Oh man, It's time to leave my inner geek show and I love when that happens!
Fables is a comic book series written by Bill Willingham and published under DC's Vertigo label. A run of comics that I'm aware of but have not read yet; unbeknownst to me when I first started playing this adventure game
The comics are one hell of a read, or at least all the ones I have read. TWAU acts as a prequel to the series, taking place before the first comic. They actually did a comic of this game, but a lot of people disliked it as it meant that certain decisions were considered canon.
You will in fact be fined if you do not mask your true animal self as the humans in New York would find it strange if a talking pig walked up to a pizza parlor and wanted to buy a piece of pizza. This is a source of stress for many of our Fables and runs throughout the storyline of the game.
Lore wise, it goes a bit beyond this. Those who can not afford, or just wont get a glamour, get sent to a place called "The Farm" The Farm is exactly what it sounds like, it is a giant farm, although it does have it's own issues like a rebellion, but that doesn't happen until the comics.
Regardless of play type you will get into confrontations. Your character Bigby is a very flawed character and this is what makes it so intriguing. Most fables are literally scared of you and are very apprehensive when dealing with you. You've done wrong in the past and are trying to be a better person. Once in awhile someone pushes your buttons or outright attacks you; this is when the wolf comes out. He's ferocious and can handle most of the situations he's in.
You are right, Bigby is a very flawed character. He was one of the biggest villians in The Homelands ( The world the fables were from before escaping into "our world" while escaping The Adversary.) And it's one of the reasons he is not "allowed" to wolf out. People are afraid of him and are afraid that he didn't change, and when he wolfs out it reminds people of the past, not to mention the chances of a mundie spotting him. In fact when The Farm was established, a lot of the fables that went there went there under the condition that Bigby Wolf would never be allowed to step on the property.
Later in the comics him and Snow ends up getting a piece of land behind The Farm ( which is a vast amount of land, not just a farm) and moves there with their kids.
I'll also throw in this interesting fact!
The reason why Bigby smokes is because it is the only thing that dulls his senses! If he doesn't smoke he can smell Snow White almost all the time, and it drives him crazy!
Thanks for the additional background information. This is what I call an epic comment!
I wasn't aware this was a prequel to the comic books and now I'm more interested than ever to read the series or at least try to 😀
I see the comic series is still ongoing at 158 issues!
Even more interesting about the constant smoking to dull his senses. This adds a little more to his complex character. The writing is really what drew me into this in the first place.
Thanks again for all info. This world is utterly fascinating.
!PIZZA
No problem! The comics are really good! The art style can bit kind of weird at times, as sometimes it looks like Bigby doesn't have a mouth but it is really good! It explores Fabletown mainly through bigby and snow, the troubles the fables face, and how they ended up in "our world" which is only one of many!