Teetotums - an answer to that socially tricky dice problem!

Teetotums - an answer to that socially

tricky dice problem!

At last I have managed to avoid the great controversy of the “The Six-Sided Variation”!

I can now use six-sided random number generators in my Castle Falkenstein games.

In the Victorian period, as we know from the corebook, dice were only used for gambling by a variety of ruffians and ne’er do wells.



The Victorians developed numerous board games which were socially acceptable for Ladies and even Children to play. These frequently required some sort of number generator and so teetotums and spinners were used to replace the Dastardly Dice that might lead the users to plunge into a Dangerous Moral Decline.

 

Teetotums from the period.

My Gentlemen players can, of course, use dice, albeit with certain reservations to avoid low slurs upon their moral characters.

Fortunately, at the last re-enactors’ market that I attended I discovered a purveyor of new teetotums (see above) and purchased several of them. Now my Lady players can happily enjoy the advantages of using the “Six-sided Variation” and my Adventure Entertainments are not punctuated by episodes of swooning!

The Fifth Variation - The Six-Sided Variation

The Six-sided Variations

The fifth in Mr J Gray’s series on Castle Falkenstein rules variations, a shocking move for purist players as it involves the use of DICE!

In brief, there is a pot of chits representing the four card suits and jokers. Players draw four chits and then play a chit (or more) to carry out a Feat (action). If the chit is the same suit as the Ability it provides 2D6 and if it doesn’t match, it provides one point. Jokers are wild and automatically give a score of twelve! The dice are rolled and the score added to the Ability score as in normal play. There are, as in all of the Falkenstein Variations, a range of additional tweaks included in the booklet. These allow you to adapt the Six-sided variations to your own campaign style.

We decided to try it out in our group. I will admit that I was a little concerned that it might change the flavour of the game slightly.

It did not.

The Variation was quickly understood and actually speeded up play. Those who were less confident with the game’s card system made chit & dice roll decisions more quickly than they did with cards, allowing us to get on with the action.

The Six-sided Variation has been well thought out to produce similar results to the existing card rules, making them fully interchangeable. So in future games, I, as Host (GM), will allow each of my players to choose to use cards or dice according to their own preference (as long as they stick to their choice for the whole adventure).

Another useful and clearly explained set of optional rules for Castle Falkenstein. It can speed up your game and will be of particular use with existing gamers who are trying Falkenstein for the first time. As it has enhanced our game playing experience, I have to give it a full five stars.

This excellent publication is available from Drivethrurpg