Thom grew up in Lockhaven, proud to live in the home of the Guard. He worked with his parents to make the weapons and tools needed by the Guard. At a very young age he was proud of his grandfather, a brave hero of the Weasel Wars. So Thom was devastated when his grandfather opened the gates to a boarder town during a siege. His grandfather betrayal marked a turning point in Thom’s life.
At that point he decided he would join the Guard and prove his families worth. He is one of the most dedicated mice in the Guard to the point where it is a problem. Though he is old for a Guardmouse he may never make Patrol Leader simply because he is too constrained by tradition and Right Action. He honestly believes the Guard is the best institution in the Territories and nothing will convince him otherwise. He is a very good Guard Mouse but he isn’t creative enough to ever be a Leader.
Thom also firmly believes the world would be a better place if Lockhaven ruled the whole territory. This makes him rather unpopular with mice from most of the other towns and settlements.
Concept: A guardmouse dedicated to the point of fanaticism
Guard Rank: Guardmouse
Age: 24
Will: 3
Health: 5
Nature: 5 (He is seriously afraid of weasels.)
Resources: 6
Circles: 3
Born in: Lockhaven
Parents: Ma and Pa Garrow (Armorer)
Senior Artisan: Curt Fin, the chief armorer in the Guard. (Armorer)
Mentor stressed: Uncle Vickswell (Fighter)
Friend: Tander. They grew up together in Lockhaven but they’ve grown apart since Thom decided to join the Guard.
Enemy: Rosalee Clove. They shared a young love. Thom abandoned Rosalee to devote himself to the guard and she has never forgiven him. She will bring him down if she can.
Cloak Color: Red, to match his devotion to the Guard
Belief: The Guard should rule all the Territories, not just the wilderness between towns.
Goal: ??
Instinct: Never miss a chance to remind mice of the superiority of the Guard.
I like the character. It seems like you’re going too easy on yourself with the Belief and Instinct. You’re a skilled player and you should use the opportunity to create a little internal conflict for the character – rather than just soaking up two fate points every time you grumble about how badly run a town is.
I’ve been a lazy ass with the pbp thing. I blame it on Star Wars, but, really, I’ve been lazy.
If you write Beliefs like those, then I’m going to have to create more dorks who bash the Mouse Guard… which I’m cool with. I’m not doing a full on rebellion & invasion of Lockhaven, though. Maybe some renegades take over a town, though. Hmmmms…
OR, maybe the Guard are the assholes. And they screw up a town really bad. Hmmm…
Damnit. Part of being lazy is that you get into situations as a GM where you have to work harder… grrrr.
If I’m wrong on this guys, just let me know. I’m the new guy on the forums, and I’ve only just started to get involved in Mouse Guard. But his character’s Nature seems, to me at least, a little high considering his outlook on life. Thom is self-described by his author to be fanatic in his support of the Guard, and he’s motivated by very political beliefs (“The Guard should rule all the Territories, not just the wilderness between towns.”). That strikes me as distinctly more “human-like” than “mouse-like”, which would indicate a lower nature rating. I’ve just been reading through the character creation process with my group, and in the section where it talks about tapping and taxing your nature, it says:
“If Nature drops to 0 due to tax, the Mouse is strongly affected. He becomes unlike other mice. Perhaps he’s too thoughtful or too fixated on his ideals. Whatever’s happened, he’s become distinctly unmouselike.”
Again, I may be way off on this, but I think the character’s Nature is a tad too high. That’s my character, Angus’ Nature, and he’s extremely timid and apprehensive. I would think that even if Thom is scared to death of weasles, a 5 Nature might still be a bit too high because he’s fanatically driven by the Guard’s ideals “to the point where it’s a problem”. His self-righteous beliefs “make him rather unpopular with mice from most of the other towns”, you know what I mean?
Personally, I think the character looks good. My one and only issue is that the Nature seems a bit high given his personality and the strength of his beliefs.
@ThisIsVictor: Luke pointed out that your Belief and Instinct are pretty close. Maybe your Instinct could reflect the constraint he feels to act in accordance to Tradition or Right Action. You also note that he isn’t super creative, which combined with that constraint and his Driven trait may result in an Instinct that pushes for bold, direct or simple action. Maybe something like “Never Compromise” or “Answer every threat swiftly” or “Deception is never the Answer” or possibly “Never Back Down” would fit the concept you have of your character. Those are a few examples off the top of my head, but as Luke suggests, there would be at the very least a mechanical advantage of fleshing out an aspect aside from his opinion of the Guard’s rightful place in there territory, and more then likely, there would be a role play advantage for adding that depth.
@Milk ducks: Fixation on ideals may lead to a Nature of 0 eventually, as you may tap nature every time you roll in following your ideal, but starting Nature is really only based off of three questions. As it’s indicated that Thom is afraid of weasels, we know that he would have at least a nature of 4. Given his fighter 6, which means he isn’t suffering from a -1 to fighter, he choose the option that he likes to save for another day, which seems to make sense for a Guard, in that they are probably like Boy Scouts and like to “Be Prepared”, and explains his starting Nature rating. The place at creation that his unpopularity do to his ideal play a role is his circles rating.
He seems like the sort of character who could have a very legalistic instinct “Always obey Guard superiors”, “Never break rules”, “Never back down”
Something where his “the Guard’s way or the highway” attitude could see him acting in a way contrary to the best interest of the Guard and of mice in general. You as a player should be able to see and feel the tension between action and ideal, even if the character is blind to it. There is an oportunity for character growth as Thom begins to see the value of doing things in other ways.
Instinct: Always follow orders to the letter, that matters more than anything.
Belief: The Guard is the most powerful force in the Territories, therefor we should rule all of it.
I like them. The instinct seems to capture the non-creative driven aspects you spoke of, and is easy to challenge to boot. All the GM has to do is include something along the lines of ‘without delay’ and have some unexpected threat pop along the way. The belief has the potential to drive Thom to step on the toes of any townmice leaders he has to deal with. I am a fan of both.
In your gear, I would add a glove that Thom has tucked into his belt so at any moment he can slap someone and challenge them to a duel for insulting the guard =P