The concept moves towards Shadow

Okay, on to heroes.

Referring to D20 Past, much of the setting is already prepared for us.  The Shadow Stalkers campaign setting provides much of the flavour needed for a 19^th century Resident Evil knockoff.   Recall the difference, though, that the Constables are going to force their way through the front door, drawing multiple hostile encounters down on them.  They will be heavily armed, though “One shot, one kill” are still words to live by. 

The victims won’t have any of that!  Abducted off of the mean streets of London, transported in a shabby coffin overland by carriage (probably knocked out), and dropped down a chute into the basement, they are food for the masters.

Any weapons they carries on the streets (it happened) would be removed.  Personal treasures, like jewelry and musical instruments would be snapped up by the little man who kidnapped them.  As a side note, I have just decided that that little man is going to be a Hyde.  But I will detail more tomorrow.  Those treasures may be in the mansion, but the victim is going to have to find them.  Weapons would be abandoned in London so that he could pass the guards, they will not be here.

Any of the base class should be open to them, while the Constables obviously do better as Strong Heroes.  As an aside, Detective and Investigative Constables are not permitted, as this smacks of that spy aspect that Britons distrust.  There is an exception though.  Private Investigators are common through Britain (Sherlock Holmes is first penned in 1887), while the climate of spies could easily put a French or continent Investigator into the wrong place at the right time to be abducted.

But that is part of the story.  The Constables upstairs are going to be brutish, and they will be fighting brutishly.  Downstairs, there can be two, three, four occupied coffins with living humans in them, preferably with no prior contact with the shadow.  They have to use stealth, wits, speed, devotion, and cunning to get away. 

All of the prestige classes, Mesmerist and Spiritualist and Frontier Marshall can be applied, but the Marshall needs to be drawn exclusively from the Constables, and needs a new name, maybe “County Constable.”  While not as bad as the wild west of America, the smaller counties had similar problems – it is law that they all have Constabularies, but it is an open secret how underfunded, under-resourced, and unwelcome most of those Constables would have been, facing a public that must pay for them, but regards them as spies or at the least, not needed here.  By the 1870s that is going to change, especially in this region where eerie fog, mysterious howling, and the insufferable smell from the mansion sets the entire boroughs on alert.  A County Constable is going to need not constant combat, but high charisma and quite possible the fastest gun on the Prime Meridian.  This class should be a change in the Frontier Marshall, but should not be open to non constables.

As a side note, I need to completely rewrite that class, but I will do that later.

The victims can chose to be of the Shadow Slayer, Occultist, Mesmerist, Spiritualist, and many others, but these are Prestige Classes and should be used as such.  Most of these victims should have no prior knowledge of creatures of shadow, but if one character says he wants to be a member of the Fellowship, that can work too. 

The only other change that jumps to mind is the Techie class.  He’s not welcome here, but a variant can be created called the Gunsmith.  Locksmithing is a skill that I intend to beat down considerably, forcing the players to seek keys, but I am not above including Jill’s lock pick to pass the old key doors.  But no, gunsmithing is going to be the most critical, as guns found along the way are going to be in every kind of condition, broken, jammed, or used by some desperate fool who decides pebbles would work the same as bullets.  Gunsmiths could make themselves the party’s new best friend, but is unlikely to be with the constables, as they would not expecting to get stuck here.  Stuck in the basement with the victims, he could bring victory from defeat.

That’s all I can think of for right now.  Tomorrow I make an effort to define the masters of the house.