I opened my MG today, and the comic that came with it was really … useful. Somehow, from the rulebook, I got a very low-fantasy, ‘realistic’ vibe about the setting, as if anthropomorphous mice were the only departure from reality. (The large stone fortress of Lockhaven being the one exception.)
I think all the North American ‘denizens’ contributed.
But seeing Darkhaven was really eye opening - it’s like Mouse Moria! It made the setting possibilities expand in my mind enormously. It’s really fantasy, but with mice! Also, the storehouse under Lockhaven was also really wicked - I love the admonition carved above the door!
Interesting. I haven’t read the new issue yet, but what you’re describing is definitely not the sense of the setting I got from the first comic collection, a sense I agree is upheld by the rulebook. It looks like some serious changes are introduced in the Winter story.
I very much agree. I want to eventually run a low fantasy game with Mouse Guard because it hits so many of the buttons that I like to focus on in a game - the weather specifically. That is something that I think is so often overlooked in gaming. I like it when the story is about the intrepid protagonist is soaking wet from traveling in the autumn rain and is sneaking up onto the enemy while crawling over slick colored leaves.
Sure, any game can use that kind of color and maybe a test roll or two for good measure but a lot of the time I find that players just yawn at such things. With Mouse Guard it’s part of the game and it is something that I want to project into parallel genres.
The views of the Lockhaven in the graphic novel Fall 1152 clearly show it to be a city built inside a fortress… it’s not a medieval city by any means!
Mr. Petersen has a very interesting view; I’ve not read any of Winter, but fall is not a “light and fluffy” setting; it’s a setting of fighting the dark from the shadows.
Its not what you fight, nor even what you fight for… but how much will you sacrifice for what you fight for?