[Mouse Guard Actual Play] - The Two Patrols

[Shosuro Kando]

Having recently purchased a copy of Mouse Guard, and having moved to the Eureka CA area where I have no established gaming group, I decided to take a crack at running a Mouse Guard campaign via Skype.

Mouse Guard offered several advantages for the sort of game that I envisioned. First, though I have never exactly been a fan of the Burning Wheel system, I have always found many of the ideas contained within it to be interesting. Mouse Guard offered me an opportunity to try out a stripped down version of Burning Wheel without some of the complications that I found so frustrating in previous incarnations. Second, I became very enamored with the fact that Mouse Guard has specific rules for dealing with players who must miss sessions of the game. This was particularly appealing to me after the utter failure of my first Skype-based game, Full Light, Full Steam, which died in large part due to player absence.

Third, I thought that mice with swords were cool, and suspected that some of my friends would think mice with swords were cool too.

I put out a call to my friends, figuring that between scheduling, lack of time, lack of interest, and just plain random chance I could probably get a patrol of 4-5 together. Imagine my surprise when I was able to put together not one, but two patrols! Rather than weeding players out, I decided that the best thing to do would just be to run two games that allowed for the possibility of occasional crossover.

The goal for the campaign is to run an entire campaign year of Mouse Guard - from Spring through Winter. I made a brief estimate that this would be something in the realm of 14 session, not counting character creation. The plan from the beginning was to produce an Actual Play thread about the game, and after the campaign finished to write an actual play review.

My wife, Mechante Anemone, is an excellent note-taker, and agreed to take notes for the campaign. I will tip my virtual hat to her now, and will try to remember to attribute her notes whenever they are posted.

[Shosuro Kando]

Here are the links for the character sheets of the Tuesday night patrol characters.

Patrol Leader Sayble
Patrol Guard Connor
Guardmouse Heather
Guardmouse Kole
Tenderpaw Brynn

[Shosuro Kando]

Here are the character sheets for the Thursday night patrol characters

Patrol Leader Thurston
Patrol Guard Tidus
Patrol Guard Jasper
Tenderpaw Thistle

[Mechante_Anemone]

In addition to the form-fillable character sheet available on the Burning Wheel wiki, I made a form-fillable worksheet to help me keep track of every step of character creation (I play Heather in Sayble's patrol, and Thistle in Thurston's.)

[Shosuro Kando]

Tuesday Patrol, Episode 1
(Notes by Mechante Anemone - italicised text by Shosuro Kando)


Spring, 1152

GM’S TURN #1
Gwendolyn sends the patrol to clear the trail to Wolfpointe. She also tells Sayble and Heather that in addition, the Lockhaven scientists have found a preserving technique that protects grain against the seed rust that chronically affects crops in Wolfpointe.

Connor directs the clearing of the path, [Pathfinder 3 + Path-wise 2, assisted by Hunter x2 and Weather-Watcher x2; he also tries to hire laborers in Lonespire (fails a Test 2 with Circles 3)], but there’s a laborer there whom he insults, Burt, who convinces people to refuse to help Connor. [It’s an Obs7 test, and Connor gets a 6.] Everyone is very hungry and thirsty.

(Burt becomes the first created NPC of the party, using the Enmity Clause)

They come to an area where a stream has burst out of its course and flooded the trail. [Obs3 to fix.] Kole uses his skill as a stone-mason [2], assisted by his companions [Weather-watcher, Cartographer, Boatcrafting, Instructor; gets 3 successes].

Once they get past the muddy spot left, they reach the remains of two mice that have horribly devoured — and an owl feather. Kole [Hunter 3, assisted by Hunter and Survivalist, rolls 4 6 3 6 2 4 = 3 successes] figures out that this is recent, perhaps a couple of hunters from Lonespire or Wolfpointe. They pick up the bodies, put them on a barge, and tow them toward Wolfpointe.

(For those who like visual aids for their Mouse Guard games - owl scat. Note the rodent bones).

Big discussion of how to handle this and make the trail safer by driving the owl away. Sayble comes up with a plan that involves finding a good ambush location [Obs 2, Connor, Scout 5-1 for an extra check + Open-ground-wise 1, succeeds w/2]; creating a scented decoy mud mouse poisoned with special herbs [Obs 3, found by Sayble, Healer 3 and Compassionate 1 -1 for extra check, assisted by Heather as Loremouse and Kole as Survivalist — 4 successes] to create a noose trap [Obs 5, crafted by Brynn, Hunter 4, Nature 4, Guard’s Honour, assisted by Kole as Hunter and Connor as survivalist for a total of 11 — 6 successes]. [If any step had failed, the mice would have been attacked singly.]

GM: The owl swoops down, gobbles the fake mouse, gets caught up in the noose, and is out in the open. Because of this I am not going to use the Owl's traits of Camouflage or Flying, nor am I going to give it the horrendous bonuses that it gets for its massive talons and beak. It will still get to use its Predator trait, giving it 8 dice. The owl's goal is to fly off with one of you and devour you.

(Later on in the campaign, I would run this as a conflict, but since we were still going over the basics this game I decided that a vs. test was appropriate)

It’s time to stand and fight! Kole takes point [with Fighter 6 + assisted by all the other mice (+4) + Nature 3 + Bold = 14 dice]. If he wins, the owl will be wounded and scarred and everyone will know of this for years that the Mouse Guard did this. [Owl rolls 1, 4, 6, 4, 4, 6, 4, 3 = 6 successes. Kole rolls 8 successes!] But he is injured in the process [compromise for just 2 successes margin].

They limp into Wolfpointe and are greeted by two guards who let them in but demand that weapons be left at the gate. They’re sent to see Thurston, the head mouse, who directs them gruffly to the inn.

PLAYERS’ TURN #1
Kole recovers from hunger [rolls Resources 2 + help from Heather, Resources + help from Connor, Brewer = 4 dice, 2 successes.]

Heather recovers from hunger [rolls Resources 5 + help from Kole, Resources = 6d, rolls 2].

Connor recovers from tired [rolls Health 4 + Sayble’s help as Healer = 6, rolls 3 successes.]

Sayble and Brynn recover from hunger too.

Connor gives Kole his second check for a Wound recovery [Obs 4, Health 5, Healer help from Sayble = 6d, rolls 4 successes].

Sayble is looking for a merchant to learn about Wolfpointe [rolls Circles 4 and the help of 3 fellow guards = 4 successes.] Theodore the trader is in town, they know each other; he trades between Port Sumac and Wolfpointe. He says that they trade for metal and the chemicals for the Scent Barrier, don’t like to get anything new or different. Says a few foragers have gone missing, it happens every year.

Overall I felt that the game went well. In the future I hope to run two sessions per evening, but this time we were running a little slowly because we were learning the rules, so we only managed one. I had anticipated running two sessions, and included that in the initial mission briefing, and this error meant that some people set goals that were not accomplished during the session. I'll try to improve on that in the future.

Although we did award points for this session, it didn't get recorded due to me dithering about whether or not to take a stab at a second session, and Mechante_anemone being tired. We'll try to be better about that in the future too.

[Shosuro Kando]

Thursday Night Patrol
(Notes by Mechante Anemone. Italicized material by Shosuro Kando)

Spring, 1152

GM’S TURN #1
Gwendolyn gives the patrol the mission to escort a caravan (a dozen wagons, headed by a merchant named Maren) to Sprucetuck, then head for the Scent Border to maintain it, with a beetle-powered wagon full of chemicals.

My initial plan called for the party to haul a bunch of barrels full of scent marker to Sprucetuck. This was not really the best plan, as Sprucetuck is likely capable of manufacturing its own chemicals, being the science capitol of the Territories! If I had it to do over again I would have the barrels contain some chemical components of the scent barrier that the folks at Sprucetuck needed. Easy change to what is essentially the same scenario.

Maren is a middle-age ladymouse and experienced caravan leader; she is very glad for the escort. She is a little concerned that the guards’ wagon will make it 13 in the caravan and that there is no intent to stop in Elmoss, since her people were hoping to have some time there, but agrees to make good time for Sprucetuck and spend more time there.

It’s raining and cold when they start moving. Each wagon is driven by a beetle wrangler (except the guards’); the crew looks varied, but generally competent and responsible. Thistle is stuck driving the wagon; can’t convince anyone to let her hook her wagon to theirs.

It’s rough going, Jasper is tired [Health Obs2], everyone else is fine (This was due to the rain). They’re behind schedule by the time they reach Elmoss, and the caravan folks want to stop for a few days; some arguing back-and-forth. Thistle jumps up on top of the wagon [Oratory Obs4, aided by Fiery, Thurston and Jasper’s Circles and Weather-Wise, rolls 6, 1, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6].

Ford a stream, big wave of water coming, Thistle needs to steer the beetles and wagon out of the way. [Insectrist Obs2, uses Beginners Luck & taps Nature: Nature 6, Bold, aided by Thurston’s Leader = 4 dice, plus a Persona die, rolls 2, 2, 2, 2, 6; spends a Fate point, rolls a 5 — success!]

(Note that I believe that I made an error here, and in some other places. Leader, being a trait, can't be used as a Helping die)

The wagoneer who didn’t want to help Thistle earlier gets stuck in the middle of the stream, and panics. Thurston sends Jasper with a rope to rescue the wagoneer [Nature Obs3 to climb, Jasper rolls Nature 4, aided by Thurston’ Leader, aided by Titus and Thistle’s Survivalist, rolls 4 successes]. Next, Thistle pulls the wagon out [Labourer Obs 3 test to haul the wagon out, Labourer 2 aided by Thurston’s Leader, Titus’ Carpenter, Jasper’s , Generous; rolls 5, 2, 2, 3, 2, 1]. Everyone is very tired, and Thistle is sick by the time they are across.

And the trail still needs to be repaired! Titus tackles the work, assisted by Thurston and Jasper. [Pathfinder Obs4; Titus uses Pathfinder 3, aided by Thurston’s Pathfinder and Jasper’s Weather-wise, actually rolls 4 successes!] They make it to Sprucetuck, proud and happy — and tired.

PLAYERS’ TURN #1
In Sprucetuck, the mice rest [recover being tired — Jasper Health Obs4 pass, Thistle Health Obs 4 pass, Thurston Resources Obs2 fails, Titus Resources Obs2 fails], but Thurston is angry with then local for getting a bad room. [Thurston gets Condition: Angry; Titus Resources depleted by 1].

AWARDS
Fate awards:
Belief: Thistle, Thurston, Jasper
Strive for goal: Thistle
Play your instinct: None
Persona awards
Reach goal: Titus, Thurston, Jasper
Play against belief: none
MVP: Jasper
Workhorse: Thistle
Embodiment: Titus, Thurston

I made a couple of errors in this game, but nothing too horrible, and we'll correct it next time. As with the Tuesday night game I had hoped to get in two sessions, but we were a bit late to run the second one (first session took two hours, and we play for three). I think that as we master the rules a bit more we should be able to get two sessions in during an evening's play.

[Mechante_Anemone]

Ahem, my notes are definitely on the telegraphic side. We did one notable rules error in each game:

• On Tuesday (Sayble's patrol) people didn't realize they needed to spend a Persona point in order to tap their Nature.
• On Thursday (Thurston's patrol), as mentioned above we used Leader as a skill, not a trait.

I really love the groups; we have two great yet different leaders. I had more fun on Thursday because the plot involved lots of things my character Thistle could take point on, while I acted strictly as support on Tuesday, playing Heather. While the rest of the scenario clearly involves things for Heather to do, this system (and other BW variants) really requires, if every player is going to have fun and every character is going to be rewarded, that everyone lead a few actions and rolls.

Inasmuch as possible, everyone should also be able to at least strive for their goal so they can collect a Persona or Fate reward. For example, on Tuesday I could have worked on my goal in a second GM's turn, but we didn't have time to start one. That means that if you want to have something to do every game, you should front-load your goals so that they are at least put in play right in the first turn, just in case.

This in turn has the potential for some log-jamming early in an episode, which is time-consuming, making it even more likely that a group would run out of time for a second turn. In early phases of a series (any, not just ours), I suspect this is a point for everyone to watch out for. GMs and experienced players may want to gently nudge players less experienced with the system towards goals that will be satisfying and interesting this episode until everyone gets the hang of it.

[Shosuro Kando]

Originally Posted by Mechante_Anemone

While the rest of the scenario clearly involves things for Heather to do, this system (and other BW variants) really requires, if every player is going to have fun and every character is going to be rewarded, that everyone lead a few actions and rolls.

I suspect that this is the core reason for the rule in Mouse Guard that if your character is the first one to step forward with the plan, then your character is the one to take the lead on it, even if other characters are better equipped and more skilled. Is assures that, at the very least, your character can get in as lead on skill resolution every once in awhile.

I did not strongly emphasize this during our first session - I think that in general it is better if the play group works things out so that everyone can lend a hand, and that the GM in turn throw plotlines at the group that allow for different players to take the lead. But the rule is there and it has its place.

One of the things I find interesting about the two groups is the difference in where they put their skill points. For the Tuesday night group the characters all have different skills as their best skill. For the Thursday night group three of the four have "Fighter" as their best (or one of their best) skills.

[Mechante_Anemone]

Originally Posted by Shosuro Kando

One of the things I find interesting about the two groups is the difference in where they put their skill points. For the Tuesday night group the characters all have different skills as their best skill. For the Thursday night group three of the four have "Fighter" as their best (or one of their best) skills.

Yet I thought that, in the flow of play, the Thursday group (Thurston's patrol) fell even more naturally than the Tuesday group into a cooperative mode. Both groups are peaches there, so it's really a fine nuance; still, I suspect that neither group's player attitudes are that closely represented by the characters' skill sets.

[Shosuro Kando]

Originally Posted by Mechante_Anemone

Yet I thought that, in the flow of play, the Thursday group (Thurston's patrol) fell even more naturally than the Tuesday group into a cooperative mode. Both groups are peaches there, so it's really a fine nuance; still, I suspect that neither group's player attitudes are that closely represented by the characters' skill sets.

You mean that the Thursday night group is not composed almost entirely of homicidal maniacs? Well - I'm not certain I agree with you there.