Mouse Guard: The RPG

Hey,

So, although I'd seen the finished product, I was afraid this would turn into vaporware. However The Mouse Guard RPG is available for preorder. This preorder is a bundle deal where you'll get the book (mid to late December), but they also give you a PDF copy right now.

I snapped that right up.

The PDF is absolutely gorgeous. Lots of illustrations many of which are brand new for this book and not just swipes from the comics. The whole look and feel of the book is soft and warm and just charming.

So what's the game about? Well, as the name suggests, you play a stalwart member of the Mouse Guard protecting the scattered settlements of the Mouse Territories. You fight against predatory/obnoxious animals and internal strife. The mice are intelligent, walk upright and use tools. Most other animals do not (with Weasels being a terrifying exception).

The game runs on Burning Wheel. It's very much a Burning Wheel book. Probably my biggest criticism is that it reads like a Burning Wheel rulebook and I feel like it's not quite the right voice to match the setting/artwork. The rules themselves have been really streamlined. This isn't an RPG for children, but a lot of the fiddly sub-systems (no magic, psionics, or crazy tech devices for example) have been tossed out the window. If you were kinda tepid on Burning Wheel or Burning Empires, Mouse Guard is worth a second look.

They still use a three-phase, pre-plotted combat system (for physical and social fights), but the list of maneuvers has been pared down to 4 (attack, feint, defense, and maneuver) no matter what kind of fight you're in. Feint is the only "tricky" maneuver, but it's not borken like Flank was for Burning Empires. If someone is a feint-meister just go on the offensive and you'll stop 'em cold.

The skill list is short and comes with information on how to construct obstacles for various tasks. The Traits section has stolen Aspects from FATE -- so now every Trait actually does something vs. "color" Traits that didn't in previous versions. Plus, Traits can work for you for bonus dice or against you to give you advantages during the Player Phase.

A game session has a mission-based structure where the GM has the PCs fulfill a mission and then a Player Phase where PCs can recover and also try to make tests to steer the story in the direction they want things to go.

During the game, there's a heavy emphasis on the weather and other animals which is appropriate for this type of game. There's also a neat system that makes the weather-related obstacles you throw at the PCs a sort of timer that will advance the seasons in game-time.

Overall, I think they've done a good job with this and I'll be interested to give it a spin when I've got the hardcopy in my hands.

later
Tom

Mouse Guard: The RPG

Hey,

So, although I'd seen the finished product, I was afraid this would turn into vaporware. However The Mouse Guard RPG is available for preorder. This preorder is a bundle deal where you'll get the book (mid to late December), but they also give you a PDF copy right now.

I snapped that right up.

The PDF is absolutely gorgeous. Lots of illustrations many of which are brand new for this book and not just swipes from the comics. The whole look and feel of the book is soft and warm and just charming.

So what's the game about? Well, as the name suggests, you play a stalwart member of the Mouse Guard protecting the scattered settlements of the Mouse Territories. You fight against predatory/obnoxious animals and internal strife. The mice are intelligent, walk upright and use tools. Most other animals do not (with Weasels being a terrifying exception).

The game runs on Burning Wheel. It's very much a Burning Wheel book. Probably my biggest criticism is that it reads like a Burning Wheel rulebook and I feel like it's not quite the right voice to match the setting/artwork. The rules themselves have been really streamlined. This isn't an RPG for children, but a lot of the fiddly sub-systems (no magic, psionics, or crazy tech devices for example) have been tossed out the window. If you were kinda tepid on Burning Wheel or Burning Empires, Mouse Guard is worth a second look.

They still use a three-phase, pre-plotted combat system (for physical and social fights), but the list of maneuvers has been pared down to 4 (attack, feint, defense, and maneuver) no matter what kind of fight you're in. Feint is the only "tricky" maneuver, but it's not borken like Flank was for Burning Empires. If someone is a feint-meister just go on the offensive and you'll stop 'em cold.

The skill list is short and comes with information on how to construct obstacles for various tasks. The Traits section has stolen Aspects from FATE -- so now every Trait actually does something vs. "color" Traits that didn't in previous versions. Plus, Traits can work for you for bonus dice or against you to give you advantages during the Player Phase.

A game session has a mission-based structure where the GM has the PCs fulfill a mission and then a Player Phase where PCs can recover and also try to make tests to steer the story in the direction they want things to go.

During the game, there's a heavy emphasis on the weather and other animals which is appropriate for this type of game. There's also a neat system that makes the weather-related obstacles you throw at the PCs a sort of timer that will advance the seasons in game-time.

Overall, I think they've done a good job with this and I'll be interested to give it a spin when I've got the hardcopy in my hands.

later
Tom