Sideranting - Optional New Weapons for Mouse Guard

Note: contents of this post originally appeared on the My Life as a Grog blog, but I'll be revisiting some Mouse Guard material in due course. 

I came across Mouse Guard indirectly through the Mappa Mundi section of the ArM5 fanzine Sub Rosa, and decided to buy the RPG (mechanics based on the Burning Wheel System) mainly for the artwork and background, but have always felt that the simple mechanics and story resolution system have broader applicability, not only for ArM5 but also OSR style games..

I present here several optional weapons to help achieve two character concepts I particularly liked – a crossbow-wielding alchemist and a dedicated archer-mouse. 

Here is a comprehensive review of the Mouse Guard RPG.

Crossbow

Missile: Against short-ranged weapons, your Attack action counts as a versus action (rather than an independent) against Attack and is independent against Manoeuvre.  Medium Range: +1D to Manoeuvre against normal, spear or thrown weapons. Hard to Defend: Add +1D to your Attack versus Defend. Armour Piercing: Crossbows ignore armour. Light armour is negated and has no effect on disposition; heavy armour is reduced from +1s to +1D; shields are reduced from +2D to Defend to +1D to Defend; any animal armour (like a turtle’s shell) is reduced by -1D. Reload: unlike a bow, a crossbow takes time to reload and can only be used once per set of three actions in a conflict. Slow: -1D to Defend or Feint. Technological: only mice with the Scientist skill can use crossbows. Crafting a crossbow also requires both the Scientist and Armorer skills.

The crossbow uses the default (short) bow as a base but accounts for the slower reload and models the armour piercing on Sienna’s mace (see “Mouse Guard New Rules” pamphlet, page 7). To compensate for the additional bonuses I reduced the range and required some basic skill with technology by assigning the Scientist skill as a requisite. 

Longbow

Missile: Against short-ranged weapons, your Attack action counts as a versus action (rather than an independent) against Attack and is independent against Manoeuvre. Long Range: +3D to Manoeuvre against normal, spear or thrown weapons. Hard to Defend: Add +1D to your Attack versus Defend. Armour Piercing: Longbows ignore armour. Light armour is negated and has no effect on disposition; heavy armour is reduced from +1s to +1D; shields are reduced from +2D to Defend to +1D to Defend; any animal armour (like a turtle’s shell) is reduced by -1D. Must be Tall: only mice with the Tall Trait can use a longbow and wearing more than Light Armour makes using a longbow impossible.

As most of the bows depicted in the comics appear to be short bows, the longbow was a logical extension of this, gaining not only range but amour piercing at the expense of requiring the mouse to have the Tall Trait like the graphic novel's depiction of Kenzie.

Spiked Buckler

Light Protection: +1D to Defend. Short and Quick: as Knife.

A buckler is just a light shield, strapped to the forearm, commonly used by crossbowmen and bowmen in lieu of a full shield when using their missile weapons. Adding the equivalent of a knife makes a spiked buckler and a distinctive weapon with some unique flavour, well suited for a crossbow-mouse.

Miscellany

See also this comment on fixing the "Axe and Attack Action loophole" in Mouse Guard RPG games to retain the story-driven original intent of the designers. This issue aside, the commentator explains why he otherwise also thinks Mouse Guard is amazing!