Claymore65

So, for pacing, the game suggests the following: Each session should feature one of the Fated's Destiny Steps. Each Fated has five Destiny Steps, so campaigns are assumed to take around Five sessions per Player. So, for example, I have five players, so I can expect around 25 sessions to get through each character's destiny. Note that the term "session" isn't strictly a play session, it's more like an adventure or major part of the adventure. For example, my players usually took two play sessions to get through each "Act" in one of the pre-made adventures, which is roughly supposed to be one session. It's up to you and your group decide if that pace is good, or if you need to speed up or slow down. If you'd like to extend the game by RAW, you should add an additional session for each rank a player wants to take in an Advanced pursuit. There's also nothing stopping you from running sessions not featuring a character's destiny step, or including multiple destiny steps in the same session to make the campaign shorter. As far as power gain, I think it's pretty good. Characters get noticeably stronger each session, but they won't outclass all the enemies immediately. Keep in mind that the Fated are generally competent and effective the whole way through. They don't get ridiculous without a highly optimized build or after a lot of play sessions, in which case the destinies of each character should be mostly wrapped anyway.

Technically speaking, if players follow the Advanced Pursuit rules, it should add an extra session (keep in mind Session ~= Adventure in this game) for each Advanced Pursuit step the characters wish to follow. You can hypothetically add a lot of session this way even if you don't fudge the rules. That said, it should be fairly easy to just keep going, and not address a destiny step each adventure. Slowing down the Destiny Steps should make power levels a bit lower, though as others have suggested lowering Experience or Pursuit steps slightly might be a good idea as well.

Running a Tabletop RPG on your own can be a little rough, but it's doable with the right adventures. Solkan's suggestions could definitely work. I'd try and look up what other Solo Tabletop RPGs exist, and see if you can adapt their techniques to your own personal game. I haven't personally tried any of these, but you can find a list here: (http://dieheart.net/useful-stuff/solo-rpg-resources/) You may also want to look at Roll20 or another Online service to run your game. Plenty of people run RPGs online, and finding a group can be surprisingly easy. That said, Through the Breach can be a little bit tougher to run online due to all the Card management, but it's still not too hard.

It really depends on the pursuit. I feel like some of the pursuits from the base book have aged particularly well (Dabbler, Graverobber, Gunslinger and Scrapper), while others have proven less interesting or effective (Tinkerer, Academic) then options presented in later books. In the case of the Tinkerer, the Engineer does building and upgrading robots better, while the Augmented handles its admittedly sort of random "hit people with pneumatic limbs" abilities very well. The Academic feels a bit too highly specialized, especially considering a callout in Into the Steam suggested giving one of their primary abilities (using Academic skills in place of Aspects) as a base rule most characters have access to from time to time. The pursuits in later supplements tend to be a bit more exciting to look at, though you aren't at a disadvantage simply taking from the Fated Almanac instead. Many of the Basic Pursuits are more versatile, offering a smorgasbord of abilities rather than an intense focus. For example, if you compare the Pugilist from Into the Bayou with the Scrapper from the Fated Almanac, you'll see one is primarily focused on the Adrenaline mechanic, while the Scrapper is just a general beatstick. In many scenarios, the basic abilities the Scrapper provides, such as Flurry or Melee Expert, will prove incredibly powerful and versatile. In general, the Fated Almanac pursuits are more "basic", with easy to understand mechanics, easier decisions (due to repeat abilities appearing more often), and a much more broad concept. I think it's nice to have both the more "General" and "Specific" basic pursuits. That said, I'm happy to see some of the Pursuits are getting some tweaking. For example, Abeda's character is already showing some great improvements to the Academic.

The Tinkerer is probably the closest in terms of "Enchanting" pursuits, although the Engineer provides a lot of similar design space (buffing constructs and building technology). You could definitely go for a mix of that if you wanted to build a robot-focused character that can buff themselves. The Tinkerer definitely has its own problems, however. It won't provide too much in the way of Enchanting focused talents, even though the pursuit pegs itself as a Machine/Magic hybrid. That said, it really comes down to your skill in Enchanting, and what Magias/Manifested powers you have access to. If you want to focus exclusively on spells, I'd actually suggest still going with either Dabbler or Mage. Mastered Immuto or Magia will help you out a great deal, and taking Manifested Powers as a Mage can give you enchanting spells without relying on a Grimoires, which you may or may not easily find. If buffing is one of your goals, you may also want to look at some less magically focused Pursuits. Also take a good hard look at General Talents, since many of them could help you out a lot. Simply using Specialized Skill and taking a useful trigger from "Into the Steam" can prove highly effective. For example, you could take "Elemental Weapon" and buff a gun, and then get a trigger to boost someone's Might or Grace.

I have to admit, I'm extremely excited for this. I've always enjoyed Through the Breach, but I felt like the Fated Almanac and Fatemaster's Almanac were a bit lacking, especially when compared to the supplements. The pursuit design is significantly better there, with each Pursuit boasting good synergy, tons of flavorful abilities, and generally being more "fun". Some of the Fated Almanac pursuits felt a bit random/conflicted, such as the Tinkerer which mixed attacking people with Cyberlimbs and controlling robots. I feel like the Advanced Pursuits generally took a big step up as well, lacking things like "Death Marshall only getting an Peacebringer". Taking a look at some skills that might be extraneous (Farming, Homesteading, and Husbandry could probably be one skill) or might too important (Evade/Toughness) might also be a major improvement. I've been extremely satisfied with the supplements to Through the Breach, and seeing those improvements applied to the core rulebooks will only make this RPG even better. I look forward to learning more in the future!

I'm signed up, and got my new group interested in joining! Should be fun.

Sorry to ask, but I don't understand exactly what you mean by this. They actually stated they are planning to update the Model Cards. As per the first post: "Our errata cards will always be available as a free PDF download and updated on Wargame Vault for print on demand. Our models will continue to come with the old cards until we do a new print run of the model(s) in question, at which point that card will be updated as well. " Right now, you can download the updated cards and print them out. Alternatively (once the Wargame Vault is ready) you can order them Print On Demand. Once they have a new print run of the model, they'll come with the updated cards, although until a new print run starts they can't magically alter every card in every existing box for the errata.

Wow, this preview was impressive. I really loved the look of Abyssinia. The mechas and powered armor look incredible. I'm also a huge fan of the Gibbering Hordes. I'm definitely going to have to pick this one up.

I may not be understanding this correctly, but shouldn't the Dreamer need Line of Sight to wherever he's summoning? If so, he can't just summon his models 6" away from behind the wall. He would at least need to summon them behind or adjacent to the wall, which means they might have to spend valuable AP moving into position. Or he might need LOS, which means you might be able to get some potshots at him. Normally in this game, actions don't ignore LOS unless it specifically states that. If your opponent is summoning his nightmares directly into your crew from out of LOS, that might be a source of your problems. I don't really play against the dreamer much, so I may be totally wrong about that.

Making this longer so spoilers don't appear on main page...Just kidding I didn't actually make it long enough so now I have to edit it. Oh boy oh boy oh boy! Insert some other witty line here. I don't remember much mention of the "Crossroads Seven", but they did talk about a mysterious masked/cloaked pair multiple times. This is (possibly) the same entity that made the deal with them. Leveticus isn't having a great time right now. For reasons he doesn't know yet, he's starting to rot and degrade over time. Switching bodies doesn't seem to be reversing it. In essence, he's (possibly) dying, and while he's looking into ways to fix it (or at least keep it from getting worse) he's not sure what it is yet. It might be his method of resurrection isn't perfect, or it might be something entirely different. Considering he's supposedly integral to the future of Malifaux (according to Zoreada), this could be a very bad thing. Jack Daw remained mysterious as usual. In some ways he's drawn to the "Burning Man", which is presumably a fusion of the Governor General and Cherufe. It's unclear if he's drawn to them, their drawn to him, or something different. I don't have the book on me right now, but that's all I remember. I can update this with more details later.

To be honest, I'm not really seeing this as a game-breaking issue. While the walls are certainly excellent in a wide variety of circumstances, and well worth the upgrade, they don't necessarily "auto-win" the game. Even in very terrain dense boards, there will pretty much always be a way around it, even if requires taking a significantly less optimal path around them. Models with flight or incorporeal can ignore the path around them. Most factions have access to mobility tools that can get them past tricky sections of the map, or at least move fast enough to mitigate it a bit. Many factions have tools to get around LOS, and can kill the squishy totems fairly easily. The Flame Walls also prevent your own models from shooting/charging the enemy, although admittedly both Sonnia and Rasputina have ways of getting LOS for themselves easily. The usefulness is also highly dependent on the terrain, as the walls can be significantly weaker in open areas of the board. Blocking off up to two 100mm passages can be incredibly useful, but it's not really game breaking. Keep in mind the opportunity costs for using these abilities as well. Every casting of Ice Pillar or Flame Wall is an AP not spent on doing something else. Sonnia isn't blasting away her opponents, Rasputina isn't freezing everything in sight, etc. Some of these casts come at a significant cost (the Malifaux child requires a 9+ to actually cast Flame Wall) as well, so it's not actually "indefinite". Admittedly the AP costs are more significant than the card costs in most cases (I think Ice Pillars requires a 3?), but that can make a huge difference depending on the game. It also costs an upgrade slot, which has its own opportunity cost there. They also have order of activation concerns, since now you might have to carefully consider when to activate your master. I'm in no way saying the abilities are weak, they're extremely useful in fact, but there I'm not confidant it's hurting the game to a degree errata will be required.

That sounds fantastic! It's just what I wanted to hear. Thanks!

Hey, I was wondering, are there any plans on the Horizon for a Guild-themed book? Into the Steam is a fantastic for Arcanist fans, providing awesome pursuits that let you mimic some of your favorite masters. It also adds a ton of description of the North, along with the Arcanist group in general. It adds a TON to the game, and I would highly suggest it to anyone playing Through the Breach. I remember when the game was first created it was mentioned most factions would get a book to themselves (I think they mentioned a Resser book, a Neverborn book and a Gremlin book specifically). Will the Guild get the same treatment? I would love to learn more about the Guild's holdings in Maifaux (and preferably Earthside as well). They hold an intriguing place in the world, and learning more about Guild laws, politics, corruption and justice would be fascinating. There's plenty of opportunities for new pursuits (Witchhunter, Austringer, etc) too, but I'd be most interested in learning about the Guild as a faction. They have a really interesting Mythos set up around them, and I would love to learn more.

No problem. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.

As it happens, I've been doing the exact same thing! I can give you plenty of advice: Pick a Site First off, you should find a Play-by-Post site you like to use. Sure, you could use any other forum, but there are tons of sites out there that can provide you with tons of useful tools to work with. Things like Private threads (threads that only certain players can see), dice rollers (not really for this game, but other ones), and more can prove invaluable. There's plenty of options, but I like to use Roleplay Online (rpol). It's got a lot of "bells and whistles", like the option for private lines mid-post (so only certain players can read it), language options (it'll actually garble the text for characters who don't know the language) and much more. Whatever site you choose, try and figure out the basics of the site. Handling Decks You'll have to decide how you want to handle cards and decks. One option is to have each player manage their own physical fate deck. This is basically the "honor system", as you can only hope your players don't try and cheat more than just fate...but it would work out just fine. Alternatively, you can handle the decks yourself. I usually have a physical fate deck for the communal deck, and then I use some other semi-randomized methods for managing their fate decks. I just tell them in a post what cards they have in their hands. For example, I'll make a private line to myself listing all of the cards currently in the deck (so that the player can't read it), and then tell them what cards they currently have, or have drawn. Handling Duels Duels can seem a little difficult to handle without special preparation. Because of the way duels work, you can't simply flip a card and tell them the result. They have to possess the option to cheat fate (or spend Soulstones if they get them), and each duel needs to happen individually. However, I don't want to clutter the main event thread with tons of Card flips and questions about (Do you cheat, which card do you choose with your positive flip etc etc). In order to solve this problem, I use a private "Card Thread" for each player. When a player declares an action that requires a Card flip, I make a post in their private Card Thread, and handle all of the flips there. Once they've decided whether they want to cheat fate/whatever, I post the results in the main thread. This keeps things from getting cluttered, while keeping all of the duel mechanics in place. Combat Pictures Combat in TTB is very visual. The game is (naturally) designed to be used with miniatures and visual aids, at least while you're in combat. In a Play-By-Post environment, you don't have the luxury of a physical table to move models around in. However, in many situations it's critical for players to know where their characters are, whether they're stuck in melee (or sticking enemies in melee), and whether they're in range/cover/whatever. One solution to this problem (which I use myself), is to use Malifaux's Vassal module. I don't run actual games with it, I simply generate a picture at the start of each round, and then post it so players can see the positions. Sometimes I'll post one mid-round if the game state has changed significantly, but I usually won't bother. Here's an example of one such image: Initiative One important factor is that you'll have to (kind of) ignore some of the usual initiative rules. Since players can post at any time, they can't be held back by Player #3 who hasn't posted in 3 days, especially if he's first in the initiative order. I let players post their actions in combat at anytime they choose. I still have them flip initiative, however. Once people have posted, I'll use the private card threads to handle the inevitable flips, etc in the actual initiative order. For example, let's say I'm playing with Alice, Bob, and they're fighting a Nephilim. They all flip initiative, and the order goes Alice, Bob, Nephilim. Bob might post first, then later Alice posts. Now, I handle Alice's flips in her private thread, dealing damage if necessary. Then I handle Bob's flips, and lastly I handle the Nephilim's actions. Alternatively, you can simply (mostly) ignore initiative order, and handle actions when they're posted. It's still better than using the standard initiative rules. In play by post, you simply don't want to be put in a situation where one player can hold up the rest of the party. Also, there's plenty of times where actions might not conflict. If Alice she says she wants to shoot Nephilim A, and Bob says he wants to shoot Nephilim B, you can likely handle both of thier actions at the same time, since they won't conflict. Does that help?

Hoffman's story in Crossroads was definitely one of my favorites.

I do something similar on RPOL. I wanted to do it in a "Play by Post" environment, which made for some interesting challenges. I had a physical fate deck for the communal one. I had "digital" 13 card decks that I kept hidden from the players, and just tell them what's in their hands. I actually use the Malfiaux Vassal moduel to generate pictures of the battlefield at the start of each turn. This makes character placement very clear, but is quick and easy on my end. I just take a screenshot of the battle in action, and move around pieces when I need to. It works pretty great.

I would definitely agree with this point. While a game is never truly decided right at the beginning, Malifaux is certainly a game that relies more on player skill. A skilled player gets massive advantages...which is probably for the best. Rewarding experience and player skill is generally a very good thing for a game to strive for. That said, I agree that it can make introducing the game difficult at times. A newbie will oftentimes miss all the subtler details of the game, and without a lot of experience it can take a long time for them to truly challenge their opponents. Basically, when playing with newer players, you shouldn't be afraid to go a tiny bit easier on them, or give them a bunch of tips, otherwise they'll think they just lost due to luck. I know I was guilty of this when I started playing, and I can still be from time to time.

1.) I assume it doesn't actually allow access into the Quarantine Zone. I assume it allows access into the outside of the city, like where the Ortegas are at. It probably allows more access into the sewers, but then again pretty much anybody can go down there already. I also assume it's a combination of a Weapons Permit and a Hunting License. While you might have trouble walking around carrying huge rifles and shotguns normally, as a Neverborn Hunter you can carry much higher calibre weapons with no problems. In the core book, it describes certain types of ammo as "Only to be used against the Neverborn", so a licensed Neverborn Hunter can easily buy that sort of thing. 2.) On the second part, Manifested Powers are definitely illegal. This is more from the Tabletop Rulebooks, but that's part of the reason the Arcanists exist. Random people can suddenly gain powers, and thus the Witch Hunters have free reign to target and kill them. Getting Magical powers like that is absolutely terrifying in Malifaux, since suddenly you're a target. The Arcanists are seen as saviors at times like these, as they give you a way to avoid the Witch Hunters. By joining the MS&U, you're a lot safer. However, then the Arcanists have you "prove your loyalty" by committing theft, extortion etc. It's what makes the Arcanists awesome, since they combine freedom fighters with the mob. 3.) On the Last Part, the Guild is supposed to control most magic in the world. I assume that lots of divisions have spell-casters of many types. However, the vast majority of them use the Thalarian Doctrine, which teaches that creating Magic Items is better than Fireballs, so they rarely train their mages in combat magic like that. However, plenty of divisions include spell casters (Witch Hunters, Death Marshalls, Hoffman's group etc), so I assume as long as you have a Guild License and Guild Training, most Guild Personnel can use magic. Non-Guild Mages can get sanctioning, especially if they focus on Magic Item or Construct crafting. That's literally not illegal, even though it definitely requires magic to do. It's the fireballs and stuff that's a lot harder to get sanctioning for.

To be fair, if it's really causing a problem, you can always just use the Optional Rules in the Fatemaster's Almanac to resolve battles as normal games of Malifaux. Then, the FM flips cards normally for their opponents. That does get rid of the whole issue pretty much. That said, I do agree that the Fated can trivialize combat if they try to. If you really wanted to prevent it, you could always put in a "Maximum Acting Value" rule for different amounts of sessions. For example, let's assume you have 4 players, and thus around 20 sessions to work with. You could do something like: Sessions 1-4: Maximum Acting Value of 5 Sessions 5-10: Maximum Acting Value of 6 Sessions 11-15: Maximum Acting Value of 7 Sessions 16-20: Maximum Acting Value of 8 Players could still increase their skills, but they couldn't actually reach a higher active Value until they have more "Levels". I'll admit this hardly an ideal solution in any sense. It will seem unnecessarily punishing to players who want to be skilled at a particular thing. It also makes "levels" matter in a game that isn't really meant to track that. To be fair, players would still have a feeling of advancement, as their characters still get a variety of cool abilities from their Pursuits. Plus, for the last few sessions you'd feel like a God.

That's a very good point. With a height cap this won't get too ridiculous. Granted, as per the Base Book a character can only maintain one construct using the "Animate Construct" spell (although a Tinkerer can do up to three), so you can't exactly just flood the field with super cheap robots, but I agree that $1 for a height 4 construct even would get ridiculous really fast. Maybe they should increase the base cost to scale with the Height, or maybe just require you to spend actual construct points before building it. That said, I'm pretty sure I heard that more advanced Construct Creation Rules will be present in Into the Steam, so this problem may already be fixed.

Ah, the old "Murder Hobo" problem. Like others said, make sure their actions have consequences. However, you don't have to just send giant forces to kill them. You can hurt their emotions too. They just murdered the mayor, right? Well maybe now they have to watch his children cry, swatting at the Fated pathetically because they just killed their daddy. Crying Wives and daughters weep over his corpse. The stores in town lock their doors at their approach, screaming for their kids to stay away from the madmen. Tricks like these are easy, and remind players that this isn't just a power fantasy. This is a world, with "real" people inhabiting it. Their characters are people too. By using emotion, you can convince them to think about their actions more thoroughly. It's critical that you make sure they don't think of their characters as random stat blocks of abilities that let them kill well. They need to think of them as people. If you were in there shoes, would you just shoot everyone who crosses your path? Of course not. Force them to act like people, not stat blocks. And when all else fails, you slaughter them with a horde of super powerful enemies. Send like, 6 Peacekeepers and some super badass Henchmen handlers. They'll die real quick.

No problem. Be aware though that you don't die when you run out of wounds, you take Critical Effects, which seriously vary in severity. Thus, even if you've taken damage WAY over your wounds, you can still fight surprisingly well. Make sure you read over that section of the rulebook, it makes a huge difference to the survivability of players. Basically, death will actually prove pretty darn rare, which makes sense with how character-focused this game is.

Actually, he'll have 4 Wounds. You're misunderstanding the Calculation. Wounds = Toughness Skill + (1/2 * Resilience Aspect) + 4 You will round up in case of a fraction. In your characters case, his health will be : = Toughness Skill (0) + (1/2 * Resilience (0)) + 4 = 0 + (1/2 * 0) + 4 = 4. He will have 4 wounds, not 1. The other factor is that you ignore the Resilience Aspect if it's Negative. Does that help? I understand your confusion though. It can be confusing to read for the first time. I've found just showing it as a simple math equation is easier to understand.