework, writing a "thank you" letter to a generous relative, homework, etc. Parents may also disrupt plans or precipitate the action of an adventure by treating children to unexpected outings, such as an expedition to the theatre [PC 11], or sending them on holiday with relatives (see e.g. Diane Duane's Wizardry Abroad or Free Nessie in FF III).
Note that unless magic is part of everyday life in the campaign world, no normal parent is likely to believe that it exists, and the most likely response to any evidence is disbelief and misinterpretation of events:
A secondary role for parents, and other adults who take parent-like roles, is as a refuge from trouble, albeit a refuge that can be nearly as bad as the trouble a child is trying to escape. If a child is accused of theft, vandalism, heresy, or any other offence against society a parent should be there in his or her defence. This doesn't mean that the child will escape unscathed - "just wait until I get you home!" can be a potent threat - but that matters will be handled by the family, not by strangers or the forces of law and order. Parents have immense power over children; in an 1890s/1900s campaign smacks and beatings are routine, and even approved by society. Nevertheless they (and their delegated representatives) are usually preferable to the alternatives:
"I don't see nothing," she said. "You've gone out of your senses, you two! There ain't any gold there- only the poor child's hands, all over crock and dirt, and like the very chimbley. Oh, that I should ever see the day!" [5C 2] Hostile parents are an unusual challenge, which is why the attitude of parents is optional on the table above. Hostile parents impose unreasonable demands on their children, or may treat them as unpaid servants or slaves. They make arbitrary unfair decisions, hold grudges, beat children for no readily apparent reason, or are strict to the point of paranoia (see e.g. the BBC's Ripping Yarns: The Curse of the Claw). Much more sinister motives are possible, especially in the case of step-parents in worlds that function by fairy-tale rules; hostile and evil parents may plan to murder their children for the insurance money, sacrifice them for riches or power, trade them to the fairies, and otherwise endanger their lives or souls.
Given these circumstances, a child with a hostile parent or parents may be on the run or desperately seeking some way to escape from parental control, and doing so should be a major breakthrough in an ongoing campaign.
If all of this sounds too complicated, one way to minimise parental involvement is to set up a campaign in which the children are "always" at school, or on holiday with relatives who allow them a lot of freedom (see e.g. Free Nessie in FF III) and the time between holidays is off-stage. Another answer is a campaign in which the children have run away from home or are in some other way separated from their parents (see The Tunnelling Terror in FF VI, the Borribles novels by Michael De Larrabeiti, and William Golding's Lord of the Flies). See the sections on campaign design and development below. Finally, it is possible to assume parents who allow their children a good deal of freedom (e.g. Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons etc.), either through indifference or because they are unusually trusting; this works best for older children, but even the children of Nesbit's novels, all of whom seem to be ten or less, have enough freedom to allow extensive adventures.
Orphans and Foundlings
"Can't we take you home?" said Anthea; and Jane added, "Where does your mother live?"
"She don't live nowheres- she's dead- so now!" said the little girl fiercely, in tones of miserable triumph. Then she opened her swollen eyes widely, stamped her foot in fury, and ran away. She ran no further than to the next bench, flung herself down there and began to cry without even trying not to. [AM 10]"...don't send us to prison. Mother would be so vexed..."
[5C 5]
"Well, it was rather a rum thing. We heard the Garrick was on fire, and of course we went straight there," said father, briskly. "We couldn't find you, of course- and we couldn't get in- but the firemen told us every one was safely out. And then I heard a voice at my ear say, 'Cyril, Anthea, Robert, and Jane'- and something touched me on the shoulder. It was a great yellow pigeon, and it got in the way of my seeing who'd spoken. It fluttered off, and
then some one said in the other ear, 'They're safe at home'; and when I turned again, to see who it was speaking, hanged if there wasn't that confounded pigeon on my other shoulder...." [PC 11]
Martha behaved admirably. She refused to believe a word of the policeman's story, or of Mr. Peasemarsh's either, even when they made Robert turn out his pockets in an archway and show the guineas.
"Oh, you're all right," the child repeated; "you ain't agoin' to the Union."
| The Workhouse
Anyone who is poor and unable to support themselves is likely to end up in a workhouse (sometimes referred to as "the union". To discourage laziness they are expected to perform menial work (such as picking oakum, separating strands of old rope which were once required for ship-building but now have no real use) in exchange for food and minimal accommodation; husbands and wives are separated from each other and their children, nobody is allowed to use tobacco or play cards, and all are made to wear a drab uniform. The body of anyone who dies is given to anatomy students for dissection. Naturally most people attempt to avoid this fate, but orphans and children separated from their parents may be unable do so. Orphanages
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Given these statistics, the overcrowding of most workhouses and orphanages, the small number of couples interested in adopting children in an era of large families, and relatively little interest in the rights of children, it is common for orphaned families, and even the children of living workhouse inmates, to be split by adoption, one rationale for the Separated at Birth trait. Really young children may never know that they have lost their real families, others may find it almost impossible to trace them.
The most likely destinations for working-class orphans are the workhouse,
the family of relatives, or some form of service or apprenticeship; for example,
an orphan boy might be taken on as a pot-boy at a pub, given a place to sleep
in return for work. Jobs of this sort generally pay little or nothing, take
most of a child's time, and frequently lead to the child running away to live
on the streets as a beggar or thief. Orphaned working class girls are more likely to be offered positions as servants, but most cities also have far less pleasant alternatives, such as child prostitution, which are outside the scope of this worldbook. Occasionally a child might be adopted into a middle- or upper-class home, but this is very unlikely, and they will rarely be allowed to forget their humble origins. There is a theory that working-class adoptees have "bad blood": see e.g. the novels of Agatha Christie and the stories of Enid Blyton for several examples.
Foundlings are a special class of orphans, abandoned by their parents (almost always in the first few weeks after birth) and left somewhere to be found by the authorities. Usually they end up in the workhouse, but there is a tradition of leaving them on the doorsteps of wealthy childless squires and other notables, in hopes that they will be bought up as the heir of the family. Sometimes the identity of the real parents is an open secret, but for one reason or another nobody can acknowledge the truth. Sometimes it is a genuine mystery, so much so that all attempts to trace the parents fail; in a world where magic is known to exist this may conceivably mean that the child is a changeling, or is in some other way influenced by magic, so genuinely anonymous foundlings will usually be treated with suspicion.
Fiona was used to being called a changeling in the course of any and every scolding, though in fact the local goblins were notoriously choosy. Several times, and with good reason, the peasantry had abandoned their ill-favoured son Dribble.. ..outside known goblin caves, and each time he had been politely returnedUseful traits for foundlings are Secret, Separated at Birth, Swapped at Birth and Romantic Illegitimacy. The novel and film Tom Jones, though set rather early, is an excellent illustration of the role of the foundling in British literature. A later example is Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest.David Langford: The Distressing Damsel
See the FF VI adventure The Wages Of Sin (and some additional plot elements in the article Accidents of Birth, on the FF CD-ROM) for an exploration of the theme of adoption and foundlings in melodrama; many of the ideas explored in that adventure are also relevant to children's fiction in general and this section in particular. One of the adventures in this collection revisits the events of The Wages Of Sin.
Orphans (in fiction at least) have certain advantages as role playing characters; unless they are confined to a work house they may enjoy a little less adult supervision than most other children, there is a natural tendency for them to be loners, and they are often outsiders who will notice things that would otherwise be taken for granted. For example, a normal member of a family will look at a picture on the wall and think "That's uncle James" without really considering it. An orphan might ask questions and examine it more closely, and notice that the
picture of "uncle James" was painted a hundred years ago, and shows him wearing an ankh amulet. Orphans who have to go out and earn a living have a good chance of hearing gossip and learning what is going on in the adult world, far more so than a child who spends most of his or her time at school.
A Death in the Family
A third of working-class children, and a sizeable proportion of the other
classes, lose at least one parent by the age of fifteen. Widows and widowers
are common, the most notable being Queen Victoria herself. What does it mean
for a family if one of the parents dies?
If the father dies, the most obvious effect is the immediate loss of most
or all income. Very few women work, those who do earn much less than men, and
many families have inadequate insurance or pension arrangements: If mother dies there is usually little effect on income, but children are likely to feel the emotional impact far more than they would the death of a father:
Regardless of class, if mother goes husband-hunting or remarries there will probably be many changes in relationships, especially if a new husband doesn't like children or has children of his own. Overall, the end result is likely to be a prolonged period of disruption and permanent changes to the family's circumstances. These can be assumed as part of the character's background, as described above, or take place in the course of a campaign.