I'm new to the Castle Falkenstein World (I was only 9 when the books first came out on the market). I feel like it was fate that I began to run my very first game using this system at a time when Fat Goblin Games is bringing Castle Falkenstein back to the role playing community with new material to add to our adventures.

The book is written from the viewpoint of Dr. Doolittle, which gives this book even more value than just being a "monster manual." There is narrative written amongst the rules, as in the tradition of all of the other Castle Falkenstein books. The Memoirs of Auberon covers all of the fairy creatures and player characters you could ever hope to add to your steam adventure, but there really wasn't much in the way of animals or creatures from other magical mythologies present. For creating interesting encounters and battles for my players, I feel that Curious Creatures fills that niche quite nicely with creatures ranging from manitores to unicorns and everything in between.

There are also interesting new player characters available to play, you can even play as a Unicorn and a Beastfolk (hello, werewolves anyone?) The layout and art direction of this book is absolutely beautiful with tons of illustrations, decorative borders, and it is laid out in a very user friendly way. I think it is easily the most beautifully designed books from The Castle Falkenstein canon.

As a friend of the writer of this book, I want to tell you all that his passion for this game is incredibly apparent in all of the historical and mythological research he's done for Castle Falkenstein, in this volume in particular. Please give this game a try if you are on the fence, it is immensely fun to play if you are at all into faeries, magic, dragons, steampunk, Victorian culture, melodramas, and role play heavy gaming!