Hey, /tg/. Question for you.
I picked this up yesterday and showed it my usual play group today. They were way more hyped than I expected and jumped on the Mouse Guard way faster too. The rules in most places are adorable but the setting is surprisingly grim.
Has anyone GM'd/played this before? From what I'm reading so far it seems pretty cut and dry for most things. But how does it play?
Mouse Guard General
Shameful bump.
Sorry man. Looks like no one is down for guards and or mouses.
Played it once. PCs failed every single roll.
>>46322549
Ive read it and was thinking of reflavoring it for a seafaring campaign my group really wants to play, but then realized torchbearer is 'advanced mouse guard' so im going to use that.
I still really want to run mouseguard though, it does look like a charming setting and a nice ruleset that wouldnt be too hard fornormal human peersto get the hang of.
>>46322549
I've never played it, but I read it a long time ago when I was seriously studying game design I remember thinking it was brilliant.
It should play smooth and charming but occasionally harrowing. There's a risk that if the party's luck is bad enough it will seriously tax your creativity as a GM, and possibly become downright grueling.
>>46322549
Mouse Guard is less Redwall and more Watership Down at times. The setting itself is intentionally mean in an attempt to show the reasons that characters are out there and why they do things. While a PC might not get gobbled up by a snake with an unlucky roll, don't be surprised if it seems unnecessarily cruel just through an unlucky streak. The main point of the system is that characters get stronger by going through greater ordeals (although Mouse Guard doesn't highlight that as well as Burning Wheel/Torchbearer).
The system looks nice thanks to the allies and the -wise skills. Don't be afraid to present opportunities for players to use these. In fact, the main reason there are so many -wise skills in the game is because it intends for players to have their equipment destroyed, taken away, or just useless in the particular situation. Probably with some regularity.
>>46322549
It's in my top five favorite games to GM. You're right that it's both adorable and grim. Because I often prefer to do twists on failed rolls instead of consequences, my games tend to spiral off the rails fairly fast (in a good way). Trying to deliver the mail, and fuck up a roll to cross a river? Washed down stream. Try to find your way back to the road? Run into a trio of weasel spies infiltrating the Territories. And so on. Even milk runs can go deeply wrong. Though, if you want to just get to the next bit and not fuck around with that, just make everybody sick and laugh and laugh. Really my only complaint is that while combat is smooth and innovative, it's a little...weird that only one person rolls per maneuver. My players are used to all making attack rolls at once and stuff, and the system doesn't work that way. I also wish it was a bit better with multiple teams on the same side. But these are fundamentally minor nitpicks overall.
I played it. I really like the setting, but I just can't get into the mechanics.
I've run a few sessions. It was pretty fun.
Do not use it for a large group, though. I'm pretty sure the book tells you not to go above like 4 people. I ignored it once and it was possibly the worst session I've ever had.
The setting is great. If people balk at the idea of playing mice, show them the comics. Thecrab fightis a good way to get some people into it.
>>46322549
Mouse Guard takes a very considered and well measured approach to roleplaying. It's a Luke Crane game, and the simplest of the bunch. You will not find a better made game. It may not hit your spot, but it is free of conceptual flaws, blatant imbalances, and gimmicky features. This game was playtested to death, and by very well informed gamers. It is polished, and it works.
The genre is a gritty fable. The anthropomorphized rodents give players license to be epic in scope. This is not a furry thing at all.
The rules manage a lot, which means the GM doesn't have to play it by ear. But it also means everything is structured and paced by mechanics. You don't freeform like you do in DnD when you do anything that doesn't cause damage. Mouse Guard pays attention to party balance, character specialization, motivation and preconceptions, and social currents. It isn't a dungeoncrawler, although you could reduce it to one. But it offers just as much dynamic and detail when in town, at court, or struggling with the morality of your party/friends.
It is one of those games you just have to know because otherwise you don't know what you're talking about. You don't have to love it, but many people do. It is very relevant to the history of gaming, for example without Luke Crane there would be no aspects in Fate. And Mouse Guard does all this while remaining thoroughly gamist in nature.
Check out the comics it was based on, they're a great introduction and a better inspiration.
>>46323104
Mouse Guard
Torchbearer
Burning Wheel
>>46322822
Shouldn't you have posted a Cersei pic?
