How grim is your Mundana?

[runequester]

I hope you'll forgive me writing in English.
How bleak/grim/dark is your personal take on Mundana at your gaming table?

There's a lot of dark fantasy aspects in the books both setting and rules wise, but at the same time, it doesn't feel as over-the-top mega-grim as WFRP. More rooted in reality if you will.

So what I am wondering is how much do you play up the dark and gritty aspects? Do you have shiny heroic moments? Is it all piss and blood?


Cheers

 

[Ymir]

I've always portrayed Mundana as not exaggeratedly grimdark in Warhammer's fashion, but definitely consequence-heavy and gritty. It's not exactly like Game of Thrones, that Eon is otherwise often compared to, in that I leave more room for melodrama, funny moments, epic fantasy, true love and true heroism, but those elements are contrasted by misery, tragedy, violence and darkness. I've not shied away from any theme that would have happened historically in our world. Throughout my many years of GM'ing Eon, I've depicted violence and abuse in almost every form, sometimes very graphically, and gross injustice and inequality is widespread. I would say that the very historical and dark yet romantic and epic fantasy of Guy Gavriel Kay's books is the closest to the mood I portray. I think Eon IV's world and rules lends themselves very well to this.

 

[Svarte Faraonen]

There's definitely a grimness to it, in the same way as an accurate depiction of Medieval history would be quite grim to a modern reader. Wars are common, childhood mortality is a fact of life, hunger always looms for the common people, accurate knowledge about the world is sparse, and so on. Mundana doesn't yet have the institutions and technologies to solve those problems. They do not persist because most people are cruel or selfish -- most people in my Mundana take care of their own, and count themselves lucky if they're able to do so without disruption.

There's also a darkness, in that there are ancient, terrible beings that would cause widespread destruction if they were free to make their mark upon the world. A few of them will, in fact, almost certainly do so. However, in order to make this in any way meaningful, the people of Mundana must be depicted as having culture worth taking an interest in, lifes worth preserving, and so on. The reaction to Azradeus crawling from his lair in Momolan should not be "right, just fucking end our collective suffering already".

So there is grimness and darkness, but hopefully not in too large proportions, just sufficient to make a good chiaroscuro. A game with Eon's focus on depicting a world of many different culture has to contain elements that draw you in and make you feel invested in these cultures, not only things that put you off them.

 

[runequester]

I appreciate the insights. So that sounds very similar to something like the Black Company fantasy novels.

I think you are right that you have to make the world actually feel like a place the characters wish to exist in. Otherwise, why bother fighting for it?

 

[Svarte Faraonen]

I appreciate the insights. So that sounds very similar to something like the Black Company fantasy novels.

I think you are right that you have to make the world actually feel like a place the characters wish to exist in. Otherwise, why bother fighting for it?

I feel that having personal connections to NPCs is a thing that helps this a lot. The major powers of the setting aren't easy to love -- no one (hopefully) will feel that they have a strong investment in Damarien because Thamas Vitfjäder is so sympathetic -- so you need to bring the personal connections for there to be a point.