Setting: Mariah Doeheart

One figure is on the cover of BREAK!!'s rulebook, featured on a completed character sheet in the back, and scattered in a few small illustrations throughout. This is Mariah Doeheart, a Battle Princess and a character conceived as the closest to an ideal BREAK!! adventurer as one could manage. She went through many iterations during the game's development, initially beginning as melancholy and serious sort but eventually transforming into the eager heroine she is at present.

This blog entry gives her a more detailed introduction in hopes of giving Players and Game Masters ideas for their own characters, as well as giving us a chance to flesh out our mascot a bit. So without further ado:

Mariah being a bit more excited for her next adventure than the rest of her party is

 

 

Her story so far...

Mariah Doeheart is quite fond of her given name. Her parents got it from a great heroine of the early 4th Aeon, a storied warrior who is said to have protected folk in the difficult times following the shattering of the Sun Machine. Her feats included driving off a shadow beast with a small retinue, helping found the first of the Shard cities, and negotiating peace with the Queen of Weeping Shadows. 

 

In contrast, Mariah herself earned the nickname "Poke" as a child due to her habit of getting into places she wasn't supposed to (including some dangerous Akenian ruins where a mysterious little creature she later named Churly Paws protected her) and it stuck with her until adulthood. As a result she has a habit of announcing herself before it's even requested, as if she's trying to make certain that people won't give her another unwanted sobriquet.

 

The child of Starlight Farmers, Mariah's days were split between learning the family trade and her aforementioned expeditions to the interesting places around her home. Her heart was never quite in agriculture, and she found herself yearning for new places to explore as she outgrew her previously favorite adventuring sites. By the time of her 20th birthday, it was clear that her younger sister was far more interested in inheriting the farm than she was and it freed her to move on. When a neighbor asked if the daring tenebrate would escort them to the city of Magia, Mariah took on the job and decided it was going to be a one way trip. She grabbed her things, exchanged a farewell note for a bag of her mom's cookies, and began her journey.

The trip turned out to be even more eventful than expected. She discovered her ability to call forth a Heart's Blade when she had to chase off a patrician who thought it would be fun to test his new sword out on the pair, found out her neighbor was an aspiring sage while assisting them with their first assignment, and even helped retrieve an important tome for a little wizard in grey (even if Mariah was partially responsible for it being lost in the first place). While these first few adventures were filled with close calls and stumbles, they also burned away any doubts or trepidation that Mariah had from leaving home. She'd found her calling.

Noting her enthusiasm, the little wizard even offered her a reward for another task - he needed someone to find a wayward fool of an Otherworlder and bring him back to Magia. With a new quest and a smile on her face, Mariah set out on another adventure.

Demeanor

Mariah is cheerful and enthusiastic, eager to make new friends and seek out new adventures. She'll introduce herself without hesitation, be the first to charge into a dangerous situation, and has a bad tendency to jump to conclusions here and again. While it can be a bit much at times, it's all part of her earnest nature. This, combined with her genuine (if sometimes clumsy) kindness, has earned her more than a few friends and allies.

 

She's also naturally gullible, but fortunately her Cry of the Heart ability has helped mitigate that quite a bit. 

Churly Paws, Mariah's feline-like Soul Companion, is her opposite in many ways. He's reluctant, sarcastic, and often suspicious of people he doesn't know. Sometimes a voice of reason for Mariah and other times just a grouch, he can still be counted on to always come through in the end.

 

Using Mariah in your games

While mostly intended as an example of a completed character sheet and a potential pre-generated character in the BREAK!! rulebook, Mariah can also be used as a Game Master Character. She might be the face of a party of rival adventurers, a friendly random encounter in an adventure site, or someone the players can meet and hire in a settlement.

 

If you like, an older, wiser, and higher Ranked version of Mariah might even be a mentor and quest giver for the party as well. Whether her adventures helped bolster her courage and eager nature or tempered them a bit is dependent on your version of Outer World.

 

Freebie: Followers

Need some followers for your next settlement? While look no further, here's 20 of them. You can even roll for them randomly that way, if you want.

Each of these is meant to be added on top of their existing companion type, essentially replacing the starting process where you select their trait and species and what not. I know this isn't quite as helpful as just writing out their whole entry, but it's a heck of a lot easier to format for a blog entry.

1. Custrel - Gilia Mossbraid, Dwarf
• Traits: You can count on her (+1 Grit)
  
• Proficiencies: Mighty Weapons, Medium Armor
• Additional Combat Gear: Barricade Smasher (Mighty Weapon), Cobble Mail (Medium Armor)
• Gilias is a grubby and grouchy mercenary whose pretty dependable. She'll grumble and grouse about any job she's on, but if she's paid well (or her loyalty has been earned) she'll follow along nonetheless.
  
  
2. Custrel - Acorn Aggro, Chib,
• Traits: Light on his feet (+1 Deftness)
  
• Proficiencies: Drawn Missile Weapons, Concealed Weapons
  
• Additional Combat Gear: Cupid Bow (Drawn Missile Weapon), 10 Heart Arrows (Ammo)
• With his hooded cloak and repeated attempts at a gravely voice, Acorn is doing his best to come off as a real tough cookie - but keeps finding himself "mistaken" for cute instead. He's been trying to teach himself to swear recently with mixed results.
  
  
3. Custrel - Blake Hissken, Promethean
• Traits: Very cool (+1 Aura)
  
• Proficiencies: Arc Weapons, Standard Shields
  
• Additional Combat Gear: Legion Spear (Arc Weapon), Burnished Aspis (Standard Shield)
• Blake is an effortlessly cool sellsword who waxes poetically about carving his own path in this fractured aeon. He does occasionally overlook things (easy to do, considering how towering he is) but manages to be a stalwart warrior in spite of it.
  
  
4. Custrel - Sashi Sharpsaber, Native Human
• Traits: Great Condition (+1 Might)
  
• Proficiencies: Master Weapons, Thrown Missile Weapons
  
• Additional Combat Gear: Tempered Tachi (Master Weapon), Star Shuriken (Thrown Weapon)
• Bonus Ability: Vagrant Blade (Champion)
  
• A woman of mysterious origin, not because she's quiet about her history but because she tells a different story every time. Depending on when you ask, she's a disgraced ronin, an honorable shinobi, or even a pirate on the run. At least she's honest in most other regards.
  
  
5. Custrel - Karey Gemgrace, Tenebrate
• Traits: All too aware (+1 Insight)
  
• Proficiencies: Standard Shields, Medium Armor
  
• Additional Combat Gear: Heater (Standard Shield), Medium Armor (Errant Plate)
• Karey is a novice knight whose mentor's chivalrous career was ended by a disastrous chompa related incident. Feeling it was a bit too late to head back home and learn to be a clerk, she's resigned herself to playing things safe and is all too happy to point out any unnecessary risks her employer happens to be taking.
  
  
6. Scholar - Otto Cottontail, Hoppalong
• Traits: Surprisingly strong (+1 Might)
  
• Specialist Subject:3rd Aeon Technolgy
• Note: Otto can repair and craft basic gadgettering crafts and has a specialist kit to do so. He also has access to a Helical Archive sponsored workshop.
  
• While not particularly courageous, Otto's thirst for knowledge and area of expertise means he spends a lot of time in dangerous ruins. He won't shut up about something once you get him going, but is an otherwise pleasant sort.
  
  
7. Scholar - Promising Enterprise, Rai-Neko
• Traits: Thankfully quick (+1 Deftness)
  
• Specialist Subject: Monsters and other strange creatures
• Promising Enterprise is a member of a scholar collective attempting to write something they're calling the "Monstery Manual". While open-minded and curious normally, they are just not budging on that name.
  
  
8. Scholar - Penclick, Goblin
• Traits: Used to roughing it (+1 Grit)
  
• Specialist Subject: Subterranean structures and locales
• Clever and resilient, Penclick's claim to fame is that through sheer luck and gumption he's managed to survive six different cave-in and cave-in adjacent incidents! He's hoping for a seventh one, as it's a lucky number.
  
  
9. Scholar - Greg Hollands, Dimensional Stray
• Traits: Unnervingly Astute (+1 Insight), Had a Gym Membership (+1 Grit)
  
• Specialist Subject: Dramatis Personae of Outer World
• All Other Worlders are a little strange, but Greg seems especially mystifying. Rather than a tome, he's tapping through a portable Other World device, and even though he sometimes refers to them in odd ways like "three stars" or "super super rares" he knows quite a bit about the important individuals and their goings-on.
  
  
10. Scholar - Valdi Farview, Native Human
• Traits: Aggressively Charming (+1 Aura)
  
• Specialist Subject: All things magic
• Bonus Ability: Everyday Divination
  
• Valdi is both performer and fortune teller, always happy to put on a bit of a show when she discusses anything arcane or the future fate of her audience. She lays it on so thick that people are actually caught off guard by her actual divining abilities.
  
  
11. Guide - Gallance Clearview, Tenebrate
• Traits: Observant (+1 Insight)
• Gallance is especially fond of fishing, and will regale anyone who hires him with increasingly outlandish stories of his exploits throughout their trip. Some of them might even be true.
  
  
12. Guide - Tug, Gruun
• Traits: Robust (+1 Might)
• Named for the fact she's often hauling things back and forth for people, Tug has gotten to know the lay of the land thanks to moving across it so often. She enjoys the quiet and will not hesitate to shush someone whose being excessively chatty.
  
  
13. Guide - Poppy Lightfoot, Chib
• Traits: Light-footed, naturally (+1 Deftness)
• Poppy is a bubbly little scout whose all too happy to guide adventurers on all sorts of dangerous expeditions. Truth is, she's seen so many odd and terrifying things that it's rare for anything to shake her cherry disposition at this point.
  
  
14. Guide - Neon, Bio-Mechanoid
• Traits: Meticulous (+1 Insight)
• Stoic and studious, Neon doesn't say much - even though they are clearly very often in thought. Their experience with the area around them is the result of their hobby of wandering about whenever they are pondering something.
  
  
15. Guide - Zol'sa Vilgrand, Elf
• Traits: Enchanting (+1 Aura)
• With his airy voice and wistful expression, Zol'sa can sometimes come off as more of a phantom than a living being. When pressed, he'll explain he's lived many lifetimes and forgotten everything he's learned, but he at least remembers where things are.
  
  
16. Scamp - Prissi Fullvault, Native Human
• Traits: Imperious (+1 Aura)
  
• Bonus Ability: Trusted Comrade (Raider)
• Note: Prissi has two animal friends connected to her Trusted Comrade Ability, a Skree named Flappy and a Growl named Charles.
• Prissi is the daughter of a pair of busy local merchants. She has no patience for the dull world of plenty they occupy, and often escapes with her pets to pester- no, assist any adventurers she comes across!
  
  
17. Scamp - Bronz, Promethean
• Traits: Wiry (+1 Might)
• A hard faced lad whose doing his best to earn money for his ailing younger sibling. He's a bit too proud and cautious to accept generosity from strangers, but may accept some from a friend.
  
  
18. Scamp - Delilah, Tenebrate
• Traits: Clever (+1 Insight)
• Thanks to her tendency to sneak off to dark places and remain unseen, Delilah is able to reveal the locations of hidden adventure sites and secret rendezvous to curious adventurers. Her sharp wit is revealed via a curt manner and shrewd demands for the information.
  
  
19. Scamp - Scrimp, Goblin
• Traits: Tricky (+1 Deftness)
• Scrimp's arms and legs are pretty new to him, having only recently spored and all, so he's having a great time running and jumping about in an effort to test them out. It does get him in a bit of trouble now and again, though.
  
  
20. Scamp - Milquetoast Essay, Rai-Neko
• Traits: Nine(?) lives (+1 Grit)
• Every coin Milquetoast Essay earns is another step towards his goal of owning a proper skyship and seeing all of Outer World. At least that's how he see's it. It's a great plan as far as he's concerned, and one he'll share with anyone who will listen.
  

Thinking with Nodes - making simple maps for BREAK!!

While it's possible to play BREAK!! combats entirely within the theater of the mind, I highly recommend you use some sort of physical (or digital, if your games are played online) map while doing so. Having a map to reference helps everyone at the table re-focus if something else catches their attention and can help prompt them to come up with things like stunts, tricks, or other stratagems.

This is especially true for important Guardian Encounters! While you can use the standard battlefield map for most smaller scale encounters, having a special map for big fights can really add a lot.

Don't fret though! Drawing one is actually much easier to do than it might seem. While the rulebook has some really gorgeous looking examples thanks to Grey's spectacular art, you can honestly get away with much simpler ones that just about anyone can make.

A good way to think of it is that BREAK!! maps, whether it be Region Maps, Adventure Sites, or Battlefields, are all about nodes.

Here's a quick mock-up to show what I mean. I made this in a few minutes in MS Paint, but in my home game I'd likely have doodled it on some index cards or on a dry-wash mat:

This battlefield is intended for a sort of ambush in a cave. There is likely a large, intimidating guardian on the path or near the exit, while some spell casters or foes with missile attacks are perched on the ledges, ready to rain whatever dangerous annoyances they have down on the party.

The important spots on the battlefield are clearly labeled and any conditions that apply to them listed as well. The lines connecting the points make it clear how players are able to move, and some notes at the top add any considerations that apply to the entire thing. All you need are some minis or tokens or other things to mark where everyone is and you're ready to go. The party has a lot of choices here to - do they try to climb to the ledges? Barrel through the main threat? Turn around and get the heck out of dodge? 

And that's really all there is to it. Like all things with GM Prep, try not to stress too much and have fun!

 Some Farewell Tips:

• Don't worry about detailing everything. Keeping things simple and a little open works well with how BREAK!!'s rules flow. As an example, you can just say "debris is scattered across the floor" without being too specific. It it may prompt a player to ask if there is anything sharp or big enough to throw as a weapon, or things like that, getting them to further consider the battlefield in their actions.
• Keeping the opponents the battlefield is intended for in mind is obvious, but don't forget to consider the fun things about your adventure site as well. A fire temple might have over-heated areas with the dangerous condition, magic forests might have precarious areas swarming with writhing vines, magic polluted facilities might have status ailment causing gunk in certain spots, and so forth. 
  
• You can make a few quick template maps and reskin them for different adventure sites, I won't tell anyone.

Freebie: Mook Abilities

Mook adversaries are understandably easy to overlook. In many cases they are relegated to just being opponents for low ranking characters or accessories for a more powerful adversary. In addition, the fact that the only variation in their numerical statistics will come from traits means it's easy to write off these sorts of entities and use them exclusively as distractions or background elements. In fact, you could run a perfectly fine BREAK!! Saga that way.

However, I don't think this has to be the case. Mooks can be relevant for a long time with a few tricks. This boils down to the two aspects you have total control over in their design: their gear and abilities.

Gear Considerations

You have to be careful with how you outfit Mooks - depending on the situation, anything they carry might quickly become property of the player characters (which can be a positive or negative, depending on your plans) and if you outfit them too well, they may overwhelm lower ranked individuals. That said, it is a straightforward and easy way to make sure people can't ignore the small fries.

• Mooks with ranged weaponry can harass player characters from the sidelines and may even have a good chance at hitting well armored characters by assisting each other or simply peppering them with lots of attacks. Grenades also work quite well, as it forces players to mind their position and doesn't depend on rolls from the mook themselves to work. Both these options can be a bit of a hassle though, given you need to keep track of ammunition and rate of fire, so its best left to smaller groups of enemies if you can.
• Outfitting mooks with heavier armor obviously makes them harder to hit, and forces players to think of some other way to take them out of a fight or risk whiffing depending on how well armored they are. Shields can also increase their chance of survival, though their parrying potential might be a bit annoying to keep track in large groups. In the case of either, you still need to make sure the mooks have a more active reason to draw the attention of the party in the first place.
• Mooks with other special gear, like explosives to blow open a hole in the wall of a structure the party is defending, ancient devices that might interfere with magic use, or taming gear they are using to direct some great beast around can also create fun encounters and reasons to take note of the minions and not just the main threats.
  

Ability Considerations

When it comes to unique Abilities for Mooks, its a good idea to keep a few things in mind:

• Mooks are never going to have very high Aptitudes, so when giving them offensive or status afflicting abilities, it's better to have these force a Check from the target rather than a contest.
• Support Abilities, like having the power to restore lost hearts or increase the defense of a specific individual are a pretty straightforward way to make dealing with mooks a priority.
  
• Abilities that require several of the same sort of mooks to work in tandem are fun and emphasize that they more of a collective threat than an individual one. It's also a good excuse if you want to justify an Ability that's more powerful than normal for them.
  
• While this is good advice for any Adversary's ability, it's especially important to remember not to make these too complex. Remember, given the nature of these sorts of entities you'll have to keep track of multiple instances of anything you give them!

With the brief advice out of the way, here's some sample Mook Abilities. These are stripped down to their basic mechanics so you can apply them to your own creations and re-work them to fit any themes or fiction you like.

Mana Fence

This mook can create a troublesome barrier when paired with their fellows.

• If 2 or more mooks of this type are in the same Area, they are able to erect some sort of barrier between them - usually a screen made of crackling mana - that grants the Area the Isolated Battlefield Condition. Naturally the condition is removed if said mooks are defeated.
  
• More dangerous variants of this Ability might have a barrier that also adds the Harmful Battlefield Condition to the Area.
• Examples: Floating Shield Link Drones, arcane homunculi that can work together to cast a shield spell, elemental creatures who generate fields of fire or electricity.
  

 

Power Assist 

When assisting an ally, this mook can add to their damage potential rather than their ability to hit.

• When this Mook Assists an ally, they may decide to add the normal +2 bonus to hit or replace that with an additional heart of damage instead. The additional heart of damage can only be applied once - if additional individuals with this Ability want to assist the target, they must provide the to hit bonus instead.
• Examples: Well drilled Old Iron infantry, magical puppets made to look like ancient soldiers, animated melee weapons.
  

 

Boom Buddy

This mook has the unnerving tendency to explode when troubled.

• This Mook combusts when reduced to 0 Hearts, going off with the same effect as a grenade. They may also activate this effect at will, though that reduces them to 0 Hearts immediately.
  
• Variants of this might leave behind a sort of toxic cloud, granting the Hazardous battlefield condition to the area they were in. 
• Very dangerous ones might go off like a bomb instead of a grenade, though if this version is used it's suggested they take a turn to do so and provide some sort of warning, like heating up or making an ominous sizzling noise.
• Examples: Living flames, giant spore clouds, walking wind-up bombs
  

 Hothian Topple

These little mooks often pair up to trip larger foes.

• 2 of these mooks can initiate a maneuver that forces a single target that is large sized or medium sized to make a successful Deftness Check or become Toppled. If 3 of them work together, this Check incurs a Minor (-2) Penalty, and if 4 do so than they incur a Major (-4) Penalty.
• This Ability is used exclusively by Small or Tiny mooks.
• Examples: chib and goblin commandos from New Ore with a rope, wire drones, microverse dimensional strays with appropriately sized hover vehicles
  

Assists as Combo Moves and other thoughts

Chatting in our discord the other week got me thinking of things like Chrono Trigger's Dual and Triple Techniques and the Fastball Special in the X-men comic books. For those unfamiliar, these are essentially attacks and maneuvers where multiple characters will team up and combine their abilities to make a single strike. This sort of thing is all over the media that inspired BREAK!! and after talking a bit with people about how I would implement them in our game, I thought it would be fun to write about here.

I will admit up front that I am cheating a little bit with this entry. Rather than post about a new system or procedure, I instead want to talk about how existing rules can be used to justify these things in-fiction, and tie it to a broader point as well.

In this case, I think BREAK!!'s mechanics for Assists in combat already represent these sort of combo attacks pretty well. To show what I mean, below are a few examples of combining these rules with your character's existing Abilities in a way that personalizes them and makes it seem like they were something the party came up with while they were socializing during downtime.

Attack Assists

It can be easy to underestimate Attack Assists, but sometimes if you want to make sure that a particularly important attack hits an enemy with a high defense, it can be a great way for you to contribute to that. Sometimes it can really be the thing that turns the tide.

While these just provide a pretty straightforward bonus to an allies attack, there is no reason you can't have a bit of fun describing them using skills you already have. Doing so may even open up other opportunities later on in the same conflict. 

Some Example Combo Techniques using Attack Assists

• Startling Reveal: A Factotum or Sneak taking their affinity for staying unseen and using it to get a chance to startle a target and getting them to drop their defenses.
• Dweomer Diversion: A Sage using a non-combat magic ability (such as Glowing Ink) to create a flashy distraction to catch the target's attention.
• Harrowing Gesture: Heretics utilizing their Dreadful Ability to do something uniquely tailored to upset or unnerve a target and leave them open to an attack.

Tactical Assists

Unlike their more concrete cousins, Tactical Assists have this sort of fun fiction built in as you have to describe what you are doing to use them at all. It's even easier to think of them as well practiced maneuvers between allies.

Some Example Combo Techniques using Tactical Assists

• Icarus Shot: One strong character with Supernatural Leaping grabbing another with a missile weapon of some kind and bounding into the air with them in tow so they can take a shot they wouldn't have been able to otherwise.
• Cannon Brawl: Having one character use an Ability to Balloon or Petrify someone, then having another perform an Attack Stunt or Trick to bounce or hurl them into an enemy and topple them.
• Stone Path Strike: A Dwarf using Stone Song to create a ramp or wall for a Raider with Free Runner to dash along it and attack a difficult to reach target, like a colossal creature's strike point.

Ultimately these are just a few simple examples, but my hope is that they might inspire you to come up with your own, or at least give you a chance to show how cool and fun your character is during actions you might normally let fade into the background.

The larger point I want to leave off on is this: 

BREAK!! has a few layers to it, but its a pretty simple game at its core with rules that I think can be stretched and squeezed quite a bit without messing things up. It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking you need very specefic rules to emulate certain things. This works very well for many games but generally I don't think it's the best fit for BREAK!! a lot of the time. 

It's certainly good (and fun) to homebrew and customize, but sometimes what you need is built into the game already if you're willing to change up your angle here and again. When you think of something you want to add in, consider the existing options before jumping headlong into it. If you re-skin or re-flavor something to work for you, you'll save yourself a lot of time that you can use to come up with your next adventure, adversary, or even other house-rule instead.