Castle Falkenstein

Overall score:

"Oh to put on the Lincolnshire green and test one's mettle in the heat of battle with your best mates at your side and the flags furling and fifes wailing. To steel the heart and screw up the courage, to know you are a man of England. Can any hero ask for more?”

This review comes in both a long and short version, with the short one first. Castle Falkenstein is innovative, fun, and still fresh after being in print for almost a decade. Eschewing traditional RPG mechanics and trappings, the game successfully brings the world of New Europa to the fingertips of anyone who has ever read and enjoyed a Sherlock Holmes mystery or a Jules Verne Classic. Falkenstein is a niche game and may not appeal to all gamers, so I gave it only 5 clocks out of 6, but personally I think it's one of the best games ever written.

Now for the long version, in a truly Falkenstinian fashion.

Seven years ago I discovered Castle Falkenstein by R. Talsorian games sitting askew on the shelf of the local hobby shop Hungates, which sadly has decided to stop carrying any roleplaying games. The cover was fascinating--deep red with metallic gold letters, and dripping with sword duels, craggy castles, dragons, and steampunk adventure. The book is not a typical RPG rulebook either, and at the time it was unique. Just about every other game at the time, with the exception of White Wolf’s “Changeling,” was predominantly black and white, making Falkenstein was a ray of color in an otherwise dim world.

The first 128 pages of CF are dripping with colorful original artwork. The rules don’t start until page 129 but since the publisher printed the book on two different stocks of paper the rules are easy to find. Sadly, the two stocks also reduce the longevity of the book and make the pages fall out of the front section. This is especially true of the beautiful two page map spreads on pages 30-31. Many owners of this gem have taken it upon themselves to repair the damage done by the poor craftsmanship. Kinko’s will spiral bind the book for you, a route that many Falkenstinians have taken; I personally plan to have my book repaired by a professional bookbinder one of these days, perhaps with its companion “Comme Il Faut,” in a nice leather binder at a piffling 352 pages. That should tell you how highly I regard the game.

The first section is taken up by the journal of Mr. Tom Olam, a computer programmer and friend of Mike Pondsmith (the head honcho of R. Talsorian) told in a rousing and lyrical style. Apparently Mr. Olam was Spellnapped by two Sorcerers in the employ of Mad King Ludwig of Bavaria (who existed in real life and built some of the most magnificent castles ever). King Ludwig was in danger of having Prussian agents take over the Kingdom and required a weapon to fight Prussia with. Since Tom was a man of the future and was armed with a good understanding of European history Ludwig realized that he needed to enlist Tom’s aid in his fight against the wily Iron Chancellor and the powers of the Unseelie Farie. In this game it helps to think of the Prussians as the Russians of Cold War Europe. Under the brutal yet strangely honorable Chancellor Bismarck and his seedy alliance with the Unseelie court and the Wild Hunt, the Prussian army and its fearsome infernal war machines are ramping up to the largest war New Europa has ever seen. Fortunately, Tom foils the plot, rescues the King, and helps save the world in a very Prisoner of Zenda meets Wild, Wild West sort of way. The pages are embellished with illustrations and old photographs and the text is well written, making the first half of the book a joy to read.

Tom also takes time to explain the peculiarities of the world of Castle Falkenstein such as anachrotech (devices that predate real inventions in our world), magical orders, bizarre social mores, and the nature of dragons, fairies and dwarves. Throw in articles about the military, terrible devices, and the hazards of a sharp hatpin and you have a very thorough treatment of how the game should work before you even crack open the rules. I would have paid a good price for the first part of the book even before I read the second, but then I discovered that R. Talsorian decided to drop the other shoe.

The second section of the book is graced with some of the best roleplaying rules I have ever seen. Die-rolling traditionalists may not like the unusual playing card resolution system and dueling mechanics or the narrative character creation system, as they are quite different from their usual Dungeons & Dragons Game. A Falkenstein character is a collection of descriptions and not numbers: instead of an '18 strength' your character might have an 'extraordinary physique,' and a '3 Charisma' might manifest in the character's 'poor social graces.' There is a number associated with these, but players are encouraged to write down the descriptions rather than the value in their player journals (oh yeah, I almost forgot that this game lacks the ubiquitous character sheet). For the number freaks among you, abilities are ranked from lowest to highest as Poor 2, Average 4, Good 6, Great 8, Exceptional 10, and Extraordinary 12. Every ability is associated with a card suit too, for instance Courage is in the hearts suit just like any other ability that deals with matters of strong emotion or the heart.

With the basics out of the way I can get into Character creation. Firstly think of a character concept, like a consulting detective or a mad scientist. Then choose one thing your character is great at, 4 things they are good at, and 1 thing they are poor at. With the exception of a few special abilities, the character is average at everything else. Also decide if your character has a social goal, a romantic goal, and a professional goal. Those are the basics and you can jot them on an index card if you like, or write it all down in a composition book or a blue book and tell more of your character's story. Embellish the book with drawings, maps, illustrations, and old photographs.

For a player new to roleplaying this approach is gentle, fun, and allows their imagination to run wild. Instead of the same old boring character and blank featureless character sheet, Falkenstein gives them a great place to write out their memoirs, private concerns, and suspicions during play, as well as develop a real personality for their characters. The Host or GM should periodically mine these journals for information, such as the names of the character's acquaintances, and their personal troubles and successes and fears. Keeping a journal for someone else seems hard to do at first--in my first game it was hard to get into the habit of writing a page per session (our host's requirement), but eventually we got into the swing of things and were producing page after page of interesting interludes and intrigues about our adventures in Egypt.

After your character and Journal are ready and you and your group are seated at the card table of your residence or private club, smoking cheroots and sipping claret, your host breaks out two decks of playing cards. One of the decks we will set aside (it is used for the magic rules later), and from the other we will deal each person at the table four cards (including the host). While other games rely on the roll of the dice, Castle Falkenstein relies on the turn of a friendly card. It is in fact the only roleplaying game in which the players actively play against the host and vice versa. During a test of skill or a clash of arms the players bid cards and add the value of the cards to their skill. A chap with a great Courage can thusly play a King and a 5 of hearts and add 19 points to the 8 granted to him by his skill. Oddly enough, the Host can add to his difficulty as well from the cards he holds. Only Jokers and cards in the abilitiy's suit receive the full face value of the card; other cards are worth a mere 1 point. For any test the player can only play the cards currently held in his or her hand, but they are able to refresh their hand as often as they empty it. Jokers are a special incidence and are worth a whopping 15 points to any suit when played. This unusual arrangement means that hosts and players can hold their best results for moments that they really need them rather than try to attempt to roll the appropriate number on the fly. Imagine holding that natural 20 in D&D for the final killing blow on a dragon, or any other roll you absolutely must not fail on.

The above mechanic is altered slightly for combat, but mostly unchanged and needs no further exploration. Dueling and Sorcery do, however, as they are special mechanics for special circumstances.

Sorcerers of new Europa are a cautious, calculating lot, often more clever and dangerous than any man ought to be. Blessed with staggering power, they are very aware of the limitations of time and available energy. Think of the universe as a mystical battery with lines of power crisscrossing regions of the globe and crackling with energy. Sorcerers can siphon off bits of energy and shape it into effects that they need according to their mindset and schooling. An angry sorcerer (even a poor one) could potentially turn all the denizens of Paris into frogs if time and power were sufficient to allow it. Fortunately there is a finite amount of power available at any given time (the sorcery deck) and power can only be drawn over a long period of time (one card for every two minutes). Spells are built by adding elements to the initial cost of the spell (a bloody general thing, let me tell you). These elements are made up of thing like area of effect, number of people targeted and so on. Oftentimes spells that do harm go up to 40 or more points which when drawing a card every 2 minutes can take quite a while to cast. Cards not in the proper suit cause strange “Harmonics” or side effects to go off: a fireball might cow its targets into hideous writhing laughter or unbridled lust, in addition to burning the skin off their bones. With magic Jokers are truly wild, causing the spell to go off unpredictably and potentially laying waste to whatever the Host wills. As you can see, the magic of Falkenstein is quite different than the magic of other games, but often much more satisfying. People tend to be on their best behavior around the Sorcerers of New Europa and with good reason, as just last year Indian Shamans destroyed the city of St. Louis to a man in a horrible conflagration of green flame and screaming ghosts.

Just as sorcery has its own unique rules, the art of Dueling is also given special treatment in Falkenstein. The Dueling rules can be use just about anytime two people are using the same ability against each other. Primarily it is used for Fencing and Sorcery but Fisticuffs or Perception (for chess) or even motoring or riding can use the dueling rules. Each player takes three cards from the deck, one being a face card and the other two being different colors. These cards have no numeric values; instead they represent attacks, defenses, and rests. Duels are fought in rounds comprised of three equal exchanges. During each exchange a player can perform up to two actions. They are required to take a set number of rests each round as demanded by their ability level, thus a poor fencer would be compelled to rest during 5 of his 6 actions while an extraordinary one would never be required to rest. This unusual arrangement allows players to try to psych out their opponent, making them think they threaten them while they use that chance for a rest, or defending against an attack. Even a poor fencer has a chance of scoring a hit, though their chance of beating a skilled fencer is slim. In an interesting variant sabers can use the character physique rather than fencing skill, allowing for a wicked advantage.

Falkenstein also began to explore a live action element, with the characters particulars written on an index card. Its an interesting option, but one that isn’t fully developed. Still, the game is more or less complete and your group really doesn’t need any extra books.

To sum up, Castle Falkenstein is one of the best games ever written. Its reputation has been unfortunately marred by its specialized scope (the Victorian era), genre (Steampunk), and unconventional mechanics. I find that beginners and very creative role-players love this game, and with good reason.

Written by ElJeffe on September 01st, 2003