Editing Through the Breach (section)

=Gameplay=
===The Three Players===

Games of Through the Breach are narrative focused. Obviously any amount of combat can be added to quench the thirst of your ''Murder-Hobos'', but the story is the core of the game. Each session has an actual structure it should follow, a Prologue, Narrative/Dramatic scenes and an Epilogue. It is driven through the '''Fatemaster''' that the Prologue and Epilogue are written, and through the '''Fated''' players' decisions how the scenes play out. The two inevitably have a large impact on one another, as the Epilogue will depend entirely on the actions of the Fated.

Of course there must be chance involved, otherwise we may as well just go write a book. Enter player three: '''Fate'''. Unlike most games where stats are the only thing that nudge a result, Through the Breach offers multiple ways to manipulate fate in dramatic fashion to improve the story.
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| <strong>The Fatemaster</strong>
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|As with any good RPG, your GM has a fancy name. Fatemasters are the manipulaters of fate, pulling the strings to guide players to meet their Destiny. There are no flips made by the FM, as most pre-existing pieces will have a flat number for the players to flip against, but the game will encourage (and at certain stages ''require'') you to use homebrew aspects to flavour your game. There are LOTS of options to choose from and help guide your creativity so really go ham on this.
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| <strong>The Fated</strong>
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| Player characters, Men and Women (and robots, gremlins, zombies and ''totally-not-demons'') who have always felt like life had a little more in store for them. At some point have been warned of their destiny through seemingly nonsense phrases, and have began to pull on the threads of fate. Be aware that during the early-game, players are much more like regular people fighting to survive day-to-day, and aren't quite the superhumans of the world you may expect from an RPG.
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| <strong>Fate/Destiny & Manifested Powers</strong>
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| The core of the story, Fated have found themselves guided towards something larger than life, be it for their own benefit, or doom. During character creation, players draw 5 cards, the value and suit of each denotes a specific piece of their Destiny, with an ominous prophecy to match. Each time a character meets the situation described by a Destiny Step, they are given a time to embrace/reject it. Regardless of which they choose, they will gain a Manifested Power based on the way they handled the situation.
Manifested Powers
Features that separate normal people to those with some form of surpassing power. Manifested Powers are your feats in Through the Breach, and are special actions you can take. Pursuit Steps will provide you with a pre-written Manifested Power for you to use (such as the Overseer's 'You Lazy So-and-So')

If gained through completing a Destiny step (and through certain Pursuit steps), the Manifested Power is formed by the FM and Fated as a Homebrew ability (yes you are literally instructed to make something up). The Fated player decides what general effect they would like the power to appear to do, and the FM will translate their request into an in-game power. This is likely to be an action with a Target Number (and possibly a suit), but with it being homebrew effects you can really have fun! It does specify that rebalancing is perfectly fine, so FMs, don't worry if you missed the ''uber-combo'' the player was sneakily attempting to design, and need to bump the TN or add a second suit to make them put the effort in).

To make things a little easier, ''Into the Steam'' introduced a guided method of creating a Manifested power from spells, so if you're not so confident with balancing something yourself feel free to follow from there.
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===Playing with Cards===
As mentioned previously the core mechanic of Through the Breach does away with your shiny new dice (Sorry plastic crack addicts), replacing them with a deck of ''playing cards''. Anyone who's played Malifaux knows that this is by no means an issue, and actually offers you a lot more control over your choices, as once a card has been discarded, you know that result won't come up again for a while.

As with most RPGs, you are better at some things than others. While there are 56 skills don't fret about remembering them - you only need to know the modifiers of the skills you have Ranks in, otherwise the flipped card is the value you'll use. This makes playthrough even easier than D&D, as you'll likely only have between 6 and 12 skills to check your modifiers on!
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| <strong>The Fate Deck</strong>
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|The Fate Deck is a communal one that all players will flip from, and ends up being quite tactical for anyone that can count cards <s>just find your pal that got banned from the casino</s>.

'''Suits'''

Now it's worth mentioning that this is not like a normal deck as the suits have changed to thematic ones representing the icons of 4 of the major factions in-game. There are decks you can buy, though there is a conversion chart for any normal deck of cards to use before you inevitably cave and buy all of them. In short Hearts are now Rams, Diamonds are Masks, Spades are Crows and Clubs are Tomes. 

'''Jokers'''

You'll need to ensure you can distinguish between the one Red and Black Joker in the deck, as these represent your Nat20 (holding an in-game value of 14 and any one suit of your choice), or Critical Fail (a value of 0 with no suit) Note that neither Joker guarantee a success or fail, as you still apply your other modifiers that can tip the final result. 

'''Severity and the Rule of 5'''

''Maths time''

When required to make a flip a 'rule of 5' should be kept in mind. Cards are assigned a Severity based on their value, 1-5(Weak)/6-10(Moderate)/11-13(Severe) (Yes 11-13 isn't an increment of 5 but shush), and the game revolves around different outcomes depending on which severity the flip value comes under. If the damage of a weapon was 2/3/5, and the flipper drew a 7 of masks, that would fall under the moderate category and deal 3 damage.

The rule of 5 also applies to the games version of a Critical hit/failure, in which you have over/underachieved the target number of a flip you would receive a 'Margin of Success/failure'. For instance where you had a target number of 8 and flipped a 9, adding your skill bonus of +6 to make the total 14, you would achieve one margin of success for being at least 5 over the Target Number. You can receive further Margins of Success/Failure for every additional 5 over or under the TN.

'''Positive [+] or Negative [-] Twists'''

You may encounter Positive [+] or Negative [-] Twists/flips throughout the game, these are advantages/disadvantages that can be applied to a flip, drawing that many additional cards and using the lowest value for negative flips. For Positive flips however you ''choose'' the card to use, as you may have drawn a 13 of Rams, but prefer to dip to the 8 of Tomes to hit a trigger. 

Once you understand the concept of flips, everything else should fall into place.
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| <strong>The Twist Deck & Cheating Fate</strong>
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| In addition to the Fate deck, each player gains a mini-deck all to themselves. This special deck allows you to draw cards into a hand to keep throughout the session and Cheat Fate by using one of your hand cards instead. Sad that you flipped a 2 to cast Wrench? Cheat in a 12 of Tomes and watch that Simulacrum take a Seeping Wound critical!

Keep in mind you can't cheat fate on a Negative flip or against the Black Joker, as fate has become too stacked against you that even your <s>protagonist powers</s> Destiny can't save you.

The Twist hand will also be used as a valuable resource, as many abilities require you to discard a card to use them, replacing the normal 'X amount of times per day' found in other games. With only 3 cards to begin a session with normally, this is somewhat limited.
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| <strong>Triggers</strong>
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| Unlike most games, high numbers aren't everything you need to succeed. The suits of the playing cards essentially provide bonus effects called Triggers if it's included in your flip/cheat. You'll get one trigger for a skill at Rank 3 and another at Rank 5. Some of these effects can do things like ignoring any armour of an enemy, allow you to take an additional action or cause someone to accidentally reveal a ''bit too much information'' under interrogation. There's one trigger possibility per suit per skill, so the options are extremely varied. It's important to note that not all of these effects require you to ''succeed'', so you can mitigate some negative effects on the off chance you fail.
Later on some Pursuits will let you add a specific suit on top of your drawn card, so you can always use your favourite flavour of trickery.
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===Magic===
Unlike most RPGs, magic is a staple part of characters and is the root of most feats (see Manifested Powers). In the world of Malifaux, magic is as common as toothbrushes - Most workfolk will have access to some form of magic, even if it's in the form of minor enhancements. The Guild have a pretty tight grip on its use however, so any particularly powerful uses are deemed dangerous and illegal. This is one of the core roleplay aspects of the game, as the other factions all want for more freedom of magic use.

In-game, a character's magic is built from three places. Theories, Magia and Immuto, the latter two are decided by your Grimoire.

And the best part? NO SPELL SLOTS. For low level players Spells may be a little harder to cast in Through the Breach than other games - As they require a target number and suit (the latter of which you can have built-in at later levels, so casting becomes '''4x''' more likely to succeed on your favourite Magia), so you've got to ''Rely on the Heart of the Cards'' or have planned ahead) - but you can attempt your most powerful spells as much as you like, provided the card gods favour you!

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| <strong>Theories</strong>
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| Theories represent where you learnt magic, or how you draw power to cast, similar to the D&D classes (the magic-based Pursuits tend to focus on the particular 'schools'). These can be following the Guild's legal but restrictive guidelines, listening to the maddening whispers of Death itself or even by being any magical practitioner from a real Earth practice! 

Each Theory comes with one positive and one hindrance, such as knowing ALL Immuto regardless of whether it's on your grimoire, but if you use any not in the grimoire you become Crazy. Or maybe you apply the Dark Elemental Immuto to every spell you cast, blinding people temporarily while you hurt them....but also when you heal. Don't worry if this is something too much for you though, you can just take the 'Unique Magical Theory' one which doesn't apply any boon or bane so you can just focus on the spells.
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| <strong>Grimoire</strong>
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| Your spellbook, which may not even be a book (seriously these can be basically anything) and contains your Magia and Immuto known. Typically these will have two or three Magia and up to 3 Immuto, but a generous Fatemaster may provide more full expansive ones later. If the grimoire is gained in character creation you can choose your own Magia and Immuto, but if found mid-game they'll be decided by the FM.

In ''Under Quarantine'', some Unique Grimoires are made available such as a lucky penny, or a severed head. These come with pre-loaded Magia and Immuto as well as additional effects surrounding their use
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| <strong>Magia</strong>
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| The Spell List. Your core 'What they do' half of a spell, split into 4 schools in the Core Rules, each one associated with a particular suit which you'll always need one of in your flip to successfully cast. (a 5th school for Counter-spelling is introduced in Above the Law).

Each spell comes with a <s>DC</s> ''Target Number'' (Referred to as TN) that you need to hit for it to be successful. If you need help getting it, try an Alteration Immuto. If you find yourself more than easily casting, consider adding some powerful Immuto like Blast or Ice to give it some ''welly''

'''Enchanting Magia''' (Rams)

Augmentation of an object/person, typically for shapeshifting/construct shenanigans. It also involves your direct healing spells. If you want your gun to shoot LIGHTNING, or to get a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sting_(Middle-earth)/ Certain Glowy Shortsword] pick up Elemental Weapon.

'''Necromancy Magia''' (Crows)

The balance of life and death, obviously this is where interaction with undead is common (though this is not necessarily a good thing for the zombies, many spells specifically only damage them), and also includes your fear/mind control type spells.

'''Prestidigitation Magia''' (Masks)

Ahhh the most mispronounced spell in D&D is now even more frequently spoken! P-tation is all about your illusions, teleporting and divination style trickery, with <s>no damage spells</s>(though if you want you can still apply an Elemental Immuto to deal status effects/damage) ''The Kitchen Sink'' spell was introduced in ''Into the Bayou'', teleporting a large, heavy object above the target's head for the same damage as a Sorcery spell. Useful for supporting other schools or for a more puzzle/RP based game.

'''Sorcery Magia''' (Tomes)

DAMAGE, this is your school for combat and combat alone. The target numbers and damage profiles for Sorcery spells seem relatively low, but be aware that many of them require an Elemental Immuto to cast which will boost the casting difficulty a bit, and you can use multiple stacks of the Increase Damage Alteration Immuto to make them significantly more powerful.

You can also use Sorcery Magia to summon Beasts/Gamin(minor Elementals) to help out, this can be useful for RP if you want a Fire Gamin as a walking torch!

'''Counter-Spelling Magia''' (Mixed)

A Magia written by Sonnia Criid, the Guild's head of the Witch-Hunter Task-force. If you start with a Grimoire, you can include any of these Magia as an option (for backwards compatibility). There's only 3 spells currently available, but each have their uses. Delaying the effects of magic, banishing summoned creatures or to make it harder for a target to cast further.

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| <strong>Immuto</strong>
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| Once you've got your bread, add your butter/marmalade/cocaine/bag of sand/''all of the above''. Immuto are the flavours that your spells come in, and really make them feel unique to you. Want your magic punch to turn the target into a glowy ice cube that blinds it? Want to delay a telekenetic push to nudge the target off a cliff if they don't respond to your interrogation? Sorted. 

Each Immuto affects the Target Number of the Magia, and will increase the TN for positive effects, and decrease it to lessen it in some way. 

You can add any number of Immuto that you have access to to any Magia, so if you want a very powerful set of Elemental Immuto that will ''MURDER'' but have increased the Target Number far too much, you can apply some Alteration ones to bring the TN back down. This can get a little tricky to learn so keep it simple to start with (only applying one or two Immuto), and learn your favourite combos as the game goes on.

Immuto come in two general flavours, Alteration and Elemental.

'''Alteration Immuto'''

Alteration Immuto affect the effective parts of a Magia, it's range, difficulty to cast and damage profiles etc. There are some that can reduce the target number to help guarantee the cast at the cost of some damage, or by requiring a second suit, or can ''increase'' the TN to make the spell explode on the target, only affect specific character types (like undead/construct etc.) Or even add the effects of a SECOND SPELL in one!
Reduce AP is like an Extra attack, reducing the AP by 1 at the cost of +5TN. If you're not using another 0AP action, use this to have a chance at a double strike!

'''Elemental Immuto'''

While the damage profile is covered in the Magia, the typing of the spell is decided here. There's no limit on the amount of Immuto you attempt to add, so as long as you think you can achieve the TN (maybe you've got a nice 13 of Tomes in hand), add as many of these as you like. You want to throw an ice spear that's on fire and will cause plants to wrap round the targets legs when it hits? For +8 to the TN you can make it happen!
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| <strong>Soulstones</strong>
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| The reason humans still risk their lives daily. <s>Infinity</s> ''Soul''stones are the magic batteries of Malifaux, so named as they recharge when nearby the death of a living creature. They come in all shapes and sizes, but each one can only hold one charge at a time (supposedly). While many mages do not require a soulstone to perform magic, it would certainly help give them a power boost.

Soulstones are a commodity of high value, and are worth 3 times more Earth-side than Breach-side, so mining and transport through to Earth is a large trade.

'''Soulstone Usage'''

In game a soulstone's size and colouration affect its usage (each part adds a 'Lade' value, up to +5 each side), the larger and more clear the stone, the more powerful its effects can be. The resulting lade determines the range in yards the stone will recharge within. A lade of zero will only recharge if the character holding it dies. Regardless of the Lade, a stone may only hold one charge at a time (unless you're lucky enough to have become a '''Soulstone Aficionado''').

There is also '''Soulstone Dust''' (crystal shard dust left over from cutting a stone into shape) that holds a single charge and can't be recharged.

Soulstones have three main uses (besides selling them), each one expends the stone's charge: 

'''Augmenting Magic''': Adding a positive flip or any one suit of your choice to either a Spell or Manifested Power, (only one charge per action can be spent this way). This is gonna be your caster's main use, both sides are useful as a guaranteed suit is great, or settling with a 50/50 chance of pulling the right suit anyway with a better chance of a higher card value.

'''Animating a Construct''': (for a number of weeks equal to its Lade), there are other ways of doing this if you've got the right magic/pursuit, but for anyone else this does give you a construct pal for a while (and if it kills something it'll recharge itself anyway!) 

'''Healing''': As an action, get a 1/2/3 heal flip for you or a nearby pal (as close as the Lade in yards). If you don't have healing in the party this can help in a pinch.
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