In this episode, I talk to Luke Crane of the Burning Wheel Headquarters, about their RPG adaptation of the comic book Mouse Guard. I'm really happy with how this interview went; it's one of the best I've put out so far. Luke has some really interesting things to say about the use of art and the way layout and editing work. We also get to talk a bit about how the HQ is constructed and who does what.

NOTE: This was obviously recorded before the release of the Magic Burner, but it's funny to listen to Luke toy with me.

This episode is 64.5 MB big and 1 hour and 10 minutes long.

00:59: The MGRPG will be based on the Burning Wheel system
01:25: Like Burning Empires, MGRPG is an evolution of the BW rules
02:18: Differences include: changes in how you can use dice, advancement, and the way rewards work
02:43: I tried the game at Ubercon
03:05: Mouse Guard is a comic written by David Petersen Published by Archaia Studios Press, which is owned by Mark Smylie who wrote the comic book Artesia and published the Origins-Award-winning Artesia: Adventures in the Known World roleplaying game
03:55: Part of a tradition of fantasy about mice, which includes The Wind in the Willows, Redwall, (parts of) the Narnia series
05:04: Kid friendly?
07:09: MGRPG is "essential Burning Wheel," a version of the rules is as stripped-down as BW can get and still be BW
08:08: The game has tons of new and previously-unpublished Petersen art
09:56: The new ubiquity of the enmity clause: Twists and Conditions
10:51: Conditions (hungry, angry, tired, injured, and sick) are the new damage track
13:31: The new way advancement works
14:47: Versioning through new games rather than re-releasing games
18:34: Why did you design this game?
19:37: Clinton R. Nixon made BWHQ aware of Mouse Guard; he had tried an earlier adaptation, Tiny Triangles
22:07: Other designs that arose from creating MGRPG?
26:51: Anything you had to drop?
27:58: How Traits work in MGRPG
30:24: GM turn and player turn
34:36: The most useful feedback received from playtesters
36:26: The hardest thing to fix
38:14: Choosing a printer
43:07: How are you using art?
48:40: Layout/design challenges
54:16: Marketing
56:05: Playing the game with Dave
58:10: Defining success
59:27: Magic Burner?
59:53: A peek behind the curtain at BWHQ

Closing song is Jenny Whiskey by the Hub City Stompers
Logo courtesy of Daniel Solis: http://danielsolis.com/