Through the Breach Preview Part One

 

A few people have ask me about how Through the Breach is as a game. The truth is I do not know. I have some idea from reading the books a few times, creating a couple dozen characters, and running mock scenarios by myself. I am trying to find a way to get some game sessions in. The people I would usually call on are committed elsewhere for now. I do not want to run the game in my local store because it is not available for retail right now. My local game store is amazing, but I do not want to push a product they can not sell yet. I need to get some time in with the game, but it looks like it might be a few weeks. I definitely need to spend some time playing it as I need to see if it is something I would like to run for ZAPP CON or not.

With the major caveat of me not playing the game out of the way, here is part one of my preview of the game.

The setting is the same as that for the Malifaux miniatures skirmish game. For those unfamiliar with the setting it is Wild Wild West meets Hellboy as written for a dramatic television series. If that is confusing, the next closest example I can think of is Lovecraftian steampunk pulp-western updated for a modern day movie audience.

The players take on the role of Fated. Fated are individuals that are not only aware of their destiny, but have the power to deny or hasten it. The game is written with the assumption that the player characters are new arrivals to Malifaux from Earthside. Malifaux itself is an alternate reality reached through portals from Earth during the time of America's Old West. The largest of these portals is in America's Western frontier. The greatest export from Malifaux is soulstones. Soulstones are used to power magic in both realities, but the supply on Earth is depleted aside from what is held by a few powerful individuals or nations.

Task resolution in the game is called a duel. A duel typically consists of the player adding their character's Aspect and skill to a card flip then comparing the result to a target number provided by the Fatemaster. Aspects are synonymous with Stats in some games and range from -6 to +6 with no starting character able to go below a -3 or above a +3. Human average for all Aspects is 0. Skills range from 0 to 5 ranks with 3 being the maximum attainable during character creation. Player characters also receive Talents (Perks) that let them do a variety of things that are either outside of, or alter, the basic rules.

Flips are done from a communal deck of fifty four cards used by all players known as the Fate Deck. Each player also has a personal Twist Deck which they draw their hand from. Players may play a card from their hand to replace a card they flipped from the Fate Deck. There are skills and Talents which can alter this process. Soulstone use for instance can change things, but require both ranks in a skill, and an expensive consumable object to be at hand in order to do so. Not all player characters will have the ability to use soulstones. There are also positive and negative flips which increase the number of cards flipped, but only the highest or lowest value flipped are used. Suits also come into play sometimes as a target number might have an associated suit (many spells for instance) or triggers may activate which are extra affects that may proc from an action. Suits will not matter much to starting characters unless looking to cast spells, but will likely be added in as the character advances. The Fatemaster will have to pay attention to suits more than the players at the start of a campaign as NPCs are more likely to have triggers that utilize suits.

Character creation is partially a random experience. The player starts by forming a vague concept of the character she wants to play. You then deal out cards to determine both what the character's life was like growing up, and what her destiny is going forward. The first card determines the life the character was born into. This is the most specific of the cards from a story standpoint. It is the one most likely to need changed if it does not play nicely with the concept the player wants. The rest of the cards decide how deep and broad the character's Aspects and skills are. The player picks which values are assigned to each Aspect and skill, but the cards tell you what values are available.

After this the player receives two points to add to their Aspects, records Derived Aspects, selects a Pursuit, purchases equipment, and builds the character's Twist Deck. Derived Aspects include things like Defense (Armor Class), movement speeds, and Wounds. Pursuit is similar to classes in other games, but are about what a character wants to learn and less on what the character already knows. A starting character recieves a talent and starting equipment based on their chosen pursuit. They lose that talent if they change pursuits. Starting characters have very little money so will not be able to afford much outside of what is available to their starting pursuit. The Twist Deck consists of thirteen cards valued ace through king. The Twist Deck is drawn from to make up the player's hand of cards during the game.

Character advancement is closely tied to the story. Remember the cards used to randomize parts of character creation? Working backwards through character creation those same cards also provide a vague destiny for the player character. Destinies serve as story prompts and the Fatemaster is supposed to weave the destinies of the characters into the campaign. A character that either fulfilled or denied part of their destiny ticks off a box on their character sheet at the end of that session. The Fatemaster has the option to present the player with one or more Manifested Powers when a portion of their destiny has been dealt with in game. Manifested Powers are spells with a more rigid structure, but do not require specific skills for their use. The player may select one of the provided Manifested Powers, or increase one Aspect of their choosing by one.

At the end of a session every character receives one experience point and advances their chosen pursuit one step. The character immediately receives a new talent with each step on their chosen pursuit. Unlike the talent specifically tied to the pursuit the character keeps these talents when changing pursuits. Experience points are used purely to increase skills. The Fatemaster selects a few skills after each game the player character may advance. If the player does not care for any of those skills then they may advance a skill associated with their current pursuit instead. Players may swap pursuits at the start of any session.

Due to the nature of how destiny affects the story and character growth, campaigns are intended to run for a number of sessions equal to the number of player characters times five. The Fatemaster can sprinkle in a few more sessions for story reasons, but characters cap out on Aspects and Manifested Powers once they have gone through their five destiny steps. Advanced pursuits help here as they act more as a form of alternate advancement than as full pursuits. A character follows a regular pursuit at the same time as an advanced pursuit. The advanced pursuit only progresses after sessions in which it was a major focus of the story similar to how destiny advances.

The magic section of the book is actually quite thin. The character starts by selecting a Magic Theory. These are schools of thought that give bonuses and penalties. A character may not cast a spell without first following a Magic Theory. A character also requires a grimoure in order to cast magic. The grimoire contains the building blocks of a spell. The player combines those blocks to cast the exact spell they want.

Every spell starts with the Magia. The Magia is the base spell itself. Some Magia can be used straight out of the box. The other component is the Immuto. Many spells require an Immuto where Immuto are purely optional for other spells. The Immuto modifies a base spell in some manner. The Immuto is what determines whether that spell you just cast does fire or ice damage or targets to include exclude from the spell for example. To cast a spell the player adds the character's Aspect and skill then flips a card against a target number as per a normal duel. Unlike most duels there are two target numbers. One assigned by the Fatemaster as normal, and one generated by the difficulty of the spell the player constructed.

That is my understanding of the rules as they relate to players. Fatemasters have a bit more going on. Thankfully, the Fatemaster's Almanac includes a decent amount of stat blocks for NPCs. There is also advice for running games along with plot hooks and story ideas. There are no premade adventures nor fully fleshed out scenarios in print. The Fatemaster's Almanac basically combines a traditional Dungeon Master's Guide with a Monster Manual.

I have decided to split this preview between two parts. Part two is my opinions and thoughts on the game from my understanding of the text. You may find the second part here.

I do not own any of the images used in this post and they have been used without permission. All images are the sole property of Wyrd Miniatures, LLC. I have reviewed Wyrd's guidelines concerning fan sites and believe I am in compliance with their wishes.