Hello everyone!

I’m happy to announce that I’ve just submitted Mausworn to the Mausritter Month Companion Jam, which will bring together hacks, adventures, supplements, and more for the Mausritter universe.

The timeframe of the jam isn’t enough for me to deliver a playable beta just yet, but it’s the perfect opportunity to push development further and prepare for a potential playtest version in early 2026.

So, what’s next?

Clean up the Moves

We now have the 10 core moves clearly outlined. The current draft still carries some legacy mechanics, but those will soon be replaced as I continue refining the system.

Most notably, progress clocks have been replaced by Tallies and Notches—a more flexible, fiction-first way to track progress. What began as a mechanical adjustment quickly grew into a major world-building element: Tallies are now physical objects the mice carry, inscribed with the marks of their efforts. They’ve become artifacts of memory, potential adventure hooks, and symbols of lore. I'm super hyped about this!

Tilecrawling

The heart of Mausworn’s gameplay loop is now clearer than ever. Tilecrawling is my approach to exploration—something between hexcrawling and point-crawling, but built around modular index cards that you draw and connect as you go. Each card (or “tile”) becomes both a record and a map of your journey.

It’s also fractal: the same method works for overland travel, city exploration, dungeon delving, or even mapping the zones of a great battle (or creature!). The first draft is already live in the document if you’d like a peek.

Playsets

Playsets are what I’m calling the core procedural guides for each mode of play—like Travel, Combat, or Delve.

Each Playset walks you through the necessary moves, what resources to track, and which oracles to roll, so you’ll never feel lost in how to handle a specific kind of scene. My goal this month is to draft at least one or two of these to give a real taste of how Mausworn flows in play.

Outlines and Art

I probably won’t dive deep into lore, assets, or oracles just yet — but I plan to sketch outlines of which truths, oracles, and assets the final game will include, at least by name and category, to help chart the next steps.

I’m also revisiting the cover art. The current version was drawn in a burst of excitement in just a few hours, and while I still love its spirit, I want to refine it—improve the mouse’s expression, anatomy, and shading while keeping the same overall concept.

That’s where things stand for now!

As always, you’re welcome to leave comments directly on the document or join our Discord, where we’ve been having some truly inspiring design discussions.

Thank you all for following along — and check out the jam! I’m excited to see what everyone brings to the Mausritter world.

—Cezar