fatemastering Mike Asks Questions

[Mike Wallace]

I'm starting a thread because no one wants my questions filling up the forum.

Can Subordinate Characters advance? If so, in what way, and what the the limits of their advancement, since they are not Fated?

[Qualvanda]

Generally, no.

Some pursuits give bonuses to your subordinates, but that is a result of you advancing, and they get benefits from that.

Otherwise it's up to your Fate Master if he/she feels extra benevolent that day

 

However, nothing in the rules say that you can't give your subordinates ridiculously modded weapons and grimoires. 

[Mike Wallace]

I came up with some homebrew rules, allowing for small amounts of customization. I want my Fated to feel like a Crew, so I'm encouraging them to get some subordinates to fill in that kind of roster. 

[Gnomezilla]

48 minutes ago, Mike Wallace said:

...I want my Fated to feel like a Crew...

Expendable?

[Mike Wallace]

15 minutes ago, Gnomezilla said:

Expendable?

Depends on how much VP I can rake in.

[Mike Wallace]

Where can I get some comprehensive details on the state of North America in Malifaux? I've got a few players who are having trouble defining their character's origins. 

[Mason]

1 hour ago, Mike Wallace said:

Where can I get some comprehensive details on the state of North America in Malifaux? I've got a few players who are having trouble defining their character's origins. 

"Comprehensive" details don't exist.

North America has thus far been painted in broad strokes: The USA is on the east coast, Guild controls the central-south around the Breach, and Mexico still has control of California and some parts of Texas.

It's your campaign, though, so feel free to make up details as needed.

[Mike Wallace]

6 hours ago, Mason said:

"Comprehensive" details don't exist.

North America has thus far been painted in broad strokes: The USA is on the east coast, Guild controls the central-south around the Breach, and Mexico still has control of California and some parts of Texas.

It's your campaign, though, so feel free to make up details as needed.

I'm assuming the Guild have control over the coast of Texas. What about the Civil War? Did it happen? Is it still happening? Does the USA extend to the east coast, north of Mexico?

[Bakuriel]

13 hours ago, Mike Wallace said:

I'm assuming the Guild have control over the coast of Texas. What about the Civil War? Did it happen? Is it still happening? Does the USA extend to the east coast, north of Mexico?

History seems mostly the same prior to the Breach, and everything up until then can be considered canon + occasional magic, essentially. In a fairly recent story the 15th amendment only just got passed because of a deal between Marlow and Ironsides, and that amendment only got passed in reality because of the need to address systemic racism caused by the civil war and its resolution, so I'd very much say it happened in malifaux history. 

 

Edit: wrong number for the amendment

[solkan]

I had to stop and review my US history and compare with the Malifaux timeline.  So, trying to guess what should happen to the U.S...

In 1796, the US would have its western border as the Mississippi, and its southern border would be Florida.  The Other Side rulebook identifies Breach Town as Santa Fe, which would be part of the Mexican Republic at that point (and OMG, looking at a map of the Mexican Republic for 1824...)  If the Council took control of that area and a route south east to the Gulf, and that control transferred to the Guild for whatever reasons, that’d probably curtail US expansion into Mexico but leave open a delayed Louisiana purchase and annexation of some of Texas (depending on whether the trade route for soul stones follows the Rio Grande or the Red River.

With Breach Town in the way, and probably interfering due to continued (however futile) efforts there even after the Black Powder Wars, let the Louisiana Purchase happen, a few years late because the Black Powder Wars are 1803 to 1814.  On second thought, for maximum historical carnage, start the Black Powder Wars in earnest just -after- the Louisiana Purchase, with the border disputes that it caused as one of the pretexts for open conflict.

That gives the excuse for the Guild to have control of the area around Santa Fe and from there south east to the Gulf, and a border the US can’t expand across.  For the sake of drama, let the formation of Florida happen but delayed a few years, but where Louisiana  would be is in the way of my proposed Guild controlled access for Breach Town.

Checking the timeline and recent story events, the modified 15th amendment happened about 30 years late in the Malifaux timeline.  Broken Promises mentions similar efforts stretching back forty years, about when the real 15th amendment would have happened.  So that suggests that the Civil War (or some other event to reduce slavery) would have happened but the follow up amendments were delayed.

Hmmm.  Going by the real world, Canada’s still part of the King’s Empire in 1914, at least technically.  But the Oregon territories were traded off in 1846, with the various border adjustments leading up to that, and the Alaska Purchase in 1867.

So there’s a really interesting question for “What does Canada do in 1904 when England goes rogue?”  If the US doesn’t have Oregon, then it’d be more fun if Canada incorporates Alaska and Oregon.  Border disputes between Canada and Mexico, lack of assistance from England, Canada acquires Alaska instead of allowing England to pass on the purchase, and 1904 sees Canada do... what?

Who knew blowing up Santa Fe would be a big deal, huh?   

Edit:  I’ve got the book open in front of me.  Marlow’s deal is for the Fifteenth Amendment, even if it’s incorporating the 19th amendment (voting rights for women) pushed forward a decade.

[Bakuriel]

Edited my post to match, I just typed the wrong number xD

[Mike Wallace]

Canada controlling Alaska (for what that's worth) and Oregon sounds kind of amusing. *Above the Law* suggests however that the Three Kingdoms managed to invade the east coast of North America during the Black Powder Wars, and there was mention of some kind of death fog (I don't have the book open in front of me). I wonder if there might be a population of Three Kingdoms citizens now living on the east coast, ex-pats or veterans left behind when the Three Kingdoms withdrew? 

So here's what I'm working with; I have one character, a Sawbones, who's backstory is he learned doctoring accidentally when his culinary skills were enough to get him made into a nurse, and he spent days and weeks amputating limbs and digging out bullets. The Civil War is kind of a necessary backdrop for his character because the war is what turned him from a meek cook into a quietly demented and mostly self-taught "Doctor." 

The other character is a classic gunfighter and mercenary, think Angel Eyes from *The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly*. The backstory we worked out for him is that after the Guild bought most of New Mexico and a bunch of Texas, there were a lot of local Mexicans that felt abandoned by their country and forced to swear fealty to the Guild or be driven out. He joined a large bandit clan the lived out in the hills, a group made up of Americans, Mexicans, and even Japanese (descendants of the Three Kingdoms invaders). With the Guild throwing its full weight into controlling Breachtown, the bandits were largely driven out, and the ones that stayed turned even meaner and more violent. Seeing the writing on the wall, the gunfighter decided to cut and run, stealing a dead man's ticket and boarding the Iron Ram for Malifaux.

Headcanon-wise, these stories probably sound perfectly fine. But I'm trying to give my players the most authentic Malifaux experience I can, because I want them to get into the setting and want to play its various games. I don't want to give them an imaginary version and see them get disappointed when the details I give them don't match up with what they've been told, you know?

[solkan]

Ah, I don’t have Above the Law, I wasn’t aware of those events.

Is there a typo there, because I’d expect the Three Kingdoms activity on the west coast.  Going by the timeline in TOS, the Three Kingdoms enter the Black Powder Wars in 1811.  At that point in time in the real world, the future Oregon territories are British, and the rest of the west coast is part of the Mexican Republic.  The real US doesn’t get that far until about 30 years later.

...

Hmm.  While writing this, I was looking at the material for the Black Powder Wars in TOS.  On page ten, 

Quote

Further west, the South American colonies of the Spanish and Dutch launched attacks on Brazil, while Mexico pushed northward, seizing the territory of Texas (and its numerous Soulstone warehouses) from Spain.  ...

I don’t really know Mexican history, but this seems to be a trustworthy map:

(The image is a little misleading because the Viceroyalty of New Spain extends south across that dashed line, but the map is just focusing on what’s going to become the US.)

The stuff I’d written earlier was based on an 1824 map, so after the Louisiana purchase transfers that colony.  The Mexican war of independence in the real world is 1810 to 1821, basically creates Mexico out of the Viceroyalty of New Spain.

That thing we call Texas doesn’t happen until the 1840’s.  I assume it’s going to be easiest to assume the passage in TOS means that what becomes México chooses then to revolt (a little early), and in doing so seizes control of the soulstone warehouses in what would have been Texas.

It’s way too complicated to try to explain Spain splitting its territory along the 1900’s Mexico-US border (so that there’s a México), and then have México invade Texas.  😕 

Disclaimer:  The é’s above are from auto-correct.

[Mike Wallace]

Okay! New Question!

Has anyone made a list that divides the existing Penny Dreadfuls by geographical location? I'm creating a kind of "Netflix" series for my players, with Season 1 being 13 sessions in Malifaux City, then Season 2 is the North, Season 3 is the Bayou, etc. 

I can build one myself, but if someone has done the work beforehand I won't complain.

[solkan]

And, I forgot the other part of your previous question.  I think way way too much history would have to be rewritten if there wasn’t a US Civil War.  Mainly because that’s part of what Ironside’s story requires, if we’re going to understand it.

The details are going to have to be different, because Texas probably doesn’t exist, and a lot of the western territories probably don’t exist, but it’d be a real gut punch to Malifaux’s 15th Amendment if there was a substantial non-citizen population in the U.S.  It reads better if the Civil War and all of its social consequences still happened.

[solkan]

Verification for one of the minor details on the “modern” situation, from the Fire in the Sky description:

Quote

The Burning Man appears...

Called upon by the Mexican government to investigate the strange appearance of a flaming, humanoid figure in the sky above San Francisco, the Fated must travel back to Earth to unravel the mystery of the Burning Man.

San Francisco’s Mexican.   

[DarkSpade]

On 11/20/2018 at 2:56 AM, solkan said:

I had to stop and review my US history and compare with the Malifaux timeline.  So, trying to guess what should happen to the U.S...

In 1796, the US would have its western border as the Mississippi, and its southern border would be Florida.  The Other Side rulebook identifies Breach Town as Santa Fe, which would be part of the Mexican Republic at that point (and OMG, looking at a map of the Mexican Republic for 1824...)  If the Council took control of that area and a route south east to the Gulf, and that control transferred to the Guild for whatever reasons, that’d probably curtail US expansion into Mexico but leave open a delayed Louisiana purchase and annexation of some of Texas (depending on whether the trade route for soul stones follows the Rio Grande or the Red River.

Above the Law says that the Guild just couldn't get a good foot hold in Mexico because of how unstable it was at the time.  Instead they just helped Santa Anna who in turn sold them Santa Fe.  The book also mentions the guild bought all the land from Texas to the California boarder for no reason other than they were amazed at how cheap Santa Anna was willing to sell it for.

[solkan]

I'm posting this here because it'll be easier for me to find it here, with the rest of the America theorizing.

On Facebook, someone mentioned this podcast episode:  "Coordinated Strike 4- Aaron Talks The Other Side". https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-eyrq6-6e2f90?fbclid=IwAR1H52HXPk6o0J8mK2ao7vBrzAq6dx56kDI6xpFLELFnZMNptEzr8PGVbE0

Quote

Carl Semmelink On the Coordinated Strike podcast there's an interview with Aaron, who clarified that Australia is still part of the King's Empire, and that much of the colonies (and Commonwealth, I'm assuming) will be so as well. It seems likely that they are still Commonwealth then.

This is part of a discussion trying to decide whether Canada is still part of the King's Empire, so that it's Alternate History Accurate to have Canadian Mounties in King's Empire.

 

[Mason]

I can say this much: there aren't a lot of British people in TOS's Canada.

[Mike Wallace]

5 hours ago, Mason said:

I can say this much: there aren't a lot of British people in TOS's Canada.

So it's still French territory? 

[Mike Wallace]

The Speed Loading Trigger (Core Rulebook, pg. 221) doesn't specify if the character's Attack action must be a success or failure in order to perform. Does that mean that any time the character attempts the action, they can declare that trigger as long as they have the appropriate suit? 

[Mason]

8 minutes ago, Mike Wallace said:

The Speed Loading Trigger (Core Rulebook, pg. 221) doesn't specify if the character's Attack action must be a success or failure in order to perform. Does that mean that any time the character attempts the action, they can declare that trigger as long as they have the appropriate suit? 

Correct.

[solkan]

 

On 11/26/2018 at 9:08 AM, Mason said:

I can say this much: there aren't a lot of British people in TOS's Canada.

How on Earth (or Malifaux) do you arrange that?  

I mean, the events that set up British control of what becomes Canada are pretty much a whole bunch of defeated British forces going "Well, we can't stay here and we sure as heck don't want to sail back home, so this Canada place looks nice."  You'd probably have to change the outcome of the 7 Year's War in 1763.

Even if history's diverging in 1787 with Breach Town, Canada at the time would be a predominately French speaking British colony dealing with a recent influx of English speaking British citizens.  And there's just no joy in history if Canadian forces don't get to burn the White House down, whether it's part of the Black Powder Wars or the War of 1812.  It's it's a war in the Americas that both sides end up losing.  🙃 

Are you going to have something like the 1837 rebellions go differently, and end up with an independent French speaking Canada?