A bunch of questions concerning skills

I have been reading through the rule book again. I have come up against a bunch a questions concerning skills and would like to know if anyone can give me a hand.

  1. If multiple mice in a team are wearing armor, do they all add the extra dice (or successes in the case of heavy armor) to the disposition roll?

  2. If a character is reduced to a maximum nature rating of 0 the rule book states (pg 233) “At the end of this mission, your character must retire until at least next spring. You may play another character until then”. But it never says what happens in the spring. Does your nature go back up to 1, or does it stay at 0?

  3. Likewise, the book says “If your nature advances to 7 and remains at that rating at the end of your current session, the character becomes too mouselike . . . To represent this, one of his traits is changed to something like Settled.” Does this happen every session the character’s nature remains at 7? Sounds like you would desperately start spending persona points to tap nature.

  4. Haggler is a cool skill. But how do you use it. If it is the GM’s Turn and the GM calls for a Resources test can the player ask to make a Haggler test first? In the Players’ Turn, if the player wants to use a check to make a Resources test to buy something, does it player have to spend an extra check to make the Haggler test?

  5. Armorer. The text states (pg 243) “If the armorer fails, the GM may add one or two of the following conditions to the creation . . . Heavy: -1D to Health tests to resist fatigue . . . Combersome: -1D to Maneuver tests and -1D to any attempt at sneaking or hiding.” Now Heavy armor already has the Heavy and Cumbersome properties. Making heavy armor is an Ob 5 armorer check. If I succeed on the test does the armor automatically come with the Heavy and Cumbersome properties. Or do I have to fail the test to get them. Basically can I make heavy armor that does not have the Heavy and Cumbersome properties. Likewise can I make an axe that is not Clumsy (-1D to Defend or Faint)?

  6. Maces. In the extra rules that come with the boxset, maces are introduced as a weapon. They have the Armor Crushing property. Where would that fit into the Armorer paw-to-paw factors.

  7. Instructor. On page 248, under the instructor skill it states " or you may must have another guardmouse on hand with the skill. In the latter case, the two of you teach the student as a team." In the Players’ turn, if a mouse is using instructor to teach and (as said above) another mouse is helping because only the other mouse has the skill that is being taught, do both the instructor and the second mouse spend a check, or just the instructor?

7a) Instructor. The books says “If your Instructor test is successful, you may give your student a passed or failed test for advancement. It’s your choice. You may also use the Instructor skill to grant your student a test towards a skill he’s learning.” What does the last sentence mean? Does it mean that you can give your student an X in a skill on which he is still using beginners luck, or something else?

  1. Loremouse. On page 222 it says “Other animals exist as animals do. The mice may communicate with them, but each animal speaks its own ‘foreign tongue.’ The closer to mousedom the animal is, the easier it is to understand that language.” But the factors for communicating with Loremouse go “Beasts of Feather, beasts of fur, scaly beasts, beasts of water” (pg 249). Should not beasts of fur and beasts of feather be reversed so it is easier to communicate with a hare then it is with a crow?

  2. Wises. On page 33 it says “Wises can be used in three ways . . . You can test to bring in a new fact about something in the game that’s relevant to your wise’s area.” I think this is awesome, but how do you use it. Is it a Player Turn only thing (costing a check) or can you use it during the GM’s Turn?

  3. Several of my questions have danced around this, but how much leeway do the players have in the GM’s turn. Are they only making the tests called for by the GM, or do they have some wiggle room, like using Haggler or testing Wises?

So that is a ton of stuff. I defiantly nit pick rules systems, as I feel that if I do not the player will do it too me in the middle of a game and I will then not have the answer ready. Thank you for any help you can give me.

These are great questions. I can answer a few of them; the others I have no idea. The answers I’m giving I’m 100% certain of.

  1. Just the Instructor. Only one player is actually rolling.
    7a) Yes, an Instructor can give a test towards opening a new skill.

9&10) The book states that the GM lays out what the obstacle is that is impeding the team’s mission progress, and proposes one possible skill to use to overcome it, but if the players can come up with a plausible, alternate means of addressing the issue, that is acceptable. So, you could use a Wise in the GM’s Turn if it was appropriate to the situation thrown out by the GM.

It doesn’t exactly say, but the mice are all taking some serious penalties for wearing the armor, so I’d give the team the benefits.

  1. If a character is reduced to a maximum nature rating of 0 the rule book states (pg 233) “At the end of this mission, your character must retire until at least next spring. You may play another character until then”. But it never says what happens in the spring. Does your nature go back up to 1, or does it stay at 0?

It looks like it stays at 0 until you test it.

  1. Likewise, the book says “If your nature advances to 7 and remains at that rating at the end of your current session, the character becomes too mouselike . . . To represent this, one of his traits is changed to something like Settled.” Does this happen every session the character’s nature remains at 7? Sounds like you would desperately start spending persona points to tap nature.

I hadn’t thought about that, but yeah. I’d be tapping nature like mad.

  1. Haggler is a cool skill. But how do you use it. If it is the GM’s Turn and the GM calls for a Resources test can the player ask to make a Haggler test first? In the Players’ Turn, if the player wants to use a check to make a Resources test to buy something, does it player have to spend an extra check to make the Haggler test?

I had a couple of mice stranded in Shaleburrow during a flood. I called for haggle to negotiate passage with the bandits that were building ships down by some makeshift docks.

Basically can I make heavy armor that does not have the Heavy and Cumbersome properties. Likewise can I make an axe that is not Clumsy (-1D to Defend or Faint)?

if it already had heavy and clumsy, I’d add slow or cumbersome.

  1. Maces. In the extra rules that come with the boxset, maces are introduced as a weapon. They have the Armor Crushing property. Where would that fit into the Armorer paw-to-paw factors.

Good question.

  1. Loremouse. On page 222 it says “Other animals exist as animals do. The mice may communicate with them, but each animal speaks its own ‘foreign tongue.’ The closer to mousedom the animal is, the easier it is to understand that language.” But the factors for communicating with Loremouse go “Beasts of Feather, beasts of fur, scaly beasts, beasts of water” (pg 249). Should not beasts of fur and beasts of feather be reversed so it is easier to communicate with a hare then it is with a crow?
    Seems reasonable.
  1. Wises. On page 33 it says “Wises can be used in three ways . . . You can test to bring in a new fact about something in the game that’s relevant to your wise’s area.” I think this is awesome, but how do you use it. Is it a Player Turn only thing (costing a check) or can you use it during the GM’s Turn?
    If someone wanted to use their wise in the GM’s turn, I’d allow it if the fact made sense.
  1. Several of my questions have danced around this, but how much leeway do the players have in the GM’s turn. Are they only making the tests called for by the GM, or do they have some wiggle room, like using Haggler or testing Wises?
    That’s essentially up to the GM. The text gives the GM almost absolute authority over tests during the GM’s turn. So, the mice can’t decide they’re going to go shopping or try to domesticate a cricket, or whatever. They have to address the obstacles the GM has thrown at them. That said, if you set up an obstacle like crossing a stream and one of the mice asks if they can test boatcrafter to create a raft, I’d be ready to make it a complex hazard with the raft as an appropriate tool. More Twists and Conditions!
  1. No, just one armor bonus.

Thank you. Is it just the mouse making the disposition roll, or any member of the team?

Any thoughts as to the other questions?

The mouse rolling for dispo.

James and Matt addressed your other questions.

Thanks, sorry, I sort of messed that up, mostly I was wondering about where you would place the mace’s Armor Crushing property in the Armorer paw-to-paw factors.

By the way Luke (just to say it): thank you for the game. Mouse Guard is one of the most awesome rpgs I have ever played. So thanks.

Depending on how you look at it, it actually makes sense that beasts of feather are easier to communicate with. Not because of anything to do with mice so much as because birds have a sort of traditional association with communication. (Think parrots, wise owls, ravens saying “Nevermore” and so forth.)