In the Brassy's Men campaign, players will take on the roles of men and women living in Victorian London. Unlike many games, however, Brassy's Men offers the players a chance to portray the real movers and shakers of the setting. When thinking about designing a character, you should not feel limited to playing the run-of-the-mill gentleman, or the novice inventor, or the local bobby -- although all of these are certainly valid roles. Every person in London, save for the very highest ranks of royalty, is available to be played.

However, since we can't have forty Archbishops of Cantebury in the game, we have introduced the notion of "Key Roles". These are notable individuals in the setting whom we would like to find players to portray. A "Key Role" character may have access to special abilities, powers, status and reknown unavailable to other characters. In exchange, the player of a "Key Role" character will be responsible for certain duties peculiar to their office, to help the game run more smoothly.

For example, suppose that "Archbishop of Canterbury" is one of the Key Roles. The player who ends up accepting this role will receive as a bonus great standing in society, power in the church, and access to the very highest circles of power. (Many of these advantages may be granted through bonus free RTLB abilities). However, the player who is playing the Archbishop may be responsible for leading a church service on the Sunday of each game, for organizing and managing their subordinate priesthood, and for advising the Crown on matters spiritual.

If you are playing a Key Role, you will be guaranteed of being tied into plotlines crafted by the GMs. It is likely that you will be known to a great number of the other characters automatically, unless you're playing one of the more secretive Key Roles, such as the Criminal Mastermind. Key Role characters will still be created by the player -- you are free to come up with any reasonable personality, background, and skill set, as long as it at least vaguely fits the position that you're holding. If we end up with a blackhearted alcoholic simpleton Prime Minister, then we'll work with it.

A full list of Key Roles will be put on this website as it is developed. Players may request a Key Role by emailing the GMs privately. The exact system of assigning Roles has yet to be worked out; it is possible that some sort of silent auction method may be used.

Some example Key Roles, to whet your appetite:

• Prime Minister
• Archbishop of Canterbury
• Editor of the London Times
• Head of Scotland Yard
• Cabinet Ministers
• Criminal Mastermind
• Mayor of the City of London
• Astronomer Royal
• French Ambassador

...and many more.

Note also that it is possible to start in a Key Role, but lose that position. Just because you're the Prime Minister at the start of the first game is no guarantee that you'll be holding that seat at the end of the campaign. Watch your back!