Hi,
me and my boyfriend bought MG last week and now we have decided to try it for the first time. I’m gonna be the GM and besides being our first try with Mouse Guard it will also be my first try as GM. (And my third rpg-game ever).
However, I’ve read through the rules and think I have a hang of most of it and I’ve come up with an idea for a mission that will be suitable for one player and I want your reflections on it.
The mission is supposed to start with Gwendolyn calling the RP to her and tell him she’s turned sick. At her side is a healer who says it kind of bad with her. She calls RP because he is a trustworthy mouse and she doesn’t want to concern the other guards or the citizens. The healer says that the only cure can be found from a water lily so he sends RP out to gather some.
As obstacles I’m thinking of frogs, mud, the lake or pond where they can be found. And maybe RP has to seek help from other mice in Lockhaven if he doesn’t have a proper herb-gathering skill.
What do you think about it?
And another question, do smaller animals like frogs, squirrels and so on tend to fight with the mice? Or what happens when they run into each other?
I’m thankful for any advices to make the adventure and me as GM better.
It sounds like a cool plan, with the advice Luke gave to make it specific to your boyfriend’s character.
I’m going to pull a Luke: What does the book say?
I.e., check their Natures and see what sorts of things they do. Squirrels might fight with mice if they get too close to their young (as all animals would), or they might try to take something the mice have.
A frog might not attack, but maybe its secretions are also needed for part of Gwendolyn’s remedy? That would be one helluva fun Animal hazard conflict.
Yes, of course I will go after his belief, instinct, goal and relations. I’m hoping to be able to have his enemy be the best harvest-instructor around, but not sure that will work obviously since we haven’t made his character yet.
Thanks for the advice about the frog secretion as well, that can be really cool! How will he solve that?
Depends. Loremouse, I would say. If he fails… then you inject a twist and the frog becomes angry and it’s a fight animal conflict. If he tries to be a bit more circumspect, I’d say chase conflict in terms of the skills used in the conflict.
I don’t have a conflict sheet in front of me, but I’d find one that has reasonable skill options for Attack, Defend, Maneuver and Feint. (reasonable in relation to the intent.)
Wow! I think this should be emphasized. I know the book talks about challenging other things aside from the Goal(s), but I think many people will “default” on just setting up a situation/mission and get tunnel-vision into just challenging the Goal(s).
The game is definitely more personally-interesting if you engage the other parts of that character sheet.
Having your player make their own character will definitely make the game more personal as well. But you may want to use a pre-gen for the first game. Just print out the various pre-gen character sheets (they’re somewhere in these forums) and have your player(s) pick from those (should be 12 in total). Obviously they’ll have to re-write the goal portion of the sheet to fit the situation; but the rest gives a good spread of “characterizations” to choose from.
I’m a big fan of hitting my players’ relationships. I send them on missions to settlements where their friends and family reside, and use their enemies for obstacles or twists.
We just made his character and without telling him too much about the mission he made a character who will fit very well for the mission. He will play a veteran Patrol Guard which will explain why Gwendolyn asks him for this task. His belief is something like (translated from swedish) “Don’t just talk about acting, do it”. His instinct is “Always use the fastest way to reach your goals”.
He has an enemy in the Inn-keeper Ingrid in Lockhaven since he’s got a huge debt to her.
His personality is veteran, tough and bitter. He doesn’t like hanging around in towns so he tries to go on missions in the forest and around as much as he can.
I think this can turn out really good although it’s my first try.
