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.”

—oOo—

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.

1995: Everway Visionary Roleplaying

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—

In 1995, the hobby gaming industry was deep into the collectible card game craze. Magic: The Gathering has been published in 1993, had become incredibly popular, and made its publisher, Wizards of the Coast, a lot of money. In response, other publishers—large and small—understandably, followed suit, and as they competed in this market, so the hobby gaming industry turned away from the types of games which had supported it over the previous two decades. By 1995, the number of new roleplaying games published that year had diminished to less than half that in previous years. Yet in that year, Wizards of the Coast would publish a roleplaying game which was radically different in concept and format to almost anything which had come before it. A roleplaying game which was so radically different, it would flop. Despite the lack of success though, its simplicity, its focused concept, and its emphasis upon storytelling and drama would all flower in the ‘Indie Roleplaying-Movement’ of the noughties, the concepts of which would go on to be absorbed into the mainstream during the teens. That roleplaying game is Everway Visionary Roleplaying.

Everway Visionary Roleplaying comes in a large box and looks like a traditional roleplaying game, but open up the box and it is clear that it is anything but. In addition to the one-hundred-and-six-two page ‘Playing Guide’, the sixty-four page ‘Gamemastering Guide’ and the fourteen page ‘Guide to the Fortune Deck’, the roleplaying game includes over a hundred, full-colour cards. These consist of the ninety card Vision card Deck, ten Source cards, and thirty-six Fortune card Deck. This is in addition to the two maps, twelve blank Spherewalker sheets, and eleven pre-generated ready-to-play Spherewalker sheets, but what was missing from the box for Everway Visionary Roleplaying is dice. This is because in terms of its mechanics Everway Visionary Roleplaying is diceless. Instead, it uses a combination of the Fortune card Deck and narrative efficacy to determine the outcome of a task or story. Of course, diceless roleplaying games had been seen before, notably Phage Press’ Amber Diceless Roleplaying from 1991, as had card-driven roleplaying games, such as R. Talsorian Games, Inc.’s Castle Falkenstein from 1994. Everway Visionary Roleplaying, though, does not use numbered cards as in the use of a standard playing Deck of cards by Castle Falkenstein, but rather the images upon its cards. Hence Everway Visionary Roleplaying was a visionary roleplaying game in more ways than one.

The setting for Everway Visionary Roleplaying is a multiverse of Spheres—or worlds, each world consisting of numerous different Realms—each connected by a series of Gates. Known Spheres include Ashland, a land of smoking volcanos, nasty cockatrices, and scheming goblins; Canopy, a singular, enormous tree, its inside populated by humans, its roots home to extensive cave systems filled with fantastic creatures; and Pearl of Waves, an undersea kingdom where travel is conducted via bubbles of air or the mouths of giant fish. Typical Realms include the Land of a Million Deities, a conservative Realm of hereditary kings and queens sanctioned by the priests and priestesses of many gods; The Middle Kingdom, a sophisticated Realm dedicated to knowledge and bureaucracy; and the Smith’s Realm, a realm of conquered territories, controlled by regional governors. It is a fantasy setting, one of low magic and high magic, in which demons, angels, godlings, spirits, fairies, dragons, unicorns, and other creatures can be found, but the most common species, in various shapes and forms, to be found throughout the Spheres is mankind, all able to understand the common language known as ‘The Tongue’, a gift from the gods. Perhaps the most famous location in all of the Spheres is that of Everway, a city at the heart of Sphere that has not the two gates typical to most Spheres, but a grand total of three-score-and-ten—if not more!

Every ‘Outsider’ who comes to Everway, experiences the city in a different way. To some it can be well-mannered and bright, to others a city of dark alleys and citizens ready to exploit every visitor or sell them any vice, or ordered and cosmopolitan. It is though, an ancient city, matriarchal, but with a king, and numerous families of note, each of which controls a particular aspect of the city. For example, the Keeper family maintains and guards the Gates, the Scratch family consists of scholars and bureaucrats, and the Wailer family specialises in ceremony of any kind. One type of rare individual drawn to the city of Everway is the ‘Spherewalker’, capable of using the Gates freely and taking the one-week journey to traverse between one Sphere and the next. They can be powerful mages, mighty warriors, enigmatic Shaman, and more, but in becoming Spherewalker, they may be seeking to fulfil a personal quest, to bring justice and an end to evil in any or all Spheres, to search for treasure and personal gain, to atone for crimes committed, or even to gather research and information for the Library of All Worlds in the city of Everway. Each Player Character in Everway Visionary Roleplaying is one of these Spherewalkers.

A Spherewalker is defined first by his Name, typically a common word, or one based on a common word, then a Motive, for example, Mystery, Wanderlust, or Adversity. He also has a Virtue, some way in which he is gifted—it could be a personal trait, a magical gift, or an aspect of fortune. His Fault represents a particular weakness or vulnerability, again a personal trait, magical curse, or aspect of fortune, whilst his Fate is the challenge he currently faces. He is likely to have one or more Powers, limited in scope, but still powerful and distinctive, for example, ‘Fast Healing’, ‘Magical Singing’, ‘Cat Familiar’, ‘Throw Fire’, ‘Invulnerable’, and so on. The ‘Playing Guide’ includes many examples, but a player is encouraged to create his own, a Power typically being a combination of Major, Frequent, and Versatile. This is in addition to the free power which each Player Character Spherewalker possesses. A Spherewalker has four Elements—Air, Earth, Fire, and Water. Air is intellect and communication; Fire, force, athleticism, and combat prowess; Earth, toughness and willpower; and Water, empathy, perception, and wisdom. These are rated between two and nine, each value exponentially greater than the one below it. For each Element, a Spherewalker has a speciality, a skill or ability in which he is better when using that Element. An Element can also suggest a career, such as warrior or acrobat for Fire or poet or physician for Air and Water.

A Spherewalker can also have magic, a mage typically specialising in one of the elements. Thus, Words of Power for Air, Soil and Stone for Earth, Flux for Fire, and Open Chalice for Water. As with Elements, Magic is exponentially more powerful the greater a rating a mage has in it, each rating granting particular advantages. So at a Fluxx rating of three, a Spherewalker can alter minor features, for example, aging milk, freshening the air, rusting metal, and so on, whilst a Soil and Stone rating of six would enable a Mage to save a Realm from a plague or heal a person. How often and for how long a Mage can perform such magics is measured by his Earth Element.

To create a Spherewalker, a player goes through six stages. These start with the player selecting or drawing five cards from the Vision card Deck. In addition to the full-colour illustration on the front, each Vision card has four or five questions on the back about the image on the front. For example, the card depicting two goatherds amidst a field of goats, one of goatherds seeming to steal away with a goat in his arms, has the questions, “How are the two goatherds related?”, “What is the sundial for?”, “How far away is the nearest village? Where is their home?”, and “Why is one goatherd crying?”. The player uses the Vision cards and the questions as inspiration. After deciding upon a Name, Motive, Virtue, Fault, and Fate, the player assigns twenty points between his Spherewalker’s Powers, Elements, and Magic, though all Spherewalkers will have Powers or Magic. The process is in part meant to be collaborative, each player specifically taking the time to introduce his Spherewalker and who he is, whilst the last stage involves the players asking questions about each other’s Spherewalkers, helping each other to understand who their Spherewalkers are. The end result though—and the author’s advice is that everyone should work towards this—should be playable, compatible with the rest of the party, and be prepared to grow and change.

Goat-sent grew up a simple goatherder, alongside her father, tending to the herds belonging to the village in the valley below until she turned thirteen and one goat began talking to her. Not just talking to her, but talking to her things that would happen—and then they did. When the villagers learned of it, they were at first curious, then fearful, and ordered the goat killed. This would happen at the sundial where many of the village’s religious ceremonies took place, but she could not let the goat be killed and ran away with it. Escaping for the first time through a Gate, she sought sanctuary and answers with a Sage, who taught her to focus upon a candle to enter into trances in which she would foretell the future. In time, the rich and powerful of his Realm came to hear their fortune, but not once was she able to tell of the Sage’s future. Yet ultimately, she found the sanctuary constraining and decided to leave, not to go back through the Gate she had used but via the harbour. The ship she embarked upon took her far away, further than the ship had sailed before, from one Realm to the next, where Capybara and her human companion, told her that she was a Spherewalker and that she should follow the sun through to Everway, where perhaps she might find answers. So far, the peoples of Everway have presented with answer upon answer as to the nature of her gift, but none can agree which is correct. So, she seeks answers beyond in the Realms.

Name: Goat-sent
Motive: Mystery
Virtue: Truth (Knowledge) 
Fault: Effort Misspent (War)
Fate: Maturity (Winter)

Air: 5 (Singing)
Earth: 4  (Herding)
Fire: 4 (Living under the sun)
Water: 5 (Tracking)

Powers:
Goat companion, 3 (frequent, major, versatile)
Mystic Eye, 3 (frequent, major, versatile)
Goat Tongue, 0

Mechanically, Everway Visionary Roleplaying provides not one, but three means of resolution—the Law of Karma, the Law of Drama, and the Law of Fortune—and the Game Master is free to use whichever one she prefers or feels best fits the situation. With the Law of Karma, a Spherewalker’s Elements, Specialities, Powers, and Magic determine the outcome of an intended action. If the Game Master judges that the appropriate Element, Speciality, Power, or Magic is sufficient, then the Spherewalker will succeed. If not, he will fail. The Law of Karma also comes into play in the long term, potentially rewarding or penalising a Spherewalker depending upon whether an action can be seen as positive or negative. This is of course, up to the Game Master to judge.

The Law of Drama is even simpler. Essentially, the needs of the narrative and the story determines the outcome of an action. Is it appropriate or satisfying at the point in a story that a Spherewalker escape from the cell or does the villain need to turn up to deliver a monologue? Which outcome would make the story better—more interesting, more exciting, more intriguing? The Law of Fortune is slightly more complex, but again relies upon a high degree of improvisation and interpretation upon the part of the Game Master. To determine the outcome of an action, the Game Master draws from the Fortune Deck and interprets the Fortune card as it relates to the situation. Typically, this simply requires the Game Master to draw the one card per situation, whether that is for use of an Element, a Power, or Magic. Going from one law to the next, from the Law of Karma to the Law of Drama to the Law of Fortune involves increasing levels of improvisation upon the part of Game Master and acceptance and participation upon the part of the players and their Spherewalkers to buy into and engage with that improvisation.

Now all of these resolution mechanics also apply to combat as well, whether that is the Law of Karma determining that a Spherewalker is skilled or powerful enough to overcome a foe, the Law of Drama determining that it is appropriate in terms of the narrative for a Spherewalker to win or lose a conflict, or the Law of Fortune relying upon a Fortune card and its interpretation to determine if a Spherewalker wins the conflict or not. This makes combat simple and fast, effectively deemphasising combat as a means of overcoming problems in Everway Visionary Roleplaying. However, combat can be handled in more dramatic fashion, still using the Law of Fortune, but drawing not the once, but from round to round, exchange to exchange. This really works best when a fight or conflict is important, rather than with every single scuffle or brawl.

Mechanically—and thematically, the Fortune Deck lies at the heart of Everway Visionary Roleplaying. Out of the box, it is a deck of thirty-six, full colour, illustrated cards. Every card can be reversed and besides a title, has two simple pieces of text. For example, the text for the Inspiration card is ‘Creativity’, but ‘Lack of Imagination’ when reversed. It is this text which the Game Master is interpreting when applying the Law of Fortune. In the game though, the Fortune Deck is divination tool found in every Realm, but not necessarily as a deck of cards. It could be a great series of bells rung and interpreted in random order each day or the order in which a flock of birds returns to roost at dusk, but it is present in every Realm. The Fortune Deck influences every character—NPC or Spherewalker—and every Realm, so that they each have a Virtue, a Flaw, and a Fate, all drawn from the Fortune Deck. Similarly, each Realm can be created by drawing cards from the Vision Deck and interpreting them just as each player did during the creation of his Spherewalker. The Fortune Deck though, is flawed—by intention out of game, and because in-game, it adds an element of chaos. It was a deity of chaos who stole the thirty-sixth card, leaving a void, and this void, known as the Usurper, is filled with a profoundly negative influence, such as Despair, Sacrifice, or Vengeance, from one Realm to the next. The influence of the Usurper and this negative influence in each Realm will ultimately underlie any Quest that the Spherewalkers undertake there.

Everway Visionary Roleplaying is played as a series of Quests, and again, these can be created using the Vision cards as inspiration and the Fortune Deck to create the conflict in the Quest. Advice for the Game Master covers both the creation of Quests and Realms, and what makes both a good Quest and a good Realm. It also covers running the Quest, bringing the Spherewalkers together, and more. Half of the ‘Gamemastering Guide’ is given over to ‘Journey to Stonedeep’, a lengthy, detailed Quest designed to get a Game Master started with her Everway Visionary Roleplaying game. Several other Quests are outlined in the rest of the ‘Gamemastering Guide’ along with the advice. The much longer ‘Playing Guide’ introduces the setting of Everway in broad detail, enabling the Game Master to develop the particular details as necessary, should she want to involve her Spherewalkers in its daily life, politics, and other events, before guiding both player and Game Master through the stages of Spherewalker creation, and explaining and advising about the rules. The ‘Guide to the Fortune Deck’ explains the Fortune Deck in more detail, its use as a means of divination, and the cards in the Fortune Deck—their correspondences, their meanings, and reversed meanings. If the mechanics to Everway Visionary Roleplaying are simple and easy to learn, in comparison, learning to interpret the meanings of the cards in the Fortune Deck is not. So careful study of the ‘Guide to the Fortune Deck’ is warranted, though as a guide and means of interpretation, rather than being proscriptive. Some advice though could have been included though on how to interpret various situations using the Fortune Deck.

Physically, Everway Visionary Roleplaying is nicely produced and presented. The three books, each 8½ by 7-inches in size, are done in black and white and either pale blue or pale ochre, illustrated throughout with art taken from the Vision Deck, though in black and white rather than colour. The pre-generated Spherewalker sheets are attractively done in full colour, as are all of the cards in the various Decks. The cards in the Vision Deck are done on thick card, and have the feel of collectable trading cards, whilst the cards of the Fortune Deck are more like traditional playing cards—or those of Magic: the Gathering. (That said, it is surprising that the cards of the Vision Deck were not printed on similar card stock.) All of this nicely fits into the plastic insert tray in the box and which has room for further cards—more cards were published for the game.

Yet, for all the high quality of the production values—which for 1995 are excellent, what stands out about Everway Visionary Roleplaying is the quality of the writing. It is engaging throughout, it is helpful throughout, it gives numerous examples throughout, it gives advice throughout, it explains what the game is about and what the job of each player is and what he should do to make the game enjoyable for everyone around the table, and what the job of the Game Master is and what she should do to make the game enjoyable for everyone around the table. Alongside the advice and examples, there is discussion of what happened in the designer’s own campaign, which helps to bring the setting to life and to help the prospective Game Master understand the designer’s intentions. It is all fantastically, superbly useful.

All of this advice is necessary, because with as a trio of mechanics as light as presented in the Law of Karma, the Law of Drama, and the Law of Fortune, those mechanics are open to interpretation—though this is both a feature and the very point of the mechanics, and thus not a negative—and if not necessarily bias, then potential misinterpretation. Everway Visionary Roleplaying is designed to be a game suitable for those new to roleplaying and both its writing style and its advice is helpful in that regard. However, the step from a more tradition, dice and stats, simulationist roleplaying game to a narrative driven, diceless roleplaying game like Everway Visionary Roleplaying will be more of a challenge. Players and Game Master alike, more accustomed to such mainstream roleplaying games will find themselves perplexed by the lack of dice, by the very light, interpretative mechanics, by the emphasis upon the narrative rather than the mechanics, and the questions posed as part of Spherewalker creation will find themselves needing to make some adjustments in how they approach and play the roleplaying game. That though was in 1995. They did gaming differently then, but come forward a quarter of a century, and so many of the ideas and concepts behind Everway Visionary Roleplaying have been taken up by wide aspects of the hobby in the time since its publication, such that if they are not part of the mainstream hobby now, they are an accepted part of gaming. 

—oOo—

Rick Swan began his review of Everway Visionary Roleplaying in Dragon Magazine No. 224 (December 1995) by being surprised at the choice of designer for Wizards of the Coast’s new and original roleplaying game and the roleplaying game itself. He described Jonathan Tweet as being talented, but “…not a mainstream kind of guy.” and that whilst he would have expected Wizards of the Coast to want a mainstream product, “In fact, Everway is so far out of the mainstream, it’s barely recognizable as an RPG.” After going into some depth about the roleplaying he states that, “Everway codifies the freeform style favored by me and (I suspect) thousands of other referees. It makes for a brisk game, and Everway, to its credit, plays at blinding speed. But to an unprecedented extent, the success of an Everway adventure depends on the improvisational skills of the referee, his ability to come up with interesting plot twists, characters, and scenic details on the spur of the moment. And players must respond in kind, relying on their imaginations instead of die-rolls to forge their characters’ destinies.” before concluding, “I suspect Tweet has underestimated the average gamer’s aptitude for improvisation. But I could be wrong.”

[As a side note, it curious that Swan concluded with, “I suspect Tweet has underestimated the average gamer’s aptitude for improvisation. But I could be wrong.” (My emphasis.) Given the tone of the review and that Swan thought that Tweet’s earlier Ars Magica would last a year or two, it is quite possible that that what he actually meant was ‘overestimated’. This would better fit the tone and conclusion that the review comes to.] 

Ken & Jo Walton made Everway Visionary Roleplaying a Pyramid Pick in Pyramid Number 17 (January/February ’96). After a lengthy review, they concluded, “By now, you’re probably thinking either “That sounds interesting” or “That sounds awful.” This game is not one for simulationists, who want every detail of the physical world accurately portrayed. But for those roleplayers who want to roleplay in a free-form, improvisational way, Everway is a system which actually supports such play, rather than hemming the game round with rules that straitjacket the players’ character conceptions and hamper speed of play with tables and charts.”

Everway Visionary Roleplaying was reviewed by John Wick in Shadis Issue 25 (March 1996), by which time, the roleplaying game had been picked up by Pagan Publishing, the first of several subsequent publishers. He wrote, “Everyway is a game quite unlike anything else I’ve ever seen. The cost is a little high, it may be a bit too off the mainstream for many, and the characters presented arc definitely not Conan clones (white Anglo-Saxon males) which many may interpret as a tip of the hat to “political Correctness”, but all in all, it’s a great game that looks at every aspect of gaming from a different perspective. And that’s what “visionary” roleplaying is all about.” (Note that in 1995, Everway Visionary Roleplaying cost $34.95.)

—oOo—

Everway Visionary Roleplaying is the television series Sliders meets Roger Zelazny’s Amber, played out across a multiverse where patterns in terms of civilisations and the Fortune Deck resonate and repeat again and again. All focused through a lens of the mythic and the mystic, the latter verging on New Ageism, especially with the use of the Tarot card-like Fortune Deck. (This is in addition to the pattern of three which runs throughout the game—the three laws of resolution, the three aspects of divination, and so on.) It seems amazing that this roleplaying game, with its sparse mechanics, emphasis on the narrative, player-focused questions asked during Spherewalker creation, and lack of dice would be released in the nineties at the height of Magic: the Gathering’s popularity. When almost no other roleplaying games were being published and the roleplaying industry looked to be all but upon its death knell. Yet, all these aspects of its design would be explored further in the late nineties with designs like Robin D. Laws’ Hero Wars—which would become HeroQuest and Jenna K. Moran’s Nobilis, before the ‘Indie Roleplaying-Movement’ enthusiastically took them up and ran helter skelter with them. Designer Jonathan Tweet would himself be subsumed by the mainstream by the end of the nineties, becoming the lead designer on Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition, again for Wizards of the Coast, and then as co-designer, bring some of that radicalism, non-mainstream design into the mainstream with 13th Age for Pelgrane Press.

In 1995, Everway Visionary Roleplaying was ground-breaking. With its advice and extensive examples, it showed how diceless roleplaying could be achieved and played and run with a strong emphasis upon the narrative. Both the means of Spherewalker creation—the use of the Vision Deck and the Fortune deck, along with the questions during the process, and the downplay of combat as a means of resolution, fostered engaging roleplaying and alternative means of solving conflicts and problems. It was incredibly well written, packed with advice, and supported with numerous examples, and yet… In 1995, it was too ground-breaking, it was too radical, and with its Tarot-like Fortune Deck, perhaps overly influenced by New Age religion. Ultimately though, it was not mainstream enough, not commercial enough. In 2021, though…?

Today, Everway Visionary Roleplaying still feels sleek, modern, and elegant. Game design has undergone radical changes since its original publication and now, Everway Visionary Roleplaying fits into the marketplace. It does not feel out of place. If the production values look dated, the design does not. Everway Visionary Roleplaying could be played today and nobody would think it weird or different. As radical as it was in 1995 and as influential as it has been over the last twenty-five years, Everway Visionary Roleplaying is a game from the past that fits today.

 —oOo—

A new version of Everway Mythic Roleplaying is currently being funded as part of a Kickstarter campaign. It will be published by The Everway Company.

FAITH unfulfilled

Tiantang is the first supplement to be released for FAITH: The Sci-Fi RPG. The Spanish Science Fiction Roleplaying Game from Burning Games presented an intriguing far future setting in which Humanity plays a relatively minor role and which mixes themes of rampant capitalism and individualism, the greater good of the community, strength and honour, and faith in gods, which when strong enough in their believers can grant them gifts strong enough to change the universe as Soulbenders. Beyond the core book and the FAITH: A Garden in Hell - RPG Starter Set, the roleplaying is not particularly well supported, which is why is the Tiantang sourcebook is such a welcome addition to the line.

At the core of the setting is Tiantang, the near-Dyson Sphere which is home to the Corvo, the technological, capitalist, and expansionist insectoid-like species. It is a huge Dyson Ring—one that is slowly expanding into a full Dyson Sphere—that is home to billions and billions of Corvo, the bulk of them of living in vast agglomerations of Zero-G habitats which have accreted from the debris of old spaceships, space stations, and more as well as the corporate purpose-built modules. Most of the inhabitants of these slums derive their income from ‘skulling’, the practise of plugging in and selling their time and brain as computing capacity for Corvosphere’s three mega-corporations and their many subsidiaries. Whilst all Corvo are used to living or spending time in zero gravity, the middle classes can afford to live on giant multi-level stations called ‘gyro-zhans’, which spin fast enough to generate artificial gravity. Whilst all gyro-zhans have some accommodation for those who work there, many are all but wholly devoted to particular aspects of Corvo life and Corvosphere corporate culture. Thus there are whole gyro-zhans dedicated to handling the Corvosphere’s stock exchange, corporate headquarters and offices, manufacturing, algae farms, research and development, tourism and entertainment, and so on. Then there are the rich. Some have villas in the most well-to-do gyro-zhans, but the richest own palace-ships from which they conduct their day-to-day lives, some never leaving and some running the huge mega-corporations which dominate Corvo life.

Tiantang is broken down into Ten Sectors, including Shiyan, the academic and scientific research sector; Xiao, a Zer0-G slum dominated by Mob activity, and Taiyang, a trade and entertainment centre which attracts most of the tourists coming to Tiantang. Each of Corvosphere’s three mega-corporations—The Union Megacorp, Wang Megacorp, and Nation’s Solution Megacorp—has its own sector headquarters, and there is also an eleventh sector, Tiantang CS, a neutral ground for all of the mega-corporations and corporations in the Dyson Sphere, which is not counted as part of the Ten Sectors. As with the rest of Corvospace, there is no central government or polity on Tiantang, each sector typically being governed by either corporate or criminal interests. Although there is plenty of travel within most sectors, travel between sectors is prohibitively expensive to prevent the mass movement of labour forces. Although there are forms of mass transit found in many of the sectors, most travel within each sector and between sectors is achieved via spaceships—commuter spaceships each ferry thousands of workers each day—and Tiantang has a very high volume of spaceship traffic in transit at any one time. This includes to and from the Mehdi Gate, the wormhole access to The Labyrinth, which in turn provides interstellar travel to the rest of the Corvosphere and beyond. Traffic in and out of the Mehdi Gate is heavily policed and organised to prevent it becoming clogged—though accidents do happen.

Each of the individual sectors, plus Tiantang CS, is given a full write-up, highlighting important NPCs, districts—each sector further consists of hundreds of districts, particular locations and organisations. So for example, Gu is Tiantang’s largest slum, the first stop for immigrants, squatters, and the desperate. Essentially a massive hive-like cluster of habitats and repurposed industrial detritus, it is all but ignored by the corporations who little or no influence here and if there is any sector management or authority, it lies in hands of Gentleman Dao, a captain of the Hwang Tong, who wants to purge the sector of all other criminal activity. Unlike other sectors there are no districts, but there are still persons and places of note. These include Little Heimis, an ex-ice fortress that is home to Tiantang’s Raag community—whom the corporations employ as mercenaries and the gangs and the Tongs avoid; the Egui Building, supposedly haunted, but definitely home to unexplained weirdness; and the Death Dancers, a reformed gang that now carries out acts of terrorism against the corporations. Stats are given for a typical Death Dancer, and adventures seeds suggest the player characters could become involved in gang warfare, earn bounties looking for policemen missing in Gu, get involved in a Romeo and Juliet set-up within the Hwang Tong, and even signing on to help establish corporate law in the sector. Tiangtang does this again and again for each sector, so that as a supplement it presents adventure hooks and ideas aplenty, many of which would lead to interesting encounters and situations.

Rounding out Tiantang is the adventure, ‘Secret of the Yinshen Shi’. This is a murder mystery, set in the Nongchang sector, a residential and cultural hotspot sector which is on the up as the various mega-corporations attempt to gentrify it. The adventure is decent enough and has a Film Noir quality to it, but does not feel very strongly tied to the sector it is set in.

To work with both the adventure and the supplement in general, stats are provided for some nine generic NPCs, such as High Class Corvo, Mob Boss, and Human Merc, plus some new equipment. This is in addition to stats provided for the various NPCs detailed in the sector chapters. One nice touch is that there is an index of these at the back of the book.

The final page of Tiantang provides some new rules for gaming in the mammoth Dyson Sphere, covering the ease of obtaining goods and listing the prices for services such as ambulance, remote first aid, military aid, remote hacking, and so on. There is even a cabaret crew to hire which will provide an impromptu street performance as a distraction from whatever mission the player characters are undertaking. Barring the last service, these very much have the feel of earlier Cyberpunk roleplaying games such as R. Talsorian Games, Inc.’s Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0. and Shadowrun from Catalyst Game Labs.

Physically, Tiantang is a lovely, if slim hardback. Like all releases for FAITH: The Sci-Fi RPG, the artwork is superb, something that all fans of good Science Fiction art will appreciate. The book also includes a mini-poster which shows cross sections of a gyro-zhan and a space slum, which are fantastic in beginning to show some of the detail of Tiantang. On the other hand, as good as the presentation is, the writing suffers from a lack of editing and reads rather oddly in places. There is also a lack of a general index and a glossary. Several new terms are mentioned and a point of reference for them would have been useful.

Unfortunately, Tiantang is ultimately hampered by size—the size of Tiantang the Dyson Sphere versus the size of Tiantang the supplement. At just over one hundred pages, there is just not the room in the book to really present a Dyson Sphere in any detail and this lack of detail shows. There is flavour and there are hooks, but Tiantang is never more than a very broad overview of the biggest artificial structure in the Corvosphere. There is no sense of what the inhabitants’ day-to-day lives are like, how they get around, what they do, what they buy, what they watch, and so on, so it feels just a bit too impersonal. There is some colour fiction in the opening pages of the book, but that is really the only time where you get an individual view. More of that would have helped Tiantang come to life.The same can be said of the mega-corporations, which operate from sector to sector, district to district, but will probably be easier for the Game Master to provide that information herself rather than what individual life is like.

Ultimately, given the size of what Tiangtang is setting out to describe as a supplement, it is never going to be more than underwhelming. Some of the content in its pages is both good and gameable, and any FAITH: The Sci-Fi RPG Game master is going to want this supplement, but to really bring it to life, she is going to have to provide some of the nuts and bolts herself.

FAITH Upgraded

When it was published in 2016, FAITH: The Sci-Fi RPG caused quite a stir. The Spanish Science Fiction Roleplaying Game from Burning Games presented an intriguing far future setting in which Humanity plays a relatively   minor role and which mixes themes of rampant capitalism and individualism, the greater good of the community, strength and honour, and faith in gods, which when strong enough in their believers can grant them gifts strong enough to change the universe. This came packaged in a big fat box which contained superb artwork, a solid set of card-driven mechanics, and an attractive set of components. More recently, the A Garden in Hell - RPG Starter Set  provided a full scenario to play through as well as the means to see the mechanics in action and get a taste of what the setting of FAITH: The Sci-Fi RPG was like. Even with these two products available, what the roleplaying game was missing, was the broader picture, a history, and a sense of what was going on. With the release of FAITH: The Sci-Fi RPG Core Book v2.0 there can be no doubt that these issues have been addressed.

Published following a successful Kickstarter campaign, FAITH: The Sci-Fi RPG Core Book v2.0 is a heavy weight, full colour, four-hundred-and-forty-page rulebook, of which less than a third—some one-hundred-and-thirty-one pages—is devoted to the game’s mechanical aspects. The remaining seventy percent is pure background, detailing the setting’s two major races, two minor races, their natures and behaviours, anatomies and physiologies, communication and language, societies, education systems, economies, cultures, spirituality, politics, law and crime, technology, weaponry, relationships with other species and the universe as a whole, and history and evolution, and lastly, the one threat they all face and which has brought them together. If the hints given in both FAITH: The Sci-Fi RPG box and A Garden in Hell - RPG Starter Set were at least intriguing and raised more than a few questions, then FAITH: The Sci-Fi RPG Core Book v2.0 certainly answers them.

FAITH: The Sci-Fi RPG takes place in the far future, but Humanity’s involvement only begins some three hundred years in the past of that future. The Corvo, an insectoid-like species, discovered the Earth and Humanity, reduced to wasteland and tribalism following a series of global wars fought for control of resources. The Corvo established a base and offered Humanity a chance to return to advanced civilisation and respite from their much-diminished circumstances. Valued for their adaptability, some Humans accepted contracts with the Corvo and returned with them to Tiantang, the near-Dyson Sphere which was home to the technological, capitalist, and expansionist species. The price was enforced sterility—lest Humanity come to form an interstellar polity of their own and to help the Corvo keep Earth’s location a secret—and in return, these Humans would serve as mercenaries in the ongoing cold war between the Corvo and their traditional enemy, the aquatic mammalian species known as the Iz’kal. Where Corvo society is highly technological and capitalist, the Iz’kal are communal and progressive, placing value on society and the greater good. Where necessary, the Iz’kal employ the Raag as mercenaries. They are aggressive, but honourable clansmen who come from an ice world and use spaceships of ice to raid, search, and trade for goods and supplies to return to their home world. The Iz’kal feel a kinship with the Raag, since both were once the slaves of a lost race known as the Korian.

The cold war between the Corvo and the Iz’kal was put on hold some three decades ago when first the Corvo world of Izuan Tai was attacked and destroyed, and then the Corvo co-operated with the Iz-kal to drive off a similar attack on their colony world of Parsaius. The attackers became known as the Ravagers and the likelihood of further attacks forced the two species—one corporate dominated, one state dominated—to work together along with increased numbers of Human and Raag mercenaries in an independent military force known as the Coalition. It might be the four species’ only hope in driving off and finding a solution to the Ravager menace, but the Coalition has become all but a polity in its own right...

The setting of FAITH: The Sci-Fi RPG is hi-tech. Both biological and technological upgrades and implants are available and many devices can be accessed and even hacked using a Cortex Connector—every Corvo has one of these and anyone residing in Corvospace typically has one also. The stars are reached not by Faster Than Light starships, but by accessing a network of wormholes called the Labyrinth, whose extent remains unknown. Beyond this though—and this is where FAITH: The Sci-Fi RPG is different—faith and a belief in the gods play a fundamental role in everyday life and beyond. Five are described. Ergon, the God of Community, favours selflessness and happiness; Kavliva, the God of Survival, values strength and ambition; Vexal, the God of Freedom, favours liberty and respect for individuality; Hexia, the God of Progress, values the pursuit of knowledge for the common good; and Ledger, the God of Chaos, favours individualism above and the chaos it can reap. Of the five only Ledger does not have cults organised around his worship, although such cults are more organisations through which their members can demonstrate their faith rather bodies sanctioned by the otherwise intangible gods whom their adherents worship. Each of the four species tends to favour one god over the other four, so most Iz’kal are either Ergonauts or Hexians, most Corvo are Kalivans with its cult of celebrities, whilst Vexales are found everywhere and Ledgers only in secret...

Proof of the existence of the five gods lies not just in the faith that their worshippers have in them, but also in the favours they grant—especially to their Soulbenders. Anyone who follows and embodies the commandments of one of the gods may be granted gifts or Divine Upgrades and become a Soulbender, able to warp reality. Thus, an Ergonaut who faithfully follows Ergon’s Commandments (‘All are Equal’, ‘Bend Your Will to the Needs of the Many’, ‘Do Not hinder Your People’, and ‘Help Others Be Their Greatest Selves’) may be granted powers which enable him to create bridges between people and places, communicate telepathically or empathically, to impose thought on others in the face of their selfishness, form solid or energy shields, and to heal or repair objects and people. Of course, most player characters are potential Soulbenders.

A player character is defined by his Species, an Affinity, a God, six attributes and twelve skills, and one or more Upgrades. Each of the four Species available—Corvo, Iz’kal, Raag, and Human—provides one or more traits as well as a Background trait. Of the five races available, the Corvo start the game cortex connector Tech Upgrade and can connect it to a device via their tails. The Corvo also have an innate Affinity for Space. The Iz’kal are amphibious and via a biological Hyperlink can connect together to form hive minds—actually preferring this over using their gene-added vocal cords, although some lose this ability through trauma. Humans are resourceful and so hold more cards from their Player Decks in their hand and are always at an advantage when taking athletic actions.

Each character also has an Affinity. This is for one of the four suits in each Player Deck—Nature, Urban, Space, and OS (Operating System)—used as part of the game mechanics in FAITH: The Sci-Fi RPG and representing where the character grew up, was trained, and so on. A player character’s choice of God provides a core ability for worshipping that deity and options as to how he may develop in terms of his Soulbending abilities. The six attributes are Agility, Constitution, Dexterity, Link, Mind, and Faith. Of these, ‘Link’ represents a character’s ability to understand and interact with technology as well as limiting the number of Tech Upgrades he can have, whilst ‘Faith’ defines his ability to connect or communicate with the Gods, his conviction in those Gods, and limits the number of Divine upgrades he can have. The roleplaying game’s twelve skills—Ballistic, Close Quarters Combat, Hacking, Piloting, Cunning, Survival, Initiative, Athletic, Medical, Technical, Extravehicular Activity, and Profession—are fairly broad, so Cunning covers all deception and stealth-related actions; Hacking covers breaking into electronic devices and computers as well as protecting them against such attempts; and Profession covers everything related to a character’s job, from knowledge to pay, but not an actual skill. So, a character with the Piloting and Medical skills might take Emergency Medical Technician as his Profession or Mercenary if he had the Ballistic, Close Quarters Combat, and Athletic skills.

Characters can also have upgrades. These can be Tech Upgrades, Bio Upgrades, or Divine Upgrades. Bio Upgrades include Echolocation, Improved Build, Powered Reflexes, Tissue Regeneration, and so on. Tech Upgrades range from Atomic Balance and Bionic Arm to Optical Disruptor and Shielded Skull. Basically, Bio Upgrades are bioware and Tech Upgrades are cyberware, both familiar from fiction and other RPGs, but Divine Upgrades are granted by one the five gods in FAITH: The Sci-Fi RPG. They include Extended Awareness and Phantom from Kaliva; Gravity Shift and Planeswalker from Vexal; Altered Reality and Future Sight from Hexia; and so on. There are a total five Divine Upgrades for each of the five gods. Characters can begin play with Divine Upgrades, a player spending some of his beginning Experience Points to purchase them, but they do require roleplaying adhering to the commandments of their chosen god in order to keep them. Ultimately, each Divine Upgrade can be raised to Prophet Level, but that is a significantly long-term aim for any one character.

To create a character, a player selects a Species and Background Traits, as well as an Affinity and a God. He sets his character’s Skills—one at 5, one at 4, two at 3, two at 2, three at 1, and the last three at 0 and spend Experience Points to further enhance the character. As well as Upgrades, this last step also includes the attributes which all start at one and have to be improved at this stage. (In previous iterations of the rules, a set poll of points where distributed among the attributes leading to more powerful starting characters.) Talents can also be purchased for skills rated at five or above, but may not be an option during character creation given the cost of raising attribute levels.

Our sample character is Yīnying, a Corvo resident of Tiantang. He is a freelance Hacker who believes in freeing information and aims to be a Hacker freedom hero.

Yīnying
Species: Corvo
Concept: Hacker
Affinity: Space, OS
God: Vexal

Agility 01 Constitution 01 Dexterity 02
Link 02 Mind 02 Faith 01

Physical Health: 2
Neural Health: 4

Ballistic 0, Close Quarters Combat 2, Hacking 5, Piloting 1, Cunning 3, Survival 0, Initiative 1, Athletic 2, Medical 0, Technical 4, Extravehicular Activity 1, Profession 3 (Hacker)

Traits:
Technological, Tail Reflex, Spaceborn

Talents:
Merchant’s Soul (Hacking)

Bio Upgrades:
Tech Upgrades: Cortex Connector 2.o (Data Storage)
Divine Upgrades: 

The mechanics in FAITH: The Sci-Fi RPG are built around the playing of cards from a Poker-style deck and player choice. Ideally, each player, as well as the Game Master, has a Player Deck, a fifty-four-card deck divided into the four suits—Urban, Wilderness, Spaces, and OS—plus two Jokers. Note that each Player Deck is similar to a standard deck of playing cards and if a player does not have one to hand, he can use a standard deck instead of a Player Deck specific to FAITH: The Sci-Fi RPG. A player will draw from his Player Deck so that he has seven cards in his hand at the start of a session and then at the start of each scene. He will play cards from this hand whenever there is Confrontation and his character’s action is opposed or the character is faced with a Time Sensitive Event. Starting with an Action Value equal to the total of the appropriate Skill, for example Piloting to manoeuvre a shuttle into a field of debris, a player can play cards from his hand to increase the total of the Action Value. The maximum number of cards he can play being limited by the Attribute. If a character’s Action Value exceeds the opposing value by five, he achieves a decisive success and a critical success if the Action Value exceeds the value by ten.

FAITH: The Sci-Fi RPG Core Book v2.0 includes some changes to the mechanics seen in the previous versions of the roleplaying game. Players now get to keep Jokers from their decks rather than handing them to Game Master and used to alter a character’s level of success or lower an opponent’s level of success after a confrontation is played through. Instead of confrontations with the Game Master, a player can attempt to have his character attempt to overcome a Time Sensitive Event (or TSE), the number of cards played by the Game Master representing the challenge involved. The Advantage and Disadvantage statuses now simply apply flat bonus or penalties to an Action value.

Ambience and Affinity add a pair of interesting wrinkles to a player’s management of his hand. Play a card whose suit matches the environment and a player can immediately draw a new card, but if he plays a card whose suit matches both the environment and his designated Affinity, he gets to draw two cards and keep one. Proficiency, that is, playing a card equal to or less than the skill a character is using in a Confrontation, he is being proficient and the effort has not yet exhausted himself, so again, he can draw a card.

For example, Yīnying has been contacted by An-Bai, a member of the Hwang Zhul Tong in Tiantang. The Tong member has data packet he wants decrypting. Now An-Bai will not divulge where it is from—and Yīnying will not ask, but after agreeing to a good price for the task (one benefit of having the Merchant’s Soul (Hacking) Talent), he agrees to do it and sets up a Sniffing attack to extract and decode the data. Unfortunately, a trio of a trio of Zhul Tong, from whom An-Bai stole the data packet, is on An-Bai’s trail and will attempt to retrieve the stolen item. The question is, not if Yīnying will extract the data, but when, so the Game Master will run this as a Time Sensitive Event. If Yīnying fails the Time Sensitive Event, the Zhul Tong members turn up to claim their property before he decrypts the data; if he succeeds, he decrypts the data before they turn up; and if he succeeds with a decisive success, Yīnying succeeds and gets paid!

Yīnying has a starting Action Value of 5, equal to his Hacking, and his player can play a total of two cards, equal to Yīnying’s Link. Like much of Tiantang, the environment where this taking place is in zero gravity and the action itself involves computers, which match both of Yīnying’s Affinities—Space and OS. The Game Master determines that the challenge for the TSE will be three, so she can draw three cards.

The aim of these card driven mechanics is not to negate the presence of luck or chance in the game, but to favour a player in handling his character’s luck from scene to scene. A player will always start a scene with seven cards in his hand and they become the resources he must manage for that scene. Of course, chance is involved in drawing cards when refreshing his hand from scene to scene, but under the right circumstances this can be offset by Ambience, Affinity, and Proficiency that will enable him to keep drawing cards as he plays them. Further, since a player knows what is in his Player Deck, he at least knows what he has used and is thus still available as the game progresses until the Player Deck is emptied and the discard pile reshuffled.

These mechanics are get a little more complex once Ambience, Affinity, and Proficiency become involved, these having been derived from Upgrades and Technology. Fortunately, they are supported and explained in a fully worked out and fully illustrated example of play, necessary because the mechanics to FAITH: The Sci-Fi RPG Core Book v2.0 are different. Not just from other roleplaying games, but also from previous iterations of the game. In addition to these rules for playing the roleplaying game, there are rules for playing with miniatures and advice for the Game Master on running the game. As well as solid sections on technology, equipment, and spaceships, FAITH: The Sci-Fi RPG is rounded out with a short scenario. ‘A Relic in the Streets’ is set on Tiantang, and casts the player characters as freelancers working a criminal gang which has been intimidated into handing over a piece of alien tech. Their task will be to get it back. ‘A Relic in the Streets’ is quite short, offering no more than a session or two’s worth of play, but does a reasonable job of showcasing the rules and it shows that there are other possibilities in the setting other than facing the Ravager threat—the focus of the previous releases for FAITH: The Sci-Fi RPG. The scenario comes with four pre-generated characters. This is addition to the many NPCs, secrets, and hooks presented throughout the background.

As many of the issues as FAITH: The Sci-Fi RPG Core Book v2.0 addresses—a fuller presentation of setting’s history and background, a better exploration of the importance of faith and the gods, expanded character generation rules, and so on, it is not perfect. In terms of production values, a map of the known galaxy would have been as useful as it would have depicted where the various worlds and governments are in relation to each other. Some suggestions as to naming conventions for all four species would been useful too, although it should be pointed out that the Corvo all have Chinese names. This is intentional as the nearest equivalent names found when Corvo translation software interfaced with what remained of Human software, were Chinese. This occurred again with the Iz’kal and the Raag. What this suggests is that the setting of FAITH: The Sci-Fi RPG Core Book v2.0 is not quite neutral, but rather written from a Human perspective.

Physically, FAITH: The Sci-Fi RPG Core Book v2.0 is an impressive book, but then the production values on the first two releases were also high. The artwork, is excellent, imparting much of the feel and grandeur of the setting. That said the flavour text on the NPCs, weaponry, gear, and vehicles is too small and too faint to really read. In places, the book needs another edit, as there are some odd turns of phrase, but in the main, the localisation from Spanish to English has been well handled, and whilst a great deal of effort has gone into the rules explanation, it could have been better. The various chapters supporting characters and character generation could have been much better organised.
With the FAITH: The Sci-Fi RPG Core Book v2.0, the setting of the Faith: the Sci-Fi RPG finally gets the treatment it deserved and brings it to life with a detailed exploration of its religion, its four (five) alien species, and its mechanics. FAITH: The Sci-Fi RPG Core Book v2.0 is the treatment the game has been waiting for since the release of FAITH: The Sci-Fi RPG box set in 2015 and the Upgrade has been worth the wait.

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Burning Games will be at UK Games Expo which will take place between June 1st and June 3rd, 2018 at Birmingham NEC. This is the world’s fourth largest gaming convention and the biggest in the United Kingdom.

Friday Filler: The Cousins' Filler

In the second half of the fifteenth century, the Wars of the Roses were fought between two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet—the House of Lancaster and the House of York—to determine who would rule England. Ultimately, it would lead to the extinction of the House of Lancaster, the defeat of the House of York, and the founding of the House of Tudor, which would rule England until the beginning of the seventeenth century. Were you to want to explore this dynastic conflict by playing a game or two, then the classic boardgame, Kingmaker, is the perfect choice, but that game is out of print and if you can track down a copy, it takes multiple players, and it takes several hours to play. The Cousins’ War, published by Surprised Stare Games, offers an alternative. It is a two-player game, for players aged twelve and over, designed to be played in roughly thirty minutes. Distilling a thirty-year conflict down into micro-wargame, The Cousins’ War combines area control, action card, dice and bluffing mechanics to present a game with a solid theme, involving mechanics, and easy portability. 

The Cousins’ War consists a game board, seventeen Action cards, one Play Aid card, twenty-six wooden cubes, one black cylinder, and three six-sided dice, plus a twelve-page rulebook. The game board is done on thick card and depicts England and Wales and a Turn Track. England and Wales are divided into three areas—South, Central (the Midlands and Wales), and North—and marked with the site of the conflict’s seven major battles. A short history of the Wars of the Roses is given on the back, a nice touch as that would otherwise have been in the rulebook. The Action cards are divided into two types. There is one for each battle, each Battle card giving its date and location, the starting forces present, and the number of Command Points it grants. Command Points are used to add Troops to a player’s Reserve or the Battlefield; Move or Place Influence; Remove an opponent’s Influence. The remaining ten Action cards are Event cards, which can be used in one of two ways. They can be used to generate Command Points or to bring its Primary Event into play. Each Event card also has a Secondary Event which affects an opponent and is triggered if the Event Card’s Round number matches the current Round number.

For example, the ‘Earl of Northumberland’ Event card grants on the one Command Point, but as an Event, it enables a player to ‘Add 1 or 2 cubes to the North Region from your Reserve.’ If played on the second or fourth Round, then the Opponent or Lancaster player may ‘Add 1 cube to any single Region from their Reserve.’

The represent both the Influence and the troops of each House. There are twelve red cubes for Lancaster and twelve white cubes for York, whilst the French are represented by two blue cubes. When placed on the game board, the cubes represent a House’s Influence in each Region, but serve as Troops in a Battle—the French cubes are always Troops. Although nicely presented, the rulebook is not as clearly written as it could be and it assumes that the players have some experience with the mechanics in The Cousins’ War. A careful read through of the rulebook is probably a good idea as is a careful play through.

The Cousins’ War is played out over five Rounds, each consisting of seven Phases. In the first few Phases, players draw and swap Action cards and determine which Battle will be fought during the Round. In the later Phases, the players take it in turn to use Action cards to alter their Influence in the three regions of England and Wales or to bring Troops into a Battle. Attempts to alter a House’s Influence are not a given. There is a chance it may fail, which increases the greater the Influence already has in a Region. Then any Battle is resolved, the winner gaining Influence in the Region where the Battle was fought or an adjacent Region.

Mechanics for battles in The Cousins’ War are essentially ‘Liar’s Dice’. Players take it in turn to roll the three dice and declare the result. The player with the worst result loses cubes or Troops from the Battle and once all of his Troops have been forced from the Battle, he also loses the Battle. The mechanics being ‘Liar’s Dice’ means that the active player does not have to declare the actual result of his dice roll, but can instead Bluff his opponent. His Opponent can either believe him and accept the result, or challenge him as to the veracity of the dice roll. If the challenged declaration is true, the Opponent loses, but if not, the active player loses. What The Cousins’ War allows though, is for a player to actually alter his dice roll by playing an Action card and spending Command Points to alter the values on the dice. Both players continue rolling, declaring, bluffing, and challenging until one House has troops left on the Battle. The winner gains Influence in the Region as well as the Battle card itself.

The end of each Round involves checking to see if the victory conditions have been met. These are met if a player controls all three Regions on the game board; by the player who controls the most Regions at the end of the game; or by the player who has won the most Battles if both players control the same number of Regions.

Despite its size and play time—both small—The Cousins’ War presents each player with plenty of tactical choice. Of course, there is choice to bluff or challenge in Battles, but in the Event cards, each player will really need to give careful thought as to how to get the best out of each card. This is because each has three options—use its Command Points, use its Event, and whether or not its Secondary Event will benefit his opponent. Plus, where to spend Command Points—Influence on the game board or Battles. Winning Battles affects the outcome of The Cousins’ War and may be key to winning it if neither House has sufficient Influence in play.

Physically, The Cousins’ War is very nicely presented. Both cards and game board are well designed and nicely carry through the Wars of the Roses theme. The illustration on the cover of the box is really quite good and it is a pity that none of the cards are illustrated. The rulebook is slightly underwritten, especially if coming to the Action card mechanic for the first time. There are two things that the game could benefit from. One is a second Play Aid card and the second is another set of dice, since the players will ultimately be comparing dice rolls in Battles.

Even though a microgame, The Cousins’ War does feel a bit fiddly in places, especially in the number of Phases which have to played through each turn. It also feels odd to have the three-different mechanics in the one game—the area control, action cards, and ‘Liar’s Dice’—as they would seem to be a bad fit. That said, the luck element of the dice mechanics, both for Battles and determining Influence do balance out the non-luck element of the Action cards. Further, once you play through a game or two, it becomes clear that they each work to direct each player’s Command Points and Influence. It is just not as clear as it should be that the mechanics do interlock.

As a microgame, The Cousins’ War streamlines thirty years of history and conflict with three interlocking mechanics that offer solid play and tactical choice.

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Surprised Stare Games will be at UK Games Expo which will take place between June 1st and June 3rd, 2018 at Birmingham NEC. This is the world’s fourth largest gaming convention and the biggest in the United Kingdom.