Review: Mausritter

 

Mausritter is a game that popped up on the various Into the Odd fan groups/social media that I was interested in because I have been a long time fan of Redwall and Mouse Guard. Though, the timing was bad and it passed me by in the early stages. It started as a hack for Into the Odd but moved over to itch and quickly went from a handful of pages to having its own soul. I actually lost track of the game for awhile until someone brought it up and I found the community surrounding Mausritter. The community alone sold me on looking into the game. 

Disclaimer: A physical copy was provided to me for review/demo purposes. 

Presentation: Mausritter clocks in at a 43 page hardback book with mostly a two column layout. There are some areas (such as equipment, etc.) where the formatting becomes three columns. There is a generous amount of black and white pencil art, equipment drawings, and three pages of full page art. I think one of the more unique things about the this book is that the cover has a cutout into the interior page where you see an adventuring mouse. When you open the cover, you get a full black and white two page art spread. Another thing the formatting of Mausritter does is that the interior back cover has useful tables on it that actually starts on page 42. This trend (putting GM screen style information on the inside of the covers) is something I really appreciate and like. 

Character Creation: Character Creation follows these stews;

1. Roll 3d6 (keeping the highest two dice) in order for Strength, Dexterity, and Willpower
   
2. Roll d6 for your Hit Protection (HP)
   
3. Roll d6 for your Starting Pips (Currency)
4. Cross reference your starting HP with your starting Pips on the background table. This is what your mouse was before becoming an adventurer. This table provides 36 different options.
   
5. Record Starting Equipment: Start with Torches, Rations, Two Items from the background, and a Weapon of your choice. 
6. Roll or Choose birthsign, coat, and physical detail. 

Resolution: The core resolution system is a d20 roll under your attribute. If an action requires a roll or something your character is doing could result in something interesting happening, then roll a d20 and if it is equal to or under your attribute it is considered a success. During contested rolls, the lowest successful roll is the winner. 

Combat is resolved in the following steps:

1. If you are not attacking unsuspecting foes then make a Dex save to act before your opponents. This sets the the initiative order.
2. Attacks always hit
3. Calculate damage by amount rolled minus any damage reduction from armor. Damage is dealt first to HP and then dealt to the Str attribute after there is no more HP
4. Once Str damage is taken, the character must make an Str Attribute check with their current score (after damage). If this check fails, the character takes critical damage. This means that the character takes the injured condition and are incapacitated until tended to by an ally and take a short rest. If left unattended the character will die in 6 exploration turns. 

If an attack is hindered, then it does d4 damage (like firing through cover) and if an attack is enhanced (I have the high ground) it does d10 damage.

 Crunch: The core resolution mechanic covers most things but there are a few subsystems:

• Advantage/Disadvantage: When a character has advantage they roll 2d20 and choose which one they want. When they have disadvantage, they roll 2d20 and the GM chooses which result.
• Inventory: Each character has a right/left paw slots, two body slots, and what amounts to six backpack slots. Items fill in the various slots and some items require a certain slot to be used. Every items usually has three usage levels and when those three levels are marked off then the item is either broken or all used up. Some items such as ammo, weapons, and armor have a usage die to be rolled on a d6 after a combat or similar situation. On a 4+ mark a usage. Other items such as rations you automatically mark a use after every meal and torches/lanterns you mark a use after every 6 turns. 
• Spells: Runes are carved into clay tablets that house a spirit, these take an inventory slot.  TO cast a spell, the character holds the tablet and says the magic words. Then the player can choose how many dice to invest (up to the maximum amount of usage) for each dice that comes up a 4+, mark a usage. The effect of the spell is depends on the number of [Dice] invested and the [Sum] of the results. When a clay tablets last usage is marked, it becomes inert and must be recharged. Each spell has its own way that it needs to be recharged. Whenever one or more 6s are rolled, the caster takes d6 Wil for each 6 result - this is considered a miscast.
  
• Time: Time is broken up into three different segments. A round is used for combat and it is less then a minute. Turn is a timescale used for an adventuring site and is about 10 minutes. Each turn is enough time to explore a room or perform an action or two.Watch is a time scale used for wilderness travel. Each watch is 6 hours and there four watches in a day. It usually takes a sing watch to travel a single hex (or about a mile). 
• Conditions: There are various conditions that a mouse can gain. Conditions take up a slot in inventory and if your inventory is full then an item gets replaced with the condition. Each different condition has their own requirements for removal. 
  
• Rest and Healing: There a three ways to heal and recover. A short rest takes a turn and with a swig of water you can regain 1d6+1 HP. A Long rest takes a watch and with some sleep and a meal will restore all HP. If HP is full, heal d6 to an attribute. A Full rest takes a weak back in safety and will heal all attributes, HP, and remove long term conditions. 
• Pips: Are the currency of the realms. A mouse can carry 250 pips in their pockets etc. before they need a Pip Purse which takes up an inventory slot and allows an additional 250 pips to be carried. In most settlements, their are banks that can store pips (for a fee at withdrawal) and a lot of settlements are more then happy to barter.
  

Final Thoughts:  Mausritter is a fun game that really took the Into the Odd core mechanic/character creation and turned it into something unique. I am also a big fan of the theme of this game. Unlike other games the deal with woodland creatures, Mausritter is about mouse sized mice vs. the world and the world is a very big and dangerous place. This really adds a sense of wonder to the setting and the game play. 

I am also a very big fan of the inventory system. I think it is genius and really plays into the OSR idea of resource management. It is simple, intuitive, and is almost its own mini game inside the game. The PDF comes with item sheets that can cut out and used to save writing and the sheet itself. There are also blank tiles for people to make up their own items. 

I also enjoy how the magic works, it adds to the setting and helps keep the magic feeling well magical. 

Mausritter also has a very strong GM section with some great tools and advice. In the back there is a tables to generate hexes and you end up with a great adventuring area with plot hooks that could be easily expanded or you could have multiple of these sites over a large area. 

Now, for those that do not have any experience with Into the Odd or Electric Bastionland, the line about how attacks auto hit. Do not let this discourage you, it is a feature not a bug. Mausritter and other games that use this core mechanic really want you to think of more creative ways to solve problems or overcome obstacles then just trying to solve everything with a sword. Plus it makes drawing said sword serious business. It has really changed how I view HP. 

I think this game is good and fun for all ages. Though, with that being said it can be deadly and for younger children I would suggest after character creation adding some additional HP. 

One of the best things about this game is the community, they are all very supportive and there is a ton of fan content and 3rd party releases out there that the inspiration is limitless. I would highly recommend getting involved with community. 

The game can be found here:

• Core Website (has mouse, item, and hex generators. Downloadable resources, lists of 3rd party products, and digital table top resources)
• Losing Games Itch (PDF is PWYW but I highly suggest a donation)
  
• Exalted Funeral
• Games Omnivorous (Core Book) 
• Games Omnivorous (GM Screen)

The box set (which includes the core book, item sheets, Honey in the Rafters Adventure, character sheet pad, and the GM screen is currently sold out. There is rumors of more box sets being produced but it will not be for sometime.  

Community Links:

• Discord
  
• Twitter for News and Updates 
• Isaac Williams Twitter (Author)

These two Kickstarters funded recently but I highly suggest following them as I believe both are going to offer pre-order options through backerkit. 

• Keep it Together by Rich Hawkes
• The Vitacernis by Brian Stauffer