I'd like some advice with my fourth session: Difficult planning ahead

Mouse Guard Missions
1

Hellow, gentlemice.

I’ve been directing a Mouse Guard game for three sessions until this time, but for the fourth I’m having less ideas than I should.

The mission for my guards was double: First, scort a merchant caravan to Sprucetuck, and from there, travel to Fastwind, a small village which is having a hard time with an Hawk that doesn’t seem able to migrate (This is late Autumn). THe players half succesfully guided the caravan to Sprucetuck and spent their first Player turn, ending the first session. After that, the second session consisted in reaching Fastwind, getting info and locate and harming or scaring the Hawk. They did it frankly well (The conflict was difficult enough to make the patrol leader, a scarred but protective veteran, wounded, and the rest pretty much f***).

At the end, they found that the left wing of the Hawk was, indeed, immovilized by a weasel arrow, impeding him to travel and reducing his hunting area, putting too much pressure on the Fastwind population. They spent their Player turn recovering and finishing some of their objectives. After it, I described how they woke up with the smell of smoke. That was the end of the second session.

The third session went complicated, tho. Fastwind was in fire, attacked by a commando of three weasels (The Big Bad Wolfs of the campaign), which tried to kill the village leader (An one hundred twenty four years old mouse called “The Old One”) and causing a massacre. They helped the inhabitants of the city to stop the fire and save some people, resulting injured one of them in the process. After that, they managed to discover how the weasels gained entrance to the village (Which is underground), realizing that one of the victims of the hawk was in fact kidnapped by the weasels, who extorted the brother of the victim to open the hare’s gate of the city with false promises.

After that, they went in a crazy vengeance chase against the weasels, finishing all of this in a series of conflicts between one and the anothers, having the players a really bad luck. At the end, the thing were like this:

One of the players, guardmouse and healer, kidnapped by the weasel scout.
The Patrol Leader was apparently killed and thrown by a cliff by the weasel leader, Blackmane, in the eyes of the third player, a veteran scout.
The last player, the tenderpaw, fighted to death with Sorepaw, the armoured weasel, cutting his hand off and resulting injured in the process.

So this is it. Now I have two players, injured, talking about chasing the weasels in the tunnels they fled to, one more player, kidnapped (And going to be tortured) and a last player whose character is supposed to be death.

And that’s all xD. Sorry for the wall of text.
The question is: “What the f*** do I do?”
I’ve thought of some kind of flashback after the returning of the patrol leader to roleplay his encountering of and old underground mausoleum of the King Under The Mountain (A legendary king of the legends) from where he could acces to the darkheather and help to rescue his colleages.

I really want to finish the first “adventure” in this session, so probably I’ll give some oportunities to kill one of the weasels (Not blackmane, he has become in the mind of the players some sort of Super Némesis, so better to let him live). The point is that I want the world to think that the patrol leader is dead, so I’ve thought of some messenger finding the two “survivors” to tell them of the Midnights rebellion, so they could tell him of the patrol leader death, information that would spread through the territories providing some interesting histories later.

Anyway, I’m not very sure of how to manage the tests and obstacles of the next session.

What do u think?

Thank you very much, and sorry for my english, it’s not as good as it should be :3

2

Well, do what you usually do in MG: find out what the players want and build on that for your next GM’s turn. The players of the injured mice apparently want to storm the weasel tunnels. I assume the player of the captured mouse would probably like to flee or somehow trick his captors (ask him). And the other player … don’t know, ask him. I usually ask my players at the end of the session what they’re most interested in doing next, but you can do this at the beginning of your next session. Planning a GM’s turn in MG should not take more than five minutes, anyway.

[Edit: I’m not proposing to turn the GM’s turn into a thinly veiled players’ turn. You have the last session to go on, and your players’ beliefs, instincts and goals should be enough to prepare a good GM’s turn and get things up to speed again in the next session. You can hit them with a mission and then have them write their goals; just make sure your players are on board. If the missing mouse’s player rather would like to stay dead for a while or play a new character instead, it would be nice to know in advance.]

Then think about how you’re going to structure your turn – the subsection “Extrended Missions and Short Turns” (p. 72) encourages you to experiment and adapt the GM’s turn to your needs. Do that. You could focus on each of your three groups for just one or two tests. Or perhaps do one conflict for the two guys, and one or two tests each for the other. You can use your turn to get the group together in one place, and then, just before they reunite, switch to the players’ turn. Now it’s up to your players what happens next.

So. Scout and/or Pathfinder for the injured mice to track the weasels to their tunnel – wilderness obstacle. Figher, Persuader or Deceiver for the captured mouse to break free, perhaps a Health test – animals obstacle (weasels); for the missing mouse – not sure, depends on the circumstances and the player. Do what you think will be interesting for him. If he tumbled down the cliff and lost consciousness, he might come to underground, having fallen into your old mausoleum, or into some old tunnels or whatever. Figure something out. Mice or weather obstacle perhaps? You’ll probably want to grant them success with conditions instead of more twists.

This said, trying to tell stories with MG does not tend to work well. The game works against the GM who tries to do this. Why do you want the world to think the patrol leader is missing? You’re making things difficult for yourself. Bring him back into play and let his player drive the action. Don’t think in terms of giving players “some oportunities to kill one of the weasels” – if they want to kill one of the weasels, have them spend checks to scout him and let them start a kill conflict. Don’t think about the story. Story is when you look back at what happened after the game.

3

[Note: I deleted and rewrote this entire post since I was not happy with the earlier version.]

Well, do what you usually do in MG: find out what the players want and build on that for your next GM’s turn. You have the last session to go on, and your players’ beliefs, instincts and goals should be enough to prepare a good GM’s turn and get things up to speed again in the next session. (I like to ask my players at the end of the session what they’re most interested in and what they would like to tackle next, and then mull on that a bit before choosing obstacles and twists, or hitting them with an entirely new mission.)

So. In MG, the GM gets to decide what happens in his turn. Use that. The players of the injured mice apparently want to storm the weasel tunnels. I assume the player of the captured mouse would probably like to flee his captors. And the other player … well, bring him back into the game. You will want to get all three groups together again, I assume.

Think about how you’re going to structure your turn – the subsection “Extended Missions and Short Turns” (p. 72) encourages you to experiment and adapt the GM’s turn to your needs. Do that. You could focus on each of your three groups for just one or two tests. Or perhaps do one conflict for the captured mouse, and one or two tests each for the other. You can use your turn to get the group together in one place, and then, just before they reunite, switch to the players’ turn. Now it’s up to your players what happens next.

So. Scout vs Weasel Nature for the injured mice to track the weasels to their tunnel (that’s an animal obstacle), or Pathfinder if the destination is known (wilderness obstacle). Figher, Persuader or Deceiver for the captured mouse to break free, perhaps a Health test, or perhaps an entire chase conflict – that’s another animals obstacle (probably can’t be helped here – weasels do count as animals, right?). For the missing mouse – do what you think will be interesting. If he tumbled down the cliff and lost consciousness, he might come to underground, having fallen into your old mausoleum, or into some old tunnels or whatever. Figure something out. Mice or weather obstacle perhaps? Underground squatters, or the tunnel is flooding … Give him a problem and have him test. Success means he finds his way out of his current problem and into the weasel burrow, or he emerges close to the two other mice.

Since your problem seems to be getting the party together again, you’ll probably want to grant your players success with conditions instead of more twists. If not, feel free to come up with interesting twists.

This said, trying to tell stories with MG does not tend to work well. The game works against the GM who tries to do this. Why do you want the world to think the patrol leader is missing? You’re making things difficult for yourself. My advice would be: bring him back into play and let his player drive the action. Don’t think in terms of giving players “some oportunities to kill one of the weasels” – if they want to kill one of the weasels, have them spend checks to scout him and let them start a kill conflict. Don’t think about the story. The story develops all by itself as long as your players are fired up and make interesting things happen in game. Story is when you look back on what happened.

4

EisenhornPuritus,
I like what Bobo wrote, and I’m glad that I can add to it my own piece.

My first reaction to your description was, “Where are their Friends and Enemies? Where are their Parents and Mentors?” Oh, I also had another thought, but it is far less constructive, “Hares are above-ground dwellers; rabbits are below-ground dwellers. It would have been the Rabbit’s Gate, not the Hare’s Gate.” See, not really constructive; and yet, I mentioned it.

Moving on. All that comes from where the patrol and campaign have been. Now, I’ll talk about where they and you are going. I’m going to assume loads of consulting license, since you asked for ideas. Please, don’t read this as criticism of your style or intent.

Moving forward, you’ve put them through three sessions; sounds like they have not prepared to recover before chasing weasels into tunnels–a bad idea. It is an optimum time for them to take a Winter session (or other downtime session similar to Winter pattern) in order to attempt some recovery, grow as characters, review BIGs, think about Parents, Mentors, Friends, Enemies, and most importantly!! reconnect with mousehood through practicing skills, crafting, eating, resting, and other things of peaceful life. Hatred and revenge are human–not animal or mouse. If they focus too long on the hatred, vengeance, and justice for wrongs, I’d seriously drive the Obs upward and use skills they haven’t got in order to force them to risk Nature tax.

They need to back-off and look for the duties of the Guard, which is to the mice of the settlements more than toward the killing of weasels.

As for the captive mouse and lost Ptl Ldr. Did they place death on the line during the Conflict Goal? Did you form a Compromise that indicated the Ptl Ldr would be Left-for-Dead? If so, I’d place it on the shoulders of the player to describe the regathering with the other mice. It is his/her chance to take a narrative authority as to how that Compromise impacted the patrol. It is also a chance to recenter the campaign and let the weasels disappear from everyone’s target reticle until a future session when a Twist brings that confrontation back to the stage.

Like Bobo, I echo that MG as a system will work against a GM with preconceived story. In contrast, using MG to tell stories is awesome and works great, but requires the right touches (more on that later). I’d like to restate one of his questions and add some of my own, "What happens if the Guard learns of a missing Patrol Leader? Who becomes actively engaged?

"With a report of weasels tunneling under a settlement, how does this impact other missions and duties?

"How does a reputation of a Tenderpaw change after severing the hand of a weasel in battle? How fast will that news spread to other settlements? Who will plead for such a preternatural fighter to save their town? Who will pit themselves as a challenge to such a proud mouse as that?

“Now that the ‘survivors’ heard of Midnight’s Rebellion, shouldn’t they return to Lockhaven to see what expectations may arise and assure the Guard they are loyal?”

Those are only some of the questions you and players can be asking to determine how to next proceed. What makes the weasels so important that nothing else can take the stage?

5

On building lasting campaigns:
As I said, making a story in MG is excellent, but requires the right touches. A preconceived story probably won’t work well.

When building campaigns, I begin with Themes. These are overarching ideas in as short an expression as I can muster.

Such as:

  • Bravery
  • Trust
  • Love
  • Giving 110%
  • Rescuing those who cannot save themselves
  • Strengthening the feeble knees
  • Lifting the hearts which hang down
  • Rejoicing
  • Safety
  • Comfort
  • Betrayal
  • Risk
  • Sacrifice
  • Failure

I decide on a few that really fit the campaign story I’d like. In my current campaign; here are a few themes (but not all): Rescue, Recovery, Brotherhood/Sisterhood, Progress, Prosperity. These will inform my decisions about why an obstacle has occurred in the campaign world.

I also consider how the Matriarch is involved in those themes. In my current campaign, Gwendolyn has two standing orders (along with traditional duties as described in the text): Observe & Report; Search & Rescue. Those have a bit of content to describe why she posted those standing orders, but I’ll spare that here.

Next, I look for every possible way to tie Parents, Mentors, Friends, and Enemies to my themes. In one session, an Enemy was involved with weasels, but wanted to warn the Guard and get help; however, he was also very stubborn, secretive, angry, and had a desired exchange in mind. That was tied to the theme of Rescue and Brotherhood. The Enemy needed to be rescued from himself, from his occupation, from weasels. The Enemy wanted to join the Guard and find acceptance among them–to feel like family among them. So, when considering how to use that Enemy, a Mouse obstacle was fitting as well as an Animal (weasel) Twist.

In a recent session, a Friend was overwhelmed by duties leading a mounted militia in Rustleaf, and needed help from the Guard to maintain his contract; in addition, the town needed his protection. That was tied to Prosperity and Service. The Friend needed the contract to be fulfilled, since Grasslake had already been paid. He needed help from the Guard in order to hold up all his tasks. So, when considering how to use that Friend, an Animal obstacle or Twist was fitting as well as a Wilderness Twist or Weather Twist.

Last, I make sure the obstacles are attuned to the BIGs. The player who Believed, ‘Any predator can be taken down if we fight together,’ brought in the militia Friend and an Animal obstacle as well as a Wilderness Twist that included a fox sighting. Later still, his actions led to a militia member, who had been dismissive initially, turning toward Brotherhood after seeing his skill with hare riding and bravery in facing the fox alone.

My story is being written during each session and it is being filled with moments of action and drama that at times show Rescue, Brotherhood, Prosperity, Teamwork, Love, Comfort, Sacrifice, Risk, Fear, Worry, and other themes.

I certainly have some preconceived elements–for example, a pet NPC who began as a one-time cameo will probably show face again in Spring (starting soon). However, how I use NPCs is best left for another post. I’ll let you digest this and above before posting more.

6

Thank you very much for your answers!!

It’s seems to be easier to find the way than I was thinking. I come from directing a lot of The Trail of Cthulhu (Railroading, b***!!!), Dark Heresy (Sort Of) and The Gate of Ishtar (Sandbox), but Mouse Guard is a point between all of them and sometimes is quite difficult to left behind old habits.

In fact, friends, enemies and family have already appeared (Two of the players were from Sprucetuck, having two enemies there, and the others had also encounters in the way), I just didn’t wanted to write half a bible of which already happened. Three sessions of six hours each is quite enough for seeing anybody xD

I’ll take into account your ideas, and will let you know how it went!

I just don’t see a winter session right now. How could the two “survivors” go and left unprotected the village, knowing the three weasels are around?

I dunno, I suppose I’ll put some tests and options in my mind and will improvise a little bit depending on how the two survivors and the “dead” player decide to act.

7

When in doubt what to do next as a GM, just reread the “Mission” chapter, especially the “GM’s Turn” subsection (p. 66ff), and apply the instructions you find there. It’s all explained wonderfully clear. Trust the book, use the rules.