Through the Breach Campaign Document part 3: the House

THE BEAUFORT MANOR

Like most structures in Malifaux no one is certain of who the original builders were. The estate rests in Malifaux near the area where the wealthiest house give way to the poorest. It’s also close enough to the quarantine zone that people mistake if it belongs there.

The house is a large manor with a thriving estate. From the street outside you can discern very little of the house or grounds. The large stone wall is topped with iron bars ending in jagged points. A huge gate wrenches and squeals when opened. A hedge built inside the wall grows wild and unkempt stretching high above the outer wall blocking all view of the house. This is an extremely well cultivated image. Thatcher works hard to maintain this illusion.

Once through the gate and inside the walls the view changes substantially. The grounds are covered in wonderfully maintained topiary’s. The grass is green and thriving. Numerous flowers, fountains, and shade trees dot the landscape. A huge spiraling hedge maze rests in the backyard covering a large stretch of property. There’s a fine orchard filled with cherry trees that. The orchard hosts a small pavilion for intimate moments.

The house is a picture of style and sophistication. The large white two story manor house is covered in ivy. A series of six marble pillars hold up a balcony on the second level. The interiors are elegant and serviceable.

Doctor Beaufort likes a house that feels lived in. As such the interiors feel lived in. He uses the furniture, walks the floors, and encourages what few guests he’s had to do so as well.

There are several rooms in the house that are easily available:

First floor: Grand Hall, Kitchen, Dining Room, Study, Library, Ball Room, Music Room, Cloak Room, Family Room, Sitting Room, Mud room, and a Pantry. Possible rooms: a pool, weapons room, gallery, billiards room, and a trophy room.

Second Floor: Hosts six guest rooms, a fabulous main bed room, a bathing room, and a private bath.

The Basement: A couple of storage rooms, a large furnace room, and a wine cellar. Possible rooms: lab, workshop, weapons room, and a cold storage room.

There is also an attic.

A few notes on the rooms.

Grand Hall: a large wrought iron and blue crystal chandelier hangs in the hall. In the presence of powerful magic the chandelier glows green.

Library: a faint breeze blows in this room. Beaufort has searched for a secret passage but has yet to find one. He’s even removed all of the books and shelves, pulled up the carpet, and is considering pulling bits from the walls.

Trophy Room: The room is filled with the hunting trophies. They came with the house. The centerpiece of the trophies are the three sabretooth chimera heads over the large fire place. Beaufort is still trying to figure out what to do with the trophies. The only reason he keeps them is he’s confident that some of the trophies disappear from time to time. The mystery of it fascinates him. Though he is confident that it’s dangerous due to some of the animal trophies kept here.

Bathing Room: The bathing room is a large tiled space with a few smaller iron tubs with privacy screens set up. The center of the room features a large inset heated pool. It’s not deep but is ringed by seating and can host several people at once.

Dining Room: The room is dominated by a large table capable of seating twenty guests. The only room with soul stone powered lights. The lights can change color. The color of the lights is controlled by a dial near the kitchen. Possible colors: red, green, yellow, blue, and an odd violet color.  Do the lights have an effect based on the color?

Sitting Room: a large comfortable room. An ather vox (magic radio) rests on a small side table. Several comfortable chairs, a sofa, and a chaise lounge are situated around the room. A small tray with various alcohols and glasses rests in one corner. It also features the only picture of Beaufort. A large portrait of Beaufort, a woman, and a young boy hangs over the large gothic fireplace.

Guest rooms: Each of the guest rooms is done in a different color. Other than that, they are all warm, inviting rooms. They each have their own small fireplace and a private toilet. Each room also contains a wardrobe decorated with a different woodcut scene on the front. Green: Stags in a forest clearing. Blue: Dolphins leaping through waves. Pink: A merry go round filled with fantastic animals. White: Rabbits in snow. Yellow: A field of wild flowers. Beige: Prairie dogs playing a dessert valley. Do the wood cuts move? Are the significant? Do they foretell anything?

The Wine Cellar: The wine cellar is not original to the house. When Malifaux was occupied the first time before the breach closed for one hundred years the family that lived here built over the original room. Beaufort hasn’t realized this. The room was originally a scrying chamber. If the hardwood floors are pried up it will reveal several symbols carved into the floor. A clue to the room original purpose is carved into the walls. A fate reading is inscribed there. It begins up the left wall from the stairs with two lines, one line on the far wall, and the final two lines are down the right wall and finish by the stairs. The prophecy will be created during character creation. It will be the fate of the house/campaign.

I should explain Fate. In Through the Breach characters are generated through a sort of tarot reading mechanic that gives them numbers to use as stat and skill numbers. It also generates a characters fate. These are five line poems where each line is played out over the course of a single session. The campaign will last until each character plays through their entire poem. I intend to have an additional fate reading done that will pertain to the campaign or house, I haven’t decided.

It’s one of the things I like about Through the Breach, the campaign has a set length. We play five sessions for each character and then the story is over. You can keep playing, but I like the fact that the story has an ending and we reach it. It lets players bring in new characters and ideas. I will be adding an extra five games to this story by including a fate reading beyond the players.

I'll be back next week with starting notes on the overarching story and the evil plot.

Through the Breach Campaign Document part 2: Characters

There are a few people who help maintain the house. I think these should be fun people who are sources of support and help but could also function as red herrings.

Mrs. Galling: Housekeeper. She’s a stern older woman who’s been employed by Doctor Beaufort for a short time; a few months at the best. She takes her job seriously. Does excellent work. Leaves every day by 6PM, just after finishing dinner. She’s used to Doctor Beaufort, and has gotten to know him better than even he understands. That said, she’s very loyal to her employer and won’t speak a cross word against him. She also won’t reveal any of his secrets.

James Mason: Driver. James has worked for Doctor Beaufort for the last few weeks. He’s anxious to do a good job. He’s a former Guild Guard who got shot during a mine uprising. His leg never healed right, but he’s still formidable. Large and stocky he moves with a slow uneven gate. He keeps the coach in excellent condition and takes pride in how the chrome and bronze shine as the coach rolls down the road. He also takes care of the two horses that pull the coach; Church and Mimsey. James doesn’t live on the property but is close enough that he can arrive in around five minutes should his services be needed. James has a reasonable understanding of who Doctor Beaufort is though he doesn’t know much about him. Being the driver he’s rarely in a position to speak with the doctor. He does know everywhere the doctor frequents should the players need to track him down.

Thatcher: Groundskeeper. Thatcher came with the house. He’s been here since before the doctor owned the property. Thatcher keeps the grounds well. The grass is green and the plants are healthy. He purposely keeps the shrubs ringing the property looking unkempt and forgotten. He is quiet, seems to pop up when no one expects it, and gets angry if anything happens to one of the many plants and topiaries one the grounds. Thatcher has spent some time speaking with Doctor Beaufort and has a good opinion of the doctor. If asked he won’t discuss the specifics of any conversation willingly but will indicate they talked about the house and grounds with specific attention paid to the hedge maze and the possibility of a greenhouse. Thatcher lives on the grounds. He has a hut located inside the hedge maze. It’s possible to find but requires finding two separate hidden levers that cause sections of the maze to open.

Thatcher may be a member of the Neverborn.

The good Doctor: Doctor Beaufort is a dogged researcher with a strong sense of civic responsibility. Finding several patterns of disturbing behavior cropping up around the city he’s tried and failed to get the Governor and the Guild involved. Since then he has taken steps to insert himself into these matters. Beaufort has always been a skilled physician, but a crippling illness has taken his once steady hands and made it impossible for him to perform any of the form surgeries he was once capable of. Still wanting to help, he recently discovered a series of disappearances that were plaguing parts of the city. While researching these matters, he’s discovered far more irregularities. With the Guild rebuking his efforts he’s decided to find outside assistance.

He will be absent during the first session, a puzzle map has been stolen from the entry way of the house. He’s gone to retrieve it from the thieves. By the end of the first adventure the puzzle will return via courier. When Doctor Beaufort returns? I’m not sure right now. He will eventually be back at the manor house, but it may be a few sessions.

Possible Characters:

Abigail Mason: Sister to Jake Tanner, Abigail is invited into the home by Doctor Beaufort. She may be encountered by the party while investigating Jake’s suicide. Abigail is a seamstress who’s struggling to make ends meet in Malifaux since her husband died in a mine “accident”. Abagail and her son Benjamin are innocents in this. If introduced they will be a source of character development and people to protect.

Benjamin Mason: Benjamin is a normal ten year old. He moves into the house with his mother. He will mostly be included as a red herring since my players will probably assume I’m going with the possessed child bit. I will play into this. He will probably spend time in the play room talking with his uncle.

The ghost of Jake Tanner: Jake is the man who stole the puzzle board. He was put up to it, sort of. He was actually there to hide an amulet on the property but was discovered by Mrs. Galling as he was leaving after hiding the amulet. When she found him he grabbed the puzzle board as a distraction from his real purpose. He thought he had made his escape but Doctor Beaufort cornered him. With fear of revealing who hired him and endangering his family, Jake took his own life. Unfortunately, his spirt became bound to his wedding ring. Beaufort took the ring, an engraved pocket watch, and a photo of Jake’s family for further investigation. Jake bears no ill will to the Doctor and depending on how the party treats him and his sister and nephew he could function as a sort of ally.

Outside NPC’s

Sargent Percy: Elizabeth Percy is a Guild officer. She’s one of the few street level soldiers responsible for dealing with crime. She exhausted with Beaufort. He’s tried to bring the disappearances to her attention and she has ignored him. Ultimately, she just doesn’t care. She once believed in the law and trying to help but Malifaux has worn her down. She no longer cares about the little people from the slums. In her experience they’re always killing each other, stealing, and running away. She’s given up on these small cases of trying to figure out who went missing. It no longer matters to her. Is it possible to recruit/redeem her? Maybe. The group would have to put in a nearly titanic effort to do so.

Fa Ping, The Velvet Crane: Ping was born with a frail constitution. His body had betrayed him. However, he was smart, and looked innocent, this gave him an air of being above suspicion. A trait the Ten Thunders enjoy. He was recruited to the criminal organization as a look out and a courier. He spent several years as a child working his way around the organization and getting to know people. Eventually he began to overhear things that people needed. Then he started introducing people to others who needed their aid. Soon he started incurring favors. People owed him. Ping, is the man who gets things done. He knows someone or can find someone who needs help and gets them to do what you need. When you owe the Velvet Crane a favor you keep your end of the bargain. The shadows whisper the stories of those who failed or betrayed him, the ends are never pretty.

In truth, the reputation is only slightly earned. Few people have ever failed Ping and he’s usually very understanding about such things. He forgives you but you will repay the debt. Betrayal is a different matter. A few people have turned against him or the Ten Thunders and he’s called in favors to have them dealt with. Favors from very dangerous people. While he would prefer to not get so bloody, a message must be sent to those who betray the organization, and he does so with a heavy heart. He’s the one who sent Jake turner into the Beaufort Manor. It was an attempt to dissuade the Doctor’s investigation. It’s also the reason Jake killed himself to escape capture. Having heard the stories he was afraid for his family.

I should take a moment to talk about the Guild here since I’ve mentioned them a couple of times. The guild are the law in Malifaux. They control the production of Soul Stone and use that to keep people in line. They also control the Breach and the train that leads between Malifaux and Earthside. The Guild are corrupt beyond all reason. They’ve outlawed the use of magic, replacing body parts with machinery, or investigating any on the long lost technologies that were discovered on Malifaux when the first explorers came through the Breach. To do this they employ, magic users, people with body replacements, and lost technologies. The only thing they’ve made illegal but don’t employ themselves is necromancy.

It is of note that they’re really bad at their job. The lead forensic investigator and the city’s grave keeper are both leaders of the necromancer movement. There are many other examples of this. The Guild is corrupt and dangerous. They use some old world tactics to keep people in line. The only legal currency in Malifaux is Guild Script, actual money is illegal.

That said, they do have some heroic figures working for them who are trying to make Malifaux safer. Lady Justice is a Guild Officer who hunts the forces of the roaming undead and protects the citizens of the city. The Ortega family are a group of demon hunters who live in the wilds keep the land safe from attack.

Basically, the Guild as an organization is corrupt but many of its members are not.

I think that’s good for today. I’ll come back and post some more later. Next time I’ll talk about the house.

Through the Breach Campaign Document part 1

I’ve decide I want to run a campaign for Through the Breach. For those of you unfamiliar with TtB, it is an RPG based in the Malifaux world. Malifaux is a parallel world found by passing through a giant hole in the fabric of reality. Thematically, it’s a fantasy, western, Victorian, gothic, steampunk, wuxia, Lovecraftian, comedy, horror. I know that’s a lot, but it’s pretty accurate. Basically, the world is filled with necromancers, magic users, cowboys, inventors, gremlins, and unspeakable nightmares all vying for control of the world and a resource called Soul Stones.

That’s as much as I’ll describe the world. I will give brief descriptions of things as I come across them. For the most part, it’s a nice hodgepodge of all these wonderful genres that meld in a beautifully fun and unique way.

PLOT:

For my campaign I’ve been playing with a couple of different ideas. I’ve decided that my group will be brought together by a Doctor Anton Beaufort. Each member of the team will be summoned by a letter that will indicate some personal detail that may hint to a useful exchange. They message will also include a train ticket from Earth through the Breach and into Malifaux.

As the campaign continues the group will be guests in Beaufort Manor. From there they will investigate various events that and mysteries that occur around Malifaux City. Each mystery will be connected to an overarching plot. What that plot is and what the players will need to do to reach the end of the puzzle will be the key thrust of the story.

Immediate mysteries: Several people have been disappearing from the streets of Malifaux city. Every sixth night at exactly midnight a person goes missing. The person who vanishes lives two streets over from the person who previously vanished. The path is making a direct route across Malifaux City. Beaufort is the only one paying attention right now. However, if the pattern continues it will enter the wealthier district of Malifaux City in three or four kidnappings. What Beaufort doesn’t know is there are actually a kidnapping every third night. There are two lines moving across the city from different direction. In eleven kidnappings the lines will intersect.

Someone broke into the manor house to steal a puzzle board. It’s not even a particularly valuable board. They ignored everything else to try and steal the board. Beaufort will retrieve it quickly but why steal it and who did the thief work for. The thief threw himself into the way of a large wagon when cornered and was crushed under the hooves of the two massive steam powered horses pulling the wagon. Beaufort managed to retrieve a locket and a picture from the man’s remains. Where do they lead?

Beaufort has been tracking a series of magic power flares through the city. There’s no pattern he can detect but they are becoming more and more frequent.

As a sub-plot the Beaufort Manor will hold a few puzzles for the party to solve. Over the course of the campaign they’ll find some of these puzzles. I intend for them to find a couple in the first session.

POSSIBLE PUZZLES

1: There will be a diary that refers to rooms that aren’t in the manor house.

2: A Puzzle board that hangs in the grand foyer has been stolen and will return by the end of the first adventure.

3: A riddle inscribed in the wall in the wine cellar leads to a lost passage.

4: A set of keys that fit no lock in the house.

5: A door in the attic that’s been boarded up.

6: An antique Mirror that’s been covered in a tarp, locked in an iron cage with a sturdy lock, and hidden in the back of a large wardrobe.

7: A broken jewelry box that holds a locket with a torn picture.

8: A wind up ballerina statue that only/always dances at midnight.

9: A painting that shows a room in the house that doesn’t exist.

Some of these should appear in the player’s rooms. I like the diary, mirror, ballerina statue, and painting for this. I may come up with more. I don’t really have any idea what these lead to yet. I may use some, none, or all of them. Also, they probably won’t come across some of these right away. I can see missing the attic and cellar items for a few games. The key ring would probably be in a study desk and could be grabbed in hopes of helping them get around the house.

That's what I have for now. I'll drop some more here later. I think I'll start writing up stuff on the characters. If you have any input, ideas, or places I can go for cool puzzles O'd love to hear.