I like him, he's down to earth, and fits well with the mood of the comics. His friend and enemy are also believable and well-fleshed-out, but still have room to grow and develop.
Gear: A balanced sword, a bow and arrows, a pouch of herbs
Fate: 1
Persona: 1
Connor is from Copperwood, born to Jasper and Moira who are both enterprising smiths well known in town for their fine works. Connor is a black-furred Guardmouse known for his generous nature and ability to make friends. He firmly believes that you help yourself by helping your friends, and is always more concerned with how his fellow Guardsmice are feeling; the Copperwood independent streak manifests through his unwillingness to burden other mice with his problems.
When not on active patrol, Connor spends his time as a smith for the guard, something his parents are very proud of. When not called upon to repair various metalworks, he is usually spending his time with his Aunt Quinn, with whom he is very close; she was his mentor in the guard. She gave him his cloak on graduation, which is cyan, because of his pleasant disposition. Not only that, however, she gave him her sword, which he treasures and sees as a good-luck charm.
Connor's senior artisan is Arthur the Brewer. He taught Connor about a great deal of herb-lore, though it was all primarily directed towards making beer.
On patrol, Connor is like his Aunt; he serves as the group's healer and woodsmouse. He has good eyes, especially at night, and is very skilled at providing medicinal care when on the trail. He has gained a small reputation within the guard as the mouse you want on your patrol when you're going out in the dark.
Connor's enemy is a mine foreman from his hometown Copperwood, Hannidy. Soon after he joined the Guard, Connor returned home for the winter with Quinn. While procuring some ore for his parents' smithy, he discovered that Hannidy refused to pay his miners full wages. Connor exposed him and they have been bitter enemies since.
His friend is Bruce, a young hunter from Lockhaven. Bruce wanted to join the guard, and was in the pool of applicants, but unfortunately did not make the cut, and so joined one of the hunting groups for Lockhaven. Connor has grown very close and sees Bruce as a little brother; Bruce often seeks him out for advice and for stories from his guard patrols, which Connor gladly shares.
That character is great. Your belief is pretty much perfect, I have mouse-envy.
Rainfall had mentioned gathering tonight for this, in about 20 minutes, for which I am now present for ;o
e~ Arcanis/others: I was under the impression that only Skills and Wises used the "# checks +1" template, and Traits all started at level 1. Am I mistaken? +1 die to every roll related to your 2 or 3 traits sounds too good to be right for starting characters.
Rainfall mentioned IRC, but I have next to no experience with that so I don't know if that was referring to the regular penny arcade one or some super secret CF subforum one or what.
yeah, she told me over google talk. it's all good though. i think it'd be pretty hard to get a game going, since while it's not particularly difficult to make a mouse guard character, it's a pretty involved and thought-provoking process.
It seems very cool.
I might entertain the idea of running a pbp of this someday, but I would want to learn the system up proper and write a bunch before I really considered it. ;o we'll see.
I'm going to start a PbP game here. I'll probably post something Friday night or Saturday morning. Work is pretty busy for me at the moment, so I have to wait for the weekend.
Got my book yesterday, very neat! I especially like how you're rewarded later for taking risks, harming your cause with your Traits, giving in on ties, and going against your belief. A great way to spur roleplaying and difficult character decisions. I'm planning on running a game for friends sometime soon, I'll post how it goes.
The advancement system is extremely cool, very Elder Scrolls-ish without the shitty parts of that system.
Something that I doubt could ever happen in a game, but would be un-fucking-believably awesome if it did: 20,000 mice declaring war on and killing a fucking bear. Wow.
OK, here's a question: Is there any reason to take a straight axe or spear when you can get a halberd instead? I'm not seeing one.
I love the scripted conflict resolution mechanic, too. Almost like a card game, having to guess what your opponent will do and try to stay ahead of them. I imagine keeping a poker face will become important in play.
OK, here's a question: Is there any reason to take a straight axe or spear when you can get a halberd instead? I'm not seeing one.
I love the scripted conflict resolution mechanic, too. Almost like a card game, having to guess what your opponent will do and try to stay ahead of them. I imagine keeping a poker face will become important in play.
Burning Wheel is far more geared towards role playing than most games. It isn't about maximising how much damage your character does, but maximising the development of your character. If a straight spear or a straight axe makes more sense for your character, then there's your reason.
There's no real downside to using a halberd, but again there's no real downside to answering the character creation questions so as to get yourself a really high Nature, Circles, and Resources if you are careful what skills and such you take.
It comes down to role-playing I guess, you choose a spear or axe because that's what your character would use. Just like how you would say your character is not afraid of predators because you're planning on playing them that way, not because you were planning on taking the bold trait.
Actually, there's one other thing that bothers me: why do the mice live so friggin' long? I mean, I guess it shouldn't bother me when they're toting swords and making maps, but they aren't all that anthropomorphized otherwise. I figured they'd live about as long as normal mice, giving them a bit of that mayfly tragedy thing.
Do they go over this in the comic? I mean, I could see lengthening their lifespans; otherwise you might end up with, "Ah, you goddamned whippersnappers have it easy! I remember in an ancient time called Winter, white powder fell from the sky and froze you where you stood! We called it Snow!"
delroland on
EVE: Online - the most fun you will ever have not playing a game.
"Go up, thou bald head." -2 Kings 2:23
well, it's as Delro says - the idea is that yeah they're less anthropomorphic than some, but it's so you can play multiple seasons, and you don't have characters aging super-fast :P
Certainly doesn't mean they have to live a hundred years; maybe they only live to be ten or fifteen. It would allow for the same freedom of character growth while still maintaining that a mouse's life is fleeting.
delroland on
EVE: Online - the most fun you will ever have not playing a game.
"Go up, thou bald head." -2 Kings 2:23
I have to admit it seemed rather strange to me as well, especially since it's stressed how dangerous life is for the mice. That a mouse would be able to survive 10, 15, or 30 years while under such odds seems to go against the whole mouse survival method of having high mortality balanced by high reproduction rates.
Might have been something that was avoided to stop the game from seeming too grim for younger players maybe.
Marshmallow on
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INeedNoSaltwith blood on my teethRegistered Userregular
edited February 2009
the comics don't exactly emphasize 'the survival method of having high mortality balanced by high reproduction'
more emphasizes survival by having really dedicated mice
I also doubt Mouse Guard mice have litters. Theoretically, though, an extended campaign might feature overpopulation as a direct consequence to the PC's being too successful in missions.
delroland on
EVE: Online - the most fun you will ever have not playing a game.
"Go up, thou bald head." -2 Kings 2:23
The society of a species that only lives 10 years or so looks nothing like one that could live 60+, as some characters have been implied to be pushing. Look at their architecture, it just wouldn't be possible. Life would be too frantic. Two years intro into the Guard as a tenderpaw? That's probably 30% of your lifespan after you figure in some risk beyond natural causes :P Two years before that growing to adulthood.... ;o
It just wouldn't work. You can't accomplish human-ish things (as they do) in so little time. How many years does it take to become a mason who can build a castle wall? Can you live that long? Can you live long enough to teach someone else when you're done?
They basically would become bees.
Still, does this imply a standard human-like lifespan for all animals? Or do larger creatures also scale up, and live for hundreds of years? Or because they all seem to lack the intelligence of the mice, are they still short-lived brutes?
Posts
It looks like a very well-made character so far.
trying my hand at my own:
Age: 22
Hometown: Copperwood
Fur Color: Black
Cloak Color: Cyan
Guard rank: Guardmouse
Parents: Jasper and Moira (smiths)
Senior Artisan: Arthur the Brewer
Mentor: Aunt Quinn
Friend: Bruce the Hunter
Enemy: Hannidy
Belief: "You help yourself by helping your friends."
Instinct: "Give away what you don't need."
-Abilities-
Nature (mouse): 5
Will: 3
Health: 5
Resources 4 (practices smithing in winter(+1), parents are smiths(+1), buys gifts (-1), not thrifty (+0), packs carefully(+1))
Circles 4 (friendly, family member in the guard)
(x's are checks)
-Traits-
Independent (x)
Generous (x)
-Skills-
Fighter (xx) 3
Healer (xx) 3
Pathfinder (xxx) 4
Persuader (x) 2
Smith (x) 2
Survivalist (xxx) 4
-Wises-
Night-wise (x) 2
Trail-wise (x) 2
Gear: A balanced sword, a bow and arrows, a pouch of herbs
Fate: 1
Persona: 1
having the tome in my grubby paws... such a nice book
very well produced and quite nice to look at - it's the type of book i would definitely show off on a coffee table.
so who's running it and when?
Rainfall had mentioned gathering tonight for this, in about 20 minutes, for which I am now present for ;o
e~ Arcanis/others: I was under the impression that only Skills and Wises used the "# checks +1" template, and Traits all started at level 1. Am I mistaken? +1 die to every roll related to your 2 or 3 traits sounds too good to be right for starting characters.
EDIT: Or what Arcanis said above.
fix'd
i rather like it.
I might entertain the idea of running a pbp of this someday, but I would want to learn the system up proper and write a bunch before I really considered it. ;o we'll see.
The advancement system is extremely cool, very Elder Scrolls-ish without the shitty parts of that system.
Something that I doubt could ever happen in a game, but would be un-fucking-believably awesome if it did: 20,000 mice declaring war on and killing a fucking bear. Wow.
I love the scripted conflict resolution mechanic, too. Almost like a card game, having to guess what your opponent will do and try to stay ahead of them. I imagine keeping a poker face will become important in play.
Burning Wheel is far more geared towards role playing than most games. It isn't about maximising how much damage your character does, but maximising the development of your character. If a straight spear or a straight axe makes more sense for your character, then there's your reason.
It comes down to role-playing I guess, you choose a spear or axe because that's what your character would use. Just like how you would say your character is not afraid of predators because you're planning on playing them that way, not because you were planning on taking the bold trait.
Damnit.
"Go up, thou bald head." -2 Kings 2:23
it's a choice on the author's part i am sure
"Go up, thou bald head." -2 Kings 2:23
Might have been something that was avoided to stop the game from seeming too grim for younger players maybe.
more emphasizes survival by having really dedicated mice
"Go up, thou bald head." -2 Kings 2:23
Building a new settlement would be a great campaign in and of itself.
It just wouldn't work. You can't accomplish human-ish things (as they do) in so little time. How many years does it take to become a mason who can build a castle wall? Can you live that long? Can you live long enough to teach someone else when you're done?
They basically would become bees.
"okhereiseverythingyouneedtoknowaboutmasonryfirstyou..."
Still, does this imply a standard human-like lifespan for all animals? Or do larger creatures also scale up, and live for hundreds of years? Or because they all seem to lack the intelligence of the mice, are they still short-lived brutes?
Bah, I'm probably overthinking it.
"Go up, thou bald head." -2 Kings 2:23
repeated and limed for mega-truth.
it's basically so that you have mice who are similar to people and you don't have to worry about dying in 4 years.
thumbs
"Go up, thou bald head." -2 Kings 2:23
yes and they're not proportionally ten times stronger than humans
so i mean
my point is, real mice != mg mice