Review of BREAK!! RPG
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Target age for BREAK!! RPG is 12+ (but could go younger)
BREAK!! RPG has ages 12+ listed on the front of the book, and I think this is pretty accurate based on the reading required. I also think that, if your kid is a strong reader or you are willing to help summarize the rules for them or assist in following the character creation steps, this could be used with younger players as well. That said, I appreciate that BREAK!! RPG is being fair with it’s age ratings and acknowledging an estimated age for trying out independant play.
The mechanics involve addition of small modifiers from your character sheet to a d20 roll, so math and dice tracking should not be too much of a barrier for most players in the recommended age range. For example, you may need to roll 16 + 2 + 2 = 20 from rolling a d20 plus two modifiers instead of something like 3 + 4 + 6 + 2 + 4 + 6 + 3 + 2= 30 from rolling 8d6.
When it comes to the story, there is a glorious setting and tons of interesting plothooks with a variety of themes mixed throughout. Some themes are going to trend a bit more intense, just as some anime and JRPG themes do, but most are pretty accessible for all-ages, and you have freedom to pick and choose what you want in your game to moderate the content.
Setting for BREAK!! RPG is a wonderfully bright and beautifully dark world
BREAK!! RPG’s setting is one of the most amazing ones I have yet to experience.
It is immersive, with bits and pieces of lore and flair shinning through in the descriptions for character creation choices and crystallizing in the section on world exploration, going into such details as to have example script for all of the available languages casually displayed alongside their respective regions.
The world of BREAK!! RPG stretches from a land in perpetual darkness, full of haunting beauty and mysterious nooks to explore, across the twighlight, and on to a boisterous land of perpetual daytime.
The entire span is populated with adventures, peoples, creatures, and secrets to discover and interact with… and the setting doesn’t even stop at the map. In addition to the world in the book (Outer World), there are other lands to explore and that connect to this plane, like Other World, where we exist right now (and where some of your characters may have come from, in classic isekai fashion).
Before even playing, reading about the world itself was a fantastic experience.
Your character in BREAK!! RPG – a guided process and fun tropes
Character creation in BREAK!! RPG takes almost 200 pages to cover, but it was actually very manageable.
There’s a step by step breakdown of the character creation proceedure that is on one reference page at the start of each section, and then, from that overview, you can hone in on just the pages that you feel are important to your character.
For example, you can read through all the pages, if you want, to get every detail, but, if you know you want to make a character that’s just like Senshi from Dungeon Meshi, you can go straight to the Factotum calling page, dwarf page, etc and skip the rest. If you want to play a character who is like She-Ra from She-Ra, you can go straight to the Battle Princess page, human page, etc. and don’t need to read all the details for any of the rest.
The process, in total, has you make 6 choices: Calling, Species, Homeland/History, Traits, Quirk, Details.
By the end of this, you’ll have a 2 page spread (single sided) character sheet with your modifiers from your choices neatly tracked on sliding scales and in easy-to-locate boxes. The number of abilities you can have slowly increases as you advance and caps at five, so you aren’t overwhelemed by a ton of spells and moves and have opportunities to learn as you play.
And… once you get to this point… the character you have is probably going to be pretty amazing. The examples I gave for creating Senshi and She-Ra are just the start, and the amount of flavor put into each character element is so much fun to explore. There’s fun references to all sorts of characters and familiar media, and it is built to give you freedom to mash them together into your own creation too. Character creation was so much fun to explore, and it was worth reading the ~200 pages here to see the effort put into it.
Mechanics in BREAK!! RPG nuance built from easy to understand concepts
BREAK!! RPG’s mechanics, like with character creation, has one page summaries to explain the different types of rolls needed, then allows you to go into more detail in later pages, if needed.
For the most part, rolls run along the line of rolling a d20 (this is the only die in the game) and potentially adding the appropriate modifier(s) from your character sheet or a Major or Minor Bonus. For a standard ability check, you may add just a single apptitude modifier (like a +2). For trailblazing, you roll 1d20 and rely on your Guide to use their apptitude modifier… and maybe roll another d20 to see how lost you get. During combat, you’ll roll 1d20 and add your attack bonus(es) versus a the opponent’s defense.
While each specific roll is broken down to cover their particular nuances across several pages, it is also pretty straightforward to understand rolling a d20 and adding the appropriate thing or checking the table to see how it goes… and I LOVE that. The core mechanic is easy to understand, but you have so much influence on it based on what skills you take or how you arrange your party and put certain individuals in charge of particular roles (and thereby also rolls).
During combat, there are also special tactical moves, like assists, special abilities, or stunts, that can factor in as well. For example, the Factotum calling is a largely non-combat individual, based on their skill build, but they can use their “Combat Coordinated” ability to help direct others from the sidelines, giving them bonuses during a battle. Mechanics are built to encourage working together and being creative with your gameplay whether it is a check or fighting.
And there’s quite a bit more to cover here! There’s mechanics for crafting, exploration, negotiations, and more that are explained, allowing for many different ways to play the game. Personally, I have been really enjoying some of the more slice-of-life elements with crafting and reputation building since the mechanics pay just as much attention there as they do to everything else.
Overall thoughts on BREAK!! RPG
Overall, I’ve quite liked BREAK!! RPG, and we’ve been having a lot of fun with it! I’ve been trying out an inventor-type character (who is from Other World) and baker-type character (from Outer World) who are both focused on finding materials and getting ideas for their respective professions. Kiddo, who is very much into Legend of Zelda right now, basically made Link, and it’s amazing. The world itself has been such a delight to learn about and see connections in, and we have loved the beautiful art and thematic references brightening nearly every page.
Find a copy of BREAK!! RPG
You can get a digital copy of BREAK!! RPG on the Backerkit pre-order page here, and keep an eye on the BREAK!! RPG store for when physical copies are available!
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