Freebie: FUNGUY and MUSHDOOM (Adversaries)

Today's BREAK!! freebie are a pair of adversaries that are sure to grow on you:

FUNGUY 

Mushroom Menace

Introduction

• Funguy are an eccentric species of walking, talking toadstools. Thanks to a habit of keeping to themselves and a tendency towards ruthlessly expunging outsiders, very little is known about them.

Menace Level

• Mook

Rank

• 0 (Unranked)

Allegiance

• Dark: 1 (No Allegiance)

Home Region/Habitat

• Funguys have a preference for cold, wet places. Their favored region is the Wistful Dark (particularly the Murk) but they can also be found in thick forests or dank caves throughout the Outer World.

Aptitudes (Alert, Meticulous, Excitable [+2 Insight, -1 Aura])

Primary Aptitudes: Might, Grit, Insight

Secondary Aptitudes: Deftness, Aura

• Might [5]

• Deftness [7]

• Grit [6]

• Insight [8]

• Aura [5]

Combat Values

• Hearts [1]

• Attack [+0]

• Speed [Normal]

• Defense Rating [12] (Size, Fist of the Fungus) 

Abilities

Tiny Toadstool (Species, Standard)

Funguy aren’t particularly tall, barely waist level to the average human (and this is even with their mushroom caps).

• Funguys are Small

• This is already calculated into this entry’s stats.

• Funguys breathe and eat, though not in the same way that other humanoids do. They just sort of absorb liquids and organic matter into their body along with air. 

• Consumables (such as potions or magical food) still affect them like they would another applicable creature, it just looks really odd.

• Funguys are also able to consume spoiled or unprepared organic material as Rations.

Telepathy Spores (Magic, Dark, Species, Standard)

Funguys do not speak in any conventional way. They instead communicate by passing thoughts to and from their spores. This allows seamless communication with their allies, but is often disorienting and confusing for the uninitiated.

• A Funguy may take a Turn to release their Telepathic Spores in the Area they currently occupy. This allows all the Funguy within this Area to mentally communicate for the remainder of the conflict.

• Any non-Funguy within this Area must make a Grit Check. Failure means that the sudden influx of foreign thoughts is a bit much for the target to handle and they are afflicted with the Disoriented Status Ailment for the remainder of the conflict. 

• Success means they are able to understand the funguy’s thoughts (as well as any other non-funguy in the area that succeeded on their Check) and even communicate with them telepathically. They also receive an Edge on any further Grit Checks called on by this Ability.

• Certain things might blow or wash away the spores at the Game Master’s discretion. This ends the Ability’s effect immediately.

• Further use of this Ability on the same Targets within the same conflict have no effect, unless the spores were blown or washed away. 

• Synthetic Creatures (such as Bio-Mechanoids) are entirely immune to this Ability.

• If this Ability is used outside of combat, one can assume that its effects last for a few minutes or so.

Fist of the Fungus (Standard)

Most Funguy are well versed in a strange martial art that takes advantage of their small size and flexibility.

• The Funguy makes Unarmed Attacks as if wielding a Quick Weapon.

Communication Methods

• Funguys are usually only capable of communicating with their Telepathy Spores, which can be a real hindrance. They utilize the signed component of low speech use when dealing with other species in a pinch.

Tactics

• Funguy generally weaponise their Spores against shaky or easily confused foes. Combined efforts and assault assists are favored when fighting against stronger adversaries.

Yield

Funguy don’t tend to carry much around, but they do occasionally take interests in small oddities here and again.

Miscellaneous

• Indicators - A disconcerting amount of mushrooms, the sounds of very organized shuffling, a strange odor.

• Roleplaying Notes - Funguys find the strange physical excesses and constant babbling of other humanoids to be nearly intolerable. They are generally pretty grumpy dealing with them as a result.

• While there is the occasional Funguy who is curious about non-mushroom forms of sentient life, they are considered oddballs by their fellows.

• Customization  - Some Funguys learn Dark Aligned Sage Abilities. They have distinctly purple mushroom caps.

Random Encounter Reaction

• Friendly/Benign (1-5) - The unnerved group of Funguys encountered have stumbled across a lost child and are trying to find someone friendly to turn them over to. They are trying to do the right thing, but the kid still freaks them out a little bit so their judgment of who would make a good caretaker is probably a bit off.

• Indifferent/Wary (6-13) - The Funguys encountered are patrolling - they will watch the party intently, but let them pass as long as they don’t go near their home.

• Hostile/Bloodthirsty (14-20) - The Funguys encountered have been riled up by a Mushdoom who believes that the non-fungal can’t be trusted and need to be driven away or eliminated completely. The party just happens to be the first group they’ve come across at the height of their fury.

Variants and Related Entries

• With a little work and adjustment on their fiction, Funguys could be used to represent a recently stranded species of psychic alien creatures.

MUSHDOOM

Titanic Toadstool

Introduction

• Occasionally a Funguy will get a little too angry or self-important and build up enough bluster to cause them to grow in size and strength. The resulting mass of belligerence and saprophytic muscle is known as a Mushdoom, and they have a dangerous tendency to rile up and lead their more docile brethren. 

Menace Level

• Boss

Rank

• 5

Allegiance

• Dark: 1 (No Allegiance)

Home Region/Habitat

• Mushdooms most often live among large groups of Funguys, though they are a little more likely than their smaller brethren to encroach on land inhabited by other sentient creatures.

Aptitudes (Trait:Overbearing, Stubborn, Oafish (+2 Might, +2 Grit, -2 Deftness)

Primary Aptitudes: Might, Grit, Aura

Secondary Aptitudes: Deftness, Insight

• Might [13]

• Deftness [7]

• Grit [12]

• Insight [9]

• Aura [10]

Combat Values

• Hearts [4]

• Attack [+4]

• Speed [Normal]

• Defense Rating [13] (Size, Not so Tiny Toadstool Ability)

Abilities

Not so Tiny Toadstool (Species, Advanced)

This Ability is identical to the Funguy’s Tiny Toadstool Ability, with the following exceptions:

• The Mushdoom is Large and has Supernatural Might

• The Mushdoom’s body is oddly tough, and they are considered to be wearing Medium Armor.

• This is already calculated into this entry’s stats.

Telepathic Spores (Magic, Dark, Advanced)

This Ability is Identical to the Funguy Ability of the same name, with the following exception:

• The range of the Mushdoom’s Spores is the Area the Mushdoom is currently in as well as any other Areas adjacent to them, excluding any that represent things where the spores would be unlikely to travel. Examples of this include Areas for places much higher than the rest of the battlefield or that are in or under water.

Fist of the Fungus MkII (Advanced)

Mushdoom’s eschew the swift fighting style of their smaller brethren in favor of raw brutality.

• The Mushdoom makes unarmed attacks as if wielding a Mighty Weapon.

• In addition, anyone of normal size or smaller that is struck by the Mushdoom must succeed on a Grit Check or become Toppled.

Communication Methods

• Mushdooms are limited in their communication in the same ways that Funguys are. They will order subordinates to relay any messages they have to members of other species in their stead.

Tactics

• Mushdooms like to bully and overwhelm opponents. A favored trick is to knock over an enemy with their punch and then have Funguy minions swarm them for a pin or a finish.

Yield

Mushdooms don’t generally carry around much, but they occasionally take interest in worn accessories that make them look important.

Miscellaneous

• Indicators - Air thick with inert telepathic spores, enormous circular footprints in the ground, emboldened and aggressive groups of funguys in the area.

• Roleplaying Notes - Mushdooms are nasty bullies at their core. Even if not communicating directly with someone, they loom with aggressive body language and open hostility. Naturally, if something noticeably bigger or stronger confronts them they quickly revert to meeker habits.

• Customization  - Mushdooms take well to certain Champion Abilities, having the appropriate amount of strength if lacking in true courage.

Random Encounter Reaction

• Friendly/Benign (1-5) -  The Mushdoom encountered has lost of their Funguy followers due to a poorly planned scheme. Seeking someone new to push around, they will attempt to offer the party an opportunity to be their new underlings.

• Indifferent/Wary (6-13) - The Mushdoom encountered is giving a galvanizing speech to numerous funguys present. Due to the nature of their telepathic communication, this will look like they are standing silently while the Mushdoom is gesturing madly into the air. They won’t bother with the party normally but will react hostilely if interrupted

• Hostile/Bloodthirsty (14-20) - The Mushdoom encountered is accompanied by a rowdy group of Funguys. They blamed a recent crisis caused by their own actions on the nearest group of non-funguys - an explanation that was unanimously accepted by their followers. Now the party is unfortunately on the opposite end of the result.

Variants and Related Entries

• Like Funguys, the Mushdoom can be reworked to be a strange, telepathic alien - just a larger, much punchier one.

Setting: What's in a name?

An understandable inquiry often brought up by Other Worlders is on the names granted to the folk - Why do so many of them seem a bit on the nose? A mighty tenebrate warrior named Brawn or a very cheerful chib named Jolly could both be happy coincidences, but so many people in Outer World are named so appropriately it might come off as very strange to those from places where such things are much less common.

There is a simple answer to this question: the name most go by is their second one. 

Allow me to indulge in a bit of elaboration. Generally a child is first named by those who raise them. This initial moniker might be an aspiration on behalf of their parents, a reminder of some sort of truth or responsibility, or just something simple and easy to remember. As a child matures, they may decide this first name suits them well enough and carry it with them until the day of their passing. This is considered to be an auspicious portent indeed, as those who first named the individual can take pride in in the strength of their choice.

However, it is not uncommon for one to reach a point (generally when they come of age, but sometimes before that time or after) where they feel this first name no longer suits them. A child named for skill in archery may instead take to scholarly pursuits as an adult. One granted an ambitious title may discover a simpler one they prefer. Some who might have been given a name in hopes they would be loved may wish to be dreaded instead. Regardless of the reason, the individual will announce this new name to those around them and go by it from then on, with this decision respected.

Naturally, this too is considered to be good fortune, as those who helped raise the person taking a new name can assume their guidance brought the individual to the truth.

Mortal folk are not the only ones who choose new names, of course. Elves are notorious for the amount of monikers they take on in their impossibly long lifespans. Even more stately immortals will occasionally shift in identity on occasion. The most famous of these is Night Haven's Duke of Red Roses, whose identity once involved many flowers until he decided to embrace his favorite one alone.

As a final note, while the general sound and theme of one's first name (and often, any later ones they might have) is generally dictated by their species or the species of those who named them, region and the preferences in languages thereof also play a part, which is another reason for the variety of unique and expressive names in Outer World.

Freebie: Skimmer Cycles (Gear)

The Outer World has no shortage of ways to get around - in the contemporary era of the 4th Aeon, a number of mounts and vehicles move across the planets surface. While these journeys remain fraught with peril, whether its through the land, sea, or sky, you have options as a traveler to brave that trip. 

But among all the modern choices, some relics of the past endure. Discovered by eager junkers, restored by clever gadgeteers, and ridden by the daring, these vehicles come in a variety of shapes and function. Among them are the towering humanoid Gigaframes, soaring Wind-Cutters, and humming Autocarts, just to name a few. The sight of them lights a fire in the hearts of adventurers and scholars alike.

While not as physically impressive as these examples, one smaller, personal craft remains very popular among those seeking a stylish way to move about the Outer World: The Skimmer Cycle.

Skimmer Cycle (Vehicle)

A smaller, one person version of a Skimmer. These vehicles were extremely common in the 3rd Aeon, and while still fairly rare, they can be found all over the Outer World in various states of repair.

• Inventory Slots: 16
• Crew: 1 Pilot (a second person can ride behind you if they hold on tight)
• Overland Speed: Mount
• Traversable Terrain: Land
• Skimmer Cycles require a charged Small Spell Engine to function. This allows the Cycle to operate for 3 days. 
• If used during combat and other similar encounters, the Skimmer Cycle has a Speed of Very Fast.
• You may make attacks and other indelicate actions from the back of a Skimmer Cycle at GM discretion, as long as you have at least one hand free for steering.
• Your GM may rule you need to make a Deftness Check to stay in control if something strikes you while you are riding or some other difficult circumstance comes up, with failure sending both you and any companion with you flying from the bike and incurring a Light Falling/Impact injury.
• Cost: 3 Gems (though it is rare to find these on sale - it's more likely parties will find one in need of repairs in some adventure site somewhere)

A skimmer cycle's design depends heavily on the culture that designed it. Akenian cycles tend to come in bold colors and prioritize comfort for the rider. Calian designs are more angular and skew towards maintaining an impressive silhouette. Those assembled in the Gleysian Technocracy tended towards being a bit boxier and more practical.

Skimmer cycles are also somewhat romanticized in the 4th Aeon due to being featured quite prominently in a popular legend about a heroic masked magi-knight that fights on the behalf of the downtrodden.

BREAK!! RPG Non-commercial license

Hey everyone, we wanted to share a few guidelines for fan-content since the BREAK!! Core Rules Beta has been available for a while, and we’ve been posting ‘Option Menu’ on our blog to help you customize and create for the game. People have already done some amazing things and have asked for guidance on what is acceptable to publish. 

We developed the BREAK!! RPG Non-commercial license with this in mind. We tried to be as clear as possible; hopefully it doesn’t sound too strict as a result! We want you to be able to create with confidence, but also protect our 10 year investment in developing the game. 

Please note, these terms are subject to refinement (we’re doing our best here but still learning!)

Also, though it's probably obvious, it should be said that these guidelines are for things you want to share/publish widely, not things created for your own personal use

In addition, we are working on a Commercial License for VTT support and a third party publishing. We aim to release this once all our kickstarter commitments have been delivered, so please stay tuned for that.

BREAK!! RPG Non-commercial license

1. You can freely use BREAK!!’s game terms in your creation, but NOT the definitions, artwork, or logos.
   
   Free fan-creations (such as new adversaries, setting ideas, adventures, custom character options and rules, digital tools, fan art) are fine to share as long as they DON’T include text or art copied, in part or whole, from the Core Rules or other official BREAK!! sources (such as the blog, content previews, or press images).
   
   It IS okay to include game terms by name in your work (including rule procedures, existing adversaries, abilities, locations, etc) for reference. For example: “Battle Princess”, "Heart's Blade", “Negotiation”, “Skelemen”, “Wistful Dark”.
   
   In addition, the character sheet in the back of the book is free to reproduce and use as well.
   
   We don’t want your content to negate the need to buy our game, or exceed the legal concept of ‘fair use/fair dealing’.
   
   
   
2. You cannot make a claim against us for any similarity to your fan creation that may appear in our future works.
   
   Unfortunately, we aren’t going to be able to monitor or read every fan project. If something we publish down the line unintentionally contains similarities to a creation made under this license, the creator accepts that they cannot make a copyright claim against us.
   
   We don’t want your creation to impact what we can develop for BREAK!! in the future.
   
   
   
3. Please be responsible
   
   We do not endorse using BREAK!! as a platform to do something egregious like spreading hate speech or to facilitate personal attacks. In addition, we request you be mindful when tackling sensitive issues.
   
   We don’t want to hinder creativity, but also don’t want fan content to negatively affect the perception of our game or its players.
   
   
   
4.  Mark your work as unofficial.
   
   Please label your work as a fan creation! This makes sure that people know your work is distinct from ours.
   
   If your creation is more formally presented than a blog post, for example in a zine or pdf download, do NOT use the game’s logo AND include this text disclaimer in your work:
   
   “[Product Name] is an independent product published under BREAK!! RPG’s Non-Commercial License and is not affiliated with BREAK!!’s creators or publishers.
   
   This is to protect us from any infringement claims or offense that might be contained in unofficial works,

            

Thank you!

Actual play videos and podcasts are cool and we’d love to see them! And of course, It’s fine to show/quote the rules during the natural course of play.

Thanks again for all your support and creativity so far, it's truly inspiring. Make cool things, have fun, and we hope you continue enjoying BREAK!!

Option Menu: Preparing a Custom Setting

 It's clear from the start that BREAK!!’s rules were written around the Outer World as a setting. The reality of its fiction is intertwined around and informed by the game’s mechanics. This was mainly in hopes that people could get a feel for the place while reading the book, so that it would be easy to jump in and make it their own while playing. That said if you really want to use your own world with BREAK!!’s rules, it’s not as difficult as it might first seem to be, it just requires a bit of extra work and consideration on your part.

Naturally creating something like this can be a deeply personal process so you can (and should) do it in a way that you feel most comfortable with. However, this entry can provide you with some guidelines to get you started and let you know all the things you’ll probably need to flesh out your world and get it ready for players.

1. Conceptualize your setting

• It's a good idea to have your setting concept worked out to help inform your other decisions. Is it an oceanic world of piracy and treasure hunting? Something based on your favorite show/comic/novel but with your own twists? Your own variant of Outer World itself? Figure out the place, tone and themes, and it’ll help narrow your future decisions.

• It also might help to decide if you want to make any tweaks or changes to the rules for your setting. For example, do you want a gloomy, foreboding world? The Dungeon Attrition rules in this Options Menu entry could be just the thing. 

• All that said, you don’t need to have every detail figured out right away. Even just a vague idea might be enough to get started with.

2. Create an Adventure Map

• While you won’t need a whole world map to start a saga, you’re going to want to have at least one spot figured out so the characters have a place to run around in.

• The guide for creating Adventure Maps in the BREAK!! rulebook should work for you here, but just keep your own setting and its themes in consideration rather than Outer World’s.

• If you start out with a single Adventure Map, you build the world slowly by figuring out what other places you can get to from there, and fleshing those out as you need to. You can make building out your world a gradual process rather than one big effort, which keeps you from exhausting yourself with prep time.

3. Decide on character options

• If the standard Calling, Species, Quirk and gear options for BREAK!! fit into the world you are creating, you don’t need to worry about this part.

• That said, you may want to consider limiting or altering these options if your setting concept calls for it. 

• For example, you may want to re-flavor magic Callings to tie into the otherworldly force that dominates your homemade fantasy universe. If the setting is a strange, alien landscape you may want to limit the available species to modified versions of Tenebrate, Prometheans, Bio-Mechanoids, and Goblins. Running in a different era of the Outer World might mean some of the rare relics and gadgets in the main book are more common and available for players, and so forth.

4. Make a Histories Table

• Once you have your setting thought out and an adventure map to work with, you’re going to need a history table. 

• The easiest way to do this is to take an existing one from the rulebook that fits the region your adventure map is in and alter the entries as needed.

• You can also create entirely new histories and your own table if you want too, though this obviously requires a bit more work. You can use the existing Histories tables in the BREAK!! rulebook as a guideline.

• Regardless of which method you use, the Options Menu entry on Histories will be helpful here.

Once you have these things done, you’ve got enough of a setting to run a BREAK!! Saga with. There is no doubt you’ll probably want to build it out from here, but you can do that as you need or want to.

Let’s look at some quick outlines to get an idea of how this method might look. Please note that while they aren't complete settings (at the moment) they should give you a good idea of what you should be thinking about:

Thanatos Arch

Concept: Thanatos Arch is a setting focused around a catacombs like city ruled by otherworldly and undead creatures in a world shrouded in perpetual dusk. The player characters are desperate souls delving into dangerous ruins in hopes of finding purpose in such a place, with themes of struggle, self-discovery, and glimmers of hope. It is inspired by the web comic 9 Gates.

For mechanical differences, it uses the Old School Dungeon Attrition rules from this Option Menu post. It's rough out there.

Map: The adventure map for Thanatos Arch has its titular metropolis in the center, with some adventure sites marked off around, under, and even within the city itself. At each extreme end of the map, the new (and likely very dangerous place) this direction leads to is noted. The GM really only needs to flesh out those new regions if the player’s show interest in them.

Character Options: The Battle and Murder Princesses of Thanatos Arch are modified flavor wise - rather than their weapons being born of their own emotions, they are manifestations of the souls of warriors past who’ve chosen the character as a host and new bearer. These ghostly warriors speak with both as well, in the form of the Battle Princess’s Soul Companion, or in the Murder Princesses case, via telepathy from the summoned weapon itself.

The available species for Thanatos Arch are Tenebrate, Promethean, Gruun, Rai-Neko, and Dimensional Stray. With the exception of the last one, these are re-flavored to be different sorts of devils native the realm.

Histories Table: Thanatos Arch uses a modified version of the Wistful Dark’s history table. The general histories are kept, but certain fiction aspects are changed to match the setting. For example “Shard State Patrician” becomes “Gilded Crypt Noble” 

Maniac Metro

Concept: Maniac Metro is essentially an alternate “Other World” for BREAK!! - rather than a world closely resembling our own, it is a bombastic contemporary fantasy setting where the mundane things we take for granted are readily mixed with the arcane and supernatural. The players are workers in absurd gig-economy dealing with literal corporate overlords. It is inspired by the comic One Time Taxes.

Death is very rare in Maniac Metro, instead characters who would perish are instead injured in a thematically comedic way and are out of commission for the current goings on.

Map: Maniac Metro’s map is a bit more zoomed in than normal, focusing instead on the various neighborhoods in one enormous, sprawling city on an artificial island. Locations of interest are marked in each place as adventure sites and mini-settlements, and who runs that part of town is noted for reference. The only way to properly leave the city is also shown - a dangerous underground tunnel leading back to a vaguely named “mainland”.

Character Options: BREAK!!’s Callings aren’t changed a whole lot mechanically for Maniac Metro, but their flavor should definitely be worked around a character’s background concept. Raiders and Champions could be exceptional athletes, street brawlers, or super hero types. A Sage might be an ascendant office worker with a magical laptop instead of a grimoire, a factotum could be the greatest barista who ever lived, and so forth.

You might want to think about cars, or car like vehicles for a game in Maniac Metro. We're sure to publish something along those lines at some point, but for now you can probably re-work skimmers, walkers, etc.

Every playable species in the BREAK!! Rulebook is available in Maniac Metro, but as far as the city is concerned everyone is “human”. It’s rude to ask.

Histories Table: Maniac Metro uses the Other World history table, but with the following exceptions:

• Oldtech Junker from the Twilight Meridian Histories added as an Outcast 

• Startech Adept from the Blazing Garden Histories added on as an Elite.

With these guidelines you should be able to start building your own setting pretty easily, even if it will still take a bit of elbow grease and time. This method is also a good way to build Elsewheres that are accessible to the Outer World as well, so even if you do plan on using BREAK!!'s setting as is this entry might prove useful to you.

This is going to be the last option menu post for a bit. I am going to focus now on using these weekly posts to talk about Outer World as a setting and provide freebies for the game though, so please look forward to those!

Option Menu: BREAK!!ing the Rules

BREAK!! rules were created very deliberately. I wanted the rules and systems within to facilitate a certain style of play while creating room for individual and group creativity. Each one is in there because I felt it was the best balance between these things. 

I had some quick personal standards for judging them: whenever Grey would question a particular mechanic, if I couldn’t find an answer for him right away, it could probably go. If the playtesters butted up against a particular thing again and again, it probably needed tweaking or to be cut out, depending. If I re-read something, and realized it was slowing down or overcomplicating the game for not much gain, it was gonezo. It obviously doesn't cover everything, but I’m pretty proud of the result.

But I also understand that everyone has their own preferences or might want to run a specific sort of Saga. In my desire to carve out my vision, I might have blocked off or neglected a possibility someone else might desire. Because of this, I really want people to change things for their own games if they want to. House rules in tabletop RPGS are almost a given and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

My only word of caution for them is this - try to give the game a go unchanged at first, just to sort of see how the pieces fit together. This way if you do decide to alter things, you’ll be more mindful of how a given rule intersects with the rest of the mechanics.

To this end, I present a few methods of tweaking BREAK!! with a dual set of purposes:

1. To explain why each of the rules in here are written the way they are.

2. To provide an example of how you could change these without the whole thing crashing down.

Even if you don’t plan on changing the rules at all, this entry can be helpful in better understanding some of the existing rules as they are written and intended, so it might be worth looking at anyway.

Without further adieu, I present the alternate rules! 

Some of that Old School Dungeon Attrition

Hearts in BREAK!! are replenished at the end of battle for a couple of reasons. Certainly it renews the boldness of the players, and lets them press forward after all but the most harrowing of experiences. 

But it also means each fight can be considered independently of each other. There is no need to make sure there are a certain amount of encounters to wear down the players for a big battle in the end: adventure sites with very little potential for combat end up being just as viable as ones chock full of them. It gives the player’s freedom, yes - but it also gives the GM quite a bit of leeway as well.

However, fans of other RPGs that involve a lot of dungeons (sometimes dragons as well, I’m told) might miss the loss of the natural attrition that comes from those games’ abstracted measure of character vitality. Some of this can be recovered in BREAK!! as is: there are injuries that can occur from combat normally for example, as well as traps that could cause various forms of damage or lasting status ailments that can give player’s pause. However, if you want to hardcode that classic feeling of a dungeon draining your reserves, I suggest implementing the following:

Staggered Heart Recovery

• Characters regain a single lost Heart after surviving a perilous encounter. This increases to 2 Hearts if the character is Rank 5 or higher. 

• Regained Hearts cannot put them above their current Hearts Total.

• Items and Abilities that restore lost hearts (Such as Basic Potions) may be used outside of combat to restore lost Hearts.

There are some inadvertent changes to the game that come with this system. Healing items in general go from useful to near essential. Conversely, the Putrefy Ailment and things like it become far more dangerous. Repeated encounters can really stack things against the party. Keep these things in mind when designing adventures and encounters with this in play.

Countless Companions (actually just four)

One of the most directly explained rules in all of BREAK!! is the limitation of each character being able to only have 2 companions. It’s a simple matter of logistics. Each companion is another thing both the players and GM have to keep track of, and with the way BREAK!! handles recruitment things could get out of hand very quickly if it’s not reigned in.

As with any rule however, this might not apply to every table. A good example would be if a group is composed of the GM and a single player. In such a case, the limitation might be removed for a lone PC to gather enough allies to go on adventures that would be overwhelming with only one or two companions. It’s easy enough to just ignore the rule, but if you were looking for an intermittent step between that and keeping the restriction as is, the below might be a good start:

Entourage Unleashed

• A character may have a single companion of each sort (Follower, Pet, Mount and/or Pack Beast) and a single additional companion of any kind, including tamed monsters or recruited Game Master Characters. 

Of course, the needs of each of these companions must still be met, which can be a bit of a pain to keep track as well. If the Game Master wants to simplify things they might just say each is entitled to a cut of treasure or earnings as if they were player characters in a party.

Downtime Abbey

If I have one, consistently driving motivation in design it’s a brevity to things that are not ADVENTURE. BREAK!!’s downtime actions were something I designed when coming to an impasse running long term games - player characters clearly did other things while not exploring exciting new places, solving mysteries, and dealing with the strange and magical as a team, and I wanted to allow players to be able to embrace that. However, these were often individual excursions and meant focusing on one person at the expense of the group. However, trying to hand wave or rush through them in game was also unsatisfying. What to do?

This is why BREAK!!’s Downtime Actions take place after an adventure (usually at the end of the session) - it does not slow the momentum of play, gives each player some time to consider what they would like to do AND the Game Master some time to make sure that it’s significant somehow (or work the results into the next session, in the case of a few of the actions). It slots perfectly into an adventure focused campaign, a short, often idyllic reprieve before the next exciting and dangerous thing.

However, I have since learned some people actually want this stuff to come up as part of a regular session. And in fairness, they have good reasons for it! Some games are slower paced in their fiction: maybe they revolve around a little town the party lives in, or the group really loves crafting or something else along those lines. I’m providing a simple alternate set of guidelines for Downtime Activities for cases like this:

Daily Grind

• Each player receives a Downtime Action at the start of a session. The time represented is usually a day or two, depending on complexity.

• If it is warranted (for example, if there are no pressing issues and the party convenes and decides to take a bit of time to prepare for a long journey), the party may opt for a second Downtime Action in the middle of a given session.

• Naturally these chances go out the window if the session begins in the middle of an adventure site - but in these cases the GM may allow for an automatic Camping Downtime action.

The big considerations that come from implementing this rule are that A) it slows things down considerably and B) Things like Crafting can get out of hand, depending on the resources available to the party. 

While I think these are potentially big problems in a standard BREAK!! Saga, if you are going for a more leisurely paced, down to earth feel for your game this might work out well for it. It might be worth talking to players to help set expectations and get them to work with you to make things more manageable.

And that’s all of them!

Even if you don’t get much out of these, I hope they act as a guideline for how you might alter the rules for your own games if you want to. 

As a refresher:

• Look at the rule you are thinking about changing and try to grasp how they fit in the greater scope of the game and what they are trying to accomplish. Try to see how they feel when working as written if you can.

• Think about why you are changing the rules, and what you are trying to accomplish in doing so. It can really help you nail the result.

• Talk to the other players in your group. Not only can they offer their own viewpoints, but they may be able to offer insight on what sort of things they would like to see.

• No matter what you change, the important thing is that it remains fun for you and your group. You can always switch back, or adjust things even more if you end up needing to do so.

Option Menu: Creating your own Histories

Histories are one of my favorite little things tucked away in BREAK!!’s character creation. While relatively small and simple in comparison with some of the other facets, they immediately insert a character into Outer World’s setting by defining who they were and their place in the world before the start of their Saga. They also help build on the game’s setting, both within the book itself and in the mind of the character’s player.

There are numerous good reasons as to why you might want to make your own histories. A player may want a particular backstory for their character that none of the existing histories match or a GM might want to make their own History Table for a customized setting. 

One thing to note before you start - you may not need to make a new History at all. Just like Callings and Abilities, Histories can be re-skinned to suit your needs. For example, a Blight Raider could be used to create a No-Folk’s Land Bandit if you change the corresponding Homeland from the Wistful Dark to the Blazing Garden.

If you still feel the need to create a new History from scratch, the below guidelines should be of assistance. In addition, the existing Histories in the BREAK!! rulebook should give you a good idea of what they should look like.

• The standard Histories are created to be fairly broad, allowing a player some insight into their character’s place in Outer World while providing a good amount of room for interpretation. If you are creating your own Histories for general use, you should stick to the same design philosophy. On the other hand, if you’re creating one for a particular character you should feel free to be as specific as you like!

• Character Histories have three components; the fiction that attaches them to the setting, the 3 Purviews they provide, and their list of potential bonus gear.

• There are no strict requirements for the fictional aspects of a History. Generally, it should represent a lifestyle or profession that justifies the purviews and bonus gear it provides and ties in with the Homeland it hails from.

• Every History needs 3 Purviews. They should be flexible enough to be applied to many Rolls, but not so broad that there are no situations they are not applicable. Of course, don’t be so specific that they are unlikely to see much use at all! Finally, it’s all the better if the wording of the purview can be interpreted in multiple ways. 

• For example, “Dealing with difficult situations” is much too broad to be a purview and frankly a little boring. There is a story behind “Getting out of the mud” but it’s probably a bit too specific for a purview. “Cleaning up a mess” is getting somewhere because it can be taken literally or metaphorically and apply to a broad (but not too broad) range of situations.

• The list of bonus gear should be 4 distinct items. One should be worth more than 25 Coins and at least two should be items that can be used by any character regardless of Calling or Species. 

• Generally it’s best to avoid having an item worth more than 70 coins in this list unless it is something that has a very specific use or mildly benefits the whole party, such as a merchant having access to a cart. Still, this should be done sparingly if at all.

• Bonus Gear is also a good way to hint at various interpretations of a History. For example, taking Medium Armor and a Large Shield with the Town Guard History could suggest having to defend a town from monster attacks often, whereas taking an Authoritative Outfit might belong to a character who was once an investigator of some kind.

• Avoid giving out things like imbued Items, property, or large vehicles with a History. These are game-changing items and if you really want the players to have them at their disposal from the get go, it’s better to just give them to the group as a whole instead.

• Like anything, a custom History is subject to GM approval. If you are not the GM of the current Saga, make sure to let them look over the history before applying it.

Now then, let’s take a look at a new History created with these guidelines in mind:

Creative (Homeland: Other World)

It might not be your day job, but you have an expressive passion that steals away much of your free time. A webcomic, mytube channel, or even a tabletop game - you pour your heart and soul into it even if the world may never quite appreciate your work. Some of the things in this weird fantasy world even remind you of it, actually…

Note: Note that the Calling’s name and description are pretty broad - this makes it applicable to a wide range of characters but retains enough definition for the History to be useful.

Purviews

• Coming up with something new

• Enviously noting the talents of others

• Comparing things to your own work

Note: These purviews all manage to hit the sweet spot of allowing some creative uses without being too broad. For example, Enviously noting the talents of others can be used with a Check to size up someone, or perhaps during a negotiation where the Creative uses the things they notice to flatter the target.

Starting Gear (Pick 2)

• Other World Device (Noid Phone with excellent camera)

• Urban Item (Sketch Pad and Mechanical Pencil) 

• Luxury Item (Musical Instrument)

• Beginner’s Tome for Famous Figures in the Outer World (Concept Art Book)

Note: As this is an Other World History, the bonus starting gear is all a bit odd, but generally useful. The Other World Device is a good example of gear that is normally fairly rare or expensive being available to choose as bonus gear: it’s interesting and useful in the hands of a creative player, but not so generally useful as to be overbearing at the start.