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By way of introduction, I had not read the Mouse Guard comic before buying this game but I do own and have read the Burning Wheel (BW) by Luke Crane. (I have virtually no experience with Burning Empires). I was interested in the Mouse Guard RPG (MG) for two reasons: first I wanted to see a streamlined version of Burning Wheel, and second because I almost instantly fell in love with Mr. Petersen’s art work.
The game book is square, eight and a quarter inch by eight and a quarter inch. It is 320 pages long, including an index. The book comes with a dust jacket (!), which repeats the cover art, and reproduces the map on the end papers. The binding is sturdy, and the heavy, glossy paper gives the book some heft.
In a word, the book is simply gorgeous. The cover art features a wraparound of what seems to be all of the mice from the comic arrayed in their signature equipment. The full color art throughout is from the comic (or looks like it) and is extremely well done. The two-column layout is easy to read and carefully designed to highlight information. It’s the kind of book your friends will ask you about and eagerly flip through.
In addition to the Foreword (by Mr. Petersen), Index, and References, the book contains twelve chapters. It is very clear throughout that Mr. Crane and Mr. Petersen collaborated carefully on the production of this work.
Chapter 1, “It revolves on this,” serves as an Introduction to the game and gaming in general. In the text, Mr. Crane has taken the tone of someone explaining gaming to a young novice. While this intention is clear, the writing is never simplistic or condescending. As an experienced gamer and given BW’s Tolkienesque inspirations, I’d compare the presentation of MG to reading the Hobbit after reading the Lord of the Rings, the former is still a great read even if it bears more of the trappings of a children’s story.
Readers familiar with the Burning Wheel will recognize the basic mechanic. Throw a number of d6 equal to your appropriate ability, 4+ counts. The nuances are layered on slowly as the book progresses.
Chapter 2, “The Mouse Guard” has two parts, focused on Mouse Guard characters. The first deals with background material. It provides a brief overview of the mouse world. It gives the player with information on who the Mouse Guard is, why they exist, and what they do.
The second part of the chapter examines the character sheet of our first sample mouse, Sadie, line by line. The sheet itself not only includes character information, but it serves as a rules reference as well, which is not just useful for newcomers!
Again, readers familiar with the Burning Wheel will see a lot of familiar concepts and terminology, albeit reimagined and simplified. Traits, Belief, Instinct, Resources, and Circles all make an appearance. The important thing to note is that the mechanics tie the character into the setting and provide a host of social connections.
Characters also have metagame resources in the form of Fate points and Persona points, the former used after a roll that contains sixes, and the latter before a roll.
It closes with three more sample characters.
Chapter 3, “It’s what we fight for” examines in detail the concepts of Belief, Goal, and Instinct, as well as Fate and Persona. Beliefs are “a code or ethical stance” according to the text of the rules. A Goal is set at the beginning of each session. An instinct is a behavior you do automatically, like “I lock all the doors and windows at night”. You earn Fate points when you act on a Belief, complete a Goal, or follow your Instinct. You earn Persona points in a similar way, as well as for good roleplaying behavior. All of this is explained in detail, with examples, and mechanical codification. The mechanics seamlessly encourage certain kinds of behavior, as well as a deep involvement with the character.
Chapter 4, “The Mission” explores how to design and run a Mouse Guard adventure.
Mice encounter four basic obstacles: Weather, Wilderness, Animals, and other Mice. Two will be chosen for a given mission.
The intended structure of a game session is unconventional. The GM takes a turn, and the Player’s get their own turn. The GM “beats the crap” out of the players on his/her turn, presenting them with the Weather and their challenges. The Player’s take over after the GM is finished throwing Obstacles at them, and can do a range of activities from recovering and reequipping themselves to fighting one another. Ideally, the session closes with Rewards being handed out.
The chapter closes with a sample mission.
Chapter 5, “Resolution” brings the crunch. Tests can consist of one roll or they can be extended Conflicts. The basic mechanic remains the same: roll a number of dice equal to your ability or skill versus a static Obstacle or versus another character’s roll. Basic Tests use a variant of the “Let it Ride” rule from Burning Wheel: you succeed or fail a Test, and you accept the result and move on.
Conflicts are expansions of the basic Test rules. The GM determines the kind of conflict: Argument, Chase, Fight, Negotiation, Journey, Speech, War, or if none of these apply, something else. The players determine who’s in on the Conflict and their objectives in that Conflict.
Each side rolls for its Disposition, the “hit points” of the Conflict. When one side is at 0 Disposition or less, they have lost the Conflict.
Within each kind of Conflict, players select ("Script") a series of three actions in advance from the following: Attack, Defend, Feint, and Maneuver. In a Fight, an Attack is obvious, in an argument it might mean aggressively presenting your case.
Each action is compared to the opponent’s action and resolved. The skills and abilities outlined are rolled for, with various opportunities to leverage a character’s other assets into play. Equipment and other external factors also have an influence. The rules are designed for mice to collaborate, either helping one another or taking turns with actions. Results of the action affect the Disposition of the parties in the Conflict (usually by subtraction).
When one side loses, the amount by which they lost matters. Compromises must be made, up to and including the imposition of Conditions on a character.
Conditions are negative effects, the “damage” of MG: Hungry and thirsty, Angry, Tired, Injured, or Sick. Mice can die, but there are special rules for it, and death won’t just sneak up on a character.
The scripting mechanic should be familiar to players of the BW. The Conflict system is a generalized and abstracted version of the more individuated subsystems of BW. I like MG’s version a lot. It’s elegant and minimalist, but with plenty of room for strategy.
Chapter 6, “Seasons” deals with the effect of the season (Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall) on the play of the game, no small matter for the Mouse Guard. Winter snow makes life difficult, for example, but at least some animals lay low.
Chapter 7 discusses the “The Territories” of the Mouse Guard world, from the mouse city of Lockhaven, to smaller towns, to the Wilderness and the Weasel-dominated lands.
Chapter 8, provides us with “Denizens of the Mouse Territories”, a list of typical mice as well as intelligent, malicious Weasels and Wild Animals, from Badgers and Black Bears, to Moose, Owls, Snakes, and Wolves. Pretty comprehensive. Mice can take on many of these creatures in small groups, but the larger animals require a military expedition! Each animal has its own Nature (see next Chapter).
Chapter 9, explores “Abilities and Skills” in detail. The Abilities are Nature, Will, Health, (material) Resources, and (social) Circles.
The Nature rules deserve some special mention. All creatures in MG have a Nature specific to their species. Mouse Nature is used for Escaping, Climbing, Hiding, and Foraging. Nature can be called upon for these basic activities, but it can also be substituted for any other skill. Doing this, “going against your Nature,” risks taxing your Nature, and there are risks to reducing it by too much, or for that matter, for raising it too high through advancement.
MG has a small number of skills, like Administrator and Apiarist, to Fighter and Militarist, to Orator and Persuader. Skills are presented as professions, and are broad in scope.
Characters also possess Wises, areas of knowledge and experience not covered by the other skills.
Chapter 10 is “Traits,” special abilities or features that distinguish one mouse from another. All mice have Traits. Traits are rated from 1 to 3,and they can be called on to help your character in a relevant situation. But Traits can also hurt you.
Examples of Traits include: Alert, Bigpaw, Curious, Sharptooth, Tall, Young. There are almost sixty of them in total. Your Alert mouse is more likely to spot an intruder, but is vulnerable to fits of paranoia and anxiety.
Chapter 11 provides two “Sample Missions” along with more sample characters customized for the specific challenges of the Missions.
Interestingly, Chapter 12 is where we get the rules for character creation, “Recruitment”. This placement at the end seemed odd at first until I reflected on the expanded audience of MG. Why is it that RPG’s assume that a new player wants to make a character first? Maybe providing a rich selection of sample characters and example Missions launches you into what the hobby is about, actual play, easier and more naturally. This is of course debatable, but it is a deliberate choice and design philosophy, not a surprise from an experimenter like Mr. Crane.
Character creation is a series of questions and choices that take the character from the youth to their adulthood, all the while filling in mechanical elements along the path. It is a heavily retooled version of the BW lifepath system, almost unrecognizable as presented. Each character will be unique and the player’s own.
In all, this is an excellent, thought-provoking game. It is beautiful to look at and makes me excited to adventure in the world of the Mouse Guard. I also see MG as a springboard for the exploration of other directions to take the basic concepts of BW. Like its predecessor(s), MG will most likely challenge and expand your understanding of what gaming is. And yet I still think this game would be suitable for beginning gamers.
As a total novice to the world of Mouse Guard, I feel very much up to speed on the setting. I’m sure an established fan will find the game and its presentation even richer.
Mr. Crane and Mr. Petersen have produced an exceptional product.
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