Pillars of the Mice

Mouse Guard Missions
1

Greetings,

this is the first of my Summer missions for my next game.
In spring terrible storms and rain destroyed many buildings and towns in the territory. On their way from Port Summac to Spurcetruck our patrol makes rest in Sandmason and encounters a problem.

The bridge, connecting Sandmason and Mapleburrow is destroyed and now in the good weather the mice of Sandmason want to repair it.
This mission features Mouse and Wilderness(Crafting) obstacles.

At first the patrol has to convince the mice of Mapleburrow to help them in this endavour. The locals aren’t really found of the Sandmason mice and need to be convinced. The patrol will test Orator against the Major to get his help. Failure triggers a complex obstacle. The wish to be left alone comes mostly from the fact that a lot of the workforce is lying sick in their beds.
Someone must have poisoned the water.
To get rid of this the patrol has to pass a Healer 4 check (failure makes the Healer sick and helpers hungry) and a Scientist 4 check (failure means the experiment goes horribly wrong and no help from the local mice (meaning no helping dice))

Obstalce 2, building the bridge

Building the bridge requires an Ob. 5 Stonemason or Administrator test. Failure starts a heatwave (what do i do if the healer is already sick, does he get thirsty instead?). Then there is a Laborer 2 test to be made that can potentially injure the main tester and tire the helpers.

In the player turn the patrol can recover or enjoy the festivals of musfire before they head on to Spurcetruck (second mission for the evening that isn’t finished yet)

2

i like the uncluttered feel of the mission. It is a fairly small piece of flavor on their overall trip to Sprucetuck; that is always a good thing for MG, since it gives a larger view of the territories.

In Sandmason, the patrol could encounter an enemy of a patrol member who is the main proponent of the bridge repairs. That can place the overall task in a new perspective: they ought to help as requested, but it might be uncomfortable to help an enemy. At that point, as they head to Mapleharbor to get the neighboring settlement involved, they find a cold reception from mice who feel they’ve got too much at home to work on, especially with sickness still spreading.

I would make that sickness the mouse conflict. They can attempt one of two complex obstacles: Persuader to convince the leadership that the bridge is most important plus Orator to rally a workforce; or Scientist to discover the source of the illness and Healer to treat sick labor-mice it. This allows the patrol to debate a little about the best way forward. They have two options, but I wouldn’t allow them other options in this case.

This makes one complex obstacle of the Mice Obstacle with no expectation of a twist, they would suffer conditions as you’ve outlined.

I might not push Sick on the mice from the first obstacle. I’d probably keep that in Angry and Hungry/Thirsty range.

Then, as they move on to the work of repairing/rebuilding the bridge, a weather twist is a good follow-on. Have a patrol member take the lead on the Stonemason, Carpenter, or Administrator; though I might allow the patrol to opt for each member making a Laborer test in case they feel no one has the skill to take the lead (in fact, if no mouse in the patrol has one of the associated skills, I might offer only Laborer: the mice of Sandmason have the skills, but need the workers).

In the case of the Stonemason, Carpenter, or Administrator I would factor an Ob. However, in the case of each mouse testing Laborer I would conduct a test vs Summer (plus or minus a few elements of the immediate terrain). I think I might hold the listed skills for the twist, but the Laborer would lead to Tired.

If the skill is failed, the weather twist is a heatwave which all mice must test against. I would also test a few of the NPCs that have been present during the session. The patrol might do okay against the weather, but both Sandmason and Mapleharbor might be overwhelmed by it. That allows the patrol to look at continuing to help the area during the Player Turn. It also might mean Musfire is less celebratory with bad weather.

I think this is a good mission. I’m going to use it oo.