TEXT: Fate of Falkenstein: A Fate Core hack for Castle Falkenstein
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  Fate of Falkenstein: A Fate Core hack for Castle Falkenstein
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  Fate of Falkenstein
  A Fate Core Hack for Castle Falkenstein, using the Deck of Fate.
  by Sophie Lagacé
  Setting
  Setting is as per Castle Falkenstein (R. Talsorian Games, 1994) and any related supplements the GM approves. 
  Character Creation
  Character creation looks like Fate Core (Evil Hat Productions, 2013) with the following changes: 
  
  The high concept aspect should include a Dramatic Character role such as the ones suggested in Castle 
  Falkenstein pp. 145-153 or, with the Host's agreement, in one of the CF supplements. For example: 
  Russian Anarchist, Young Dragon Lord, French Soldier of Fortune, etc.
  
  The trouble aspect is generally your dramatic hook. Use it well.
  
  The Phase Trio can draw inspiration from the diary questions in Castle Falkenstein pp. 155-158.
  
  The ladder descriptors are renamed to match Castle Falkenstein better, in order to be able to use 
  difficulty and ability ratings provided in the sourcebooks.  
  Bonus
  Fate of Bayern
  Fate Core
  +8
  Legendary
  Legendary
  +7
  Epic
  Epic
  +6
  Extraordinary
  Fantastic
  +5
  Exceptional
  Superb
  +4
  Great
  Great
  +3
  Good
  Good
  +2
  Fair
  Fair
  +1
  Average
  Average
  +0
  Mediocre
  Mediocre
  -1
  Poor
  Poor
  -2
  Terrible
  Terrible
  
  Mundane skills are changed to match those in Castle Falkenstein. For several, the correspondance with 
  Fate Core is quite good; for a few, we need new definitions; stunts are modified to match. 
  
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  
  Arcane skills are new (Extras) and based on those in Castle Falkenstein. They all cost Refresh.
  
  Skill bonuses are per Fate Core default: one at Great [+4], two at Good [+3], three at Fair [+2], and four at 
  Average [+1].
  
  Physical stress box bonus based on Physique, social stress boxes based on Courage.
  
  Refresh starts at 6.  PCs are not allowed to let their refresh level drop below one.
  
  Mundane stunts cost 1 point of refresh each; magic, non-human templates, and associated stunts have 
  a specific Refresh cost.
  Mundane Skills
  In Castle Falkenstein
  In Fate of Bayern
  O
  C
  A
  D
  Athletics
  Same as in Fate Core.
  x
  x
  x
  Charisma
  Rapport from Fate Core, renamed
  x
  x
  x
  Comeliness
  No skill, handled through aspects.
  -
  -
  -
  -
  Connections
  Contacts from Fate Core, renamed.
  x
  x
  x
  Courage
  Will from Fate Core, renamed.
  x
  x
  x
  Education
  Lore from Fate Core, renamed.
  x
  x
  Exchequer
  Resources from Fate Core, renamed.
  x
  x
  Fencing
  New skill based on Fight: Swords from Fate Core.
  x
  x
  x
  x
  Fisticuffs
  New skill based on Fight: Unarmed from Fate Core.
  x
  x
  x
  x
  Marksmanship
  Shoot from Fate Core, renamed.
  x
  x
  x
  Motoring and Helmsmanship
  Drive from Fate Core, renamed.
  x
  x
  x
  Perception
  Notice from Fate Core, renamed.
  x
  x
  x
  Performance
  New skill. Based partly on Deceive from Fate Core.
  x
  x
  Physician
  New skill. Based partly on Lore: Physician from Fate Core.
  x
  x
  x
  Physique
  Same as in Fate Core.
  x
  x
  x
  Social Graces
  Empathy from Fate Core, renamed.
  x
  x
  x
  Stealth
  Same as in Fate Core.
  x
  x
  x
  Tinkering
  Crafts from Fate Core, renamed.
  x
  x
  O = Overcome, C = Create and Advantage, A = Attack, D = Defend.
  The Fate Core skills Burglary, Investigation, and Provoke do not have direct counterparts in Castle Falkenstein.
  
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  Athletics
  The Athletics skill represents your character’s general level of physical fitness, whether through training, natural 
  gifts, or arcane means (like magic or Faerie heritage). It’s how good you are at moving your body. As such, it is a 
  popular choice for nearly any action-y character.
  Athletics is all but ubiquitous among every genre appropriate for Fate—it would only be unnecessary in a game 
  that focused exclusively on interpersonal interaction and had no physical conflict.
  Overcome: Athletics allows you to overcome any obstacle that requires physical movement—jumping, running, 
  climbing, swimming, etc. If it resembles something you’d do in the decathlon, you use Athletics. You use 
  overcome actions with Athletics to move between zones in a conflict if there’s a situation aspect or other 
  obstacle in your way. You also use Athletics to chase or race in any contests or challenges that rely on these types 
  of activities.
  Create an Advantage: When you’re creating an advantage with Athletics, you’re jumping to high ground, 
  running faster than the opponent can keep up with, or performing dazzling acrobatic maneuvers in order to 
  confound your foes.
  Attack: Athletics is not meant as an attack skill.
  Defend: Athletics is a catch-all skill to use for defense in a physical conflict, against close-quarters and ranged 
  attacks. You can also use it to defend against characters trying to move past you, if you’re in a position to  
  physically interfere with whoever’s making the attempt.
  Athletics Stunts
  Sprinter. You move two zones for free in a conflict without making a test, instead of one, provided 
  there are no situation aspects restricting movement.
  Cat-Like Balance. +2 to overcome actions with Athletics if you are in a chase across rooftops or a 
  similarly precarious environment.
  Dazing Counter. When you succeed with style on a defend action against an opponent’s Fisticuffs 
  attack, you automatically counter with some sort of nerve punch or stunning blow. You get to attach the 
  Dazed situation aspect to your opponent with a free invoke, instead of just a boost.
  Charisma
  The Charisma skill is all about making positive connections to people and eliciting positive emotion. It’s the skill 
  of being liked and trusted.
  Overcome: Use Charisma to charm or inspire people to do what you want, or to establish a good connection 
  with them. Charm your way past the guard, convince someone to take you into their confidence, or become the 
  man of the hour at the local tavern. For nameless NPCs, this is just an overcome action, but you may have to 
  enter a contest to sufficiently ingratiate yourself to a named NPC or PC.
  Create an Advantage: Use Charisma to establish a positive mood on a target or in a scene or to get someone to 
  confide in you out of a genuine sense of trust. You could pep talk someone into having Elevated Confidence, or 
  stir a crowd into a Joyful Fervor, or simply make someone Talkative or Helpful.
  Attack:  Charisma doesn’t cause harm, so you don’t use it for attacks.
  
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  Defend: Charisma defends against any skill used to damage your reputation, sour a mood you’ve created, or 
  make you look bad in front of other people. It does not, however, defend against mental attacks. That 
  requires Courage.
  Charisma Stunts 
  Best Foot Forward. Twice per session, you may upgrade a boost you receive with Charisma into a full 
  situation aspect with a free invocation.
  Demagogue. +2 to Charisma when you’re delivering an inspiring speech in front of a crowd. (If there 
  are named NPCs or PCs in the scene, you may target them all simultaneously with one test rather than 
  dividing up your shifts.)
  Popular. If you’re in an area where you’re popular and well-liked, you can use Charisma in place of 
  Connections. You may be able to establish your popularity by spending a fate point to declare a story 
  detail, or because of prior justification.
  Connections
  Connections is the skill of knowing and making contacts with people. It presumes proficiency with all means of 
  networking available in the setting.
  Overcome: You use Connections to overcome any obstacle related to finding someone you need to find. 
  Whether that’s old-fashioned “man on the street” type of work, polling your contact network, or searching 
  newspaper archives, you’re able to hunt down people or somehow get access to them.
  Create an Advantage: Connections allows you to know who the perfect person to talk to is for anything you 
  might need, or to decide that you know the perfect person already. It’s likely that you’ll create story details with 
  this skill, represented by aspects. (“My connections tell me that Joe Steel is the Best Mechanic For A Thousand 
  Miles—we should talk to him.”)
  You can also create an advantage that represents what the word on the street is about a particular individual, 
  object, or location, based on what your contacts tell you. These aspects almost always deal with reputation more 
  than fact, such as Known as a Mean Guy or Notorious Swindler. Whether that person lives up to their 
  reputation  is  anybody’s  guess,  though  that  doesn’t  invalidate  the  aspect—people  often  have  misleading 
  reputations that complicate their lives.
  Connections could also be used to create aspects that represent using your information network to plant or 
  acquire information.
  Attack: Connections isn’t used for attacks; it’s hard to harm someone simply by knowing people.
  Defend: Connections can be used to defend against people creating social advantages against you, provided your 
  information network can be brought to bear in the situation. You might also use it to keep someone from using 
  Connections to go “off the grid”, or to interfere with attempts to find you.
  Connections Stunts 
  Ear to the Ground. Whenever someone initiates a conflict against you in an area where you’ve built a 
  network of contacts, you use Connections instead of Perception to determine turn order, because you got 
  tipped off in time.
  
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  Rumormonger. +2 to create an advantage when you plant vicious rumors about someone else.
  The Weight of Reputation. You can use Connections to create advantages based on the fear generated 
  by the sinister reputation you’ve cultivated for yourself and all the shady associates you have. You 
  should have an appropriate aspect to pair with this stunt.
  Courage
  The Courage skill represents your character’s general level of mental fortitude, the same 
  waythat Physique represents your physical fortitude.
  Overcome: You can use Courage to pit yourself against obstacles that require mental effort. Puzzles and riddles 
  can fall under this category, as well as any mentally absorbing task, like deciphering a code. Use Courage when 
  it’s only a matter of time before you overcome the mental challenge, and Education if it takes something more 
  than brute mental force to get past it. Many of the obstacles that you go up against with Will might be made part 
  of challenges, to reflect the effort involved.
  Contests of  Courage might reflect particularly challenging games, like chess, or competing in a hard set of 
  exams. In settings where magic or psychic abilities are common, contests of Courage are popular occurrences.
  Create an  Advantage: You  can  use Courage to place  aspects on  yourself, representing  a state of deep 
  concentration or focus.
  Attack:  Courage isn’t really used for attacks. That said, in settings where you allow psychic abilities, full-on 
  psychic conflict might be something you can do with this skill. That’s the sort of thing that would be added to 
  Courage by taking a stunt or extra.
  Defend:  Courage is the main skill you use to defend against mental attacks, representing your control over your 
  reactions.
  Special: The Courage skill gives you additional mental stress boxes or consequence slots. Average (+1) or Fair 
  (+2) gives you a 3-point stress box. Good (+3) or Great (+4) gives you a 3-point and a 4-point stress box. 
  Exceptional (+5) and above give you an additional mild consequence slot along with the additional stress boxes. 
  This slot can only be used for mental harm.
  Courage Stunts 
  Strength From Determination. Use Courage instead of Physique on any overcome tests representing 
  feats of strength.
  Hard-Boiled. You can choose to ignore a mild or moderate consequence for the duration of the scene. 
  It can’t be compelled against you or invoked by your enemies. At the end of the scene it comes back 
  worse, though; if it was a mild consequence it becomes a moderate consequence, and if it was already 
  moderate, it becomes severe.
  Indomitable. +2 to defend against attacks specifically related to creating intimidation and fear.
  Education
  The Education skill is about knowledge and lore. 
  Overcome: You can use Lore to overcome any obstacle that requires applying your character’s knowledge to 
  
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  achieve a goal. For example, you might use Education to decipher some ancient language on a tomb wall, 
  under the presumption that your character might have researched it at some point.
  Frankly, you can use Education as a go-to skill any time you need to know if your character can answer a 
  difficult question, where some tension exists in not knowing the answer.
  Create an Advantage: Education provides a lot of very flexible opportunities to create advantages, provided 
  you can research the subject in question. More often than not, you’ll be using Education to get a story detail, 
  some obscure bit of information that you uncover or know already, but if that information gives you an edge 
  in a future scene, it might take the form of an aspect. Likewise, you can use Education to create advantages 
  based on any subject matter your character might have studied, which gives you a fun way to add details to 
  the setting.
  Attack: Education isn’t used in conflicts.
  Defend: Education isn’t used to defend.
  Education Stunts
   
  
  I’ve Read about That! You’ve read hundreds—if not thousands—of books on a wide variety of topics. 
  You can spend a fate point to use Education in place of any other skill for one test or exchange, 
  provided you can justify having read about the action you’re attempting.
  
  Shield of Reason. You can use Education as a defense against mental attempts, provided you can 
  justify your ability to overcome your fear through rational thought and reason.
  
  Specialist. Choose a field of specialization, such as herbology, criminology, or zoology. You get a +2 to 
  all Education tests relating to that field of specialization.
  Exchequer
  Exchequer describes your character’s general level of material wealth in the game world and ability to apply it. 
  This might not always reflect cash on hand, given the different ways you can represent wealth in a particular 
  setting—in a medieval game, it might be tied to land or vassals as much as gold; in the modern day, it might 
  mean a number of good lines of credit.
  This skill is in the default list to give you a basic, easy way to handle wealth as an abstraction without getting  
  into minutiae or bookkeeping. Some people might consider it odd to give a static skill rating for something that 
  we’re used to seeing as a finite resource. 
  Overcome: You can use Exchequer to get yourself out of or past any situation where throwing money at the 
  problem will help, such as committing bribery or acquiring rare and expensive things. Challenges or contests 
  might involve auctions or bidding wars.
  Create an Advantage: You might use Exchequer to grease the wheels and make people more friendly, whether 
  that represents an actual bribe (I Scratch Your Back...) or simply buying drinks for people (In Vino Veritas). 
  You can also use Exchequer to declare that you have something you need on hand, or can quickly acquire it, 
  which could give you an aspect representing the object.
  
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  Attack: Exchequer isn’t used for attacks.
  Defend: Exchequer isn’t used to defend.
  Exchequer Stunts 
  Money Talks. You can use  Exchequer instead of Charisma in any situation where ostentatious displays 
  of material wealth might aid your cause.
  Savvy Investor. You get an additional free invoke when you create advantages with Exchequer, 
  provided that they describe a monetary return on an investment you made in a previous session. (In other 
  words, you can’t retroactively declare that you did it, but if it happened in the course of play, you get 
  higher returns.)
  Born to Riches. Twice per session, you may take a boost representing a windfall or influx of cash.
  Fencing
  The Fencing skill covers the genteel art of close-quarters combat (in other words, within the same zone) using a 
  sword. 
  Overcome: Since you don’t really use Fencing outside of a conflict, it’s not often used to overcome obstacles. 
  You might use it to display your knowledge of the rules, history, and etiquette of the art.
  Create an Advantage: You’ll probably use Fencing for most of the advantages you create in a physical conflict. 
  Any number of special moves can be covered with advantages: a targeted strike, disarming, riposte, and so on. 
  You could even use Fencing to assess another fighter’s style, spotting weaknesses in his or her form that you can 
  exploit.
  Attack: This is self-explanatory. You make physical attacks with Fencing. Remember, this is for close-in work, 
  so you have to be in the same zone as your opponent
  Defend: You use Fencing to defend against any other attack or create an advantage attempt made with Fencing 
  or possibly Fisticuffs. 
  Fight Stunts 
  Unerring Strike. When you succeed with style on a Fencing attack and choose to reduce the result by 
  one to gain a boost, you gain a full situation aspect with a free invocation instead.
  Backup Weapon. Whenever someone’s about to hit you with a Disarmed situation aspect or something 
  similar, spend a fate point to declare you have a backup weapon, such as a hidden dagger. Instead of a 
  situation aspect, your opponent gets a boost, representing the momentary distraction you suffer having to 
  switch. Note that this may be considered dishonourable.
  Killing Stroke. Once per scene, when you force an opponent to take a consequence, you can spend a 
  fate point to increase the consequence’s severity (so mild becomes moderate, moderate becomes severe). 
  If your opponent was already going to take a severe consequence, he must either take a severe 
  consequence and a second consequence or be taken out.
  
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  Fisticuffs
  The Fisticuffs skill covers unarmed close-quarters combat (in other words, within the same zone). 
  Overcome: Since you don’t really use Fisticuffs outside of a conflict, it’s not often used to overcome obstacles. 
  You might use it to demonstrate your knowledge of the Noble Art, to display your fighting prowess in a 
  demonstration, or to participate in some kind of regulated bout or sport fighting, which would allow you to use 
  this skill in a contest.
  Create an Advantage: You’ll probably use Fisticuffs for most of the advantages you create in a physical 
  conflict. Any number of special moves can be covered with advantages: a targeted strike to stun, a “dirty move,” 
  and so on. You could even use Fisticuffs to assess another fighter’s style, spotting weaknesses in his or her form 
  that you can exploit.
  Attack: This is self-explanatory. You make physical attacks with Fisticuffs. Remember, this is for close-in work, 
  so you have to be in the same zone as your opponent
  Defend: You use Fisticuffs to defend against any other attack or create an advantage attempt made with 
  Fisticuffs or Fencing, as well as pretty much any action where violently interposing yourself could prevent it 
  from happening. 
  Fight Stunts 
  Heavy Hitter. When you succeed with style on a Fisticuffs attack and choose to reduce the result by 
  one to gain a boost, you gain a full situation aspect with a free invocation instead.
  Killing Blow. Once per scene, when you force an opponent to take a consequence, you can spend a fate 
  point to increase the consequence’s severity (so mild becomes moderate, moderate becomes severe). If 
  your  opponent  was  already  going  to  take  a  severe  consequence,  he  must  either  take  a  severe 
  consequence and a second consequence or be taken out.
  Marksmanship
  Marksmanship is the skill of using ranged weaponry, either in a conflict or on targets that don’t actively resist 
  your attempts to shoot them (like a bull’s-eye or the broad side of a barn).
  Overcome: Unless, for some reason, you need to demonstrate your  Marksmanship ability in a non-conflict 
  situation or your knowledge of firearms, you probably won’t be using this skill for normal obstacles much. 
  Create an Advantage: In physical conflicts, Marksmanship can be used to perform a wide variety of moves, 
  like trick shots, keeping someone under heavy fire, and the like. You might even be able to disarm people and 
  pin their sleeves to walls—pretty much anything you’ve seen in an action movie. You could also make the 
  argument for creating aspects based on your knowledge of guns (like placing a Prone to Jams aspect on an 
  opponent’s gun).
  Attack: This skill makes physical attacks. You can make them from up to two zones away. (Sometimes the range 
  will change with the weapon.)
  Defend: Marksmanship is unique in that it doesn’t really have a defense component to it—you’d use Athletics 
  for that. You could use it to lay down some covering fire—which might act as a defense for your allies or 
  provide opposition to someone else’s movement—though it could just as easily be represented by creating an 
  advantage (Covering Fire or Hail of Bullets, for example).
  
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  Marksmanship Stunts 
  Called Shot. During a Marksmanship attack, spend a fate point and declare a specific condition you 
  want to inflict on a target, like Shot in the Hand. If you succeed, you place that as a situation aspect on 
  them in addition to hitting them for stress.
  Quick on the Draw. You can use Marksmanship instead of Perception to determine turn order in any 
  physical conflict where shooting quickly would be useful.
  Uncanny Accuracy. Once per conflict, stack an additional free invoke on an advantage you’ve created 
  to represent the time you take to aim or line up a shot (like In My Sights).
  Motoring/Helmsmanship
  The Motoring skill is all about operating vehicles and things that go fast. If you want to use it for things that fly 
  instead, call it Helmsmanship; it works pretty much the same but with airships.
  Overcome:  Motoring is the equivalent of Athletics when you’re in a vehicle—you use it to successfully 
  accomplish movement in the face of difficult circumstances, like rough terrain, small amounts of clearance, or 
  stunt driving. Obviously, Motoring is also ripe for contests, especially chases and races.
  Create an Advantage: You can use Motoring to determine the best way to get somewhere in a vehicle, and a 
  good enough test result might allow you to learn features of the route that get expressed as aspects, or declare 
  that you know a Convenient Shortcut or something similar.
  You can also just read the Athletics description, and then make it about a vehicle. Advantages created using 
  Motoring often revolve around getting good positioning, doing a fancy maneuver (Did a Barrel Roll, anyone?), 
  or putting your opponent in a bad spot.
  Attack:  Motoring isn’t usually used as an attack skill (though stunts can certainly alter this). If you want to ram 
  a vehicle, you can attack with Motoring, but you take the same shifts of harm you inflict.
  Defend: Avoiding damage to a vehicle in a physical conflict is one of the most common uses of Motoring. You 
  can also use it to defend against advantages being created against you or overcome actions of someone trying to 
  move past you in a vehicle.
  Motoring Stunts 
  Hard to Shake. +2 to Motoring whenever you’re pursuing another vehicle in a chase scene.
  Pedal to the Metal. You can coax more speed out of your vehicle than seems possible. Whenever 
  you’re engaged in any contest where speed is the primary factor (such as a chase or race of some kind) 
  and you tie with your Motoring test, it’s considered a success.
  Ramming Speed! When ramming another vehicle, you ignore two shifts of damage. So if you ram and 
  hit for four shifts, you only take two yourself.
  Perception
  The Perception skill involves just that—noticing things, representing a character’s overall perception, ability to 
  pick out details at a glance, and other powers of observation. 
  
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  Overcome: You don’t really use Perception to overcome obstacles too often but when you do it’s used in a 
  reactive way: noticing something in a scene, hearing a faint sound, spotting the concealed gun in that guy’s 
  waistband.
  Note that this isn’t license for GMs to call for Perception tests left and right to see how generally observant the 
  players’ characters are; that’s boring. Instead, call for  Perception tests when succeeding would result in 
  something interesting happening and failing would result in something just as interesting.
  Create an Advantage: You use Perception to create aspects based on direct observation—looking over a room 
  for details that stand out, finding an escape route in a debris-filled building, noticing someone sticking out in a 
  crowd, etc. When you’re watching people, Perception can tell you what’s going on with them externally; for 
  internal changes, see Empathy. You might also use Perception to declare that your character spots something you 
  can use to your advantage in a situation, such as a convenient Escape Route when you’re trying to get out of a 
  building, or a Subtle Weakness in the enemy’s line of defense. For example, if you’re in a barroom brawl you 
  could make a Perception test to say that you spot a puddle on the floor, right next to your opponent’s feet that 
  could cause him to slip.
  Attack:  Perception isn’t really used for attacks.
  Defend: You can use Perception to defend against any uses of Stealth to get the drop on you or ambush you, or 
  to discover that you’re being observed.
  Perception Stunts 
  Danger Sense. You have an almost preternatural capacity for detecting danger. Your Perception skill 
  works unimpeded by conditions like total concealment, darkness, or other sensory impairments in 
  situations where someone or something intends to harm you.
  Body Language Reader. You can use Perception in place of Social Graces to learn the aspects of a 
  target through observation.
  Reactive Shot. You can use Perception instead of Marksmanship to make quick, reactive shots that 
  don’t involve a lot of aiming. However, because you’re having a knee-jerk reaction, you’re not allowed 
  to concretely identify your target before using this stunt. So, for example, you might be able to shoot at 
  someone you see moving in the bushes with this stunt, but you won’t be able to tell if it’s friend or foe 
  before you pull the trigger. Choose carefully!
  Performance
  Performance covers skill at singing, dancing, or acting creditably, playing an instrument, etc. One or more of 
  your aspects should indicate what kind of performance you specialise in.
  Overcome: You can use Performance to impress an audience with your mastery of your art.
  Create an Advantage: You use Performance to create aspects based on your reputation, talent, skill, and training 
  as a musical, athletic, or stage performer, from making an audience cry to securing an invitation to a fashionable 
  event. 
  Attack: Performance isn't used for direct attacks.
  Defend: You can't really use Performance to defend.
  
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  Performance Stunts
  
  Making an Entrance. +2 on Performance tests made to create an advantage whenever you’re trying to 
  attract a crowd's attention with your entrance.
  
  My Many Admirers. Whenever you meet someone new, you can spend a fate point to declare that 
  you’ve met that person before, and use Performance instead of Charisma when interacting with them.
  
  Talk the Talk. You can use Performance in place of Connections whenever you’re dealing specifically 
  with other performers or with aficionados of your art.
  Physician
  Physician covers the ability to diagnose illness, administer medication, perform surgery (at higher levels of 
  skill), deliver babies, and bandage wounds.
  Overcome: You can use Physician to diagnose a medical condition, administer medication to recalcitrant 
  patients, deliver babies, etc.  
  A use of particular interest to adventuring characters is the ability to provide medical assistance for physical 
  consequences;  the difficulty for this obstacle is based on the shift value of the consequence. Mild is Fair (+2), 
  moderate is Great (+4), and severe is Extraordinary (+6). If you are trying to perform the recovery action on 
  yourself, increase the difficulty by two steps on the ladder. Note that the circumstances have to be 
  appropriately free of distraction and tension for you to make this test in the first place. If you succeed at the 
  recovery action, you get to rename the consequence aspect to show that it’s in recovery. So, for 
  example, Broken Leg could become Stuck in a Cast, and so on. This doesn’t free up the consequence slot, but it 
  serves as an indicator that the target is recovering, and it changes the ways the aspect’s going to be used while 
  it remains.
  Create an Advantage: You can use Physician to create an advantage by identifying a course of treatment, 
  bandaging injuries, etc. 
  Attack: Physician can’t be used for direct attacks.
  Defend: You can use Physician as a defense action against uses of Fisticuffs to take the blow while avoiding 
  harm to your most vulnerable points.
  Physician Stunts
  
  Medic. Once per session you can reduce someone else’s consequence by one level of severity (severe to 
  moderate, moderate to mild, mild to nothing at all) by succeeding on any Physician test with a 
  difficulty of Fair (+2) for a mild consequence, Good (+3) for moderate, or Great (+4) for severe. You 
  need to attend to the person you’re treating for at least half an hour in order for them to receive the 
  benefits of this stunt, and you can’t use it on yourself. (Normally, this test would only start the 
  recovery process, instead of changing the consequence level.)
  
  Forensic Medicine. Your skill with Physician gives you a distinct insight into certain kinds of 
  investigations. When appropriate, you may use your Physician skill instead of Perception or 
  
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  Education, particularly when the subject involves medical evidence. If you would normally use 
  Physician for such an effort anyway (such as performing an autopsy) then you receive a +2 bonus.
  
  Medical Authority.  You’re not only a doctor, you’re at the forefront of medical science in action; your 
  character is a respected authority in a specific field of surgical or therapeutic medicine (define in your 
  aspects). You can use Physician in place of Connections whenever you’re dealing with people who 
  might have heard of your reputation. 
  Physique
  The Physique skill is a counterpart to Athletics, representing the character’s natural physical aptitudes, such as 
  raw strength and endurance. We have this skill broken out as something separate in order to create two distinct 
  types of physical characters—the nimble guy (represented by Athletics) and the strongman (represented by 
  Physique).
  Overcome: You can use Physique to overcome any obstacles that require the application of brute force—most 
  often to overcome a situation aspect on a zone—or any other physical impedance, like prison bars or locked 
  gates. Of course, Physique is the classic skill for arm-wrestling matches and other contests of applied strength, as 
  well as marathons or other endurance-based challenges.
  Create an Advantage: Physique has a lot of potential for advantages in physical conflict, usually related to 
  grappling and holding someone in place, making them Pinned or Locked Down. You might also use it as a way 
  of discovering physical impairments possessed by the target—grappling the old mercenary tells you that he has 
  a Bum Leg or somesuch.
  Attack: Physique is not used to harm people directly—see the Fisticuffs skill for that.
  Defend: Though you don’t generally use Physique to defend against attacks, you can use it to provide active 
  opposition to someone else’s movement, provided you’re in a small enough space that you can effectively use 
  your body to block access. You might also interpose something heavy and brace it to stop someone from getting 
  through.
  Special: The Physique skill gives you additional physical stress or consequence slots. Average (+1) or Fair (+2) 
  gives you a 3-point stress box. Good (+3) or Great (+4) gives you a 3-point and a 4-point stress box. Exceptional 
  (+5) and above give you an additional mild consequence slot along with the additional stress boxes. This slot can 
  only be used for physical harm.
  Physique Stunts 
  Grappler. +2 to Physique tests made to create advantages on an enemy by wrestling or grappling with 
  them.
  Take  the  Blow. You  can  use  Physique  to  defend  against  attacks  made  with  Fisticuffs  or  blunt 
  instruments, though you always take 1 shift of stress on a tie.
  Tough as Nails. Once per session, at the cost of a fate point, you can reduce the severity of a moderate 
  consequence that’s physical in nature to a mild consequence (if your mild consequence slot is free), or 
  erase a mild consequence altogether.
  Social Graces
  Social Graces involves knowing and being able to spot changes in a person’s mood or bearing. It’s basically the 
  emotional Perception skill. 
  
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  Overcome: You use Social Graces to fit into social situation, know what to do when confronted with an 
  unfamiliar table setting, or an unexpected social encounter. In certain circumstances, you might use Social 
  Graces like you would Perception, to see if you catch a change in someone’s attitude or intent.
  Create an Advantage: You can use Social Graces to read a person’s emotional state and get a general sense of 
  who they are, presuming you have some kind of interpersonal contact with them. Most often, you’ll use this to 
  assess the aspects on another character’s sheet, but sometimes you’ll also be able to create new aspects, 
  especially on NPCs. If the target has some reason to be aware that you’re trying to read them, they can defend  
  with Social Graces or Charisma.
  A use of particular interest to adventuring characters is the ability to provide assistance for mental consequences; 
  the difficulty for this obstacle is based on the shift value of the consequence. Mild is Fair (+2), moderate is Great  
  (+4), and severe is Extraordinary (+6). If you are trying to perform the recovery action on yourself, increase the 
  difficulty by two steps on the ladder. Note that the circumstances have to be appropriately free of distraction and 
  tension for you to make this test in the first place. If you succeed at the recovery action, you get to rename the  
  consequence aspect to show that it’s in recovery. So, for example, Scandalized could become Damage Control, 
  and so on. This doesn’t free up the consequence slot, but it serves as an indicator that the target is recovering, 
  and it changes the ways the aspect’s going to be used while it remains.
  You can also use  Social Graces to discover what circumstances will allow you to make mental attacks on 
  someone, figuring out their breaking points. Finally, you can use  Social Graces to create support and a 
  favourable social environment.
  Attack: Social Graces can’t really be used for direct attacks.
  Defend: This is the skill to go to in order to defend against Social Graces actions, allowing you to pierce through 
  lies and see through to someone’s true intent. You can also use it to defend against those creating social 
  advantages against you in general.
  Special: Social Graces is the main skill you use to help others recover from consequences that are mental in 
  nature.
  Social Graces Stunts 
  Lie Whisperer. +2 to all Social Graces tests made to, create, discern, or discover lies, whether they’re 
  directed at you or someone else.
  Nose for Trouble. You can use Social Graces instead of Perception to determine your turn order in a 
  conflict, provided you’ve gotten a chance to observe or speak to those involved for at least a few minutes 
  beforehand during this scene.
  Psychologist. Once per session you can reduce someone else’s consequence by one level of severity 
  (severe to moderate, moderate to mild, mild to nothing at all) by succeeding on any Social Graces test 
  with a difficulty of Fair (+2) for a mild consequence, Good (+3) for moderate, or Great (+4) for severe. 
  You need to talk with the person you’re treating for at least half an hour in order for them to receive the 
  benefits of this stunt, and you can’t use it on yourself. (Normally, this test would only start the recovery 
  process, instead of changing the consequence level.)
  Stealth
  The Stealth skill allows you to avoid detection, both when hiding in place and trying to move about unseen. 
  
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  Overcome: You can use Stealth to get past any situation that primarily depends on you not being seen. Sneaking 
  past sentries and security, hiding from a pursuer, avoiding leaving evidence as you pass through a place, and any 
  other such uses all fall under the purview of Stealth.
  Create an Advantage: You’ll mainly use Stealth to create aspects on yourself, setting yourself in an ideal 
  position for an attack or ambush in a conflict. That way, you can be Well-Hidden when the guards pass by and 
  take advantage of that, or Hard to Pin Down if you’re fighting in the dark.
  Attack: Stealth isn’t used to make attacks.
  Defend: You can use this to foil Perception attempts to pinpoint you or seek you out, as well as to try to throw 
  off the scent of an Investigate attempt from someone trying to track you.
  Stealth Stunts 
  Face in the Crowd. +2 to any Stealth test to blend into a crowd. What a “crowd” means will depend on 
  the environment—a subway station requires more people to be crowded than a small bar.
  Houdini Vanish. Once per scene, you can vanish while in plain sight by spending a fate point, using a 
  smoke pellet or other mysterious technique. This places the Vanished boost on you. While you’re 
  vanished, no one can attack or create an advantage on you until after they’ve succeeded at an overcome 
  test with Notice to suss out where you went (basically meaning they have to give up an exchange to try). 
  This aspect goes away as soon as you invoke it, or someone makes that overcome test.
  Slippery Target. Provided you’re in darkness or shadow, you can use Stealth to defend against 
  Marksmanship attacks from enemies that are at least one zone away.
  Tinkering
  Tinkering is the skill of working with machinery, for good or ill.
  Overcome:Tinkering allows you to build, break, or fix machinery, presuming you have the time and tools you 
  need. Often, actions with Tinkering happen as one component of a more complex situation, making it a popular 
  skill for challenges. For example, if you’re just fixing a broken door, neither success nor failure is interesting; 
  you should just succeed and move on. Now, if you’re trying to get your car to start while a pack of werewolves is 
  hunting you…
  Create an Advantage: You can use Tinkering to create aspects representing features of a piece of machinery, 
  pointing  out  useful  features  or  strengths  you  can  use  to  your  advantage  (Armour-Plated, Rugged 
  Construction) or a vulnerability for you to exploit (Flaw in the Cross-Beam, Hasty Work).
  Creating Tinkering advantages can also take the form of quick and dirty sabotage or jury-rigging on mechanical 
  objects in the scene. For example, you might create a Makeshift Pulley to help you get to the platform above 
  you, or throw something into the ballista that’s firing on you to give it a Jammed Pivoting Joint and make it 
  harder to hit you.
  Attack: You probably won’t use Tinkering to attack in a conflict, unless the conflict is specifically about using 
  machinery, like with siege weaponry. GMs and players, talk over the likelihood of this happening in your game 
  if you have someone who is really interested in taking this skill. Usually, weapons you craft are likely to be used 
  with other skills to attack—a guy who makes a sword still needs Fencing to wield it well!
  Defend: As with attacking, Tinkering doesn’t defend, unless you’re somehow using it as the skill to control a 
  piece of machinery that you block with.
  
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  Tinkering Stunts 
  Always Making Useful Things. You don’t ever have to spend a fate point to declare that you have the 
  proper tools for a particular job using Tinkering, even in extreme situations (like being imprisoned and 
  separated from all your stuff). This source of opposition is just off the table.
  Better than New! Whenever you succeed with style on an overcome action to repair a piece of 
  machinery, you can immediately give it a new situation aspect (with a free invoke) reflecting the 
  improvements you’ve made, instead of just a boost.
  Surgical Strikes. When using Tinkering in a conflict involving machinery, you can filter out unwanted 
  targets from whole-zone attacks without having to divide up your shifts (normally, you’d need to divide 
  your test between your targets).
  Arcane Skills
  Ability
  Overcome
  Create an 
  Advantage
  Attack
  Defend
  Etherealness
  x
  x
  x
  Glamour
  x
  x
  Kindred Power
  Varies
  Varies
  Varies
  Varies
  Sorcery
  x
  x
  x
  x
  Etherealness
  Can only be taken by faerie characters. The Faerie power of malleability; the ability to turn to mists, pass 
  through walls,  and otherwise transcend material reality. It also covers the ability to actually take another 
  shape, rather than using a glamour to appear in an other shape. When changing shape, you must return to 
  your normal form in-between transformations.
  Overcome: Use Etherealness to get through solid objects or turn to mist. Etherealness tests use the following 
  difficulties (slightly changed from Castle Falkenstein p. 168):
  Difficulty
  Material
  +8
  Legendary
  Take any size or form, no matter what shape or size, indefinitely; become totally 
  immaterial; fly at incredible speeds (if you have the power of flight); pass through 
  anything but Cold Iron.
  +7
  Epic
  Take any size or form, no matter what shape or size, for up to one year and one 
  day; pass through steel walls slowly and with discomfort.
  +6
  Extraordinary
  Take any size or form, no matter what shape or size, for up to one day; ooze slowly 
  and painfully through steel walls.
  +5
  Exceptional
  Take the form of any creature of your size indefinitely; pass through all but steel 
  
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  Difficulty
  Material
  walls; become nearly immaterial.
  +4
  Great
  Take the form of any creature your size up to one day; pass through stone or brick 
  walls; become a thin mist; fly at bird speeds (if you have the power of flight). 
  +3
  Good
  Pass through wooden walls; turn into a thick fog; fly slowly (if you have the power 
  of flight);  shapechange to any form of similar size and shape for up to an hour.
  +2
  Fair
  Reach through wooden walls but not pass; become liquid; float in the air.
  Create an Advantage: When you’re creating an advantage with Etherealness, it's probably based on movement, 
  manoeuvre, or confusing or deluding the opposition.
  Attack: You can't attack with Etherealness.
  Defend: You can use Etherealness to Defend against physical attacks by becoming insubstantial.
  Etherealness Stunts
  
  Favoured Form [-2]: When using Etherealness to change your shape, you can take one form you know 
  particularly well as if your skill was two levels higher. For example, if your favoured form is that of a 
  black wolf, you get +2 to your Overcome test to turn into that shape . 
  
  Protean [-2]: You can change from one shape to another without need to return to your base shape in 
  between. 
  
  Mist Form [-2]: You get +2 when using Etherealness to Defend against physical attacks. 
  Glamour
  Can only be taken by faerie characters. The Faerie power to create illusions, to bend the minds of mortals.  
  These illusions affect sight and hearing, and even touch in the case of the more skilled faeries, but not smell or 
  taste. [Note: The description of Glamour effects provided in Comme Il Faut pp. 98-99 is somewhat more useful 
  than the one in the main rule book.]
  Overcome: Use Glamour with Overcome actions to disguise the appearance of a person or scene.
  Create an Advantage: Glamour is very flexible and can be used to create a variety of advantages based on 
  misdirection and misinformation.
  Attack:  You can't attack with Glamour.
  Defend:  You can't defend with Glamour.
  Glamour Stunts
  
  Miniature Artist [-2]: When using Glamour to create something small, no more than a few inches to a 
  
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  few feet across, you get +2 to your Overcome test to convince viewers of its reality. 
  Kindred Power
  Must be taken by faerie characters. Kindred Powers and their effects vary by Faerie type; see specific Faerie 
  types for descriptions. Stunts can be created at the Host's discretion, typically at a cost of 2 Refresh point 
  each.
  Sorcery
  Can only be taken by human and dragon characters. 
  Overcome: The Sorcery skill is promarily used with Overcome actions to cast spells and rituals. 
  Create an Advantage: The Sorcery skill can be used in place of Education to Create an Advantage by 
  researching a spell prior to casting. Can also be used in situations where arcane knowledge would allow you 
  create aspects based on your status, knowledge, reputation, talent, skill, or training as a practitioner of the 
  Sorcerous Arts. 
  Attack: Sorcery can't be used to attack directly, except through spells.
  Defend: Sorcery can't be used to defend directly, except through spells.
  Sorcery Stunts
  
  Affinity with [Type] Magic [-1]: +1 to Sorcery when casting spells of this type. Pick one type: Mental & 
  Emotional (Hearts / Cups), Spiritual and Dimensional (Spades / Swords), Material (Diamonds / Coins), 
  or Elemental (Clubs / Staves). Can only be taken for one type.
  
  Speciality with [Category] Magic [-1]: +2 to Sorcery when casting spells of this category. The category 
  must be sufficiently narrow, such as a single element (air, earth, fire, or water), love spells, spells 
  affecting plants, etc. Can only be taken for one speciality.
  
  Forensic Sorcerer [-1]: Your skill with Forensic Sorcery gives you a distinct insight into certain kinds 
  of investigations. When appropriate, you may use your Sorcery skill instead of Perception or 
  Education, particularly when the subject involves trace evidence. If you would normally use Sorcery 
  for such an effort anyway (such as investigating residual Thaumic resonance at a crime scene) then 
  you receive a +2 bonus. 
  
  Healer [-1]: You can use Sorcery instead of Physician to provide medical assistance for physical 
  consequences;  the difficulty for this obstacle is based on the shift value of the consequence. Mild is 
  Fair (+2), moderate is Great (+4), and severe is Extraordinary (+6). If you are trying to perform the 
  recovery action on yourself, increase the difficulty by two steps on the ladder. 
  
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  Character “Races”/Species: Templates
  Humans
  Pure Mortals
  Pure mortals are ordinary (or mundanely extraordinary!) people who don’t have anything supernatural going 
  on—save perhaps for the company they keep or the things they’ve seen. 
  Sorcerers
  Musts: 
  
  Only humans and dragons can learn sorcery. 
  
  A sorcerer must have a high concept that indicates his arcane pursuit, e.g., Scotland Yard Forensic 
  Sorcerer, Initiate of the London Freemason Lodge, Journeyman of the Order of the Golden Mean. 
  
  One of the character's aspects must indicate affiliation to a Sorcerous Order; this may be the high 
  concept or another aspect. 
  
  The character must take the arcane skill Sorcery.
  Options:
  
  Lorebook [-1]. Allows access to all the rituals contained in the Lorebook (see Castle Falkenstein pp. 199-
  203 and The Book of Sigils). This can be taken multiple times for each of the Lorebooks available to the 
  Order, as long as the Sorcerer is in good with their Order. Additional Lorebooks may become available 
  in play without costing Refresh.
  Final Refresh Cost: -1 per Lorebook.
  Important Skills: Sorcery, Education, Courage.
  Dwarfs
  Quiet and somber, Dwarfs have traded Faerie power for the ability to work metal in their underground 
  citadels. Note: I'm dumping the requirement to have only male Dwarf characters.
  Musts:
  
  The high aspect must reflect the character's nature.
  
  Dwarfs normally have one name, and must earn a new one related to their skills. Players must always 
  begin with Nameless characters.
  Package:
  
  Immune to Fire [-1]. Allows the Dwarf character to ignore 2 points of harm from fire.  Optional: Can be 
  taken up to three times.
  
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  
  Resistant to Magick [-1]. Magick effects are always at -2, even if the Dwarf character is a willing 
  subject. 
  
  Love of Metal [-1]. Dwarves get a +2 Tinkering bonus when working with metal. 
  
  Night Vision [-1]. No penalty for seeing in darkness. 
  
  Obsession with the Masterwork [+1]. Once per session, the Host can compel for free the aspect Obsessed 
  with the Masterwork that characterizes the Dwarf character. 
  
  Laconic [+1]. Dwarfs suffer a penalty of -1 in Social Graces and in making first impressions.
  Final Refresh Cost: -2 (more if Immunity to Fire was taken multiple times.)
  Important Skills: Tinkering, Physique, Fisticuffs.
  Dragons
  Musts:
  
  The high aspect must reflect the character's nature. 
  
  The character must take the arcane skill Sorcery.
  Package:
  
  Human Form [-1]. You can take human form at will but are unable to fly or use firecasting in this 
  guise.
  
  Flight [-2]. In dragon form, your wings can carry you aloft as an Overcome action using Physique (for 
  distance) ou Athletics (for aerial manoeuvering).
  
  Firecasting [-2]. In dragon form, you can spew jets of flames as an attack using Marksmanship to hit 
  and Physique to determine the harm inflicted.
  
  Large (-1). In dragon form, you are enormous; you gain the following benefits: +2 Physical Stress 
  boxes, +2 to Physique to carry a load, +2 to intimidate targets using a Create an Advantage action.
  
  Immortal [0]. Your years are long compared to humans' but you can still be harmed and killed.
  
  Feared [+1]. Even in human form, others feel your might. -1 to make friends or allies using any skill but 
  Charisma.
  Final Refresh Cost: -5
  Important Skills: Marksmanship, Physique, Sorcery.
  Faeries
  Brownies
  A Brownie's life is spent doing great labours, playing great jokes. and setting things right about the house or 
  farm. In thanks, mortals leave a bit of cheese and a bowl of milk before going to bed.
  Musts:
  
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  
  The high aspect must reflect the character's nature. 
  
  The character must take the arcane skill Kindred Power.
  Options:
  
  The character may take the arcane skills Glamour and Etherealness.
  Package:
  
  Small [-1]. +2 to Stealth for hiding, +2 to Perception to spot tiny details. 
  
  Perform A Great Work [-2]. Between sundown and sunup and as long as no one is watching you work, 
  you can accomplish the labour of many mortals, based your rating: PR=2, AV=5, FR=7, GD=10, GR=20, 
  EXC=30, EXT=40.  
  
  Elf Shot [-2]. With your slingshot, you can shoot projectiles that bury themselves deeply in the target 
  and cause sharp sudden pain like rheumatism; unlike ordinary bullets and projectiles, they can only be 
  removed by Faerie or Sorcerous healing. Physical harm caused by elfshot can only be absorbed 
  through consequences, not stress boxes. 
  
  Pierce the Faerie Veil [-1]. You can locate Gates that lead through the Faerie Veil, and even take 
  mortals with you.
  
  Faerie Geas [+1].  Repulsed by gifts and clothes worn inside out. Cost of 2 fate points to refuse a compel 
  on this aspect. 
  
  Vulnerability to Iron [+2]. +1 harm from steel, +2 harm from iron, +4 harm from cold iron.
  Final Refresh Cost: -3
  Important Skills: Marksmanship, Perception, Stealth.
  Pixies
  These tiny fae sleep in a rosebud with a petal for a blanket, and are deeply interested in mortals' affairs of the 
  heart.
  Musts:
  
  The high aspect must reflect the character's nature. 
  
  The character must take the arcane skill Kindred Power.
  Options:
  
  The character may take the arcane skills Glamour and Etherealness.
  Package:
  
  Very Small [-2]. +4 to Stealth for hiding, +4 to Perception to spot tiny details. 
  
  Flight [-2]. Your butterfly-like wings can carry you aloft as an Overcome action using Physique (for 
  
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  distance) ou Athletics (for aerial manoeuvering). Speed is based on Etherealness.
  
  Love Charm [-1]. Cost of one fate point to create the aspect “In Love” on a target, using the skill 
  Kindred Power.  The affected target need not do anything contrary to their nature (for example, but 
  unfaithful to a spouse), but they do feel emotional inclination for for the first person they see after 
  being hit by the Love Charm. Player characters can choose to resist using Courage versus the pixie's 
  Kindred Power. The fate point is only spent if the Love Charm is successful, and goes to whoever 
  controls the target character: a player for PCs, the GM for NPCs. The charm lasts until the pixie dispels 
  it or until it is magically removed.
  
  Pierce the Faerie Veil [-1]. You can locate Gates that lead through the Faerie Veil, and even take 
  mortals with you.
  
  Faerie Geas [+1].  Repulsed by iron, holy symbols and prayer. Cost of 2 fate points to refuse a compel on 
  this aspect. 
  
  Vulnerability to Iron [+2]. +1 harm from steel, +2 harm from iron, +4 harm from cold iron.
  Final Refresh Cost: -3
  Important Skills:  Stealth, Glamour, Etherealness.
  Daoine Sidhe (Faerie Lords/Ladies)
  Musts:
  
  The high aspect must reflect the character's nature. 
  
  The character must take the arcane skill Kindred Power.
  Options:
  
  The character may take the arcane skills Glamour and Etherealness.
  Package:
  
  Enchantment [-2]. For one fate point and a successful Overcome action using Charisma, the Daoine 
  Sidhe can bend the will of a mortal to his or her will for one scene, charming and enchanting them, or 
  making them fall in love. The target will not put their own life in danger but will otherwise do 
  anything they can to please the Faerie Lord. Player characters can choose to resist using Courage 
  versus the Daoine Sidhe's Kindred Power. The fate point is only spent if the Enchantment is successful, 
  and goes to whoever controls the target character: a player for PCs, the GM for NPCs.
  
  Faerie Beauty [-1]. Gain +1 to Social Graces with all actions versus those who are normally affected by 
  the Fae's charm.
  
  Faerie Grace [-1]. Gain +1 to all actions where physical grace matters, such as balance, dancing, etc.
  
  High Faerie [-1]. Gain +2 to all social actions when against Lesser Faerie characters, and +1 versus 
  Greater Faeries. 
  
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  
  Pierce the Faerie Veil [-1]. You can locate Gates that lead through the Faerie Veil, and even take 
  mortals with you.
  
  Immortal [0]. Your years are long compared to humans' but you can still be harmed and killed.
  
  Faerie Geas [+1].  Repulsed by iron objects, holy symbols, prayers, and marriage prohibition such as 
  seeing a bride in her furthershift, etc.. 
  
  Vulnerability to Iron [+2]. +1 harm from steel, +2 harm from iron, +4 harm from cold iron.
  Final Refresh Cost: -3
  Important Skills: Connections, Glamour, Perception.
  
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  Playing Fate of Falkenstein
  Use the Castle Falkenstein difficulties and skills with the Fate Core resolution mechanics, except as noted below. 
  Deck of Fate: Actions are resolved by adding a card from the Deck of Fate, which the Host deals from the deck. 
  All cards are returned
   
    to the Host 
   
   and shuffled into the deck
   
    immediately
   
    upon use (otherwise the 
  probabilities are no longer those on which Fate Core is built.)
  Determining Initiative: In a physical conflict, rank characters by Perception. If tied, then use Athletics, then 
  Physique. In a mental conflict, rank characters by Social Graces. If tied, then use Charisma, then Courage. For 
  dramatic conflicts, we recommend making a skill test; ordinary conflict can use static turn order.
  Equipment, Weapons, and Armour
  Basic gear in Fate of Falkenstein is implied by your hero’s skills and aspects: having the Marksmanship skill 
  makes it reasonable that you’d own some firearms, and having the Dashing Hussar aspect implies that you have 
  a sabre and a pistol.
  Sometimes you want something that is more influential on the story. Key equipment can be represented by 
  character aspects of their own, such as My Father’s Sword. Or perhaps you want to indicate your character’s 
  preparedness: I Always Bring a Backup Weapon. It doesn’t have to be just about weapons either: maybe your 
  hero the Calculating Engineer places great stock in My Well-Thumbed Copy of Lady Ada’s Theorems and 
  Practices of Calculation, or your Secret Agent may have Well-Disguised Gadgets.
  Regardless of whether they are character aspects or equipment picked up in a sop or from an incapacitated 
  opponent, and therefore gear or scene aspects, items that have story power can be invoked and compelled. 
  Character aspects always return to you in one form or another (even if it’s after being temporarily lost, or a 
  replacement for something destroyed in play); while gear (or scene) aspects can be taken away permanently 
  as a compel whenever it’s dramatically appropriate.
  Weapons
  Although Castle Falkenstein has different wound ratings for various weapons and types of physical harm, the 
  range of values represented does not square well with the Fate Core stress tracks and consequences. Instead, 
  we use an adaptation of the Fate System Toolkit‘s “Armor and Weapon Aspects” section:
  Weapons are divided into harm categories (see table below). When you successfully attack with a weapon, you 
  may make a special invocation with it. It costs a fate point as usual, but provides neither a +2 nor a reroll. 
  Instead, you can force your opponent to take a consequence instead of stress (again, see the table). If you 
  succeed with style, move the consequence up by one level of severity—minor to moderate, moderate to 
  severe, severe to either taken out or an extreme consequence (defender’s choice). If the appropriate 
  consequence slot is already in use, move the new consequence up by one level of severity.
  This special invocation also acts a little bit like a compel. When you invoke a weapon aspect in this way, you 
  
  Fate of Falkenstein: A Fate Core hack for Castle Falkenstein
  25
  offer the fate point to your target. If he takes the fate point, you deal the consequence. He can refuse the fate 
  point and pay you one of his own to not take the consequence, but then he takes the stress he would have 
  taken normally anyway. I like this because it makes the difference between weapon types one of dramatic 
  quality, not numbers.
  Harm 
  Rank
  Typical Attacks
  Special Invocation
  A
  Small hatpins, needles, darts, stumbles, most 
  animal bites, blows, clubs, life preservers.
  None
  B
  Daggers, large hatpins, knives, bayonets, arrows, 
  falls>10 ft, large bites, EXC/EXT blows, trampled.
  For one fate point, force your opponent to take a 
  mild consequence instead of stress.
  C
  Small swords, small pistols, large arrows, fire, 
  acid, electric shock, falls>20 ft, being hit by 
  automotive.
  For one fate point, force your opponent to take a 
  moderate consequence instead of stress.
  D
  Heavy swords, sabres, light rifles, heavy pistols, 
  spears, PR/AV Dragon breath, very large bites, 
  reciprocators, falls>35 ft, crash damage.
  For one fate point, force your opponent to take a 
  severe consequence instead of stress.
  E
  Heavy rifles, shotguns, GD/GR Dragon breath, 
  falls>50 ft
  For one fate point, force your opponent to be taken 
  out or take an extreme consequence instead of 
  stress (their choice).
  F
  Artillery, shrapnel, bombs, being crushed, 
  falls>100 ft, EXC/EXT Dragon breath.
  Force your opponent to be taken out or take an 
  extreme consequence instead of stress (their choice) 
  without needing to spend a fate point.
  The harm ranks in this table are those used in Comme Il Faut, pp. 78-81, matched to the aspect-based option 
  from the Fate System Toolkit.
  Armour
  Armour works in a similar way. However, there is little in terms of functional armour in New Europa, as 
  described in Castle Falkenstein p. 187. Comme Il Faut expands choices a little so we”ll use this for our table:
  Harm 
  Rank
  Typical Armour
  Special Invocation
  Light
  Leather, wood, small 
  Dragon’s scales
  For one fate point, absorb a single mild consequence; you don’t take 
  the stress it would have absorbed, and you don’t fill the consequence 
  slot.
  
  Fate of Falkenstein: A Fate Core hack for Castle Falkenstein
  26
  Medium
  Chain, light plate, early silk-
  based ballistic cloth, medium 
  Dragon’s scales.
  For one fate point, absorb a single moderate consequence; you don’t 
  take the stress it would have absorbed, and you don’t fill the 
  consequence slot.
  Heavy
  Iron plate, cuirassier’s 
  breastplate, large Dragon’s 
  scales.
  For one fate point, absorb a single severe consequence, or two mild or 
  moderate consequences in any combination; you don’t take the stress 
  it would have absorbed, and you don’t fill the consequence slot.
  You can use your armour to absorb consequences beyond these limits, but if you do so, the armour aspect 
  immediately changes to represent the fact that it’s broken and no longer able to absorb attacks. You’ll have to 
  get it repaired, which might cost you and might take anywhere from a few hours to a few days depending on 
  the armour and the place you take it.
  Note also that most types of armour, and particularly plate, are heavy and cumbersome, meaning they can be 
  invoked by opponents to interfere with some of your actions, for a fate point as normal.
  Duels
  Duel rules are optional and it’s entirely possible to play “Fate of Falkenstein” without ever using them. 
  However, here are two options in case you want the added drama, pomp, and circumstance.
  Option 1: Original Castle Falkenstein-Style
  If desired, the duelling rules from Castle Falkenstein pp. 192-196 can easily adapted to the Deck of Fate by 
  assigning Attacks to red cards, Defenses to black cards, and Rests to blue cards.  Deck of Fate probabilities 
  don't matter, only the colours are taken into account. Wound levels from the chart can be replaced by a 
  comparison between the opponents' Fencing skills; this chart replaces the one on Castle Falkenstein p. 194: 
  Defender 
  Skill
  Attacker Skill
  Terrible 
  [-2]
  Poor 
  [-1]
  Mediocre 
  [+0]
  Average 
  [+1]
  Fair 
  [+2]
  Good 
  [+3]
  Great 
  [+4]
  Exceptional 
  [+5]
  Extraordinary 
  [+6]
  Terrible [-2]
  P/S1
  S1/S2
  S2/S3
  S3/MI
  MI/MO
  MO/SE
  SE/EX
  EX/EX
  EX/EX
  Poor [-1]
  P/S1
  P/S1
  S1/S2
  S2/S3
  S3/MI
  MI/MO
  MO/SE
  SE/EX
  EX/EX
  Mediocre [+0]
  P/S1
  P/S1
  P/S1
  S1/S2
  S2/S3
  S3/MI
  MI/MO
  MO/SE
  SE/EX
  Average [+1]
  P/S1
  P/S1
  P/S1
  P/S1
  S1/S2
  S2/S3
  S3/MI
  MI/MO
  MO/SE
  Fair [+2]
  P/S1
  P/S1
  P/S1
  P/S1
  P/S1
  S1/S2
  S2/S3
  S3/MI
  MI/MO
  Good [+3]
  P/S1
  P/S1
  P/S1
  P/S1
  P/S1
  P/S1
  S1/S2
  S2/S3
  S3/MI
  Great [+4]
  P/S1
  P/S1
  P/S1
  P/S1
  P/S1
  P/S1
  P/S1
  S1/S2
  S2/S3
  Exceptional 
  [+5]
  P/S1
  P/S1
  P/S1
  P/S1
  P/S1
  P/S1
  P/S1
  P/S1
  S1/S2
  Extraordinary 
  [+6]
  P/S1
  P/S1
  P/S1
  P/S1
  P/S1
  P/S1
  P/S1
  P/S1
  P/S1
  
  Fate of Falkenstein: A Fate Core hack for Castle Falkenstein
  27
  KEY: P=Pushed Back, S#=# stress points, MI=Mild Consequence, MO=Moderate Consequence, SE=Severe Consequence, 
  EX=Extreme Consequence or Taken Out (Defender's choice)
  Stress is physical for Fencing or Fisticuffs duels, and mental for Sorcery duels, etc. 
  Option 2: Fate Core-Style
  This option is based on the “Swashbuckling Duels” extra described in the Fate System Toolkit, pp. 168-169, and  
  require players to rely on skills other than Fencing (or Fisticuffs, etc.) in a conflict, with colorful results.
  These one-on-one dueling rules introduce something called the upper hand. Only the duelist with the upper 
  hand can actually use a skill with the attack action to inflict harm. The other duelist can take any other action, 
  but cannot attack—until they get the upper hand, of course.
  How does one get the upper hand? By succeeding with style with a skill other than the one that deals harm in 
  duel-style physical conflicts (e.g., Fencing, Fisticuffs, or Marksmanship duels.) As soon as one combatant 
  succeeds with style with one of these other skills, they get the upper hand. This replaces the action’s usual 
  reward for succeeding with style, such as getting a boost or an extra free invocation. You get either the upper 
  hand or the usual reward, but not both.
  Use a token of some kind to represent the upper hand. Whatever it is, it should be something that can easily 
  be handed back and forth, like a coin, a little plastic cocktail sword, an index card with a hand drawn on it, a 
  fencing glove—whatever works for your group.
  At the beginning of a physical conflict between two (and only two) participants, determine the turn order, as 
  usual. If this involves a skill test—and it probably should, duels are pretty dramatic—and one of the two 
  succeeds with style, they start the conflict with the upper hand—they got the jump on the opponent.
  After that, the combatants can do any of the following every turn:
  
  Attack with the duelling skill, if they have the upper hand 
  
  Try to get the upper hand, if they don’t, by succeeding with style on another skill 
  
  Do something else—put down situation aspects, try to escape the conflict, etc. 
  This option works well in with the use of weapon aspects or when the opponents have already taken some 
  stress; otherwise, it can stretch on for too long.
  Other Skills: These duelling rules can be used for mental conflicts using Sorcery or  Social Graces; or for 
  vehicle conflicts such as Motoring duels using automobiles, Helmsmanship duels using aircrafts, etc.  Vehicles' 
  stress tracks take the damage in vehicle duels. 
  Arranging Formal Duels: In formal duels when one party demands satisfaction from an offender, each party 
  names a trusted representative (a "second") who will between them , determine a suitable "field of honour". 
  Naturally, player characters' seconds should be some of the other PCs.  It is also the duty of the seconds to 
  check that the weapons are equal and that the duel was fair, and to agree on the conditions under which the 
  duel will conclude. Conditions can include single shot (when using pistols), first blood (first minor 
  consequence), until one is incapacitated (conceding), to the death, or anything the opponents' seconds will 
  
  Fate of Falkenstein: A Fate Core hack for Castle Falkenstein
  28
  work out among themselves and the duellists will agree to.  
  Example
  It's Ludwig II's Coronation Ball and Countess Marianne Thérésa de Désirée is facing off with her old 
  enemy, Count von Erich. The Count was a supporter of the Regent and is taking the coronation—and 
  Marianne's part in helping the King secure his crown—rather poorly. He insults her honour and 
  Marianne is quite capable of defending it herself. He scoffs that she is unarmed and wearing a 
  ballgown when she demands reparation, while he is in full uniform; but Marianne turns to her friend 
  Tom Olam and borrows his sword. Drawing the blade with a flourish, she gives von Erich a mock 
  curtsey. He answers with a toothy grin and draws his own sabre, as the guests clear the space around 
  the duellists. It's time for deeds to replace words. 
  Marianne, Comtesse de  Désirée (Note: Not a starting character)
  Aspects: Accomplished French Adventuress, Countess on the Lam, Distractingly Beautiful, Bag of Tricks
  Skills: Excellent [+5] Fencing, Marksmanship; Great [+4] Charisma, Fisticuffs; Good [+3] Courage, 
  Perception, Physique, Social Graces; Average [+1] Athletics, Stealth. 
  Stress: Physical = 4 boxes, mental = 4 boxes
  3 fate points
  Count von Erich (Note: Not a starting character)
  Aspects: Dashing Hussar, Scheming Bastard, A Squad of Men at a Snap of My Fingers, It's Not Worth My Life
  Skills: Excellent [+5] Marksmanship; Great [+4] Athletics, Fencing, Fisticuffs, Physique; Good [+3] 
  Perception, Charisma; Average [+1] Courage, Social Graces, Stealth.
  Stress: Physical = 4 boxes, mental = 3 boxes
  3 fate points
  It's a dramatic combat if there ever was one, so they each draw a card from the Deck of Fate to 
  determine turn order. Both have Good [+3] Perception; Marianne draws +1 for a total of +4, and von 
  Erich gets +2 for a total of +5, a normal success. No one has the upper hand yet.
  Turn 1: Von Erich decides to manoeuvre to back Marianne in a cornerusing his Great [+4] Athletics, 
  and draws a +0 for a total of +4. Marianne draws a +4 for a total of +5, deftly avoiding the trap. But she 
  dislikes the way the clutter of the ballroom and her swishing dress restrict her mobility; she decides to 
  create an advantage by improving the situation—she raises her borrowed sword and hacks off the hem 
  of her gorgeous House of Worth gown with one fluid slice! She's using her Excellent [+5] Fencing 
  against a Good [+3] difficulty—it's tricky to do in one swing—and draws a -1 for a total of +1, a normal 
  
  Fate of Falkenstein: A Fate Core hack for Castle Falkenstein
  29
  success; she create Now I Can Move Around! and will have one free invocation.
  Turn 2: Von Erich decides a little psychological advantage wouldn't hurt; he will try to create an 
  advantage by displaying his superior Physique. He takes a step towards Marianne, his eyes fixed on 
  her; without even a side glance, he slices a chair in half with a blow of his heavy sabre, letting the 
  sound of the impact do the talking. His Great [+4] Physique and a draw of -2 versus a Mediocre [+0] 
  difficulty give him a simple success, but he really wants that upper hand before Marianne seizes it so 
  he throws in a fate point and Dashing Hussar to generate a +2 for a success with style. The chair makes a 
  satisfying crack! as it turns to splinter, underlying the brutal strength behind the blow. Von Erich 
  creates the aspect Much Bigger Than You with one free invocation, and chooses to gain the upper hand 
  instead of taking the extra free invocation.   
  Marianne jumps back and narrows her eyes; this will not do. She hops onto a table, ostensibly to get to 
  a better fighting position, but really to display her shapely legs; she wants to create an advantage 
  using her Great [+4] Charisma. She draws a -1, while von Erich defends with his Average [+1] Social 
  Graces and a +1, so Marianne gets another simple success and generates Damn, Those Are Fine Legs with 
  one free invocation, but does not gain the upper hand. 
  Turn 3: Von Erich attacks! He delivres a blow of his Sabre using his Great [+5] Fencing and draws a +3; 
  in ungentlemanly fashion, he chooses to add his free invocation of Much Bigger Than You for a total of 
  +10. Ouch! Marianne chooses to use Full Defense (see Fate Core, p. 159), foregoing her action to get a +2 
  to defense. She has Excellent [+5] Fencing, +2 for the full defense, and draws... a -4. She uses a fate 
  point to draw again, getting -1, still bad—a total of +6. She adds her free invocation of Now I Can Move 
  Around! and uses a fate point to invoke von Erich's own Much Bigger Than You aspect as she rolls off the 
  table and under it where von Erich will have a slightly harder time reaching her. That makes the 
  attack a tie; von Erich is left with a boost against Marianne, On the Defensive.
  Turn 4: Von Erich presses his advantage while he still has the upper hand, attacking again with a +0 
  and his boost for a total of +6. Marianne decides to risk a normal defense, draws a +1 for a total of +6. 
  That's a tie, which will give von Erich another boost on her, Poor Footing. Marianne really wants to turn 
  the tables, so to speak, so she pops up on the far side of the tableand reaches over with the point of her 
  sword to slice off a string of crystals from the chandelier right above von Erich's head.  Excellent [+5] 
  Fencing and a +1 card over a difficulty of Average [+1] give her that coveted success with style! She 
  creates the advantage Tangled in the Chandelier on von Erich with one free invocation, and foregoes the 
  second free invocation to gain the upper hand.
  Turn 4: Von Erich must regain the upper hand! He uses his Great [+4] Athletics to vault over the table 
  and corner Marianne, drawing a -1 versus a difficulty of +1. He generates the aspect Closing In with one 
  free invocation, but no upper hand. Marianne, instead of moving away, decides to risk everything: she 
  moves to close in as well! She draws a +2, adds her free invocation of Tangled in the Chandelier, and for a 
  fate point invokes her aspect Bag of Tricks, for a total of +11.  Von Erich defends with Great [+4] Fencing, 
  draws a +1, add his free invocation of Poor Footing and Closing In, and for a fate point invokes Much 
  Bigger Than You to generate a tie. Marianne gets a boost on von Erich, Touché.
  
  Fate of Falkenstein: A Fate Core hack for Castle Falkenstein
  30
  Turn 5: Since they are so close, von Erich wants to use his Great [+4] Physique to create an advantage 
  by pushing Marianne off balance, with a draw of -1; but with her Excellent [+5] Fencing and a -1, she 
  uses her footwork to step away. Marianne strikes for the heart with Excellent [+5] Fencing, a +2 card, 
  and the Touché boost for +9. 
  Von Erich defends with Great [+4] Fencing, and realises that he can't possibly draw well enough to 
  counter this; even with a good draw of +1 or +2, he's facing a success with style from Marianne.
  Von Erich would then have a choice: he might be able to spend his last fate point to invoke Dashing 
  Hussar and reduce the attack to a normal success, but Marianne could still spend a fate point to offer a 
  severe consequence thanks to the harm rank of D on her heavy sword, and he would have no fate 
  point left to refuse with. Or he could take the blow, in which case on a success with style Marianne can 
  spend a fate point to force him to be taken out or take an extreme consequence. 
  One of von Erich's aspects is It's Not Worth My Life; he decides to remember this and concede the fight 
  rather than draw a card. He drops his sabre with a snarl of impotent rage, and Marianne stays her 
  hand at the last possible instant.
  Sorcery
  Sorcery in Castle Falkenstein is a learned skill, also it also requires talent. Any sorcerer can attempt to cast any 
  spell they have access to from Lorebooks. The sorcerer studies the spell, then starts gathering power (thaumic 
  energy) from the site; some sites are more favourable than others. Each spell is of a particular type or 
  “aspect”: Emotional/Mental M, Spiritual/(Inter-)Dimensional N, Material L, or Elemental K. Using thaumic 
  power of a different flavour causes harmonics, unwanted side effects. 
  The sorcerer can opt to release the thaumic power already gathered rather than cast the spell. In theory, 
  anyone can cast any spell if they have the training, the Lorebook, and access to the thaumic energy; the 
  limitations on casting come from time because of the thaumic energy requirements, and from harmonics.
  We're going to use the Fate Fractal to model this. Spells have aspects, including the CF “aspect” or type, and 
  the Lorebook they velong to. They have a “skill” associated with their base thaumic cost, which represent 
  their difficulty level; they have a stress track which represent the calculated thaumic energy requirement, 
  which represent how much power needs to be gathered to cast them. Harmonics represent consequences 
  taken by the Sorcerer in order to cast.
  Finally, in Fate Core terms (as described in the Fate System Toolkit, page 143), the CF spells have fiat effects, so 
  we're not going to spend too much time drawing up lists of specific bonuses. 
  I'd like to use the Castle Falkenstein information as much as possible to limit conversion complications. We'll 
  use the values given in the supplement Comme Il Faut, as it provided some corrections to errors in the main 
  rule book. As a first approach, we'll use half the value of the base thaumic requirements as our spell's skill or 
  difficulty.
  
  Fate of Falkenstein: A Fate Core hack for Castle Falkenstein
  31
  Harmonics: The Deck of Fate cards' moon and sun symbols indicate which type of thaumic energy is in play. 
  One sun = Material; one moon = Spiritual/Dimensional; multiple suns = Elemental; multiple moons  = 
  Emotional/Mental; one sun, one moon = as deemed appropriate to the fiction by the Host; eclipse = wild spell. 
  Effects of harmonics and wild spells are per Castle Falkenstein, pp. 203-204. 
  The dominant energy type in the Harmonics is determined based on which unligned type showed most 
  frequently in the cards drawn when the spell is cast, based on the final total.
  With a Twist? But I want to make it even more interesting, and I have the lovely Deck of Fate in hand... I can 
  shuffle all the arcana from both the Core and Accelerated versions, and draw one at random to give specific 
  flavour to the harmonics.
  This full-scale spellcasting is to be used when the spellcasting is dramatically important, not when it’s a 
  matter of drudgery. If the spellcasting is not a dramatic moment but just a means to an end, the Host and 
  player can resolve it as a simple Overcome action.
  Example
  Let's work through an example, with Sister Althea von Katz, a Good [+3] Templar Sorceress casting a 
  flight spell on herself:
  Spell Name: Knowledge of Flight
  Aspects: Material; Osman's Tome of Physical Movement.
  Difficulty: +4 (half of the base thaumic energy requirement of 8).
  Thaumic energy requirement, based on spell definitions: base of 8, duration: 1 day (4), involves one 
  element (1), range: self (1), involves one person (1), subject is human (1), subject is self (1), spell does 
  not do damage (0); minus the Sorcerer's skill (3), for a total requirement of 14. When I turn this into 
  stress boxes, it will become five boxes of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 each.
  First, Sister Althea studies the ritual; she creates an advantage using the Education skill, which she 
  also has at Good [+3]. The spell is not particularly obscure so the difficulty is Average [+1]. She draws a 
  -1 for a total +2, a simple success. She will get one free invocation of the aspect Well-Researched Spell.  
  Next, she starts drawing thaumic energy from the site. Let's assume it's a reasonable location but not 
  particularly attuned to any type of thaumic energy. Each round, the Host draws a card from the Deck 
  of Fate for Althea's casting, jots down its value and the moon (C) and sun (O) symbols, then shuffles 
  the card back in the deck so as not to alter the probabilities on each draw. There is no active resistance 
  in this location, so we'll just compare Althea's result to the spell's difficulty value to determine 
  whether she draws thaumic energy point (on a success) or “pays” by taking stress mental herself (on a 
  failure).
  
  Fate of Falkenstein: A Fate Core hack for Castle Falkenstein
  32
  
  Turn 1: Althea draws -1, O (Material)—properly aligned, for a total of +2 versus the spell's 
  defense of +4, so she fails to draw any thaumic power, and takes a 2-point hit. Bad start, and 
  Althea checks her #2 stress box (she has Great [+4] Courage so she has a total of 4 boxes).
  
  Turn 2: Althea draws a +1, C (Spiritual/Dimensional), for a total of +4. It's a tie, she will get a 
  boost next round; let's call it Feeling the Energy Flow. 
  
  Turn 3: Althea draws a +0, O (Material)—properly aligned, for a total of +1 with the boost so she 
  marks the first stress box for the spell.  
  
  Turn 4: Althea draws +2, C C O  (Emotional/Mental), for a total of +1 again. The spell's #2 stress 
  box gets checked.
  
  Turn 5: Althea draws +2, C O O (Elemental), another total of +1. The spell's #3 box is checked 
  off, things are looking good for Althea.
  
  Turn 6: Althea draws -3, O O O (Elemental): a very bad result. She decides to use a fate point 
  and her aspect Initiate of the Order of the Temple of Jerusalem to draw again (she could use her free 
  invocation of Well-Researched Spell, but she thinks she's may need to stack it later), and gets +3, 
  C C O (Emotional/Mental) instead, a well-spent invocation. Her total is now +2, forcing 
  checkbox #4 to be checked off.
  
  Turn 7: Althea draws a -1, O (Material)—properly aligned, for a total of +2 versus the spell's +4, 
  so she takes another 2-point hit. She can cross off her #3 box or she can decide to take a 2-
  point consequence which must be Harmonics. She doesn't like the idea of side-effects when 
  flying—the ground is a little too far!—so she decides to take the stress.
  
  Turn 8: Althea draws a -1, C (Spiritual/Dimensional) again. She can check her #4 box or risks 
  the harmonics; she decides to be daring and check box #4. She only has her #1 stress box left, 
  now, and Harmonics...
  
  Turn 9:  Althea draws +0, O (Material)—properly aligned, for a total of +3 and one point of 
  stress. She decides to spend a fate point and invoke her aspect Stubborn as a Mule to turn this 
  into a total of +5, which would beat the spell's defense and cause its #1 box to be checked off. 
  The Host grins and consider adding a fate point to the spell's side, but there's really no reason 
  in the fiction to justify it and forcing Althea to accept harmonics is not that interesting for the 
  story. So it comes down now to Althea with a 1-point mental stress box and the spell with one 
  #5 thaumic cost box.
  
  Turn 10: Ow! Another -1, C (Spiritual/Dimensional) for Althea, which means 2 points of stress 
  when she only has her 1-pt box left open. She coughs up another fate point to invoke Initiate of 
  the Order of the Temple of Jerusalem again and stacks her free invocation of Well-Researched Spell 
  to bring her total to +6 versus the spell's +4, finally checking off that #5 box.
  That was ten turns and 3 fate points, steep but now Althea can fly all day at bird speed. What if she had 
  decided to take the Harmonics consequence instead? Let's look at the cards' sun and moon values: 
  
  Fate of Falkenstein: A Fate Core hack for Castle Falkenstein
  33
  Sister Althea drew a total of 4 cards properly aligned with Material energy, 3 aligned with 
  Spiritual/Dimensional, 2 with Emotional/Mental, and 2 with Elemental. The most frequent unaligned 
  type of thaumic energy is Spiritual/Dimensional, so this would dominate in the harmonics. 
  As a result, Sister Althea's flight could be accompanied by ghosts, or other-worldly nefarious entities; 
  or she could move through a  door to another dimension (as in CF, p. 204.) I draw from the arcana deck 
  and I get “Sneaky.” I'm thinking—hey, a Templar, some spiritual harmonics, and the Sneaky arcana...  
  A minor demon latches onto Sister Althea and will follow her around in her flight, spying on her.
  Mad Science, Gadgets, and Anachrotech
  Castle Falkenstein pp. 190-191 and 208-215 covered engines of war, gadgets, anachrotech, inventions, mad 
  science, Engine Magick, and vehicles. In addition, the supplements Steam Age and The Lost Notebooks of Leonardo 
  da Vinci expanded considerably on this. These rules are actually quite simple and can be used without much 
  change; however, they are not very “realistic.” Do we care? That depends on the group. 
  Simple Gadgets
  If you want simple plug-and-play gadgets that have limited use in the story and are just the means to an end, 
  you can get them off the rack, or just about, by using the rules from Castle Falkenstein p. 209: pick a common 
  gadget container from the left-hand column, and pick one or more off-the-rack gadgets from the right-hand 
  column to fill the available spaces; pay the required price. 
  If you want to be fancy about it—usually when a player character is making the gadget—have the maker test 
  Tinkering to overcome a Fair [+2] difficulty; rushing the work raises the difficulty to Good [+1]. Succeeding at a 
  cost means the gadget will have a special flaw. Succeeding with style means the gadget will have the aspect 
  Fine Workmanship. 
  Example
  Doña Ana is planning to vist the nefarious COunt Vassili but suspects he will try to hold her prisoner. 
  She goes into a specialized gadget shop, selects a brooch, and asks to have a lockpick set nserted in the 
  secret compartment. The cost is 3c for the brooch, 2c for the lockpick set, and another 1c (20%) for the 
  workmanship for a total of 6c, and will take a day to complete. Doña Ana is rather in a hurry since her 
  train leaves tonight, so she pays a surcharge of 50% (3c) to have it made in half the time; she pays 9c 
  (an Exchequer test) and the work will be done in half a day.  Since this is a shop, the Host simply 
  declares that the item will be of normal quality. Doña Ana now feels ready to vist Count Vassili in his 
  lair...
  Personal Gadgets
  Items that are particularly useful, recurring, or important to the story, like personal gadgets and inventions, 
  
  Fate of Falkenstein: A Fate Core hack for Castle Falkenstein
  34
  can be upgraded to personal gadgets, handled like in the Fate System Toolkit “Gadgets and Gear” pp. 154-155:
  Equipment in Fate Core can be as simple as an aspect, like Magnetic Grapnel Gun, or a stunt, like “Magnetic 
  Grapnel Gun: +2 to overcome with Athletics by climbing or swinging when there’s a metal anchor around.” But 
  for a little more depth, you can combine those into a single extra as a personal gadget.
  Functions and Flaws
  Pewrsonal gadgets come with two aspects for free—a function aspect and a flaw aspect. The function tells you 
  the gadget’s purpose, and the flaw tells you what’s wrong with it. You can think of its function as its high 
  concept and its flaw as its trouble or a consequence that never goes away. These do not take up any of your 
  character’s personal aspects; they are gear aspects.  
  Example
  Magnetic Grapnel Gun
  Function: High-Powered Electromagnetic Swingline
  Flaw: Still Working Out the Kinks
  Stunts
  Give the gadget one or more stunts to reflect the reliable mechanical advantages it confers on its user. These 
  stunts cost one refresh apiece.
  Example
  Magnetic Grapnel Gun
  Aspects
  Function: High-Powered Electromagnetic Swingline
  Flaw: Still Working Out the Kinks
  Stunts
  CLANG!: Spend a fate point to secure the magnetic grapnel to a metallic object in a dramatic way, 
  grabbing a swiftly moving vehicle, a falling pulse rifle, or the wall on the other side of a yawning 
  chasm in an oddly built space station.
  Trick Shots: +2 to create an advantage with Shoot when you use the grapnel gun to swing around, 
  disarm an opponent, or create a barrier.
  Cost: 2 refresh
  Additional Flaws
  You can take additional flaws to reduce a gadget’s refresh cost, at a rate of one refresh per additional flaw. The 
  
  Fate of Falkenstein: A Fate Core hack for Castle Falkenstein
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  minimum cost for a gadget with any stunts is 1 refresh, regardless of how many flaws it has.
  It can’t be some pseudo-flaw, either, like Glitchy on the Ocean Floor. And if you do let something like that slip by, 
  make sure the player knows they can expect to spend a surprising amount of time underwater. Deep, deep 
  underwater.
  Example
  An additional flaw for the Magnetic Grapnel Gun might be Heavy and Unwieldy.
  Building Gadgets
  If you want more substantive rules attached to the construction and improvement of new gadgets and 
  inventions in play, you can use these optional ones, which are based on Spirit of the Century Chapter 7 “Gadget 
  and Gizmos,” Sections 7.7 and 7.8:
  Making Things
  Building something from scratch is based off a difficulty equal to the cost of the item in question. It also 
  requires appropriate tools, supplies and time. For example, building a pepperbox revolver from scratch is a 
  Average difficulty, due to the gun’s Average cost (20c). It also requires appropriate tools, supplies and time. 
  Tools and supplies are measured by the quality of the engineer’s workshop, which must be at least as high as 
  the item quality (which is equal to the cost). To build our pepperbox revolver (Average cost and, thus, Average 
  item quality), the character must have an Average or better workshop. 
  Building something is time-consuming, taking at least a day per level of item quality over Mediocre (minimum 
  of one day), so it’s assumed that characters will only be building things that they can’t buy or acquire 
  otherwise. More often, it’s assumed they will skip the time to build the base item, and instead start with 
  something that already exists and then improve it.
  Cost Increments
  Price
  Amount
  Terrible [-2]
  Under  1c
  Poor [-1]
  Under 5c
  Mediocre [+0]
  Under 20c
  Average [+1]
  Under 50c
  Fair [+2]
  Under 100c
  Good [+3]
  Under 500c
  Great [+4]
  Under 1000c
  Excellent [+5]
  Under 10,000c
  
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  Price
  Amount
  Extraordinary [+6]
  Under 100,000c
  Epic [+7]
  Under 1,000,000c
  Legendary [+8]
  Money is no object
  Castle Falkenstein offers a price list for common items on p. 166, as well as a a list of common gadget 
  components and their costs on p. 209.
  Improving Things
  Engineers can tinker to improve or change the workings of any device. There is an array of possible 
  improvements, which include:
  Additional Capability 
  The device can now do something else of roughly the same scope. An automobile might also be able to 
  be a boat, for example, or a gun might be able to shoot a grappling hook. Alternately, it may be able to 
  do something normal but do it exceptionally well (so that a technology works like it does in the movies 
  rather than real life). 
  Alternate Usage
  The device allows skills to be used differently. For example, a Hemato-Detector Device might allow an 
  investigator to use Education rather than Perception to examine a crime scene for traces of blood.
  Anachrotech  [2]
  The device can include a technological advance we already know about but which hasn’t happened yet. 
  However, this is roughly limited to technologies that existed before the beginning of World War II. 
  Armed 
  Adds guns or blades to a device that would not normally have them, allowing its use with the 
  Marksmanship or Fencing skill. 
  Armoured 
  A device may be given armour, meaning that when the user spends one fate point, the device absorbs a 
  single consequence; you don’t take the stress it would have absorbed, and you don’t fill the consequence 
  slot.
  Light Armour: Absorb a single mild consequence; you don’t take the stress it would have absorbed, and 
  you don’t fill the consequence slot. 
  Medium Armour [2]: Absorb a single moderate consequence; you don’t take the stress it would have 
  absorbed, and you don’t fill the consequence slot.  
  Heavy Armour [3]: For one fate point, absorb a single severe consequence, or two mild or moderate 
  consequences in any combination; you don’t take the stress it would have absorbed, and you don’t fill 
  the consequence slot.
  Independent 
  The device has some manner of autopilot and is able to act independently in a very limited fashion. 
  
  Fate of Falkenstein: A Fate Core hack for Castle Falkenstein
  37
  Conscious
  Like independent, but the device is capable of basic reasoning, and can interpret simple commands. 
  Hair Trigger 
  This is mostly only applicable to explosives. A bomb with a hair trigger has no delay – it blows up as 
  soon as it’s thrown. The bad news is that Hair Triggers can be a bit tricky, and there’s a chance of it 
  blowing up in your hand. Failing the throw means that it explodes at the thrower’s feet! Also, if a 
  character carrying a hair trigger device takes any physical stress or consequences, he must roll a die, 
  and on a -, it explodes. 
  Miniaturization 
  Something that’s not normally portable can now fit in a large set of luggage, while something merely 
  large can now fit in a wristwatch. 
  Maximization 
  The inverse of miniaturization: Sometimes you just need something to be BIG! This improvement is 
  used to alter an item for circumstances when size will truly matter, such as a weapon that can’t possibly 
  damage its intended mega-monster target without being very large, or a car that’s actually house-sized 
  and able to transport a huge number of passengers. 
  Craftsmanship 
  The device gives a +1 bonus to any effort using it (usually only to one skill, if the device supports the use 
  of multiple skills). This improvement may not be taken more than once per affected skill. 
  Rugged 
  The device has 2 extra boxes of stress capacity over the default, which is usually 3. May be taken 
  multiple times. 
  Special Effect [2]
  A device may now operate on different principles, like a car that runs on water or a gun which can shoot 
  ghosts. The game benefit of this will depend highly on the specifics. 
  Upgrade 
  A specific improvement, granting a +2 bonus to some fairly specific use for the thing. An automobile, for 
  example, might get a +2 in a swamp or a +2 on the straightaway. 
  To improve an item (rather than create it from scratch), start with the base difficulty to create the device 
  based on the item quality, as before.
  Next, determine how many improvements you want to make. Each improvement increases the difficulty (and 
  required workshop quality) by one except as noted in brackets. Each improvement takes approximately 8 
  hours to implement.
  If the player is willing to increase total time to improve the item by one increment on the time table, he gains 
  a +1 bonus to the roll; increasing it again results in a +2 bonus, and so forth. This bonus doesn’t reduce the 
  requirements for the workshop, however; that’s still based on the quality of the item (and thus the difficulty 
  target). The player may also reduce the time spent; if less total time is spent improving the item, each step 
  faster on the time table imposes a -1 penalty to the roll.
  
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  Succeeding at a cost means the gadget will have a special flaw. Succeeding with style means the gadget will 
  have the aspect Fine Workmanship. 
  Time Increments
  Instant
  A few moments
  Half a minute
  A minute
  A few minutes
  15 minutes
  Half an hour
  An hour
  A few hours
  An afternoon
  A day
  A few days
  A week
  A few weeks
  A month
  A few months
  A season
  Half a year
  A year
  A few years
  A decade
  A lifetime
  Equipment that characters make can be expected to last for the duration of a single adventure, but is assumed 
  to be lost, deconstructed, or otherwise removed from play between adventures. 
  Example
  Jasper, a Dwarf Inventor, undertakes the construction of an Instantaneous Facsimile Transmission 
  Device that will allow him to send a photograph of the real Count Vassili from his location in Vienna to 
  Doña Ana in Strasbourg via telegraph. This means giving a telegraph station an additional capability; 
  
  Fate of Falkenstein: A Fate Core hack for Castle Falkenstein
  39
  he would also like to add miniaturization so that he can make it portable in a suitcase, because he 
  foresees using this a few more times on his trip as he races to join his ally in Constantinople.
  The base difficulty starts at Mediocre [+0] and Jasper wants to add two improvements to a normal 
  telegraph emitter, raising the difficulty to Good [+2], and it will take two days. Jasper has Great [+4] 
  Tinkering and a workshop to match; since time is of the essence, he decides to try to reduce the time 
  require by two increments (from “a few days” to “an afternoon”) so the difficulty is raised to Great 
  [+4]. Jasper makes an overcome test on Tinkering and draws a +3, a success with style! Not only does he 
  have his portable Instantaneous Facsimile Transmission Device later the same day, it shows Fine 
  Workmanship. 
  Amazing Vehicles and Infernal Weapons
  If you want to use the rules from Castle Falkenstein pp. 190-191 and 208-215, the main change to make is to 
  replace the damage system.  In CF, the damage caused by infernal weapons and the number of “wound” points 
  equipment receives is based on size and on building materials, as shown in the tables found on p. 191 of Castle 
  Falkenstein.
  Instead, I suggest using  the advice sketched under the “Extras” section in 
    Fate Core
   
    and under “Subsystems” in 
  the Fate System Toolkit. In short, it means applying the Fate Fractal to these contraptions and treating them like 
  characters by giving them aspects, skills, stunts, and even consequences. 
  Here I'm going to leave things sketchy because, to be honest, I'm not interested in writing a series of rules for 
  how many aspects vehicles should have based on size, or how many consequences they should be able to take 
  based on construction  materials. In truth, this is all irrelevant; what matters is how important the vehicle or 
  weapon is important to the story—or even how important a particular characteristic of the vehicle or weapon 
  is to the story. For example, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea features numerous ships, even war vessels, but it really 
  doesn't matter how big they are; what matters is that they are sunk by the Nautilus. 
  When you think in these terms, there is no point in trying to anticipate everything that will be created in a 
  game with lists and tables. As an alternative, I offer you the following rules of thumb:
  
  Assign two to five aspects to vehicles and infernal weapons that are important to the story, starting 
  with a High Concept and a Trouble. The Castle Falkenstein pp. 210-215 vehicle and weapons creation 
  rules are well-suited to suggesting some aspects. 
  
  An oft-used vehicle with story value that can act independently might be assigned appropriate skills 
  such as Motoring or Helmsmanship, Marksmanship, Stealth, or Perception.
  
  If there is going to be combat with other vehicle or weapons in the same general class size, give one or 
  more consequence slots. I recommend using the advice in the Toolkit: an average vehicle—3 or fewer 
  aspects—can take one mild consequence; an exceptional vehicle—4 or 5 aspects—can take one mild 
  and one moderate consequence; and a vehicle with an aspect like Rugged or Military Grade may be able 
  to take one severe consequence.
  
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  40
  
  If the vehicle is going to be the player characters' mobile base or one of their important advantages, 
  for example if the heroes are going to be ruling the skies on their own airship and fighting Robur the 
  Conqueror and his air pirates,  the skill ranks, stunts, refresh, and aspect slots can be invested by 
  invested by several characters.  
  Size as described in Castle Falkenstein can be ranked on the Fate ladder. The numerical modifier may not be 
  used depending on the way the vehicle is treated in the story, but at least it provides a relative comparison 
  between different vehicles.
  
  Tiny = Poor [-1]
  
  Small = Mediocre [+0]
  
  Medium = Average [+1]
  
  Large = Fair [+2]
  
  Huge = Good [+3]
  
  Immense = Great [+4]
  
  Gigantic = Excellent [+5]
  
  Titanic = Extraordinary [+6]
  Example
  The group wants to play the crew and passengers of an airship from the Free State of Orleans. The 
  airship is going to be important to the story and PCs so she gets a good deal of attention.
  The private merchant airship Nuage d'Or is the pride and joy of her captain, Jean-Michel du Pont-de-la-
  Vierge.  She's one of about 30-40 merchant class ships built  by the North during the American Civil 
  War.  Some of them were captured by the South and after the war a few were bought by folks in the 
  South.  Number 24 of the series, the Pride of Akron, was confiscated when her owner neglected to pay 
  certain "taxes, fees, and considerations" (read "bribes").  Jean-Michel paid what was necessary and 
  renamed her Nuage d'Or. 
  After purchasing her, Jean-Michel brought a few modifications to the Nuage d'Or: three Gatling guns 
  (one forward starboard, one forward port, one aft centre), and light armouring overall (including 
  some on the external gasbag envelope).  "Light armouring" would normally stop smaller calibre 
  bullets, probably Gatling gun bullets as well, but definitely not an artillery shell.  The armouring is 
  concealed and the guns are kept very low profile.
  A modification added a bit later was to section off part of the cargo area into rooms which could serve 
  as either smaller, securable cargo areas or else as very modest passenger quarters.  The Nuage also has 
  more winches and secondary mooring points then would be found on most merchant ships; since she 
  frequently goes to primitive areas where there are no mooring towers, Jean-Michel has had to tie off 
  onto whatever's in the area.  This includes: trees, large trees, very large trees, cliff faces, a sunken 
  riverboat, houses, large boulders and combinations of the above.  Passengers and light cargo can be 
  lowered in a basket or, for the truly adventurous, a harness rig where a person can slide down an 
  
  Fate of Falkenstein: A Fate Core hack for Castle Falkenstein
  41
  inclined rope (very much like what you see in an Army obstacle course).  It can be done solo, in which 
  case the traveler had best be aiming for loose sand or something to cushion their landing, or else 
  someone on the Nuage can control the descent by paying out a line attached to the harness.  For 
  something to really write home about it can be done between two airships at several thousand feet.  
  Not recommended for the faint of heart... 
  The Nuage d'Or is sketched using the method for Amazing Vehicles in Castle Falkenstein, p. 210: 
  
  Function
   
   : A hydrogen-filled airship with the ability of controlled flight that can be used to 
  explore distant regions safely and swiftly.
  
  Looks
   
   : Metallized fabric stretched over thin metal and wooden ribs; hissing steam vents and 
  huffing pistons; ornate gilded scrollwork and glossy hand-rubbed paint; lots of shiny brass 
  knobs and fittings; large brass dials and gauges.
  
  Powered by
   
   : Boiler powering a Steam Engine.
  
  Controlled by
   
   : A complex arrangement of Levers, Cables and a Captain's Wheel.
  
  Moves with
   
   : Shiny Propellors on Intricate Shafts.
  
  Armed with
   
   : Three Gatling guns (one forward starboard, one forward port, one aft center.)
  
  Size
   
   : Large (crew of 21), a.k.a. Fair [+2].
  Based on this thumbnail and the background description, the GM and players agree on the following 
  stats:
  The Nuage d'Or 
  Permissions: None; understood as part of the game’s premise.
  Costs: Skill ranks, refresh, and aspect slots, invested by several characters.
  Aspects: High Concept:  Private Orleanese Merchant Airship; Trouble: Her Previous Owner Wants Her Back; 
  other aspects: Gatlings Guns; and Extra Compartments and Passenger Quarters.
  Skills: Good [+3] Flight (equivalent to Helmsmanship); Fair [+2] Marksmanship. 
  Stunts: Park on a Dime. The Nuage d'Or gives +2 to Flight or Helmsmanship tests to access and moor in 
  difficult locations. 
  Stress: Two minor consequences (thanks to the armouring), one moderate consequence.
  Finally, if you want more detailed rules for large vehicle combat, I recommend you read Rob Wieland's rules 
  for mech armour in “CAMELOT Trigger,” one of the settings offered in Fate Worlds Vol. 2: Worlds in Shadow (Evil 
  Hat Productions). 
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/FATE (fudge) [multi]/Fate Hacks & Homebrews/fate_of_falkenstein-v2-2.pdf