Loading tweets...It worked out really well, actually. The books about this one weren’t quite as engaging.
Floyd and I have been toying with the idea of getting into the Mouse Guard RPG. The PA Report did a little review on it recently, and they had me at “forces you to play your character.” Not to mention that the author David Peterson’s artwork is gorgeous enough to get you into that world without even trying. I recently read the third book, “Legends of the Guard,” and between Peterson and his guest artists I was ready to grow some fur and strap on a(n adorable!) little cape.
And then we started thinking about it realistically.
Not the RPG mind you, but straight-up mice. We started doing some research. By this I mean Floyd wikipedia’d things that could kill mice. The list was not small. And there was little mention of the smithing and swordplay skill among Order Rodentia. We started wondering if our hirsute little avatars were really up to the task.
We toe a fine line with roleplaying and fantasy settings in general, about how real we really want it. I don’t anticipate an RPG any time soon where I’m going to roll up my character Bernie, the Level 2 Bus Boy (Charisma: -1), but Fist Gasoline, Level 42 Badass isn’t a good time either. It becomes like the third Matrix movie, where Neo starts doing something, and you’re like “Come on, Wachowskis. Really? With no eyes?” You need that “real” component to induce struggle, which is what makes the fantasy satisfying anyway: having to try to succeed against formidable odds.
Just maybe not this formidable.
