Mausritter: Sword-and-Whiskers Role-Playing by Isaac Williams is a role playing game published by Losing Games and is the core book.
The supplement is available as a Pay What You Want PDF from DriveThruRPG and is also available in printed form. The PDF version is the one reviewed and there are five PDFs. The first two are the core rulebook, a single page 48-page version and a two-page spread 25-page version. Of the 48-page PDF, two pages are the front and rear covers, one page is the front matter and one the Table of Contents. The other PDFs are a two-page character and hireling sheet, a one-page GM session sheet and a three-page PDF with item and condition cards for printing.
What would be inside the covers are lists of Gear and prices, from mouse made tools to human made to hired help, mouse names and carried bric-a-brac.
Player Rules starts with Brave mice in a dangerous world which explains that the mouse kingdoms are on the verge of collapse and the settled mice huddle together, but your mouse is not one of those, instead venturing into the dark places in search of adventure.
What is Mausritter? explains that this is a role playing game, and then briefly explains what such is. It then moves onto what is needed to play, which includes a standard set of polyhedral dice. It then explains how to use the book and that the game can be hacked.
The first part of the book is the players’ section. This beings with 1. Make a mouse. Mice have three attributes; STR, DEX and WIL. They also have HP – here short for hit protection – and pips, the latter being currency. They have some limited equipment to begin with and then there are tables to roll birthsign, coat, physical detail and backgrounds, which has an influence on HP, pips and items.
2. Inventory covers the inventory system. Mice have slots to carry items and inventory is handled with cards that are printed out. Conditions, which affect mice, and usage are covered; most items have usage dots that result in items being depleted or destroyed, but which can be cleared from weapons and armour. If a mouse has too much stuff, they are encumbered and make saves with Disadvantage and mouse settlements have banks where pips can be stored for a percentage. Details follow on weapons, armour and essential items.
3. How to play has some general details on role playing then moves onto saves, which can be opposed, have disadvantage or advantage, then attacks, which always hit, you only roll for damage. Hit Protection is the protection from damage; once exhausted, damage is taken from STR and requires a STR check each time, which can cause them to be incapacitated, then dead. Once STR is exhausted, they are dead. DEX being reduced to zero makes them unable to move; WIS means they are mad. Next up is how HP and attributes can be restored, how time is measured, overland travel and advancement.
4. Magic explains that spells are living spirits trapped by runes carved in obsidian tablets. They may be used, or sold, and when used up they can be recharged by fulfilling specific requirements. Spells can also be miscast. A 2d8 table lists spells, their effects and their recharge conditions.
5. Recruiting help starts with costs for different types of hirelings and how they can advance. Warbands are needed to defeat certain beasts and there are rules on forming, equipping and fighting with warbands. There are also costs for constructing places.
6. Example of play has a single extended example that also covers combat and magic.
Game Master Resources starts with 7. Running Mausritter. It covers best practices, when saves should be asked for – only as a result of a player’s action or choice – luck rolls, rulings, travel and encounters, with a random reaction table.
8. Creatures is the bestiary with 11 creatures, some of them standard animals or creatures but a couple not.
9. Hexcrawl toolbox starts with rules for making and running hexcrawls, with a series of tables for filling hexes, then rules on factions and a list of ten with their goals and resources. There is also an example hexcrawl, the Earldom of Ek, which has encounter and rumour tables, factions and 14 different hexes briefly described.
10. Adventure site toolbox has rules for creating these, again with tables for generating them, their contents and treasure, including magic swords. There is an example adventure site, Stumpsville, part of the Earldom of Ek.
11. Useful tables has tables for generating non-player mice, adventure seeds, seasons and a single page rules reference.
Mausritter: Sword-and-Whiskers Role-Playing in Review
The PDF is bookmarked, with major and minor sections linked. The Table of Contents is to a similar level of depth. Navigation is good. The text maintains a two-column format and appeared to be free of errors. There are plenty of custom black and white images. Presentation is good.
Mausritter is classed as a rules-lite game and it does follow through with this. There are only three stats, less than would normally be the case and, though different dice, the standard polyhedral array, are used, this doesn’t add a great deal of complexity. Eliminating attack rolls and only rolling damage also makes things simpler. The inventory system, being physical, is also easy to use and easy to see. Items can wear out, but the method of tracking this is simple, being circles that are filled in.
Despite being lite, there is also a degree of complexity built-in; warbands, in some respects, work like battles, even if there is usually only one, large, creature on one side. The various toolboxes mean that the basics of hexcrawls and adventure sights can be built pretty quickly, and using factions adds depth to the game. Then there are things like hirelings and building. The game is potentially lethal to mice, and that’s treated as a feature; “Run. Die. Roll a new mouse.” All told, this makes it a rules-lite game with a good degree of depth, and all in a pretty short, self-contained book. Mausritter: Sword-and-Whiskers Role-Playing is an interesting little game and it can be found by clicking here.
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