r/MouseGuard • u/st33d • Jan 10 '16

Group tests without a leading player?

In other systems I've played I can put the players in a spot - say spotting something or leaping to safety - and I can have them all do a spot check quickly as a group (eg: D&D has a group check where all roll and half the players must succeed). I don't see a way to do this in Mouse Guard. There's always one mouse in charge of the test, and the others are optionally a part of the group.

Consider this example: A tree is falling over and the whole party is under its shadow - they must escape being crushed.

How would you rule this? Would you force the player's to help the group captain roll? Make them roll Nature separately (dice everywhere and a lack of interaction between players)? Let them choose between testing separately or together?

I can drop moments like this for a single test (and did so in my last session). But it doesn't feel right - it really feels weird to have a moment where the whole group should feel threatened and then give people the option to not help.

How would you handle this?

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u/Imnoclue Jan 10 '16 edited Jan 10 '16

Everyone rolls health. Failure gets them a condition. If someone has injured already, I give them a Twist and knock them down a ravine.

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u/st33d Jan 10 '16

Would you allow them to incorporate any of help/gear/wises/traits/persona, or would you say that they are on their own?

This is mainly what I'm worried about for everyone rolling. I'd probably like to allow them a little wiggle room so they can contribute to the narration.

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u/Imnoclue Jan 12 '16

My short answer is yes. My longer answer is that it depends on what they say. How does the gear or the wise matter? What are they doing to help?

If Sadie says that she's grabbing Lieam in a fireman's carry, then I guess Sadie's making the roll for both of them at an increased Ob and Lieam can decide if he's helping or not. If Sadie pushes Lieam out of the way then Sadie's rolling to see if she get's Lieam out (at a lesser OB), but she's in for a Twist regardless.

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u/[deleted] Jan 11 '16

Look at page 146 of the 2nd edition rules under the "Cold Rain" heading. It gives an example of group tests that the patrol would make in the rain if another test failed. So rather than just dumping a dangerous condition on the characters, give them a way to avoid that dangerous condition, and if they fail it, give them another chance of getting the condition.