Level 1 Gamer

The second part of Mouse Guard Impressions.  The first part can be read here.

One of the most difficult aspects of Mouse Guard is getting your head around the rules of the game.  It’s not that they are complicated.  It has more to do with how the foreign the concepts are to the way they are done in D&D and other similar D20 games.

Structure & Mechanics

The session structure is one of those interesting concepts.  Each session of Mouse Guard is broken up into the GM’s Turn and the Players Turn each taking up about half the session.  The term “turn” is misleading because it’s not a turn in the traditional sense.   The players aren’t twiddling their thumbs during the GM’s turn or vice versa.  It really has more to do with who has more control over the narrative.  The GM’s turn consists of the GM presenting obstacles to the players who attempt to overcome them by rolling tests (think checks in D&D) or participating in conflicts.  The players earn what are called “checks” (not like checks in D&D) during the GM’s turn.  During the Player’s turn, the players spend these “checks” to pursue their own objectives.  They could spend a check to attempt to get rid of negative condition, fashion or procure new equipment, or attempt to accomplish their goal.  From what I understand, the structure makes more sense in practice and flows more naturally than it sounds.  And it’s really just a formalization of what often happens in other RPGs.  In D&D, the party goes in and clears out the dungeon (kind of like the GM’s turn) and then returns to town to heal and spend their loot (kind of like the player’s turn).

The only die used in the game is a D6 and the game uses dice pools.  A dice pool works by rolling a number of dice and then adding up your successes.  In MG, a success is if you roll a 4 or above.  Obstacles have a difficulty rating that specifies the number of successes.  Your skills specify the number dice you roll.  So, for example you are confronted with the task to travel to a town.  It has a difficulty of 4 and your pathfinding skill is 5.  You roll 5 D6′s and if you roll a 4, 5, or 6 on 4 dice then you succeed.  There are also versus rolls where an NPC or PC will roll their skill against your skill instead of rolling against a fixed difficulty.  Pretty simple and elegant.  It’s definitely easy for a newcomer understand.  Easier than the varied dice, modifiers, and types of rolls in D&D that’s for sure.

Another cool mechanic is the character trait.  These are personality or physical traits like Fearless, Young, Tall, or Calm.  They can be used to enhance or more interestingly hinder a dice roll.  This is actually how you earn checks to use during the player’s turn by using a trait to hinder yourself.  It’s one of the many ways that the game emphasizes the flaws of the characters and de-emphasizes the importance of success.  It’s an interesting way to help you create a more rounded character to roleplay.

Conflicts

Conflicts are another concept hard to grasp.  Conflicts operate differently than other tests and operate much differently than conflicts in D&D.  The coolest thing about conflicts is that the rules apply to any type of conflict not just combat.   The rules apply to arguments, chases, journeys, or battles between armies.  The rules are abstracted in such a way that it doesn’t matter.

Conflicts play out like this.  Goals are chosen by each side which determines the result of the conflict.  The goals don’t have to (and often don’t) involve killing the other side even in combat.  Then, you determine your disposition which is essentially your hit points for the conflict (there are no traditional hit points in MG).  Then, each side chooses three actions in secret.  The actions to choose from are Attack, Defend, Maneuver, and Feint.  Each action is revealed in succession where they interact in different ways according to a chart.  Again, the actions are abstract, so an Attack in an argument conflict is a cutting remark or Defend is a rebuttal.  Once either side has lost all points to their disposition then they have lost the conflict.  But, winning and losing aren’t black and white.  If the conflict is close, then the winner must comprise part of their goal.  This is negotiated between the two parties.

Conflicts are a little complicated.  They take some getting used to.  I imagine they run smoothly after a few runthroughs.  I really, really like that they can be used in situations outside of combat.

Failure is an Option

I wanted to highlight one of the coolest aspects of the Mouse Guard RPG that is woven throughout the rules of the game: “Failure is an option.”  In D&D, if you fail a dice roll, you fail at your task or if you lose in combat, your character dies is battle.  In Mouse Guard, failing a test doesn’t necessarily mean that a PC fails to accomplish their goal.  When a PC fails a test, the GM is encouraged to allow the PC to accomplish the goal but impose a condition such as Angry, Tired, or Injured that give penalties or enact a Twist.

A Twist takes the story in a new or unexpected direction.  So, let’s take the let’s take the traveling obstacle from earlier and say that the PC didn’t roll enough successes to pass the test.  The GM can rule that the PC makes it to the town, but they are now imposed with the condition of Tired.  Or the GM can impose a Twist which causes the weather to change for the worse such as a Spring snowstorm.  Weather has a big impact on the world of Mouse Guard.

This encouragement of failure is also evidenced by the comprises when conflicts are close.  Or in the way you earn checks, by hindering your character with the traits.  The system rewards the player for penalizing the character.  Failure ends up being a desired outcome in some cases because it makes the game more interesting.  This is better than the failure of a character bringing the game to crashing halt.

Downsides

There are some downsides to Mouse Guard.  The setting which I talked about in part 1 may turn people off.  While I find it compelling, others may not warm up to the idea of playing a mouse with a sword.  Also, the setting is not as open or versatile as the fantasy world of D&D.  You always play as mice in the Mouse Guard.  I imagine that may not be well suited for a years long campaign like people have in D&D and other RPG systems.  All the moving parts and new concepts may be difficult for many to get handle of at first.  The style of play may turn off some as well.  Mouse Guard lays out a very particular style of play where character and story is emphasized and combat is not.  Also, the way rules are structured, having more than 3 or 4 players seems to be difficult.   So, the player limit could be a problem in some groups.

Conclusion

One thing I haven’t really mentioned is how well the rule books is put together.  The art is fantastic (much of it from the Mouse Guard comic book), the organization is great, and is written in a very readable almost conversational tone.  I read through it in a few days.  It was hard to put down.

Mouse Guard appears to be a great RPG with interesting concepts that could be applied to any RPG.  The design not only encourages role playing, but seems to help players become better at role playing.  It’s also accessible to new or novice role players.  The setting and emphasis on things outside of combat may be more appealing to some female gamers and appropriate for kids as well.  It would serve well as a good first RPG to introduce people to roleplaying especially you want to emphasize roleplaying over combat or rules.

Mouse Guard seems to be well suited to serve as a “break” from other more traditional RPGs.  It’s a game that would a be refreshing change to a group in a long running game of D&D that wants to try something different.  It may even enhance your regular game, because some of the ideas about roleplaying and character development could bleed back into your regular game.

Several people from my Swords & Wizardry group are interested in playing Mouse Guard.  So, we run a game here at some point.  Also, there are interested folks in the Tucson RPG Guild Meetup group.  So, I’m sure I’ll either be playing or running a game of Mouse Guard soon.  I’ll report back when I do.

I recently picked up a copy of the Mouse Guard RPG.  I first became interested in the Mouse Guard RPG after reading this review at Gnome Stew.  Then ChattyDM did this series on Mouse Guard which pushed me from interested to buying it from Amazon. I read through the rule book in a few days.  It was hard to put down.  I haven’t played it, yet, but hope to soon.  Here are my impressions.

I want to reiterate that I’ve only been gaming for less than a year.  So, these impressions come from the standpoint of a novice gamer.  Also, I’ve only played various editions of D&D and one session of the D20 Star Wars RPG (not profoundly different from D&D).  Mouse Guard is my first exposure to a game vastly different from D&D.

The Setting

I wanted to talk about the setting first because it really captured my imagination.  When it comes to D&D, I’m generally uninterested in published settings.  For medieval fantasy,  I already know all that is needed: there is magic and there are monsters that need killin’.  Everything else should be made up by the DM and players.   Whereas in Mouse Guard, the setting plays a central role in the game even in the mechanics.

Strangely, I think the setting is simultaneously one of the game’s biggest strengths and one of the game’s biggest weaknesses.    It’s a weakness because on the surface, playing as “mice with swords” doesn’t sound all that cool.  The concept can and probably does turn people away.  It’s a strength because once you learn more about the setting it becomes quite compelling.

The game is set in the Mouse Territories: a network of cities and villages populated by sentient  mice with medieval level technology (the why or how is irrelevant).  The mice struggle to survive against the dangers that animals, the weather, nature, and their own kind present.  This sets up two elements thatI fell help make an RPG compelling and easily accessible to a newcomer: 1) a fantastical world because who wants to play an RPG without some element of the fantastic and 2) a shared frame of reference because RPGs are an exercise in collaborative imagination and storytelling.  When everyone has a similar understanding and mental picture or the world, that collaboration is easier.  With little explanation or back story, anyone coming to the table is going to instantly understand how the dangerous the world is to mouse, even one with a sword.   A rivulet formed by a heavy rain is a raging river to a mouse.  A moose is the size of an AT-AT walker from the Empire Strikes Back and could eat your entire harvest in an afternoon.  Hail the size of boulders, owls the size of airplanes, not to mention the danger of the weasels (who also have technology and culture).  This provides a low bar of entry for someone new to RPGs.

The Mouse Guard itself is an order of honorable mice sworn to protect and serve the Mouse Territories.  Think the Knights of the Round Table or Jedi.  All PCs must be members of the Mouse Guard.  It provides an easy motivation for the PCs since adventures almost always start as missions given to you by the head of the Guard.  Mouse Guard originated as comic book which is still ongoing.  This lends the setting some further weight since the world has been well thought out and explored by the comic book.

Character Creation & Role Playing

I’ve found as a new gamer that role playing is one of the harder things to master.  Combat, tactics, and mechanics come pretty easily to me since I have long history with video games.  Role playing is a different beast.  I feel like I’m floundering around sometimes to create and bring a character to life.  It can be awkward at times.  In all the editions of D&D I’ve played, RP is pretty free form.  When it comes to character generation in D&D, there is little outside of alignment that helps guide you to role play that character in different situations.

Mouse Guard is different.  From the outset, character creation is focused on story and role play rather than stats, skills, classes, or powers.  Three of the most prominent elements on the character sheet are Belief, Goal, & Instinct. Much of the first part of the rule book revolve around these three elements.  Belief is a one line code or ethical stance that embodies the character and is written at character creation.  For example, “A guardmouse never gives up no matter the danger.”  Goal is written at the beginning of each session after the mission orders have been given.  It can relate to the current mission or not.  For example, “I must find evidence that will determine if the grain peddler is a traitor or not.”  Instinct is something that is ingrained in the character that do without thinking.  An example, “Always draw my sword at the first sign of trouble.”  I find these concepts extraordinarily useful.  They provide an easy shorthand for the player to create and then roleplay a character.  It also clearly communicates who that character is to the other players and especially the GM.  There are also spots on the character sheet for other juicy bits of character development like parents, hometown, mentor, and even enemy!

The more mechanical parts of character creation such as stats, skills, and traits flow from character development and provide numerous adventure hooks.  They mainly come from a series of questions about your PCs background and disposition.  When confronted, do you stand your ground and fight or do you run and hide? This affects your Nature stat.  What was your parents’ trade? That’s one of your skills. How do you convince people that you’re right? Choose the skill Deceiver, Orator or Persuader.  It really gets you thinking about who this character is and what makes him tick rather than how much damage he can do with this weapon or that spell.

The rule book, especially the first few chapters, was like a text book for role playing a character.  Much of it could be used in any game system.  It provides sort of a scaffolding on which to build a great character to role play.  I plan to think about and maybe even explicitly write the belief and instinct of the next character I create.  It’s great for the novice role player like me who sometimes struggles with this whole role playing thing.

Next up I conclude my Mouse Guard Impressions by exploring session structure, play mechanics, and conflict resolution.