Mouseguard 2e - How I create a campaign

​Hello and welcome! 

After my One Shot went over so well, Joanna, Dylan, Ross, and me got together to create characters for a new campaign of Mouseguard 2nd edition.

Prior to play, I proposed to the group that I'd be willing to run a weekly game of Mouseguard: A 5-6 session campaign with a pretty full story-arc with a potential renewal for a "Season 2".

With everyone hyped, we met at the bar and begun our session. With all of the comics and shared idea of Mouseguard, I still made us do a story palette. I showed up to this character creation session as the GM with a very open mind. I was going to let this palette help guide the choices for the sessions to come. If we wanted to do a Lockhaven political intrigue game? cool. If we wanted to do weasel war campaigns, great too.

​I pretty much just made this Yes/No column and asked for ideas. I was looking for tone, scenes, genres, and ideas for our game. We all agreed that a grimdark style game was out, We were going to play Mouseguard with the fringes of the Mouseguard territories, but we were not going to play Mouseguard: Blood Meridian.

Something two players brought up was the Weasel Wars of Mouseguard history and the lost parts of the territories. We agreed that a game on that frontier would offer a lot of what we're looking for. We were finally ready to begin character creation!

Our three character's concepts were taking shape:

• Joanna would have Mist, a new recruit eager to prove themselves. (Guardmouse)
  • The guard must earn the trust of the wild mice
• Ross would be Luke a resourceful and intellectual researcher mouse with a penchant for insects. (Patrol Guard)
  • To serve mice, the guard must serve other animals as well-- especially the weakest and smallest.
• Dylan would have Garrow, the legendary veteran captain of the weasel wars. (Guard Captain)
  • The Border must be maintained​

One more thing about Garrow-- since he's a veteran of the Weasel Wars, he has a rival who is Moira, the Weasel analog to him. He expressed to us he'd love to have that Moira and him have a shared mutual admiration for one another. That kind of professional animosity being on opposing sides of a conflict, but a personal respect. I personally thought this was extremely cool and down to use it.

We discussed Dylan's choice of being the most powerful type of Mouseguard and what it might mean. We all kind of agreed he was like the type of Mouse who couldn't readjust after the Weasel Wars. This with his choice of enemy, he was describing himself as that old way of living. He is the symbol of the past, The ideas of taming of the frontier and our characters being a part of this change gave us the title of this game:

Old Country for New Mice.

I postulated that Mist is a replacement for a friend who passed away. We all LOVE that foil of the new recruit and next generation of Mouseguard. The changing of the times.

While we were finishing up character creation (names, friends, etc), I started brainstorming some central conflicts for this story and here's what I got:

• Weasels vs Mice
• Growth and development of the Mouseguard lands
  • Disease
  • Scent Border expansion
• Encounters with wild animals

This is by no means complete and I will be thinking a lot about what I'll be doing these next 5 or so sessions. I told them we'll be starting on the frontier with a sickness breaking out at a small encampment and go from there.

Here are my thoughts as I formulate this adventure for next week:

• The sickness stems from the water that feeds the encampment. 
  • Helping the sick mice is a slam dunk for Mist and will certainly play into her belief.
  • The water's source is below the Earth and will require passage through Weasel tunnels. (Garrow's belief).
  • The poisoning of the water has to do with bugs doing something to the water. (Luke's belief)
• The cure for the sickness can be fashioned by gathering the required ingredients in the wild, or brought back to the frontier from Sprucetuck.
  • Hares could be used for either.

​That's all I got so far. We just had the meeting tonight and I was just so excited to share this with you. I promise to keep you updated with weekly updates and recaps as we play Mouseguard.

I'd love to hear about how you start campaigns or your own Mouseguard experiences. If you have an idea on a cool adventure on the frontier, I'd love to hear it as well. Leave a comment below or message me on Discord. Thanks!

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