This is an AP of the Realm Guard game I ran at ConCrete Cow this weekend.
This game was fully signed up for even before I could even finish filling in the sign up sheet.
Mouse Guard is a crunchy and tightly cohesive system. Previously I’ve tried to introduce each aspect of the system as it arises through play, but that leads to the first few obstacles taking bloody ages as you pause the action, demonstrate some rules, and then return to the action. This time, I chose to spend 15 minutes going through pretty much all of the rules upfront. 15 minutes is nothing really, and it allows players to start gaming the system from the get go. At least I hope it does. Not sure, maybe a happy medium might be better. Might cut the rules into down to 7-8 minutes, just the bare minimum, in future.
[Start of the GM’s Turn]
The players were cast as Rangers of Ithilien in the service of Lord Faramir, 25 years after the War of the Ring in the Fourth Age of Middle Earth.
[Mission] Tasked with ensuring the safe passage of a column of Gondor peasant farmers looking to settle the battle plain of Dagorlad, the Rangers faced down a small contingent of Riders of Rohan who were seeking to drive the Gondorian settlers from ground that King Eomer had claimed in the name of Rohan.
[Men Obstacle, Ob 4] The Rohirrim were convinced to leave the settlers alone by the impassioned speech of the Rangers. [Players succeeded using Orate.]
Sadly, a corrupt Elf - is there any other kind? - arrived soon after with new orders signed by King Ellessar - Aragorn - that directed the Rangers to move east and forcibly evict a Rohirrim settlement. The Rangers objected to doing the very thing that they had just stopped the Rohirrim from doing, stating that their leige was Faramir and not Ellessar.
[Elf Obstacle, Versus Test Ob 5] Angered by this intransigence, the Elf fingered a ring on his middle finger and ‘convinced’ the Rangers that the Rohirrim were filth that needed to be destroyed so that the folk of Gondor could flourish. [Players lost using Persuade, imposed Condition: Angry]
The ensorcelled Rangers agreed, and a surprise dawn attack on the Rohan settlement [Fight Conflict: Player’s Goal “Slaughter everything”; GM’s Goal “Repulse the Rangers”] spared not one man, woman, or child. Brutal! [Players won, major compromise, imposed Condition: Injured]
The sorcery of the Elf’s ring waned at this point, and the scales fell from the Rangers eyes and they sank to their knees howling with grief at the savage slaughter that they had visited upon these innocent people.
[End of the GM’s Turn]
[Start of the Player’s Turn] The players had 10 Checks between them.
[First Check] The Elf was duly dispatched by the enraged Rangers, his fey grace and wicked sorceries availing him naught.
[Second Check] After a heated argument about the best course of action, the Rangers decided to hunt down some Orcs and ‘blame’ the slaughter of the settlement on the unfortunate Orcs. (Their minds were already clouded by the ring that they cut from the hand of the Elf.) Knowing that Orcs were to be found around the surrounds of Cirith Ungol, the Rangers were surprised within some caves by a Giant Spider. [Versus Test, Spider won] Rangers were all trussed up in webbing for later devouring - the Spider was busy eating the Orcs that the Rangers had been tracking.
[Third Check] Rescue was effected by a most unlikely source. The moronic shadow of a Nazgul, driven underground after the Fall of Sauron and drawn to the Elf’s ring, tore the webbing apart in a frenzied attempt to devour the ring. [Versus Test, Player won]
[Fourth Check] Battered, broken and bruised, the Rangers returned to the scene of the slaughter, their horses laden with Orc heads, ‘retribution’ supposedly having been meted out. The site of the slaughter was teeming with another contigent of Dunedan Rangers from Gondor, loyal lackeys of Ellessar, and an Elf, both a trusted Friend of one of the Rangers and a close friend of the murdered Elf. [Versus Test, Persuader, Player lost]
The Dunedain Rangers and the Elf were not satisfied that the slaughter was the work of Orcs. In a surprise move, one of the Rangers had a sudden crisis of conscience [Played up to Belief] and decided to come clean, admitting to being responsible for the atrocity.
[Fifth, Sixth Seventh, Eighth Checks] Consigned to cells in Minas Tirith, awaiting trial for war crimes, the Rangers attempted to heal from being Injured/Angry. [Various tests, most successful]
[Ninth (and ultimately final) Check] One of the Rangers attempted to convince an old Elven friend to argue the Rangers case at the forthcoming trial, citing old oaths and previous character [Circles test, Player won]
[End of the Player’s Turn]
[Start of the GM’s Turn]
The trial of the Rangers of Ithilien! [Argument Conflict] The Rangers were judged guilty by their peers and sentenced to death. This was okay with most of the Rangers because the Goals were not related to their guilt or innocence - they had already confessed - but whether the king and the crowd would be manipulated by the Elven advocates into demanding that Gondor go to war with the “savage” Rohirrim who were “committing war crimes against Gondor blood”. [GM won, Gondor declares war on Rohan]
[End of the GM’s Turn (and the game)]
I had an okay game. Due to some gaffes on my part - not starting in media res, focusing waywayway too much on the rules at the expense of characterisation and pacing (doh! annoyed with myself) - I didn’t have a great game. Live and learn.
The players though were excellent, so thanks to y’all!