"You're only a mouse. The patrol still has to get through."
Luke Crane's RPG of David Petersen's Eisner-winning comics is the lightest and most newcomer-friendly game in the Burning Wheel family. You play mice of the Guard, leading patrols between towns, keeping the trails open and saving fellow mice from weather, predators and each other. Tests use a pool of d6s where every 4–6 is a success, and each mouse runs on a Belief, a Goal and an Instinct. The 2015 second edition comes as a boxed set with action cards, dice and a map of the Territories.
The Mouse Territories, 1152. Mice live in towns hidden among tree roots and under stones, and the Guard of Lockhaven keeps the roads between them alive. Owls, weasels, snakes, snow and floods are more frightening than any dragon, and the turning seasons set the rhythm of a campaign, from spring floods to a starving winter.
Belief, Goal, Instinct
Every mouse carries a Belief, a Goal for this session and an Instinct. Playing to them, or against them, earns Fate and Persona points you later spend to bend the dice.
GM's turn and players' turn
First the GM hands the patrol a mission and throws weather, animals and obstacles at it. Then the players spend the checks they earned on their own business: healing, recruiting allies, chasing personal goals.
Scripted conflicts
Fights, chases and arguments all work the same way: each side secretly scripts three actions (Attack, Defend, Feint, Maneuver) and reveals them one by one, wearing down the other side's disposition.
Failure as a twist
A failed test never stalls the story. The GM either introduces a twist or grants success at the cost of a condition: Hungry, Angry, Tired, Injured or Sick.
Open in Session Zero to let every player vote and see the results.