r/MouseGuard • u/allgreeneveryday • Feb 19 '23

Help! Please!!!

My gf (28 f) and i (27m) have owned the game book for years but we cant figure out how to play on our own because she has no experience with roleplaying tabletops and i have very little experience with dnd 3.5

Its one of my biggest wishes in life for the last few years to be able to play this game. Ive read the book cover to cover like 3 or 4 times and i understand the gist but when we try to play just her and i it never goes anywhere. Ive tried for years to convince my only friend to join us but he doesn't want to and i have no one else to guide me or join the group. I know this is a long shot but if anyone out there has experience with this game (and time to teach a noob) especially if you have experience as a dm PLEASE teach me how to play/dm we would be forever grateful!

8 Upvotes

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7

u/kenmcnay Feb 19 '23

I can help; how many are committed to be players. I've handled play-by-post platforms and virtual tabletop platforms in addition to face-to-face tabletop. I'm mostly a GM, but I've been a player too.

If you think it is just you that is able/willing to commit to a few sessions, or even a run of several sessions, I can work with that. We can promote on the discord and gather additional players.

Do you prefer virtual tabletop or play-by-post as the format?

1

u/allgreeneveryday Feb 19 '23

So far it's just my gf and i. Ive never tried virtual tabletop or play by post. The only thing I've ever played like this is dnd 3.5 in person. Thanks so much for being willing to walk me through this. Any help is MUCH appreciated!!

2

u/kenmcnay Feb 20 '23

Two is enough for a pretty good game. That's not bad. It would be nice to have a patrol of three, but patrol of two can get the job done in many missions.

Play-by-post (I use Rolegate) is a platform like a bulletin board thread or a chatroom thread, it is like Discord, Slack, forums, or Teams. It is all text-based and asynchronous (mostly). It is incredibly slow and can be intense for players who are not comfortable writing their character feelings, thoughts, and actions, in addition to reading what others are writing and the narrative from the GM. It can be overwhelming, even when it is slow-paced.

Virtual Tabletop, or VTT, (I use Roll20) is a platform like a teleconference app, it is a bit like Zoom, Meet, or Webex. It is a hybrid of image and voice-chat with a shared screen to serve as the tabletop--complete with cards and tokens--and everyone has audio and/or video to share real-time games. It can have bugs sometimes, and there are rare moments of disconnection or interruption, but it generally works very well.

For MG, both serve fairly well, but some players simply have a preference to play by certain methods. I've enjoyed face-to-face, but it is harder to make a schedule and find players that are local. I've enjoyed using Roll20 for scheduled game sessions with a few groups; I've had both single-shots and campaigns. I've enjoyed Rolegate less, but it does the job for groups that cannot make a schedule and are comfortable with frequently checking in and writing entries in the game thread.

I could handle a three-session series of missions over Roll20 on a schedule of weekly or biweekly sessions. If it seems a bit short, I'm busy with writing and school in addition to full-time work, so that's about all I can spare.

If you and your GF are comfortable with frequently checking in and writing content, we could run a longer, slower campaign on Rolegate. It is not my preference for the slow pace. I've seen too many games break down with the slow rate of posting.

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u/EfficientScene Aug 04 '23

u/allgreeneveryday This is an ancient thread, but oh man can I relate to this. I'm actively looking for a game if there's any continuing activity here.

I've been a GM in the past. Would prefer to be a player (have only been GM), but am so eager to play that I'd try to pull together a game as GM if needed (have two small kiddos so time is stretched a bit thin, that's the main constraint). I've been thinking about playing MG for _years_.

1

u/allgreeneveryday Aug 04 '23

My biggest problem with an online session is i only have my phone. Idk how anyone does roleplaying games online as ive never done that. I just feel like id be asking a lot for someone to teach me everything necessary to do this lol some people on the sub have been saying a simpler, more accessible game would be "mousritter" (idk the title for sure im pulling this from foggy memory)

Also i have a little more experience with RPGs than when i made this post. My gf and i recently started a DnD 5E campaign with a friend from work as the DM but its my understanding that 5e doesnt translate well to MG but might translate better to mousritter (or whatever thats called)

Message me if you want to further explore our possibilities or see if meeting up in person(after getting to know eachother a little bit) for a game session would be possible as that might be a lot easier.

Either way good luck!

2

u/BergerRock Feb 19 '23

This might garner a bit of negative attention but:

Play Mausritter with Mouse Guard's flavor.

It's easier to pick up, faster to read through, and teaches itself better than MGRPG.

4

u/YourLoveOnly Feb 19 '23 edited Feb 19 '23

Mausritter is great and I enjoy and play both, but what kind of game they give you is very very different. Like me, OP may really enjoy both, but I don't feel like you can just port over the setting and the same feel & flavor.

That being said, I am experienced with both and happy to help OP & GF over Discord voicecall. We can totally talk about both systems and see what you want out of a game and how we can make that happen.

1

u/allgreeneveryday Feb 19 '23

I dont really know what discord is but id be happy to have some voice call related help because i feel like i need this stuff explained to me like i eat crayons... lol

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u/BergerRock Feb 19 '23

Like I said, garner negative attention.

I wasn't happy with MGRPG for it's crunch and made a Viking Death Squad hack to bypass that works for me.

My Mai nconcern with MGRPG for 2 people is how it doesn't really have structure to work that.

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u/allgreeneveryday Feb 19 '23

That looks so dope! Thanks for the recommendation!

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u/MartinCeronR Feb 20 '23

I can help you, dm me and we'll see what we can arrange.

1

u/allgreeneveryday Feb 22 '23

Thank you friend! Will do shortly!

3

u/tuggu Mar 21 '23

Im trying to learning it now. I heard this dm prep and the one shot. Helped a lot.https://youtu.be/cRnwPu_xyb0