Going off Milk's desire for us to be connected: since Lane and Roric's ages are so close, I figure they might know each other from long before the war. Maybe they served as tenderpaws/guardsmice together in their younger days?
I can see that happening, Roric is just awful at navigating the wilderness, so teaming him up with someone a bit more forest-savvy would make just as much sense in the old days as it does currently. Shared history would also give the two good reason to appreciate each other's disparate skills without the whole "learning to respect each other" story arc.
As it is, the second the patrol steps outside a city the first order Roric is going to give is "do whatever Lane says". Gotta love delegation.
Basil's a pretty good scout. He has a storied past for one so young, but he is eager to redeem himself. One of the elder mice could be a friend/mentor of my mentor.
@the_jake_1973 , I definitely think Basil's a cool character. I've played around with the "Guard duty as punishment" angle, myself. There's a part of me that likes to imagine the Mouse Guard like the Night's Watch from a Song of Ice and Fire: they're a respected organization, and absolutely vital to the safeguarding of the Territories, but not everyone wants to sign their life away and swear an oath, you know? I personally imagine that the Guard is full of criminals, to be honest, who were given the option of swearing an oath, or being locked up (or executed).
Maybe that's just me, though. I'm a pretty big fan of "Grey and Black Morality". The way I envision the world, the Guard is seen as a bit of an oppressive force that meddles in the affairs of others. I'm an American, who's spent a lot of time overseas (I lived in Australia for a few years after graduating high school), and this is the way a lot of folks think about the States. And I can understand that, you know? We always want to step in and fix things, and even though we're capable of doing some really great things, there are countries and people out there who just think we ought to butt-out, and stay out of everyone's business.
I kind of imagine that's the relationship that the Guard has with the rest of the Territories. Which is why Midnight's Rebellion was able to gain any ground: if everyone loved the Guard, there wouldn't have been a couple hundred mice ready to strap on armour and assault Lockhaven to overthrow it, and bring about a new system of governance.
Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that I like Basil, good job.
I'm always interested in characters in search of some redemption, and I'm interested to see how Basil interacts with Roric and Lane. They're much older than Basil, and have been in service to the Guard through some pretty horrific conflicts. I think it'll be an interesting group dynamic. Looking forward to seeing it in action!
Also! Now we have a dedicated Scout. This group is shaping up really well from a skills-perspective.
Thanks MD! I've been eager to breathe some life into Basil for a while. It started when I saw Crime-wise in the Wises list. Not much is made of civil crime in the mouse world, but it is certainly there. I agree with your vision of MG seen as meddlers in some territories. I chose Flintrust as Basil's home because there is a tight bond with the Guard there, so a judge may have been more apt to send a troubled youth off to the Guard than a judge from another loacation. Additionally, there is the weight of being a mouse from Flintrust in the Guard, there is much to live up to since so many have gone before him.
I like the redemption angle as it gives the player and GM some meat to chew on. It is certainly reminiscent of the Night's Watch, but also, judges used to give delinquents the chioce of military service or jail time. Basil fell into the wrong crowd, went for the easy money and paid the price. Now he has to make good for himself, his family, and his name. <cue sweeping orchestral music> But what if he ends up hunting his childhood friend?
When I saw your description of how decimated the ranks of the Guard were, it fell right into place. Judges would certainly use this type of judgement as a recruiting tool. Then there would be the resentful mice, like Haddock Sorrel, who think mice like Basil are good for nothing. Even the old guard may not like this way of filling the ranks. These lawbreaker mice don't have the honor to uphold the Guard's traditions. Gwendolyn must be desperate indeed.
I look forward to patroling with the old-timers, Lane and Roric. I can already see some tension as a young upstart tries to get these grizzled vets to trust him. I love it!
Just re-read through the thread, excited to work up the beginnings of a character this afternoon. I think I would like to play a Tenderpaw, the second son of a smith perhaps? I could fill some of the gaps in our group while still following my original ideas, which is cool.
I'm out on errands right now, posting from my phone; more to come.
I spoke with @Rius early; he says he's downloaded the pdf version of the book, so that should help us out a lot. He says he's going to read up a bit more on character creation and likely make a Tenderpaw. We haven't heard much from @Smoogy , so let's give him a day or two, but if he hasn't started a character by then, I'll likely invite @NotoriousBEN , since he was the next character to ask about recruitment after it closed. So he's effectively on deck.
When those characters are are up to speed with the three of you, we'll move on to the most important part of character creation: Beliefs and Instincts.
Yeah, if you're interested, @NotoriousBEN, I'd actually say go ahead and start making a character. I get the impression, now that I've gone back and read Smoogy's post, that he was just saying he wanted to learn more, not necessarily play. Plus, and this may come back to bite me in the ass, but 6 players isn't all that much worse than 5.
Mouse Guard has this oddball Conflict setup, where people split up into "Teams" to take on enemies. I'll get more into this a bit later, for those that don't have the books, but if you've got 3 players, it's a 3-man team; if you've got 4 players, it's two 2-man teams; if you've got 5, there's a 2-3 split; and if you've got 6, it's two even teams of 3.
So, as long as we're looking at 2 teams, regardless, you might as well burn up a character if you're interested in playing. We don't know if Smoogy's going to play, anyway, so this lets us get a few days ahead in character creation.
Also, gonna steal Everyman's formatting, too.
I got some more stuff, but here's the groundwork.
Name: Finn Age: 23 Home: Lockhaven Fur Color:Ruddy Red color Rank: Guardmouse Cloak Color: Dark Green
Parents: Bryce & Amalie (Apiarist) Senior Artisan: Conwin the Apiarist Mentor: Uncle Acre "The Weasels are at our Doorstep." (Fighting) Friend: Gunther, Armorer of Lockhaven Enemy: Timothy Sands, Mosskeeper of Elmoss
Belief: "Exhausted, Harrowed, and Shattered, A Guardmouse Endures." Goal: -- Instinct: "The Guard's Name Shall Remain Untarnished"
Save for winter? Yes (+1) Stand and fight or run and hide? Stand and Fight (+0) (Fighter unchanged) Fear owls, weasels, wolves? No (+0)
Nature: 4 Will: 3 Health: 5
Where is your character from? Lockhaven (Armorer / Guard's Honor) Pick an area in which you are naturally talented. Armorer What was your parents' trade? Apiarist How do you convince people that you're right, or to do what you need? Persuader With whom did you apprentice for the Guard? What was that mouse's trade? Conwin the Apiarist What did your Mentor stress in training? Mentor Acre stressed Fighter "The Rebellions are at our doorstep." What kind of experience do you have in the Guard? (Guardmouse: 6 pts)
Fighter x2
Healer x2
Haggler x2 What's your Specialty?
Leaning towards Healer
Resources 5
Guardmouse (2) In Winter, do you still practice a trade like weaving, smithing, or pottery for the Guard? Yes, Armorer (+1, Cannot take Leader) Are your parents smiths, politicians, merchants, or apiarists? Yes (+1) Do you like to buy gifts for yourself and your friends? Yes (-1) Are you thrifty? Yes (+1) Have you ever been in debt? Or are you generally bad with money? No (+0) Do you always pack carefully for a journey, ensuring you have everything you need? No (+0)
Circles 3
Guardmouse (2) Is your mouse gregarious? Does he have lots of friends? Does he make friends easily? No (+0) Do you have strong ties to the Guard? Perhaps a family tradition, or allies within the Guard? Yes, Mentor is Family (+1) Has your character accomplished some great task in the Guard? Does he already have a reputation? No (+0) Does your character have powerful enemies in the Territories? No (+0) Has your character ever been convicted of a crime? No (+0) Is your character a loner, tough and cool? No (+0, Can take Extrovert)
Traits
Driven 1
Guard's Honor 1
Gear
War scythe (spear), Smith's Hammer, Flint and Steel
Finn is the epitome of a career Guardmouse. His initiation and induction took place during two of the most formidable conflicts of the Guards' existance and they have left their marks on him. As a tenderpaw, he marched with Uncle Acre and the rest of the Guard to the Darkheather and made war with the Weasels. Their route was no where near the horrid larders or slave pens, but they fought hard just the same.
During Midnight's Rebellion, Finn and Uncle Acre alone held a small alleyway that led to one of the town squares used as a triage center. It was during this fight that Finn earned Mosskeeper Timothy's enmity, for though they held their ground, the main street defenders had broke and allowed a few dissenters to kill some of those in Timothy's care.
Finn believes that the Guard is trying to do the right thing, but for others to appreciate the Guard, it must have a sterling reputation. Something allowed Midnight to gather other disallusioned mice to his banner, and that must be reconciled.
Looks great, Ben. Finn seems like a real trouble-shooter, who's got a broad skill-set: an accomplished Fighter, easily capable of holding his own next to the likes of Lane; a shrewd and studied craftsman, who knows his way around the art of the deal. All of this, and a profound understanding of the healing arts.
Looks great! I'll mark you off as a Guardmouse right away.
Alright, finally got around to doing a couple of very small, final edits to my boy, and I'm ready to fill in a couple more character bits. I'm not really one for elaborate backstories right out of the gate so I'll probably work on any loose ends during actual play.
Name: Roric Age: 50 Rank: Patrol Leader Fur: Dark Brown Parents: Holly the Guardmouse (Retired) and Frederick the Brewer (Deceased) Senior: Dwight the Brewer Mentor: Auntie Beverly, Instructor (Deceased)
Cloak:Orange Brightly colored still, but much-patched over the years. Represents Roric's cheery disposition, warmth, and enthusiasm.
Friend: Patrol Guard Haddock Though well acquainted with much of Lockhaven's ranking Guard due to his duties as an Instructor, Roric shares a particularly close bond with the younger Haddock, who served as a Tenderpaw in Roric's Patrol back when he was a Guardmouse. The two share a keen appreciation for both breaking in new recruits to Guard life and guzzling fine drink on their off-hours. Roric has been pushing for Haddock's promotion to Patrol Leader for some time now.
Enemy: Head Archivist Fern of Sprucetuck In Roric's Patrol Guard days, he was part of a Sprucetuck politician's retinue, assisting in escorting the diplomatic party safely to Lockhaven. During the journey, the outfit was set upon by unusually coordinated and well-equipped bandits. Though the attackers were quickly driven off, they succeeded in direly wounding the Sprucetuck politician, who died only a few minutes later in the arms of his grieving eldest daughter. Fern is that daughter, and she is convinced Roric had some hand in the fateful encounter that took her father's life, and is helping cover up what she believes was a successful assassination.
Yea, he's seen and done stuff in the Rebellions and it's why he's so driven. I'd assume Midnight's Rebellion wasnt a full fledged sundering of the Territories, but I like to think it was bigger than the 200 mice in the rpg book.
Just how big is the mouse population in the Territories? One hundred thousand? One Million? More? Less?
Yea, he's seen and done stuff in the Rebellions and it's why he's so driven. I'd assume Midnight's Rebellion wasnt a full fledged sundering of the Territories, but I like to think it was bigger than the 200 mice in the rpg book.
Just how big is the mouse population in the Territories? One hundred thousand? One Million? More? Less?
That's a really good question, and there's not an official answer. I've seen a post, over on the official forums, where someone took into account both the size of the Territories (which I imagine he's able to determine from looking at the map in the book) and data concerning the population density of mice in the wild. His numbers placed the total mouse population of the Territories at around 20 thousand. Now, that may be high? I'm not sure that "civilized" mice breed at the same rate that "wild" mice do, but honestly, I think 20 thousand is as good a number as any for a total base population of the Territories.
So, how big is the Guard, then? Assuming that Guard duty is something that's rare, and maybe 1 in every hundred mice swear an oath, that would place the total number of Guards at around 200 mice. But let's also remember that their ranks have been ravaged by both the Winter War (against the Weasels) and Midnight's Rebellion, so the total number of Guardsmice may very well be as low as half that. I definitely want to play up the fact that the Guard is low on resources, which includes manpower (mousepower?), so maybe 100-150 total Guards remaining is good for our purposes?
And you're right about Midnight's Rebellion: it wasn't a sundering of the Territories. The Axe basically marched straight to Lockhaven. It was an attempt at a political coup, not a prolonged battle throughout the Territories, or anything like that. Midnight marched his army to the gates of Lockhaven, and was able to get about half of them inside before the defenders closed off the gates. As the Axe ran wild within the walls of Lockhaven, and Midnight tore a path straight toward Gwendolyn's office, the remaining members of his army began to hack apart the main gate. In an act of desperation, the defending Guards let loose a swarm of bees from their apiaries, which went crazy and stung the shit out of everyone outside of Lockhaven. Essentially, this one move broke the back of Midnight's army, but it cost the Guard the majority of its bees (cutting their honey production down considerably in seasons to come).
Meanwhile, Midnight made his way to Gwendolyn's office, and did battle against the heroes of the story, eventually losing. They knew that executing him would make him a martyr, so it was decided that he would be exiled, and marched beyond the Scent Border for eternity.
Also! Great new stuff, @Marshmallow , that's about as much backstory as I care to read, as well. I love fleshed-out characters, but I'm not the kind of person who wants to read a novel every time a new mouse shows up, lol. The amount that you wrote is pretty much perfect. It tells me everything I need to know about Roric's past right now.
Also! Great new stuff, @Marshmallow , that's about as much backstory as I care to read, as well. I love fleshed-out characters, but I'm not the kind of person who wants to read a novel every time a new mouse shows up, lol. The amount that you wrote is pretty much perfect. It tells me everything I need to know about Roric's past right now.
I like that we have every role but a Tenderpaw; I'm still pretty intrigued by the idea of playing the green recruit. I'm going to do a bit more reading and then I'll run through Duck's chargen post.
@Milk Ducks, are there any obvious gaps in our Patrol's skillset that have yet to be filled? My ideas are still pretty malleable at this point.
@Milk Ducks, are there any obvious gaps in our Patrol's skillset that have yet to be filled? My ideas are still pretty malleable at this point.
@Rius , honestly, no. I don't think we have any major gaps in the group's skill-set. We don't have anyone who uses Orator or Militarist, but those skills are largely reserved to Patrol Leaders and Guard Captains (who are the Right-hands of Gwendolyn, and aren't playable in this particular game). But, really, I don't see this particular story progressing through many Speech (as in, persuading crowds of mice) or War Conflicts, so I don't think that's an issue at all.
As a Tenderpaw, you'll find that your initial skill-set is pretty limited. That's okay. They do give you a few perks to make up for it, including an additional Trait. You said you had the book now, right? It's definitely worth reading through that section if you've got a few minutes. Of particular note is that you can select a Trait multiple times, for additional bonuses.
Remember that Traits should be used as negatives, as well as positives, however.
Also! Have we determined who in the group is to be Rius' Mentor? One of the other Patrol members will need to fill that role. That person will eventually grant you your Cloak, when you've earned it, and even pick its colour. It's a great responsibility, being a Mentor, but it's also really cool. It's a fun dynamic to play off of. And Rius, you might look at your Mentor's skills to help answer questions like "What skills did my Mentor emphasize?". Or, alternatively, you could just ask your Mentor, when someone volunteers for that duty, which skills he'd like to emphasize.
I think that Roric or Lane should be the mentor of the Tenderpaw. I don't believe that Basil is old enough to mentor anyone. Possibly not even himself.
@Rius: I forsee Basil filling a Scout/Fighter role with the ability to MacGyver thing together out in the wilderness. Spider silk rope is the duct tape of the territories. Weatherwatcher would be a very nice skill for your mouse to have. It can be very helpful out in the field. I had considered it for Basil, but the lure of beetle wrangling was too strong.
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Very cool, @milk ducks. I really like the art style of all the Mouse books, and considered picking up the RPG book.
I'll be keeping an eye on the thread to see how things go!
Tenderpaws do get some pretty cool character creation options, like how they get two parent skills and a third trait inherited from their parents.
Patrol wise, having a little bit of overlap in skills (or at least skills which can complement each other) is apparently a really good thing to have in Mouse Guard. Unlike D&D and others, where you can have the one guy who's good at lockpicking just keep trying to pick the lock over and over until he succeeds, in Mouse Guard you want to use as much teamwork as possible to stack the dice pool of the one roll you get as potently as possible.
(If you want a bit of a crash course in the Mouse Guard system, I find that this dude did a pretty remarkable/entertaining review of the book.)
Edit: I was going over the creation rules looking at tenderpaw stuff and noticed that I skipped over Patrol Leaders getting two checks in the "How do you convince people you're right?" section. Went ahead and updated Roric to reflect him now being an even more awesome Persuader.
Should hopefully have my mouse up by this evening; as it turns out, having access to the book makes it more difficult to chargen as opposed to easier. Too much stuff to read
@The Everyman I wonder if you wouldn't mind being my mouse's Mentor? For reasons not yet evident it would make a lot of sense for Lane Sounder to have been chosen for this particular mouse.
Sorry I haven't posted much guys, I was on a trip for work for a few days. Rius, if both Marsh and Milk don't mind Lane mentoring you as just a Patrol Guard and not leader, then I'm willing to do so. It would actually be pretty interesting considering Lane's history in and out of the guard. Marsh, if you made Roric with mentoring a greenpaw in mind, then I'll gladly give the task over to you of course.
edit: Whatever the case, Lane as a mentor would stress the Survivalist skill. "Never expect a mission to go according to plan, and you'll never be surprised. Be ready for anything on the trail."
The mentor may try to keep the impressionable Tenderpaw from mixing with the questionable mouse from Flintrust. "Stay away from him young one, he has a criminal past y'know."
I know a bit about Rius' character, and I personally think Lane fits him best as a mentor. So that would be my suggestion, as well, as long as everyone's cool with that. Rius should have his character posted soon, and when that's finished, we'll transition directly into developing Beliefs and Instincts for the group.
Once that's finished ... we're basically ready to go.
Looks pretty good, man. Rius asked me if it was okay if his character was from Wolfpointe, which is a frontier settlement near the North-Western edge of the Territories. I said that was fine, but I had to come up with a hometown trait and appropriate skills. I think I chose either Wolf's Snout or Independent for the traits, and Pathfinder and maybe Harvester for the skills? I really can't remember. But anyways, yeah; get that placeholder name out of there, lol, and we'll be good to go.
For MG names, I typically draw inspiration from English, Scottish and Irish names. I don't think any of the mice in the books ever have their surnames revealed, and I don't think I've read anything in the book about surnames, either. I don't know if that means Mice in the Territories don't have surnames, or if they're just not mentioned. I let people do whatever they want: if you want your character to have a last name, that's totally cool. I don't come up with last names for my characters, though.
I don't think it makes a big difference either way.
For beliefs and instincts, military unit mottos are a good place to start. 2nd Cav is "Always Ready". 4th Cav is "Prepared and Loyal". 9th Cav is "We can, we will". I took my belief from both Dumas and the 15th Cav, the unit I was in during Basic training.
Just a little nudge for anyone thinking about Beliefs.
Today was an absolute nightmare at work; one co-worker was out sick and another was on vacation, plus the printer network for the entire 12-floor building died and we're in the middle of our Windows 7 migration. In other words, I'm home now and finally have time to breathe, lol.
I'm ready to start playing, too. Let's aim to get this thing up and running by Saturday. Sound good?
So before then, we all need to develop Beliefs and Instincts. Correct me if I'm wrong, but now that Rius has the book ... does that mean everyone has the book? I can't recall who did and didn't when we started. If we all have a copy, I'll leave that process to you. If someone's out of the loop, I'll write up a post describing what it's all about.
I have the book as well, but for completeness sake, you might as well talk about Beliefs, Instincts, and Goals.
Looking back over my character, it seems like his instinct could be a second belief, but I like it as a reflexive.
Finn doesnt like it when other mice speak ill of the guard, and especially so of actual Guardmice who give those others something to talk about. I wouldnt say he's a zealot, but he's definitely of the Corp.
Instincts can be tricky to pick since you ideally want something interesting that you are going to be able to bring up every session without it getting old.
I've got an idea what I want to do with mine, just gotta turn it into a neat Always, If/Then, or Never statement.
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I can see that happening, Roric is just awful at navigating the wilderness, so teaming him up with someone a bit more forest-savvy would make just as much sense in the old days as it does currently. Shared history would also give the two good reason to appreciate each other's disparate skills without the whole "learning to respect each other" story arc.
As it is, the second the patrol steps outside a city the first order Roric is going to give is "do whatever Lane says". Gotta love delegation.
Maybe that's just me, though. I'm a pretty big fan of "Grey and Black Morality". The way I envision the world, the Guard is seen as a bit of an oppressive force that meddles in the affairs of others. I'm an American, who's spent a lot of time overseas (I lived in Australia for a few years after graduating high school), and this is the way a lot of folks think about the States. And I can understand that, you know? We always want to step in and fix things, and even though we're capable of doing some really great things, there are countries and people out there who just think we ought to butt-out, and stay out of everyone's business.
I kind of imagine that's the relationship that the Guard has with the rest of the Territories. Which is why Midnight's Rebellion was able to gain any ground: if everyone loved the Guard, there wouldn't have been a couple hundred mice ready to strap on armour and assault Lockhaven to overthrow it, and bring about a new system of governance.
Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that I like Basil, good job.
I'm always interested in characters in search of some redemption, and I'm interested to see how Basil interacts with Roric and Lane. They're much older than Basil, and have been in service to the Guard through some pretty horrific conflicts. I think it'll be an interesting group dynamic. Looking forward to seeing it in action!
Also! Now we have a dedicated Scout. This group is shaping up really well from a skills-perspective.
I like the redemption angle as it gives the player and GM some meat to chew on. It is certainly reminiscent of the Night's Watch, but also, judges used to give delinquents the chioce of military service or jail time. Basil fell into the wrong crowd, went for the easy money and paid the price. Now he has to make good for himself, his family, and his name. <cue sweeping orchestral music> But what if he ends up hunting his childhood friend?
When I saw your description of how decimated the ranks of the Guard were, it fell right into place. Judges would certainly use this type of judgement as a recruiting tool. Then there would be the resentful mice, like Haddock Sorrel, who think mice like Basil are good for nothing. Even the old guard may not like this way of filling the ranks. These lawbreaker mice don't have the honor to uphold the Guard's traditions. Gwendolyn must be desperate indeed.
I look forward to patroling with the old-timers, Lane and Roric. I can already see some tension as a young upstart tries to get these grizzled vets to trust him. I love it!
Jake
I'm out on errands right now, posting from my phone; more to come.
Inquisitor77: Rius, you are Sisyphus and melee Wizard is your boulder
Tube: This must be what it felt like to be an Iraqi when Saddam was killed
Bookish Stickers - Mrs. Rius' Etsy shop with bumper stickers and vinyl decals.
When those characters are are up to speed with the three of you, we'll move on to the most important part of character creation: Beliefs and Instincts.
I swear Im not stalking the thread, :P
Steam - NotoriusBEN | Uplay - notoriusben | Xbox,Windows Live - ThatBEN
Mouse Guard has this oddball Conflict setup, where people split up into "Teams" to take on enemies. I'll get more into this a bit later, for those that don't have the books, but if you've got 3 players, it's a 3-man team; if you've got 4 players, it's two 2-man teams; if you've got 5, there's a 2-3 split; and if you've got 6, it's two even teams of 3.
So, as long as we're looking at 2 teams, regardless, you might as well burn up a character if you're interested in playing. We don't know if Smoogy's going to play, anyway, so this lets us get a few days ahead in character creation.
I got some more stuff, but here's the groundwork.
Name: Finn
Age: 23
Home: Lockhaven
Fur Color:Ruddy Red color
Rank: Guardmouse
Cloak Color: Dark Green
Parents: Bryce & Amalie (Apiarist)
Senior Artisan: Conwin the Apiarist
Mentor: Uncle Acre "The Weasels are at our Doorstep." (Fighting)
Friend: Gunther, Armorer of Lockhaven
Enemy: Timothy Sands, Mosskeeper of Elmoss
Belief: "Exhausted, Harrowed, and Shattered, A Guardmouse Endures."
Goal: --
Instinct: "The Guard's Name Shall Remain Untarnished"
Stand and fight or run and hide? Stand and Fight (+0) (Fighter unchanged)
Fear owls, weasels, wolves? No (+0)
Nature: 4
Will: 3
Health: 5
Where is your character from?
Lockhaven (Armorer / Guard's Honor)
Pick an area in which you are naturally talented.
Armorer
What was your parents' trade?
Apiarist
How do you convince people that you're right, or to do what you need?
Persuader
With whom did you apprentice for the Guard? What was that mouse's trade?
Conwin the Apiarist
What did your Mentor stress in training?
Mentor Acre stressed Fighter "The Rebellions are at our doorstep."
What kind of experience do you have in the Guard? (Guardmouse: 6 pts)
Fighter x2
Healer x2
Haggler x2
What's your Specialty?
Leaning towards Healer
Armorer 3
Apiarist 3
Persuader 2
Fighter 4
Healer 4
Haggler 3
Lockhaven-Wise 2
War-Wise 2
Resources 5
Guardmouse (2)
In Winter, do you still practice a trade like weaving, smithing, or pottery for the Guard? Yes, Armorer (+1, Cannot take Leader)
Are your parents smiths, politicians, merchants, or apiarists? Yes (+1)
Do you like to buy gifts for yourself and your friends? Yes (-1)
Are you thrifty? Yes (+1)
Have you ever been in debt? Or are you generally bad with money? No (+0)
Do you always pack carefully for a journey, ensuring you have everything you need? No (+0)
Circles 3
Guardmouse (2)
Is your mouse gregarious? Does he have lots of friends? Does he make friends easily? No (+0)
Do you have strong ties to the Guard? Perhaps a family tradition, or allies within the Guard? Yes, Mentor is Family (+1)
Has your character accomplished some great task in the Guard? Does he already have a reputation? No (+0)
Does your character have powerful enemies in the Territories? No (+0)
Has your character ever been convicted of a crime? No (+0)
Is your character a loner, tough and cool? No (+0, Can take Extrovert)
Traits
Driven 1
Guard's Honor 1
Gear
War scythe (spear), Smith's Hammer, Flint and Steel
Finn is the epitome of a career Guardmouse. His initiation and induction took place during two of the most formidable conflicts of the Guards' existance and they have left their marks on him. As a tenderpaw, he marched with Uncle Acre and the rest of the Guard to the Darkheather and made war with the Weasels. Their route was no where near the horrid larders or slave pens, but they fought hard just the same.
During Midnight's Rebellion, Finn and Uncle Acre alone held a small alleyway that led to one of the town squares used as a triage center. It was during this fight that Finn earned Mosskeeper Timothy's enmity, for though they held their ground, the main street defenders had broke and allowed a few dissenters to kill some of those in Timothy's care.
Finn believes that the Guard is trying to do the right thing, but for others to appreciate the Guard, it must have a sterling reputation. Something allowed Midnight to gather other disallusioned mice to his banner, and that must be reconciled.
Steam - NotoriusBEN | Uplay - notoriusben | Xbox,Windows Live - ThatBEN
Looks great! I'll mark you off as a Guardmouse right away.
Name: Roric
Age: 50
Rank: Patrol Leader
Fur: Dark Brown
Parents: Holly the Guardmouse (Retired) and Frederick the Brewer (Deceased)
Senior: Dwight the Brewer
Mentor: Auntie Beverly, Instructor (Deceased)
Cloak: Orange
Brightly colored still, but much-patched over the years. Represents Roric's cheery disposition, warmth, and enthusiasm.
Friend: Patrol Guard Haddock
Though well acquainted with much of Lockhaven's ranking Guard due to his duties as an Instructor, Roric shares a particularly close bond with the younger Haddock, who served as a Tenderpaw in Roric's Patrol back when he was a Guardmouse. The two share a keen appreciation for both breaking in new recruits to Guard life and guzzling fine drink on their off-hours. Roric has been pushing for Haddock's promotion to Patrol Leader for some time now.
Enemy: Head Archivist Fern of Sprucetuck
In Roric's Patrol Guard days, he was part of a Sprucetuck politician's retinue, assisting in escorting the diplomatic party safely to Lockhaven. During the journey, the outfit was set upon by unusually coordinated and well-equipped bandits. Though the attackers were quickly driven off, they succeeded in direly wounding the Sprucetuck politician, who died only a few minutes later in the arms of his grieving eldest daughter. Fern is that daughter, and she is convinced Roric had some hand in the fateful encounter that took her father's life, and is helping cover up what she believes was a successful assassination.
Just how big is the mouse population in the Territories? One hundred thousand? One Million? More? Less?
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Assuming, of course, that Roric's Haddock is Basil's Haddock.
That's a really good question, and there's not an official answer. I've seen a post, over on the official forums, where someone took into account both the size of the Territories (which I imagine he's able to determine from looking at the map in the book) and data concerning the population density of mice in the wild. His numbers placed the total mouse population of the Territories at around 20 thousand. Now, that may be high? I'm not sure that "civilized" mice breed at the same rate that "wild" mice do, but honestly, I think 20 thousand is as good a number as any for a total base population of the Territories.
So, how big is the Guard, then? Assuming that Guard duty is something that's rare, and maybe 1 in every hundred mice swear an oath, that would place the total number of Guards at around 200 mice. But let's also remember that their ranks have been ravaged by both the Winter War (against the Weasels) and Midnight's Rebellion, so the total number of Guardsmice may very well be as low as half that. I definitely want to play up the fact that the Guard is low on resources, which includes manpower (mousepower?), so maybe 100-150 total Guards remaining is good for our purposes?
And you're right about Midnight's Rebellion: it wasn't a sundering of the Territories. The Axe basically marched straight to Lockhaven. It was an attempt at a political coup, not a prolonged battle throughout the Territories, or anything like that. Midnight marched his army to the gates of Lockhaven, and was able to get about half of them inside before the defenders closed off the gates. As the Axe ran wild within the walls of Lockhaven, and Midnight tore a path straight toward Gwendolyn's office, the remaining members of his army began to hack apart the main gate. In an act of desperation, the defending Guards let loose a swarm of bees from their apiaries, which went crazy and stung the shit out of everyone outside of Lockhaven. Essentially, this one move broke the back of Midnight's army, but it cost the Guard the majority of its bees (cutting their honey production down considerably in seasons to come).
Meanwhile, Midnight made his way to Gwendolyn's office, and did battle against the heroes of the story, eventually losing. They knew that executing him would make him a martyr, so it was decided that he would be exiled, and marched beyond the Scent Border for eternity.
Also! Great new stuff, @Marshmallow , that's about as much backstory as I care to read, as well. I love fleshed-out characters, but I'm not the kind of person who wants to read a novel every time a new mouse shows up, lol. The amount that you wrote is pretty much perfect. It tells me everything I need to know about Roric's past right now.
Cool, was hoping that'd be the case.
I figured I'd make things a bit interesting.
Marshmallow:
Roric, 50, Patrol Leader
Instructor, Pursuader, Brewer. Specialty = Instructor.
The Everyman:
Lane Sounder, 54, Patrol Guard
Fighter, Healer, Pathfinder, Scout. Specialty = Pathfinder.
hook and line, shield, light armor.
The_Jake_1973:
Basil Ironheart, 19, Guardmouse
Scout, Insectrist, Deceiver, Survivalist. Specialty = ???
Daggers, rope.
NotoriusBEN:
Finn, 23, Guardmouse
Armorer, Apiarist, Persuader, Fighter, Healer, Haggler. Specialty = Healer ?
I like that we have every role but a Tenderpaw; I'm still pretty intrigued by the idea of playing the green recruit. I'm going to do a bit more reading and then I'll run through Duck's chargen post.
@Milk Ducks, are there any obvious gaps in our Patrol's skillset that have yet to be filled? My ideas are still pretty malleable at this point.
Inquisitor77: Rius, you are Sisyphus and melee Wizard is your boulder
Tube: This must be what it felt like to be an Iraqi when Saddam was killed
Bookish Stickers - Mrs. Rius' Etsy shop with bumper stickers and vinyl decals.
@Rius , honestly, no. I don't think we have any major gaps in the group's skill-set. We don't have anyone who uses Orator or Militarist, but those skills are largely reserved to Patrol Leaders and Guard Captains (who are the Right-hands of Gwendolyn, and aren't playable in this particular game). But, really, I don't see this particular story progressing through many Speech (as in, persuading crowds of mice) or War Conflicts, so I don't think that's an issue at all.
As a Tenderpaw, you'll find that your initial skill-set is pretty limited. That's okay. They do give you a few perks to make up for it, including an additional Trait. You said you had the book now, right? It's definitely worth reading through that section if you've got a few minutes. Of particular note is that you can select a Trait multiple times, for additional bonuses.
Remember that Traits should be used as negatives, as well as positives, however.
Also! Have we determined who in the group is to be Rius' Mentor? One of the other Patrol members will need to fill that role. That person will eventually grant you your Cloak, when you've earned it, and even pick its colour. It's a great responsibility, being a Mentor, but it's also really cool. It's a fun dynamic to play off of. And Rius, you might look at your Mentor's skills to help answer questions like "What skills did my Mentor emphasize?". Or, alternatively, you could just ask your Mentor, when someone volunteers for that duty, which skills he'd like to emphasize.
@Rius: I forsee Basil filling a Scout/Fighter role with the ability to MacGyver thing together out in the wilderness. Spider silk rope is the duct tape of the territories. Weatherwatcher would be a very nice skill for your mouse to have. It can be very helpful out in the field. I had considered it for Basil, but the lure of beetle wrangling was too strong.
I'll be keeping an eye on the thread to see how things go!
Patrol wise, having a little bit of overlap in skills (or at least skills which can complement each other) is apparently a really good thing to have in Mouse Guard. Unlike D&D and others, where you can have the one guy who's good at lockpicking just keep trying to pick the lock over and over until he succeeds, in Mouse Guard you want to use as much teamwork as possible to stack the dice pool of the one roll you get as potently as possible.
(If you want a bit of a crash course in the Mouse Guard system, I find that this dude did a pretty remarkable/entertaining review of the book.)
Edit: I was going over the creation rules looking at tenderpaw stuff and noticed that I skipped over Patrol Leaders getting two checks in the "How do you convince people you're right?" section. Went ahead and updated Roric to reflect him now being an even more awesome Persuader.
@The Everyman I wonder if you wouldn't mind being my mouse's Mentor? For reasons not yet evident it would make a lot of sense for Lane Sounder to have been chosen for this particular mouse.
Inquisitor77: Rius, you are Sisyphus and melee Wizard is your boulder
Tube: This must be what it felt like to be an Iraqi when Saddam was killed
Bookish Stickers - Mrs. Rius' Etsy shop with bumper stickers and vinyl decals.
edit: Whatever the case, Lane as a mentor would stress the Survivalist skill. "Never expect a mission to go according to plan, and you'll never be surprised. Be ready for anything on the trail."
Once that's finished ... we're basically ready to go.
Should have my character up tonight; sorry for the delay folks. I know you've all been waiting on me for a bit!
Inquisitor77: Rius, you are Sisyphus and melee Wizard is your boulder
Tube: This must be what it felt like to be an Iraqi when Saddam was killed
Bookish Stickers - Mrs. Rius' Etsy shop with bumper stickers and vinyl decals.
Inquisitor77: Rius, you are Sisyphus and melee Wizard is your boulder
Tube: This must be what it felt like to be an Iraqi when Saddam was killed
Bookish Stickers - Mrs. Rius' Etsy shop with bumper stickers and vinyl decals.
Inquisitor77: Rius, you are Sisyphus and melee Wizard is your boulder
Tube: This must be what it felt like to be an Iraqi when Saddam was killed
Bookish Stickers - Mrs. Rius' Etsy shop with bumper stickers and vinyl decals.
For MG names, I typically draw inspiration from English, Scottish and Irish names. I don't think any of the mice in the books ever have their surnames revealed, and I don't think I've read anything in the book about surnames, either. I don't know if that means Mice in the Territories don't have surnames, or if they're just not mentioned. I let people do whatever they want: if you want your character to have a last name, that's totally cool. I don't come up with last names for my characters, though.
I don't think it makes a big difference either way.
Just a little nudge for anyone thinking about Beliefs.
Cheers
yea, hurry up with that name or else Im gonna call him Gristle, regardless :P
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Perhaps I'll name him Butch Deadlift
Inquisitor77: Rius, you are Sisyphus and melee Wizard is your boulder
Tube: This must be what it felt like to be an Iraqi when Saddam was killed
Bookish Stickers - Mrs. Rius' Etsy shop with bumper stickers and vinyl decals.
So before then, we all need to develop Beliefs and Instincts. Correct me if I'm wrong, but now that Rius has the book ... does that mean everyone has the book? I can't recall who did and didn't when we started. If we all have a copy, I'll leave that process to you. If someone's out of the loop, I'll write up a post describing what it's all about.
Looking back over my character, it seems like his instinct could be a second belief, but I like it as a reflexive.
Finn doesnt like it when other mice speak ill of the guard, and especially so of actual Guardmice who give those others something to talk about. I wouldnt say he's a zealot, but he's definitely of the Corp.
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I've got an idea what I want to do with mine, just gotta turn it into a neat Always, If/Then, or Never statement.