A downloadable game

An important note:

The game is no longer available for purchase (neither in PDF format nor in print-on-demand on Amazon).

I'm working with Need Games on a new expanded edition!

Once the work is completed, it will be distributed by Need Games, both in PDF and physical format.

Thanks to everyone who has supported the game to date - your help has allowed the game and the community around it to grow.

P.S. all those who have already purchased the game can continue downloading it without any problem. If you have recently purchased the game on Amazon, don't hesitate to contact me for the PDF if interested.

Matteo




In 1943, the Ministry of Culture and Science of The Enlightened Confederacy ordered an experiment to test the theory of Space-Time Flows, developed by Möbius-Higgs. However, something went wrong: the explosion of one of the laboratory's particle accelerators generated a gate between our world and the other infinite dimensions: the Breach.


The Breach is a game set in a dystopian retro-future.

Inspired by the great science fiction novels of the 70s, The Breach will catapult you through time and space, to discover infinite parallel worlds, called Paradoxes.

As a watcher, you will be called to collect data and information to discover the secrets hidden in the endless universes.


PRODUCT DETAILS

  • Number of players: 3-6
  • Age of players: 13+
  • Length: 2-3 hours per game session
  • Page Count: 82

PRINT ON DEMAND


HIGH PACE

The Breach has a high pace: each mission is a race against the clock. The watchers enter the Paradox and must find information and collect as many samples as possible before their resources run out or the Paradox becomes unstable.

EPISODIC GAME

The game has an episodic structure: a mission can be completed in a single session of two to three hours.

It is the perfect game for those with commitments that make it difficult to meet regularly to play!


SIMPLE MECHANICS

The game is based on the BREATHLESS SRD - the perfect framework to play a survival game.

The core mechanic is simple. Approaches and items are all assigned a die rating, going from 1d4 to 1d12. To face a dangerous obstacle, roll and try to get a 4 or higher to succeed. The catch is, each time you do so, the die rating you picked goes down!


OLD SCHOOL PLAYSTYLE

The Breach is a game that allows you to play in an Old-School style. The players will, above all, have to get by thanks to their intuition and ability to read the situation in the game scenes to decide which approach they believe is best to face a challenge.


The diegetic character sheet


The print-friendly character sheet


Art on this page and in the game is by BEEPLE (Mike Winkelmann). Header image based on art CC BY BEEPLE.
This work is based on Breathless, product of Fari RPGs (https://farirpgs.com/), developed and authored by René-Pier Deshaies-Gélinas , and licensed for our use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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Comments

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(1 edit) (+1)

Hi Matteo, 

The game's great! 

I have a doubt: during the mission's goal choice, the prompt are (obviously) pretty generic. But when I use them on the table, I've got to "tailor" them? And how can I explain this? I mean, if the Citadel doesn't know what's beyond the Breach, how can they say "kill a Gorgotaur" or "put our flag on the top of the highest crystal mountaintop"? 


Thanks. 

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Hi!
The mission's objective is always generic - also for the Citadel and the Characters.

It's up to the Watchers to decide how to interpret the objective... but of course, they will answer for their decision to the Citadel.

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Ohhh nice! Thank for your response! Just to clarify, if the mission is "kill a creature and bring back its body" they could choose ANY creature they face, it is correct?

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Exactly. Of course, HOW they will bring the body, and HOW the Citadel will react it's all to be find out :D

Thank you so much!

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- Buon giorno
ho questo gioco e lo trovo bellissimo, solo una domanda sugli INVOLUCRI, perchè dettagliarli cosi bene se a livello di statistiche sono tutti uguali?Vorrei trovare un modo per renderli diversi , volendoli differenziare come lo fareste?
grazie e complimenti
-Good morning I have this game and think it's awesome, just a question about the CASINGS, why detail them so well if statistically they're all the same? I would like to find a way to make them different, wanting to differentiate them how would you do it? thanks and congratulations

Hi! Nice to meet you. I'm happy you like the game :)

The Breach is a very light-rules game BUT if you like to have more details about the Cloak, you can add sub-systems to it.
For example, in the manual I wrote about the Communication System or the Flashlight.
You can easily assign them dice, and ask the players to reduce them every time they use them or everytime the move from one zone to another. Also, you can decrease them as consequences of a Reaction Roll.
So, if they need to reduce a die but it's already at D4... well, they are running out of this system, and they cannot use it for the rest of the mission.

ok thanks ^^and good work

(+1)

is there any update when this will be available in English? A friend of mine bought it before it was taken down and ran a game, and I loved it! Looking forward to being able to get a copy!

Hi! The official launch was delayed because the publisher is working on it (for the marketing and so on), but it's already available online if you want. Are you in the USA or Europe?

I’m in the US. Where can I get it online?

Here: https://studio2publishing.com/products/the-breach-a-science-fiction-roleplaying-... - and than you can redeem the pdf from DTRPG.

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Thanks!

Thank you. I'm happy you like the game!

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Will the expanded version be available in english?

Yes! The publisher (Need Games) presented it during GenCon, and it will be available soon on their website and DTRPG.

Awesome! thanks!

(+1)

Hi,

I am reading the pdf version of the Breach, I plan to play it soon.

I love the game proposal, the theme and the game construction.

I like the fact that not everything is said.

I'm looking forward to the paper version!

(I'm french, I hope I have a good english to say that you're game is fun!)

Thank you for your comment! And your english is perfect :) Let me know how you find the game after playing it!

(+1)

Just bought a hard copy of The Breach on Amazon.  I have an excited group of players, and we are looking forward to spooling up our Watchers.  What's the best way to make contact for a PDF copy?

Hi! I'm happy you're excited about the game! For the pdf file, please, write to me at matteo.sciutteri_AT_gmail.com

(+1)

Ordered the paperback version from amazon.se today! Looking forward reading, playing and (hopefully) reviewing it.

Oh, thank you for supporting my game. I'm looking forward to your review! And if you contact me in private, I'll give you the pdf too!

(+1)

Nice! matteo.sciutteri@gmail.com?

Yes!

(+2)

Hey Matteo! I absolutely love the Breach and will definitely be following any updates as this gets work gets finalized. As I'm working on my own game, I wanted to ask a bit about the episodic mission structure.

Implementing a point-crawl generation mechanic for every mission, along with its various traits, seems so simple and genius! Did you have any resources you pulled inspiration for this from? I'd love to do something similar in my game, but on a bigger scale with a more concrete setting.

(+1)

Hi! Thank you for your kind words! I'm happy you're enjoying The Breach.

About point crawl, I found interesting an article in on Alexandrian website and a game called Vast in the Dark 

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Hello! Is the print version on Amazon being kept up to date with the Small Changes updates on the PDF?

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Yes! I’m keeping both versions as aligned as possible.

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I just got the printed version from Amazon today and it looks great, good quality paper and there is something about that cover art that just feels nice to have it in physical format :)

I’m happy to hear you like it! Please, let me know if you need also the pdf file and I will send you it.

(+1)

It would be great if it's not too much trouble, it's always helpful to have a PDF for quick search during play :)

sure! Please send an email to matteo.sciutteri@gmail.com and I’ll send you a key!

(+1)

I only got a fast look into it and i'm already in love.

The system suits perfectly and it's like it was meant for this.

Thank you :)!!!

Thank you! As a base for the core mechanic, I'm using the Breathless SRD, but I added a lot of "layers" to expand the game scope.
I'm glad you appreciate it!

If you will play it, please let me know how your session will go!

(+3)

This game is beautiful, there's no two ways about that. It is a unique take on the themes of retro futurism while still being recognizable as a love letter to the genre, and to old school style. I was honestly blown away by how LARGE this game is. It expands on the Breathless system in a way that simultaneously feels like it was written in 1980-something and 2030 all at once. Full disclosure, I haven't read the entire thing yet, but I'm loving what I've seen and I'm excited to read more.

(+2)

wow :) thank you so much for your comment! I’m looking for your final verdict after you read the whole game!

(+2)

Looks nice! Love the aesthetic and the mechanics seem fun.

Minor quibble:

In chargen you have tables for die rolls like 2d20 and 3d10, but you have to understand that this does NOT result in even distributions. Tables like these are better suited to subtables where you roll a die to determine a subtable and another die to pick from that. For example, I'm not really sure if you intended repair tools or plastic containers to be rare, and all character names skewed towards the middle of the alphabet.

(+1)

You’re right. I will split the tables (or I will find another solution).

Thank you for the feedback. it was naïve not to check the distribution (and I usually pay attention to the statistics - I was probably too tired).  Sorry for that again.

(+1)

Hi!
I fixed the tables in the first update.
Thank you again for the feedback.