Demo raised a few questions

Mouse Guard Getting Started with Mouse Guard
1

I ran an intro session for two of my players this past weekend and a few questions that aren’t directly addressed, so far as I can tell, were raised. Figured I’d ask all of you experts. :wink:

  1. The rules state that the GM shows his rolls to the players and that senior mouse guard show their rolls to lower ranks. When exactly does this happen? Can players wait and see how many successes an animal got before they decide to tap Persona or ask for help or even apply that +1D from a sword? Or must everyone lock into their # of dice before anyone starts rolling, or does it just not matter?

  2. Can mice help each other on ties? What I mean is Say Saxon is helping Kenzie roll his nature to run from a predator and in the conflict, it’s Attack vs Defend and they tie. When Kenzie goes to roll Health, can Saxon help break the tie because he’s rolling an ability, or is Kenzie on his own to break the predator’s tie?

  3. In conflicts, how do you resolve vendettas/duels with more than one Guard member? Or better yet, how does a fight scene work if an airborne animal picks a mouse up to initiate a fight conflict, leaving the others alone?

This example came up in that we had a chase conflict, and one mouse was picked up when the Shrike won the chase conflict without any compromise. It’s goal was to get Saxon before they got out of a thorn bush. This triggered a fight conflict, and I ruled that Kenzie was able to grab onto Saxon’s foot and/or rush up a branch to jump onto the bird all cinematically so that he would be in conflict, but is that how I should have handled it? Should I have had the bird fight Saxon one on one? Or should I have split Saxon/Kenzie into two teams, since they were separated and had them write conflict goals and take actions separately?

Any help/advice is appreciated. Thanks.

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Hello and welcome,

  1. It’s just as it says on page 88. If the GM is making a versus test against a player, he rolls first and shows his successes to the player. The player then gets to engage all appropriate and applicable mechanics to aid him.

  2. It’s up to the GM. Personally, I like to strip out help from tie breakers to ramp up the tension, but that’s just a preference of mine.

  3. The other mice shoot from the ground, run along branches, shout help etc. Be creative, it’s trivial to frame the scene to make sure that everything makes sense. It sounds like you did just fine. Personally, I would have had Saxon fight the bird one on one, since there was no compromise.

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Thanks for the responses, Luke.

  1. That’s what I thought and the way we ran it, but I just wanted to make sure. :smiley:

  2. Good to know it can be done either way. I’m a fan of the tension created because they’re all mice overcoming obstacles, so I think I’ll keep it as no help on tiebreakers.

  3. I think my issue was that since the Shrike had Saxon in the air, and the action economy demanded alternating actions for teams, I didn’t see how Kenzie would be able to effectively attack from the ground. But yes, it ran fine with the concession allowing him to be in the scene. If something similar arises again, I’ll go with my gut next time and make Saxon fight the good fight alone. The other players will be nice and supportive and get their lime-light in a future scene. :slight_smile: