We live among whispers of a forgotten world, in the shadows of towering relics whose stories we cannot comprehend. The Rustlands are our home—a rugged and unforgiving place, marked by decay and mystery, yet rich with hidden opportunities for those daring enough to seek them out.

Each path we tread carries danger, for we are small and fragile, and threats loom large around every corner. Yet, we are mice, emboldened by curiosity and the spirit of adventure. Within those undecipherable ruins—structures ancient and strange—we forage for artifacts to repurpose, reclaiming them as tools and treasures that enable our communities to flourish and stand resilient.

We brave the unknown to secure our future, each expedition an act of courage, each discovery a small victory. The Rustlands may test us relentlessly, but we are determined to thrive, bound together by bravery, ingenuity, and the whispering call of perilous trails.

What is this?

Mausworn is my attempt to combine my favorite parts of the fantastic games Mausritter (Isaac Williams) and Ironsworn (Shawn Tomkin) with some of my own mechanics and procedures to create a standalone game that allows you to play as brave little mice traversing a land once occupied—and now abandoned—by humans.

The world is vast and perilous, but you are emboldened by a sense of exploration and the need for survival, so you push forward through the Rustlands, facing whatever threats stand in your way.

The game is very much in early development, and I invite you to come along as we shape this project and eventually release in its full glory.

The Vision

Luckily, both Ironsworn and Mausritter have published SRDs. Looking through them, an idea of a game that would make the most of what I believe make them remarkable started to take shape. Here are some things to expect:

• Ironsworn's core dice roll and a streamlined set of moves. Mausworn will use the main d6 vs. 2d10 engine, but just a handful of moves (one catch-all for action, one for magic, one for complications, one catch-all for progress, and a couple of new ones I came up with).
• Mausritter's inventory system—both card and cardless.  I love the inventory management in Mausritter and the idea of Conditions taking inventory space. 
• Ironsworn's tracks, but Mausritter attributes. So we have STR, DEX and WILL (which is my hope can facilitate using Mausritter's published modules with this system) but no HP or attribute damage. Instead, Health, Spirit, Momentum and Pips (instead of Supply, since we have the inventory).
• Tightly structured procedure. Mixing Mausritter's adventuring sites and hex ideas (Shifts, Weather, encounters) with Ironsworn's narrative flow and scene challenges, aided by my own experience with my games, we end up with a core loop that is easy to follow and flexible enough to create emergent stories, whether you are playing solo or in a group.

Character sheet study

The Development

By claiming the game now, you'll have access to the pre-alpha draft. It is currently completely empty (my personal drafts are not intelligible for public eyes yet), but it will be filled progressively any time I have a new bit worth sharing. You'll be able to leave comments in the draft too.

When the game is done, everyone that participated in this process will have the chance to purchase the final PDF at a discounted price whenever it is made available.

License

This work is based on Mausritter, a product of Losing Games and Isaac Williams, and is licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.

This work is based on Ironsworn (found at www.ironswornrpg.com), created by Shawn Tomkin, and licensed for our use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).