The Inside Scoop on Gaming

The gaming industry has always had its opposites. For example, appearance. A long time ago, I learned not to judge a gaming book by its cover. Later, I learned not to judge it by its interior appearance, either. Some of the best games I've seen have looked like they were put out on typewriters (ok, these were from the pre-DTP era). I've seen others that could be used as coffee table artbooks - but were nearly unplayable. In fact, I'd almost reached a conclusion that the better the game looked, the worse it played; the rationale being that if you spent so much time on the appearance, you'd probably have skipped on the content to meet your deadlines and budget. Boy, am I glad I didn't make that a hard and fast rule, or I never would have picked this game up. Castle Falkenstein is truly one of those rare books that plays as good as it looks. If nothing else, Mike Pondsmith raised the bar beyond what White Wolf had. And, best of all, it's not just art for art's sake. The profuse, full color, and glossy illustrations set the mood for your entrance into the alternate reality of New Europa.

In the best tradition of White Wolf's WoD books (but done far better, in my opinion), the book opens with a combination diary and sketchpad done by Tom Olam, a game designer and artist. Actually, the first half of the book is presented as if it really were just a cleaned-up version of that diary. And while it isn't too big on numbers and stats and precision, it gives you a wonderful feel of what it would be like to be a 20th century computer buff, set smack in the middle of the Victorian Age. But one in which Sherlock Holmes pits himself against Professor Moriarty, Nemo is steaming around in the Nautilus .... and magic works. With this genre, flavor is everything. You might not get the stats for twenty different revolvers, but you have a section on what a well dressed gentleman has in his wardrobe, and what the regimental uniforms are for the more well-known New Europan military units. By the time you're through reading this, I'd lay good odds you'll have stars in your eyes, and your fingers will be twitching for a rapier. Which goes along with the idea that this is a game for truly romantic and dashing adventures. If you want to go slum diving, play a ragamuffin or street urchin, or otherwise work with characters and settings from the lower classes, you're wasting much of the game's potential. This is for those who want to play dashing cavalry officers whisking beautiful women off to balls where the evil Count insults her and you're forced to defend her honor. Or for those who wish to play Indiana Jones' style explorers, finding new civilizations and saving the world from hideous, uncivilized evil masterminds. You might even want to play one of the very well done non-human races, though you'll probably end up sticking with dwarves or the more common breeds of faerie.

In order to do all this, you DO need a game system, which is what's covered in the second half of the book. While not bright, gaudy and romantic like the setting (it is rules after all), it manages to remain easy to implement and fun to read. And the system isn't what you might expect either. Going one step beyond the current craze in Storyteller lookalikes, the Falkenstein system really doesn't have ANY stats. Or character sheets, etc. Instead, you write a diary of yourself, your possessions, your exploits, etc. Just like a real person would. And you describe any traits you have that deviate from normal (or average) in terms such as poor, good, great, extrordinary, etc. One of my characters was a great fencer. Zorro or Cyrano might be able to stomp on him, but the vast majority (95%+) of NPCs would end up looking like pincushions if they crossed swords with him. Nice, simple, elegant... and playable. The next area diverging from the gaming norm is that you don't use dice (proper Victorian gentlemen never touched them... too reminiscent of the (shudder) lower class). So, you use cards. Each player starts with 4 cards, doing things gets you more. If you try to do something you would normally roll a dice for, you take the appropriate skill (if you don't have it, you're average), add in any modifiers, and play a card(s) to boost your final total. Different suits benefit different types of skills. For example, the five of clubs would be worth five points for climbing a wall, but the five of diamonds would only be worth one point (wrong suit). Magic works much the same way, but using cards from the wrong suit also lets you know just how bad the side effects will be. If you summon a demon (Spades needed) and played a King of Diamonds, he might crawl out of that huge hole opened up by the earthquake you just accidentally set off. Again, the idea is less to adhere to numbers and probabilities than to create an atmosphere. And, again, it works.

Now, before you get the idea that there's nothing wrong here, I do have a few complaints. And they mostly revolve around the lack of a character sheet. While a sample diary (complete with LARGE DARK letters saying "Sample Diary" across it) is provided, it only covers the basics of character creation. No info on how to keep track of possessions, expenses, or writing up the continuing adventures of your character, is done. Which also means that keeping track of such things as continuing improvement in various skills can be a bit of a chore. While I understand that some of this is addressed in the supplements, it's not covered in the basic book, which means you either have to be good at expository writing, or come prepared to make up your own character sheet. While this might be a problem for some, it shouldn't be considered enough to scare you off.

So, who should buy Castle Falkenstein? Well, those who are into rules heavy and hyper detailed systems need not apply. Nor should the cyberpunk and "true" sci-fi fanatics looking for the latest in computer gadgetry. Rather, this is for those who like a game with flavor and who like the concept White Wolf started, but aren't into the angst and depression it's fallen into. If you like Tarzan, Zorro, Sherlock Holmes, and Indiana Jones - this is a must buy. Shoot, if you're looking for something besides Vampire for your next LARP, take a good long look. In any event, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Style: 5 (Excellent!)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Castle Falkenstein
Author: Michael Pondsmith Category: game Company/Publisher: R. Talsorian Games Cost: $21.60 Page count: 224 ISBN: 0-937279-43-9 Playtest Review by Dirk DeJong on 05/16/98. Genre tags: none	The gaming industry has always had its opposites. For example, appearance. A long time ago, I learned not to judge a gaming book by its cover. Later, I learned not to judge it by its interior appearance, either. Some of the best games I've seen have looked like they were put out on typewriters (ok, these were from the pre-DTP era). I've seen others that could be used as coffee table artbooks - but were nearly unplayable. In fact, I'd almost reached a conclusion that the better the game looked, the worse it played; the rationale being that if you spent so much time on the appearance, you'd probably have skipped on the content to meet your deadlines and budget. Boy, am I glad I didn't make that a hard and fast rule, or I never would have picked this game up. Castle Falkenstein is truly one of those rare books that plays as good as it looks. If nothing else, Mike Pondsmith raised the bar beyond what White Wolf had. And, best of all, it's not just art for art's sake. The profuse, full color, and glossy illustrations set the mood for your entrance into the alternate reality of New Europa. In the best tradition of White Wolf's WoD books (but done far better, in my opinion), the book opens with a combination diary and sketchpad done by Tom Olam, a game designer and artist. Actually, the first half of the book is presented as if it really were just a cleaned-up version of that diary. And while it isn't too big on numbers and stats and precision, it gives you a wonderful feel of what it would be like to be a 20th century computer buff, set smack in the middle of the Victorian Age. But one in which Sherlock Holmes pits himself against Professor Moriarty, Nemo is steaming around in the Nautilus .... and magic works. With this genre, flavor is everything. You might not get the stats for twenty different revolvers, but you have a section on what a well dressed gentleman has in his wardrobe, and what the regimental uniforms are for the more well-known New Europan military units. By the time you're through reading this, I'd lay good odds you'll have stars in your eyes, and your fingers will be twitching for a rapier. Which goes along with the idea that this is a game for truly romantic and dashing adventures. If you want to go slum diving, play a ragamuffin or street urchin, or otherwise work with characters and settings from the lower classes, you're wasting much of the game's potential. This is for those who want to play dashing cavalry officers whisking beautiful women off to balls where the evil Count insults her and you're forced to defend her honor. Or for those who wish to play Indiana Jones' style explorers, finding new civilizations and saving the world from hideous, uncivilized evil masterminds. You might even want to play one of the very well done non-human races, though you'll probably end up sticking with dwarves or the more common breeds of faerie. In order to do all this, you DO need a game system, which is what's covered in the second half of the book. While not bright, gaudy and romantic like the setting (it is rules after all), it manages to remain easy to implement and fun to read. And the system isn't what you might expect either. Going one step beyond the current craze in Storyteller lookalikes, the Falkenstein system really doesn't have ANY stats. Or character sheets, etc. Instead, you write a diary of yourself, your possessions, your exploits, etc. Just like a real person would. And you describe any traits you have that deviate from normal (or average) in terms such as poor, good, great, extrordinary, etc. One of my characters was a great fencer. Zorro or Cyrano might be able to stomp on him, but the vast majority (95%+) of NPCs would end up looking like pincushions if they crossed swords with him. Nice, simple, elegant... and playable. The next area diverging from the gaming norm is that you don't use dice (proper Victorian gentlemen never touched them... too reminiscent of the (shudder) lower class). So, you use cards. Each player starts with 4 cards, doing things gets you more. If you try to do something you would normally roll a dice for, you take the appropriate skill (if you don't have it, you're average), add in any modifiers, and play a card(s) to boost your final total. Different suits benefit different types of skills. For example, the five of clubs would be worth five points for climbing a wall, but the five of diamonds would only be worth one point (wrong suit). Magic works much the same way, but using cards from the wrong suit also lets you know just how bad the side effects will be. If you summon a demon (Spades needed) and played a King of Diamonds, he might crawl out of that huge hole opened up by the earthquake you just accidentally set off. Again, the idea is less to adhere to numbers and probabilities than to create an atmosphere. And, again, it works. Now, before you get the idea that there's nothing wrong here, I do have a few complaints. And they mostly revolve around the lack of a character sheet. While a sample diary (complete with LARGE DARK letters saying "Sample Diary" across it) is provided, it only covers the basics of character creation. No info on how to keep track of possessions, expenses, or writing up the continuing adventures of your character, is done. Which also means that keeping track of such things as continuing improvement in various skills can be a bit of a chore. While I understand that some of this is addressed in the supplements, it's not covered in the basic book, which means you either have to be good at expository writing, or come prepared to make up your own character sheet. While this might be a problem for some, it shouldn't be considered enough to scare you off. So, who should buy Castle Falkenstein? Well, those who are into rules heavy and hyper detailed systems need not apply. Nor should the cyberpunk and "true" sci-fi fanatics looking for the latest in computer gadgetry. Rather, this is for those who like a game with flavor and who like the concept White Wolf started, but aren't into the angst and depression it's fallen into. If you like Tarzan, Zorro, Sherlock Holmes, and Indiana Jones - this is a must buy. Shoot, if you're looking for something besides Vampire for your next LARP, take a good long look. In any event, I don't think you'll be disappointed. Style: 5 (Excellent!) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)