"Could you be just a little more quiet, Barkhead," growled Trom, the rat. "It's not like we're begging to get noticed or anything."

Barkhead snickered, "Sure... like there's anything awake in this alley in the middle of the night. Let's just go in, grab the ham and get out. I don't even know why I'm helping you guys. I don't even eat ham."

"Because, you, you, you're our friend," squeaked the little mouse sneak Keiter. "And, and, we smelled pine nuts. Promise."

Barkhead scrambled up the wall unto the windowsill. "Ok... grab this rope and get up here," he said, concentrating for a moment. "... ... ...," he appeared to scream. "... ... ...," he said, pressing a paw against the glass and concentrating again, until the window shattered in without a sound. "Looks like we're home free," he said, scrambling down the rope, as he dropped down the other side and out of the zone of silence.

The rat growled as he struggled to climb down the rope. "I can smell it. Roast ham and honey--and a dozen smelly humans, all in this one little tavern. Treat-time." The trio skittered across the floor, hungry and oblivious to the imminent danger in the window.

A brown tabby peered in the broken hole as Trom began to gorge himself. Barkhead greedily chewed up a strawberry as Keiter noticed the cat. "G-g-guys..."

The three turned as the cat put his paw against a shard of glass. "No, no, no, Alex... come 'n," begged the squirrel. "I gave you all the information you wanted just last week--and I got a friend to clean up that nasty case of mange."

Alex grinned. "Sorry, chumps," he hissed, pushing the piece of glass out.

Down...
down..
down... it tumbled, and...

Shattering against the floor with a deafening sound in the near-silence of the room, shards flew everywhere, nearly hitting Keiter in the leg as he leaped away. Clomping footsteps plodded across the upstairs floor, and started down the stairs.

"Fucknutty," growled Barkhead.

Requires the use of the Dungeons & Dragons(R) Player's Handbook, Third Edition, published by Wizards of the Coast(R). Dungeons & Dragons(R) and Wizards of the Coast(R) are Registered Trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, and are used with Permission.  

Introduction

Vermin is a d20 game set in the streets of a dark fantasy city. Unlike most fantasy games, this one's set at dirt level--you play the tiny beasts, the dirty vermin of the city. Players can choose between Rats, Mice, Sparrows, Squirrels, Toads, Roaches, and Lizards.

These vermin are a bit different from the ones you and I know--they have human level intelligence, and tool-making ability. That said, they're smart enough not to let humans (the biggest enemy of all) find out about all this. (Hmm... adventure hook already.)

Vermin was written so that it is a stand-alone game, but can fit into any fantasy city (or modern city, if you can accept that animals have secret mystical powers). It might actually be interesting to run it and not specify, seeing how long it takes your characters to see the difference between Lankhmar and New York City from the ground level. It can be used for a stand-alone campaign, or an interesting diversion for players to get a new perspective on your existing campaign.

As mentioned above, this game does require the Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook. Unless specified, this game follows the same rules in there, especially regarding character creation, experience, and combat. Feats that aren't explicitly explained follow the same rules as in the PHB and the same goes for skills.

I hope you enjoy it--and find out exactly high dirt gets in the street when you're only two inches tall.