1994: Walker in the Wastes

1974 is an important year for the gaming hobby. It is the year that Dungeons & Dragons was introduced, the original RPG from which all other RPGs would ultimately be derived and the original RPG from which so many computer games would draw for their inspiration. It is fitting that the current owner of the game, Wizards of the Coast, released the new version, Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, in the year of the game’s fortieth anniversary, and the new edition of that, Dungeons & Dragons, 2024, in the year of the game’s fiftieth anniversary. To celebrate this, Reviews from R’lyeh will be running a series of reviews from the hobby’s anniversary years, thus there will be reviews from 1974, from 1984, from 1994, and from 2004—the thirtieth, twentieth, and tenth anniversaries of the titles. These will be retrospectives, in each case an opportunity to re-appraise interesting titles and true classics decades on from the year of their original release.

—oOo—

Walker in the Wastes is a campaign published by Pagan Publishing in 1994. It was the first of the three campaigns from the publisher, all of which would be designed and written by John H. Crowe III. Designed for use with Call of Cthulhu, Fifth Edition, it is a grand campaign in true Call of Cthulhu style, that will take the Investigators from arctic Canada to Alaska and beyond to the remotest part of northern Japan, New Jersey, and New York state, and from there to the North Pole, with a corollary that culminates in Iraq. It is an ambitious, bruising campaign that is well organised and supported, but which is best run by an experienced Keeper and best played with players who have some experience of Call of Cthulhu under their belts. There is a Pulp sensibility to the campaign in that it involves flight and airships, but Walker in the Wastes is not a Pulp-style campaign. Further, it differs in terms of set-up, rationale, and radically, in terms of the Great Old One the Investigators will face and the plans of the cultists devoted to him, that they must thwart. This is Ithaqua, the ‘Death-Walker’ or ‘Wind-Walker’, a Great Old One who has appeared in many a scenario for Call of Cthulhu, especially rural or wilderness scenarios, but only once, here in the pages of Walker in the Wastes has he been of the subject of a campaign. Running from Saturday, 10th November 1928 to Sunday, 21st December, 1930 (and beyond), Walker in the Wastes details the attempts by the Cult of Ithaqua to fly from various points around the world and congregate at the North Pole where the cult will free its master from the Temple of the Winds in which the Elder Gods bound the Great Old One in times beyond imagining.

“In 1848 the Franklin Expedition vanished in the ice searching for the Northwest Passage. Eighty years later, you and your associates travel to Northern Canada to research the disaster - and find yourselves launched in a globe-spanning race to defeat the terrible god of the icy wastes. Hundreds of hours of research have gone into creating the most realistic 1920s campaign ever. Japanese gangsters, Iraqi archaeological digs, secret airships, and a legend older than humanity serve to challenge even the most experienced of CoC players. Walker in the Wastes is a huge campaign of discovery and horror, and is suggested for experienced Keepers.”

—Back cover blurb, Walker in the Wastes, Pagan Publishing, 1994

Walker in the Wastes has a strict set-up that means that as campaign it cannot easily be run with Investigator types typically found in Call of Cthulhu. Here they are anthropologists, archaeologists, artists and photographers, botanists, geologists, physicians, and zoologists, as well as guides, employed by the University of Toronto and the Canadian government to live and work on a base in the Arctic in the Northwest Territories. This is on the Adelaide Peninsula, near King William Island. This is near the location of some of the remains of members of the Franklin Expedition, the British Royal Navy’s infamous expedition to discover the Northwest Passage which disappeared in 1848. Now unlike the back cover blurb of the campaign suggests, the expedition is not stationed on the Adelaide Peninsula to specifically investigate the remains of the Franklin Expedition. This does not mean that the expedition and its fate will not play a role in the campaign, but rather it is not and should not be the focus of the campaign.

The campaign itself opens with a prologue, ‘The Dead of Winter’. Set in November 1928, the Investigators have already been on Adelaide Peninsula for over a year and the only excitement to date has been the rescue attempt of the crew of the Italia, a second polar airship commanded by the Italian explorer, Umberto Nobile. This changes when two of their fellow expedition members return to the base with the frozen corpses of two Inuit men, both badly mauled. What got their interest is that it is clear that neither man was attacked by a wolf or polar bear. Could they have been attacked by an unknown Arctic predator? Talking with the local Inuit reveals that they believe that the creature responsible for the deaths is a supernatural creature known as a ‘Yiige’, which has awakened to hunt again after many years dormant. Pushing for further information reveals that two particular clans might know more, the Red Caribou clan and the Blue Seal clan, but that the Blue Seal clan attacked the Red Caribou clan recently and all but wiped it out! Taking an active interest in either clan will push the story forward and lead to further discoveries. Most obviously that there is a monster lose on the ice—the dread Gnoph-Keh—and that despite what the rational, scientific minds of the Investigators would believe, that magic is real. The latter discovery is important as it will open up the minds of the Investigators later in the campaign as to the scope of what they face and potentially, prepare them to arm themselves with that magic to use against the cult and its plans.

‘The Dead of Winter’ will end in a chilly confrontation in the snow and ice of King William Island with the vile Blue Seal clan and the awful Gnoph-Keh. The nature of the environment and the advantages that the Blue Seal clan and the Gnoph-Keh have as compared to those of the Investigators make the scenario quite a physical challenge. Defeating both does not mark the end of the expedition, nor necessarily the very end of the scenario. There are some loose ends to wrap up, but otherwise, ‘The Dead of Winter’ could actually be run as a scenario all by itself, without the need to run the full campaign. However, where would the fun be in that? What it does do, is lay the groundwork for what is come and open the eyes of both the players and their Investigators as to the dangers to come.

The campaign proper begins with ‘Into the Realm of the Wind-walker’ after the Investigators have returned to Toronto. Having completed their reports and debriefings for their employer, the Investigators are approached by Doctor Alfred Barrowman, an archaeologist, who has heard reports of a creature similar to the one encountered by the Investigators and worshiped by local cultists, but in Alaska. He wants to hire them and join him on an expedition to investigate. Amidst tales of missing hunters and surveyors and government disinterest, the Investigators will likely make an amazing scientific discovery and come across the first hints that what they encountered in Canada was not an isolated situation. The big questions are, why there is a secret air base deep in the Alaskan forest and what are its highly armed occupants planning to do their aircraft? By the end of this investigation, the Investigators should have learned that the cult has many branches, that December 1930 is an important date to the cult, and that all of the major branches are preparing to fly to the North Pole for this date. The Investigators will also have gained Doctor Barrowman as sponsor, thus funding their efforts to save the world.

At this point, Walker in the Wastes opens up and the Investigators can tackle any of the newly discovered locations—the Kurile Islands in Japan and Camden, New Jersey, back in the USA—in any order. Unlike in Alaska, where government indifference and lack of awareness combined with the isolated location of the cult’s base make it relatively easy to deal with, the sites in Japan and the USA are much harder to deal with. The Kurile Islands are isolated, but the Investigators face a language barrier, a government with a distrust of foreigners that has also been bought off, and a nearby Japanese naval base. Conversely, the base in Camden, New Jersey is in a public location, a shipyard on the Delaware River across from Philadelphia. Further, the airship being constructed there and the expedition to the North Pole are both public knowledge and sponsored by the United States Navy, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Howard Hughes! Of course, the involvement of the cult is not. Although the situations and the challenges are different for each base, the Investigators are essentially attempting the same thing each time. Finding out about the base, scouting the base, infiltrating the base, and ultimately, finding a way to sabotage the activities of the cult and the aeroplanes and airships its members are building. One of the discoveries that the Investigator will probably make in the Camden, New Jersey base is that the cult has a fifth, secret base, this time in Camden, New York state! Its secret nature makes it easier to tackle than the bases for Camden, New Jersey and the Kurile Islands.

Ultimately, the Investigators will join in the flight by the cultists to the North Pole for the Winter Solstice of 1930 where the Temple of the Winds will manifest and they will attempt to break the Great Seal inside which has kept Ithaqua from doing no more than visiting the world’s northern climes for aeons. This has the scope to be a grand, bruising finale, on a scale with the Rising of the Island of R’lyeh in The Shadows of Yog-Sothoth—with the Investigators facing multiple, often well-armed cultists—both in terms of materiel and magic. There is the possibility of aerial combat too if the Investigators have armed their means of transport. If the Investigators travel via King William Island, there is the possibility that as they travel north, they make a startling discovery—the Erebus and the Terror—the two lost vessels from the Franklin Expedition. Should they land and investigate, this leads to a memorable encounter aboard the Erebus (as depicted on the front cover) and although optional, this is a pleasing callback to the Investigators’ original expedition as detailed in the prologue.

Although it may seem that the campaign ends with the thwarting of the cult’s plans and ideally, the prevention of the cult’s attempt to break the Great Seal in the Temple of the Winds and free Ithaqua, it is only a pre-climax to Walker in the Wastes. Having stopped an attempt once, the focus of the campaign switches to finding a more permanent solution. One of the aspects of Walker in the Wastes is that air gods are found in multiple pantheons in cultures around the world, some of which appear in the campaign and seen as avatars of Ithaqua. One of these is Enill, the Sumerian and Babylonian ‘storm god’ and ‘chief demon’ who was in possession of the Tablets of Destiny. If they are real and if they can be found, perhaps their reputed great powers can be used to prevent the cult from returning to the Temple of the Winds and making further attempts to break the Great Seal? Unfortunately, the cult is also aware of the existence of the Tablets of Destiny and not only wants to obtain them to prevent from falling into the Investigators’ possession, but also to use them to its own ends.

Where Walker in the Wastes was a race to prevent the Cult of Ithaqua from getting to the North Pole and the Temple of the Winds, now it becomes a race to find, study, and utilise the Tablets of Destiny. If the race to the North Pole was dangerous because the environments and the dedication of the cultists, it now becomes deadly as the cultists possess a hatred of the Investigators and more readily and openly move against them. Previously, the cult was more careful, not wanting to bring attention to itself and its plans, which were, of course, its true focus. The points to the nature of the Cult of Ithaqua and its members. Most are devoted members and fervently want to see Ithaqua freed, but they are not evil per se and do not wish mankind great ill. Of course, by any standards, they are all insane, and of course, there are members, such as the infamous Reinhold Blair (named after the late artist, Blair Reynolds), who are actually evil and he in particular, will take great delight in enacting his revenge upon the Investigators and their associates (if he still lives by then).

Thematically and mechanically, this switch in the campaign is challenging, since its focus changes from northern climes and the Arctic and the often-physical difficulties posed, to warmer environs and a more traditional style of Call of Cthulhu that Investigators may not be suited to if they have survived thus far. One skill required here is the ability to read Sumerian Cuneiform and unless there is replacement Investigator at any point after the Investigators were at the North Pole, they will have to rely on a translator. (One is provided, but he is old, doddery, and incredibly cantankerous. Great for the Keeper to roleplay, but only adding to the Investigators’ woes.) In true classic Call of Cthulhu style, the Investigators have the opportunity to conduct research at the British Museum in London and learn what they can about Ancient Mesopotamia. Obtaining the Tablets of Destiny will potentially involve a trip to a cult-sponsored dig in Iraq and if the Investigators failed at the North Pole, a terrible encounter with Ithaqua, and to the current resting place of the Tablets of Destiny in southern Turkey. Here, there is likely to be tussle between the Investigators and the cultists for possession of the artefacts, spoiled potentially by the obvious interest of the Turkish government, but more likely by the presence of an ancient Serpentman sorcerer entombed at the same location and who is likely to be awoken by the digging at the site.

‘Day of Reckoning’, the actual climax to Walker in the Wastes takes place in British Columbia, back in Canada. Here the likelihood is that the cultists have possession of the Tablets of Destiny given their muscle and the Investigators will have chased back across the Atlantic and North America. There the Investigators have a chance to foil the Cult of Ithaqua once again—and if not permanently—then long enough for almost nobody alive in 1930 to worry about… (That said, if the climate suddenly gets a lot colder from December 2031 onwards…) It does involve making a terrible moral choice though, one that in some ways makes the Investigators as bad as the cultists, but for the greater good…?

Walker in the Wastes includes three separate scenarios, interludes intended as red herrings. ‘Chirihoi’ takes place in Japan and is set on the island of the same name, and is intended to distract the Investigators whilst they investigate the cult’s base in the Kurile Islands and ‘The Osbrook House’ is a supposed haunted house mystery set in Camden, New Jersey. Neither has any connection to the campaign’s main plot and certainly in the case of ‘The Osbrook House’ feel out of place as part of the campaign. The third interlude, ‘The Monolith’, is connected to the campaign—if only slightly—and is an actual red herring. It does involve a cult dedicated to Ithaqua and is a classic rural cult Call of Cthulhu scenario set in Scotland.

Walker in the Wastes is incredibly well supported. The campaign is given a good overview and the aims and motivations of the Cult of Ithaqua is clearly explained and accompanied by good advice. The resources include details of the Wind-Walker, his associated magics—many of which the Investigators have an opportunity to learn, an examination of Ithaqua in multiple different cultures and his role as a god of the air, associated legends, a guide to the Inuit and Inuit mysticism (which is treated with respect), the Arctic environment and survival in the region, and airships and aerial combat. There are then new spells such as Banish Gnoph-Keh and Chill of the Wendigo, and new skills like Boating, Botany, Cartography, Forensics, and Land Navigation and Sea/Air Navigation. Plus, there is background to the Franklin Expedition, which of course, is what would have been as much as was known about its fate in 1994.

Every chapter and scenario includes an introduction and an outline at the start and a list of Sanity rewards and penalties along with the NPC stats at the end. In between, each chapter or scenario is well presented and organised and accompanied with advice as needed. Rounding out Walker in the Wastes is a Miscellany of ‘Player Aids’ which collates all of the campaign’s handouts, though not all of the maps. Indeed, the campaign is lacking versions of many of the maps suitable for the Keeper to give to her players. There is also a lengthy bibliography which showcases how deep the research the author conducted in creating the campaign. Lastly, an engaging afterword by the author explains how the campaign came to be and how it was developed and written.

Physically Walker in the Wastes looks amazing. The campaign is well written and presented, the maps clear and easy to use, and there is a good index at the end. However, the artwork is incredible, black and white, but reversed shadows, giving the campaign a twilight look of foreboding and distrust.

—oOo—

Walker in the Wastes was not extensively reviewed at the time of its release. It was a ‘Pyramid Pick’ by Scott Haring in Pyramid Number 12 (March/April 1995). He said, “You don’t know when a Pagan product  is going to come out, but when it does, you’re usually in for a treat.” before continuing, “Walker in the Wastes is certainly no exception. A massive 200+ page book, Walker is the first major campaign for CoC that Pagan has ever published. Author John Crowe claims that four years of writing and research went into Walker, and it shows. Walker in the Wastes immediately zooms to the top of the list as one of the finest Call of Cthulhu campaigns ever produced.”

Earl P. Thatony (surely a pseudonym) reviewed it in ‘Reviews’ in Shadis Issue #26 (April 1996). He warned that, “Player need to keep sharp, think about what’s going on, and ask the right questions or they’ll get nowhere. There are some vexing (and possibly deadly) red herrings waiting for them, and even the best groups might, and even the beat groups might get tripped up. The GM needs to be top of things as well. There are several warnings in the introductory pages about the complexity of the scenario and the need for the GM to not just read, but study the campaign. These warnings need to be taken to heart, but rest assured the effort will pay off.” However, he concluded on a positive note, saying, “Walker in the Wastes is an amazing product. It’s organised, tremendously well-researched, engrossing, and fun to read. Anyone interested in running a mega campaign is advised to take a closer look at it, as it’s a fantastic example of how to do a project right. For the GM and players who are willing to spend the time it provide months of entertainment.”

—oOo—

Walker in the Wastes is great campaign, with a grandeur that showcases both what a highly thematic campaign can be like and the potential of Ithaqua as global threat as never before. At times, with its themes of the Arctic and aeronautics, it can feel Pulpy, but it never lets up on the brutality of the story and the awful aims of the cultists, who with a few notable exceptions, are portrayed as human beings rather than monsters. Above all, Walker in the Wastes is a demanding campaign, for both the Keeper and her players, requiring a great of deal of preparation upon the part of the former and some adjustment in play style from the latter. There are some great moments in the campaign, such as the battle in the snow against the Blue Seal clan, the flight to the North Pole, the return of Ithaqua to Mesopotamia should the Investigators have failed at the Temple of the Winds, and that last, final, agonising choice… Throughout, Keeper and player alike will be challenged by Walker in the Wastes from start to finish, and if their Investigators succeed, they will have done something truly heroic and had an incredible experience doing so.

—oOo—

Sadly, Walker in the Wastes is a lost campaign. It has been out of print for over two decades and is currently unlikely to be reprinted or made available in electronic format.

1994: The Whispering Vault

1974 is an important year for the gaming hobby. It is the year that Dungeons & Dragons was introduced, the original RPG from which all other RPGs would ultimately be derived and the original RPG from which so many computer games would draw for their inspiration. It is fitting that the current owner of the game, Wizards of the Coast, released the new version, Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, in the year of the game’s fortieth anniversary, and the new edition of that, Dungeons & Dragons, 2024, in the year of the game’s fiftieth anniversary. To celebrate this, Reviews from R’lyeh will be running a series of reviews from the hobby’s anniversary years, thus there will be reviews from 1974, from 1984, from 1994, and from 2004—the thirtieth, twentieth, and tenth anniversaries of the titles. These will be retrospectives, in each case an opportunity to re-appraise interesting titles and true classics decades on from the year of their original release.

—oOo—

In your life, you came to realise the truth of the world. You saw beyond the five senses. Your world, our world, was the Realm of Flesh, woven together by the physical laws to provide form and substance. As one of the Enlightened you learned that there was another plane of existence in parallel that was free of those laws. This is the Realm of Essence. Between the Realm of Flesh and the Realm of Essence lies the Neitherspace, home to hordes of the creatures known as Shadows who desire to interact with both the Realm of Flesh and the Realm of Essence. The Shadows are ever watching the Realm of Flesh and there are those that would force their way into the Realm of Flesh. Some play a role in the lives of Man. They are called Awakened Shadows and they are dangerous for they do not think like us. Some to fulfil their alien passions. They are called the Unbidden and they are worse. They awaken Shadows and bind them to physical vessels as Minions. To the ordinary man and woman unlucky enough to encounter them, they are the monsters of myth and legend. As an Enlightened, you knew better. You dedicated your life to investigating their doings and to protecting the Realm of Flesh from their intrusions. And then you were Chosen. The Stalkers came for you, freeing you of your physical bonds, forging your Humanity into Five Keys, and giving you a gift from the Primal Powers. This is the Immortal Essence to serve as a Stalker. Combined with your mortal origins you have the ability to return to Realm of Flesh, your duty to protect its inhabitants from the Unbidden and mend the Enigma left behind by the Unbidden’s absence that if left unattended, will spread corruption that will infect the Realm of Flesh and more…

This is the set-up for The Whispering Vault, a horror roleplaying game published by Pariah Press in 1994. (A prerelease was published in limited numbers for Gen Con in 1993). In classic nineties style, the Player Characters are monsters, but monsters with mortal origins and attitudes whose understanding of mankind and their world, enables them to better protect the Realm of Flesh in their new form as they once did in their original flesh. As Stalkers, they exist beyond the Realm of Flesh, each residing in their own Domain the nature of which reflects what they were and did in life. When they return to the Realm of Flesh, their Avatar is woven into a Vessel, the Vessel hiding the oddly inhuman or horrific form that their Avatar takes. The search for the Unbidden—called a Hunt—can take a Stalker anywhere, so there is scope for a scenario in The Whispering Vault to be set anywhere and anywhen, the roleplaying game possessing a time travel element. The fact that The Whispering Vault has monsters entering different time periods via a body that can be rewoven each time creating a different body almost makes the roleplaying game sound like, ‘Quantum Leap with monsters hunting monsters’.

There is a duality to the Player Character or Stalker in The Whispering Vault, reflected in his Avatar and his Vessel. First though, a player must decide what his Stalker did during his mortal existence. This involves determining where and when he was born, who he was and how he lived, why he hunted the Unseen, and how he was recruited as one of the Chosen. Then he decides upon his Avatar, what he looks like as one of the Chosen, reflecting what he looked like in life, but still obviously supernatural, and his Domain, where his Avatar resides. The Avatar has four Attributes—Awareness, Insight, Presence, and Willpower—which range in value between three and seven, with ratings of four and five being seen as reliable. The Avatar has a number of Disciplines, special powers taught by the Primal Powers for the Stalkers to wield in the Realm of Flesh against the Unbidden and their servants. For example, ‘Conjure’ enables an Avatar to create small objects, ‘Dominate’ gives them mind control, and ‘Savage’ to inflict more damage in melee combat. It is possible to gain Mastery in a Discipline and gain access to wider powers and the ability to improvise with Inspirations. When on a Hunt, a Stalker can summon phantoms of Essence to serve him. For example, ‘Chronovores’ slow mortals, ‘Flits’ reduce the damage from ranged attacks, and ‘Rippers’ tear the Husks off Minions. A Vessel’s Attributes are physical—Dexterity, Fortitude, and Strength—and range in value between three and six, but can be more.

A Stalker has Five Keys, both symbols of his Office and his connection to the Realm of Flesh, granting him his powers, whilst anchoring him to what he was. The Five Keys are either Virtues, Flaws, or Memories, and a Stalker has at least one each. They are also a physical object that can be stolen and without them, a Stalker cannot use Karma or his powers. If someone else holds his Five Keys, a Stalker cannot directly act against them.

To create his Stalker, a player divides twenty-two points between the four attributes of the Avatar. Selects a number of Disciplines equal to the Avatar’s Awareness, and a number of Servitors equal to his Presence. Summoning a Servitor inflicts damage on a Stalker, unless he has Mastery in doing so. It is recommended that a player select a Servitor in which his Avatar has Mastery so that it can be brought into play without damaging him. He assigns points equal to the Avatar’s Willpower to the three physical attributes of his Vessel. Lastly, he defines the Five Keys for his Stalker. It is suggested that initially, the player defines only a few of these. The process is not difficult, but it involves making a fair number of choices, a process hampered, if only a little, by the terminology used in The Whispering Vault.

NAME: ‘Cagliostro’

When And Where Were You Born?

I was born in Lancashire in 1936

Who Were You And How Did You Live?

I was Harold ‘Harry’ Rawllins. I worked at the theatres as a mind reader. I read people. I was a fake.

Why Did You Hunt The Unseen?

I read someone who was not normal, evil even, and turned out to be something not human, but looked like it. I knew I had to stop him. There were more.

How Were You Recruited?

I encountered others like me, who could see beyond.

Domain: A replica of the Lancaster Grand Theatre

FIVE KEYS

Virtuous: Courage

Flaws: Pride

Memories: The applause of the audience

AVATAR

Awareness 6 Insight 5 Presence 6 Willpower 5

Disciplines: Delve (Mastery), Dominate, Foresight, Terrify, Ward

Servitors: Dreadwyrms, Ferretters, Glamours (Mastery), Gremlins, Trackers

VESSEL

Dexterity 5 Fortitude 4 Strength 4

Skills

Attack +2, Charm +6, Defend +2, Mask +4, Mend +2, Occultism +2, Prestidigitation (Focus) +4, Sensitivity +4

Vitality 10

Karma 5

Mechanically, The Whispering Vault is simple. To have his Stalker undertake an action, his player makes a Challenge Roll. The Difficulty of the Challenge ranges from Routine and eight to Very Hard and eighteen, and it can be altered by modifiers from ‘-4’ and Routine to ‘+5’ and Very Hard. The player rolls a number of six-sided dice equal to the Attribute being used and counts either the highest result on a single die or the highest total of the matching dice. To this total is added the value of an appropriate skill. A point of Karma can be spent to reroll any dice.

For example, Cagliostro and his Circle of Stalkers is tracking an Unbidden which is preying on wealthy widows. He has used his Trackers to locate it at a country house where a party is being held. He decides to enter the house via the tradesman’s entrance. There is a member of staff on duty at the door, preventing those without permission from entering. Cagliostro’s player describes how he has been booked as the entertainment for the evening. The Game Master sets the Difficulty at Average or twelve, but applies an Easy modifier because the comings and goings make the staff member a little harassed. So, the Difficulty is reduced to ten. Cagliostro’s player will roll six dice for his Presence Attribute and apply his Charm skill. He rolls two, two, three, six, six, and six. This is an incredible roll and with the addition of his Charm skill, gives a final result of twenty-four! The Game Master rules that the staff member accepts everything that Cagliostro says and further, accepts the other members of his Circle as part of his troupe and directs other members of staff to help them inside.

Combat uses the same mechanics, but The Whispering Vault eschews the use of hard and fast rules for things like range modifiers, recoil, and reload times. Instead, conflicts are intended to be run as a narrative told by both the players and the Game Master, and both are encouraged to roleplay such situations. Where actions require resolution, Challenge Rolls are made, but to resolve an attack the Stalker makes an Attack Challenge against his opponent’s Defend Attribute, and to defend himself, a Stalker makes a Defend Challenge against his opponent’s Attack Attribute. Effectively then, in this, The Whispering Vault is player-facing in its mechanics—and player-facing in its mechanics a good twenty years before it became fashionable with designs such as Numenera.

However, The Whispering Vault actually pays more attention to the damage inflicted rather than the inflicting it. The emphasis is placed on melee rather than ranged damage since Shadows and the Unbidden take less damage from ranged damage. The base damage for a Stalker is based on his Strength Attribute, modified by the Savage and Rend Disciplines, and a player is expected to be inventive in how his Stalker actually attacks his opponents based on the Stalker he has created. The example given is a Stalker shooting chains from its eyes (so very Hellraiser, one of likely inspirations for the roleplaying game), but Cagliostro could shoot out streams of magic scarfs or throw playing cards or use magic rings to entangle and rip. In general, a Stalker relies on its own intrinsic weapons and those abilities granted by Disciplines rather than wielding weapons of the Mortals, and unless he has an appropriate Focus Skill, suffers an attack penalty when using them. Damage suffered by a Stalker (and other supernatural beings) is divided by his Fortitude Attribute before it reduces his Vitality, but once his Vitality is reduced to zero, the damage reduces his other Attributes. Which Attributes are reduced is up to the player, but if a Stalker’s Fortitude is reduced to zero, he is killed. In general, Stalkers are sturdier than Mortals, and there is a cap on the amount of damage that they can inflict on Stalkers, whereas Mortals are easier to kill. A Shadow can be damaged enough to destroy its flesh and force it back into the Neitherspace, whilst Unbidden needs to have its much weaker Vessel destroyed, forcing it to reveal its true, and much stronger, form.

The core of The Whispering Vault is its Disciplines which grant Stalkers to alter the Realm of Flesh. Some are more powerful than others, weakening the Vessel they reside and costing them points of Vitality. If a Stalker has Mastery in a Discipline, then he can improvise further uses of it, called Inspirations, his player describing the desired effect and the Game Master adjudicating it. Using an Inspiration costs Karma, but the Game Master can simply disallow an inspiration, nor does she have to explain why it does not work, the book suggesting that she tell that, “…[t]he Dream can only be stretched so far.” (The Dream being how the Primal Powers envision the Realm of Flesh.) Honestly, it would have been better to have the player and Game Master negotiate on the effects rather than the latter simply saying no. If successful, the player is encouraged to describe how the Inspiration works and similarly visualise and describe how the supernatural abilities of the Disciplines appear, as if they were special effects in a film. The Inspiration guidelines are underwritten and the advice could have been better.

Servitors are given a similar description as Disciplines. A Servitor costs Vitality to summon, and requires the use of the Evoke skill, but cannot be seen by those unable to see Essence. Some are less useful than others, such as ‘Cloudlings’ that absorb moisture from the air only to release it as a rainstorm later, but others like ‘Gremlins’ disrupt machinery and devices, ‘Flits’ that intercept ranged attacks, and ‘Devourers’ that consume nonliving matter. Much like the Discipline descriptions, the Servitors are often underwritten in terms of what they can do and are open to no little degree of interpretation. In the right hands, this can grant a lot of flexibility, but in the wrong hands, is potentially open to abuse. Conversely, the skills are better described and clearer in their use.

The Whispering Vault is played as a series of Hunts. A Hunt consists of a number of steps, which begin with the Stalkers being contacted by a mortal Supplicant—effectively what the Player Characters were before they became Stalkers—who is endangered by an Enigma. The Stalkers are transported to the Realm of Flesh by the Navigators, which bridge Flesh and Essence, via the Winding Path along which is a Barrier through which they have to pass, dismissing the Barrier’s Guardian to do so. Once in the Realm of Flesh, they enter their Vessels and look for the Enigma and Mend it, then search for the Unbidden and its Minions. They must be defeated, the Unbidden bound, judgement passed upon it, and after calling the Navigators to return them and their quarry to the Realm of Essence, banish the Unbidden into the ‘Whispering Vault’ of the title. There are some variations to this, depending primarily on the age of the Navigator summoned, as the mature ‘Old One’ Navigators can manifest a guide to help and interact with the Stalkers as they follow the path, but can also be infested with parasites that will likely attack the Stalkers.

Of course, the Game Master need not run her players and their Stalkers through all of the steps of Hunt every time she runs The Whispering Vault. In a one-shot certainly, but for long term play, perhaps the first two Hunts and then after that when it is part of the story. At each step, The Whispering Vault expands upon its weirder, wider universe, for example, should an Enigma not be mended, corruption will grow and grow until the affected area becomes one of the Shadowlands and is shifted into the Neitherspace. The primary cause of an Enigma is an Unbidden, and once that has been dealt with—defeated and bound—Enigmas can be repaired, so that Shadowlands can be interesting places in which to locate a Hunt. This is because Shadowlands are also temporally isolated and free of the constraints of the Dream, which means that the Stalkers do not have to worry about revealing themselves unnecessarily, but also allows free reign for the Unbidden to indulge in its passions.

When on a Hunt, the Stalkers are protected by the Veil, meaning that anyone unable to see or is sensitive to them and other creatures of Essence, will ignore their horrifying appearance or supernatural actions. A Stalker can shift from the Veil slightly by Masking, or casting an illusion on himself, appearing as that much more impressive, or he can even drop the Veil and reveal his true form for full effect. This is rare because Stalkers are expected to adhere to the Forbiddance to protect the Dream. Under the terms of the Forbiddance, the Stalkers cannot alter time and affect the lives of mortals unnecessarily—meaning effectively, protect the innocent and target the Minions of the Unbidden. There are consequences for breaking the Forbidden, right up to the Primal Powers interceding and destroying a Stalker’s Vessel and returning him to his Domain. A player is given the opportunity to undo an action that would lead to such an Intercession, but repeated actions that lead to further Intercessions will see the Stalker cast into the Whispering Vault (and thus out of the campaign).

After a Hunt, a Stalker can be awarded Karma and Experience Points. The latter are obviously spent to improve the Stalker, but another option is to purchase Group Powers. Every member of a Circle must agree to it and in narrative terms, the Circle needs to have gained the approval of the Primal Powers. They are expensive too, costing five Karma each. For example, ‘Blood Bond’ lets the members of a Circle share their Vitality with each other, whilst ‘Helping hand’ grants them bonuses on combined actions, typically for Banishing, Binding, Evocation, and Mending. If a Circle does exceptionally well, it may even be awarded a Group Power.

The campaign advice is more about the Group Powers than the help on running the game or campaigns, although there is the suggestion of a ‘Watchers’ style in which the Stalkers sit on a hotspot where places and periods of history invite the intrusion and presence of the Unbidden. This requires more effort upon the part of both the Game Master and her players to set up, but gives the Stalkers a base of operations—or Sanctum—within the Realm of Flesh. The rules cover the creation of the Sanctum, which can have its own Enchantments, but as interesting as this possible set-up is, there is no real advice on how to run such a campaign.

Roughly, the last third of The Whispering Vault is dedicated to the threats that the Stalkers will face, primarily the Unbidden. An actually has a life stage once it has reached the Realm of Flesh, beginning as Beast which has an overwhelming desire to hunt and eat. Once sated, it is free to indulge in the Passions which drove it to enter the Realm of Flesh, and when it transcends these Passions, it becomes an Architect, concerned with long term plans for its continued existence in the Realm of Flesh. Thus, there are different types of Unbidden with different actions and drives, which will affect the challenges that the Stalkers will face on a Hunt. Unbidden also have their own special abilities, enabling the Game Master to design and customise her own. There is also what is a guide to creating Shadows, and effectively of bestiary of them, including some very nasty, creepy creations, such the three-limbed, cameras-for eyes Rethrett, or ‘Cameramen’, which lurk in television sets and record your actions, except in Great Britain where they are repulsed by the BBC! Lastly, there is a guide to mortal threats, including a sample cult or two and some sample Stalkers.

Physically, The Whispering Vault is an amazing looking book. It is superbly illustrated from start to finish, with black and white, sometimes scratchy artwork that imparts a sense of horrifying weirdness. The book is both well written and not well written. There main text is accompanied by decent game world fiction and plenty of examples, but it uses a lot of odd terminology and obfuscatory phrasing, constantly leaving the reader to wonder quite what a term means, so that despite mechanical simplicity, the game is not as easy as it should be to learn or teach. It does not help that there is no index or actually, worse, no glossary.

—oOo—

William Spencer-Hale reviewed The Whispering Vault in ‘Closer Look’ in Shadis Issue #14 (July/August 1994). He described the roleplaying game as, “…[A]n outstanding accomplishment for designer/author Mike Nystul…” and its set-up of having the players roleplay, “…[T]he otherworldly, immortal protectors of human’s reality.” as “…[A]n original and inspired creation that is a breath of fresh air in the roleplaying industry.” He concluded his positive review by saying, “All in all, The Whispering Vault is a game worthy of the attention of any fan of horror roleplaying. This game is a welcome addition to any library and, out of all the roleplaying materials that I own, this is one that I will actually enjoy playing.”

It is traditional in many of these cases for Dragon Magazine to review a roleplaying game not once, but twice. So it is with The Whispering Vault in the pages of Dragon Magazine, both times by Lester Smith. In ‘Role-playing Reviews’ in Dragon Magazine Issue #208 (August 1994), he reviewed the ‘Black Book’ pre-release edition released at the previous Gen Con and praised the roleplaying game’s “powerful new mythology” and said, “A strong atmosphere of brooding horror and heroic action is conveyed by the text, from vocabulary created, to creatures described, to setting depicted.” He noted that that there were things missing from this edition of the roleplaying game, such as the description of the Shape-changing skill (called the Morph Discipline in the first edition), details of the Five Keys, and so on. Before awarding The Whispering Vault a score of four out of six, he concluded, “From the taste given in this black book edition, I definitely recommend this game for anyone who likes heroic horror. It is one of the most inventive treatments of the subject I have yet encountered.”

Lester Smith followed up his initial review with one of the first edition in ‘Role-playing Reviews’ in Dragon Magazine Issue #217 (May 1995). He was as congratulatory in this review as he was in his previous review, launching it with, “I hope it won’t sound audacious for me to say that I think the CoC RPG finds its match in the WHISPERING VAULT* game.” He continued with, “The book’s presentation is excellent, nearly flawless… The attitude projected by both text and art is uniformly dark, brooding, and extremely strange. The end result is a virtually seamless presentation of Nystul’s vision of horror (except for Talon, a sample PC at the very back of the book, whose premise and art I didn’t think fit the rest in the original book, and who seems even more out of place in this version; but hey, that’s only one character sheet). And that unique vision is both shockingly strange and yet universal in scope.” Smith concluded his second review by awarding The Whispering Vault six out of six and saying, “This product is pure, distilled horror, with some of the most concise yet effective mechanics ever published; its relative slimness simply means that you’ll digest the game more quickly initially, and reference it more easily during play.”

Rick Swan would echo Lester Smith’s praise for The Whispering Vault in ‘Role-playing Reviews’ in Dragon Magazine Issue #218 (June 1995). In his review of Dangerous Prey, the first supplement for the roleplaying game, he said, “What’s WHISPERING VAULT, you ask? Only one of the smartest, spookiest horror RPGs that ever clawed its way from a crypt.”

William Spencer-Hale also reviewed The Whispering Vault a second time, but the second time would be as a ‘Pyramid Pick’ in Pyramid Vol. 1 #10 (November/December, 1994) and with exactly the same review. It can be found here.

Continuing the trend for double review reviews, The Whispering Vault was also reviewed twice in White Wolf Magazine. First was by Sam Chupp in ‘Capsule Reviews’ in White Wolf Magazine Issue 40 (February, 1994), who said of the ‘Black Book’ pre-release edition, “It would be easy to write this game off as “Call of Cthulhu with Super Powers,” but Mike Nystul’s game of supernatural hunters is a much deeper, much more artistic roleplaying game than that. You play angelic/demonic agents who hunt down the horrors that escape your level of reality.” before awarding it a score of four out of five and concluding, “The Whispering Vault will appeal to you if you like horror- or superhero-style games, but I think you’ll enjoy the elegance, uniqueness and atmosphere of the game even if you don’t play those games. 1 heartily recommend The Whispering Vault, prototype that it is.”

The second review appeared in White Wolf Magazine Issue 44 (June, 1994) and was a ‘Featured Review’ by none other than William Spencer-Hale. As with his review in Pyramid Vol. 1 #10, it was the exact same review as he had published in Shadis Issue #14.

—oOo—

The Whispering Vault looks and feels like a classic roleplaying game of the nineties, similar to that of Vampire: the Masquerade and Kult. It has the Player Characters as monsters battling other monsters, it has its own mythology that explains the universe and what the monsters really are, and it has fantastic artwork from some of the best artists of the period— Jeff Laubenstein, Earl Geier, Larry MacDougall, and others. And despite the often obfuscatory nature of the setting and its language, The Whispering Vault actually has a very simple set-up and it has surprisingly simple rules, that together make it more accessible than it should be. It is such a pity that The Whispering Vault has never received a proper second edition and more development, for it genuinely is a weird and creepy horror game, one that gives a lot of room for player and Game Master alike to affect the narrative and tell the tales of the true horrors from beyond.

1994: Castle Falkenstein

1974 is an important year for the gaming hobby. It is the year that Dungeons & Dragons was introduced, the original RPG from which all other RPGs would ultimately be derived and the original RPG from which so many computer games would draw for their inspiration. It is fitting that the current owner of the game, Wizards of the Coast, released the new version, Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, in the year of the game’s fortieth anniversary. To celebrate this, Reviews from R’lyeh will be running a series of reviews from the hobby’s anniversary years, thus there will be reviews from 1974, from 1984, from 1994, and from 2004—the thirtieth, twentieth, and tenth anniversaries of the titles. These will be retrospectives, in each case an opportunity to re-appraise interesting titles and true classics decades on from the year of their original release.

—oOo—

It is 1870 and the war has been won these past four years. The Battle of Königsgrätz is over. The Second Compact, an alliance of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, Sir Richard Frances Burton, Lord Kelvin, the Seelie Court led by Lord Auberon, Science Minister Jules Verne of France, the Templars and the Freemasons, led by King Ludwig of Bayern and Bayernese Aeronavy has stopped the conquest of all the Germanies by Otto von Bismarck, the Iron Chancellor of Prussia and his mighty Landfortresses, and a secret alliance of the Unseelie Host and the Steam Lords of Great Britain with their Babbage Engines. There have been many adventures since as a cold war descended upon New Europa and Bismarck, licking his wounds in Berlin, sought to reunite all of the continent, using whatever underhand means he could. He is yet to succeed though, and so there are plots to be uncovered and treachery to be foiled, as well as romances to be had, places to visit, balls to attend, duels to be fought, and adventures to take far and wide.

This then is the setting for Castle Falkenstein: High Adventures in the Steam Age, a roleplaying game of high fantasy, swashbuckling action, manners and magic, Wagnerian myth, Victorian melodrama, Anachrotech developed from the Lost Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, faerie, and fiction, that would win both the 1994 Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Rules and the Nigel D. Findley Memorial Award for the Best Role-Playing Product of 1995. Published by R. Talsorian Games, Inc., it was then a radical departure that contrasted sharpy with prevailing trends in roleplaying at the time and it was also a conceit. The early nineties were dominated in roleplaying terms by the World of Darkness series of roleplaying games published by White Wolf, such as Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, and Mage: The Ascension, horror games that tended towards darkness and introspection. Castle Falkenstein did not. It was bright, exciting, and optimistic. It was also colourful—quite literally. In another departure from the then norm, Castle Falkenstein was in full colour—or at least half of it was—that presented the world of New Europa in a richly painted vibrancy that was startlingly different. The other difference between Castle Falkenstein and other roleplaying games was mechanical. It used an ordinary deck of playing cards rather than dice, because well, cards are more civilised than dice!

The conceit was that the world of New Europa, with its sorcery and faerie, Anachrotech and Babbage Engines, vile villains, dashing heroes and heroines, was real. An alternate universe into which computer game designer, Tom Olam, is kidnapped—or ‘spellnapped’—by Lord Auberon as a secret weapon to help restore Crown Prince Ludwig of Bayern to the throne, and once he finds his place in Bayern, the equivalent of Bavaria in our world, located at the end of the Inner Sea which splits much of New Europa, goes on to serve the newly restored King Ludwig the Second, the definitely not ‘mad king’, and has lots of adventures. He also finds time to introduce a roleplaying game to the aristocracy and write a cross between a novel and diary and that is what lands at the doorstep of designer Mike Pondsmith. The other conceit is that New Europa is a world where fiction meets fact. Sherlock Holmes attends concerts with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Jules Verne is Science Minister of France even as Robur the Conqueror has designs upon the whole world, and Rudolf V needs rescuing in neighbouring Ruritania! This is a world where it is possible to encounter Captain Sir Harry Flashman, VC, Count Dracula, Lady Ada Lovelace, Captain John Carter, Charles Dickens, Lola Montez, the Time Traveller, and Mark Twain. In the roleplaying game, Tom Olam even describes New Europa as being, “one part Lord of the Rings and two parts Jules Verne science fiction, with a little Prisoner of Zenda thrown in for good measure”.

Castle Falkenstein was upfront about the divide in terms of organisation of the book, with the world and its background presented first in colour, followed by the rules and mechanics of the roleplaying game on the parchment-style pages of the section that followed. It said, “The best way to think of Castle Falkenstein is as a novel that allows you to write your own sequels.” Which made sense, because the means to create those sequels came after the fiction of the setting. That fiction is not so much a novel as a cross between a journal and diary in which Tom Olam relates his experiences and then describes the wider world. Since it is written as a journal, we are introduced to Tom’s situation as he experiences the world, from his immediate arrival after his ‘spellnapping’ through to the aftermath of the Battle of Königsgrätz. In between we are introduced the Lord Auberon and the Wizard, Morrolan, who cast the spell; Castle Falkenstein itself, even more fantastic castle than Neuschwanstein Castle, and Bayern beyond its walls; the companions to be in his adventures to come, including Rhyme, a mad scientist Dwarf; and the threats faced by Bayern in the form of Bismarck and the Unseelie Court allies, led by ‘The Adversary’. Castle Falkenstein does not ignore the wider world and there are some interesting divergences here such as America being divided into three nations—the USA, where sorcery saved the life of Abraham Lincoln, the Twenty Nations Confederation which formed and stopped expansion westward by the white man in 1830, and what was once California, Nevada, Washington, and Oregon are now the Bear Flag Empire ruled by the benevolent, but probably potty Emperor Norton the First. The Ottoman Empire remains the ‘sick man of New Europe’, ruled by a crafty, if insane Sultan and various sorcerously powerful Viziers, whilst China is ruled by the First Dragon Emperors, who are actually dragons! Tom also tells about some of the people he has met and places he has been, some of the Masterminds threatening the world, from Captain Nemo and Doctor Manchu to The Invisible Man and Count Iglio Cagliostro, and many of the ingenious Steamtech devices being invented in New Europa and beyond. These are three types—‘Anachrotech’ consists of Victorian versions of twentieth century devices; ‘Gadgetech’ are everyday items adapted to be powered by steam; and Infernal Devices are typically weapons, vehicles, automata, formulations, and the like, the unique creations of Mad Scientists and evil Masterminds. The Steam Age was not only in full power well before Tom Olam arrived in New Europa, the resulting devices and gadgets were more widespread and progress had been enhanced by Dwarven engineering. Access to the Lost Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci would speed it up further as well as enable Bayern to create an Aeronavy to defend itself.

Although Castle Falkenstein does not stint of the details of the weird and wonderful things to be found in New Europa, including information about the Dwarves, such as their being embarrassed about their ducks’ feet, and all the types of faerie that the adventurers might encounter, it also takes the time inform the lady or gentleman reader about the mores of polite Victorian society. This includes dressing the part, common phrases and manner of speaking, society and manners, the social order—noting that women of this ‘Neo-Victorian Age’ are emancipated, and good manners, virtue, and honour are not enough, then the etiquette of the duel. In Tom Olam’s journal, Castle Falkenstein presents a wealth of background and detail, all of it interesting, useful, and rich in flavour. What is also very good is the way in which the information is presented, all of it in quite short essays. So easily digestible, but at the same giving the Host—as the Game Master is known in Castle Falkenstein—and player alike, enough information without immediately needing another supplement. Of course, other supplements did follow, but as a rulebook, Castle Falkenstein: High Adventure in the Steam Age feels complete.

The second half of Castle Falkenstein: High Adventure in the Steam Age is titled ‘High Adventure in the Steam Age: The Great Game’. This is the roleplaying game itself, devised in what is the third conceit in Castle Falkenstein, by Tom Olam with the assistance of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales and King Ludwig the Second. The aim is to present an authentic Victorian Adventure Entertainment, for each player will have his own Dramatic Character and the company will need two decks of ordinary playing cards, ideally of two different colours. One is the Fortune Deck used to determine Fate’s influence during play, whilst the Sorcery Deck does the same for magic in ‘The Great Game’. What is not needed are character sheets, or rather it is suggested that each player keep a Diary for his Dramatic Character. Not only will it be used to record the story of the Dramatic Character’s adventures, but also Offstage activities between Entertainments—as Castle Falkenstein calls adventures—and personal goals, and so on. There is good advice for the Host on running the game and the various aspects she should ideally be drawing from Victorian melodramatic fiction—fiendish plots, insidious peril, imprisonment rather than the villain killing the heroes outright, ladies being menaced by a fate worse than death, and also the archetypes to be used as members of the supporting cast. These are categorised as either Heroes, Heroines, or Villains. A Hero is either a Heroic Hero, a Tragic Hero, or a Flawed Hero, whilst a Heroine is The Innocent Heroine, The Clever Heroine, the Tragic Heroine, or the Fallen Heroine. The Villain is either Honourable or Dishonourable. The descriptions include a good example each, such as Harry Flashman as a Flawed Hero and Irene Adler as a Clever Heroine. Add to this an array of supporting cast and the Host has a good choice of archetypes to choose from when it comes creating and portraying her cast.

The Dramatic Characters of the players will either be Heroes or Heroines. Various archetypes are suggested, including the obvious Adventuress, Consulting Detective, Dashing Hussar, Explorer, Gentleman Thief, Journalist, and Writer. Less obvious are the Anarchist, Mad Scientist, and Mastermind, whilst the Brownie, Dwarf Craftsman, Faerie Lord or Lady, Pixie, and Wizard are particular to the world of New Europa. Each suggests the Suits they are strong in, such as Fencing, Marksmanship, and Fencing for the Adventuress, plus possessions, what in their diary, and why they are involved in the Entertainment. If a Brownie, Faerie Lord or Lady, or Pixie, the Dramatic Character has a Faerie Power, such as Enchantment Faerie Lord or Lady and Love Charm for the Pixie. A Dramatic Character has several Abilities, which can be skills and different aspects of the Dramatic Character. They include Athletics, Charisma, Comeliness, Connections, Courage, Fencing, Fisticuffs, Social Graces, Tinkering, and more. Faerie have Etherealness and Kindred Powers, the first their ability to change shape or walk through walls, the latter their innate ability. Each Faerie also has very limited Sorcery, and it is also available to Wizards. A rating in an ability can either be Poor, Average, Good, Great, Exceptional, or Extraordinary. Each ability falls into one of the four suits from an ordinary deck of playing cards and when cards drawn from the Fortune Deck match the ability suit, a bonus is gained.

To create a Dramatic Character, a player selects an archetype, and then chooses one Ability he is Great at, four he is Good at, and one he is Poor at. He also answers a lot of questions about who the Dramatic Character is, filling in background and also deciding upon ambitions. Most Dramatic Characters will be men and women of good character, but some are also Dragons, Dwarves and Faeries. In their natural form, a Dragon is large, but fragile, being designed for flight, and naturally knows the spell Firecast, but it costs Health to cast. It is also exhausting for the Dragon to switch between his Human and natural forms. A Dwarf is immune to fire and highly resistant to magic, can only be male (Dwarves mate with other Faerie), gain a bonus to Tinkering when working metal, and begin play without a name. Earning a name is an important motivation for a Dwarf. A Faerie is subject to the Rule of Iron and iron and steel can irritate or even hurt him, and although cannot use Sorcerer, will have an innate ability according to the Faerie type.

Mrs. Harold McKinnon

Demimondaine

Abilities: Charisma [GR] • Comeliness [GD] • Connections [GD] • Courage [GD] • Fencing [AV] • Perception [AV] • Physique [PR] •Social Graces [GD]

Health 5 pts

Mechanically, Castle Falkenstein: High Adventure in the Steam Age uses a Fortune Deck, represented by an ordinary deck of playing cards. The players share one, whilst the Host has one of her own for the actions of her villains and other members of the supporting. To have his Dramatic Character undertake a Heroic Feat, all a player has to do is compare the difficulty of the task with the Ability required. If it is equal to, or greater than the difficulty of the task, the Dramatic Character at least partially succeeds. For example, to sway a mob requires a Charisma of Great, whilst leaping a yawning chasm of an Athletics of Good. Thus, Mrs. Harold McKinnon, with her Charisma of Great will sway the mob, but with an Athletics that is just Average—the default for any skills not selected—will need to rely upon the cards from the Fortune Deck to succeed or do better.

The cards have a face and a suit. The numbered cards have their straight value, whilst a Jack has a value of eleven, a Queen a value of twelve, a King a value of thirteen, and an Ace a value of fourteen. A Joker is worth fifteen points and when played, the player gets to choose the suit for that action. Similarly, the Ability Ratings also have a value, ranging from two for Poor and four for Average to ten for Exceptional and twelve for Extraordinary. The aim is to ensure that the combined value of the cards played and the Ability is equal to, or greater than, the difficulty of the Heroic Feat. A player has four cards in his hand and can play as many cards as he wants. However, if the suit of a card played does not match the suit of the Heroic Feat, it is only worth a single point, but if it does match, then the full value is used. The Clubs suit is for physical actions, the Diamonds suit is for mental and intellectual activities, the Hearts suit covers emotional and romantic feats, and Spades suit is used for social and status-related situations. The comparison of the total value of the Dramatic Character’s Ability and the cards played will determine how well the Dramatic Character. Results include Fumble, Failure, Partial Success, Full Success, and High Success. The total needs to be equal to the value of the Heroic Feat for the Dramatic Character to gain a Partial Success, equal to half the value of the Heroic Feat again for it to be a Total Success, and so on.

Combat is an extension of this, using either the Fencing, Fisticuffs, or Marksmanship Abilities, and are played out as contests with the quality of the outcome determining the amount of damage inflicted. The rules for duelling are more complex and do take some getting used to in comparison to the standard rules. Duels are fought over several Rounds with each Round consisting of three Exchanges, each Exchange a single clash of blades. Each duellist has a hand of six cards—two black, two red, and two face cards. Black cards are used for defence, red cards for attacks, and face cards for rests. On an Exchange, each duellist selects and plays two cards and both cards are compared. A defence card will automatically stop an attack card, but a rest card will not. So, there is tension built into duels as each participant knows what cards the other has played and it can get quite tactical and even cinematic once the terrain is taken into account. There is a good example of a duel to help the Host grasp the rules.

Combat does scale up once the great war machines come into play. For the most part it will be kept personal, and one way in which it is kept personal is no killing blows. The Dramatic Characters are by nature heroes and heroines and do not simply engage in wanton killing. Thus, in combat a Dramatic Character will wound someone or knock him unconscious, but not kill. Killing someone is a deliberate act and the intent has to be clearly stated rather than being accidental.

Sorcery requires an Ability of at least Good to cast spells. A spell can either be researched or learned at a magical college or society, and every spell has a Thaumic Energy Requirement. This is fulfilled by drawing cards from the Sorcery Deck, which represents the amount of Thaumic energy in the surrounding area. The Sorcery Deck can be depleted, indicating that all of the Thaumic energy is also depleted, but when a spell’s Thaumic Energy Requirement is met it can be cast. This works like a standard Heroic Feat, the difficulty set by the spell itself. Spells have aspects, which match the suits in the Sorcery Deck—Clubs for elemental magic, Diamonds for material magic, Hearts for emotional and mental magic, and Spades for spiritual and dimensional magic. There are guidelines too for magical artefacts and sorcerous duels. Lastly, there are rules for inventing and building Steamtech devices, a short adventure, some scenario hooks, and a bibliography.

Physically, Castle Falkenstein: High Adventure in the Steam Age is a book of two halves. It is well written and an engaging read, but the appearance of the two halves differs radically. The first half, the background, is gorgeous. In 1994 it looked amazing and it still looks good today. The second half, the rules section, works as a notebook, but is plain and even unattractive. It could also be better organised, so that the various sections are not interrupted by advice for the Host.

—oOo—

Castle Falkenstein: High Adventure in the Steam Age was reviewed by E. Ken Fox in ‘Closer Look: Reviews of Games and Related Products’ in Shadis Issue #116 (November/December 1994). He was highly complimentary, starting by calling it, “… [O]ne of the most exciting games in the industry today” and praising the look of the book, “With its incredible artwork and layout the book fairly transports you into the realms of the world, while not taking away from the exchange of information. While some may find it difficult working within the boundaries of this format. I personally find it an exhilarating change to what has become the Standard Format.” Finally, he concluded by describing it as a “A sure-fire system with a fantastic world of adventure: isn't that just what we all have been looking for?”

As a ‘Pyramid Pick’ in Pyramid Number 10 (November/December ’94), Scott Haring was equally as praiseworthy of Castle Falkenstein, saying, “This is not a game of sullen anti-heroes, angst and moral dilemmas; this is a grand game of world-spanning plots, pure heroes and diabolical villains. [Designer Mike] Pondsmith has done a great job of setting the stage for grand dramatic battles between good and evil without once letting it descend into melodrama or parody. This is a game that believes in itself and its premise 100%, but without drowning in pretentiousness or self-importance.” His conclusion was that, “Castle Falkenstein is a breath of fresh air in roleplaying, a game where real heroes matter and don’t have to apologize. The book is physically gorgeous, the game mechanics fit the tone of the game world like a glove, the writing is wonderful, and the game world is enchanting.”

In the issue’s ‘Feature Review’ of Castle Falkenstein in White Wolf Inphobia #51 (January 1995), Rich Warren asked, “It’s high adventure in the Victorian age with a mixture of magic and technology. They’ve all been tried before, so what makes them work now?” He awarded the roleplaying game four out of five and said, “The game’s mechanics are simple but unique; it can take a while to adjust.”

In Dragon No. 214 (February 1995), in ‘When dungeons won’t do; Alternative fantasy RPGs’ for ‘Role-Playing Reviews’, Rick Swan reviewed Castle Falkenstein alongside ARIA and the ARIA Worlds Book, awarding a rating of six out of six and stating that with Castle Falkenstein that, “… [T]his is about as good as it gets.” He described the setting of the roleplaying game by saying that “… [T]is isn’t Victorian London per se, but an alternative reality that’s one part fact, ten parts fun house; it’s as if Pondsmith tossed a history text, a copy of Alice in Wonderland, and a Monty Python video cassette into a blender. New Europa, the game world, is a crazy quilt of steam-age technology and social anarchy.”

Castle Falkenstein: High Adventure in the Steam Age was voted in at number forty-five in ‘The Top 50 Roleplaying Games’ in Arcane Issue 14 (December 1996). Editor Paul Pettengale said, “Castle Falkenstein is one of those games that people tend to either love or hate. It has a unique atmosphere, combining alternate history, Celtic mythology, steampunk and a somewhat whimsical, fairy-tale feel. Likewise, the rulebook itself is quite different from many, being laid out as a novel, with important information pulled out in sidebars, and the rules coming later. This reflects the main thrust of the system, which is heavily geared towards roleplaying and storytelling over game mechanics and numbers, and drops dice in favour of a couple of packs of playing cards.”

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Castle Falkenstein: High Adventures in the Steam Age is a marvel of its age—optimistic, fun, and exciting—and like any classic, it still stands up not just as a superb design, but an innovative one as well. Its choice of mechanics are not only civilised, but they give a player choice and agency as to his Dramatic Character’s actions too. Above all, Castle Falkenstein: High Adventures in the Steam Age is a tremendous fabulation of fantastic Victorian fiction, Ruritanian romance, and swashbuckling Steam Age action.