Conditions during Player's Turn &

Mouse Guard Missions
1

So I’ve finally had the first opportunity to get my gaming group back to Mouse Guard, after we kicked the tires (so to speak) during 2 1/2 sessions last years. Since then, I’ve spent a lot of time reading in the forums trying to understand some mechanics that eluded me as the GM last year. One question that came up during the session this past weekend, do I apply conditions when Players fail a check during the Player’s Turn? Twists yes, but what about conditions? To do so seemed cruel and unusual given that they had already tested out of their conditions.

…

Otherwise, I just wanted to share that the session was largely composed of a Spring weather conflict as the patrol tries to get vital supplies to Gilpledge. The patrol is composed of an elderly, former guardmouse who has come out of retirement to help lead and band of hapless Tenderpaws on this mission of mercy. All teams (both player teams and my weather) were dropped to 0 disposition at the exact same time, meaning that everyone achieved their goals. Wording of goals proved vitally important:

[ul]
[li]My goal: “Prevent the caravan from arriving at Gilpledge with the supplies.”
[/li][li]Patrol Team #1’s goal: “Keep the caravan moving.”
[/li][li]Patrol Team #2’s goal: “Find a safe path to Gilpledge.”
[/li][/ul]
Note that neither of the player teams specifically mentioned the supplies, so melding the three goals together was relatively easy. The caravan (mice, beetles, and wagons/sleighs) arrived at Gilpledge relatively unscathed and did so in record time. However, they were forced to drop the supplies along the way. Everyone (including me) learned a valuable lesson about carefully writing goals. In the future, it could be the difference between life and death.

2

Don’t apply a twist or condition when testing for Recovery. If they fail to recover from their Injured condition, the failure is punishing enough.

Otherwise, yes. You may apply conditions in the Player’s Turn. I tend to favor conditions in the player’s turn, in fact, because twists tend to eat through their checks. But a good twist can be worth it.

3

What a great description!

The use of Conditions in the Player’s Turn can feel cruel; however, you just might not want to make a Twist on everything. If the group has plenty of checks to handle Twists, then it can smooth over that. In contrast, it should not become the default assumption. A GM ought to be prepared to throw Success with a Condition at the group. In fact, if they are not making attempts (and successes) to recover from Conditions, a GM can be forced to use a Twist.

The other side of that coin is that a GM can hand out successes with Conditions if the player has put effort into recovery. This means they can get more of what they really want in their check attempts. When players don’t get the results; but instead, get a Twist which prevents success and requires another check be spent, they can feel hamstrung by repeated delay.

4

Thanks, gentlemen. That helps a lot.