GM: Mint
Players: Fred Hicks, Tom Lommel, Sean Nittner
System: Protect the Child by Mint
Humans have always been protective of their young, sometimes overly so. Humans have also always feared that which might make their young strange or different, and so insist that only humans can raise their own young. Monsters cannot raise human young. This is known.
You have a human child. You cannot find its parents. What is even worse, is that this child has powers, powers that others covet, and so everyone wants it. If you want to prove that you’re not the heartless monster that everyone says you are, that means you’ll have to raise it, at least until you find someone who is better suited to it than you.
You are creatures of fur, scales and fangs. You have claws that can rend flesh, faces that can crack mirrors, howls that can cause ears to bleed.
And your charge wants a blankie.
We played a game set it the Grimm Woods, with a focus on Found Family and Redemption. We put Curses and The Fae in our Have Fun portion of the palette, and the usual stuff (sexual violence and harm to pets or companions) in the Block (or not doing it) portion. One of the promises of the game is that while the Child will be in precarious situations and might have their feelings hurt, be confused, or scared, they will not come to physical harm.
Our characters were:
- Mouse, a 12 year old boy who lost his home and his parents, with one truth in his mind “I am in danger.” Occasionally turns invisible. (played by Mint but central to all of our characters)
- Reverie, the Business-Beast. Owl-bodied inheritor of Castle Night but on the outs with their father. Convinced by their uncle that bringing they could return to their father’s good graces by bringing the child to him. (Sean)
- Alabast, the Meddle-Mentor. Money-bodied swindler and thief who’s attempt to burgle Castle Night was thwarted by an all-seeing eye. Believed the Child’s powers might help him accomplish his goals (Tom).
- Onslaught, the Outlaw-Outcast. Mistaken Magic-bodied storm of death and poison, summoned by greedy arcanists. Though he appeared a monster, Onslaught was the one who loved Mouse the most, and had a cloak the child could hide under when scared. (Fred)
Foglight Forest
We started in the realm of the Fae Queen’s Hunt. Sunlight faded, fog thickened, and we heard a bone chilling howl. The hunt was on!
As we trundled up a hill with our new charge, Onslaught bid the young master wrap his hands around what could be interpreted as Onslaught’s “neck” and tried to carry him up the hill on his “back”. But Mouse lost his grip and went tumbling down.
Reverie danced out of the way on delicate taloned feet and bid the Child “Oh, don’t roll in there…that’s the barbed bramble!”
Alabast however, leapt onto a branch and plucked the child up just before he crashed into the bramble, pulling him to safety above.
As Reverie squawked about putting Master Mouse in even more danger in the trees (Reverie was a afraid of heights) they heard the sounds of the Hunt approach.
Turnip, the pumpkin-headed huntsman, riding atop a great stag, with other stag-borne hunters at his flank caught us on the hill. “Look what we have here…you’ve got something I want!”
Reverie played the fool (easy for them) and started pulling baubles from their pristine feathered cloak. A long— seemingly never ending—chain of jewels emerged and caught the avaricious eye carved on Turnip’s face. Alabast, still in the tree above, dropped a potion stolen from the fae, so it rolled between Reverie’s feet, to sweeten the pot.
Turnip leaned forward to snatch up the jewels and admire them, but his stag’s antler clomped Reverie on the head, making them see stars. The huntsman was distracted, but his pack was still on our tail.
Onslaught used the time to tie his silver rope between the trees, which tangled the the remaining stags as we over the bridge into the Kingdom of night.
Rest up
The Kingdom of Night, perpetually lit only by a blood red moon, the lands ruled by the House of Teak, was safe from the Queen’s Hunt but home to other perils.
Beneath a large oak with low hanging branches we caught our breath and rested.
Alabast sought to teach Mouse how to climb, that climbing was fun. Mouse was clumsy at first, trying to make his feet and legs bend like Alabast’s tail, but eventually go the hang of it. Alanast encouraged him “See…climbing is fun!”
“It is!” Mouse exclaimed
The higher they climbed however, the more scared Mouse became. Alabast egged him on “Whoever is the highest on a thing is the ruler of the thing. If you climb to the top of this tree, you’re be king of it!” Mouse asked Alabast for help, but he declined “Learn to do it on your own, and you’ll be stronger for it.” The mentor tried to teach Mouse of lessons of resilience, but instead taught him the lesson “I can’t ask for help.” Mouse tried to climb higher, but once he looked down he was frozen in fear, clutching the tree trunk with both hands.
Onslaught, the best of us, distracted Mouse by pulling out his book of bugs and asking Mouse which ones he saw in the tree. He told Mouse all about a particular centipede that lived under tree bark and that ate smaller bugs. Eventually Mouse became interested in enough (they both shared a love of bugs) to start looking for one. He didn’t find the centipede but he did find a brilliant blue moth and a whole nest of wood lice that started crawling all over him.
When he finally made it down, Mouse offered Reverie a bug, which the Reverie devoured with delight. “Master Mouse, can you tell us what became of your home? Your family?”
Mouse told them about a fire that burned down his house, but somehow he survived. When he went outside his whole family was gone and he didn’t know where they were. Reverie suggested they go to Castle Night, and that his father the lord might know where his family was. Mouse asked Reverie about his family (Augh, Reverie’s only weakness, being asked about himself) and with great difficulty he revealed that his father could be a very hard owl to please.
Castle Night
A misty castle, shrouded in dusk. Whistling winds, a blood-red moon. Surrounding the castle was an iron gate and none other by Striga, Reverie’s sister, was guarding the entrance.
Before entering each of the monsters shared one thing they knew, or had heard about Castle Night.
- Reverie shared that they had no clocks or sundials, but told the time by the wind, which blew through the castle in a gust every hour. The castle was outfitted with chimes and wind instruments to turn the wind into a haunting melody and one of the most important roles of the groundskeeper was to maintain the instruments.
- Alabast has learned that the castle was clockwork in nature and that it shifted and transformed on a a schedule. Those who were not familiar might be surprised when the ground beneath them suddenly began to move.
- Onslaught had heard the rumor that in Castle Night, all mirrors are doors!
Striga and Reverie cast verbal barbs at each other until Reverie revealed the child and told their sister that they must have entrance. She agreed, but only if she could present the child to Lord Night.
In the throne room the monsters and Mouse met the Lord of Night, but Striga tried not only to introduce the child, but also claim credit for finding him! Reverie and Striga renewed their argument.
As they squawked Onslaught noticed that Mouse’s feet began disappearing. He was turning invisible! Onslaught called attention to the fact that Striga did not have possession of the boy!
In the confusion Mouse walked to the mirror behind the throne and saw within it his family. The castle shifted and the floor turned, hiding him away. Perhaps where he rejoined the family, but that’s for another story.
Thoughts On This Game
Child as Crew sheet is a very strong choice. I like it with A Monstrous Undertaking (City as Crew Sheet) and I like it here. The fact that it is also the GM sheet makes it even stronger. It shows how custody of the Child is shared by all of us (including the child as reflected by the GM).
I’m probably biased by Spell & Blade but I like gear as dice. I think that probably means toning down the actions (right now they can go to three, which means it’s possible to get four dice without expending resources).
I was concerned about the pull between our personal drives and our desire to foster the child. Onslaught clearly loved Mouse, but Alabast and Reverie were mostly concerned with their own affairs, to the extent of using he child for their own ends. Character Weakness is the strong driver towards the Child and I think it can be made even more potent to address some of the “do our characters care about the Child” uncertainty.
Grimm Woods setting was strong and I like the idea of having multiple playsets in the game (similar to how Girl by Moonlight handles playsets).
