Fatemaster Friday - Homebrew Hi-jinks

[Kimberly]

Heya Breachers!

Last week I asked about Bayou adventures and this is what @Vorzakk 2.0 had to say: 

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I don't allow Gremlin characters in my campaign; but one of my Fated was born in the bayous of the south-east US, came through the Breach with her family when she was still young, and was subsequently raised in the Bayou of Malifaux.  Her family was on good terms with the Tuckets, and as a teenager she ran pork and moonshine into the city during the period of martial law.  

Now a few steps down both Boozer and Chemist (and armed with a rusty old double-barrel shotgun), she's highly entertaining both in and out of combat; full of down-home folksy wisdom but also a lot smarter than people (who often dismiss her as a brainless yokel) tend to assume.  She also built a still in the basement of the group's townhouse, among other things utilizing parts from Neverborn construct which they dismantled in an early sessions (I still haven't figured out how that's going to take an entertainingly bad turn for everyone).  

Now I’ve covered a fair number of Penny Dreadfuls, both One Shots and Campaigns, and have written thousands of words about what they offer and high points for both players and Fatemasters. But I haven’t devoted as much time to homebrew games. So this week I rectify that with a more indepth look at setting up your own homebrew adventures and campaigns! Let’s take a look at what resources Wyrd has to offer a Fatemaster wanting to work up a homebrew game.

Creating a homebrew campaign can be hard but rewarding, and it all starts with some good inspiration. You need to determine the goal and theme of your campaign. Do you want your players to experience a chase that leads them to explore the dangerous sewers of Malifaux? Do you want to have a group of resurrectionists trying to outsmart the Death Marshals? Once you have your inspiration, you can build towards the story by checking out our fiction. The Breachside Broadcast is a great resource to draw inspiration from. Listening to the stories of Malifaux can be a great thing to do while planning your campaign in general. The Wyrd Chronicles can also lend a hand in mining for inspiration with their short adventures. Don’t be afraid to take bits you like from them for your own games. The whole of Through the Breach and Malifaux lore is at your disposal! There is so much that you can mine from the fiction, Chronicles, or even the Malifaux Schemes and Strategies to build your game around. 

Once you have the inspiration you want, why not comb through some of our lore and expansions to look at extra touches you can add to make the world more full. You can decide what Magia is rarer to encounter, what grimoires or equipment you want the Fated to have access to, and what Tarot Spreads you want to allow. With Into the Bayou, Into the Steam, Under Quarantine, Above the Law available, and From Nightmares on the way, you can cherry pick the elements you want to craft a campaign or session that your players will love. At this point, have the players flip their tarot and record their Destiny Steps so that as Fatemaster you can be sure to use those Destiny Steps as a method of further crafting your story. While those steps are the Fated’s destiny, as Fatemaster you get to determine how they appear and you can easily make each one a memorable part of your campaign. Designing them to be spotlight points is easy given the vague nature of the Destiny Steps. For example, if a Fated has “...she is unknown to your memories” and you’re running a heist game, maybe they encounter a hidden puppeteer behind the job that leads into the next act of your campaign and completes that Destiny Step!

Now that you have a strong idea of your game, it should be an easy task helping your players design Fated. Just make certain that they know about any changes to the setting if they’re familiar with it. Is your campaign set during the Piper’s Plague and the Martial Law of Malifaux? What changes should they be aware of due to the earlier setting? Are the Arcanists in power for your Campaign? That will definitely change some things for Fated who were eyeing Guild related Fated. Getting your players caught up and with Fated written up can be done as a fun social activity through a character creation session of some sort.

How do you plan your Homebrew games? What is your favorite part of the process?
 

[Pikciwok]

Personally, I LOVE worldbuilding. Creating characters, places, institutions and layers of relations between them. The hardest part for me is inventing a story and inserting the Fated/PCs into it. Too much love for Fatemaster characters/world syndrome. Maybe that's why I find running TTB homebrew campaigns challenging.

EDIT:

I don't listen to Breachside broadcast, but I read most of the stuff from previous editions books. My favourite point in a timeline is right after events at Kythera, before the Piper's Plague.