First prep for Mausritter

13 Feb, 2026

My friend plays tabletop RPGs. His wife, Jane, does not. Until recently, Jane had no experience of TTRPGs and showed no interest in questing with us until she unexpectedly joined a Mothership one shot and had a great time - despite the dread-filled setting and ultimately doomed conclusion.

So we decided that we should run a few more games with Jane, but I wanted her entry to the genre to be a little more light-hearted than Mothership. Something more in the high fantasy vein but fairly rules late. That's when I found Mausritter.

What could be more light-hearted than playing a small mouse?

I've never played Mausritter before, and to be honest, ignored it before thinking it was designed for kids - an oversight I now realise given the enormous following for this game.

On a first read of the rules, it looks like a great entry to the system for old school-style dungeons. This is important as my longer term aim is to run a few sessions of Mausritter before moving to either Cairn or Knave - I'm leaning towards Knave at the moment.

Real-world demands mean we're unlikely to meet up regularly, making simple stories easier to keep track of and character development less central. This side-stepping of focus on complex character builds is another reason why Mausritter, Cairn and Knave posed a good fit.

Something I'm slightly sad about with Mausritter is that the core booklet enemies are less fantastical - as I love in more traditional TTRPG selection of mythical beasts and legends. I know I could just add these kinds of monster into the game (mouse-sized mindflayer?) but I'll start off with the standard Mausritter enemies to get a feel for the system.

I'll run a world with three dungeons:

1. Stumpsville, the entry adventure in the booklet.
2. The Drained temple of the Brackish Basin.
3. Honey in the Rafters.

I'll use the Earldom of Ek map in the rules booklet. We'll ignore the suggestion to start the players at Stumpsville, starting them instead at the bustling town of Oaksgrove, described something as follows:

Oaksgrove is a thriving town of around 350 mice. The town is built between three old oaks linked with bridges. It includes a vertical, bridge-laced town cradled in the crooks of three ancient oaks. From below it looks like lanterns and laundry hung in mid-air; from within it feels like a gentle, constant sway, the creak of old wood, and the soft rush of wind through leaves.

Each tree will be treated as a different district: a market district, a guildhall for embroidery and fine wares and the messenger pigeon roosts.

The initial hook will be that this is the year where they have been chosen with the noble duty of cheesebearers - those who will lead the parade to bring the cheese into the town for the 'Cheesegiving day' celebrations. We will join them in a bustling market of other mice getting ready for the big day. All the players need to do is find the mayor and collect the cheese.

But of course these is no cheese. Instead they'll meet and old and panicking mayor who reports that the cheese never arrived, and that there has been no word from Stumpsville - both very unusual circumstances. The mayor will be frail and despairing. Hopefully the players will bite to offer to help...

At this point the players will have their class items but no weapons. In exchange for their offer of help, the mayor will have his clerk give the players 200 pips and point them in the direction supplies for their travels - which also provides a nice way for the players to explore Oaksgrove a little more and learn a few more rumours and tensions.

The mayor's clerk will also offer directions to Stumpsville, suggesting two paths - one via the poppyseed road house, the either by the white birch. It's fine if they want to wander, but there is a time element to the Cheesegiving mission. Should they fail it, I'll have the town loose faith in the mayor, which will later make them more favourable to having Lord Larkspur take over.¹

Either approach will involve crossing the river - using a ferryman to cross to the to the poppyseed road house, or using stepping stones to go via the white birch. These will be their first signs of the drained river further upstream.

On the way, they'll come across the first sign of the drained lake: the river crossing is dry, leaving the ferryman scratching his head about what to do. He'll state that the rive has been slowly draining, and that he doesn't know what caused it, but heard from a passer-by that the folk up at the Fishing Spot (area 7 in the Earldom of Ek) are looking into it. The passer-by will also have mentioned that a strange structure has appeared on the riverbed with the receding waters, leaving the village is unsure how to deal with it.

I'll also have this ferryman know more about who comes and goes across the river. He'll have ferried rats across one way, and seen nothing of Stumpsville folk passing. He's cagey with this information. His job is helping people cross, not looking into their business.

The signs of the drained river will give the players a choice - continue with the cheese hunt or look into what's going on with the river. Following the river will lead them to the quest hook for the Brackish Basin. Should the players head to the fishing village, they will find the townsfolk arguing about what to do about the drained river from the beavers upstream. The entrance to the Brackish Basin dungeon will have appeared at the base of the, now dry, river basis - a crowd watching but not daring to enter. Some will want to address the beavers to return the waters. Others will want to check the new temple first, wondering if there are riches inside.

This will give our players a choice. They either crack on with the cheese rescue mission, or they could investigate the mystery with the water. Whichever situation they don't go to gets slightly worse / more dangerous if left. Not massively but I'll hint this when they arrive to remind this of potential opportunity costs to their choices. The Mausritter faction mechanic will come in handy here.

As and aside here, I only want to do this to make the world feel more alive rather than static quests awaiting off screen. This isn't meant to punish the players, and in other iterations might lead to positive outcomes. For example: a new discovery arises that informs the quest; another NPC has attempted something the mission, improving the odds; supplies for the monsters are running low, etc. The aim is that so next time, the players face such a choice, they're encouraged to be strategic with how they handle their time and actions within the world. The faction mechanic within Mausritter nicely supports these kinds of development.

Regarding the quests of Stumpsville and the Brackish Basin, I'm planning to run these pretty closely to as described. Both look good and make for nice starter adventures. I'll also add a couple of characters, hooks and the odd mission to each of the hexes in the Earldom of Ek and having these tie up with the larger events across the map. I might share these notes as I develop them as part of this blog site, in case they might help others.

That feels like enough to get us going. The next post on this will be the session report.