Help me push their buttons!

Mouse Guard It's What We Fight For
1

I’m GMing a game for three players. We had our first session today (character creation included). So now I know their Beliefs and Instincts, and I’m a little nervous that I won’t really know how to push against them well, but I really want to execute this part of the game well to make things hum. I’m going to list their Belief and Instincts, and solicit your help at how to push against them!

Player 1. B: Mice must work with nature, not against it.
I: Always lead and teach by action.

Player 2. B: Without the unnecesary, life is unnecesary (as in, “stopping and smelling the flowers is the purpose of surviving”)
I: Always examine new things.

Player 3. B: Before we act, we must understand.
I: Always defend the weak.

2

Some examples.

P1: Have his friend propose building a road between two towns and try to enlist the Guard. Have animals attack and raid foodstores of his hometown.

P2: This is a bad Belief. The player should rewrite it to say what he means rather than having a parenthetical explanation from the GM.

P3: Force quick action – a raid by weasels, a fire, a flash flood.

That’s my two bits,
-L

3

regarding P2’s Belief: Yeah. When he said that I was like, “What? What do you mean?” I need to gather my cojones and tell him he should write what he means rather than try to be poetic.

Thanks for the help.

4

P2 B: Leave the mission incompleted at the start of the player turn and keyed to some ability he has better than the others… and see if he spends his precious checks to finish it, or leaves it to the others to do…
(I got it withut the parenthetical… so it’s not as bad as it could be. But it lacks a clear Becuase I believe ___, I do ___ mode)

5

I must be the odd one out here, but when I read you’re player’s “Without the unnecessary, life is unnecessary.” belief I thought it was an awesome quote. I honestly thought he was a genius, no explanation needed. Maybe I’m just crazy or our minds think alike or something. I would test it by leaving some urgent loose ends at the end of the gm turn and also leaving some random, non-important, new, interesting item or story line. See which one he follows. If he goes after the unnecessary, new or interesting thing, he is following his belief and instinct. If he tends to the urgent tasks, he’s neglecting his belief and instinct. I wouldn’t make him change anything, but that’s just me.

As for the other ones, I think the others left you with enough ideas to make up something interesting.

6

Player 3. B: Before we act, we must understand.
I: Always defend the weak.

This screams peasant revolt to me. Just like the Axe, there are mice that are unhappy with the status quo. When they’ve had enough, Bam. Mobs (of weak mice) in the street, with only the Guard to keep the town safe.