Crossroads Story Discussion

[valhallan42nd]

The Last Call at the Gray Lord (the Molly/Kirai combo story) was my favorite of the book so far, but again, my bias is showing, as they are both two of my favorite characters in Malifaux.

Ulix's story was entertaining, and it was fun to see Zorida inquiring on the workings of the gremlins. The Haemlin story gave us a good look into the nature of Plague. All in all, it's a solid book for the additional background involved.

 

 

Levi's story was creepy, perhaps in a "I don't think we should go there" way.

[Somnicide]

I can't wait for the regular release'

[CaladanCid]

Molly & Kirai clean up the mean streets was an awesome story. By itself made me want to play those two.

 

I enjoyed Shenlong, he is a bad man.

 

Mah Tucket...hilarious. I know it isn't part of the stories but..."she can smell your fear" is maybe one of the best lines from the book.

 

All of the Outcast stories were creepy.

 

I haven't read all the stories yet, but so far, great writing. The writing from the last book is what got my wife into the game, and it just got better.

[Tadow2]

I am still reading most of the stories. I have enjoyed every one I have read so far. I was kinda surprised with the change in Colette's story. I always thought of her as being extremely confidant in everything, but she seemed so sad and unsure of herself. I really enjoyed seeing Molly and Kirai become friends. I would like to see more stories that deal with two masters and how they interact. (And hopefully not always in such a friendly way) I can't wait to find out what Collodi is building. 

 

I do wish that there had been one story helping to push along the main story line that weaved between the factions. Waiting another year for the next book and next set of stories is horrible!! 

 

Will we ever see stories based on the GenCon finals? I had heard that Collodi won last year, so I was expecting a big blow out battle story, but that didn't happen (unless I missed it)

[Dumb Luck]

Round of applause for the Little Lass unit entry fluff.

[rgarbonzo]

Congrats on the Kaeris story Justin! Was the one armed man a certain Steampunk Construct maker? Dolly-makin' time was amazing, funny in an unnerving way. Lucius was a good one, very Poe-esque. Molly and Kirai had me laughing, ohhh Hoffman and the constructs was a good one as well. 

[Rathnard]

I finished the book on the way home form the US, and my favorite story was defintely Lucius. I've always liked him as a character and his story gave some great insight into the Neverborn in general, which is always pretty cool.

 

Other that that I quite enjoyed the stories for;

- Kaeris (some great backstory into her origins, plus a rare glimpse of Earthside)

- Molly/Kirai (just great interactions between the two characters)

- Ulix (Cameo from Zoraida, plus it was just plain hilarious)

- Wong (if only for the three Lightning Bugs in it!)

[Fetid Strumpet]

The Molly Kirai story was interesting, but I found the character development from how they were portrayed before to their new personalities to be beyond trite and cliche. However, regardless of that the author managed to make the story flow and be interesting enough to finish, even if the climax of the story could be deduced without much difficulty very early on.

Lucius' was well done although their were a few ways the author's ideolect just didn't work for me.

I enjoyed all the gremlin stories quite a bit, although gremlin society is portrayed completely at odds I thought with how it was in the Ophelia story in rising powers. The Ma tucket story, while not the greatest prose, even for gamer fluff, was very enjoyable, and probably the best in the book. I have a feeling "it's Dolly-making time" is going to be a well known mene in MALIFAUX for a long time.

[Kalkris]

Of what I have read so far (as, being the only person in the entire Hudson Valley of NY, USA known to have a Crossroads book, I had to lend it out to two different people as a Hench-based courtesy), I enjoyed Lucius's story the most, although Jack Daw's story is also phenomenal. I felt like Dreamer was a bit more petulant than I remembered, but then again, it has presumably been a little while canonically since his earlier fluff happened. Ulix with his Lady Z cameo was hysterical and at the same time somewhat...touching? I do know that I must get around to reading Kirai & Molly's entwined story, as I'm seeing happyfaces about it mostly. Also other Outcasts, due to personal inclination/obligation XD

 

Overall, thus far, I like what I've read. Good work, Fluff Team!

 

~Lil Kalki

[Norken]

I am usually disinterested in fiction for miniatures games.  I've very much enjoyed the fiction in Crossroads so far.  Initially I did not have any plans on reading the fiction.  I saw one person say a story for a master was particularly good, so I read the story because I was bored, reading that story made me want to read others.  I now plan to read all the fiction in the book.

 

I can pretty easily put my finger on why: Each story focuses on getting to know a character, and often explores that character from the POV of a random mook. 

 

The mook POV is often important because the reader doesn't automatically know what is going to happen to the POV character (this isn't GOT, a master isn't going to die, so any fiction relying on the master being in mortal peril is boooooooring).  The reader is asking themselves: will the mook find a way out of this or not?  Are they doing the things that might let them get away from this master based upon who the master is as a person/thing?  Or the story is sometimes told in such a way that the reader is ultimately unsure who the master is until the end (because POV mook usage means the POV character isn't automatically the master if a name hasn't been given).

 

The most important thing about each story is that it focuses on exposing the reader to some aspect of what makes the master tick.  It is about who and why, not what they did.  Interesting people talk about ideas.  Boring people talk about what other people did.  Insufferable people talk about what they drank and how drunk it got them.  It holds true for fiction, and the fiction in the book generally focused on ideas.

 

Which is ultimately far more interesting than yet another boring comic book scene focused on narrating the use of powers by the next character in the queue in the next battle scene in the eye rolling 'save the world (again)' miniatures expansion plot line.  Blah blah blah, so and so did this, so and so did that to counter this.  Boooooooring.

 

 

If there is going to be an over overarching plot eventually, ideally that overarching will still be told using the structure of the fiction in Crossroads.  Each story having a primary focus on ideas related to the master, and often told with POV mooks to invest the reader in any mortal peril the story is attempting to sell.  If all those stories link up somehow with the overarching plot, or events of the overarching plot are the backdrop, then great.  If the story is purely page count to squeeze in the next thing that happened in a sequence of things happening, then not so great.

 

[Linus Mcmold]

I just got my Crossroads book two days ago and I'm savoring the stories at a very slow pace.
My favorite story so far is Last call at the Gray Lord. It has so much character, gives ressers a new face with the comradery between two characters and it shows Kirais softer side. Very well balanced humor and seriousness unlike a movie I've watched yesterday which had a similar balance.

The story Sacrifice has a lot of grit and I love the Alyce and Leve and their dynamism/relationship in it. "The enemy" stays a bit too faceless in the story for my taste, but then it would change the story in another direction if they were fleshed out more.
I enjoyed the feel of Malifaux market in it and the mention of hobbies of the main characters make them more rounded.

I wish there was an Ophelia/kin story, because those guys don't have a story that's about them yet.

I've read most of the model descriptions, but the Guild Hound entry stood out and made me love those guys a bit more.
I love the whole theme how Malifuax changes animals into more wild or how it gives them more self-awareness.

I might post more reactions after I've read a couple more...

[Linus Mcmold]

Falling the Fly is a very cool origin story. Very fitting for a superhero looking master, I love how it's told from a perspective of a younger character in this particular case. I remember Kaeris made an appearance in two completely different stories in Twisting Fates.

Open Spoiler

In the story about the steamfitter girl who worked under Kaeris, Anasalea was portrayed similar to the mistress character in this story (at least the part she was playing) and in the story about Misaki fighting some Dervish gang she was more of a conniving criminal.

It's nice to see all the sides of this character portrayed.
I'd like to see more stories by Justin in the future

[wizuriel]

While I did enjoy the Lucius fluff, not sure how I feel about him being Neverborn. In the first edition books he seemed really cool and scary, but part of that was we weren't sure if he was human, Neverborn or anything else. Also as cool/scary as Lucius was, the conversation with the Governor General made him seem even more scary because this was the guy ordering Lucius around. The story in crossroads made it seem like Lucius is just pulling the wool over the GG who seemed almost bumbling. 

[Fetid Strumpet]

I would agree with that characterization.

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

Linus, the guild hound entry by far favorite only to think that their will be a never born hound next book. A mimic hound.

Lucius confirming he was neverborn and in the way that he did was great. Though his minor interaction with the governor was a bit lacking. This does make me love Lucius more and makes me excited as to his next story.

Also the fluff strategies way cool. So excited that there was no rules section either.

[some_scrub]

I'm most of the way through the stories in the book and I'm loving them so much I just had to chime in here before I'm done. I think everything Norken said above is spot on. 

 

To me, one of the coolest things about the world of Malifaux is that it's a hodgepodge of different genres unified under a single visual aesthetic. The anthology format is a really nice way of translating that into the fiction. Personally my favorite stories are the ones that remind me of the darker elements of American romanticism, especially the stories of Poe and Hawthorne. 

 

So far, my favorites have been The Portrait (Lucius), Falling to Fly (Kaeris), The Moonlight Gallery (Dreamer), The Magistrate of Stranglehold (Jack Daw), and the one about the golden piglet (Ulix) (which is the last one I've read so far). In spite of it being among my favorites, I think the Jack Daw story didn't reach its full potential. Jack Daw's character concept is so incredibly good and lends itself so well to stories in this genre that I was expecting a little more, especially after reading the Dreamer story which does a great job of leveraging a similarly excellent character concept. 

 

To me, the Kaeris story did the best job of fleshing out the world of Malifaux by taking us outside Malifaux itself and outside the current timeline. Also it just made me happy to read the description of the San Francisco's fog and hills.

 

Since I just read the Ulix story, that's the one that most entrenched in my mind. First of all, I really liked it and enjoyed the humorous tone, but I have 2 major questions about it. 1) What does it remind me of? I know the structure is pretty similar to lots of classic fairy tale or fable storytelling with the three successive attempts to get the pig. Does it have any direct literary antecedents, though? 2) Ulix is the master for whom I'm most eagerly awaiting the plastic release, I love his mechanical theme and I loved his story, but after reading the story I don't understand at all why he's a master. Hamelin is an unkillable otherworldly Tyrant entity. Hoffman can connect telepathically to machines. Nicodem can literally reanimate the dead. Ulix is just a pig farmer with a limp, and, given that the story starts with him nearly losing one of his pigs, it's not even obvious that he's an especially good one. From the story it's not even clear that he has any authority in his community. The only thing we see him do is demonstrate how clever he is by outsmarting a few slack-jawed yokels. What's so special about him?

 

Ok. Enough typing! I have 5 more stories to read! 

[Kalkris]

Since I just read the Ulix story, that's the one that most entrenched in my mind. First of all, I really liked it and enjoyed the humorous tone, but I have 2 major questions about it. 1) What does it remind me of? I know the structure is pretty similar to lots of classic fairy tale or fable storytelling with the three successive attempts to get the pig. Does it have any direct literary antecedents, though? 2) Ulix is the master for whom I'm most eagerly awaiting the plastic release, I love his mechanical theme and I loved his story, but after reading the story I don't understand at all why he's a master. Hamelin is an unkillable otherworldly Tyrant entity. Hoffman can connect telepathically to machines. Nicodem can literally reanimate the dead. Ulix is just a pig farmer with a limp, and, given that the story starts with him nearly losing one of his pigs, it's not even obvious that he's an especially good one. From the story it's not even clear that he has any authority in his community. The only thing we see him do is demonstrate how clever he is by outsmarting a few slack-jawed yokels. What's so special about him?

 

By that token, you could do well to ask why Gremlins is even a faction (protip: It isn't. ). They're just a subsect of Neverborn. That's what makes Wyrd so progressive in the wargaming industry. Their token greenskins aren't even a real faction. XD

 

j/k, I think that Ulix has master status because he is most likely the best hog-herder the Gremlins have to offer. Granted, that doesn't mean he has to be good at it, it just means he has to be better than any other pig farmer. And with pigs being so relevant in Gremlin culture, there should be a master of pigs.

 

~Lil Kalki

[Clement]

and Ma Tucket is just an angry gremlin with a spoon.  Only she isn't...  she's also a powerful force in the gremlin faction.  Her and her bushwhackers might just be the most competent Gremlin team out there, "fighting the good fight" as it were on Zoraida's green dream team .

 

I have a sneaking suspicion that Ulix might in fact be one of the smartest Gremlins alive.  Just because his story was much more focused on his...  folksiness? instead of his oncoming storm of pork, don't think he doesn't have it in him.

[Mako]

Just got mine in today, and have been reading it already. Only read a couple, but one of the ones I was initially expecting to be a bit disappointed in (back in beta when the character and rules were first shown) turned out to be a real gem - Toni Ironsides. She could so easily have been some boring, one dimensional meathead but she's not. She's got great depth to her character and past. I won't say more to avoid spoilers

Next on the reading list is Kirai/Molly, which will be an interesting moment (given what I've seen said about it in here). I was very happy with them being somewhat subdued, introverted characters, so it will be interesting to see how they've changed and how it's been done.

[MasterDisaster]

Well it's gotta be said... threads like this are just plain cruel for us Europeans who couldn't afford or didn't want to extorted by the USA customs service in ordering the new book. Why Justin?... WHY?! 

[Mako]

Don't worry too much, I'm in the UK and used the cheap delivery option. Royal Mail dropped it off this morning, so it's only border control that's holding stuff up now!

[rythos42]

I waited to finish the stories before coming to the thread...and now all my comments will just be abstractions, because I took to long reading it!

 

I came to Malifaux in M2E, and I found the M2E rulebook stories to be somewhat confusing and a little disjointed. Fast forward months, and after getting into the game I grabbed copies of the original books to read all the stories. I thought the stories in M1E were terrifying, gross, thrilling, and were all page-turners. I re-read the M2E rulebook after finishing those, and found that the stories in that book made a lot more sense, as they tended to refer to the overarching storyline from M1E.

 

Back on topic with Crossroads...I really really liked all of the stories in Crossroads. However, M2ERB felt like a "pause" in the action. M1E ends with a lot of crazy shit going on, and M2E opened by referring back to that action, but not progressing a lot. I was hoping that Crossroads would go back and start pushing that terrifying, gross and thrilling angle again. While every story was excellent, and I really enjoyed the short-storyness of them, a common story throughout the book or a linking thread of some sort would have been wonderful.

 

I think my favourite story in Crossroads (and in M1E) is the Hoffman stuff. I don't play him (yet), but every time I finish a story with him, I want to start playing this crippled genius with power over machines. His story in CR was just brilliant. And I absolutely loved how every scenario links up to the story before it! I haven't had a chance to play the scenarios yet, but I really want to re-read the stories and THEN play the scenario just to get the most out of it.

 

Thanks everyone who wrote, I buy these books for the stories, and despite not getting what I wanted, I got something amazing anyway.

[valhallan42nd]

Fight Night (the Wong Scenario) is very fun, and I highly recommend it.

[moxypoo]

Out of all the goodies I ordered from Gencon, I was most excited about Crossroads for the artwork and the background material.   I read the book cover to cover in one sitting, since I couldn’t put it down!

 

Some of my favorite stories were:

Hoffman – You read so many stories where the Guild are portrayed as bad guys, but here, there’s a Guild official who’s clearly doing some good by stopping something pretty terrible.  Hoffman seems like a genuinely good person compared to many of the selfish, uncaring people in Malifaux.

 

Ironsides – I really liked that Toni is portrayed as a tough, intelligent brawler instead of a meathead running around picking fights.  She clearly understands what she’s doing rather than just running headlong into danger.  The Oxfordian mages were really cool too!

 

Leveticus – Obviously, I’m a little biased, but the characterization in this one is excellent.  We find out more about what Levy actually does, the relationship between Rusty and Levy, and get some visuals about what he can actually do with magic.  I also like the connection with Hoffman’s story in that there are small groups in Malifaux (besides Levy) practicing amalgamation.  Plus, we finally know how to abbreviate his name!

 

Jack Daw – I loved how Jack was portrayed as dancing and reveling in the betrayal in the town.  He seems like an agent of chaos rather than having any sort of specific plan or motivations. 

 

Lucas McCabe – I liked this one for two major reasons:  First, you get a glimpse of Earthside London, which reminded me a little of V for Vendetta.  Second, McCabe is almost a pitiable character in my eyes since he’s clearly made some bad choices that really hurt him.  Now, he ran to Malifaux to escape those consequences, but one has to wonder whether he can outrun them?

 

Lucius – Insight into the Neverborn is always really nice, and I think this story both explicitly tells us some valuable information and drops several subtle hints to the nature of the Neverborn.  It also insinuates that Malifaux is in DEEP if Lucius is increasingly the one running things.

 

The only Master I wasn’t too keen on as a character was Shenlong, because he seemed much more arrogant than I imagined him.  I was picturing him as some calm, zen master, but I can see how having a demigod living in your head would make you a little cocky.

[hownowbrowncow]

I've now finished most of the stories in the crossroads book and to me the most striking thing about them is how good of a writer Matt Farrer (I think is how his name is spelled) is. This guy is just way, way above the curve for game writers. His prose is excellent, his stories have a good pace and he changes his writing style to suit the master he's describing. 

 

The stories of his that I have read so far are Dreamer, Hoffman and Jack Daw and I count them as 3 of the very best stories in the book. 

 

He can go from chilling to hilarious on a dime for the dreamer. The ending short rhyme in the Jack Daw story just ties the whole thing together perfectly. He actually made me like Montressor who I wrote off based on his Lurch from the Adams Family model and uninspiring rules. Hoffman is refreshingly likeable in a world full of schemers and sociopaths.

 

Please wyrd, keep hiring this man to do your fluff!