We’re proud to announce that Through the Breach is moving to a second edition!
We’ve had three years to expand upon the core rules, and those of you who follow the game have may have noticed we have continued to build on the strong foundation of the game as we expanded the world of Malifaux in multiple directions. Now, we’re going back to the Fated Almanac and Fatemaster’s Almanac to update the core rules of the game.
So what does that mean, exactly?
Well, for starters, we’re combining the Fated Almanac and Fatemaster’s Almanac into a single book, the Core Rules. This will be a hardcover, 416-page book that covers everything a group will need to play the game, from fluff to character creation to basic rules to equipment to bestiary. We’ve got an introductory adventure in the back to help players and Fatemasters get right into the action, and we’ve retooled the bestiary into over ninety pages of creatures, machines, and adversaries from every faction, including favorites from the miniatures game as well as some brand new faces.
The basic rules of Through the Breach have received a tune-up, and we’ve cleaned up a number of timing issues and vague sections to ensure that your group will have the best experience possible. The basic Pursuits each received Rank 0 Talents, which brings them in line with the Pursuits from our supplemental books, Into the Steam, Under Quarantine, and Into the Bayou. We’ve also gone through and reworked each Pursuit to ensure that it’s hitting its theme and justifying its purpose in its niche. Pioneers, for instance, have gone from a somewhat scattered Pursuit to a Pursuit that focuses on the creative use of terrain and the environment.
We’ve also added some mechanics to ensure that Fatemaster characters can compete more evenly with Fated characters. By using “Fate Points,” Fatemaster characters of Enforcer Rank or higher can gain bonuses to their flips, take additional actions, remove conditions, or even heal damage. This allows Fatemasters to quickly ramp up the difficulty of an encounter without having to swarm her players with waves of enemies.
Despite these rules changes and updates, however, the core rules of Through the Breach will remain fully compatible with our supplemental books (Into the Steam, Under Quarantine, and Into the Bayou), our Penny Dreadful adventures, and our Penny Dreadful One-Shots. This ensures that the Pursuits, Talents, and Magic found in those books can continue to be used going forward into second edition, while also ensuring that our future supplements will remain usable to players who want to continue playing first edition. We think that second edition will be much better than first, but we’re not going to tell you how to play!
Even if you plan on sticking with first edition, however, you still might want to pick up the Core Rules simply for the fluff. We’ve included over sixty pages of information on the world of Malifaux in the book, and about half of that deals with Malifaux’s history. Not the history of humans in Malifaux, mind you, but the history of Malifaux itself: the war with the tyrants, the imprisonment of Titania, the corruption of the Neverborn, and the various hidden paths and portals that have connected Earth and Malifaux throughout history. Haven’t you wondered what the Dragon was doing on Earth?
The history of humanity in Malifaux has been touched upon as well, including the days of the first Breach. For the first time ever, players will be able to catch a glimpse of the events surrounding the closing of the first Breach and will learn just what happened in Malifaux on that fateful night.
More contemporary events are also covered, including the formation of the Guild’s special divisions, the formation of the M&SU and its subsequent conflicts with the Guild, the opening of Kythera, the Event, the years of martial law and how it gave rise to the Ten Thunders, the death of the Governor-General (and his name), the appearance of the Burning Man back on Earth, and a whole lot more.
We’ve put a great deal of effort into making a book that will be of interest to Through the Breach and Malifaux players alike.
The 2017 Worldwide Campaign
On February 13th, players will be able to get their first glimpse of the 2nd edition rules when we launch A Stitch in Time, our 2017 Through the Breach Worldwide Campaign. Participating groups will have access to the first Act of the A Stitch in Time adventure, along with fourteen pregenerated characters and a rules sheet that includes a preview of some of the 2nd edition rules. Each group can decide on their own whether or not to use the preview rules in their game; the adventure will play out just fine regardless of which edition the group decides to use in their game.
Once the session is finished, the Fatemaster just needs to hop online to report what happened during the game and which characters their players chose to play during that Act. The Fatemaster will also be able to select one of the seven Malifaux factions as her allegiance, though like the players, she can choose to change that allegiance from one Act to another.
Every three weeks, participating groups will get the next Act of A Stitch in Time. There are four Acts total, and after everyone has had a chance to play through the entire adventure, the Faction that had the most characters played over the course of the Worldwide Event (including Fatemaster allegiances) will receive a special storyline prize. The exact details of the storyline prize won’t be revealed until further into the Worldwide Campaign (we don’t want to ruin the surprise), but it’s a good one!
More details on the campaign will be available in the coming weeks!
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