|
Brian Leet
United States
Montpelier
Vermont
-
Finally, finally got a chance to bring Mouse Guard to the table last night! This was prompted by getting the wonderful boxed set. Becky asks me "I thought you already had a Mouse Guard role playing game?", my only available answer was a goofy smile.
So, what follows is the highlights of our session, interspersed with rules questions and requests for GM and player advice.
We end up with her and Ben ready to play and I offer the four pre-gen characters and go quickly through whatever rules were on top of my head at the moment. I'm used to playing RPGs in a very "jump right in and start playing the character, I can help you with rules" sort of way. However, I quickly learned both that I'm not all that fluent in these rules, and since the game structure is more extensive in the big picture than something like D&D, something is lost if the players don't know how to save or collect points, checks, etc. for future actions.
Q: Is there a best way to teach this game? Assuming everyone in my group won't read the book, are there any good one page primers on the overall mission structure?
Sadie and Saxon set out to find a missing grain peddler. They stick with the pre-gen beliefs and instincts, but set new goals. Sadie says "In finding the peddler I will discover why he has been delayed.". Saxon, having been told by Gwendolyn of the possibility the peddler is a spy, sets "I will find hard evidence of the grain peddler's intentions."
I kick things right off with a brief narration of being on the road, and the need for a Scout vs. Nature check for finding the peddler before reaching Barkstone. I then go ahead and roll the Peddler's 6 nature, and get 6 successes!
Q: On a versus check I know that I roll first and show the result, but is that before the player chooses what additional traits and help to get?
Faced with the incredibly stealthy peddler, Sadie decides to immediately double down. At big risk to herself she taps her nature to add to her scouting. She also comes up with the clever idea of tracking not only the peddler, but also looking for indications of the sorts of insects that would eat the grain (tapping her trait Clever for an extra die), Saxon contributes with some shortcuts using Pathfinder to give her an extra die.She rolls nine dice and gets 5 successes. So, she taps fate and re-rolls the two axes and gets on more axe. She gets to re-roll that and the result is another success! Her nature is taxed by one, but she succeeded and they find the peddler hidden by the roadside, camped for the night a mere hour from Barkstone.
They start a conversation and it quickly becomes apparent the peddler wants them to just see that he is safe and leave, while they want to come up with a good reason to stick around and keep an eye on him.
Q: Saxon didn't draw his sword here, and I didn't prompt him. Should I have?
As the conversation was starting to become a negotiation I declared a negotiation conflict. The peddler was trying to convince the guard that it would be best if they traveled on ahead and reassured everyone he was okay. The guard was trying to convince him that they should stay the night and keep close eye on him due to the danger around. The conflict played out fairly well, although the narrow band of skills prescribed for each action type was limiting for the guard, requiring some beginner's luck rolls for Sadie.
Q: I could just have easily called this an "argument" which would have brought in different skills. I liked the structure to the conflict, is it too forgiving to have a broader range of skills on each action?
Ogel the peddler won the conflict with a mere 1 disposition left. Not sure what had just happened, the two Guards left him, each carrying a large juicy grain of rice for dinner, and proceeded to Barkstone to announce his coming. As a major concession he promised to report to them as soon as he arrived in town. I had originally thought that if he won, I'd have him eaten by an animal that night. But, given the concession the players wanted just went with it.
Q: This is the moment where I should have taken the reigns more firmly I think. I wasn't sure what twist to introduce and kind of let the players roll forward. Any suggestions about a good twist here that could have challenged one of their beliefs?
After meeting Ogel in town, they learned that he was planning to return to Rootwallow. Saxon then decided to try to find an alternate path to get ahead of him along the trail and see what he was up to. With Sadie's help he took his roll, and failed. The two mice rushed through the dense thickets to get ahead of the peddler, but Saxon arrived Tired. I forgot to give Sadie a condition for helping on a failed roll, she probably should have been hungry. I then realized that having given them conditions, they succeed on their action, which should be bringing the GM turn to an end.
I narrated that from their own hiding place they saw a new mouse emerge from hiding near a branch in the trail, the peddler give him a piece of paper with only a few words exchanged, and then both heading quickly down different paths. I then turned it over for the players turn. Neither player had gained extra checks, so they would each get one. Saxon was Tired.
Q: Any advice on what the players could have done to get checks earlier? Any prompts I could have given as GM?
After some discussion Sadie decides she wants to follow the new mouse, and Saxon agrees to go along. Since she is using her check simply to find out where he is going I set a relatively lower Ob 2 for Scouting. Still tough for Sadie, but she makes it, with some assistance from Saxon. They follow the mouse almost all the way to Copperwood unseen. When they are coming close to the city the mouse suddenly turns of the road and scampers up to a carefully hidden hidey-hole.
Suspicious, Saxon fairly quickly decides that now is the time to draw his sword and uses his check to approach the hidey-hole and demand that those within come out with paws up, throw down their weapons, and explain themselves to the Guard. The response is that the mouse they have been following comes charging out, axe in hand!
This time we have a fight conflict with the goals: "Safely escape from the Mouse Guard." and "Take this mouse alive for questioning." The conflict goes pretty well, but does bring up a couple of questions.
Q: It seems like team mates can assist on nearly every action each other takes on the team. Coming up with narratives as to how the second mouse helps trip, block or otherwise interferes to help is not hard. Is this what is intended, so that a team of three will likely have additional +2D to most actions?
Q: Also, I assumed that the Mouse "Muscle" that they were fighting could tag his own traits for a +1 D to actions. Is this correct? The Mouse had a level 2 "Bigpaws" trait. Should I have added +1 D to every attack with the axe (I didn't)? Could this stack with his using "Tall" against Saxon's "Short" to get an extra +1 D on an attack?
The outcome of the combat was that the ruffian got away with a solitary disposition remaining. This extracted a major concession which we agreed to be that Saxon grabbed away the piece of paper they had previously seen as the Mouse ran up the hillside away from them. They opened the paper and it was clearly a call to gather a group of traitorous mice, identifying a time and place.
Rewards:
Saxon got a Fate point for acting on his belief at the end of the Player's Turn.
Sadie got a Fate point for working toward her goal, but not achieving it.
No one got a Fate point for playing their instinct.
Saxon got a Persona point for accomplishing his goal, at the end of the Player's Turn.
No on got a Persona point for playing against a Belief. (I think this was an opportunity for Saxon when initially confronting the peddler, but he didn't understand the game rules enough to take advantage or make it a real part of the story.)
Sadie got a Persona point for MVP for that initial scouting roll success of 7 to get past a 6 Nature from the peddler.
We all agreed no one got the Workhorse or Embodiment rewards, partly because of the learning game.
The total session was just about two hours from when we sat down at the table to the end.
We had fun, but I'm not sure whether it is Becky's sort of thing.
Q: I think we got the big strokes down, but still a lot to keep track of. The players actually liked the Conflicts best because they had references and a firmer grasp on their options. So, any suggestions about how to make the rest of the game, particularly using the BITs more clear and full of opportunities?
-
William Hostman
United States
Eagle River
Alaska
Gaming in Greater Anchorage area, Alaska since 1978. Looking for Indy-willing RPG players in Eagle River (or willing to drive to Eagle River). Geekmail me if interested.
Yes, this really is what I looked like when I uploaded that avatar. Not that it's quite current anymore.
-
Q: Is there a best way to teach this game? Assuming everyone in my group won't read the book, are there any good one page primers on the overall mission structure?
A: No, not really... there are several, based upon players.
Q: On a versus check I know that I roll first and show the result, but is that before the player chooses what additional traits and help to get?
Sequence for vs checks:
1) A declares intent and task
2) B declares counter intent and task
3) help, wises, persona and traits for extra dice declared
4) Rolls made simultaneously
5) Results interpreted.
Q: Saxon didn't draw his sword here, and I didn't prompt him. Should I have?
No, but if he had, it would have been worth a point of rewards. If you felt he should have, you could have invoked his instinct then and there.
Q: I could just have easily called this an "argument" which would have brought in different skills. I liked the structure to the conflict, is it too forgiving to have a broader range of skills on each action?
No, it's not. You handled it on the fly by how they reacted. That's the beauty of MG's simple conflict system.
Q: Any advice on what the players could have done to get checks earlier? Any prompts I could have given as GM?
Always ask if they have a trait they want to use against themselves.
Also, any time a tie is present, ask them if they want the checks or the victory.
Q: It seems like team mates can assist on nearly every action each other takes on the team. Coming up with narratives as to how the second mouse helps trip, block or otherwise interferes to help is not hard. Is this what is intended, so that a team of three will likely have additional +2D to most actions?
Pretty much, yep.
Q: Also, I assumed that the Mouse "Muscle" that they were fighting could tag his own traits for a +1 D to actions. Is this correct? The Mouse had a level 2 "Bigpaws" trait. Should I have added +1 D to every attack with the axe (I didn't)? Could this stack with his using "Tall" against Saxon's "Short" to get an extra +1 D on an attack?
Yes, under exactly the same restrictions (L1 is once per session, etc) as a PC.
Q: I think we got the big strokes down, but still a lot to keep track of. The players actually liked the Conflicts best because they had references and a firmer grasp on their options. So, any suggestions about how to make the rest of the game, particularly using the BITs more clear and full of opportunities?
The crux of Good MG GMing is using BIGs wisely. If you can pull an encounter for one BIT per player, you're doing great. Leave traits for player use.
The biggest advice: never fall to pure mechanics. If they don't narrate it, they don't do it. No helping without narrative. No trait invocation without narrative.
Also, buy some decent poker chips (like the $10 sets at WM or Fred Meyers) for Checks, Fate and Persona. It really ups the player buy in.
-
Brian Leet
United States
Montpelier
Vermont
-
Thanks for the responses. Overall I think we did pretty well.
aramis wrote:
Sequence for vs checks:
1) A declares intent and task
2) B declares counter intent and task
3) help, wises, persona and traits for extra dice declared
4) Rolls made simultaneously
5) Results interpreted.
You indicate rolls made simultaneously, but page 88 indicates "If rolling against the GM, the GM always rolls first and shows the players his successes." This seems to contradict the sequence above, and more relevant if the player has choices to make. I suppose it could influence a Fate decision even if everything else is already declared. Still, I don't see this made explicit in the rules.
aramis wrote:
Q: Saxon didn't draw his sword here, and I didn't prompt him. Should I have?
No, but if he had, it would have been worth a point of rewards. If you felt he should have, you could have invoked his instinct then and there.
I would definitely have rewarded it. The notion of "invoking" the instinct seems very FATE rules to me. As I read the book, the point is to have the player make that tough choice. I was thinking that as GM I could have pointed out "This peddler is really being defensive and evasive. Something isn't right here. Do you want to draw your sword?" as a prompt. Taking control to declare that he did so seems to step beyond even the GM's turn prerogative unless I was using it as a consequence for a failed test.
aramis wrote:
The crux of Good MG GMing is using BIGs wisely. If you can pull an encounter for one BIG per player, you're doing great. Leave traits for player use.
The biggest advice: never fall to pure mechanics. If they don't narrate it, they don't do it. No helping without narrative. No trait invocation without narrative.
Also, buy some decent poker chips (like the $10 sets at WM or Fred Meyers) for Checks, Fate and Persona. It really ups the player buy in.
Sounds good. I have a great set of 'clay' chips, just need to grab them prior to the game.
Definitely coming up with compelling ways to tie into BIGs is where I'll need practice as a GM. I'm looking forward to it as it is so core to great interactive story telling.
-
William Hostman
United States
Eagle River
Alaska
Gaming in Greater Anchorage area, Alaska since 1978. Looking for Indy-willing RPG players in Eagle River (or willing to drive to Eagle River). Geekmail me if interested.
Yes, this really is what I looked like when I uploaded that avatar. Not that it's quite current anymore.
-
The GM rolling in a VS is different from player vs player rolling. I spaced on that. Yes, the GM does roll before the player, in the open. And if he's going to fate it, he does so before the players roll. (And not too many NPC's should have fate.)
-
Brian Leet
United States
Montpelier
Vermont
-
Thanks for the thoughts. I've attempted a sheet to help prompt players who are new to the game. I'd be interested in any feedback for that as well.
-
Ben Matchstick
Montpelier
Vermont
-
I did not draw my sword because Gwendolyn had advised me to stay my sword until I could get evidence that the peddler was a spy! But my paws were itching for it!
Thanks for the great game Brian. I think there is a lack of quick sheets to guide each step of the game. It is an interesting system that I think would grow on me, although the temptation to play a wizard mouse is strong...
-
|
|
|
Posted Sun Sep 25, 2011 4:34 pm
