I think our Instincts are weak

Just started a new Mouse Guard campaign - four players, three of which have Burning Wheel experience.

For the three characters, I feel like their Beliefs are good, but their Instincts might be to broad. I’m excited about this game, and I want it to go awesome. Any thoughts or suggestions welcome.

Grahame - the young, arrogant scout guardmouse

Belief: I am destined to rise to Lord Commander of the Guard and restore my family name.
Instinct: No slight goes unpunished.

Finn - the crafty, silver-tongued patrol leader

Belief: The future is more important than the present.
Instinct: Don’t fight an even match.

Desmond - the tough-guy weasel-fighter

Belief: Too many Guardmice are worried about reputation. Our job is to kick ass.
Instinct: Always trust your gut before your orders.

I like 'em.

Yeah? That’s good to hear.

Most of the BW characters we’ve burned over the last couple years have had much more “mechanical” instincts (“Always keep one last coin” or “Never forget a face or a name”).

I like the ones we came up with, but I want them to be useful.

Mouse Guard Instincts are, I think, less “useful” for the characters and more things the Game Master can challenge during play. As long as you see ways you can use them to complicate the characters’ lives, you’re good to go.

Yeah, be careful not to get your BW in your MG. Those are perfectly wonderful MG instincts, which are not macros or rule-breakers. Remember that the players will need to invoke them to be rewarded.

MG Instincts are not the same beasties as BW instincts… they are a subcase of a belief instead of an action macro.

Okay! Thanks, all. That is good feedback.

It will definitely be hard to not get my BW in my MG. Forewarned is forearmed.

The form as presented in MG is a subset of the BW Instinct. The key difference is playing the instinct at all gets you a Fate point in MG, while it explicitly needs to cause a complication to earn it in BW.