Brewmaster

So I wanted to post this up to help show how I at least work on a campaign, and hopefully I can dispense some helpful hints from it. Worst case scenario, you'll see a cool story The first place to start is When. Since a decent chunk of the players are new to in depth involvement with the setting, I decided that the time frame of 1788-1797 was the perfect one to go with. The players (and their Fated) will be exploring Malifaux for the first time, and since the Council is still working out "Da Rules", the players don't have the added level of "Oh you wanted a magic? Well you have to hide it." This actually helped two of the players who haven't really looked at the system beyond stories us Minis-folk told em; they could approach it from the point of view of "This is a period piece with weird Tim Burton-y stuff." The one player kinda caught the idea of a Kit Carson / Davy Crocket type at this point. The second thing is What. I gave the players a vector with "Late 1700s land rush, Contract Town of Pleasance", now we needed stats. Pioneer (Politician Parents): “If justice finds you guilty of the only crime, your every breath will be as your last, but welcome the song of winter. An abyss opens beneath your cradle, and the eyes in the darkness change you.” Graverobber (Coachman Parents): “After you bleed the coal from the bones, the August will leave melancholy in everything after as the gathering mocks your gift. The circle will bind as well as the grave and the willful earns his due.” Dabbler (Hustler Parents): “When the accounting passes you by, the peer of a thousand faces will weep, but you are safe beneath the ice. The water falls like envy, the river runs like rage and obliterations touch will be gentle.” Wastrel (Farmer Parents): “After the quiet of a thousand nights falls upon your ears, an idea will betray you as the living wither from your grasp. The blood-stained cheeks will weave the grasses and the mage’s knee bends before your river.” (Accountant parents): “When at last you look upon your beating heart, the wondering hour will settle upon your hearth but fear the shadow cast by no man. Watch them as they fall one by one to the ground, and the torch will sputter into darkness.” (Graverobber parents) “When you are a stranger to yourself, he will know you not by your rage, but by your temperance but love was left behind. Escape is impossible, freedom is inevitable and the noose will snap like thunder.” (Dabbler parents) “Once your stains have been bound within she must lurk within your joyless paradise and the lost will drag you into the depths. The halo slips around your throat like the noose and you will be maimed. The big thing I wanted is for the Destinies to tie into each other; I wanted one through-story that all of the players were working towards. That way, it wasn't so much 5 mini "accept or denys" but more "figure out that players 5 session arc, then give them a big choice to make at the end of it." Took me a day, but I made it work . I started with the easier one: the Pioneer. For those of you who are Dresden savvy, this particular destiny strikes me as full bore "Sword of Damacles". The player was discussing coming from a family of money, so I was thinking that that family gave him dispensation to come over to Malifaux for "good reasons", but rumors have been circulating that his family is up to something. Looking at the destinies, the Wastrel and the Dabbler's stories also seem to tie in with each other, but I really wasn't sure at this point. A decent chunk of the Destinies have "cold" or "water" in them, so this is when I started hitting on the idea: December. That just sent me off to the races. The player with the accountant parents now sounds like their Destiny is " you're a perfect host for December" ('Look upon your heart'-'no longer need your heart', 'shadow cast by no man'-'the tyrants will', 'torch sputters out'-'heat leaving'). The Pioneer could be judged based on his parents being cultists. I got SSSSSUUUPER lucky when the Graverobber's player was talking about where they wanted to take their player because they had a concept they wanted to explore of "Bitten by a creature that cursed him, wanted to chase down the creature maybe" which, once I had the December vector, lead me to that player's destiny being "You'll become the new Wendigo." ('Bleeding coal from the bones'-'getting fuel from organic sorces'). The graverobber parents destiny leads us to that player becoming the new Blessed. Which leaves us with the other three. Those were a bit tougher, so I started just writing those destinies in different words but the same meaning. The player with dabbler parents seems like they're a conscience to someone; they feel beholden to guide this person. But the more they hang around this person, the more they'll get dragged down. The Dabbler seems like "Someone similar to you is going to get judged when you should have been judged as well, and that will make them irritated." That gave me a bit more of a leaning with the Wastrel's destiny, namely "to make things right with someone, the Wastrel will suggest an idea or be involved in an idea that 'makes the living wither from him' or people will hate him because of this idea." Why not tie these together? An NPC of similar life to the Dabbler could drag one or more of the players down, and is important enough that the Wastrel will be tempted to sell them out. Once I hit THAT, my stories connected AWESOMELY. The big plot for this game is that December needs a new host. Malifaux finally opening gives the cultists the perfect chance to 'prison break' the tyrant out. The cultists will hunt down an NPC, one that has ties to a few of the players, as they begin the appropriate ritual to release December. They need the entire roster filled (Blessed, Wendigo, Host). They have the Wastrel and the Pioneer in as "unknowing pawns" to the game and at the right moment, the Wastrel will be given the opportunity to sell out the host. And the cultists will also discover that whatever auspicious thing that the NPC has, accountant PC will have as well so hey, useful backup. 7 stories, 7 different chunks that lead to one conclusion in 1797. Now we just gotta see how it goes from here Expect further posts.

That phrase "... Covers the ability to read and write the languages..." To me is just a descriptor to let you know what the skill is, but I could see things going one way or the other.

The second answer can be found in the general feats listings. There's a feat called "Skill Specialization" (or something closeish... the feat with "Skill" and "Special" in it's name ), which is the requirement the other feats are talking about.

Quote: “Ya ain’t dangerous with only a fistful of bullets and a little dash-fire. You’re dangerous when you know when to use em.” About 7 times out of 10, when I’m making characters, I usually base it off a mini that I think looks super awesome. For the first of the pregens I’m posting, this is COMPLETELY the case. I present “Union” Jack Corbin (or as his mini is known, Sheriff Mic Ironclad). Background: With the name Union Jack stuck in my head, and the design of the mini, I started with the broad strokes: What’s this guys deal? What’s his faction? Where is he on the alignment axis? The first thing that came to mind when looking at what I have was Dirty Harry with a heavy dollop of Bodhi from Point Break. Corbin’s a Lawful Neutral guy; he has a code of ethics and refuses to play games. He’s efficient at his job, probably to the point of stepping on toes. Deep down, the reason he pursues the job at hand like a hungry pitbull is he craves the rush. He’s experienced the fringes which makes the mundane “Normalcy” muted and colorless. But he’s not a reckless person. He doesn’t need to skin iron to prove a point. The big thing he’s learned in life is basic dog psychology. You project alpha male strength, people won’t challenge you. You project weakness, that promotes violence. Given his steadfastness to his code, Jack could ONLY fall in the faction of Outcast. The Guild has shown its reliance on bureaucracy and rules to be in charge, and M&SU members are wild cards for the sake of being wild in Jack’s mind. That’s not to say he wouldn’t work with them, Jack just knows that it’s a matter of when they disagree. Mechanically speaking, I see Jack fulfilling the leader role: Setting people where they need to be, improving their skills, generally being an anchor point to guide. Clear Orders, Calm and Collected, and Hard to Kill seem like general talents to push towards, and the Overseer seems like prime territory for Jack, with Gunfighter as the secondary option. Other options really develop based on the story, but the big thing I’d like Jack to develop is The Stare. As he gets more skilled, and the tales of Union Jack grow larger, Jack should simply be able to Stare someone down (Which to me seems like taking the Terrifying Aura Magia and turning it into a manifested power.) Card Stuff: Station: Engineer Pursuit: Gunfighter Modified stats Might -1 Intellect -1 Grace 3 Charm -1 Speed -2 Cunning 1 Resilience 1 Tenacity 2 Skills: Engineering 1, Intimidate 3, Toughness 2, Convince 1, Gambling 1, Scrutiny 1 Shotgun, Pugilism 2, Evade 2, Notice 2, Pistols 2, Leadership 2 Starting General Talent: Unequaled Accuracy (shotgun) Tarot: Once your soul has been stained by silence, an empty grave will fill with melody for the gloom will deny that it knows you. The Leaves will whisper your name and shout your exodus and you will drive the chariot of winter.

It's completely not canon, but in the games I've had it hasn't wrecked anything. Long as you follow Cardinal Rule 0, it's another way to use the finite resources a FM has.

One of the other ways to determine it is if the enemy is high enough level (Enforcer or better), They have access to Card Points, which I see as "burn a point to gain the suit" for one option.

Reporting with opinions on the box set now that te whole thing's built: Rami's Gun, Pierre's Pig, and the Young Lacroix Brothers are where the irritations are going to come in. The other folk are pretty easy, and bonus test: they all fit my Battlefoam box without having to bust out extra of the pluck-foam real estate. All in all, solid B- for the box because I had a tool to help nudge the fiddly pieces into place, C- if you're just going at it with sausage fingers.

It's pretty helpful in getting you into the right mood for running games, things you should keep in mind if your group isn't playing combat-optimized characters, and other elements. There are bits and pieces that are needed IMO, but it's got solid info.

Yup. Cache is incorrect. On the plus side I've had a super enjoyable time putting the minis together.

It still plays like skirmish game rules, so acting value plus either the flip from the communal fate deck OR the card you play from your twist deck. There are talents that can enable you to discard a card to get a suit or just gain a suit (specialized skill for example).

The Northern card tells you about skills you learned early in your life. What those skills ARE is up to the concept you and your FM work through. Example: if you flip a 13 Rams you have a 3, 3, and a 2 for your "early" stats. This could mean that your parents trained you to a specific vocation, you were only interested in specific things growing up, etc. These are left at just numbers so that you the player could say "I grew up as an Ortega, so Pistols, Evade, and Intimidate would be the first things I learned."

Finished Ophelia, Francois, and Pierre (not his pig), and haven't had a problem yet.

Not sure if this counts as a Crossroads BOOBOO, but Zoraida has a different Cache and is not dual faction with her box set release

So, now that my brain has had a little time to regenerate from Gencon awesomeness (big thanks to all the people I gamed with and ran TtB sessions for), I wanted to offer up an idea on a way of handling some of the speed-bumps an "organized play" would run into. Let's start at the beginning: why do we need organized play instead of just letting FMs run games? The big thing Organized Play will do is give the FMs a central mechanic for upgrading characters. Every 4-5 sessions you play, you go one step towards your destiny. It DOES kind of take the oomph out of the tarot reading, but if we're being honest here, it would be easier to have Destinies based on Pursuits than it would to try and account for the multitude of destinies that could be generated. With THAT in mind, there could be a "destiny game" hook or somesuch that the PC sits down to play, is all "this is my destiny game", then the FM will be all "cool, here's the new thing I add to the game". Centralized play will also help with that issue of "how I make these destiny games work?" Since presumably the people writing the story could be all "if this is a destiny game for a Drudge, then..." Next, issues of Arcanist/Graverobber/ Awkward Stuff: I actually had an idea on this one; it rhymes with 1788. We set the Organized Play campaign during the time of the first Breach when the Council had sent out the call to anyone who was interested. The rules were a bit more lax during this time, so (to get a little meta), players don't HAVE to stick to either the Thalarian Doctrine or "must hide it" playstyle. This is not to say that players can't handle the extra rolEplaying, it's just that games in Organized Play should be a bit more Plug and Play. And there's where the idea is. The Organized Play needs a catchy name like Critical Strike: the first breach, but other than that, BOOM.

Serious answer is serious: Gracie will PROBABLY see the edge in competitive play where consistency is choice, whereas Mancha is a slightly more eccentric model. If you're not highly focused on that though, I've lost count of the time that 1000 masks have saved my metaphorical bacon.

Personally: Mancha Roja Reason: he's a Ht 3 Gremlin Luchador. Check and mate.

What to get for Gremlins is honestly dependent on how fiddly you want to get in "I build my crew based on scheme/opposing faction". One of the biggest things Gremlins have going for them is the widest array of Soulstone costs, so lists can be tailored much finer. S'omer's big thing is he's a generalist: he can do a lot of things okay. If you only have one master for a tournament, or don't REALLY care about being fiddly, he's the PERFECT guy to go with. Slop Haulers are good things to look at since a lot of the Gremlin mechanics are "hurt myself to get a benefit", so healing could be useful. I made sure to build a Trixie proxy because pound for pound she's my favorite henchman in the game with universal usage. I picked up a Taxidermist and stuffed pigs, and I'm rocking about 10ish Bayou Gremlins. Beyond that and some fiddly choices, I can field a group for several good strategies.

Been super busy prepping for Gencon, but once I've had downtime, I plan on posting my IntroAdventure "Murder on the Rails" as a PDF.

I'll post up pics a bit later, but I think I've figured what the issue is. I grabbed the first male and female minis I could, and new plastic to new plastic, yes technically the females are a little bigger, but you could easily miss it. First gen plastic to new plastic, the height is more noticeable, and metal Lady J to new plastic is a severely noticeable height difference (lady J stands at an Average Female's shoulders).

Kansas here. Mine showed up, Body of Evidence as the thanks. The Multi-pose lost a little of their shine as I started putting them together, but overall, I'm very happy, and expect to see minis at the games I'm running

You... DO realize that asking a question on the internet runs you the risk of getting an answer, right? Shin-chan is an anime guilty pleasure I had a WAAAYS back.It's crude, offensive, and kinda funny in a schaudenfreude kinda way. The aforementioned character has a tendency to be showing his hind quarters, much like what I officially consider to be the coolest young Lacroix is doing.

Hmm... Old Cranky, or Shin-chan... This... This will be tough

The above discussion is something that's been on my mind for a WHILE. It's actually kinda funny since technically the company started out making cool looking alternate minis, not a skirmish game, but the point still stands that there's a super thin line between playable and displayable minis (about as thin as those antennae *rimshot*). I have the Malifaux Battlefoam bag, so transport isn't a problem for me, but I FULLY acknowledge that I'm completely outside the average data set.

Got it covered above. During the Wave 2 testing, I had a crew I was calling "My Little Wong: Killjoy is Magic", and it's a cutesy gimmick. If you want to be adventurous, you go McTavish and Bayou Gators since the Swampfiend upgrade from Zoraida that allows you to place minions further up the field is dual bugged. You jump a gator into quick combat, and he either eats someone (which he does), or he gets killed, meaning Killjoy bursts out wearing alligator boots.

I snapped a single antenna (and its mirror) on the skeeters. I'm honestly just considering snapping the others to save that inevitable "razzumfrazzum" moment later. On the plus side, I bought some clear plastic, and they cool pretty cool flying.