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Castle Falkenstein RPG
Castle Falkenstein: High Adventure in the Steam Age
Castle Falkenstein, an amazing journey into another universe just a few steps away from our a place where Dragons and Steampower rule the skies, Faerie Lords duel atop the battlements, and where the forces of Wizardry and Magick meet the gaslight streets of the Victorian Age. But with Castle Falkenstein the story never ends, as you too take up saber and spell to adventure in a distant world on the other side of the mysterious Faerie a world of Swashbuckling Fantasy, High Romance, and Magickal Technology.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
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August 20, 2019
Drivethrurpg.com’s Bundle of Holding offered the classic 1994 Castle Falkenstein role-playing game and I couldn’t resist. Alas, I bought another product at the GenCon where I met Mike Pondsmith and that product was also Victorian fantasy/Science-fiction a la steampunk—just because it was a lower price. It wasn’t nearly as long or thorough as Castle Falkenstein. I’ve always regretted not getting the real thing. But, then again, I was busy running my 5-year long Traveller campaign at the time and, if I didn’t run an RPG, I didn’t know who would.
For the record, Castle Falkenstein addresses a lot of the things I’ve complained about in RPG core books. It has lots of fiction to introduce the game world/universe, but it doesn’t split up the game rules with vignettes like certain RPGs I can’t mention without biting my tongue (my students know which they are!). Unfortunately, I would have to use the term “fiction” lightly because it isn’t very successful as a story. The “fiction” is so full of “exposition” that it doesn’t really give enough narrative to get the reader invested in the characters (and there are some fascinating ones). Indeed, it puts the rules together and provides an index (reasonably correct as compared to some modern ones I could mention. Indeed, I even like the way Pondsmith introduces the core book in an homage to Edgar Rice Burroughs or Lin Carter by using the conceit of a mysterious package arriving which contained the manuscript for the book.
Now, admittedly, cultural references have changed since 1994. Many of my students would be less than clear about “…a wizardly James Bond in the body of a David Niven.” They would know Bond, but less likely know Niven. The references speak to my generation, though, and part of my purpose in reading this core book through was the nostalgia factor. Pondsmith was somewhat ahead of the game, however, in allowing for strong female characters. Then, again, Marianne may just be a slightly modernized “Dejah Thoris.” Consider: “…this ‘cute chambermaid fluff’ was responsible for having shishkebab’ed at least thirty men in duels across New Europa.” (p. 16)
I also love the way speech is depicted in both the fiction and, presumably, in later scenarios that were published. For example, on page 70, we read an excerpt from a conversation between Otto von Bismarck and King William of Prussia: “Yes, we shall be dead, [Your Majesty], but we must die sooner or later, and can we perish more creditably? I myself in fighting for the cause of my king; Your Majesty in sealing your divine right with your blood?”
In the “You Can’t Have It Both Ways” Department, I must confess that even though I approve of the way the fiction is segregated from the mechanics of the rules, I dislike the compartmentalization of the fiction. I would rather have met the characters in a more natural way than have the biographical sketches and descriptions broken up as artificially as they are. The narrator gives way too many pages of background material before getting to the stories that he keeps promising to get to—later. Toward the mid-point of the volume, the pace picks up and there is more narrative, though still interrupted more than would be my preference by exposition. AFTER, the mid-point of the book, the “game” is introduced in the conceit of the protagonist explaining how he invented the game as a drawing room entertainment. There is even a clever bit when he eschews dice in favor of a card mechanic. Indeed, the use of abilities added to a card from one’s “Fortune Deck” of regular playing cards seems to have been the inspiration for the Malifaux miniatures game’s combat, as well as the combat in Through the Breach, the RPG based on Malifaux. One also wonders if Castle Falkenstein was influenced by West End Games’ Torg (1990) which used a combination dice and special deck mechanic and Bloodshadows (part of their Master Book Series which came out in 1994, as did Castle Falkenstein) which used dice and two decks to resolve skill checks and combat.
For those who desire something of a comparison between “then and now” in role-playing game materials, I should observe that the core book for Castle Falkenstein features rather lavish color for the era. Most of the pages contain some kind of colored background (though some have grey-scaled backgrounds) and there are some gorgeous full-page illustrations (particularly the dragon on page 89 and the “Horned Man of the Wild Hunt” on p. 109). Yet, there are plenty of simple black and white line drawings more like those of an earlier era. Of course, one can forgive these because they definitely fit the image of the pseudo-Victorian/Edwardian Age in which the game’s action occurs.
Character creation is more akin to the Fate system in that character creation begins with a character concept (Examples from pp. 145-153 would be: Adventuress, Anarchist, Brownie (the faerie type, not the little girl scout-type), Calculation Engineer, Consulting Detective, Dashing Hussar, Demimondaine, Diplomat, Dragon Lord, Dwarf Craftsman, Explorer, Faerie Lord or Lady, Gentleman Thief, Gentleman or Gentlewoman, Inventor, Journalist, Mad Scientist, Mastermind, Nobleman or Noblewoman, Performer, Physician, Pixie, Rogue, Scientist, Secret Agent, Soldier of Fortune, Steam Engineer, Wizard, or Writer, but one is not bound to these sample concepts.), followed by the creation of a “Diary” for one’s character generated by answering a series of questions. Each character gets to decide: 1) one thing she or he is GREAT at, 2) four things he or she is GOOD at, 3) one thing she or he is POOR at, and 4) everything else will be average.
Castle Falkenstein is designed to be a semi-LARP (Live-Action Role-Playing Game) in that all of the props are written down on 3 x 5 cards and handed out to the characters. When a player wants to draw a weapon, that player physically pulls the 3 x 5 card out and puts it on the table. When players are dueling against each other, they physically maneuver. Of course, as with any RPG, these actions can be played out strictly upon the table using miniatures.
Another distinction of Castle Falkenstein is that its Magick system is stricter than those of its contemporaries (or even most RPGs of the modern era). Each spell is tied to an aspect (Emotional (Hearts suit), Material (Diamonds suit), Spiritual (Spades suit), and Elemental (Clubs suit)). Cards in the practitioner’s hand which agree with the aspect (are in the same suit) as the spell or illusion being cast are considered “Aligned Powers.” Adding one’s Sorcery skill to the card(s) solely of Aligned Powers (to beat the thaumic cost) doesn’t cause any trouble, but players are allowed to speed up a casting by playing cards of other suits (each card has a value of “1” regardless of face value when they don’t agree with the aspect of the spell). These are called “Unaligned Powers.” This lets you speed up casting, but using any “Unaligned Powers” creates a “harmonic effect” related to the highest face value of an unaligned card played (p. 203) and these effects are determined by the “Host” (Game Master) to the potential delight and despair of the adventuring party.
But that’s not all, the difficulty factor in casting a spell is not merely the base thaumic cost of the spell, but it is increased by the caster’s decisions on Duration, Complexity, Range of Effect, Number of Subjects Affected, and Subject Resistance to Magickal Effects (p. 198). And while using “Unaligned Powers” to speed up the casting of a spell can be risky, there is even a riskier method where the practitioner may draw strength from herself or himself but risk a total “unravelling” of the character’s life force (p. 207). It seems like these considerations would considerably enhance the stakes in spellcasting. In reading this, I like it, but I’m not sure I’d like it when playing a practitioner and having the magick go awry.
I also like the fact that Inventors create their gadgets, vehicles, chemical formulations, and infernal weapons by filling out a simplified patent application (p. 214), adding to the immersion in this game. Castle Falkenstein makes a tremendous attempt to be immersive in many ways and several succeed. As for the claim on the back cover that this is both a novel and a game, I would definitely have to say that it succeeds as an intriguing game setting and rule document, but not so much as a novel.
For the record, Castle Falkenstein addresses a lot of the things I’ve complained about in RPG core books. It has lots of fiction to introduce the game world/universe, but it doesn’t split up the game rules with vignettes like certain RPGs I can’t mention without biting my tongue (my students know which they are!). Unfortunately, I would have to use the term “fiction” lightly because it isn’t very successful as a story. The “fiction” is so full of “exposition” that it doesn’t really give enough narrative to get the reader invested in the characters (and there are some fascinating ones). Indeed, it puts the rules together and provides an index (reasonably correct as compared to some modern ones I could mention. Indeed, I even like the way Pondsmith introduces the core book in an homage to Edgar Rice Burroughs or Lin Carter by using the conceit of a mysterious package arriving which contained the manuscript for the book.
Now, admittedly, cultural references have changed since 1994. Many of my students would be less than clear about “…a wizardly James Bond in the body of a David Niven.” They would know Bond, but less likely know Niven. The references speak to my generation, though, and part of my purpose in reading this core book through was the nostalgia factor. Pondsmith was somewhat ahead of the game, however, in allowing for strong female characters. Then, again, Marianne may just be a slightly modernized “Dejah Thoris.” Consider: “…this ‘cute chambermaid fluff’ was responsible for having shishkebab’ed at least thirty men in duels across New Europa.” (p. 16)
I also love the way speech is depicted in both the fiction and, presumably, in later scenarios that were published. For example, on page 70, we read an excerpt from a conversation between Otto von Bismarck and King William of Prussia: “Yes, we shall be dead, [Your Majesty], but we must die sooner or later, and can we perish more creditably? I myself in fighting for the cause of my king; Your Majesty in sealing your divine right with your blood?”
In the “You Can’t Have It Both Ways” Department, I must confess that even though I approve of the way the fiction is segregated from the mechanics of the rules, I dislike the compartmentalization of the fiction. I would rather have met the characters in a more natural way than have the biographical sketches and descriptions broken up as artificially as they are. The narrator gives way too many pages of background material before getting to the stories that he keeps promising to get to—later. Toward the mid-point of the volume, the pace picks up and there is more narrative, though still interrupted more than would be my preference by exposition. AFTER, the mid-point of the book, the “game” is introduced in the conceit of the protagonist explaining how he invented the game as a drawing room entertainment. There is even a clever bit when he eschews dice in favor of a card mechanic. Indeed, the use of abilities added to a card from one’s “Fortune Deck” of regular playing cards seems to have been the inspiration for the Malifaux miniatures game’s combat, as well as the combat in Through the Breach, the RPG based on Malifaux. One also wonders if Castle Falkenstein was influenced by West End Games’ Torg (1990) which used a combination dice and special deck mechanic and Bloodshadows (part of their Master Book Series which came out in 1994, as did Castle Falkenstein) which used dice and two decks to resolve skill checks and combat.
For those who desire something of a comparison between “then and now” in role-playing game materials, I should observe that the core book for Castle Falkenstein features rather lavish color for the era. Most of the pages contain some kind of colored background (though some have grey-scaled backgrounds) and there are some gorgeous full-page illustrations (particularly the dragon on page 89 and the “Horned Man of the Wild Hunt” on p. 109). Yet, there are plenty of simple black and white line drawings more like those of an earlier era. Of course, one can forgive these because they definitely fit the image of the pseudo-Victorian/Edwardian Age in which the game’s action occurs.
Character creation is more akin to the Fate system in that character creation begins with a character concept (Examples from pp. 145-153 would be: Adventuress, Anarchist, Brownie (the faerie type, not the little girl scout-type), Calculation Engineer, Consulting Detective, Dashing Hussar, Demimondaine, Diplomat, Dragon Lord, Dwarf Craftsman, Explorer, Faerie Lord or Lady, Gentleman Thief, Gentleman or Gentlewoman, Inventor, Journalist, Mad Scientist, Mastermind, Nobleman or Noblewoman, Performer, Physician, Pixie, Rogue, Scientist, Secret Agent, Soldier of Fortune, Steam Engineer, Wizard, or Writer, but one is not bound to these sample concepts.), followed by the creation of a “Diary” for one’s character generated by answering a series of questions. Each character gets to decide: 1) one thing she or he is GREAT at, 2) four things he or she is GOOD at, 3) one thing she or he is POOR at, and 4) everything else will be average.
Castle Falkenstein is designed to be a semi-LARP (Live-Action Role-Playing Game) in that all of the props are written down on 3 x 5 cards and handed out to the characters. When a player wants to draw a weapon, that player physically pulls the 3 x 5 card out and puts it on the table. When players are dueling against each other, they physically maneuver. Of course, as with any RPG, these actions can be played out strictly upon the table using miniatures.
Another distinction of Castle Falkenstein is that its Magick system is stricter than those of its contemporaries (or even most RPGs of the modern era). Each spell is tied to an aspect (Emotional (Hearts suit), Material (Diamonds suit), Spiritual (Spades suit), and Elemental (Clubs suit)). Cards in the practitioner’s hand which agree with the aspect (are in the same suit) as the spell or illusion being cast are considered “Aligned Powers.” Adding one’s Sorcery skill to the card(s) solely of Aligned Powers (to beat the thaumic cost) doesn’t cause any trouble, but players are allowed to speed up a casting by playing cards of other suits (each card has a value of “1” regardless of face value when they don’t agree with the aspect of the spell). These are called “Unaligned Powers.” This lets you speed up casting, but using any “Unaligned Powers” creates a “harmonic effect” related to the highest face value of an unaligned card played (p. 203) and these effects are determined by the “Host” (Game Master) to the potential delight and despair of the adventuring party.
But that’s not all, the difficulty factor in casting a spell is not merely the base thaumic cost of the spell, but it is increased by the caster’s decisions on Duration, Complexity, Range of Effect, Number of Subjects Affected, and Subject Resistance to Magickal Effects (p. 198). And while using “Unaligned Powers” to speed up the casting of a spell can be risky, there is even a riskier method where the practitioner may draw strength from herself or himself but risk a total “unravelling” of the character’s life force (p. 207). It seems like these considerations would considerably enhance the stakes in spellcasting. In reading this, I like it, but I’m not sure I’d like it when playing a practitioner and having the magick go awry.
I also like the fact that Inventors create their gadgets, vehicles, chemical formulations, and infernal weapons by filling out a simplified patent application (p. 214), adding to the immersion in this game. Castle Falkenstein makes a tremendous attempt to be immersive in many ways and several succeed. As for the claim on the back cover that this is both a novel and a game, I would definitely have to say that it succeeds as an intriguing game setting and rule document, but not so much as a novel.
June 9, 2018
Só não ganhou cinco estrelas por ser um livro de RPG com mecânicas horrorosas. Mas o resto é tão bom que foda-se.
Read
January 8, 2018Another Bundle of Holding bundle, and another kitchen sink game (like Rocket Age, where there were Nazis and dinosaurs and Martian war-walkers, etc.). Only here, the operating principle is Victorian gallantry, with steam punk and fairies, and also literary figures. So your dwarven investigator could drive up in a car to murder in Piccadilly Circus and meet Moriarty. That last bit feels like over-egging the pudding for me, but it's easy enough to cut out.
And the rest of the game is really fun (in theory, since I've never played) since it's a classic melodramatic setup: there's a good country (Bavaria), working with good fairies, trying to use good magic and technology, and then there's the bad kingdom (Prussia) working with the unseelie court and possibly using demonic energies. There's good inventors and bad inventors, good industrialists and bad industrialists. It's all very early pulp melodrama in that sense.
This bundle included a bunch of books beyond the core: a guide to fairies, magic, Victorian society, America, and da Vinci's great inventions. And the books themselves are organized interestingly, told all through a mix of fictional articles (about our hero's adventures in fairy) and sidebars of game mechanics. This is interesting, but it doesn't lead to a book that's easy to use (though I'm sure, as with all of these rulebooks, you get used to it), though they are full of flavor.
Which is just as well, because at this stage I can imagine tossing out the game system and just using the flavor. In fact, it might be possible to run a game in this world without really reading the books that closely: the high points are all well-worn tropes at this point, so any player should be able to fill in the details. (Like, no, you don't want the Wild Hunt on your trail.)
Lastly, as an artifact of its time -- 1995 -- these books take some time to describe the details of fairies or Victorian society that you could probably just find on Wikipedia now. But back then, rpg books used to be a major resource for this sort of material.
What do you do in this game? Probably play a variety of dashing and romantic heroes in melodramatic adventure and high court society shenanigans.
Am I excited by this game? It's a real lark.
What does this game offer that others don't? Ah, well, it was a pretty new premise when it came out.
What does this give me if I'm not going to play it? An interesting way of writing a game book, maybe?
And the rest of the game is really fun (in theory, since I've never played) since it's a classic melodramatic setup: there's a good country (Bavaria), working with good fairies, trying to use good magic and technology, and then there's the bad kingdom (Prussia) working with the unseelie court and possibly using demonic energies. There's good inventors and bad inventors, good industrialists and bad industrialists. It's all very early pulp melodrama in that sense.
This bundle included a bunch of books beyond the core: a guide to fairies, magic, Victorian society, America, and da Vinci's great inventions. And the books themselves are organized interestingly, told all through a mix of fictional articles (about our hero's adventures in fairy) and sidebars of game mechanics. This is interesting, but it doesn't lead to a book that's easy to use (though I'm sure, as with all of these rulebooks, you get used to it), though they are full of flavor.
Which is just as well, because at this stage I can imagine tossing out the game system and just using the flavor. In fact, it might be possible to run a game in this world without really reading the books that closely: the high points are all well-worn tropes at this point, so any player should be able to fill in the details. (Like, no, you don't want the Wild Hunt on your trail.)
Lastly, as an artifact of its time -- 1995 -- these books take some time to describe the details of fairies or Victorian society that you could probably just find on Wikipedia now. But back then, rpg books used to be a major resource for this sort of material.
What do you do in this game? Probably play a variety of dashing and romantic heroes in melodramatic adventure and high court society shenanigans.
Am I excited by this game? It's a real lark.
What does this game offer that others don't? Ah, well, it was a pretty new premise when it came out.
What does this give me if I'm not going to play it? An interesting way of writing a game book, maybe?
June 26, 2020
Castle Falkenstein was a fairly early genre mashup game, coming out in 1994, five years after Shadowrun. The genres being mashed together are victorian melodrama, the faerie courts, and an early version of steampunk.
The rules are lightweight for the era. The system uses a fairly standard difficulty number system that has to be compared to the character’s ability level plus the play of cards. The cards come from a regular deck of playing cards. The system takes advantage of the suits by tying every ability to a suit.
The system does a good job of recreating victorian melodrama and faerie legends, but that comes with problems. Victorian melodramas have a number of problematic tropes. The author does away with some of the extreme sexism present in the setting, giving female characters the ability to do anything that men can do (aside from being a dwarf, but that’s its own weirdness of the setting). That still leaves damsel in distress tropes, and threatening female characters with ‘fates worse than death.’ A more modern take on this system would hopefully include a discussion of how those tropes are problematic for many players and would hopefully include some form of X card safety rules.
Another problem is the large amount of mind control spells and devices. Two of the three faerie types recommended as PCs have mind controlling special abilities. That is going to be problematic for a large number of people.
The game also shows its age in how it shows the players pretty toys, but then says they can’t play with them. For example, PC sorcerers have to start out as beginning mages and can only become more powerful through play. There’s no way to start as an experienced mage. In a similar vein, dwarfs have to start without a last name, and have to earn it in play. In other words, they can’t start as important people.
This also manifests in the problem with so many games of the era of having iconic NPCs that can’t possibly be PCs without house ruling things, or at least not starting PCs. Auberon is a type of faerie that is unavailable for PCs to play. He’s a powerful sorcerer, but PC faeries can’t be sorcerers. Morrolan is a powerful human sorcerer, well above the power level of a starting PC sorcerer. Rhyme Enginemaster has earned his last name (albeit in the fluff part of the book), and has the ability to create sorcerous engines that PCs can never create themselves. Tom Olam is a traveler from our own world, an option not given to PC characters.
Games don’t need this kind of “Elminster” element anymore. They never really did. If you’re going for a heroic feel, then the PCs should be heroic, not sidekicks to NPCs that are far more capable. A good GM can fix this, but it shouldn’t need fixing.
The book itself is beautiful for the time. The first half is on semi-gloss pages and is full of the background of the setting. About half of it is in full color, still unusual at the time. The second half is in black and white on a vellum paper, and consists of the actual rules of the game. The first half has page references to the second half, which is a very nice touch that lets you easily look up rules for things you read about in the background material.
Sadly, two different kinds of paper bound in a perfect binding style that doesn’t use signatures is bound to result in pages coming loose. Pages in my copy started coming out on my second full read through (admittedly, that second read through was a quarter century after my first read through).
The mechanics feel a little clunky, with the need to calculate what one and a half times the base difficulty is to determine if a task is a full success or a partial one. Not super difficult, but it just feels a little clunky compared to more modern systems. The concept of partial and full successes is somewhat innovative. I can’t recall a system prior to this that used it.
I think if I ran this system today I’d be tempted to just use the setting and use Fate to run it, but the card mechanics could be fun to try out.
The game has advice for LARPing with the rules built into the core rules.
Overall, I think the game is interesting. I doubt I’ll run it any time soon, but if I’d had an active gaming group back when it first came out I probably would have pushed hard to play it.
The rules are lightweight for the era. The system uses a fairly standard difficulty number system that has to be compared to the character’s ability level plus the play of cards. The cards come from a regular deck of playing cards. The system takes advantage of the suits by tying every ability to a suit.
The system does a good job of recreating victorian melodrama and faerie legends, but that comes with problems. Victorian melodramas have a number of problematic tropes. The author does away with some of the extreme sexism present in the setting, giving female characters the ability to do anything that men can do (aside from being a dwarf, but that’s its own weirdness of the setting). That still leaves damsel in distress tropes, and threatening female characters with ‘fates worse than death.’ A more modern take on this system would hopefully include a discussion of how those tropes are problematic for many players and would hopefully include some form of X card safety rules.
Another problem is the large amount of mind control spells and devices. Two of the three faerie types recommended as PCs have mind controlling special abilities. That is going to be problematic for a large number of people.
The game also shows its age in how it shows the players pretty toys, but then says they can’t play with them. For example, PC sorcerers have to start out as beginning mages and can only become more powerful through play. There’s no way to start as an experienced mage. In a similar vein, dwarfs have to start without a last name, and have to earn it in play. In other words, they can’t start as important people.
This also manifests in the problem with so many games of the era of having iconic NPCs that can’t possibly be PCs without house ruling things, or at least not starting PCs. Auberon is a type of faerie that is unavailable for PCs to play. He’s a powerful sorcerer, but PC faeries can’t be sorcerers. Morrolan is a powerful human sorcerer, well above the power level of a starting PC sorcerer. Rhyme Enginemaster has earned his last name (albeit in the fluff part of the book), and has the ability to create sorcerous engines that PCs can never create themselves. Tom Olam is a traveler from our own world, an option not given to PC characters.
Games don’t need this kind of “Elminster” element anymore. They never really did. If you’re going for a heroic feel, then the PCs should be heroic, not sidekicks to NPCs that are far more capable. A good GM can fix this, but it shouldn’t need fixing.
The book itself is beautiful for the time. The first half is on semi-gloss pages and is full of the background of the setting. About half of it is in full color, still unusual at the time. The second half is in black and white on a vellum paper, and consists of the actual rules of the game. The first half has page references to the second half, which is a very nice touch that lets you easily look up rules for things you read about in the background material.
Sadly, two different kinds of paper bound in a perfect binding style that doesn’t use signatures is bound to result in pages coming loose. Pages in my copy started coming out on my second full read through (admittedly, that second read through was a quarter century after my first read through).
The mechanics feel a little clunky, with the need to calculate what one and a half times the base difficulty is to determine if a task is a full success or a partial one. Not super difficult, but it just feels a little clunky compared to more modern systems. The concept of partial and full successes is somewhat innovative. I can’t recall a system prior to this that used it.
I think if I ran this system today I’d be tempted to just use the setting and use Fate to run it, but the card mechanics could be fun to try out.
The game has advice for LARPing with the rules built into the core rules.
Overall, I think the game is interesting. I doubt I’ll run it any time soon, but if I’d had an active gaming group back when it first came out I probably would have pushed hard to play it.
September 7, 2020
I think this one deserves recognition for being influential, but personally I think it's just too messy and unfocused. It doesn't help that I own the Polish edition which is pretty poorly translated, which adds to my confusion about the rules, for example (I understood very little from the explanation of the basic mechanic).
The thing is, I already own all books from a series derivative of Falkenstein - the Polish RPG Wolsung. It has the benefit of being much more coherent, while being even richer in great ideas - most of which are, I think, more actionable in-game. There are not many reasons for me to keep Falkenstein in my collection now that I learned how similar - but, I would argue, inferior - it is to Wolsung.
It must've been a breath of fresh air those 25 years ago, but I'm just not sure it holds up.
The thing is, I already own all books from a series derivative of Falkenstein - the Polish RPG Wolsung. It has the benefit of being much more coherent, while being even richer in great ideas - most of which are, I think, more actionable in-game. There are not many reasons for me to keep Falkenstein in my collection now that I learned how similar - but, I would argue, inferior - it is to Wolsung.
It must've been a breath of fresh air those 25 years ago, but I'm just not sure it holds up.
April 15, 2024
The Princess Bride of tabletop RPGs (right down to author Mike Pondsmith casting himself as merely the editor of someone else's work), this is a remarkably effective marriage of presentation, atmosphere, subject matter, and gameplay. Full review: https://refereeingandreflection.wordp...
February 23, 2010
Mike Pondsmith's role-playing game of Steam, Magic, and Mayhem was ahead of its time. Thematically, this is one of the best roleplaying games ever written. Mechanically, it is a workable system -- but one that isn't for every gamer.
September 29, 2011
Loved this game! From the tie-in to alternate history ideas, to combining fantasy with the then emerging steampunk genre, it combined so many ideas in a unique and great way. Even the number generation usually done by dice, to be done by cards, because gentlemen don't play dice.
Still brilliant!
Still brilliant!
Want to read
April 12, 2008Lucked upon it in a local bookstore, in Israel!
Read
June 23, 2017Victorian Steampunk, magic and fairies? Seriously, what's not to love?
September 1, 2019
Probably my favourite RPG of all. It's been fun tio go back and re-read it after so long. This game was way ahead of its time, and its influences can be seen in a lot of newer games today.
Read
June 23, 2017Victorian Steampunk, magic, and fairies? What's not to love? This is a wonderful rpg book, though mine fell apart with so much use.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews