No progress on Steam Thieves this week, but that’s OK.
I’ve done a little work on Goodnight Maus, though (my Mausritter adventure site inspired by the children’s book Goodnight Moon).
Spoilers ahead for folks who want to play this someday.
I need to make sure this site has enough threats to make it interesting and fun to play, as opposed to the site becoming a simple show-and-tell exercise/walking tour.
I don’t want there to be too many NPCs in the room, since that would mean a lot of commotion and I want commotion to be something PCs have to manage. I have developed a ‘doom track’ for the kittens and the old lady. If you fill the track (by making a commotion) then those characters are drawn to you. This will mean PCs will need to be quiet a lot of the time, so it would be unfair if I stocked this room with a bunch of combat encounters.
Instead of having lots of different NPCs to fight, I’m going to rely on a few traps to compliment the small number of NPCs you could meet.
Here is what the Mausritter rulebook has to say about traps:
Traps Traps should be obvious and deadly. A good trap has a clear danger and multiple, non-obvious solutions. Consider the purpose the trap was built for, and how it is navigated by other creatures in the site. If the players use a risky method to bypass the trap, call for a Save or Luck roll.
I’m setting this adventure site in the real world, where humans are present. With that in mind there are a lot of real traps that I can utilize for this site.
The classic mouse trap is not something I’ll use here. I may have one in the background, though, with mouse adventurers likely insulted by the thought that such a crude invention could catch them.
Instead I’m going to place a humane trap and set it so every player must roll to avoid being caught in the cage. I love leaving it possible for the entire party to get stuck there. This should encourage creative problem solving around either breaking through the bars or activating the latch. I should store something else in the room that could be used in this situation, too. Maybe matches, so the bars can be heated and then bent.
I also like the idea of a flypaper trap as another non lethal stumbling block. That would require a strength save to get through. PCs could also use buttons, or something similar, to make stepping stones.
I’m going to place the most advanced and dangerous trap in the fireplace. One of the adventure hooks is finding alternative ways in and out of the room (to avoid the rat gangs’ tolls). The chimney is one of the most obvious solutions. So obvious that I want the rat gang to have prepared for this.
They will have a straight razor blade that will slide down the inside edge of the chimney, if the trip wire is tripped by a climbing mouse. This trap could be a ‘save or die’ situation (with two DEX saves, one to avoid the blade and another to minimize the fall). But I need to telegraph this trap so it’s not unfair. I’m thinking there should be obvious mouse remains in the fireplace and it should be obvious that many are missing their hands and feet. This should put players on edge and have them searching for traps in the chimney, at which point the GM can reveal the trip wire. If they choose to proceed past it they can attempt their save and potentially suffer the consequences. In this situation it should be clear to all that this is a deadly trap. Again, I should have something else in the room that acts as a nice counter to this trap. Some of the treasure in this room will connect to a long lost mouse hero. Perhaps there are some magic gauntlets that can be recovered and be used to stop the blade when it falls. I also want to throw a spell somewhere into the room. Maybe a Time Stop spell.
I think those three traps, our rats in the walls, the two kittens and sleeping humans are all the obvious threats we need. I’m hesitant to use bugs as a threat, because I don’t think sentient bugs or a spider big enough to kill a mouse are cohesive with this setting.
As far as other NPCs, I have our young missing adventurer mouse. I don’t want them to be hostile to PCs, but I see them as potentially getting in the way (since they have their own goals in mind). I also want to place an NPC inside the toy house. A cantankerous hermit who tries to scare others away in a suit made from a teddy bear. I’m also thinking of adding a mouse ghost somewhere… More on that next week, perhaps.