Play Mustelid Masterpiece
The Mustelid Monarchy RootJam 2026's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Clarity of Rules/Mechanics | #5 | 3.826 | 3.826 |
| Creativity/Uniqueness | #10 | 3.957 | 3.957 |
| Use of This Year's Theme | #18 | 3.913 | 3.913 |
Ranked from 23 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Includes Law of Root?
No
Includes PnP?
Yes
Includes TTS files?
No
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Comments
The three of you are genuinely my top Root artists, so seeing you collaborate on this was so exciting! The theme and lore are so cool and funny: I love the counselors' shady influence on the game, and the grumpy queen you have to protect.
I think if you develop it further, the faction would really benefit from having ONE clear identity/goal. Right now, it feels like it's hesitating a bit (is it the ballot? The queen? The trophies? Honeypots?). But this might just be a wording problem, or maybe because I totally missed what their main scoring engine is supposed to be!
Edit: Just to clarify, I didn't mean to suggest discarding the other elements entirely! I just wanted to emphasize the importance of highlighting which one serves as the true core mechanic that ties everything else together.
Thanks tricholome, I always appreciate so much how much you support each of us as artists. That means the world :)
Glad you like the storytelling we came up with as well.
You're def right they have a little identity crisis sometimes, but since their main scoring mechanic is ON the counsellor cards and changes depending on the counsellor for each turn, I had wanted to give em a few distinct mechanics to set each one apart.
But I'm the future is like to find just one mechanic they each interact with, tying them all together!
But then it's only 1 VP per turn, right?
Each time they accomplish their little goal they get a point, so you can do your goal multiple times and get multiple points per turn :)
Oh... sure... I'm so stupid 😂
You're not at all, it means I can make it more clear :)
Tin, you've done it again! I love the flavour of this faction, which fully supported by your fabulous artwork. Of the three Counsellors, I trust the Guard Captain the least; I just know he's going to sell me out the moment he gets the chance!
The Election is a really fascinating way to engage other players. Unlike some player interaction, it doesn't cost enemy factions anything to cast their ballot (in fact, the card cycling might even help them!). I would think this would encourage everyone to be a part of this "democracy". And yet, even with the whole table conspiring against you, the Mustelid player can probably rig the election and still be able to do what they want on their turn. Nicely done!
I'm curious how you've found the warrior-for-action tradeoff. In theory, I really like the idea: give players more actions, but for a cost! It seems like this might be challenging to pull off for this faction, since other factions could remove your warriors on their turns and your recruitment only takes place in Evening. Curious what your experience has been like when play testing?
Thanks so much hey for your in depth look at them and figuring em out :) Actually the artwork this time around was a collaboration between myself and 2 other artists that I really wanted to work with. I'll let the illustrator behind the guard captain know your compliments :)
I'm really glad you like the election process! Since it also gives them their "objectives" each turn, play testing will be needed to see if they REQUIRE player engagement like the otters to be okay.
I haven't playtested since the warrior trade-off, you're right it might be tough for them D: only time will tell
Thanks again sparky I super really appreciate you! I think your write-up work is done now, so I hope you get a welll earned rest!
Thanks Tin! Looking forward to seeing how they progress with play testing!
Hi Tin, great artwork as usual. In particularly like the back of the councillor cards. One question, so you have three councillors, but you are essentially electing an ability (sometimes the same one) each turn? Do I have that right?
Thanks so much man, I'm so happy to see you here again too and your artwork is outta the park once again. Your comic book style is always a delight :)
You have three counsellors, but the one you use for your ability and that you take actions with is elected each turn, yep!
Thanks! Had a lot of fun drawing dogs
Oh Counsellors as in those who provide counsel to the queen, right. I had it in my head as Councillors as we just elected local councils here in the uk when i wrote the comment. My mistake!
I love this hahaha :P
*requires
Oh well