Fall of Magic, the map traversing story game by Ross Cowman, is one the best story games out right now. The story of the journey to Umbra is always full of surprises. Well, I wrote about the depths of Fall of Magic and how its strengths lend themselves to more experienced story gamers, but tonight I was surprised just how well it worked for new players!

Lennart, Maxwell, Rachel, and I set off for Umbra, the land where magic was born, this evening at Story Games Seattle. My original plans were to try mixing up the game and setting it in Space, but that got derailed as the three were new players (two of which new to story games entirely!). I thought playing the game with the warranty sticker on it would provide a better story game experience.

Dramatis Personae

Lennart - Kabu, scholar of istallia
Maxwell - Ellamura, ranger of Mistwood
Rachel - Caspiar (not a typo-- our map is just worn!), swineherder of Barley Town
Eric - Harp, raven of Ravenhall

Our game was interesting right out of the gate as I had to explain a few concepts that I took for granted. I had to take some time to define what a scene is, how to include characters in it, and how to know when it's done.

I was very impressed as other players took the lead, interested in hearing about the other characters and why we're on this mission. I think, partly, our new players wanted to jump and find out why we're journeying in the first few scenes instead of being content with a slower burn. (This need to get to the bottom of why we're playing was also an observation I had from playing Lovecraftesque.) Whatever the reason, it worked! Our stories were more intertwined than our usual game of Fall of Magic. 

We had a silverhaired old lady taunting us with questions from the scrying pool, a mysterious letter with a depiction of a ring, and a prophecy that needed resolved.

The next sign this game was going places was Barley Town. Geesh our town was depressing! It was such a nice diversion from the usual, happy rustic town. Our town was more grim, muddy, and superstitious!

During a transition from one place to another, Maxwell had the idea that the silverhaired lady move the river, draining us into the maw of the deep zone, which frankly was so friggin' good and will be stealing that for future games.

I think, maybe the best part of the game for me was our time in the deep. Our time hanging out with the Rug-Baggers in the hanging city with their gossamer strings, reverence for the Kin Mother, and their... odd digestion mannerisms (leave it at that) all made that place super creepy. 

Then it came time to get to the very best part of the best part-- the Crone! It was the silver haired lady all along! Bingo. What a revelation! Considering the person establishing the lady has literally never seen Fall of Magic before tonight, to have that assertion be ratified through her being the Pool Crone was just SO GOOD.

We wrapped up the game and bid farewell at the gates of Umbra. We had a hard stop time of 9:30pm and we were all very content with the story's conclusion from there.

What went well

Our ability to synthesize and collaborate each other's ideas was so good! Especially for new players. Our fictional jazz was very enjoyable to create. Our whole group brought it today.

What could have been improved

I think I could have explained the game better. Sometimes knowing what's coming up WAY in advance is good because it helps you set up more powerful scenes later. Sometimes it works out anyways (like the Pool Crone!). 

We returned to the frontier territories for another session of Old Country for New Mice this past Tuesday.

THE MISSION
 
I began by saying some time’s gone by since we last joined our party--

It’s nearly Summer which means it’s time for the beetle drives to begin. Beetle ranchers, riding newts, drive their herds underground through the Dark Heather tunnels to Sprucetuck for market. You have completed one drive so far and are pretty tired by the time you’re back in the territories. You're eager to rest before your next round of escorting.

Unfortunately there’s no time to rest. Flagging you down as you emerge from the Dark Heather is an angry old rancher riding a newt. He introduces himself as Warden -- Warden Seeders of the Seeders Ranch. He seems to know Luke pretty well and focuses the conversation at him. The party hears about how the other local ranch, the Culpepper Ranch, has apparently kidnapped the son and heir of the Seeders’ ranch, Quinn. Warden says to Luke, “Luke, they took Quinn. Those Culpepper bastards took my son!” (alluding to Quinn being Luke’s old friend).

While this is going on, Garrow eyes Warden inquisitively for more information about the Culpeppers, having known a Jacoby Culpepper as a mentor back in the war. Garrow is surprised to hear that it is the very same Jacoby. Jacoby, probably one of the oldest mice around is still kicking, has retired to be a beetle rancher… and apparently caught up in kidnapping Warden’s son?

Warden knows the Guard don’t hold any official power out in these parts, but since Quinn is Luke’s friend and the Culpeppers had ties to the Guard, he thinks they might be able to get to the bottom of this—this is the last chance before violence between the two ranchers. So that’s the mission for today. Resolve an ongoing feud between two beetle ranchers and a kidnapped boy.
 
THE SESSION
 
We set our goals and then, after a few other questions for Warden, the party rode off on their newts to the Culpepper ranch.

When they get there, Jacoby and Garrow, simultaneously at sight of one another said, “I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!” and chuckled. He invited them in for breakfast and at my discretion allowed them to recover the hungry/thirsty that was plaguing them.

I insinuated that Jake Culpepper is a little.. off. He seems to be hiding some anger as he serves you all breakfast. He’s polite to you but there’s something troubling as you ask him about what’s going on with the Seeders. He gives his side of the source of the feud-- the Culpeppers let their beetles graze on his territories illegally. He offers sympathy for the boy, but doesn’t know his whereabouts. 

I tell the party there’s more here but he’ll need to be pushed and we cue our first roll of the night.

A successful persuasion nets the party a confession from Jake—he took Quinn, but he didn’t wanna do this. The Culpeppers left him no choice. He had to do a little quid-pro-quo and kidnap Quinn because apparently Warden kidnapped his own son, Gerald!

The plot thickens.

The party cautions Jake about the course he’s laying for himself and the danger he’s putting others in. Jake fires back how he’s led mice in the Weasel Wars and knows the risks. He also mentions how easy it is to say to take the high road when it isn’t your very own fur and blood on the line. Things are different when it's your own son.

The party asks him to relinquish his prisoner so they can negotiate with Warden and Jake is having none of that. Things get TENSE in the kitchen and the party fails their roll to get him to go along with him. He kicks them out and doesn’t wanna see them around anymore. He’s EXTREMELY disappointed in Garrow.

(It’s at this point of the session, I asked the party if we’re having fun and about 2 solid seconds go by before everyone snaps out of character and back to reality and is like OMG YESSSSS. Feels good, man.)

When they’re getting on their newts, Jake’s daughter Joyce appears and tells them that she knows where Quinn is being kept and has a key. She loves Quinn and if the party doesn’t do something she’s afraid her papa will kill him! A circles roll establishes how easy this will be and with a success, she is able to assist by distracting the armed mice defending the cellar in time for the party to break Quinn out. Mist JUMPS on this opportunity to show what the Guard can do and convinces her to help them out with that successful circles roll.

The party, now with Quinn, ride off for the Culpepper’s farm. Interestingly enough they find out from Quinn no facts about the location of George. He does mention wild strawberries grow on the edge of the Culpepper property and sometimes George liked to sneak onto their property and eat strawberries when he was younger.

The party wants to head directly to the Strawberry patches before taking to Warden (if they can find proof of George’s whereabouts, then maybe they can avert the skirmish!) but Quinn is demanding to see his father. He’s tired and just wants to go home, but the Luke, Mist, and Garrow give a REALLY good roleplaying speech about the stakes and why they need to do this before seeing Warden and I just give it to them here.

Following that rousing speech, they botch their scout role and are face to face with a yellow-striped black snake in the strawberry fields!

An exhaustive combat unfolds and rises to a crescendo where the snake is hiding and the mice have lost sight of it, when it’s surprise strike is thwarted by Garrow who fells the beast with a mace to the skull.

This session started right on the tail end of the last one. Our party was facing down a crow!

Prep

My prep this week was to steer the game towards the final conflict of the game (I'll speak about later.) This crow showdown will be the major obstacle #1 and other mice will be #2.

The second half of this adventure was planned to be about an old Beetleranch attacked by another mole. The guard will have to be faced with the tough challenge of putting the pieces together, possibly rescuing a survivor, and following the trail based on what evidence they find: This mole attack wasn't random phenomena.

Luke Noblepaw, Patrol Guard
b to serve mice, the guard must also serve other animals as well 
i always try a peaceful solution first
g save Finn & sylvia
​t inquisitive, fearless, wolf's snout

Garrow Gurney, Patrol Captain
b the Border must be maintained
i  always protect my charges
g get our townsmice to safety
​t tough, fearless, fat, clever

Mist, Guardmouse
b The Guard must prove to the frontiersmice that we are trustworthy and honorable
i When traveling, always look for places to hide and shelter.
g  make sure our townsmice make it safely back.
​t independent, impetuous, nimble

How It Went

This mission went much better than the second. After the prologue, we started with the Crow coming down out of the sky being hostile. The party did their best to dodge and avoid the Crow and decided to try and escape it rather than beat it back.

This conflict was intense. Fleeing the Crow, the party got to the rope's end with 1 disposition left before swinging the fight back to full only to end with them winning with a single point of disposition.

The party burned nearly all their persona and fate to make it through this and the consequence to escaping the crow was getting lost and tired in the mountains... and it starts to rain! Mist was able to lead them to shelter and somewhat back on track: the party found the old mission in the mountains and camped there for warmth in the ruins. The events in the rain to find the camp turned out to be a pretty reasonable second obstacle so I turned the game back over to the players. 

They had a lot of checks gained from this conflict, so they decided to recover and create supplies for the journey back to town through this pass.

We wrapped up with the party finally arriving in Sun Break after a LONG arduous mission.

What went well

The party was really good at working together. I made a handout to speed up how you add dice to your pool. We also kept the game very fiction first which was very rewarding. Luke had the VERY BEST feint that was disastrous: he mimicked the friggin owl! Needless to say the Crow doubled it's efforts.

It was a tough game. It was almost torchbearerer tough where the party was EEKING out of these mountains just barely with supplies. 


What could have been improved

The conflict with the crow was rewarding, but ultimately we should have run it differently. This was on me, the GM. Since the party wanted to escape, rather than shoot to a conflict, it should have been an nature escape roll, with the consequence of a fight should it fail! 

I had to scrap the second half of my mission as written so I think that, while the session was fun, I think as a GM I wasn't doing my job correctly. We were having fun, but I was fighting the system when I thought I was engaging with it correctly. My eyes will see the true path with more experience with the system.
 
I will taking a more heavy hand leading the direction of the missions these last few adventures as we're nearing wrapping up this game's 5 session lifetime.

Thanks for reading!

Prep

This week I did significantly less prep work than previously. I had the vague idea for this session's game and I was going to play it by ear by then. I knew I wanted to do more with the wilderness and animals and settled on the following premise:

The remote settlement of Cooperstown hasn't given word since last year. Nestled past the Caspian Mountains, Cooperstown loses touch, but Spring is here and the thaws are in full stride, but no one has seen or heard from Cooperstown. Caspian pass, dangerous on a good day, should be open, yet any attempt by mice to reach the people of Cooperstown fail and go missing. Find out why. 

Luke Noblepaw, Patrol Guard
b to serve mice, the guard must also serve other animals as well -- especially the smallest and weakest
i When in doubt, refer to notes
g uncover the fate of Cooperstown
​t inquisitive, fearless, wolf's snout

Garrow Gurney, Patrol Captain
b the Border must be maintained
i  always use my discretion when given an order
g make sure no harm comes to his party members
​t tough, fearless, fat, clever

Mist, Guardmouse
b The Guard must prove to the frontiersmice that we are trustworthy and honorable
i When traveling, always look for places to hide and shelter.
g  Reach Cooperstown
​t independent, impetuous, nimble

Now there's two parts to this adventure I have in mind-- the first part is the journey through Caspian Pass to Cooperstown, going by an old destroyed monastery with it's church tower (and bell) perched above some of the last remaining ruins still standing.

The second part is why Cooperstown hasn't contacted the rest of the frontier-- an ongoing problem between an Owl and a Crow. An owl has taken the nest of a crow and killed the Crow's mate and has been looming over the tiny, hole of Cooperstown. The enraged Crow now maliciously attacks any creature it sees with blind fury-- especially mice.

My target is that the Mice will have to deal with the Crow one way or another. They can either fight it and end it's fury or attempt to reason with the angry crow and placate it with something shiny--- the Bell of the Monastery.

How It Went

This follow up mission after Sickness at Sun Break started with a group effort to navigate the treacherous Caspian Pass. This narrow switchback pass through the rough mountainous terrain is grueling, with only the sights of the ruins of an old Monastery to guide them. This is an Ob 6 pathfinder test.

Garrow says he's been through here before back in the war, and takes up the test. He asks Luke if his notes about odds and ends can help him redraw a map. (Luke succeeds on the test to make a map for supplies to this pathfinder test). With everyone helping and Garrow spending BOTH persona on this roll (1 for nature to the pool, 1 on an Of Course with his wise), they make it to Cooperstown.

At Cooperstown, the small band of mice appreciate the site of the Guard. They tell them about the Owl that haunts them Day and Night (Not knowing it's the Crow during the day) and how they're running low on supplies.

Then the sounds of an Owl (during the day) are heard, but I tell the party its suspicious and that it sounds like no Owl you've ever heard before. (It's the Crow being angry and taunting the mice!). Well Luke, Mist, and Garrow make it up to see what's going on, and Luke fails the hunter test to identify the sounds before it's too late-- the crow swoops down and tries to attack him only ending up stealing his glasses and flying off with them.

The party isn't keen on fighting the crow, but are determined to get to the bottom of this. They go out in the wilds in search of answers, where they met an old Ferret hermit-- too old to attack them. He still has his old crusades armor, The Ferret tells them the story of the Crow and the Owl in exchange for a story of their own -- Garrow providing a story from his war days, but the day is getting short and it's almost night. The party can't stay with the Ferret, but also don't want to risk getting attacked by the Owl at night, so they scout out a safe camping spot (Mist's specialty). End of GM turn.

The party spends some checks recouping their injuries and proceed back to Cooperstown to tell the people there how screwed they are. The people of Cooperstown are proud and resilient and do not like hearing they need to leave for their own safety. Many choose to stay knowing the circumstances, so Mist offers to help gather fresh supplies and maybe wait out this owl siege. I describe how risky this is, but she understands the risks and is determined to prove to these other mice her duties as a Guard.

Garrow, Mist, and Luke help 2 other mice leave heading back through Caspian pass, only to be set upon by the Crow. Which is where we'll pick up on session 3.

What Went Well

You know sometimes you have days like this one where things weren't firing right. It was a weird day. Writing this up, the session seems pretty dope, but in play it felt awkward all the time. I don't have a lot to say here.

What Could Have Been Improved
Our game of Mouseguard did not succeed at what I was setting out to do with it today. One big item I had a problem with was that today's session was very roleplay light. Today's session had a Fiction-Last approach, where we'd spend a lot of time figuring out the best way to get the most for our rolls. To be fair-- this was a very challenging day with everyone blowing all their fate and persona again to make it to the end. The fiction suffered for it though. I should have demanded more "yeah but what does that LOOK like?"

That problem was compounded by this other problem -- failing to create a proper mission. After Garrow solved my pathfinder obstacle through the pass, I kind of have to move my entire planned mission from the Pass to over Cooperstown. Originally I was thinking the Crow was stopping anyone from going through the Pass, so I had to improvise which led me to not focus on the other duties as Gamemaster.

The party was afraid to confront the Crow and decompressing, they realized that they need to be more heroic. They felt the same as I did that this session was awkward and thought that was a big problem. Speaking of which, I should have started a conflict with the Crow after the failed Hunter test by Luke, but I missed that chance! So it goes.

Lastly, I think I was afraid of stepping on the toes of my previous mission. My first mission had so many themes in play, I was afraid to repeat myself so I really shied away from more Mouse vs Mouse conflicts and themes which was a HUGE mistake. The game felt flat.

The next session will be much better.

Prophecies, Golem friends, and the origins of Magic abounded in last Thursday's game of Fall of Magic. Fall of Magic has always been one of my favorite story games and while I love Roll20's online version, there's something so satisfying and tactile about the physical version with the scroll and the weighted tokens. 

The four of us, all having played before, finished the whole game in about exactly three hours which was quite the feat. Normally Story Games Seattle games of Fall of Magic barely make it to Mistwood in this time.

After we made it to Umbra and wrapped up the game, it occurred to me possibly why we were able to keep the game moving. Fall of Magic can get bogged down with Mother-May-I style collaboration.

I was facilitator of the game this evening and around the Oak Hills (second location) one player asked the other players, "I want to move the Magus, did everyone do all the scenes they wanted?" and I sort of offhandedly remarked that you really shouldn't ask and just commit. After the game, when we were talking about how fast the game moved, I realized that was the pivotal moment that sped the game up and what really makes Fall of Magic move in both a progressive and fictional sense. 

By withholding asking permission from your fellow players to move the Magus, everyone must play each scene without the certainty of having another scene. This implicit Carpe Diem attitude kind of makes players go, "What do I REALLY want out of this place right now?" It really started to make sense to me, because that uncertainty of a second or third or fourth chance in a location means your shots have to be hitting the dramatic notes you want or you risk throwing it away.

I also kind of see it like being the Lens in Microscope. Make sure you're always listening and incorporating other's ideas into the story, but don't be afraid or think you need permission to do what you want. Because Fall of Magic doesn't have the safety rails of Microscope, Fall of Magic is swimming in the Ocean. It's a very deep game with no safety nets. The more I move about in its waters, the less I'm inclined to share it with beginners.

Anyways, I'd love to hear about your experiences with Ross' AMAZING game and let me know how you play!

We met up for our first session of Mouseguard after chargen. We were all excited to get into the frontier aspect of our game and explore our characters.

Prep

Before coming to the table, I did some prep for today's mission. For inspiration, I looked to our palette from chargen and the character sheets themselves. The goals were formed after my prep at the table, per the rules.

Luke Noblepaw, Patrol Guard
b to serve mice, the guard must also serve other animals as well -- especially the smallest and weakest
i When in doubt, refer to notes
g Discover the source of the Sickness
​t inquisitive, fearless, wolf's snout

Garrow Gurney, Patrol Captain
b the Border must be maintained
i  always use my discretion when given an order
g halt the infection in Sunbreak
​t tough, fearless, fat, clever

Mist, Guardmouse
b The Guard must prove to the frontiersmice that we are trustworthy and honorable
i When traveling, always look for places to hide and shelter.
g Apprehend and execute Folker, the traitor.
​t independent, impetuous, nimble

Flashing back in time to the days leading up to the game, I knew I wanted to do something with a sickness in a town being caused by bugs for Luke to step up to help. The next order of business was to make it complicated to challenge Mist and Garrow's beliefs.

I came up with the idea of capturing a traitor. A real question of the Mouseguard and what it means to carry out an order that is messy and has lasting effects. I knew I wanted to have them capture a traitor mouse who has killed a Guardsmouse back in the territories. I originally had it so that Garrow has this mission, but after thinking about it some more, I gave it to Mist.

I overprepped and ended up with a few ideas for twists OR conditions I could choose on the fly based on the pace of the game.

Mission #1: Sickness at Sun Break
Arrive at Sunbreak

• Discover the bad water source
  
  • The source of Sun Break’s sickness comes from its well. You must go underground and uncover what’s ruining the water and if it can be fixed.
    
    • Ob 5 Pathfinder test to follow the forks and stream underground
      
      • Twist: Weasel Patrol (2 soldiers) they are looking for the source of the poisoned water and assumed the mice are doing it to drive them off!
        
  • The source of the problem is a nest of bombardier beetles who live in an unused burrow
    
    • Ob 6 insectrist to drive them off
      
      • Twist: Escape the Star Nosed Mole
        
• Treat the mice
  
  • Many mice are sick in town requiring boiling snow and medicine
    
    • Get the violet petals for Medicine
      
      • Ob 6 Harvester (large family, spring, snow)
        
        • Twist: Kestrel
          
        • Condition: Tired
          
• Protect the town
  
  • Sun Break’s concealed visually but relies on a homemade scent-border (invented by Brand) It isn’t as reliable, but it works.
    
    • Lay the scent border
      
      • Ob 4 Health test (snow)
        
        • Twist: Kestrel
          
        • Condition: Sick
          
• Arrest
  
  • Gwendolyn has ordered Garrow and his patrol to arrest a traitor: Folker.
    
    • He is responsible for the murder of a guardsmouse during a failed rebellion in Barkstone. He is already tried and found guilty, but slipped the noose. He is to be executed.
      
    • He is assumed to go by a different name.   
      
    • Real story: Gospel, from Barkstone, is the son of an Armorer who was arrested and lost his business during the Barkstone uprising (he was innocent). Gospel sought revenge for the disgrace and harm the Mouseguard did to his dad.
      
  • I will kind of let this fictionally play out and see what tests are needed.
    

Sun Break NPCs if I need them:

• Vidarr, a husky white mouse with a pin in his cloak (town mayor, grizzled)
  
• Brand, light brown fur and glasses. (Loremouse) <wants to study in Sprucetuck>
  
• Laurel, red furred barmouse at Rey’s.
  
• Rey, owner of Rey’s
  
• Caley, grey fur, the smith (sick)
  
• John, brown furred armorer.
  

How it Went

We started by giving the mission to Mist from Gwendolyn to carry out. They knew Gospel would be in Sunbreak, but our session started with the description of Sun Break: a small town built inside a fallen log in a field. I described it still very much under construction and being built... or at least it was if it weren't for the town getting sick.

The met Vidarr who walked them through town to where the sick were being kept. Luke failed a Healer test to treat some mice, so he got Angry. He was able to stabilize most with everything he had in his bags, but it's upsetting that beetles are causing this town such grief. I played it up that there's bombardier beetles and the water is tainted with some concoction of their chemicals. I played up the "poison" part rather than let them know it was natural bugs. We thought it might have been our traitor or even weasels!

Mist started asking around town looking to see if anyone matches Gospel's description, and they find him as the town Armorer. We spent a good deal of time in this part of the game discussing if we could get him to confess, if we should execute him and leave Sun Break without an Armorer. It was exactly what I was going for. Garrow ended up confronting Gospel in his store, telling him we know who he is but make a racket and sneak out the back and try and be more stealthy -- Garrow wanted to try to keep the rest of the group out of his plans, thinking he's trying to do what's best here.

Well, Mist spots Gospel sneaking out the back and her scout test catches her up to him and forcing his surrender. He confesses and knows what he did and how it was an accident (he was killed in his Dad's old shop). He knew what he did was wrong but was trying to make it right out in the frontier. Mist wasn't sure what to do, so Garrow ended up killing him, shaking his head muttering "you couldn't even run outta here right."

The party gets back to finding the source of the water problem in the Darkheather and arrive at an old winter den of some large creature that is now home to a BUNCH of bombardier beetles. A failed insectrist test later and the bugs began to skitter away up the walls, as a massive Star Nosed Mole burrows into this place trying to slurp up as many beetles as it can, knocking over the den and the mice! Garrow and Luke get injured escaping. This was the end of the GM turn.

The player turn opened up with Garrow with the most checks spending his first one to return underground and secure the water. The remainder checks were spent on recovery except for Mist who spent their check on stepping in for the Armorer, to help out the town.

What went well

We all liked this session and it went by FAST. I think total playtime  was about 2.5 hours? The appreciated the flexibility of helping the town, offering them after speaking to some other mice of the town about how they needed help repairing their own self-made scent border recipe or how to neutralize the poison using violet pedals. 

What could have been improved

Players mentioned how it didn't feel very Mouseguard-y in town. I could have done more with pretty mouth pictures to describe this giant, fallen log and their small town they're building inside of it. They mentioned the mole escape had elements of being a small mouse they enjoyed.

This isn't a necessarily bad thing, but the players realized how important earning checks are. Combined with my propensity to not offer a lot of tests, and kind of set everything up to be one big test, I informed my group going forward to try and push yourself to fictionally call for other tests if you want to get your checks. 

Additionally, we didn't have any formal conflicts and expect some of those next session.

My players elected to keep their beliefs and instincts together for now, but I did tell my players we'd be spending next session in the frontier away from town for most of it. I have yet to decide on the mission, but I do know I wanna play up the vast distances and dangers of the wild frontier.