Hello guardmice,
I come bearing news from Lockhaven. This isn’t an official announcement, but I finally have some actual news for you all and I wanted to share.
Tonight, I delivered the Mouse Guard second edition rulebook file to Archaia. David and I have been at work on the second edition for the last six months. We’ve been gently tweaking rules and reediting the book, both in the text and art. It’s been my pleasure to have David involved at every step of the process. A few weeks ago he was here in NYC and sat with me as we recreated all of the patrols using the revised recruitment rules. It’s been great to work so closely with him.
I tried to keep the changes to Mouse Guard is minimal as possible. I like Mouse Guard. It’s light and open, while providing enough structure that the game moves along without too much effort. The main areas that changed:
[ul]
[li]Conflict: Thor and I simplified the individual team and multiple team rules. It’s all very straight-forward now. We did not include the rules from Torchbearer, btw. If you want those rules, you can play TB or port them yourself.
[/li][li]Wises: We gutted wises and ported over the systems from Torchbearer. This necessitated some minor changes to the Traits rules, too.
[/li][li]Recruitment: I rejiggered Recruitment to make it faster and to make the characters slightly more skilled to start, with a solid base of skills.
[/li][li]The Mouse Guard dice and cards are now a part of the basic rules explanations in the main rule book.
[/li][/ul]
Aside from that, we made little tweaks here and there while trying to preserve the character and atmosphere of the game. We did not include any of the boxed set material in the main rule book. Why? Because the rule book is too big as it is. We don’t need to add more material. And because we’re revising all of those materials. Most of the boxed set materials—booklet, cards, dice and screen—will be available as separate items and everything will also be included in a revised second edition boxed set. At this time, the boxed set materials are with the editor. Once I receive the corrections, I’ll make the changes and send the finished files to Archaia and production can begin in earnest. Hopefully that will happen in the next two weeks.
After I submit the rest of the files, the production is once again in Archaia’s hands. It could take three months, it could take three years. It’s hard to tell with them. But your steady pressure over the past few years tweeting at them, talking to them at shows and emailing them has really made a difference. So keep it up! We’re almost there!
In the meantime, David and I have been working on a side project that we’d like to share with you. It’s a small board game—Sword & Strongholds—taken from the Mouse Guard comics. We’re publishing it (not Archaia) and we’re going to launch the Kickstarter this week (the current plan is Tuesday). Hopefully, this will tide you over until the RPG materials are done. Check it out and let me know what you think.
Lots of new art and a new cover by David. He did it over one week at the end of January while I peered over his shoulder and tried really hard not geek out.
Regarding S&S, a lot of the comments are about the card stock. Why do people care about the card stock? Can anyone give me insight into this?
I can’t speak for everyone, but I know that a lot of gamers (myself included) care a lot about the card stock, particularly its thickness. There’s a very different feel between the different types of cards, and since most of the game is spend holding them, it’s nice to have good, sturdy-feeling cards, especially because there don’t seem to be a lot of them. (With a bigger deck, you might want flimsier cards that shuffle easier and aren’t so thick as to make the deck unwieldy when stacked.)
RPG 2nd Ed.: To be fair, I did some new artwork (cover, boxed set cover, 3 sets of cards, and new portraits). And we updated art in the rulebooks wherever possible with newer pieces not available when the original game was released. The real treat is how well the new rule book flows and how much more user friendly & useful the cards are with Luke’s redesign of them.
S&S: Once the Kickstarter goes Live, Luke and I will really need your help to get this game off the ground, so if you decide to back it, please share with all your gaming friends through social media.
