The Inside Scoop on Gaming

First off - a disclaimer. I like GURPS worldbooks for their source material, but I have to admit I'm not a big fan of the system.

That said, I've always like the idea of Castle Falkenstein. Unfortunately, I didn't get it when R. Talsorian was producing it, so when I saw that GURPS was making a version of it I was excited. A quick trip to my FLGS later, I had a copy of it in my hands.

The book is a fairly standard worldbook for GURPS. It describes the world of CF, the people in it, life in New Europa, how to generate characters and the such. Kind of dry reading, at times, but an interesting magic system.

The review might have been nicer had I not obtained a good number of CF materials later on eBay.

When I read the original rulesbook I was blown away. It was funny, quirky, interesting, and a great primer to the game!

Obviously, the GURPS version has more limitations than the original rule book. For instance, in the original book, the first 130 pages are nothing but background material, while the GURPS version is only 160 pages overall.

As a worldbook, the GURPS version will give you an adequate description of New Europa to allow you to use it in GURPS campaigns. If you can't get the CF books elsewhere, it'll do. If you can get the originals, though, by all means prefer them!

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

GURPS Castle Falkenstein
Author: James L. Cambias and Phil Masters Category: game Company/Publisher: Steve Jackson Games Line: GURPS Cost: 22.95 Page count: 160 ISBN: 1-55634-438-4 SKU: 6099 Capsule Review by SeanMike Whipkey on 10/12/00. Genre tags: Fantasy Science fiction Historical Horror Espionage Conspiracy Old West Gothic Diceless	First off - a disclaimer. I like GURPS worldbooks for their source material, but I have to admit I'm not a big fan of the system. That said, I've always like the idea of Castle Falkenstein. Unfortunately, I didn't get it when R. Talsorian was producing it, so when I saw that GURPS was making a version of it I was excited. A quick trip to my FLGS later, I had a copy of it in my hands. The book is a fairly standard worldbook for GURPS. It describes the world of CF, the people in it, life in New Europa, how to generate characters and the such. Kind of dry reading, at times, but an interesting magic system. The review might have been nicer had I not obtained a good number of CF materials later on eBay. When I read the original rulesbook I was blown away. It was funny, quirky, interesting, and a great primer to the game! Obviously, the GURPS version has more limitations than the original rule book. For instance, in the original book, the first 130 pages are nothing but background material, while the GURPS version is only 160 pages overall. As a worldbook, the GURPS version will give you an adequate description of New Europa to allow you to use it in GURPS campaigns. If you can't get the CF books elsewhere, it'll do. If you can get the originals, though, by all means prefer them! Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 4 (Meaty)

GURPS Castle Falkenstein