First Time GM: What are the most important rules to memorize?

Hey guys,

I’m going to be GMing my first Mouse Guard game on Saturday and I’ve got my mission all set up. What I’m particularly nervous about is making sure I have all of the rules straight. I’ve GMed in the past, but with games whose rules are extremely easy (like Dread, which I highly recommend, and Fiasco). So my big question is what rules would you recommend I know by heart and which ones should be referenced? Basically I want to know how you all go about keeping all the rules straight.

Best, Em

I GM’d for the first time (in any game) the other day. I was also very nervous about getting it right. From the experience I think the main thing is to be confident with the conflict system. I wasn’t 100% confident with it and it did stall the flow of the game a little.

Obviously I have very little experience with the game but this was my initial impression.

We had a great time btw and I really enjoyed GMing the game. Hopefully you will too.

Thanks! I’m really excited because I’ve set up a small campaign based off of the grain peddler mission. My players will have to find the peddler between Elmoss and Sprucetuck and discover information regarding the Scent Border – stuff that should be classified. I’m hoping to eventually involve the Weasels who are trying to replicate the scent border to keep rats (who will be even more cruel than the weasels) out of the dark heather tunnels to the west. We’ll see how my group takes to the first mission, but I hope they like it!

I ran a slightly altered version of the Grain Peddler mission too. They came across a squirrel that wanted to steal their supplies. They found the grain cart in the squirrel’s burrow and the peddler sheltering from the rain under a bush.

Strangely enough I was also thinking of bring rats into the equation later in the campaign and having them act like barbaric weasels. I was thinking that they would encroach from the wild country rather than the darkheather though.

I was surprised that Rats aren’t mentioned in the rule book…though, I suppose most rat populations are associated with major human cities; if you introduce rats you almost would have to introduce humans. Then again this is a fantasy setting, so there aren’t really any set rules.

Best thing to do I think is familiarize yourself with the basic die-rolling mechanics and the session structure: the turns, obstacles and checks. Then make sure you keep everyone’s Beliefs and Goals in mind when you play and tailor the obstacles and turns to challenge those player priorities.

Worry about a conflict in your second session.
-L

Or if you have conflict in your 1st session, do not worry too much about tactics
Establish a pre-script (Attack/Maneuver/Attack) or something agressive similar - it will end the conflict in 1 or 2 volleys maximum and lead you to the aftermath.

And don’t plan ahead too much, you should be driven mostly by PCs actions, not the Big Picture Scenario

So my first session went really well! I was surprised how much I actually knew from having read the corebook from cover to cover twice. It also helped that I had a PDF version as well, so that my group could use the hardcover book while I looked things up on my laptop.

I did forgot one, minor, conflict rule – about allowing other members of a team to provide +1D to disposition. However, my friends were able to win the conflict with half their disposition so they all survived relatively unscathed in comparison to the poor snake they nearly killed.

I’m working on what the next mission should be so that the players can build off of the information they found during this past mission. I’m thinking that they should try to find someone who can interpret the information they found (it was too advanced for any of them to read, despite Scientist tests).

I have to do some more planning, my next session is in two weeks :slight_smile:

Thanks again for everyone’s advice.