Mice and Mystics

Begin by arranging the double-sided map tiles based on the chosen chapter from the storybook. Place the hourglass and end tokens on the story control board's chapter track. Players then select hero mice cards, assign matching starting equipment from the search deck, and choose one class-specific ability card. Finally, prepare the encounter deck, place hero miniatures on the starting space alongside any starting minions, and shuffle the initiative cards.

The primary goal is cooperative survival and victory, dictated entirely by the specific chapter narrative you are playing. Players must work together to fulfill win conditions while actively avoiding failure states, such as running out of time on the chapter track.

During a mouse's turn, the player rolls a movement die, adds it to their hero's base speed, and moves across the tile spaces. After moving, the mouse can perform one main action such as attacking enemies, searching for items, recovering from conditions, exploring new areas, or using a Scurry action. Players can also perform various free actions like trading items, equipping gear, or spending cheese.

While playing, characters collect cheese tokens when rolling specific symbols during combat. These tokens act as currency that can be spent to purchase powerful new class abilities. Accumulated cheese also fills the minion cheese wheel, which triggers dangerous surges when full.

The game ends in victory if the adventuring party successfully completes the chapter's unique objectives. Conversely, the game ends in defeat if the hourglass marker advances all the way to the end token due to time running out or captured mice.