My group just started playing and decided that we want to be up-to-date with resolving all doubts or issues that we meet during our adventure.
I checked this forum for answers (and that took me more than a while ;-), however I didn’t find any similar threads, so I’m going to put here our questions. We will be more than glad if you will help us with sorting things out
Firstly, do rules allow players to use traits against their characters when they build a pool of dice to roll on the disposition (and gain a check in that way)?
The second query is a bit more complicated - let’s say that we have a problem with “dynamic lighting” during the conflict Our team of 3 adventurers was ambushed by pack of big rats and only one of us carried a torch, so for the most of that conflict one character was always in a dim light. The case is that the whole conflict took us something about 5 actions, including a few maneuvers etc. The narrative situation was very fluid - rats tried to flank us, some of us charged when others covered their backs and so on…
So, who should decided which character should be lit and which stay in a dim? The torchbearer, the captain or maybe the leader?
Finally, how often (or maybe more precisely, when) players procedurally have a time to decide about being in a range of light or staying outside it? Should the decision be made once at the beginning of the conflict or maybe before every action?
We’ve never needed a set procedure for who decides. My instinct is the person that carries the light. But I could certainly see groups deciding the Conflict Captain should do it.
As for moving in and out of light, I leave it to the GM to decide. But here’s the guideline I use:A. The person carrying a light source always benefits from full light.
B. you can shuffle around others in the light as it makes sense between Turns. (In other words, if someone steps up to make a test and the person carrying the torch describes moving behind that person and holding the light aloft so the character can see, then logically they should benefit from the light.)
C. If a Twist forces a test (e.g., a trap goes off and everyone has to make a Health test to avoid its effects, there’s no shuffling around the light. Whoever was benefitting from the light at the time of the Twist gets to benefit for the new test (and vice versa for people in dim light or darkness.
D. Being confronted with monsters is “bad conditions.” If you don’t have a light, even a tinderbox won’t just let you light a new light source. You’ll have to test survivalist to light it, assuming the GM gives you the luxury of time to do it.
E. In a conflict, declare who is benefitting from light at the top of the round at the same time you declare weapons for the round. It sticks until the top of the next round.
F. If the person holding the light source gets knocked out of a conflict, they either take the light with them, or, if the GM is feeling particularly nice, drop the light. See Tossing the Torch and Setting Down the Lantern on page 61.
Thanks! Your answers clear almost every querie I had
Ad. 1) - A contrario, does the trait of level 1 can be use to add one die to the disposition roll?
Besides that I’m curious about one thing that may be useful for me in the future - there is the difference in using of 3rd level traits between the Mouseguard and the Torchbearer - could you tell me what was the reason of these changes? To be clear, I have no allegations against new rules - I just follow the way that your games have been evolving since I had started playing
Regarding the traits: we’re always tweaking for a better play experience. We moved the reroll to wises and tried something new with the traits. We like it better than simply adding more dice—which causes more swing in the probabilities, which means more erratic results.
We played our third session yesterday and (surprise!) I have a bunch of questions. I’m going to put here a few of them right now and I will add another in the next hours.
So, when characters fight against a group of creatures/enemies of the same type armed in the same weapons, how does the Disarm Effect work? Does it disarm the whole group of enemies or only the one enemy in that group?
Is it possible to fight against mixed team of enemies armed in different weapons (for example a spider supported by a bunch of kobolds)? If the answer is yes and they are in one team, how does the Disarm Effect work against their weapons?
Enemies take turns in conflicts just like players do. Whichever enemy is currently leading (i.e., you’re rolling dice for that enemy and other enemies are helping) is the one that gets disarmed.
In my games, for fairness’ sake, I like to disarm the NEXT creature who is about to act. That way the players are guaranteed to see a benefit from that action. Rather than just pointlessly grabbing a spear from a mook kobold who will never step up for another action in this fight.
Oh, holy crap. I realize we’ve been neutralizing whole classes of weapons at a time. So, if we disarm the ghouls’ claws, we do it for the whole bunch of them. Woops!
It’s the time for my previously announced question that I couldn’t put here yesterday…
So, according to the rulebook a group of five or more kobolds counts as Order of Might 2 rather than 1. What if their disposition is reduced during the conflict so badly, that there is less than 5 kobolds ready to act in their next actions? Do they loose that profit from the Swarm special ability, so their Might shall be reduced to 1?
If the answer on the above question is yes - do their Might is improved each and every time when they restore their Disposition and bring back more of their comrades on the battlefield?
I have following questions, I’m going to use an example to clear some stuff.
So, a character who wears armor fails a test against an enemy’s Attack and takes a hit which is so bad that his HP is reduced below 0. The Conflict Captain has to decide whose disposition will be reduced next.
Does armor worn by the testing character (who is incapacitated) reduce damage taken by the next character?
Does armor worn by the next character reduce damage taken by that character after incapacitation of the testing character?
Do effects from armor worn by these two characters stack?
The hit character would have to use his armor when hit, regardless of the amount of damage he took. That could have the effect of reducing the load on his friends. Sometimes you’ll see warriors scrambling to use armor and helmets to soak up a big hit so their friends can fight on.
Our team of 3 adventurers was ambushed by pack of big rats and only one of us carried a torch, so for the most of that conflict one character was always in a dim light. The case is that the whole conflict took us something about 5 actions, including a few maneuvers etc. The narrative situation was very fluid - rats tried to flank us, some of us charged when others covered their backs and so on…