Mouse Guard, Anyone?

[lin_fusan]

Woo... Ran a session of Mouse Guard tonight. I didn't feel it went as smoothly as it could have.

Since the mice were in Lockhaven, I decided to give them a mission direct from Gwendolyn to find an oldfur named Alistair the Weaseleye and convince him to come out of retirement and help the Guard map some of the Darkheather tunnels.

One of the things that I realized was that the GM has to discern player character intent, or more specifically, get players to state their desired results in relation to a test.

My group has a tendency to wait for one player to take an action before deciding what to do. This is fine on the Player's Turn, but a little problematic on the GM's Turn.

I great example is when the group was chatting on how to find the oldfur, and I suggested a Circle test. The patrol leader suggested splitting up. Each character went in search of someone who might know where the oldfur was. One character looked for Harvesters that might know of an odd hermit. Another character wanted to find children who might have seen something in the forest while playing. I asked each one to roll a Circles test.

It wasn't until afterward that I realized that the results for each test was essentially the same; find Alistair the Weaseleye. And since everyone was aiming for the same result, I should have called for a single group test, not several individual ones. Essentially, this was exactly the situation where one character should have made the Circles test with the other characters adding a helping die.

Another example of clearly stating the desired result of a situation was when the patrol leader ran into a personal enemy, who not-so-gently urged him to drop his search for the oldfur. There was some confusion where the player kept waiting for the enemy to act first. I think he was expecting a fight. So the player kept not acting, saying things like "I walk away." or "i ignore what he said to me." I ended up getting a little heavy handed and stating outright that this enemy would not let him continue unless he either fought him or convinced him that his mission was a right and just one.

They eventually found the oldfur's hideout outside of Lockhaven. In a Apocalypse Now-esque scenario, the mice had to climb a tree rigged with traps and snares in order to get to the oldfur's treehouse. That also had some confusion in terms of mechanics. Does each mouse test to climb the tree, or is it a group test with a single roller and helping dice?

The session had to get cut off right in the middle of an argument conflict. Strangely, that part of the session was going quite smoothly.

So the session felt a little muddled. Perhaps I need to be more clear on the GM's Turn what the required tests are and what the intended results should be.

 

[Woas]

Well, I got some time.

The patrol set off from Lockhaven with the mission to deliver mail on the 'long road' to Pebblebrook with stops along Shaleburrow and Barkstone.

En route to Shaleburrow the patrol was task to help trail blaze and reestablish any roads (replace landmarks, post detours, etc) after the wet and mild winter. They did well enough, using weather watcher to actually come up with that previous fact that winter was mild and mostly just wet (the player passed a weather watched test an I allowed them to pretty much tell us how winter went).
Eventually on the way they came upon an area where a murder of crows had taken up residency in a number of trees that last year's road went through. The alpha-crow swooped down and was fascinated by the shiny metal clasp the mail bundle was kept together with. I told the patrol that the crow was being pushy, eying the metal clasp and if they did not protect it and run this crow off it would make the mail all unorganized at best (slowing them down in each town trying to re-sort it out) or at worst lose the mail all together!
This lead to our first conflict. The goals where that the crow wanted to the shiny object. The mice wanted to drive the crow away.
Unfortunately the crow won after pushing around the mice and receiving a nasty gash on it's beak (a return villain for sure!), but only barely having just 1 point of deposition left itself. I believe the compromise was that the crow got the metal clasp but in a way that was not immediately detrimental to the mail. (a simple resource test in Shalebrook could find them a sewer-mouse to sew a new (but less fancy) clasp on).

After a quick visit in Shaleburrow handing out the mail the group was off again to the Patrol Leader's home village of Brookstone. The player of this mouse was really interested being able to visit her home.
Along the way the patrol heard some commotion off the trail. After some investigation a lady-mouse stumbled out from under some leaves asking the patrol to protect/hide her because there were bully-mice chasing her. The patrol hid her, not sure what was going on when a dozen or so harvester mice busted onto the scene, following some trail they believed to be from this lady-mouse.
The harvesters demanded the patrols attention, claiming they where on the hunt for a thief-mouse. They described this so-called thief who they claimed was stealing some of the early harvest, which matched the description of the lady-mouse the patrol had just hidden. After some mediation, tempter calming and truth gathering the patrol admitted to knowing the where-about of the so-called thief (why, just over here under these leafs in fact!) determined they would escort the thief/lady along with the Master Harvester back to Brookstone (as they were headed there anyway) as the other harvest-mice were wasting precious time and needed to get back to harvesting.
Once in Brookstone the Master Harvester went straight to the authorities. The patrol brought the accused thief to her home where they met her sister and children to talk and understand the situation. Apparently the accused thief's husband was banished from town for theft and she was blacklisted because of this and was forced to steal grain and food for her children (whom her sister watched and cared for while she was out doing this). The patrol mouse who's home was here at Brookstone recalled the event and knew it was true.
But you see the thief mouse wasn't much of a field mouse so she mostly had to steal from pre-established harvest areas and thus the reason her run in with the harvest mice.
After the confession the patrol started to form some thought on the issue as to what to do when at the door came a knock. The Master Harvester returned with the constable and other up-and-up mice of the community demanding the thief be brought out of her home so that she may be placed in a holding area until her judgement was passed. The patrol was washed with sorrow for the thief-ladies plight so acting quickly stalled the crowd that had gathered at the front door while one of the patrol mice helped the thief sneak out the back door and flee, leaving her children in her sister's charge and vowing to send word where she was so that the children could be brought there.
The crowd caught on eventually and there was much name calling... the patrol was accused of 'Guard sanctioned theft' and such things. The patrol felt the negative vibes in the community for what they did so they quickly handed out the mail, said quick hello's to family and departed to Shalebrook.

On the road to Shalebrook the patrol again heard some commotion ahead of them. As they ran forward to scout they came upon a scene in where a stream hadn't quite flooded but was running much faster than normal from snow melt. A number of mice were attempting to rescue a mouse who had fallen in trying to cross the rushing stream. As they assessed the situation and came into the scene, the patrol came to realize that it was none other than the Master Harvester who had fallen into the stream in his attempt to track down the thief who had crossed here just recently.
The attempt was made to save the Master Harvester. Each patrol member removed their cloaks an a make shift line was formed. The mice grabbed hold onto the line on the bank as one brave patrol mouse tied an end to himself and waded out to try and help. But the stream was too strong! And the patrol mouse could not grip the Master Harvester! His paw slipped and the Master Harvester was swept down stream!
It was a solemn moment for the patrol as they tasted true defeat.

Apologizing for the loss, the other mice expressed thanks for trying to help and that the patrol did their best and the two groups parted ways. Finding a safer route across the stream, the patrol headed to their last stop Pebblebrook. Along the way they espied a mouse up high in a tree seemingly unconscious. Making contact and yelling up to the mouse, they discovered it was none-other than the thief mouse. She coughed and wheezed a lot but was able to tell the patrol that she had been set upon by an owl the other night and that her leg was broken and she was very hurt and could barely move. The owl had left her here, probably to eat her later and to please help!
Forming a plan as to how to carry the mouse down from so far high up, the patrol again used the versatility of their capes to build a little hammock that they would carry the thief-mouse down in.
Starting the long climb up, the patrol mouse reached only half way when from high in the branches that bone-chilling squelch rang through the woods. A FLYING DEVIL!! Out on the hunt during the early dusk, the flying squirrel made it's presence known and delighted in the idea of 6 yummy mice.
The thought of a flying devil put the fear of mice-god into the patrol! The patrol mouse who was half up the tree jumped off as all the patrol mice ran for their lives (used nature to find hidey-holes the squirrel couldn't get to) leaving the thief lady alone, unable to defend herself up in the tree. As the patrol lay in their hiding spots, safe as long as they remained still, they were forever mentally scared by the screams of the thief lady being eaten alive as the flying devil swooped in to steal the owl's hastily left meal.

 

[Novem5er]

Great session reports!

lin fusan, my first session was a little muddy too! Mouse Guard is an easy system mechanically, but it requires a little bit of finesse. When do you call for a single test for the whole group? When do you make each mouse roll their own?

It's a tricky call. I think the answer lies in the possible outcomes. If the result of failure might be an Condition applied to the individual who failed (Tired, Injured, etc), then it's cool to make everyone roll.

However, if you'd rather make failure create a new twist to the plot, then probably a single group check (with helping dice) makes most sense.

Keep trying! I found that after a few sessions, I was able to make those decision a lot easier.

Woas, that was a great post. I really loved how you session ended! THAT's what Mouse Guard is all about: making the players make tough choices! It all ties into the player's Beliefs, Instincts, and Goals.

In my mouse patrol, for instance, one of the mice has an Instinct to "always aid the injured". That would have been a great moment for the character if she were torn between saving herself or helping the thief!

lin fusan was right, that the game hinges on the players' intentions. What kind of conflicts do they want to get in to? You'll know this by looking at their Beliefs, Instincts, and Goals. I still found it was hard to work it all in during the sessions, but I generally knew what kind of scenes would catch my players interest... all because they told me without realizing it via their beliefs!

 

[1auxy]

Wow, sorry for the hack job that was my last post!

I haven't had a lot of free time lately, but am about halfway through the rulebook. I can't wait to run this game. I have a feeling we are going to have a blast playing as I find myself smiling while reading the rules.

Being longtime D&D players, my group and I are going to have adjust to GM's Turn / Players Turn and also roleplaying choices that may also hinder the outcome of encounters. I really am liking the Checks system from what I have read though.

Right now we meet every other week to play our Rise of the Runelords Campaign. Our next session is this Monday, so I'm gonna take the book to the game and hopefully can get a MG game going on our next Monday off of D&D.

Have read play reviews and and listened to the podcast which are useful in clarifying play. Wondering though if any of you players/gm's have any other useful advice,flowcharts,hints,things not to do for a first time MG GM?

 

[temporalhiccup]

Teams in Conflict?

First off, I'm really enjoying this thread and I LOVE hearing about everyone's gaming stories. It's getting me psyched to run my own game!

I'm planning to run Mouse Guard at a pen and paper RPG event. The thing is I've only had experience running D&D 4E. I really love what the Mouse Guard system sounds like, but I still have to run it before I get the hang of it.

What I really can't wrap my head around is teams in conflict.

I'm planning to run for 5 people (or mice!). I'll be using the Grasslake mission and characters for that mission. (Plus Baron from "Delivering the mail", since I don't have to change his beliefs and goals.)

That means during a conflict, I'll have two teams. One made up of 3 guard mice, and the other made up of 2.

How will I reconcile their actions against the animal's action? (They'll be going against a Snapping Turtle. Gojira! They may fight against it, but they have the option to try something scientific or even rally the town of Grasslake against the turtle.)

I'm a little confused about when the two teams will help out each other and when they'll take individual tests. And if one team helps out another, is that only ONE extra helping die instead of each member of the helping team giving a die?

Would appreciate any clarification. I'm hoping to run a test game tonight before running it for strangers at the event. Thanks!

 

[lin_fusan]

temporalhiccup,

If I understand the rules correctly, in a two team vs. one team conflict, if both teams declare actions that require a different kind of roll, you resolve those actions separately.

For example, Team 1 flips up Attack. Team 2 flips up Defend. Team Enemy flips up Defend.

Attack against Defend is a Versus check.
Defend against Defend is an Independent check.

This means Team 1 rolls their dice and compares it to Team Enemy.
Team 2 rolls their dice and determines their own outcome separately from Team 1 and Team Enemy.
Neither side aids the other.

But if both actions end up the same, Versus or Independent, you have to aid the other.

For example, Team 1 flips up Defend. Team 2 flips up Maneuver. Team Enemy flips up Attack.

Defend against Attack is a Versus check.
Maneuver against Attack is a Versus check.
One side must aid the other.

The Versus and Independent checks are determined by a chart in the book or in the back of the character sheet.

And the Helping dice is one die per character, not per team. (I think.)

If you want more clarification, burningwheel.com has a forum with a lot of people asking these same questions. That's where I had to figure out most of the rules details.

I'd like to hear about how the session went!