Castle Falkenstein was an innovative steampunk-themed fantasy role-playing game designed by Mike Pondsmith and originally published by R. Talsorian Games. A GURPS version (GURPS Castle Falkenstein) and several supplements were later published by Steve Jackson Games.

Game Setting

The game is set in the parallel world of New Europa (a confusing label which is sometimes applied to the Old Continent, sometimes to the whole planet) in the Age of Steam, or the 1870s. The world resembles our own, with a number of major variations (some of which seem to be inspired by the game Shadowrun): the denizens of Faerie do exist and mingle with humans, with which they have struck an uneasy alliance. Creatures and beasts from myth and legend exist, as seem to do a number of characters that are considered fictional in our world. Magic exists and works, and has allowed technology to stretch in unespected directions. Players play the roles of gallant adventurers, facing the intrigue and derring-do of the most classic Victorian adventure (The Prisoner of Zenda being an acknowledged inspiration).

Game System and Presentation

The game's originality extends to the system, which is extremely simple and freeform (and reminiscent of the freely distributed system, The Window), and uses playing cards instead of dice to simulate action, thus succeeding in keeping the actual playing of the game in the same tone of the game being played. The system is naturally geared towards live action role-playing, and players are required to keep an in-character diary instead of using a more prosaic character sheet. Rules and setting are presented in the form of diaries of a number of characters within the game, the main being the author's alter-ego Tom Olam, a game designer from our world magically transported in New Europa. Olam is sometimes insufferable but, especially when his lines are written by Pondsmith, is a refreshing departure from the drier prose of many gaming handbooks. Being a game narrated by a fictional character who claims authorship of the game, Castle Falkenstein (which won the Origins Award in 1994 and the Findley Memorial Award in 1995) is therefore likely to be the first recursive and postmodern roleplaying game ever published.