This RPG is amazing. The rules are simple and flexible so they allow for anything to happen and gives you tools to put numbers on it if necessary. The document is a masterpiece of design. I can't recommend it enough.
As a beginner to tabletop RPGs, I love it. Played it both irl and online via chat messages and storing notes, character sheets, lore and maps in a folder. Super easy to learn and really gets me into the writing mood. Would recommend to newcomers to these kinds of games. Introducing new players to the mechanics as a GM is also very easy. Start with the inventory and Saves, get them accustomed to the idea of choosing your own way of play and open everything up once they leave the area and enter the town.
This is honestly a very beautifully done game. I am currently working on a hack of Mouse Guard with more playable species and I have to say that the amount of thought and love you put into this has really influenced me! It's incredibly inspiring work and I can't wait to run a Mouseritter game.
Any plans on expanding this game? I would love to see more character options like badgers, otters, etc. I just bought the boxed set after downloading the pdfs and I look forward to running this game a lot!
I definitely have plans to keep expanding Mausritter. Expect to see more in the new year. There’s also a great community of people in the Mausritter Discord with fan-created expansions, including a couple of custom playable species. Pop in and say hi here: https://discord.com/invite/v4wmKsv
Hi, your PDF reader should have an option to print as a booklet. Use the “singles” PDF. It’s a little tricky to get right, so might take a little trial and error.
Thanks, I sorted it out, the reader I was using didn't have a good print option and didn't recognise my printers double side printing, i switched to Adobe reader and all was good. For those that want to know .... to print a double sided card stock cover, print in "booklet" and print the "page range" 1,2,23,24
Have a question: do you aways Mark usage in a Arrow or a pouch every time you shoot, or you only do It Rolling a die after a battle? This makes me think that you only would have three attack Rolls per battle, If you were using a heavy ranged weapon.
Great little game you’ve created here, packed with content in such a small book.
Some comments:
Not having an attack roll, with everyone always hitting, doesn’t seem like a good design choice. That’s where suspense and part of the fun lies, in those moments where someone’s about to die but they get saved by a miraculous hit or shot. By not having this you’re losing this and placing it all on the damage die, which is a guaranteed roll if you attack. The satisfaction of getting better at combat (not just an increase in hp) is also lost by going down this path.
Light armour (1 AP) and heavy armour (also 1 AP):
Light armour includes a shield. What about heavy armour with a shield?
I’m going to run it with these house rules:
Opposed attack vs defence rolls, combatants add a level/HD bonus, damage die are exploding. Light armour is 1 AP, heavy 2, shield 1. Armour is ineffective/bypassed on attack rolls over 16.
Cool little game, I hope to see some supplements and adventures in the future.
Of course, it may not be for everyone. But I can assure you that after years of play it is a well thought-out design choice that creates fast, interesting combat where strategic choices really matter, and it leaves plenty of time in the session for more adventure.
Why bother paying for this wonderful game if you're just going to turn it into every other D&D / OSR game? Part of it's charm is that lack of attack role.
You should try playing it rules-as-written before applying some untested theory-craft to it. It's clearly not an oversight by the designer -- e.g. check out the praise on this very page for this exact decision.
In this type of OSR game, combat is a failure state. If your group finds themselves facing an enemy in straightforward combat where all they're doing is pitting their numbers against the enemy's numbers, they've already messed up. The lack of an attack roll is not an oversight, it's a thought-out design decision to emphasize this principle.
If you rush into combat you WILL get hit every time you get attacked. That's a fact players have to deal with by finding ways to manipulate the situation to their advantage to gain the upper hand. There is no miraculous dice roll that's coming to save a player who's about to die, so it's up to the player to create these miracles themselves by engaging with their situation inside the fiction.
This is exactly what I was looking for! I really enjoy almost everything about this game except for that single choice (attacks always hit.) I wasn’t a fan of it in Into the Odd either.
This is the most refreshing rpg I've played, outside of tiny d6 by gallant Knight. The magic system is dastardly fun, the random tables for adventure and campaign generation are dense and extremely useful, and everything about this rpg captures the essence of 2e dnd in less than 20 sheets of paper. The only thing I'd like to see added is a one-page generation system for treasure and artifacts.
Mausritter is The Borrowers meets Mouseguard, with a wonderful oldschool feeling to its art and layout, some modern convenience in its deisgn, and a ruleset inspired by Into The Odd.
And let me say, if you're not familiar with Into The Odd yet and you like OSR, get Mausritter first, then buy Into The Odd next.
Basically, this game's really good. And it's a master class in economical design.
There's a background system that implies the whole mouse culture without having to spell anything out, but it's also the reference chart for getting your starting items AND the counterbalance for rolling low on your starting stats.
There's an inventory system with card-slots and charges that feels like it would be perfectly at home in a ccrpg, but which also handles upkeep on your gear ala Red Markets, and status effects ala Slay The Spire, and which lets you basically have a tactile inventory system where you as a player can pick up and put down any part of your character's current kit.
Spell-casting is item-based, flexible, easy to track, recharges in flavorful ways, and has probably the most graceful system I've seen for casting at variable levels of power.
Somehow there's even a weather table that is a) genuinely useful, and b) not terrible.
It is criminal that this game is free.
Admittedly, there are still some minor critiques I can make of it. It likes making you calculate percentages for prices, warbands require so much money to maintain that they sorta do weird things to the inventory system, Grit is possibly abuseable and lets you hot-swap Conditions unless controlled with a house-rule, and the book doesn't use the Oxford Comma.
That's basically me being as comprehensive as I can, and it's all nitpicks.
If you're used to 5e, you'll have an easy time getting into this. There's short rest/long rest, advantage/disadvantage, and a lot of the other trappings you're familiar with. Likewise, if you're used to OSR, there's that same quick-to-build-quick-to-die mindset here, and plenty of simplicity without sacrificing too much crunch.
I strongly recommend picking this up and at least flipping through.
Tip if you can. This game is great.
Typos And Unexplained Terms:
- page 6 says "wit h"
-page 8 says "actions can anything from negotiating"
-page 13 in the List Of Creatures Example box that says "wraps the him up"
-Hit Protection And Damage on page 8 references something called "exploration turns" which is maybe meant to mean turns outside of combat but I couldn't be sure since the rules never clarify
-Warband rules are unclear how they should be rallied if they break
I'm preparing to run a game of this with some friends, it seems like such a cool system!
However, I have a doubt about space and positioning. The manual states that a mouse can move up to 12" in a combat round, which suggests that positioning is important and you could run this using miniatures and a grid, but other than that the manual is pretty vague in terms of space. If you were to run this using a grid, how much space would each grid square represent? Rn I'm thinking maybe each grid square would represent a 2"x2" space, which would be the same space a mouse would occupy. Any thoughts on that?
My assumption is that the 12 inch movement is just to help cement a sense of scale (helping resolve the question" how far would a mausritter move in however long a round should be?") . Naturally if you wanted to lock things to a grid I imagine that would be OK, but it seems like you'd have a bit of work filling out the details.
I'd more look at it as a way to help imagine whether they could run to the other side of the book they had vaulted on before the cat reached them, that kind of thing.
Thank you for this! I usually play dnd and I'm not lying when I say that I cried at how open to new players this was. I wish I could pay you but I'm just a broke middle schooler.
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Hey, seeing that the title of the game is in german, I was wondering if there are German translations for it or if there are any plans to make those. :D
If your mouse's highest Attribute is 9 or less, roll on the Background table again and take either Item A or B. If your highest is 7 or less, take both.
Isn't that a mistake, shouldn't it be '9 or more'?And I wonder why a weaker mouse can take more things than a stronger one.
It should be on purpose, it should help a weaker mouse be more even to the stronger one despite the lower attributes, so to equalize the field a little
Okkeb is correct, it’s to help balance out a mouse who rolls poorly.
If you need a thematic reason why, think of it as the mouse’s friends and family pitching in to help because they’re worried about their poor weak friend becoming an adventurer.
Hey, this is great! I've ran it a few times with younger kids with no issues.
I have some questions:
Section 2: I guess the spell is supposed to be Restore, rather than Calm? Any stats for the Loyal Beetle/Pack Rat or is the intention for us to just grok it?
Section 7.2: The rules state that on a value 4-6, mark usage on spells. The quick reference, however, states to only mark usage on a 4-5. Which one is correct?
Section 11.2: Under damage, it states that it could range from d4-d12, but then states d20 is deadly. Is the range supposed to be d4-d20, or was the d20 a typo?
I love the game and don't want to come off as nitpicky, I just wanted to know if these could be clarified and added to a 1.4 version?
If not, can we get an editable version?
Thanks for the great game. I am definitely going to buy the adventure you released!
Hello. I love this game. I feel like it's an improvement on Into the Odd, an already good game.
I wanted to confirm: Do you see spells as warranting saves in this system? My impression is not, but I wasn't certain if it was just not stated.
Something like Fireball doing [DICE}+[SUM] seems intense. My assumption was this is offset by the caster taking real risk of Madness. However, I could see a player having Fireball cast against them as feeling a little intense with no save.
The Goblin Punch rules seem to factor in saves, and Into the Odd arcanum in some cases include saves, so I was curious what your thoughts were.
Thank you for any insight, as well as for compiling such a lovely game. For those unaware, the website (https://losing.games/mausritter/) has some very impressive tools as well.
Good Q. I wouldn’t give a save for a spell unless it’s explicitly mentioned (I don’t think any of the base ones allow a save, but could see a very powerful spell that does).
I general, I think the higher default HP levels (of HP + STR), plus the genuine risks that casters take (I’ve had at least one mouse reduce themselves to zero WIL on a failed spell) balance out a spell like Fireball without a Save. But if you feel like it’s overpowered in your context, house rule away :)
Hello, I am really loving Mausritter! Can’t wait to run a campaign for some friends. I did notice one discrepancy, under the Mendicant priestbackground it lists Calm as a spell. However, the spell isn’t listed in the spell section. I am planning on house ruling a pretty simple effect for the spell. I am curious to was an intentional omission or was it an over sight?
Hello and first of all, thank you very much for this very inspiring game.
I know that this RPG has not only been designed for a Mouseguard world, but I was wondering about the experience rules. They say that the XPs are earned when bringing back treasures or useful goods to settlements. That's fine, but I was thinking that the Guard missions encompass a broader spectrum: control the borders, secure roads, explore places, protect mice and make sure that justice is done.
I feel like GMs who would want to emulate a Mouseguardish game would give XP for "things that are not related to pips"... but it's hard to handwave these sort of things.
What would be the guidelines for awarding XPs besides pip stuff, do you think? (and this would work in a Mouseguard world, or in any other kind of games, if you want to reward exploration)
Hey, I think XP is one of the easiest and best things to hack to get a different feel from your game.
XP is the best way to say to your players “this is what I want you to do”. The default assumption of Mausritter is that the players are poor and desperate mouse adventurers, without a permanent home base or social structure to rely on. They get XP for doing the dangerous things that other mice won’t (and they get XP for re-investing it into the communities that previously shunned them).
One option that’s not in the rulebook (and probably should be) is that I also award XP to my players for rewards given by other mice. So if the village puts together a collection of 300 pips to reward the mice from rescuing their matriarch from an owl, that would count as 300 pips for XP purposes too.
For an exploration-focused campaign, you could easily have non-player mice who are willing to pay rewards for mapped locations, or strange new discoveries. Or if you want to reward exploration directly, I would write out a list of things you want to reward players for, then assign values to them. Make this public, so players know what they’re aiming for ie. Mapping hex: 100xp; Mapping adventure site: 1000xp; Discovering a new settlement: 250xp; Finding a new spell: 100px.
For a Mouseguard-type setting, where mice are part of an hierarchical organisation and being sent on missions, I would consider getting rid of XP entirely and looking at what Into the Odd (on what a lot of Mausritter is based on) does. In that, you advance to level 2 after surviving your first mission, level 3 once you’ve completed three more after that, level 4 after five more, and taking on an apprentice, etc.
Any possibility of making a blank item-condition-weapon sheet? I hate to print our redundant items when I only want some more blanks. Super bonus if they were in some way form-fillable!
Amaaaazing!! A couple of days ago I downloaded this game and was absolutely amazed by it. Just came back and bought it properly. I hope we get more and more material for the game. Thank you for this gem!
I've just played a one shot and it was so much fun! I have some difficulty GMing fantasy games, but things went really well. One of the rats died in a moment so honorable. It was quite something! The random tables helped me a lot to make things ready faster.
Like some others in the comments, I’ve only just discovered this game due to Questing Beast. I’d absolutely love to buy a physical copy of the game too!
It was great to see this get reviewed. I bought it previously (according to Itch.io its been 147 days!) - are there big changes in this version? Any chance of more physical copies?
Happy to re-purchase it, especially if supports a future supplement.
First, many of the larger tables are mis-numbered, most commonly the ones labeled as d66, I imagine they were meant to be 6d6. I could go through and redo those tables, but if possible it would be nice to have the original copy's tables corrected.
Second, and this might have an unfortunate side-effect on the layout of these, a belt slot is desperately needed. Specifically a slot that acts otherwise the same as a body slot but is explicitly for extra items such as potions or quivers. Currently stone pouches and quivers are only equippable when wearing light armor. However only slings are usable in light armor. Bows require the wearer be unarmored in the base rules. While I'm sure this is a balance thing, it also instantly breaks everyone's immersion cause it makes little to no realistic sense. In the base rules an archer that wants to be armored would only be able to use heavy armor and fire once every other round. My current fix has been to break up armor into individual pieces and slightly buff them. Basically light armor has become a shield and cuirass which provides 1 protection each. Heavy armor has become a breastplate and helmet. The helmet provides 1 protection and the breastplate provides 2. This has allowed some players to become slightly tankier, but honestly there weren't really many tank options in the base rules.
Lastly, do you mind if people write third party adventures or supplements? I'd love to make a potions, alchemy, and artificing supplement. Plus I finished slapping together a point-crawl adventure that might make for a decent starting adventure.
In case you haven't figured this out yet d66 is meant to be 1d6 for the 10s and 1d6 for the 1s... the lowest being 11, highest 66. 6d6 would make the highest 36.
I didn't actually know that. Nowhere does it explicitly state how to read such a table. I've also never encountered such tables before so didn't understand how to read them. Thanks for the clarification though!
I didn't get a chance earlier to talk to your other points.
I like the armor changes. I wonder if it would be better to raise the heavy armor to a 2 value, but keep them as a 2 body slot item. The light armor could be separated to a shield w/ armor value 1 and 1 paw and the armor as 1 armor slot and 1 body slot. This would allow a light armored mouse with two light weapons, or a bow and quiver. Or a super tanky mouse, heavy armor and shield, medium or light weapon.
I would like to know about the supplement part as well, I want to add more to the beasts, like beetles, ants, bees, wasps, moles, squirrels, chipmunks, weasels etc.
I mainly separated heavy armor like I did because it created a similar realism issue for my group where they couldn't wear a quiver just because they had a helmet and breastplate on. For a larger audience that doesn't nitpick near as much, the changes you're suggesting would probably be better.
As for the beasts thing, the rules actually lay out how to make beasts and additional races pretty well given the examples. An expanded bestiary would be nice though. Weirdly moles would work well as a ghoul analogue for the system.
I just got done making an alternate weapon and armor sheet that can be printed out in which I did away with the light/heavy distinction entirely. The way I have it there are three "armour" items. I have "helm" which uses the thimble image from the heavy armor and offers 1def and has three usage. I have "armour" which is the light armor image minus the shield (I copied and flipped the exposed part to make a symmetrical armour image that I liked). It also has 3 uses and offers 1 def. Then I have a "shield" which is just the button from the light armor image. It has no usage and gives no def but works differently. Basically, if you have a shield equipped you can declare that you are sacrificing your shield to negate one enemy attack and then it shatters. Each of these items takes up one equipment slot. Occupations that start with light armor get the armor and shield. Occupations that start with heavy armor get all three. I have attached a jpeg of the alternate sheet.
It's actually not my own rule. In the OSR community it's known as "Shields shall be splintered" and it's a common house rule to make shields a one shot negation of an attack. Then again, the shield also usually offers a passive bonus as well but I didn't want to ramp up the armor too much. I might give it 1 def and 3 uses but with the option to shatter to completely negate an attack.
Ok, so I just tested my alternate armor with some practice rolls and I think I get why the armor value of 1 was chosen. Even two points of armor drastically reduces the amount of damage a character takes because of how small all the numbers are. If a mouse can equip three pieces of armor and gain 3 def it makes a huge difference. They start being able to shrug off attack after attack without taking any damage at all. I might play around with it a bit more to see if I can settle on something that allows for shields to be a separate item without breaking the game, but I don't think I'm going to have them grant a point of defense or be able to negate three attacks. But at the same time, I don't want the player to not have something they have to give up when using the shields shall be splintered rule either. It should cost something to sacrifice your shield. So basically I'm not really happy with either solution at this point.
"Bows require the wearer be unarmored in the base rules."
I think this is a deliberate decision. In normal D&D an archer will be lightly armoured. They aren't rocking up to the battlefield holding a shield (Like the "Light armour") or wearing full plate (Like the "Heavy Armour").
An Archer in Mausritter would be wearing normal protection like this. It's just that normal armour is taken for granted by the rules. The game assumes that every mouse would be wearing normal armour, so it doesn't give you any special advantage or bonus defense.
So your archer isn't actually "Unarmoured", they're wearing normal light protection that is not modeled by the rules.
If the archer is wearing protection, it should be modeled as damage reduction. I.E. armor. "Normal armor" is still armor and it should be statted appropriately if it's being implied.
Even in the image you've provided, the archers are actually wearing a form of light armor accessories, and could possibly be wearing gambesons. Which is light armor... which is an item... that you have to equip... that prevents you from equipping stuff for archery in the base rules.
Sorry to be a bit combative, but I genuinely fail to understand what point you're trying to make outside of being artsy and contrarian for the sake of it.
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This RPG is amazing. The rules are simple and flexible so they allow for anything to happen and gives you tools to put numbers on it if necessary. The document is a masterpiece of design. I can't recommend it enough.
Thanks for making the PDFs freely available. I just bought the hardcover book etc and really want to print out some of those item cards.
As a beginner to tabletop RPGs, I love it.
Played it both irl and online via chat messages and storing notes, character sheets, lore and maps in a folder. Super easy to learn and really gets me into the writing mood. Would recommend to newcomers to these kinds of games.
Introducing new players to the mechanics as a GM is also very easy. Start with the inventory and Saves, get them accustomed to the idea of choosing your own way of play and open everything up once they leave the area and enter the town.
This is honestly a very beautifully done game. I am currently working on a hack of Mouse Guard with more playable species and I have to say that the amount of thought and love you put into this has really influenced me! It's incredibly inspiring work and I can't wait to run a Mouseritter game.
I took the PDF'S for free as I have ordered the box set and very excited for it to arrive. I believe I saw the review on gaming beast.
Any plans on expanding this game? I would love to see more character options like badgers, otters, etc. I just bought the boxed set after downloading the pdfs and I look forward to running this game a lot!
Hey, thanks for getting the box set!
I definitely have plans to keep expanding Mausritter. Expect to see more in the new year. There’s also a great community of people in the Mausritter Discord with fan-created expansions, including a couple of custom playable species. Pop in and say hi here: https://discord.com/invite/v4wmKsv
Will do, thank you very much for the reply!
How to print the pdf as a stapeled pamphlet please. Thanks
Hi, your PDF reader should have an option to print as a booklet. Use the “singles” PDF. It’s a little tricky to get right, so might take a little trial and error.
Thanks, I sorted it out, the reader I was using didn't have a good print option and didn't recognise my printers double side printing, i switched to Adobe reader and all was good. For those that want to know .... to print a double sided card stock cover, print in "booklet" and print the "page range" 1,2,23,24
Have a question: do you aways Mark usage in a Arrow or a pouch every time you shoot, or you only do It Rolling a die after a battle? This makes me think that you only would have three attack Rolls per battle, If you were using a heavy ranged weapon.
Yep, after a battle, roll Usage once for each piece of equipment you used (weapons, ammunition and armour).
You don’t mark usage for each arrow fired (though the GM may ask for a mark/Usage roll if you use it out of combat).
Thank you Very much!
Great little game you’ve created here, packed with content in such a small book.
Some comments:
Not having an attack roll, with everyone always hitting, doesn’t seem like a good design choice. That’s where suspense and part of the fun lies, in those moments where someone’s about to die but they get saved by a miraculous hit or shot. By not having this you’re losing this and placing it all on the damage die, which is a guaranteed roll if you attack. The satisfaction of getting better at combat (not just an increase in hp) is also lost by going down this path.
Light armour (1 AP) and heavy armour (also 1 AP):
Light armour includes a shield. What about heavy armour with a shield?
I’m going to run it with these house rules:
Opposed attack vs defence rolls, combatants add a level/HD bonus, damage die are exploding. Light armour is 1 AP, heavy 2, shield 1. Armour is ineffective/bypassed on attack rolls over 16.
Cool little game, I hope to see some supplements and adventures in the future.
Please try playing without an attack roll first!
Of course, it may not be for everyone. But I can assure you that after years of play it is a well thought-out design choice that creates fast, interesting combat where strategic choices really matter, and it leaves plenty of time in the session for more adventure.
Why bother paying for this wonderful game if you're just going to turn it into every other D&D / OSR game? Part of it's charm is that lack of attack role.
You should try playing it rules-as-written before applying some untested theory-craft to it. It's clearly not an oversight by the designer -- e.g. check out the praise on this very page for this exact decision.
That's a primary design feature of Into the Odd.
In this type of OSR game, combat is a failure state. If your group finds themselves facing an enemy in straightforward combat where all they're doing is pitting their numbers against the enemy's numbers, they've already messed up. The lack of an attack roll is not an oversight, it's a thought-out design decision to emphasize this principle.
If you rush into combat you WILL get hit every time you get attacked. That's a fact players have to deal with by finding ways to manipulate the situation to their advantage to gain the upper hand. There is no miraculous dice roll that's coming to save a player who's about to die, so it's up to the player to create these miracles themselves by engaging with their situation inside the fiction.
This is exactly what I was looking for! I really enjoy almost everything about this game except for that single choice (attacks always hit.) I wasn’t a fan of it in Into the Odd either.
But everything else is fantastic!
This is the most refreshing rpg I've played, outside of tiny d6 by gallant Knight. The magic system is dastardly fun, the random tables for adventure and campaign generation are dense and extremely useful, and everything about this rpg captures the essence of 2e dnd in less than 20 sheets of paper. The only thing I'd like to see added is a one-page generation system for treasure and artifacts.
Actually Isaac has created exactly that, but for some reason only posted it on his twitter! It's available here https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Qqonco6-MkDDS6Z2dc71L-OtfxhNrWd8/view
Ah, thanks for the reminder! I should post it here too!
Amazing! Hot damn!
Thanks!
how do you feel about fans making adventures for mausritter?
From what I've seen, as another fan, it's heartily encouraged. You can even post about it in a specific room on their Discord.
So, uh, do you hate the number 14?
Haha, one of my players noticed that was gone.
Mausritter is The Borrowers meets Mouseguard, with a wonderful oldschool feeling to its art and layout, some modern convenience in its deisgn, and a ruleset inspired by Into The Odd.
And let me say, if you're not familiar with Into The Odd yet and you like OSR, get Mausritter first, then buy Into The Odd next.
Basically, this game's really good. And it's a master class in economical design.
There's a background system that implies the whole mouse culture without having to spell anything out, but it's also the reference chart for getting your starting items AND the counterbalance for rolling low on your starting stats.
There's an inventory system with card-slots and charges that feels like it would be perfectly at home in a ccrpg, but which also handles upkeep on your gear ala Red Markets, and status effects ala Slay The Spire, and which lets you basically have a tactile inventory system where you as a player can pick up and put down any part of your character's current kit.
Spell-casting is item-based, flexible, easy to track, recharges in flavorful ways, and has probably the most graceful system I've seen for casting at variable levels of power.
Somehow there's even a weather table that is a) genuinely useful, and b) not terrible.
It is criminal that this game is free.
Admittedly, there are still some minor critiques I can make of it. It likes making you calculate percentages for prices, warbands require so much money to maintain that they sorta do weird things to the inventory system, Grit is possibly abuseable and lets you hot-swap Conditions unless controlled with a house-rule, and the book doesn't use the Oxford Comma.
That's basically me being as comprehensive as I can, and it's all nitpicks.
If you're used to 5e, you'll have an easy time getting into this. There's short rest/long rest, advantage/disadvantage, and a lot of the other trappings you're familiar with. Likewise, if you're used to OSR, there's that same quick-to-build-quick-to-die mindset here, and plenty of simplicity without sacrificing too much crunch.
I strongly recommend picking this up and at least flipping through.
Tip if you can. This game is great.
Typos And Unexplained Terms:
- page 6 says "wit h"
-page 8 says "actions can anything from negotiating"
-page 13 in the List Of Creatures Example box that says "wraps the him up"
-Hit Protection And Damage on page 8 references something called "exploration turns" which is maybe meant to mean turns outside of combat but I couldn't be sure since the rules never clarify
-Warband rules are unclear how they should be rallied if they break
Forgive me if the question is dumb, but -- what's a pip in this context?
A pip is one of the dots on your dice. So for example, if you roll a 6 you see 6 pips. :)
Its the games currency. Your starting pip helps determine your background.
Yes, but - what is it that the mice have in their pockets? What is one pip exactly?
It’s up to you to decide! I imagine them as little stones, engraved with the seal of an ancient mouse queen.
A marvelous little but enormous game.
Small for its low number of pages. Enormous for the love it overflows with.
I'm preparing to run a game of this with some friends, it seems like such a cool system!
However, I have a doubt about space and positioning. The manual states that a mouse can move up to 12" in a combat round, which suggests that positioning is important and you could run this using miniatures and a grid, but other than that the manual is pretty vague in terms of space. If you were to run this using a grid, how much space would each grid square represent? Rn I'm thinking maybe each grid square would represent a 2"x2" space, which would be the same space a mouse would occupy. Any thoughts on that?
My assumption is that the 12 inch movement is just to help cement a sense of scale (helping resolve the question" how far would a mausritter move in however long a round should be?") . Naturally if you wanted to lock things to a grid I imagine that would be OK, but it seems like you'd have a bit of work filling out the details.
I'd more look at it as a way to help imagine whether they could run to the other side of the book they had vaulted on before the cat reached them, that kind of thing.
Thank you for this! I usually play dnd and I'm not lying when I say that I cried at how open to new players this was. I wish I could pay you but I'm just a broke middle schooler.
I really like how flavourful the magic system is in this game, so I made a a bunch of homebrew spells, if anyone is interested
These are fantastic! Please come share them with the Mausritter Discord :)
Hi. Can you please share them with people that don't have Discord?
As far as I know, the link I put on Reddit should work even if you don't have Discord.
Please do correct me if I'm wrong!
I unfortunately get an "Access denied".
<Error>
<Code>AccessDenied</Code>
<Message>Access denied.</Message>
<Details>Anonymous caller does not have storage.objects.get access to the Google Cloud Storage object.</Details>
</Error>
This error doesn't seem to have anything to do with Discord, turns out it happens to me as well. Thanks for bringing that to my attention.
This dropbox link should work..
Thank you very much
Is there any intent for a second print run?
I can’t give any details yet, but yes it’s in the works :)
Maybe he was hinting at this...
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/isaac-williams/mausritter-box-set-and-adven...
Hey, seeing that the title of the game is in german, I was wondering if there are German translations for it or if there are any plans to make those. :D
Section 1.3:
Isn't that a mistake, shouldn't it be '9 or more'? And I wonder why a weaker mouse can take more things than a stronger one.
It should be on purpose, it should help a weaker mouse be more even to the stronger one despite the lower attributes, so to equalize the field a little
Okkeb is correct, it’s to help balance out a mouse who rolls poorly.
If you need a thematic reason why, think of it as the mouse’s friends and family pitching in to help because they’re worried about their poor weak friend becoming an adventurer.
Hey, this is great! I've ran it a few times with younger kids with no issues.
I have some questions:Section 2: I guess the spell is supposed to be Restore, rather than Calm? Any stats for the Loyal Beetle/Pack Rat or is the intention for us to just grok it?
Section 7.2: The rules state that on a value 4-6, mark usage on spells. The quick reference, however, states to only mark usage on a 4-5. Which one is correct?
Section 11.2: Under damage, it states that it could range from d4-d12, but then states d20 is deadly. Is the range supposed to be d4-d20, or was the d20 a typo?
I love the game and don't want to come off as nitpicky, I just wanted to know if these could be clarified and added to a 1.4 version?
If not, can we get an editable version?
Thanks for the great game. I am definitely going to buy the adventure you released!
Good finds, thanks! I’ve just uploaded a new version with those things fixed, plus a couple of others :)
To answer here too:
Section 2: Yes, it should be Restore. I would stat the Beetle/Pack rat as a hireling, maybe with slightly adjusted stats.
Section 7.2: 4-6 is correct.
Section 11.2: Intentional, but confusing. I’ve just made it d4-d20.
Thanks, I appreciate the nit-picks!
That was quick! Thanks!
Can we get a change log?
i'm strugling to find the changes (i've print the rules and i'm trying to have it to date)
i'd pay whatever it takes for another print run!
Cheers!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/isaac-williams/mausritter-box-set-and-adven...
I would like to see another print run as well. Just found the zine.
Cheers!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/isaac-williams/mausritter-box-set-and-adven...
Any plans for another print run?
Cheers!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/isaac-williams/mausritter-box-set-and-adven...
Hello. I love this game. I feel like it's an improvement on Into the Odd, an already good game.
I wanted to confirm: Do you see spells as warranting saves in this system? My impression is not, but I wasn't certain if it was just not stated.
Something like Fireball doing [DICE}+[SUM] seems intense. My assumption was this is offset by the caster taking real risk of Madness. However, I could see a player having Fireball cast against them as feeling a little intense with no save.
The Goblin Punch rules seem to factor in saves, and Into the Odd arcanum in some cases include saves, so I was curious what your thoughts were.
Thank you for any insight, as well as for compiling such a lovely game. For those unaware, the website (https://losing.games/mausritter/) has some very impressive tools as well.
Good Q. I wouldn’t give a save for a spell unless it’s explicitly mentioned (I don’t think any of the base ones allow a save, but could see a very powerful spell that does).
I general, I think the higher default HP levels (of HP + STR), plus the genuine risks that casters take (I’ve had at least one mouse reduce themselves to zero WIL on a failed spell) balance out a spell like Fireball without a Save. But if you feel like it’s overpowered in your context, house rule away :)
Hello, I am really loving Mausritter! Can’t wait to run a campaign for some friends. I did notice one discrepancy, under the Mendicant priestbackground it lists Calm as a spell. However, the spell isn’t listed in the spell section. I am planning on house ruling a pretty simple effect for the spell. I am curious to was an intentional omission or was it an over sight?
Ahha, yes I think that is an oversight. It should be “Restore” instead — that must have bene renamed somewhere along the line :)
Hello and first of all, thank you very much for this very inspiring game.
I know that this RPG has not only been designed for a Mouseguard world, but I was wondering about the experience rules. They say that the XPs are earned when bringing back treasures or useful goods to settlements. That's fine, but I was thinking that the Guard missions encompass a broader spectrum: control the borders, secure roads, explore places, protect mice and make sure that justice is done.
I feel like GMs who would want to emulate a Mouseguardish game would give XP for "things that are not related to pips"... but it's hard to handwave these sort of things.
What would be the guidelines for awarding XPs besides pip stuff, do you think? (and this would work in a Mouseguard world, or in any other kind of games, if you want to reward exploration)
Hey, I think XP is one of the easiest and best things to hack to get a different feel from your game.
XP is the best way to say to your players “this is what I want you to do”. The default assumption of Mausritter is that the players are poor and desperate mouse adventurers, without a permanent home base or social structure to rely on. They get XP for doing the dangerous things that other mice won’t (and they get XP for re-investing it into the communities that previously shunned them).
One option that’s not in the rulebook (and probably should be) is that I also award XP to my players for rewards given by other mice. So if the village puts together a collection of 300 pips to reward the mice from rescuing their matriarch from an owl, that would count as 300 pips for XP purposes too.
For an exploration-focused campaign, you could easily have non-player mice who are willing to pay rewards for mapped locations, or strange new discoveries. Or if you want to reward exploration directly, I would write out a list of things you want to reward players for, then assign values to them. Make this public, so players know what they’re aiming for ie. Mapping hex: 100xp; Mapping adventure site: 1000xp; Discovering a new settlement: 250xp; Finding a new spell: 100px.
For a Mouseguard-type setting, where mice are part of an hierarchical organisation and being sent on missions, I would consider getting rid of XP entirely and looking at what Into the Odd (on what a lot of Mausritter is based on) does. In that, you advance to level 2 after surviving your first mission, level 3 once you’ve completed three more after that, level 4 after five more, and taking on an apprentice, etc.
Oh thank you for this very thorough response! Kudos!
Still holding out hopes for a print edition. Name your price hahaha
Can’t say much more, but It’s the next project :)
I'll be following along!
Any possibility of making a blank item-condition-weapon sheet? I hate to print our redundant items when I only want some more blanks. Super bonus if they were in some way form-fillable!
Any plans to create a Mausritter Discord community to find people to play with?
Amaaaazing!! A couple of days ago I downloaded this game and was absolutely amazed by it. Just came back and bought it properly. I hope we get more and more material for the game. Thank you for this gem!
Excellent!
I've just played a one shot and it was so much fun! I have some difficulty GMing fantasy games, but things went really well. One of the rats died in a moment so honorable. It was quite something! The random tables helped me a lot to make things ready faster.
Very good game!
is there any way you could email me this adventure??
This is all I wanted from a mouse point of view! Thanks!
Awesome little game!
Like some others in the comments, I’ve only just discovered this game due to Questing Beast.
I’d absolutely love to buy a physical copy of the game too!
Great work.
It was great to see this get reviewed. I bought it previously (according to Itch.io its been 147 days!) - are there big changes in this version? Any chance of more physical copies?
Happy to re-purchase it, especially if supports a future supplement.
does a war band scale creature ignore damage from non war band scale creatures?
Yep, that’s correct. From the book:
thanks! Love this game btw looking forward to running it. One more question, if a monster has 2 attacks does it use them both on its turn or pick one?
A few things:
First, many of the larger tables are mis-numbered, most commonly the ones labeled as d66, I imagine they were meant to be 6d6. I could go through and redo those tables, but if possible it would be nice to have the original copy's tables corrected.
Second, and this might have an unfortunate side-effect on the layout of these, a belt slot is desperately needed. Specifically a slot that acts otherwise the same as a body slot but is explicitly for extra items such as potions or quivers. Currently stone pouches and quivers are only equippable when wearing light armor. However only slings are usable in light armor. Bows require the wearer be unarmored in the base rules. While I'm sure this is a balance thing, it also instantly breaks everyone's immersion cause it makes little to no realistic sense. In the base rules an archer that wants to be armored would only be able to use heavy armor and fire once every other round. My current fix has been to break up armor into individual pieces and slightly buff them. Basically light armor has become a shield and cuirass which provides 1 protection each. Heavy armor has become a breastplate and helmet. The helmet provides 1 protection and the breastplate provides 2. This has allowed some players to become slightly tankier, but honestly there weren't really many tank options in the base rules.
Lastly, do you mind if people write third party adventures or supplements? I'd love to make a potions, alchemy, and artificing supplement. Plus I finished slapping together a point-crawl adventure that might make for a decent starting adventure.
In case you haven't figured this out yet d66 is meant to be 1d6 for the 10s and 1d6 for the 1s... the lowest being 11, highest 66. 6d6 would make the highest 36.
I didn't actually know that. Nowhere does it explicitly state how to read such a table. I've also never encountered such tables before so didn't understand how to read them. Thanks for the clarification though!
Common OSR thing these days. Also, awesome!
Its pretty common nowadays.
I didn't get a chance earlier to talk to your other points.
I like the armor changes. I wonder if it would be better to raise the heavy armor to a 2 value, but keep them as a 2 body slot item. The light armor could be separated to a shield w/ armor value 1 and 1 paw and the armor as 1 armor slot and 1 body slot. This would allow a light armored mouse with two light weapons, or a bow and quiver. Or a super tanky mouse, heavy armor and shield, medium or light weapon.
I would like to know about the supplement part as well, I want to add more to the beasts, like beetles, ants, bees, wasps, moles, squirrels, chipmunks, weasels etc.
I mainly separated heavy armor like I did because it created a similar realism issue for my group where they couldn't wear a quiver just because they had a helmet and breastplate on. For a larger audience that doesn't nitpick near as much, the changes you're suggesting would probably be better.
As for the beasts thing, the rules actually lay out how to make beasts and additional races pretty well given the examples. An expanded bestiary would be nice though. Weirdly moles would work well as a ghoul analogue for the system.
I just got done making an alternate weapon and armor sheet that can be printed out in which I did away with the light/heavy distinction entirely. The way I have it there are three "armour" items. I have "helm" which uses the thimble image from the heavy armor and offers 1def and has three usage. I have "armour" which is the light armor image minus the shield (I copied and flipped the exposed part to make a symmetrical armour image that I liked). It also has 3 uses and offers 1 def. Then I have a "shield" which is just the button from the light armor image. It has no usage and gives no def but works differently. Basically, if you have a shield equipped you can declare that you are sacrificing your shield to negate one enemy attack and then it shatters. Each of these items takes up one equipment slot. Occupations that start with light armor get the armor and shield. Occupations that start with heavy armor get all three. I have attached a jpeg of the alternate sheet.
That works I suppose. Why not give the shield three uses though? It's not like it's that fragile.
It's actually not my own rule. In the OSR community it's known as "Shields shall be splintered" and it's a common house rule to make shields a one shot negation of an attack. Then again, the shield also usually offers a passive bonus as well but I didn't want to ramp up the armor too much. I might give it 1 def and 3 uses but with the option to shatter to completely negate an attack.
Ok, so I just tested my alternate armor with some practice rolls and I think I get why the armor value of 1 was chosen. Even two points of armor drastically reduces the amount of damage a character takes because of how small all the numbers are. If a mouse can equip three pieces of armor and gain 3 def it makes a huge difference. They start being able to shrug off attack after attack without taking any damage at all. I might play around with it a bit more to see if I can settle on something that allows for shields to be a separate item without breaking the game, but I don't think I'm going to have them grant a point of defense or be able to negate three attacks. But at the same time, I don't want the player to not have something they have to give up when using the shields shall be splintered rule either. It should cost something to sacrifice your shield. So basically I'm not really happy with either solution at this point.
"Bows require the wearer be unarmored in the base rules."
I think this is a deliberate decision. In normal D&D an archer will be lightly armoured. They aren't rocking up to the battlefield holding a shield (Like the "Light armour") or wearing full plate (Like the "Heavy Armour").
An Archer in Mausritter would be wearing normal protection like this. It's just that normal armour is taken for granted by the rules. The game assumes that every mouse would be wearing normal armour, so it doesn't give you any special advantage or bonus defense.
So your archer isn't actually "Unarmoured", they're wearing normal light protection that is not modeled by the rules.
If the archer is wearing protection, it should be modeled as damage reduction. I.E. armor. "Normal armor" is still armor and it should be statted appropriately if it's being implied.
Even in the image you've provided, the archers are actually wearing a form of light armor accessories, and could possibly be wearing gambesons. Which is light armor... which is an item... that you have to equip... that prevents you from equipping stuff for archery in the base rules.
Sorry to be a bit combative, but I genuinely fail to understand what point you're trying to make outside of being artsy and contrarian for the sake of it.