Sprucetuck... the new Barkstone? Science gone wrong!

[jenskot]

Thor ran a fantastic Mouse Guard campaign for us a while back. Whenever I ran, I just stole his ideas! It worked great! Thanks Thor! But I'm starting a new campaign for friends who don't game much due to their newly earned status as parents. And I need new ideas!

I love Fringe (a show Thor introduced me to, so in a way I'm still stealing from him)... which is about science gone wrong! A theme I'd love to explore in our Mouse Guard game.


My favorite part of Mouse Guard is the Scent Border. Sprucetuck is a village of scientists responsible for the Scent Border. Every spring and fall they brew scent to maintain the border (which the Mouse Guard apply). Without the border, bye bye mouse society!

No border = Bears, Moose, Wolves, Wolverines, Deer, Coyote, Otter, Sables, and other large predators invading and likely wiping out the Territories.

On the map Sprucetuck is near the Darkheather! Barkstone is considered to be at risk from predatory attacks but Sprucetuck is in the same situation. Barkstone has armored mice to protect them while Sprucetuck doesn't have much. The town of Walnutpeck were Sprucetuck's neighbor and allies before they were destroyed... absorbed into the Dark Heather. According to the map, Barkstone, Sprucetuck, and Pebblebrook are next to fall. If I was the Mouse Guard, I would strongly encourage the mouse scientists to move! They fall... we all fall!

Strangely most mice don't even know the scent border exists! So who is paying Sprucetuck for their efforts? Our groups generally assumes Lockhaven taxes or strongly encourages the Territories to donate resources to maintain the Mouse Guard for everyone's benefit... who funds the mice scientists?

Sprucetuck shares its currency with their neighbor and ally, Copperwood who export metals, refined goods, and weapons. Science + metal smithing = steampunk mad science craziness. Sprucetuck is also managed by a governor with a lifelong term... that seems ripe for conflict. I'd imagine to lead Sprucetuck you have to pass a written science exam (imagine Gwendolyn being forced to take a science exam... wow).


So where do we go from here?

I want to spark tension... no... outright hostility... between Sprucetuck and Lochaven (making Sprucetuck the next Barkstone).

Any ideas how?

[Rafe]

Well, I guess the simple answer is to have the current mayor die and a new one (too clever for his own good) replace him. "Why be beholden to Lockhaven? We're the ones doing all the work! We're the geniuses!" etc.

Not very novel or anything, but maybe a jumping-off point.

[jenskot]

I'm down with that. Let's brainstorm where this leads...

- Mayor dies without appointing a replacement.

- They don't have a method to assign a replacement.

- Maybe they make everyone take science tests... whoever is the "smartest" is in charge.

- At the same time Sprucetuck is in growing danger from outside predators.

- Maybe Lockhaven and Copperwood both want the mice scientists to move in with them.

- The new Mayor is no friend of Lockhaven. "We don't need them", "We do all the important work", "If only we had more money", "Don't give the Mouse Guard money... give it to us".

I think this is workable. How does this lead to hostility? Say Sprucetuck and Copperwood team up... what leads to outright conflict? Say the Territories stop funding the Mouse Guard... how does this lead to confrontation?

I think part of my problem is I'm unclear why Barkstone escalated to physical violence with Lockhaven, so it's hard for me to imagine Sprucetuck doing the same when they can crush Lockhaven in so many other ways.

[luke]

Better, make it like North Korea.

Governor of Sprucetuck appoints his incompetent son. Seems like a problem to the outside world, but the elders in Sprucetuck are relieved. They can puppet him while going about their own business.
Meanwhile, Lockhaven hates him -- they fear his incompetence will get them all killed. And he treats Lockhaven with diffidence. He's busy collecting wood carvings from every city in the Territories. But he has enough pride to bluster, too. When Lockhaven gets demanding, he threatens all manner of ridiculous measures.

So what you have is Lockhaven trying to influence the policies of a city -- which they're not supposed to do.
And the scientists of Sprucetuck putting up an incompetent puppet so they can go about their work.

[Daniel H.]

I like the idea of there being two potential successors to the deceased mayor; neither one is a better choice than the other. They differ on their relationship with Lockhaven, how they feel about maintaining a standing militia in Sprucetuck, whether or not the scientists need to contribute to the betterment of the mouse territories or should be left alone, etc. Perhaps one wants to extend the scent border into the darkheather and reclaim Walnutpeck, which has its own pros and cons. The players can choose which candidate to support, but they run the risk of being seen as meddling in affairs beyond their station.

[jenskot]

Sprucetuck as North Korea is awesome. Consider that done!

Sprucetuck extending the scent border to reclaim Walnutpeck sounds insane, dangerous, and a perfect example of questionable leadership screwing up their priorities with dangerous repercussions for everyone else.

The other key element... the players want over the top heroic action! I've found PC's heroism is often limited by their enemy's villainy. It's hard to justify insane heroic actions if their opposition is subtle and conservative. It's going to be a game where the first shots have already been fired!

Sprucetuck will need resources. They are not self sufficient and import more than they export. This could mean teaming up with or taking over Copperwood (who are almost completely self sufficient). Taking over anything would be tough because they lack a militia and numbers are small.

They can ask for increasingly higher prices for their exports and they can actively work behind the scenes to make sure they maintain a monopoly on science and medicine exports (which means cutting off Elmoss' exporting of medicine). They could also make the Scent Border public knowledge and demand funds towards its maintenance.

Originally I was thinking they would be actively hostile to Lockhaven. It may be more like what Luke says, they don't trust or cooperate with Lockhaven but they are happy to ignore them as well. But Lockhaven may be under pressure to take action!

Lockhaven could see their taxes/donations dwindle away as the Territories need to direct more of their funds towards Sprucetuck. Sprucetuck could begin insane campaigns such as extending the Scent Border to reclaim dead towns of no immediate tangible value such as Walnutpeck which could put everyone in danger. With Sprucetuck's growingly unstable leadership, basic maintenance of the Scent Border could be thrown into question. And rumors could spread of Sprucetuck taking direct violent action against competitors. All of this and more could pressure Lockhaven to act before it is too late. But they aren't supposed to directly influence a city's policies which if handled poorly could cause the rest of the Territories to choose sides.

But no matter what... Lockhaven needs to make a decision because it's time to replenish the Scent Border and those crazy Sprucetuck scientists just sent a patrol to begin stage 1... reclaim Walnutpeck!

I would save this as an escalation for later but if Sprucetuck really wants to get nasty they could distribute medicine that doesn't quite treat people... or treats them just enough that they can function but are constantly getting sick and needing their services.

I'd also imagine that Sprucetuck will eventually be far better armed than Lockhaven especially given Sprucetuck's ability to leverage science while Lockhaven's resources for basic supplies start dwindling.

It's going to get rough quick!

[luke]

Excellent setting!

One geo-political detail -- Sprucetuck does have Science, but Lockhaven has Military. They don't need to attack Sprucetuck directly (or any city) to knock them back in line. Mouse Guard authority begins and ends in the wild -- right were Sprucetuck is headed.

[Rafe]

Sprucetuck will need resources. They are not self sufficient and import more than they export. This could mean teaming up with or taking over Copperwood (who are almost completely self sufficient). Taking over anything would be tough because they lack a militia and numbers are small.

... what about a sneaky side deal with a faction of weasels?

[Alex_P]

... what about a sneaky side deal with a faction of weasels?I think you could do something really interesting with the weasels <-> musk <-> scent border association there.

Oooh, for a "dark science" thing: maybe the scent border mixture requires substantial quantities of weasel musk? If you don't secretly trade with weasels, how are you going to get it?

[Crookedleg]

You could also have Sprucetuck create some sort of anti-scent mixture - some scent that's so attractive to some type of predator to convince it to cross the scent border into the Territories to direct the Guard's time and resources away from Sprucetuck's actions. Maybe spread it around Elmoss and/or Copperwood and kill two mice with one skunk.

[Rafe]

The only issue with that is that they're painted as evil, so there's no real dilemma with how to deal with them. It'll be done aggressively, no prejudice. You don't want the situation to be too black and white otherwise there's no real conflict -- the GM has already set up how he wants the situation to play out.

[Alex_P]

You don't want the situation to be too black and white otherwise there's no real conflict -- the GM has already set up how he wants the situation to play out.I'm going to pimp the musk thing again (last time, I promise). The mouse cities need the Guard to maintain the scent border, the Guard needs Sprucetuck science to create the mixture, and Sprucetuck *needs* a resource that comes from weasels -- literally, from their very own bodies -- to create its scent border mix. It seems to go against everything the Guard stands for, but stopping it might be worse.

I'm visualizing this as a Dogs town. Dealing with the weasels is only the seed of the problem. It started out as a pragmatic act, and the conspiracy was only there because, well, it's necessary -- this isn't the kind of thing any mouse will accept. But the web of secrecy inevitably creates social tension; and, eventually, of course, sciencemice with less-than-altruistic motives become plugged into the situation. The old stand-bys, greed and pride, pump up the situation.

What do you think?

[jenskot]

... what about a sneaky side deal with a faction of weasels?
Sub-factions within Sprucetuck could attempt this. The trick is to not make it overt and have the factions only do this as a last resort. They hate the weasels for killing their direct neighbors (which is partly why they want to reclaim Walnutpeck) so any relationship would be tenuous and secret as to not turn the rest of the Territories against them. But it’s a great possible twist!




I think you could do something really interesting with the weasels <-> musk <-> scent border association there.

Oooh, for a "dark science" thing: maybe the scent border mixture requires substantial quantities of weasel musk? If you don't secretly trade with weasels, how are you going to get it?
That has potential! It could be more than just the weasels. Which makes things… complicated! Deer, ducks, rats, shrews, beetles, turtles, snakes, and crocodiles all have musk. And many more animals use scent glands and urine to mark their borders.




You could also have Sprucetuck create some sort of anti-scent mixture - some scent that's so attractive to some type of predator to convince it to cross the scent border into the Territories to direct the Guard's time and resources away from Sprucetuck's actions. Maybe spread it around Elmoss and/or Copperwood and kill two mice with one skunk.

The only issue with that is that they're painted as evil, so there's no real dilemma with how to deal with them. It'll be done aggressively, no prejudice. You don't want the situation to be too black and white otherwise there's no real conflict -- the GM has already set up how he wants the situation to play out.
An anti-scent mixture is terrifying!!!

I agree with Rafe that its use could make the situation too black and white (although great for the final session of a campaign). But the threat of such a weapon, like nuclear weapons from North Korea, could be enough of a danger without actually using it. The ensuing paranoia would ramp up the tension. Maybe Sprucetuck develops such a weapon to be used against the Weasels, not other Mice. So the original intent was intended for civil war. But their existence is a danger to everyone.

[jenskot]

Other scent weapons...

Tag someone with a unique scent that can be tracked.

A variation of Crookedleg idea, a scent weapon that attracts animals to individual targets (like specific mice, instead of towns).

What else?

Unrelated, I really like the idea of an acorn locked chest hiding secrets that can be tagged with a unique scent and then given to squirrels to hide.

[jenskot]

We make characters tomorrow!

Below is the starting setting & situation. When we make characters, we may throw any or all of this out depending on the players' interests. But so far excitement is high.

The basic premise:

- science gone mad (mice scientists are the "bad guys")
- Sprucetuck as a loose analogue for North Korea

Setup:

- Sprucetuck is where all mice scientists live and make the scent the Mouse Guard use to replenish the Scent Border every Spring and Fall.

- No Scent Border = Bears, Moose, Wolves, Deer and other large predators wiping out the Territories.

- The Mouse Guard and Sprucetuck keep the Scent Border secret as to not alarm the general populace.

- Sprucetuck is dangerously close to the Scent Border and vulnerable to attack. They have science but are relatively small with no militia.

- Both Lockhaven (where you live) and Copperwood (largest self sustaining mouse city specializing in metal exporting and weapon smithing which is next to Sprucetuck) want to relocate the mice scientists out of Sprucetuck.

- Sprucetuck is ruled by a governor with a lifelong term who decides who replaces him. He has no interest in relocating and potentially losing control over his people.

- Sprucetuck's governor dies. Details unknown. But he has no successor.

- Sprucetuck's people are an odd type and make everyone they can take a science test. Whomever scores highest is the smartest and will rule. Unfortunately Jin, an 11 year old kid wins.

- Jin reveals the existence of the Scent Border and demands ever increasing taxes for its maintenance.

- Unfortunately these taxes mean less donations to keep the Mouse Guard and Lockhaven running smoothly. And savings have just run out.

- Jin cuts Copperwood a break and Copperwood provides Sprucetuck with a steady supply of metal, fine goods, weapons, and militia.

- Sprucetuck and Elmoss are the two main exporters of medicine. Elmoss' has come under repeated attack recently by bands of flying squirrels. This makes Sprucetuck's medicine supply even more crucial and expensive. Unfortunately mice complain that the quality has declined and mice never seem to fully heal, only healing enough to get by.

- Rumors claim that Sprucetuck is developing Scent based weapons. No one knows what this means but speculation runs wild from the realistic to complete ridiculous. The most dire claims revolve around weapons made from animal parts that can draw Predators to a target (instead of keeping them out).

- Jin announces plans to expand the Scent Border.

- It's Fall... time for the Mouse Guard to replenish the Scent Border... but relations between Lockhaven and Sprucetuck are quickly breaking down.

- Lockhaven's jurisdiction begins and ends in the wild between towns. They have sworn not to interfere with the internal affairs of mouse settlements. But with the Guard's influence shrinking, fear spreading over Sprucetuck, and the deadline to replenish the Scent Border encroaching... the Mouse Guard are considering all options.

[Rafe]

You definitely need to encourage a friend and enemy to exist within the current Sprucetuck government structure -- one player has a friend, another an enemy.

[jenskot]

Making characters took up most of the session. A 4th person joins us next week.

Everyone was excited by the Sprucetuck situation (especially science mice run amuck) and didn't have changes.

But I may have presented Sprucetuck in an overly balanced way. Here are a few player quotes: "of course Sprucetack should tax everyone", "it makes sense to give less money to the Mouse Guard with Sprucetuck stepping up", "Lockhaven is old and outdated", "Lockhaven needs reform!" 2 of the PC's enemies are Mouse Guard Patrol Leaders! Although they also have significant complicating connections to Sprucetuck, their ally Copperwood, and their rival Elmoss.

2 playes have never played so we ran a brief mission to learn the rules.

Mission: "Extract Brynn from Sprucetuck and escort her to Lockhaven".

Brynn is one of the PC's friends, a retired Mouse Guard from Elmoss who suspects Sprucetuck is behind the flying squirrel attacks Elmoss is suffering from.

PCs meet a panicked Brynn fleeing Sprucetuck carrying what appears to be an acorn but underneath the fake shell conceals a locked metallic safe. The PCs question her and she reveals that she thinks inside the safe is the proof she needs. She stole it from Sprucetuck but was sprayed with a sticky awful smelling gunk as she ran off. The PCs weren’t all comfortable with the idea that Brynn was a thief!

The PCs discovered that Sprucetuck is now protected by its own mini scent border (possibly explaining why the flying squirrels attacking their neighbor Elmoss haven't attacked them).

The PCs try to figure out what Brynn is covered with. They learn it’s similar to the scent from the border except it could be used to track Brynn or draw certain animals to her. They learn how to remove the scent but decide they've wasted enough time and must run to Lockhaven now (as a GM this surprised me, I thought they would remove the scent first but this was more exciting)!

They fail a Pathfinder test and are attacked by a Flying Squirrel, possibly from Elmoss, who's attracted to the scent covering Brynn and the acorn. The PCs decide to go with a Fight Animal conflict instead of a Chase conflict. My goal was "capture Brynn and the acorn" with a starting Disposition of 7. PC's goal was "force the Squirrel to runaway" with a starting Disposition of 8.

I wanted to go easy on the players so I haphazardly scripted Feint, Feint, Attack for my first round. Of course this actually ended up being fairly effective as the players scripted Defend, Maneuver, Attack. I won with a remaining Disposition of 1 and owed the PCs a Major Compromise. The Flying Squirrel abandoned the acorn and dragged a screaming Brynn away leaving a bloody trail behind that could be tracked if the PCs choose to pursue!

And then we ran out of time. We're going to finish this mission and play a second mission next week when our 4th player joins us.

The 2 players new to Mouse Guard had no issues with the rules, tracking passes and fails, spending Fate, or scripting. How Nature and Persona work was still fuzzy for them but I'm sure it will be clear soon. The biggest rule issue they had was in character creation with marking skills checks. They kept looking for where to mark their checks on the character sheet. And for some reason adding +1 to their check total to determine the final skill rank was also momentarily confusing. Everyone may have just been hungry waiting for our food delivery.

Here are the 3 PCs...

Name: Autumn
Guard Rank: Patrol Guard
Age: 37
Home: Port Sumac
Fur Color: Brown
Cloak Color: Green
Friend: Thom the Weaver from Lockhaven
Enemy: Sloan the Loremouse from Sprucetuck (works with senior Scientists)
Belief: The Mouse Guard can do more than fight and I will show them how!
Goal: Find out more about what goes on inside Sprucetuck!
Instinct: In danger, hide and attack with bow!
Gear: Bow, Arrows, Small Knife
Traits: Tough 2, Sharp-eyed 1
Abilities: Nature 5, Will 4, Health 4, Resources 6, Circles 2
Skills: Fighter 2, Hunter 2, Instructor 2, Pathfinder 3, Scout 5, Survivalist 2, Weather Watcher 2, Cartographer 3, Persuader 2, Scent-border-wise 2, Sprucetuck-wise 2, Pirate-wise 2

Name: Finn
Guard Rank: Guard Mouse
Age: 18
Home: Lockhaven
Fur Color: Blonde
Cloak Color: Light Blues
Friend: Sloan, a Scientist in Sprucetuck
Enemy: Hannidy, a Patrol Leader from Lockhaven who thinks Finn only got into the Guard because of his wealthy Armorer family
Belief: If you do what right, you will always find a way!
Goal: I will prove myself worthy of my cloak!
Instinct: Always defend the honor of the Guard!
Gear: Sword, Fancy Helmet
Traits: Guards Honor 2
Abilities: Nature 4, Will 3, Health 5, Resources 5, Circles 4
Skills: Fighter 5, Weather Watcher 4, Haggler 3, Armorer 3, Harvester 2, Persuader 2, Ettiquete-wise 2, Economics-wise 2

Name: Cale
Guard Rank: Patrol Leader
Age: 52
Home: Elmoss
Fur Color: Gray
Cloak Color: Tattered Brown
Friend: Brynn, retired Mouse Guard from Elmoss whose suspects Sprucetuck is behind the Elmoss Squirrel attacks
Enemy: Walmond, Patrol Leader from Copperwood who is close to Copperwood's leaders who have allied with Sprucetuck
Belief: The Guard has lost its moral center, so I'm keeping my head down and avoiding politics!
Goal: Keep Brynn from harm!
Instinct: Always have an exit strategy!
Gear: Sword
Traits: Alert 1, Skeptical 2
Abilities: Nature 4, Will 5, Health 4, Resources 3, Circles 4
Skills: Fighter 4, Healer 2, Hunter 5, Pathfinder 2, Scout 2, Survivalist 3, Carpenter 2, Insectrist 3, Elmoss-wise 2, Mouse Guard-wise 2, Flying Squirrel-wise 2, war-wise 2

Rock,
John

[jenskot]

One of the players referred to the Pathfinder skill as the Wandering Monster roll!

[jenskot]

Played game 2!

The PCs hung up their cloaks!

They are Mouse Guard no more!

[AsthmaticHamster]

Aww man! Awesome!

I hope we're gonna get a little more AP than that, though ;D ;D ;D

[Crookedleg]

So just to clarify- Have the characters forsaken the guard, or the players done with the campaign?

[jenskot]

I'll post an AP in the next few days but briefly...

Players tracked Brynn (dragged away by a flying squirrel) to Sprucetuck.

In their varied attempts to break into the town, they encountered Sloan (one of their enemies, a Sprucetuck Loremouse master, once feral after he spent years in the Dark Heather but sometimes still gives into his rages) and demanded Brynn's release. Sloan said Brynn stole from Sprucetuck so they will put her on trial. But no worries, the penalty for theft is not death or anything so barbaric (as he let out a growl). The PCs didn't care and it was a fight!

It was brutal. He had mouse snipers, wall climbing, door smashing, ball kicking, weapon disarming, almost falling off a balcony, skunk scent bombs, and more! The 4th player joined in. He's a nerdy tenderpaw archivist / insectist / scientist, with a firefly on his back, Sprucetuck native, former student of Slaon, hates Jin (leader of Sprucetuck) because he wanted to rule but didn't score high enough on the science test.

The PCs beat Sloan into unconsciousness and rescued Brynn. But suffered conditions.

Mission 1 - Player Turn:

PCs healed, had 2 amazing scenes overcoming anger, Cale convinced Bynn to rejoin the Guard, Bynn and Cale foreshadowed a blooming love, the PCs broke into the acorn, discovered plans for weapons of mass scent destruction (maybe to be used against Weasels), made copies, and more!

We reviewed Beliefs, Instincts, Goals and awarded rewards.

Mission 2 - GM Turn:

A huge argument broke out between the PCs, 2 of their enemies (who are Mouse Guard Patrol Leaders) to convince Gwendolyn what to do about Sprucetuck.

The Scent Border needs to be replenished in a week, Sprucetuck is late with the scent, but they spent time creating their own personal scent border, Elmoss is under attack by Flying Squirrels, and the PCs have evidence that Sprucetuck may be weaponizing the scent.

The NPCs argued the Mouse Guard has grown weak by letting poor excuses for Guard Mice like Fynn (a PC) into their ranks, lost the Territories respect, and need heavy internal restructuring before dealing with Sprucetuck. A smaller, leaner Mouse Guard may simply be what the Territories want. Sprucetuck is out of their jurisdiction and they're sure the Scent Border will be fine.

The PCs argued that Gwendolyn needs to increase the Mouse Guard's jurisdiction, have more influence over the Territories, starting with entering Sprucetuck, finding out exactly what they're doing, and babysitting them till they finish the scent. There was also mention of starting a Mouse Guard science division.

The PCs lost! But were due a compromise.

The argument was fantastic as it was a great way for the players to express what they want and don't want out of the campaign in character. It set the tone for the future. We were also strict with the -1D penalty for repeating in an Argument conflict. Which helped keep everything to the point as we didn't want to waste too much great roleplaying material in just 1 action.

After the meeting, Gwendolyn excused everyone except for the PCs. For their compromise, Gwendolyn agreed with them but for political reasons couldn't approve of their suggested tactics. Instead the PCs may join an unsanctioned, will be disavowed if they are caught, secret group called the Black Guard. They must give up their Mouse Guard cloaks, and all official Mouse Guard status. But she will help them break into Sprucetuck, find out what's happening before time runs out, and do what is necessary. The PCs handed over their cloaks and were given special black cloaks with compartments for hiding small items. Thus the Black Guard was reborn!

We were all pumped! It was a very successful session. I have no idea where we go next but the options are wide and full of possibility. Now the PCs can conflict with everyone, including the Mouse Guard. Which is great since two of their enemies are Patrol Leaders!

I was happy!

[jenskot]

One thing I'm enjoying about the game, we don't know how long we're going to play. One player may move away at any moment and another player has a new born. The game itself is one of the few times she isn't with her less than 1 month old baby. So there is a pressure to make everything count. No holding back! Any session may be our last! I like it!

[luke]

The Black Guard is an amazing compromise and twist.

[jenskot]

Thanks Luke!

We played again last night but I was in no condition to GM :(

I was in day 2 of recovering from removing all 4 wisdom teeth. My face was swollen like a chipmunk. I slowly lost my voice. And the bandage from a neck wound I sustained came loose mid-game and bled all over my shirt! It was quite horrific and ridiculous. But we soldiered on!

Not my best session but ok all things considered!

[jenskot]

Mission 2 - Player Turn:

Cale fails to embarrass Walmond (the Patrol Leader from Copperwood who wants the Guard to shrink in size), Autumn finds a fighting instructor, and Bixby fails to overcome his anger by daydreaming of a future advanced cross territory mouse communication system.

Mission 3 - GM Turn:

Gwendolyn sends to Black Guard to break into Sprucetuck and take charge of the Scent Border situation. Finn (who missed the session) is being sent on a different mission and will explain when he returns.

Bixby used Weather Watcher to predict the weather would calm from it's current sharp and dangerous winds.

The PCs stealthily approach Sprucetuck but discovered they are being hunted by a shadowy mouse with 2 small snakes.

They ambush their stalker with a pit trap! It's Sloan (the once feral Sprucetuck Loremouse master the PCs beat into unconsciousness in game 2) wearing a face mask! The PCs kill the 2 baby snakes and interrogate Sloan.

Sloan reveals that he's responsible for the attacks on Elmoss by order of Sprucetuck. If Elmoss is out of the picture, Sprucetuck becomes the only supplier of medicine and can charge whatever they want. Bixby interrogates Sloan about his mask. Jin distributed these masks to everyone in Sprucetuck as protection from the new Scent Border.

Cale asks Sloan how many people have died in Elmoss (Cale's home). Sloan brags, at least a dozen. After a tense stare down... Cale stabs Sloan in the chest and leaves him to bleed out. Bixby (Cale's tenderpaw) is horrified and erases Cale's name as his Mentor from his character sheet!

Autumn tries to cover up any evidence of Sloan's death but fails! We agree to leave the twist (for failing) open for the future... possibly a missing body... or Sloan is still alive!

The PCs enter Sprucetuck where Bixby has family. He finds his friend Loonis the beekeeper attending the hive. The bees look sick and bloated as they are injected with viles filled with yellowish chemicals. Bixby wants Loonis to tell them where the Scent is and where they can find wagons (to carry the scent out of Sprucetuck). Loonis wants Bixby to turn himself over to try to exonerate his name (for helping Brynn, a Sprucetuck criminal, escape the authorities in game 2).

Loonis loses but as a compromise the PCs agree to escort her and her family out of Sprucetuck. Loonis reveals that Jin (7 year old Mouse Sprucetuck mayor) wants to expand the Scent Border. Right now it only protects us from land creatures. But what about birds, owls, and flying squirrels? Jin wants to make the Scent Border airborne!

Bixby bursts out that they must be using the bees to create Scent Border 2.0 and that's why they are injecting them with something. Loonis says that something is the Scent or at least most of it, modified, which is why they couldn't give it over to the Mouse Guard. But there is still scent remaining in Sprucetuck. Just not enough to protect the territories till Winter (probably only till end of Fall). The masks everyone is wearing is to protect them from any side effects when the bees unleash the new scent into the air. It's supposed to be safe long term but may make mice sick at first.

The PCs procure wagons, and sneak into the main area where the remaining Scent is kept... except Jin and Bixby's parents are there. The entire room is a giant map of the Territories and Jin is throwing a temper tantrum like a baby. Jin storms off leaving Bixby's parents to work on what appears to be plans for a cross territory communication system (Bixby claims Jin stole the idea from him when they were childhood friends).

The PCs reveal themselves and try to convince Bixby's parents that Jin and Sprucetuck have participated in horrific acts. His parents claim that although Jin came up with the idea for the new Scent Border, if what they say is true about Elmoss, Jin isn't responsible. They claim Jin is a puppet whose strings are being pulled by the leaders of Copperwood (Cale suspects Walmund).

After Cale compliments Bixby in front of his parents, Bixby writes down Cale's name back on his character sheet as his mentor (which he erased when Cale killed Sloan). They all escape together with the remaining scent.

Mission 3 - Player Turn:

Back in Lockhaven, Bixby overcomes his anger, Autumn fails to improve her fighting skills, and Cale's becomes closer to Brynn.

The PCs examine the Sprucetuck facemasks (protection from the eventual airborne Scent Border) and reverse engineer to make more.

[jenskot]

I almost had no voice by the end and was starting to feel loopy from my pain killers (having just taken out my wisdom teeth).

Looking back, I would have changed a few things.

Autumn wanted to find an Instructor to help her train her Fighter skill. She spent one Player Turn circling up an Instructor and a second Player Turn paying them for instruction. But I didn't read the Instructor rules carefully. I didn't realize the Instructor makes a skill test against an Obstacle equal to the student's Nature. In this case Autumn's Nature was 5 and only rolled 6 dice (5 for her Instructor skill and +1D for Help). The test was failed and I wasn't sure if the Condition / Twist rules for failures applied to NPCs. Could Autumn gain a Condition for an NPC to succeed at a failed skill test? I wasn't sure how to handle it and at that point I could barely speak. Autumn's player felt cheated because she spent 2 checks towards this goal and if she knew the test was rolled against her Nature, she would have went a different direction. I could have handled this much better.

Mission 3's GM turn was probably too long. I felt it may have benefited from being cut into 2 GM Turns and giving the PCs a Player Turn in-between. The PCs overcame 2 Hazards and any emerging twists but I kept going since it seemed to fit the fiction. But thinking back I would have cut to a Player turn.

At the end when the PCs were leaving Spruncetuck with Loomis, her family, Bixby's parents, 2 wagons, and barrels of scent... I made it a simple roll which felt anticlimactic. There was way too much fiction resolve in that single roll and it didn't feel right. It should have been a full Conflict. I probably was too out of it at that point to play out another Conflict so looking back I would have ended the session on a cliffhanger and completed the GM Turn next session, starting with that Conflict.

One player brought up that mice are nocturnal and it was strange how many years Mice lived in the game. Another player countered with, Mice also don't wear armor and use swords!

Otherwise, it worked well all things considered! The game itself is going in crazy directions! And we're consistently hitting everyone's Beliefs, Goals, Instincts, and incorporating their Enemies and Friends.

[illern]

This thread is lovely and inspiring, this one and the thread about the swedish game gives me ideas for the next campaign (although set in a pre-medieval mediterranean setting). Thanks a lot.

[jenskot]

This thread is lovely and inspiring, this one and the thread about the swedish game gives me ideas for the next campaign (although set in a pre-medieval mediterranean setting). Thanks a lot.
Thanks! I'm having a glorious time!

[jenskot]

Mission 4 – GM Turn:

- Finn missed the last session on a covert quest to find another member of the Black Guard stationed in Copperwood. He only finds a corpse! Finn drags the body back with him.

- Gwendolyn sends the PCs to protect the laborers replenishing the Scent Border. They only have enough Scent to last till the end of Fall but not survive Winter. And with the border already weak, animals may invade the territories at any moment. They start with the border’s weakest point outside the corpse of Walnutpeck (a town swallowed by the Dark Heather).

- Finn arrives mid-trip with the dead mouse. Autumn rolls Circles to determine its identity. She fails! Twist, she removes its Black Guard cloak and pauses… it’s Caleb, her mentor! Finn jokes, maybe all the Mouse Guard are secretly in the Black Guard!

- Bixby tries to determine the cause of death and fails! Caleb was stung with augmented bee venom behind the ear but Bixby himself becomes poisoned!

- The PCs hold a Funeral for Caleb, burying him under the most ornate rocks they can find and chant one of the awesome quotes from the book, I can’t remember which but it may have been a combination of the following:

“Heroes fall, heroes break, heroes bleed. They shed bitter tears, pull themselves up, not to concede. Often are they waylaid and frequent they mourn. Heroes are rarely made and even more seldom born. Not till they all die, do mice sing of their tale. A job, a duty, a thankless obligation not to fail. Send any mouse to do the job, it may or may not be done. Ask the Guard to do the task, even death cannot prevent it from completion.” I described the camera panning to Autumn as they spoke of heroes and death not preventing tasks from being completed.

- Cold rain begins to fall threatening the PCs with sickness as a Weather Watcher attempt is made and failed! Twist, the rain falls harder, weakening the existing Scent Border even more! But most of the PCs make their Health tests to avoid sickness and Cale creates cover out of fallen leaves using Survivalist.

- Autumns breaks apart from the group in search for Sloan’s body (she failed to cover up the evidence of his death last mission). All that’s left is a blood trail from a makeshift grave leading towards Lockhaven. Autumn rejoins and nervously debriefs the group. Cale responds, “if needed, I’ll kill him twice.”

- At the border outside of Walnutpeck, the PCs are surprised by the awe inspiring sight of a relatively gigantic deer slowly walking towards them from behind the Scent Border. Below 5 mice dressed in white full body suits are laying down a scent mixture that the PCs identify as the same concoction that Brynn (Cale’s close friend) was covered in during the fist mission when she fled Sprucetuck.

- Bixby rolls Circles to determine if he knows any of them. He succeeds, the large silhouette gives Brackson, scientist from Sprucetuck, away. Bixby approaches and calls out to Brackson. Brackson panics and pretends to be someone else, trying to disguise his voice (imagine someone approaching Batman and crying out… “hey Bruce”). Hilarity ensued. Cale demands the 5 white mice stop what they’re doing immediately. They freak out the way drug dealers might in a drug bust… trying to flush drugs down a toilet but instead they empty their pockets to spread their weaponized scent all over the Scent Border. The PCs attack!

- PCs win when Finn headlocks one scientist and delivers a running clothesline to a second (while still holding on to the first). Compromise, although the weaponized scent is stopped and no other animals approach, the deer enters and begins to wander the mouse territories looking for food (and possibly hiding from predators that were following its scent). The PCs successfully collect the remaining weaponized scent for use later and the laborers secure the Scent Border.

Mission 4 – Player Turn:

- The 5 scientists the PCs captured earlier are thrown into jail.

- Rumors of a deer walking the territories spread quickly.

- Gwendolyn refuses to tell Finn what Caleb was up to for his own safety. Finn succeeds in a Persuader test, 3 vs 7 dice! Gwendolyn is impressed by the way Finn holds himself and suggests that maybe one day he could replace her. Gwendolyn reveals that Caleb was investigating Walmund. There are rumors Copperwood is pulling Sprucetcuk’s strings and Gwendolyn, out of respect for all of Walmund’s years in the Guard, wants proof before acting against him. She is hoping the rumors are wrong.

- Cale turns to Hannidy for instruction, he wants to learn how to lead armies (Militarist). They spend all night playing miniature games similar to Warhammer except with Mice and Weasel minis. The whole time Hannidy continues to mock how weak Finn is and says if it were up to him, he would force everyone in Lockhaven to enlist. To soften the mood, Hannidy retells story of his military reenactment parties and shows Cale his cosplay Weasel suit.

- Bixby had I believe every condition marked! Tired, Hungry, Angry, Injured, and Sick! Many PC checks were spent tending to him.

- Finn tried to obtain an ornate shield from his rich parents (to match his fancy helmet) but failed! He gained the Hungry condition. He could smell his parents making his favorite meal but couldn’t have any because Hannidy is coming over and they are going to try to convince him that Finn isn’t so bad.

- Autumn failed to follow Ivy’s instructions in an attempt to become a better fighter. Twist, Ivy wants nothing to do with Autumn and becomes her enemy.

- Autumn confers with her friend Thom, the local gossip, to find out if Sloan has been seen in Lockhaven. She discovers Sloan arrived bleeding to death and asking to speak to Gwendolyn. He was taken away by the guard and hidden away under Gwendolyn’s order.

[jenskot]

Mission 5 is tonight!

We started late last time because of dinner problems but I was shocked how much we accomplished in 2 hours (vs the normal 3).

I think one of our favorite parts of the game is ties and deciding if you should break it in the favor of the GM to earn checks! It happened 3 times last session.

[illern]

About sneaky deals with the weasels, why not sneaky deals with the ferrets? They might be willing to make deals without the weasels knowing if it can help them rise against their opressors (at least Iäve got the impression that the weasels live some kind of spartan life with the ferrets like helots. Ferrets might even be willing to ambush a few weasels now and then and sell their musk if the mice need it?

[jenskot]

Ferrets are a possibility! I don't believe the main book covers them but they may be in the upcoming boxset.

[Daniel H.]

John--there's a little bit on page 205.

[jenskot]

John--there's a little bit on page 205.
Cool! Thanks!

[jenskot]

Mission 6 is tonight!

Here's a recap of Mission 5...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mission 5 – GM Turn:

Gwendolyn asks the PCs to travel to Elmoss and end the flying squirrel attacks once and for all. Gwendolyn reluctantly reveals that Walmond (Patrol Leader from Copperwood who’s suspected to be working with Sprucetuck) insists that he lead the mission. Gwendolyn asks Cale to keep an eye on Walmond. Bixby won’t be joining them as he has his own secret mission (his player missed the session).

Suddenly a swarm of Bees invades Lockhaven! They scatter searching for the 5 captured Sprucetuck scientists from last mission. Their goal… assassinate the scientists before they confess anything. PCs win but with a major compromise. All the scientists die except one, Brackson who Bixby knows.

Caleb’s family (Autumn’s mentor) ask Autumn if it’s true, is Caleb really dead? After a moment of consolement, Caleb’s daughter gives Autumns her father’s favorite binoculars as a gift to remember him.

Walmond arrives to lead the PCs to Elmoss. He appoints Brynn (Cale’s friend who he convinced to rejoin the guard) as his second in command. Cale hates Walmund but possibly loves Brynn. Tension!

On the trip, Walmond rides a large rabbit that resembles a giant pillow while the rest of the PCs travel by foot. Walmond barks orders while looking down on everyone. Every time the PCs make a test, Walmond offers help coupled with insults referencing their lack of experience in comparison to his own greatness. The PCs only take it for so long before they refuse any help.

The PCs arrive to witness flying squirrels tearing off the moss growing around Elmoss’ tree exterior. Elmoss uses the moss to make medicine and trade with other mice for basic services. The PCs rush for Elmoss’ entrance, hoping to check on the mice trapped inside before engaging the squirrels. Walmond greets Elmoss’ royal family, King and Queen Agresta and promises their nightmare is coming to an end. He mentions he has the paperwork they’ve been discussing but they can talk business after the squirrels are dealt with. The Agrestas thank Walmond for all the supplies Copperwood has provided Elmoss in their time of need.

The squirrels break through Elmoss, trying to kidnap anyone they can get their hands on but after an extended conflict, the PCs savagely beatdown and nail 3 squirrels to the ground with Autumn’s arrows while scaring the rest away. But compromise! King Agresta has been kidnapped. Fortunately the escaping wounded squirrels left a trail to follow.

Walmond demands to speak to Queen Agresta in private, bringing the papers he mentioned earlier with him.

Mission 5 – Player Turn:

Autumn and Cale investigate Elmoss food supplies, specifically looking for anything Copperwood donated. They find traces of weaponized scent! Possibly the reason the flying squirrels attacked Elmoss.

Finn eavesdrops on Walmond and Queen Agresta’s conversation. Walmond wants her to sign Elmoss’ rulership over to a joint union between Copperwood and Sprucetuck in exchange for protection and economic incentives. Finn bursts in… “Don’t sign those papers!”

Finn and Walmond have an Argument conflict, 2 dice vs 6! But we ruled that if Finn can survive 3 actions, that gives Autumn and Cale enough time to arrive to help… which they eventually do. The argument intensifies but ends with both sides having 0 disposition. After discussing what to do, we decide that Queen Agresta states that whomever brings her kidnapped husband back to her first, will decide the fate of these paper and all of Elmoss!

Autumn gathers and feeds poisoned food to Walmond’s rabbit mount to make it sick and slow.

Cale heals the 3 flying squirrels they captured. Autumn gathers food (not poisoned) to feed them. And one of the PCs obtains saddles that could be fitted onto the squirrels.

Autumn begins blazing a path to retrieve the lost king of Elmoss!

[Crookedleg]

I love that they plan on riding the flying squirrels. The enemy of my enemy is my friend kind of thing.

[jenskot]

Mission 6 – GM Turn:

Brynn (who was with Walmond) staggers slowly (like a zombie) towards the PCs preparing for their race to save the king, carrying Walmond’s battleaxe… soaked in blood.

The PCs do their best to snap her out of her shock. She speaks…

FLASHBACK: Walmond finds his rabbit mount sick and useless. Realizing the PCs may now save the king first, Walmond snaps! He screams at Brynn to put the fluffy pillow like rabbit out of its misery. Brynn defiantly insists it’s just sick. Walmond orders, berates and finally places his own axe in her hands, clasps his hands around hers, and together they end its life.

The PCs are pissed. Walmond shows up, postures, and promises to retrieve the king first.

Bixby missed last mission working with his parents to develop his dream for MouseNet. He plans to use tubes and air pressure to transport messages in locked safes disguised as acorns through the underground tunnels beneath Lockhaven. His parents insist the Guard are too narrowminded to fund Bixby’s vision and only Jin and Sprucetuck will understand and support him. Since Jin and Bixby were childhood friends, all Jin thinks about is Bixby’s ideas. Jin’s convinced Bixby is the key he’s missing.

Gwendolyn introduces Bixby to a very, very old nameless member of the Black Guard who walks with a cane whose joints crack as he walks closer. In raspy low voice, he promises he will train Bixby (we imagined he was like old Bruce Wayne in Batman Beyond). Their first lesson… using bats as stealth gliders! The nameless old man carries Bixby in his arms as they fly to meet the rest of the PCs in Elmoss.

Freezing rain begins to fall as the ground becomes slickened with ice.

Bixby rejoins the PCs but as he turns to thank his transporter… he’s gone! The race is on! Chase conflict. The PCs kick Walmond’s ass, it’s quite embarrassing. Walomond, without his mount, is too slow, gets lost, and eventually runs into the gargantuan deer that’s stalking the territories. The race to find the king leads to a scene of carnage.

A squirrel, thrown against a tree, twitches in pain from its broken back. Another squirrel’s eyes were torn out and dragged up a tree by its empty sockets. The tree top features a nest and the sounds of a whimpering king. Pinned under an owl’s talon, the king is quickly approaching a heart attack. Owl eggs are scattered about between discared round pellets made of mouse fur and pulverized bone with little mouse skulls peaking out at the PCs. The owl settles down for a peaceful nap… till Finn on a flying squirrel charges, swinging his sword at its sleeping face!

FLASHBACK: Finn retells a story of a renowned mouse warrior he looked up to as a child who gained fame by killing a hawk and in a moment of doubt as old age crept in, sought to backup his reputation by fighting an owl. The hero died. Finn wonders, “is this the owl that killed my hero”, “or if not, is this my chance to prove myself a hero in my own right!”

Fight animal conflict!

I can’t do this fight justice but we had to rescript a few times as the conflict ebbed and flowed with defend actions repeatedly replenishing damaged disposition. The dispositions started around 8 vs 14, in the owl’s favor. Finn cut off one of the owl’s ears. Autumn shot arrows at its eyes. Bixby used stealth to drag the king away. The PCs crippled one of the owl’s wings. Cale was pinned under a claw but then places his sword between the owl’s fingers and begun to cut deep with a sawing motion. The owl fumbled about accidentally smashing one of its own eggs! Bixby found a scent pack on the king (that drew the owl to him) and dispatches it. Finn slices the owl’s eye. Cale threatens to destroy its remaining eggs. Autumn fires an arrow into the owl’s mouth as it almost bits Finn’s head off. Flying squirrels are clawed and thrown about. As the owl tries to escape, Finn holds on with a handful of feathers and catches a bumpy ride. The owl crunches Finn’s arm with its beak, biting deep into bone. The PCs win with only 2 disposition left!

The owl fled as Finn simply lets go and free falls, back first, into the unknown. He’s convinced he’s unkillable and no matter the danger, he will survive, this fall will be no exception. And Finn does indeed survive! Although severely injured (he jokes, maybe I'll fight the deer next). The rest of the PCs weren’t faring much better. Plenty of injured, sick, and angry conditions were inflicted. Plus a few dead or dying squirrels. And Bixby’s friend firefly (who he carries around as a backpack) becomes sick. But the king is safe!

Mission 6 – Player Turn:

Bixby heals his firefly and builds a whistle to call bats. He uses it as the sun begins to rise but the moon is still in full view. A bat shape flies past Bixby’s view of the moon, consumes Bixby in its shadow, and lands before him. It spreads its wings to reveal the nameless old black guard who’s quite pleased with Bixby.

Cale heals his anger by talking with Brynn who decides Walmond is up to no good and will back Cale’s story when he exposes him. Cale heals Finn’s badly injured arm.

Finn and Autumn retrieve several owl feathers from their previous encounter. Finn wants to add an owl feather to his fancy helmet and save a few to design a custom owl cloak.

Autumn and Finn find Walmond sulking in the forest, filled with anger, and generally disenfranchised with himself. Autumn begins demeaning him and tries to get Walmond to understand what a loser he actually is. He regretfully agrees that he’s fallen to depths he’s never tasted before. Autumn is pleased but then Walmond loudly declares he must earn back his self respect. He draws his battleaxe and charges the PCs!

[jenskot]

Things just keep getting more and more insane! And we've only explored a small percentage of the conflicts we've setup. It's going to get even bumpier real fast! I'm loving every moment and the players seemed very happy with the last session. And now winter is coming!

[jenskot]

This was also the session where 2 of the players (who never played Mouse Guard before this game) said they now really understood why checks were so important and how to game them. The last few games we averaged 2-3 ties per session where players earned checks by breaking contests in the GM's favor (so earning checks was easy). Also, this was the first time PCs suffered conditions as part of a compromise in an extended conflict.

[Jasper the jester]

I too am playing around with the scent barrier and conflicting factions. Maybe my ideas will add or reinforce some of your own.

1. Sprucetuk is not run by the smartest scientist, but rather by a very popular and enjoyable charlatan. Think "The Governator" running California. He has no right or reason to be in politics but people were so tired of the last guy that he was just in the right place at the right time. Fun twist becomes who is this clowns advisers? Who is really running Sprucetuk?

2. This one is complex, way out there ,and goes against some of the purity/rules of Mouse Guard but here we go... The scent barrier doesn't just keep predators out, it keeps MAGIC out as well. In effect The Mouse Guard (those in charge of redistributing the concoction each year) don't just protect the common mouse from expected threats but also from the unpredictable power of magic as well. I'm thinking that each type of magic (illusion, transfiguration and so forth) is a new skill that requires some rank in archivist. All kinds of fun comes from this. Who knows about it? Are there any wizards who seek to take down the barrier? Do weasels know any magic?

3. One last idea, more food for thought really. Why is there only one Guard? Why isn't anyone competing to do it better? Are there any thieves guilds, secret societies, or political extremists who claim to have the same aim as the Guard but come at it from a different angle? I mean, has any mouse created an organization with a particular agenda different then that of the Guard? I've introduced "The Guild" into my game. Basically an information peddling underground organization. They don't have any ill will towards the Guard or mousedom in general but simply think that there is a profit to be made from exposing, handling, and concealing information and secrets.

Hope this helps, or at least gets the wheels turning.

[jenskot]

Fun twist becomes who is this clowns advisers? Who is really running Sprucetuk?
Agreed! We've gone this direction having Copperwood pull Sprucetuck's strings. Although the PCs have largely remained out of Copperwood and it's not clear who is pulling their strings!


3. One last idea, more food for thought really. Why is there only one Guard? Why isn't anyone competing to do it better? Are there any thieves guilds, secret societies, or political extremists who claim to have the same aim as the Guard but come at it from a different angle? I mean, has any mouse created an organization with a particular agenda different then that of the Guard? I've introduced "The Guild" into my game. Basically an information peddling underground organization. They don't have any ill will towards the Guard or mousedom in general but simply think that there is a profit to be made from exposing, handling, and concealing information and secrets.
Cool idea.

[illern]

3. One last idea, more food for thought really. Why is there only one Guard? Why isn't anyone competing to do it better? Are there any thieves guilds, secret societies, or political extremists who claim to have the same aim as the Guard but come at it from a different angle? I mean, has any mouse created an organization with a particular agenda different then that of the Guard? I've introduced "The Guild" into my game. Basically an information peddling underground organization. They don't have any ill will towards the Guard or mousedom in general but simply think that there is a profit to be made from exposing, handling, and concealing information and secrets.

Some militas, like Barkstone's in the comics, seem to be strong and organized enough to actually be competing guards locally (locally is a relative word) and I guess Midnight from the comics who organized the rebellion were thinking patrly like that. I guess the Copperwood militia could be quite competing too.

I'm definitely exploring this idea in my ''roman Mouse guard'' campaign. I also think that there's potential for a wide gray scale, not only putting different organizations directly against each other, not making it black and white. Your ''The Guild'' seems like a nice gray scale opportunity.

Turns some wheels over here :-)

[jenskot]

Mission 7 – GM Turn:

Winter’s here! Desperate animals test the weakened Scent Border, hoping for escape from their unyeilding hunger. A panicked deer wanders the territories as a wolf catches its scent. Sloan (the loremouse Cale almost killed), near death, chokes himself to sleep with regret in his Lockhaven jail cell. Next door, Brackson (the captured Sprucetuck scientist) screams "the bees are coming to kill me!" Ivy (Autumn's ex-fighting instructor turned enemy) applies poison to her daggers. Jinn (Sprucetuck's child mayor) has nightmares fixated on Bixby and Mousenet. Lockhaven's economy is crumbling. Thom (the Lockhaven gossip, friend of Autumn) runs for his life. Mice scientists distribute face masks to Barkstone in preperation for Scent Border 2.0. Barkstone's citizens stare back in distrust. Elmoss is free from squirrel attacks thanks to the PCs but needs help rebuilding to survive the winter.

Last Mission the PCs defeated and humiliated Walmond. After no longer bearing Autumn’s insults, he raises his axe and charges at Finn and Autumn… who embarrassingly disarm Walmond and drag him back to Elmoss.

Bixby’s new teacher, the white haired old mouse, cloaked in shadow who walks with a cane but flies on mounted bats delivers Bixby a message… Coperwood sends an army to Sprucetuck, the bees are being prepared to be let loose for Scent Border 2.0 BUT a wolf is stalking the Deer and threatens to enter the territories.

Cale promotes Bixby from tenderpaw to full Mouse Guard!

Bixby and Autumn drag Walmond in front of Cale who rips Walmond’s Mouse Guard cloak off! Walmond turns to the King and Queen of Elmoss (who he’s life long friends with) and claims this is all a misunderstanding. The PCs fail to convince Elmoss’ rulers that Walmond is a villain but before the PCs leave, Walmond quietly confesses to Autumn that he is responsible for her mentor’s death and there is nothing she can do about it!

The PCs stealth into Sprucetuck hoping to speak directly to Jinn and elicit his help in fighting the Wolf that threatens to invade the Mouse Territories. But Copperwood’s armies have already arrived!

Bixby uses his bat whistle but it works too well… a horde of bats swarm Sprucetuck, attacking the beehive hoping to snatch up an easy meal while carrying off a trapped Cale with them.

Bixby and Autumn ride one of the bats into the upper levels of Sprucetuck’s tower while Finn assists Cale and then fights off a few of Copperwood’s finest… ill-equipped to stand toe to toe with the Guard! Finn and Cale then pretend to be guards from Copperwood only to fail their deception only to get into more fights, kick ass, try to be sneaky, fail again, kick more ass!

Bixby and Autumn convince Jinn to help with the wolf in exchange for Bixby building MouseNet between Sprucetuck and Copperwood. Jinn almost disagreed but Autumn satiated his young mind with tall tales of her youth as a pirate! Jinn gives the PCs a batch of weaoponizes scent to use against the wolf.

Mission 7 – Player Turn:

Bixby works on optimizing a catapult to use with the weaponized scent against the wolf. Autumn finds out that Ivy beat Thom within an inch of his mousy life. The PCs heal up.

Hannidy, upon hearing of Finn’s epic battle with the one eared Owl (Mission 6) congratulates Finn and admits he was wrong about him.

[jenskot]

Mission 8 - GM Turn:

“Ivy wants to poison Gwendolyn”, Thom coughs at Autumn!

Gwendolyn instructs the PCs to deal with the Wolf first. She can protect herself for now. The PCs with a few mouse interns to help run the catapult head out.

On their way to the wolf, they pass hastened activity in Barkstone. Their busy building weapons, armor, training their citizens, and raising an army. Cale confronts Brand, a fellow soldier from Weasel wars long past (now enemy, failed circles test) who is training his new recruits. Brand proclaims that Barkstone knows the Guard are weak and the danger Copperwood and Sprucetuck represent. It’s time Barkstone does what the Guard can’t, fix the problem. They are strengthen themselves in preparation for war… if needed!

The PCs play out a Fight Animal conflict to drive out the Wolf. PCs disposition was 7 against the Wolf’s 16!!! With some amazing scripting, creative uses of the mouse intern red shirts, and the catapult the PCs just barely squeezed out a victory with 1 disposition left!

Major compromise! The fight with the wolf sends the nearby Deer into a panic. It runs towards Barsktone… crippling it… it’s panicked charge kills 40 mice outright, injures hundreds, and destroys several of Barkstone’s key buildings (Bixby saves several rare books from Barkstone’s library), many of them protecting food, medicine, and supplies for winter! The Deer ends its rage by fleeing the territories completely.

The PCs return to Lockhaven in victory but at a terrible cost. The people of Barkstone cried out “what do we do now” as they rushed back to Lockhaven to deal with Ivy and talk with Gwendolyn about saving Barkstone.

The PCs hunt for Ivy! It’s a chase through Lockhaven. Ivy’s stakes are “get to Gwendolyn to poison her”. The chase ends with Autumn trapping Ivy’s arm against a wall with her arrows. They drag Ivy into Lockhaven’s prison.

Mission 8 - Player Turn:

No checks were earned in Mission 8! The stakes were too high and the players didn’t want to risk more than they had to (In Mission 7, over 10 checks were earned).

The PCs spend most of their time healing. Cale trained with Hannidy to learn Militarist over a tabletop wargame re-enacting the fight with the Wolf roleplaying out scenarios where Barkstone wasn't destroyed.

[jenskot]

Mission 9 is tonight!

The sky is filled with bloated bees popping into puffs of thick mist covering everything with an airborne scent that makes day seem like green tinted night. Those without face masks begin coughing. And any animal that dared considered mouse for dinner quickly flees the territories.

Word has come from Elmoss... the union of Copperwood and Sprucetuck are meeting with 8 of their neighbors (more than half the Western territories) to discuss an alliance.

Gwendolyn need to be at that meeting!

She's gathered her allies from the East (including an uneasy truce with the pirates from Port Sumac) and wishes to represent them at this meeting. If need be, she will march their armies to Copperwood's door step... but only as last resort. Gwendolyn needs your help to break into Copperwood and protection from those who would silence her.

But first... it's time to interogate Ivy, Sloan, and Brackston.

[jenskot]

Super brief summary of mission 9...

The PCs interrogated all the villains they've captured from the last 8 sessions. One turns out not to be such a bad guy, Brackston and with some rehab could be an ally. The PCs discover that Copperwood & Sprucetuck want to form a union in the West between all its neighbors using... Lockhaven's financial weakness, the Mouse Guard's failure to replenish the Scent Border, Sprucetuck launching a new air borne Scent Border and "saving" everyone, only through union can the west save the now homeless Elmoss and Barkstone... to build the largest army the Territories have ever seen! They also confirmed that Copperwood sent assassins to kill Gwendolyn. And there are rumors they plan to weaponize the scent to use against anyone that opposes them.

The PCs unified Lockhaven's allies in the East, built a MOUSE TANK that looked like a turtle shell covered in the finest shields made by Finn's family with a catapult on top, 4 wheel drive, and Mouse Radio! Ok... no Mouse Radio but it was hot!

They marched their army into Copperwood and after much political drama... war is averted... the west do NOT unify BUT the east paid a price.

The Mouse Guard & Lockhaven in its already money deprived economic crisis must now clothe, feed, shelter hundreds of mice from the dire, devastated, destitute Barkstone and Elmoss. The PCs also uncovered that the new Scent Border does indeed work! No more animal attacks! Except it makes the sky dark green, you have to wear face masks or get sick, and it drives Weasels into insane Mouse lust battle rages but you know, it's still in beta. And Cale got captured snooping around Copperwood.

Tonight we climax the Guard!

Plus Terry is experimenting with Boston Creme Pie... which is actually a cake but Terry is working on a pie book so she will make it into a pie so get ready for... Vegan Boston Creme Cake Pie!

Mission 10... tonight... TIME TO LEVELS UPS with the special Winter Session rules!

[jenskot]

We're putting the game on hold for a while after tonight's session. We felt it was a great stopping point and it was a good idea to end on a high note and then come back to it later. I emailed all the players asking if they were ok if we bend the rules and play with the special winter rules since you either play winter missions or have winter reflection and we already played a mission in winter but ending it with winter reflection would make for a nicer end point. The players were excited to play winter reflection so we jumped on it and I'm glad we did!

We had several touching moments, funerals, memorials, promotions, the people of Elmoss and Barkstone were all conscripted into the new Mouse Guard army, Bixby started Mousenet, and Cale proposed to Brynn and she accepted! It was a fun way to wrap things up with plenty of cliffhangers if we start up again. .

Mouse Guard is a fantastic game and the players had a glorious time. Definitely a 10 session mini campaign I will always remember.

Best,
John

[jenskot]

I forgot a few cool details.

By finalizing the plans for Mouse Net, Bixby invented a Steam Power!

And I made Cale roll when he proposed to Brynn... I was hoping for a story twist (Brynn's had a secret child with Walmond, Cale's bitter enemy) but the other PCs weren't having it! Finn comes from a wealthy family of armorer's and forged a fancy engagement ring for Cale worth a needed helping die. And Cale rolled almost a perfect success... giving me no chance at a twist. But it was well earned and fought!

The group is thinking when we pick this up, we'll advance the timeline a few years to see the ramification of Bixby's discoveries... Steam Mouse!

[luke]

What did you ask Cale's player to roll for the proposal?

[jenskot]

I offered Persuasion or Deception depending on how he approached the proposal. If time allowed, I would have loved to have roleplayed out a full blown conflict. It was a great scene and won Cale's player and Embodiment award at the end of the session.