| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Hail all those who are able, any mouse can, any mouse will, but the Guard prevail.
Hello and welcome. I'm Kobold Cleaver (the hint is in the username), and I am here recruiting for a Mouse Guard PbP on these forums. This is something I've been wanting to try for a long, long time.
The world is a dark and dangerous place, and bleak weather and dangerous predators are ever at the forefront of every mouse's mind. Will there be enough food for the town to make it through the winter? Will some canny beast tear the buildings apart to get at the mice inside? Will a storm wash the town away entirely? In this place of uncertainty, the one thing that stands between the Mouse Territories and their dooom is an underpaid and critically understaffed order of cloaked mice called the Mouse Guard.
Thanks to the Guard, the scattered settlements are allowed to survive and even thrive. But the fate of the mice forever rests upon those few willing to leave their homes, journey to Lockhaven, and take the oath to protect and serve the Mouse Territories until their dying day.
The Mouse Guard RPG is a roleplaying-heavy game focused on story, problem-solving, and accepting failure. Major challenges are resolved in a simplistic and abstracted system that can be used for combat, arguments, difficult journeys, and pretty much everything in between.
Game: We will be playing the Mouse Guard RPG. You do not need experience with this game, or even to own the book—it's a simple system, and I'll be happy to walk new players in it.
Venue: Paizo forums.
Players Wanted: 3 to infinite*.
Selection Process: First-come, first-serve, but see the footnote.
About Me: I am a fairly regular poster, though as I'm in college, there will be certain weeks I struggle more than others. I'll try to keep people informed about those times before they come up. I currently run one other play-by-post, which has been running successfully for 322 pages and two years now.
Character Creation Process: The character creation process for Mouse Guard is a very fun "survey" activity where you are given questions about your character to answer. By answering these questions, you develop their abilities and statistics. That said, the first mission will likely be done using pregens, just to let everyone get a feel for the system beforehand.
*Mouse Guard features an episodic mission-based format—each "session" represents a new mission or mission goal. Because of this, if there is large demand, I will be considering a "revolving door cast". The game can handle about three or four mice at a time, but if we get more, they have the option of being put on a sort of waiting list and coming in for the next session. Occasional sessions might crop up that can accommodate up to six.
Mouse Guard is considerably darker than Redwall, as the world is not "scaled down" as it is in that series. Predators and weather are major dangers. Towns are hidden under rocks and in tree hollows, and they're perpetually one really bad day away from being torn apart by a flood, forest fire, or animal.
Journeying from town to town is a dangerous prospect, so escorting merchants and carrying mail are two of the more subtle but important duties of the Mouse Guard. The Mouse Guard are also often key in diplomacy, being relatively neutral figures between settlements. Settlements each govern themselves separately and uniquely, though, and the Guard's authority within a given settlement is often quite small. Some towns even force the Guards to disarm themselves when they enter!
There is no known magic in Mouse Guard, though there is chemistry, smithing, and plenty of scientific study. Mouse technology is just a bit behind crossbows at present. No strong religion exists, but mouse folklore is common.
More will be explained in the Discussion thread. That said, the comics are really the best way to familiarize yourself further with the world of Mouse Guard. Failing that, here are a few images to give you a small idea:
Mouse Guards battling a fierce predator. Some creatures can only be driven off, rather than killed, without major constructions or entire armies. Foxes are among them.
Lockhaven, the stronghold of the Mouse Guard.
Ribbit.
An excerpt from "The Black Axe" showing a small mouse town. Note the ramshackle construction.
The Mouse Guard struggles to patrol all the territories, but there are never quite enough of them to go around.
Weather can be a surprisingly dangerous adversary.
No context needed.
Let me know if you have any questions!
The game will start sometime in February or early March, depending on how recruitment goes!
What do you mean by "Mastering"?
Im ready to go!
Also a possibility, if anybody wants to run. What I was envisioning was a revolving door cast—one "session" would focus on one patrol of players, the next would focus on another patrol of players, and it would just cycle around. That's the advantage of the episodic format. Everyone can get a turn.
I love systems without very much crunch (Dungeon World junkie) and this sounds right up my alley. I'm also a huge Redwall/Secret of Nimh nerd.
Let's do this!
By the way, while proper character creation will come later on the Discussion thread, there's a neat naming resource here if you want an idea of the naming style in Mouse Guard. It's mostly Old World names.
Alright, so with Corsario, Johnnycat, Mooshybooshy and Nixie, that's the first session filled. If anybody would be interested in signing on for future ventures, feel free to throw your hat into the ring!
Dotting.
Signing up, late but ready for action!
Nixie here. Made a special one-of-a-kind alias for this. Sort of a mouse-guardy name?
Well, if you want me to be really picky, mice don't generally seem to have surnames. But either Nixie or Mckenzie Skye are fine! ;D
And on that note, the discussion thread is up!
I'd like to sign up as a reserve player.
Can rotating members not in the current adventure put a dot on gameplay so we can keep track of the game
Sure, feel free!
Interested as reserve as well
I'm interested in this! I've always wanted to give Mouse Guard a try, and I'm a big fan of both rules-lite games (dungeon world) and Redwall.
Alright, just to get this all together—
The Waitlist, at Present:
• Hama
• Ffordesoon
• Sach
• DM Immortal
• Smith66
• William Nightmoon
• Corsario
• Johnnycat
• Mooshybooshy
• Nixie
The latter four are currently in-play.
Woo! Would you like us to create characters so they're ready, or just go with the pregens? I've read the gameplay threads and it looks like a lot of fun!
Whether we use pregens or make our own, don't make them now. The players should make their sheets together.
Ohh, I'd love to get in on this too. If that's cool, I'd happily accept a spot on the waiting list. As with William Nightmoon, a PM when I'm coming up would be awesome.
Alright. I could roll for the next four to make it a bit more exciting, but I think we'll just go in order on the list. Hama, Ffordesoon, Sach and DM Immortal, are you guys still up to play? If so, proceed to the Recruitment thread.
Exciting! Are we running with the Pregens as well for this first mission?
No, I'll be getting character creation info up promptly (unless you'd prefer to run with pregens).
I think I'd prefer my own character. Can't wait!
Alright, DM Immortal isn't able right now, so we'll move on to Smith606. Still waiting for responses from Hama and Ffordesoon—if you guys can't play, let me know so I can continue down the queue.
Sweet!
Whoops, sorry, I was on vacation. Do you still have a spot open?
Yes, Ffordesoon, we need one more. Head on over! Hope your vacation was fun.
Ffordesoon isn't available either. William Nightmoon, are you? If so, proceed to the Discussion thread! If not, no big.
Alright, sorry, William, we're going to move on to White Unggoy for now (just because we've already been held up for a while as it is trying to get various fourth members). You've been moved down the queue.
• Hama
• Ffordesoon
• Sach
• White Unggoy
• DM Immortal
• Smith66
• William Nightmoon
• StrayChowChow
• Corsario
• Johnnycat
• Mooshybooshy
• Nixie
• Atlas2112
Just running an update of the list. DM Immortal, Smith66, Nightmoon and StrayChowChow will be up next, should they wish to play. We're approaching the end of the current mission now.
Warning: I'm not wholly sure I'm sold on the cycle style yet—I'll give it one more runthrough. If it still doesn't seem to be meshing with me, I may end up abandoning the waitlist and moving towards a more conventional campaign.