Kickstarter Pre-Launch!

Finally! The news you've all been waiting for!
Break!! pre-launch page is live on kickstarter

Well, perhaps not the news, but the news that that news is coming. We're finally here - BREAK!!'s kickstarter is nearing it's launch date and you can use the link to watch for it.

It's exciting enough as is, but I want to leave everyone with a few other things to look forward too:

• The Web Page will be getting updated soon with new info
• We have some fun ideas for stretch goals and the physical book itself
• BREAK!! is already 90% done - we hope to be able to deliver a sort of beta or Ver 0.9 version of the PDF to backers when the kickstarter ends, not just for feedback for the final version but so we can get the game into people's hands ASAP

Anyway, welcome to any new comers and thank you to anyone whose stuck around with us, waiting for this. We really appreciate it!

Another stream!

I did a second stream, this time for Adversary Creation. Once the game is out properly, I'll clean these two entries up and post them to this blog. 

Character Creation Live Stream Recording (and a YouTube channel!)

I recently did a live stream highlighting character creation, and it's now available on youtube to watch at your leisure.

And the road goes ever, ever on...

Just another "we're still at it" update - Grey and I are going full speed ahead. Some more proofreading is done and now we are looking at through edits, final touch ups, and maybe some final organizational additions.

Hoping to have more news for you soon!

Adventure site locations

Work continues...

New Year's Greeting

January was a heck of a month thanks to the day job, but Grey and I are still plugging away:

Hoping to post soon with big news, fingers crossed!

Cutting Room Floor

We're finalizing the Game Master's section and poor Lord Vertex got cut, so I'll show him off here. Don't worry, he'll come back in something later.

Little peek at the setting section

Another "We're still at it!" post - I'm currently reviewing/revising the text and layout for the setting section and you know, I think it's looking pretty good:

Of course, these images are showing a WIP, so expect placeholders to be swapped out and edits to be made, so on and so forth...

Small Update

 Once again a few months pass and while we continue to work on things, a lot of them don't make for very good blog updates. Still, I can share some of the cool layout/art stuff Grey has sent me in the meantime.

We're making steady progress and I can't wait to post some more substantial updates!

Also in case you missed it, I was on a podcast!

https://anchor.fm/bastionland/episodes/Rule-of-Three---Reynaldo-Madrian-etsme8/a-a53mksv

Well worth listening to if you can stand my rambling.

Bellzuub!

The Unshaped are a dangerous threat, primordial beings with no defined body, they instead manifest as clusters of ideas that can take on a variety of forms at will. Their disregard for anything but their own personal goals and amusements make them very hard to reason with, to boot!

A little side bonus that comes with showing these off is that BREAK!!'s status ailments can be silly or quite scary, depending on the entity that's inflicting them!

Murder Princess Art!

We're still working hard on the game, but hey, while' you're waiting here's some cool Murder Princess art!

 

 

On Villains (and more art)

Monsters and baddies are some of my favorite things to come up with when writing for BREAK!! or anything, really. Thinking about how they confront the players or affect the setting itself is always fun to dream up, even if detailing it can get finicky or tedious at times. I just finished an Unshaped themed around insects and even though it's hard to know what that means outside the context of the rules, trust me when I say that I tried very hard to make it interesting and fun.

That said, I always end up thinking a lot about the assumed adversaries that seem to come hand in hand with adventure themed role-playing. For a lot of reasons I dislike when players can see a particular creature and just assume they can attack it without thought or guilt, so with the exception with a few true monsters, living spells, or what have you I do my best to avoid it.

Last entry I mentioned Adversaries and Allies, but I think really, in BREAK!! almost anything written in can be used as either, depending on the circumstances.

If an entity shows up in a BREAK!! book and isn't meant to be an easy to use archetype or single example of a much larger population or creature, expect it to have some kind of silly, sappy or maudlin nonsense on the why's and how's of its existence in the Outer World, and a way for them to end up on either side of the player's activities. Heck, it often shows up in those former examples as well!

Excluding that Unshaped I just wrote. He's just kind of a jerk.

Art, Allies & Adversaries

While there isn't much to report (we're still at it folks!) I can share some art Grey has done for two of the game's Game Master Entities; The Chosen One and the War Gruun!

Chosen Ones are individuals that have been chosen by Fate to undertake some great challenge or quest, usually claiming powerful treasures in the process. The issue here is that Fate has been twisted and bent thanks to various events in the Outer World's history, and Chosen One's quests have become mistimed or misapplied in the meantime! As a result, they can be anything from unlikely allies to dangerous enemies of the player characers!

War Gruun were created in the 2nd Aeon by the Bio-Sorcerers of Calian, meant to be unstoppable weapons employed against a massive number of ordinary soldiers. While they retain a certain gentleness that is common in all Gruun, they were made to fly into an unstoppable rage during certain conditions, whether they like it or not. 

A big hope with these - and many of the Game Master controlled entities included with BREAK!! is that there isn't a simple way to to deal with them. They aren't automatically your allies or adversaries; but they can be either. 

Writer Interview

In case you missed it, the writer was featured in a very nice little interview:

https://thecementmixer.blogspot.com/2020/07/break-ghibli-inspired-tabletop-rpg-and.html

Premature Print Test

Still with a way to go before completion, I thought I'd treat myself to test print of the progress to date.

Physical Prototype

• Used Lulu: A5 (5.83 x 8.27 in / 148 x 210 mm), Premium Color, 80# White, Linen Wrap, Matte Cover.
• Colors are vivid! Construction is good (though smyth sewn not an option)
• Content is about complete (70%)
• There are typos (no quality control yet!)

Learnings

• Feels very different looking the physical book to onscreen or individual print outs, has given me clarity on certain typographic decisions.
• Some background greys are too light (they disappear somewhat and ruin the page structure).
• Not sure about the super white paper, colors look great but makes ink very reflective. 
• I didn't allow enough room for trimming, the book is very fat and more was lost than expected
• Small light grey text doesn't print well. I knew this, but still I try!
• Some tints lose too much saturation (will add some color tests to next proto)

Brief Update

Just posting to let everyone follow us know that we're still at it. It's been a rough couple of months for...well, the whole world, but everyone is doing their best. A few family emergencies came up on my end but they all turned out well so I am still working on making a mini-game out of a slice of BREAK!!'s full game - exciting screen-cap below:

More proof we should all be grateful Grey is working on the main project

Hopefully we'll be able to show off more soon. Until then, stay safe everyone.

The Battle Princesses of Beacon!

So I started working on a thing a few weeks ago:

The basic idea is it would be a little mini-game to introduce people to BREAK!! and give them a small taste of the full game. I figure having something out there is pretty good? So far I like it a lot better than the solo adventure I tried to write a bit ago.

Regardless, I'll keep everyone posted!

Wireframing page layouts

When considering a page layout I have been applying some UX (Users Experience) rigor to help reduce potential usability issues.

I ask myself a few questions to work out user stories (usage scenarios) which inform the page layout:

Who is looking at the page and why?
E.g. The GM... because the group have just stumbled on a Skelemaster! They need to know how to run that encounter?

What information is the user (GM) looking for?
1. What is a Skelemaster in a nut-shell?
2. How does the Skelemaster react to the group?
3. How do you 'roleplay' them?
4. How do you they interact with the combat/negotiation/game mechanics?
5. How does this or that ability work?
6. What do they find on the body?

What is the best way to communicate this information quickly?
What is the best way to arrange the content to address the above needs?
What do they need to know first?
What is the best visualisation of the data?

Once I'm confident about with how players will interact with the page I've been using wireframes!
A quick way to iterate layout ideas and validate if the information structure is practical/efficient.

The end result will produce a template, which can occasional result in some structural editing (chopping and changing) for a smoother experience at the table.

Reviewing the Basics - Checks and Contests

We have a lot of new followers popping up as of late, and while I feel a bit bad retreading old information I think it's probably been long enough that I can get away with it!

Lets start foundations of BREAK!!'s main mechanics.

Every character and other entity in BREAK!! has a list of values called Aptitudes. These are used to show how competent a particular entity is on one of five broad areas of expertise. The five Aptitudes are:

• Might
• Deftness
• Insight
• Grit
• Aura

The exact values will vary greatly depending on Rank and the type of character or entity and are modified by Abilities and other factors, like Purviews and Traits. But that stuff comes up in character creation and advancement, so we don't need to discuss them much right now.

The most rudimentary system of resolution in BREAK!! are Checks and Contests.

• Checks come up whenever an individual is attempting to do something challenging with a significant chance of failure. An appropriate Aptitude (as well as any appropriate bonuses or penalties) is selected and the challenged rolls a d20 in hopes of getting as close as possible to their Aptitude's value without going over.
• Contests are like Checks, save for rather than testing one entity's skill, there are two or more challenging each other. Each involved Rolls as if they were making a Check, and whoever is able to roll the highest without going over is the winner. Now, this outcome can be changed by a multitude of things (who has the higher bonus, or pertinent Ability, or whose getting helped) - but again, we are just covering the basics here.

These are the foundations for a lot of other systems in the game. Most of them reference this in some capacity, while adding in new levels, steps, or strategies as appropriate.

One of the things I'd really wanted when planning BREAK!! was for resolutions that didn't need a lot of math and for players to be able to reference their character sheets (rather than needing to go back to the book a lot) during play - so starting with something simple like this and building onto it seemed like the way to go for me.

An update and a hello!

First and foremost, I want to say Grey and I are still hard at work at this thing. We just recently re-worked a whole section to try and make the book more manageable for you all and shorter to produce - so here's hoping. We'll do our best to keep you updated on all major milestones.

Secondly, I noticed we've got a lot of new followers over our various social media accounts so wanted to put up a refresher on what BREAK!! is and what our hopes are for it.

• BREAK!! is a tabletop RPG focused on teamwork and adventure. While it's themes are classic the game itself is built from the ground up in hopes of giving a new spin on them, as well as draw from popular influences (that the creators also happen to like)
• BREAK!!'s standard setting is a place known as "The Outer World", a colorful land that has endured 3 Cataclysms and has settled into a strange 4th Aeon of wonder and strife. There is plenty of adventure to be had, unearthing and exploring what was lost or helping build and protect a new world.
• We are hoping to release a rule-book that has everything you need to play and create your own campaigns and adventures with BREAK!! - so that everything that comes next is entirely optional.

If you are at all interested in the game I highly recommend skimming the blog! It's got a lot of really cool artwork (past and present) and hopefully can tide you over until the game is ready for everyone.