Crossroads Story Discussion

[knghtpiper]

Are there any Lady Justice stories in Crossroads?

[Fetid Strumpet]

No. No stories of any of the wave 1 masters.

[bertmac]

So as someone else suggested the man at the end of the kaeris story is he another malifaux master?

[StormLordXIII]

I have to reread the story but I believe it was a younger Viktor Ramos.

[Vaiuri]

I have to agree with a lot of the comments here, the writing quality is great, and I don't think there was a story I didn't enjoy. A couple felt a bit lacklustre, the Yan Lo story didn't really do it for me, but he had a little cameo in the main book which I think worked better.

I particularly enjoyed the Hoffman story. In the past I've had zero interest in this Master, but now I'm excited to see what his crew will be and am rereading a lot of models I'd previously dismissed. That says 'great job' to me!

I was a bit disappointed that Lucius is most definitely Neverborn, I kinda enjoyed the 'is he/isn't he' angle a la new Battlestar Galactica. That said, the piece about him was top notch, really sinister and dark, just what a Neverborn mimic should be!

I kinda like that Molly and Kirai have become the sympathetic ressers, it gives me an opening into a faction I never saw myself playing.

The Gremlin fluff made me want to play Gremlins. I'm kinda drawn to monsters, and as long as I ignore the comic relief element, I can really see Gremlins actually being quite nasty and sinister without being downright evil.

The Ironsides fluff suprised me too. I'm now interested in seeing how the character develops even if I don't see myself playing her.

I was a little disappointed with the 10T offering, although the rest of the book was a tough act to follow. Yan Lo and McCabe came across as a little unfocussed and meandering, as though there was no clear brief on what to write about. McCabe should have been a compelling origins story, but was distracted by the cutaway conversations with Yamaziko I felt. There could have been more interesting ways to introduce the 10T element, and I was left wondering why he would ever associate himself with the Guild at all.

Shenlong was really interesting, I really want to know more about him. I wish there was more time to explore the 5 temples, and if the Dragon is ment to represent Void alone or if there is a burgeoning following as implied by Yu's study of the 5 styles. I thought that the author did a fine job showcasing the character in the word count he was given, but I was left with a whole lot more questions than I had answered - perhaps that was the point?

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed reading Crossroads, and am now going back over a lot of rules and model fluff having been inspired by this book to do so. Bravo!

[AverageBoss]

I had posted part of this as its own thread, but as I received no replies, and it is on topic here....

 

While I has a bit disappointed with Shenlongs story itself, we did get insight on "The 5 Rivers". With 2E book one we were introduced to the Monks of the Low River. Through their fluff we learned that there was also a Monk of the High River. Come the beta for 2nd wave we got the rules for the High River Monk and were also treated to a 3rd Monk, this one from the Fermented River. When we got the rules for Shenlong and Yu, we learned that there was a Wandering River Style and that Yu was a master of the style.

 

With Crossroads, we now know that there are "Five Rivers".

 

Monks of the Low River wear blue garbs, are defensive in nature, and apparently embody stone or earth.

Monks of the High River wear orange garbs, are offensive, and embody fire.

Monks of the Wandering River (according to a brief snippet of fluff from Shenlongs story) wear grey garbs, and embody wind.

Monks of the Fermented River are not said to have a specific garb color, and would appear to embody water.

 

The fluff in the story does not say there are any, but does hint strongly that there is a 5th monk (the 5th river). These monks apparently must understand the balance between the four elements, and master the void between elements (embody the void). It is only these few monks that are considered eligible to be a potential Dragonhost. Though being eligible, does not guarantee the position (the Dragon even dismisses the idea of taking a new host at present time).

 

Lots of questions still on Monks of the Wandering River and on the possibility of 5th river monks.

 

Other than speculation on the rivers, I thoroughly enjoyed the stories for Lucius and Kirai and Molly. Hopefully I will have time to read more soon.

[LunarSol]

I was a bit disappointed that Lucius is most definitely Neverborn, I kinda enjoyed the 'is he/isn't he' angle a la new Battlestar Galactica. That said, the piece about him was top notch, really sinister and dark, just what a Neverborn mimic should be!

 

A question has to have an answer sooner or later or the story becomes a gimmick that loses the legitimate appeal of the original mystery presented (see Lost).

 

Ideally, getting answers simply creates space for new mysteries to be created and new questions to be asked.  

[Pierowmaniac]

Finally got my copy Yesterday.

Only read one story so far - Molly & Kirai.....Um....Guess id best read some more before writing any more.

[Neil of Orange]

Does anyone want to suggest what Molly's shadow "Archie" is supposed to be?  Reads like a certain construct an Avatar version of another Resser master would ordinarily have in tow...

[Fetid Strumpet]

The artwork in the book is Sim 29 or at least what the old model looked similar to. I don't know if we are ever going to see him as a model.

[Pierowmaniac]

OK read a few more now - just finished Jack Daws story.

To me the stand out stories are Jack Daw, Levitcus, Colette & Lucius. Each is a great story and well written

 

Honourable mentions for the Kaeris, Hoffman and Ironsides stories

 

So far my least favourite story was disappointingly (especially for me, being a big Molly fan) Molly & Kirai,  but that was mostly down to the writing style and not the actual story or overall character plots.

 

The Levi and Colette story really helped develop those characters within a well written and good story. Again Lucious and Jack daw just stood out as really good works of literature.

[Linus Mcmold]

I wanted to add I liked origin stories  in Crossroads a lot. I've finished the book a month ago and I must say Mah, Kaeris, Toni Ironsides and McCabe stories shed some light on characters that werent as pronounced before.
Anasalea and Lucas are old characters that were never really portrayed in the older books more then roguish henchmen of some greater powers.  Now I do care about those characters, besides thinking they are cool.

Wong and Ulix have fun stories and I loved the humor behind those, especially Mancha Rojas latino manager and lightning bugs sidekicks.

Oh god, The Face Behind the Lie was one of the best stories in Crossroads in my opinion.
There wasn't much action in it, but I really felt for Colette in the story and it shows how smart she is.

I still think that Ophelia needs a complete origin story.  Collodi and Ophelia had a short introductions in Rising Powers and those were well written, but Collodi story in Crossroads is the only one that felt a bit bland and Ophelia didn't have a story in M2E book.
Collodi and Ophelia don't have to be introduced since they both have a strong theme. Other henchmen have been very well established as master and some like Molly have multiple stories across all of the books (Molly wasn't featured only in the Storm of Shadows). I don't see Collodi as a protagoinist in his new story, or the story seemed too short, or maybe I just expected something different like him not being a villain for change.
Whining aside I liked all of the stories and even the Collodi one shed some new light on that character.

Jack Daw, Hamelin and Yan Lo who even didn't make an appearance in his story were all villains in their stories, but they felt like complete characters and I enjoyed those stories. Dreamer is still a spoiled little brat and Nytmare is the real master, which I feel is ok for his theme.
 

I guess the Brewmaster doesn't have his own story yet, but there are some stories leaked about the art of brewing here and there.

I also wanted to mention that I like how Charles Hoffman is becoming more of a badass unlike in his previous fluff where he was feeling all sad and helpless.

[Huscarl]

I picked up the Crossroads book recently and have finished most of it (only the Gremlins entries are still waiting). For me, my favorites were by far The Portrait (Lucius), The Moonlight Gallery (Dreamer), The Magistrate of Stranglehold (Jack Daw) and Falling to Fly (Kaeris). The story about Jack Daw did a great job to transport the theme of this master and made me really interested in picking him up as my next master, once his box will be released. Likewise, it was really interesting to read something about Kaeris` past instead of her current actions in Malifaux.

 

The story about Kirai & Molly (Last Call at the Gray Lord) was also quite good, but personally, I liked the stories, mentioned above, a bit more.

[Math Mathonwy]

I've read now quite a few of the stories. I did enjoy them for the most part but some editing was kinda needed in quite a few places.

The description of the Neverborn language as super exotic with it being inflected and having ten suffixes was kinda groan-worthy (Finnish has 15+12 suffixes for nouns and is highly inflected and agglutinative, e.g., "taloissanikinko" means "in my houses, too?) and kinda seemed that the writer had just learned of inflected languages and found them weird or something. All in all, the whole conversation between Lucius and Niccolo was kinda forced and weird and Governor General was a real let-down. He was that in Mah's story, too, mind, so I hope that this isn't the new face of GG. I liked him a lot better when people were debating on whether he's a Tyrant or not - now it seems that he's a bit of a buffoon.

The unit entries, I'm happy to say, are a lot better than the ones in the M2E book - a pretty low bar since there they are often really, really bad (just read Francisco's fluff and try not to flinch).

[Rwwin]

As with other's I've held off commenting or even reading this thread until I finished Crossroads.  Now that I have I generally like the fiction as a work unto itself, but it seems (as with the last several books) to have stepped the universal story-line back a ways or at least stalled it.  As others have stated individual characters have progressed but most of the plot lines surrounding the red cage seemed to have fizzled out.

 

Also, can someone help me out with Leveticus?  In the last story I'd read with him (towards the end of Twisting Fates) he'd been killed (sort of) by the pale horseman and was in spirit/ghost form training with Zoraida for some coming event.  Crossroads has him back to normal in the curio shop with Alyce, business as usual.  Is crossroads a flashback or is there something I've missed.

 

Thanks.

[StormLordXIII]

Crossroads appears to be a collection of stories which integrate themselves at different points in the Malifaux plotline... some take place before M1 (Kaeris' origin story most explicitly), others occur at some point between the other expansion (McCabe's story takes place before his "arrest" in Storm of Shadows), and some directly follow the events of Twisting Fates / M2E (Hamelin). Part of the fun and mystery of the stories is placing them within the Malifaux timeline... many do not reference the original cannon and could theoretically go anywhere. The overall purpose I think is to enrich the fluff and tell stories about characters who are often neglected or who have mysterious origins, and to give players ideas about what daily life in Malifaux is all about while dropping tantalizing hints about Earthside (most explicit in Lucius, Kaeris, and McCabe, but other stories for sure) and history. Justin's Kaeris story actually links the Black Powder Wars to Antietam and Gettysberg.

 

As for Levi, I think the story is pretty independent of his arc in Twisting Fates. It's up to your imagination.

 

Hope this was helpful. It's just my interpretation though. I could be off base here

[Math Mathonwy]

I had left the Molly and Kirai story as a sort of treat and now read it and urgh - it was really bad! 

They just came and killed everyone effortlessly in a sort of juvenile revenge fantasy while being sorta aloof and oblivious. There was no tension and not much of a point to the story. The change in their character has definitely been for the worse and towards more cliche.

By far the worst story so far in Crossroads.

[Pierowmaniac]

Crossroads appears to be a collection of stories which integrate themselves at different points in the Malifaux plotline... some take place before M1 (Kaeris' origin story most explicitly), others occur at some point between the other expansion (McCabe's story takes place before his "arrest" in Storm of Shadows), and some directly follow the events of Twisting Fates / M2E (Hamelin). Part of the fun and mystery of the stories is placing them within the Malifaux timeline... many do not reference the original cannon and could theoretically go anywhere. The overall purpose I think is to enrich the fluff and tell stories about characters who are often neglected or who have mysterious origins, and to give players ideas about what daily life in Malifaux is all about while dropping tantalizing hints about Earthside (most explicit in Lucius, Kaeris, and McCabe, but other stories for sure) and history. Justin's Kaeris story actually links the Black Powder Wars to Antietam and Gettysberg.

 

As for Levi, I think the story is pretty independent of his arc in Twisting Fates. It's up to your imagination.

 

Hope this was helpful. It's just my interpretation though. I could be off base here

 

Yeah I was thinking similar whilst reading the stories.

I was thinking that the Black powder wars could well have been an alternative stretched out Napoleonic/war of independence/American civil/Crimean war, seeing has the guild seems to have a worldwide presence and all of those encompass ones thoughts when thinking of black powder wars in the victorian era

 

I had left the Molly and Kirai story as a sort of treat and now read it and urgh - it was really bad! 

They just came and killed everyone effortlessly in a sort of juvenile revenge fantasy while being sorta aloof and oblivious. There was no tension and not much of a point to the story. The change in their character has definitely been for the worse and towards more cliche.

By far the worst story so far in Crossroads.

 

Unfortunately I have to agree

Oh well still I enjoyed most of the other stories and the Scenario seems good

[Kadeton]

I actually quite liked the Gray Lord Molly/Kirai story - there wasn't much dramatic tension, to be sure (they're both essentially superhuman in a world of normal people, and were never in peril) but I liked the character development. At the start of the story they're both lost, purposeless victims wandering aimlessly and enacting petty revenge on random street punks. By the end, they've found a kind of companionship and mutual (twisted) humanity, combined with a purposeful outlet for their murdering-the-heck-out-of-people skillsets.

It reminded me a fair bit of DC's Gotham City Sirens in tone and approach.

In contrast, I didn't like Lucius' story much - it handed out too much explicit information (some of which, like the Neverborn language stuff, was aiming for "Wow, so arcane and mysterious!" and instead hit "Meh, and?") and I didn't like Lucius' characterisation as someone who would throw away a potential resource (a magic artist who paints the truth that people try to hide would be incredibly valuable to the Guild) just for a meaningless experiment and some supercilious gloating worthy of a two-dimensional moustache-twirler.

[(Sarcasm)]

I have to third the comments made about Kirai/Molly's and Lucius' stories. There were some REALLY well written and exciting stories in Crossroads such as Hoffman's but I felt quite frequently, as I had in M2E, that some writers mishandled the masters; driving them in directions that don't make sense for their character. When reading stories like Lucius' that have so much potential for subtle progression and are pretty well designed plot wise (big shout-out to Justin for the plot of Falling to Fly by the way) I actually read it thinking "this person does not understand this character" - i.e. that they hadn't read any of the other fluff concerning them. For instance, in previous stories featuring Lucius, the secretary is described very consistently as having an unwavering poise and an inscrutably predatory demeanour which is perfectly reflected in the description of his mask as emulating a bird of prey. Neither of these, in my opinion, integral elements of his character were maintained in Crossroads.

 

Now that I've had my little tantrum I want to emphasise that I LOVE the fluff of Malifaux, I only got into the game this year but I loved the first few Chronicles stories I read so much that I bought and read all the books bar TTB before buying another miniature. It has been by far my favourite world to read about for the entire year.

 

That said, the other thing I'd like to whine about is editing because it is several levels of quality lower than the writing itself. An example I'd give is the Yan Lo story which actually had a really nice idea behind it and a lovely method of getting to know the master and his seeming omniscience (SPOILERS) by way of the gradually less ambiguous narrator. BUT seemed largely unfinished to the point that it was difficult to read. Same deal with "unmask" in Chronicles 14; really got going towards the middle but lack of editing made it unnecessarily disconcerting. The main examples of this were the present tense (I'm not sure what that added to the story but it broke the flow for me) and a few dangling participles (If any readers don't know what they are, google Collegehumor's 'Grammar Nazi' - that's where I learnt it).

 

To end on a positive note, Wyrd has been responsible for some of my favourite short narratives and the best of Crossroads certainly reflects the standard I've come to enjoy so please do not take my complaining without a handful of salt.

[bertmac]

One thing they made me think of certainly the little lass along with molly+kirai is there seems to be a big difference between ordinary inhabitants of malifaux including thugs and explorers and named characters. Is it the breach that causes this? Are some characters breach touched and more powerful due to this? The little lass beating a hardened brawler senseless just seems wrong to me molly and kirai less so as they are magically animated but their crew rip through a houseful of criminals with ease.

I do like how the story in the most recent wyrd chronicles references the grey lord being out of business now or at least out of commision for a time.

[Math Mathonwy]

The little lass beating a hardened brawler senseless just seems wrong

Well, I think that there was a number of mitigating circumstances to that one:

1) The brawled was suffering from a giant hangover

2) He had also got a concussion

3) Lass was hitting him on the head

4) He didn't take the situation seriously and didn't want to hurt the Lass/though she was a delirium

5) (and most importantly) the whole story was rather humorous and probably not all that strictly canonical

That said, I do agree that the difference between the named characters and the mooks is very striking in Malifaux stories and sometimes kinda strains credibility. OTOH Malifaux does do something to your Fate, so it might be the Breach.

[Parker Barrows]

I always assumed the Breach boosted some people more than others.

 

Anyways, my review (albeit, I finished a bit ago):
 

Hoffman: Hoffman simply rocks pretty much any story he is in. And this is coming from someone whose so-so on the Guild.

 

Lucius: The story is alright. I do like getting some answers. He acted different than usual, but maybe that's how he acts when his guard is down (as he's going to kill Nic)? I also have to say the "humans can't paint Neverborn" is silly at best. In Nic's case, it makes sense as he paints the "real" subject. But why would any painted have trouble painting Lilith or Candy or even a Mature Nephilim (this is assuming the painter can get them to not murder her/him).

 

Molly and Kirai: I liked it. I do think they took out the Gray Lord a little too easily, but that wasn't the real point (other than the fallout). Kirai can't maintain the hellish vengeance 100% without becoming caricature, and Molly can't be a leader without a change in her personality that she had when controlled by Seamus. I am a little disappointed she has yet become the leader of the "lost" undead and simply seems to be drawing them. Though I am sure a Chronicles story or two can change that.

 

I do have one big complaint. Not enough Phil. I get that he had to be shunted to the side some since this was a Kirai and Molly story, but please give us more Phil. I am sure the story of how he gets a Nanny would be an awesome Chronicles story. Yes, Phil is a my favorite character.

 

Colette: It was a good story if not particularly memorable. I remember enjoying it. I just don't seem to recall many of the details like I do the other stories.

 

Toni Ironsides: This story made me just want her more.

 

Kaeris: I loved Kaeris playstyle, but I really didn't know much about her. This one helped fill in the gaps. I'm very interested in another Kaeris story set in modern Malifaux times.

 

The Dreamer: Probably one of my favorite stories in the book. It just captures the Dreamer perfectly.

 

Collodi: Great story. It nice to get a Collodi story where we actually see him.

 

Leveticus: I loved the story. Leveticus almost got me to go Outcasts instead of Neverborn for my second faction. Probably in my top five (maybe top three, I haven't really thought about ranking them).

 

Jack Daw: I am a little disappointed in this. Don't get me wrong. The story was excellent. But there was just so little of actual Jack Daw in it. It didn't really tell me much more than his fluff bit in the card section. I think it should have been in the Chronicles instead.

 

Hamelin: Another reason I almost went Outcasts (and probably the reason I didn't since I didn't want to buy a bunch of rats). That said, I haven't been too interested in him fluffwise. He seemed more like a force of nature in the second book. He still seems like a force of nature, but one with a personality. Damnit Wyrd. Stop making me want to throw my money at you.

 

Ulix: I like pigs in real life (I plan to get a pot bellied pig someday). I like the Gremlins. Naturally, I am interested in Ulix. This story did not disappoint.

 

Wong: I love this story. I especially love the Lightning Bugs.

 

Ma Tucket: I actually wasn't that interested in Ma's playstyle, but the fluff improved my opinion of her greatly.

 

Yan Lo: Things I learned from this story. I loved Yan Lo's narration. It's not a good thing to be his descendant.

 

Lucas McCabe: Lucas seemed like a decent guy. This surprised me. I dunno why. I just assumed he was Jerkface McJerkson. Still have no idea why he joined the Ten Thunders which annoys me even if was left intentionally open.

 

Shenlong: I had no idea what to expect. I actually liked him. This surprised me. I would consider playing him, but we have too many Ten Thunders players around here.

[Pierowmaniac]

One thing I really don't get the more I think about it.

 

Why is Mancha Roja a character that can be used in any game?

The whole concept is really just a great scenario/story character (like Carver and the other story characters presented in the book) and just doesn't sit well in standard games imho

TBH I would really prefer any opponents I faced not to use him (though I wouldn't actually say so) and that nots just anything to do with his power level, I would think the same even if he was the 1st edition Malifaux Child of M2E

[Parker Barrows]

I don't see how he is a special scenario character. The scenario is based on the story, but so is everyone's story/scenario.