I am personally keep thinking about The Halls of Arden Vul, seems like an awesome thing to run. But I have to admit it's a bit intimidating due to size and complexity and I can't, for the life of me, decide what system to run it with. But it's been there brewing at the back of my head for almost two years now..
I've ran the game a few times with no railroading involved. They give you a basic form, but you don't need to follow that. Be prepared to add some challenge to whatever the mission is, but let them deal with it how they may.
The main goal should be to give them opportunities to act heroically and to bruise and exhaust the mice a bit before they get to the next town. Life is hard for a small mouse and few brave the wilderness like the guard dies after all.
Checks force them to act their traits and to not just pay lip service to the character they claim their mouse to be. The players naturally won't want to use anything against their mice, they want to beat the game and succeed, but I would remind them of 2 things:
So, checks actually do two great things in my opinion, make the characters look more heroic and make the player more popular with the group since they are the one helping them recover. So they act both on the character and player level.
Oh, and also, leaning into the traits actually improves your overall story. Fiddian's stubborness can become the stuff everyone at the table remarks upon, or Sally's kindness can be the sweet thing that gets her always into trouble. This works best in a longer game though, but it is something to keep in mind imo.
I've been looking forward to a replacement. Hopefully this will be it. I also quite like a smaller community :)
Play Unsafe is one of the best books on rpg advice for both GMs and players in my opinion. A short read but it's a great guide.
@Red_Ed
@lemmy.world