Creating Shrines
Scatter up to six d6 over the hex map you're using. If a die lands on a hex, that hex contains a shrine. The die's result indicates the shrine's location within the hex, using the table below.
When looking up results in this table, read from the first six entries for the first die, the next six entries for the second die, and so on. This is to avoid rolling duplicates.
| 1 | 1 | Inside a doll's house, surrounded by little wooden chairs. |
| 1 | 2 | Alcove gnawed out of the side of an aloe, saguaro, or other large succulent. |
| 1 | 3 | Papier-mâché tower three mouse storeys high, made from old '70s science fiction paperbacks. Alien illustrations cut out, arranged within as saintly iconography. |
| 1 | 4 | Big bobbly tea cosy pitched like a tent, cellophane covers the top hole like a skylight. |
| 1 | 5 | Cave behind a waterfall, glistening with dew and luminous moss. |
| 1 | 6 | Hidden in the top of a still-working wind turbine. |
| 2 | 1 | Catacomb chiseled into a sandstone cliff. The skulls of generations of mice are interred within. |
| 2 | 2 | Multicoloured Lego cathedral, parts scavenged and assembled over successive mouse generations. |
| 2 | 3 | Within a bleached-white cow skull. |
| 2 | 4 | Within the burrow of a mystery creature (currently absent), among its various hoarded possessions. A pungent musk, long claw marks, bone fragments of tiny creatures. |
| 2 | 5 | Submerged at the bottom of a fast-flowing stream. You must dive to get there. |
| 2 | 6 | Betwixt two aerial roots of a strangler fig tree. The tree is hollow, its host long-since rotted away. |
| 3 | 1 | On a riverbank within a forest of dillweed. |
| 3 | 2 | Inside a fallen churchbell of corroded bronze, a crack allows entry. |
| 3 | 3 | Clam-shaped kiddie pool, upended to form a huge cavern. Clad in moss with a tiny gardener's shed on top. |
| 3 | 4 | Five old car tyres stacked into a cylinder. A hole cut into the bottom tyre for entry. |
| 3 | 5 | Overlooking a mouse-sized stepwell, many mice and other animals come here to drink. |
| 3 | 6 | Atop the wood-veneer dashboard of a yellow, wedge-shaped 1974 Citicar. |
| 4 | 1 | Glittering geodesic dome made of cut-up CD-ROMs (Microsoft Encarta 1997) glued edge-to-edge with chewing gum. |
| 4 | 2 | In the dusty wall cavity of a crumbled human home. |
| 4 | 3 | Sunlit hammock-like platforms suspended from a climbing passionflower vine |
| 4 | 4 | On a tiny isle of stunted trees, at the centre of a pond. |
| 4 | 5 | Within a treehollow in a mighty elm. |
| 4 | 6 | Nestled in a gilded chandelier in an abandoned mcmansion. |
| 5 | 1 | Tunnels chiseled and melted into a glacier. Offerings are left among the debris of the glacial moraine. |
| 5 | 2 | In a little red rowboat adrift on a lake. The boat is blessed to never leak or capsize. |
| 5 | 3 | High-voltage DC substation, strangely still running. A huge mercury-arc rectifier dominates the space with a cold white glow and sonorous hum. |
| 5 | 4 | Within an ancient rose bush, blood red flowers and sharp black thorns. |
| 5 | 5 | Hollowed-out Pepsi vending machine, shiny cans half-buried in a circle around it (still full of soda). |
| 5 | 6 | Pyramid made from pieces of roughly-broken shale leaning against each other. A little tealight altar sits inside, |
| 6 | 1 | In an abandoned beehive, everything is suffused with the heady odour of honey and wax. |
| 6 | 2 | Pleather stripped from a squashy couch and swen into a multichambered, heartlike building. |
| 6 | 3 | Atop a bluff, amid thin clumps of windswept grass. |
| 6 | 4 | Ziggurat of oil paintings in gilded frames stacked largest to smallest. The canvases within form several storeys of low-ceilinged, springy rooms. |
| 6 | 5 | Atop a rotting treestump, ringed by mushrooms. |
| 6 | 6 | A winding subterranean labyrinth of PVC pipe. No branches in the piping means no chance of getting lost, but reaching the centre still takes 10 minutes at a brisk pace. |
Offerings
Shrines in well-trafficked areas will have 1d6 offerings already left there. Shrines in remote areas only have 1d3-1 offerings.
If you leave the specific offering that deity likes, you are blessed with a shrine spell.
If you leave any other offering, besides insulting ones like mouse droppings, you are instead blessed with safe travel. The GM rolls a d12 during the morning and evening watches. On a 1 an encounter happens, on a 2-4 an Omen happens.
Stealing an offering, or leaving insulting offerings, causes you to be cursed with unsafe travel. The GM rolls a d3 during the morning and evening watches. On a 1, an encounter happens. No result triggers an Omen, for one who forsakes the gods receives no forewarning of the perils that face them.
These changes to encounter rates only affect overland travel, not dungeons.
At the beginning of each morning shift (after the encounter roll is made), roll a d6. On a 1, safe or unsafe travel effect wears off.
Sample Offerings
| 1 | 1 | tiny bottle of whisky from a hotel minibar |
| 1 | 2 | newly-composed sonnet in dedication to the deity, scribed on corn husk |
| 1 | 3 | strip of adhesive-backed googly-eyes (rumoured to ward the evil eye) |
| 1 | 4 | a human glass eye |
| 1 | 5 | porcelain fragment showing a painted wildflower |
| 1 | 6 | origami crane made of aluminium foil |
| 2 | 1 | mantra inscribed 12 times on a coiled sheet of lead |
| 2 | 2 | collector's teaspoon |
| 2 | 3 | religious tract for rival shrine deity |
| 2 | 4 | handmade resin d20, transparent with flecks of gold leaf |
| 2 | 5 | basket of pumpkin seeds |
| 2 | 6 | expressionist sculpture of coiled copper wire |
| 3 | 1 | tube of superglue |
| 3 | 2 | shed snakeskin |
| 3 | 3 | Barbie doll head, hair braided |
| 3 | 4 | squat brown toadstool (causes vomiting if eaten) |
| 3 | 5 | gold earring (human-sized) |
| 3 | 6 | glossy black crow feather |
| 4 | 1 | ear of wheat (rations, 3 usage dots) |
| 4 | 2 | hand-rolled blunt (human-sized) |
| 4 | 3 | clay beer bottle (mouse-sized) |
| 4 | 4 | mouse-sized sword (medium weapon) |
| 4 | 5 | a wilted pansy |
| 4 | 6 | thimbleful of water collected from the morning dew |
| 5 | 1 | mouse blouse, dyed printer-ink magenta |
| 5 | 2 | poorly-made incense (choking, eye-stinging smoke when burnt) |
| 5 | 3 | a 9-volt battery (still charged) |
| 5 | 4 | roll of plaid-patterned washi tape |
| 5 | 5 | screen door mesh cut and layered to form a shifting moiré pattern |
| 5 | 6 | sprig of mint (rations, 1 usage dot) |
| 6 | 1 | shield made from a bottlecap (lets you convert heavy armour to light armour) |
| 6 | 2 | mouse helmet made of a hollowed peach kernel (lets you convert light armour to heavy armour) |
| 6 | 3 | small piece of honeycomb (rations, 1d3 usage dots) |
| 6 | 4 | lump of dried treesap, cut and polished into a faceted yellow gem |
| 6 | 5 | jar of cayenne pepper (repels mammalian predators) |
| 6 | 6 | random spell tablet (depleted) |
Shrine Spells
The deity of each shrine likes a specific offering. Leaving this offering will bless you with a spell, instead of being blessed with safe travel.
This spell is a condition that fills an inventory slot—unlike a spell tablet, it cannot be dropped, stolen or traded. The spell has 3 usage dots, and the condition is removed once all 3 are marked. Regaining the spell usually involves giving another offering to the same deity, though at the GM's discretion acts of great valour or sacrifice that further the deity's interests can also recharge a spell.
Instead of a spell, a deity can instead grant a single, minor wish that falls within its purview. Generally this should not exceed the power of a spell. Work with the GM to figure out a suitable effect and scale.
Deities
The Horizon
Sender of dreams, nightmares, wind, wave and storm. Holds domain over the ocean, that mysterious expanse that mice only cross by human ship. Mercurial, childlike, curious.
Shrine: A reflecting pool in an exposed place, wind blowing ripples on its surface. Offerings are stockpiled at one end for weekly burning.
Offering: A dream diary of the previous lunar month, burned to ashes and scattered to the winds.
Omen
Ask the GM about an event or course of action that might happen in the near future, up to [SUM] watches away. The GM answers with “earth”, “fire”, “air”, and/or “water”; as truthfully as possible.
- The meaning of the omen might be literal, e.g. if you travel east you'll encounter a lake, or figurative (the Duchess of Brandywine has a phlegmatic disposition).
- If the event or course of action happens after [SUM] watches have elapsed, the omen may no longer apply.
| Element | Humour | Disposition |
|---|---|---|
| earth | melancholic | rigid, introspective, sad |
| fire | choleric | active, aggressive, wrathful |
| air | sanguine | carefree, sociable, mirthful |
| water | phlegmatic | passive, apathetic, controlled |
The Keymaster
Keeper of doors, hoarder of treasures, speaker of secret languages. Patron of spymasters and any mouse smart enough to stockpile food for the winter. Loathes the charitable.
Shrine: A huge paw thrusting from the wall, holding an iron ring onto which countless keys have been threaded. A pit lies beneath, into which offerings are cast.
Offering: Any object purchased legitimately, for a sum of pips equaling your previous month's income (before taxes).
Alarm
Create [DICE] wards, placed on objects you can see. Specify a message of up to [SUM] words that plays if an intelligent creature crosses a ward.
- Choose whether the message is a whisper audible only to you (over any distance) or is audible to everyone in the vicinity of the warded object.
- Warded objects can be doors, containers, or any area circumscribed with chalk.
- All wards made in a single casting have the same message. Each ward can play the message just once.
The Primeval
Naked, feral, red in tooth and claw. Humans destroyed themselves, burghermice will do the same unless they scorn human affectations. Surrender to sheer animal instinct if you hope to survive. Rarely worshipped except in times of great stress.
Shrine: A limestone boulder cleaved by rain and frost, and covered in claw gouges.
Offering: Spiritualism is a human trait. Mice should not leave offerings. Devour an existing offering on the spot, and you receive her blessing.
Fight-or-Flight
Give the Panicked condition to [DICE] creatures you can see.
- Panicked creatures deal enhanced damage, but the only combat actions they can take are melee attacks, fleeing, or hiding.
- The condition clears after a long rest. The Restore spell can also remove it.
The Abomination
Unraveler of order, upender of tyranny, the Abomination stands for transgression and the rejection of one's allotted fate. The other gods hate the Abomination and never bestow spells if they sense you have consorted with them. Their cultists know secret rites to mask their deity's smell.
Shrine: Plaster statue of a wild-eyed mouse devouring a cat, their size and roles reversed. Choking odour of rot. Hanging baskets for the placement of offerings, which are left to decay and drip onto the grimy floor beneath.
Offering: A chunk of flesh from a predator animal.
Twist
Choose [DICE] hexes in the campaign world. You can rearrange and rotate them freely. Get scissors and stickytape and do this to the GM's prized hex map if possible.
- Hexes must be adjacent, and you must be standing on one of them. You don't need to have mapped them.
- Structures and terrain that spans hex borders are cleaved in two. Creatures occupying the hexes aren't immediately harmed, though the changed terrain may place them in peril e.g. unstable slopes, changed water flow.
Pilgrims and Attendants
- Astrid — gaunt and wiry, eartips lost to frostbite, her eyes always take stock of surroundings. Right front paw amputated for stealing bread. Now a mendicant monk who tends to each shrine and collects herbs for the sick. Performs religious services for others on the road, watches for signs her audience might be more amenable to her more radical sermons.
- Engelbert — Small and frail, an amiable chap. Making a pilgrimage to each shrine, carries a crude map with their locations. Eager to trade information and possibly travel with the party for protection. Secret bat cultist, actually on a mission to deface each shrine in the belief it will empower the cult.
- Florina — Tall and muscular, thick russet fur. Speaks in curt, simple sentences. Zealot on an undercover operation to root out Abomination cultists. Incapable of subtlety, actual worshipers see right through her, and she's not sure what to do if she actually finds any. Horrified if anyone suggests torture; the thought had never crossed her mind.
- Georg — A wealthy explorer mouse who suffered a spinal injury. Paralysed and in great pain, he is carried on a litter by adoring fans. Polite verging on schmoozing, generous if he thinks he can get something out of you. He hopes a shrine deity will heal him (or dull the pain). Has brought many of his looted treasures, including a conspicuous spell tablet.
- Priscilla — Plump and grey, with frazzled whiskers. Hard-of-hearing, carries an ear trumpet and speaks loudly. Childbearing days done, she has retired to tend to a shrine. Bakes little treats for travelers who leave good offerings. Sharp eyes and strong arms, will clobber thieves with her rolling pin.
- Teodor — Athletic, beautiful youth with blond fur and piercing red eyes. The youngest son of a minor lord, he was given to the priesthood as a pup. Gripes about his misfortune and "wasted youth". Charges shrine admission fees to anyone too weak to refuse, spends it on pipeweed. His father recently won control of a sapphire mine. As a priest Teodor cannot inherit, but he is eager to find a means (legal or otherwise) to reclaim his "birthright". Well-armed mouse adventurers are just the tool he's looking for.
