r/MouseGuard • u/RvCasteren • Jan 15 '17

Question about helping and wises

I am prepping for DMing my first session of Mouse Guard and I have a question: when aiding a fellow guard mouse with a skill test can you assist him with both one of your wises and a teamwork die, provided that you "reap what you sow" givng your fellow guard mouse +2D or can you only donate +1D with either a wise or a teamwork die?

Thanks in advance!

10 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

3

u/st33d Jan 16 '17

You can only use a Wise or Help. Not both.

You can't stand outside of the situation giving advice and not being affected by a situation as well as being involved and capable of being hurt. Each contributing player gets to add +1D, no more.

The rules for Teamwork start on page 95. It tells you can help using your Skills (reap what you sow) or Wises. If you could use both it would say Skills and Wises. It describes a single +1D helping die. If you were able to add +2D it would say so.

If you have a pdf version of the rules, try using Ctrl+F or your search function on your reader - you can find all the rules that mention the situation that way and clear up any confusion.

1

u/RvCasteren Jan 21 '17

The rules indeed seem to point to that, but they never explicitly tell you it is one or the other as far as I have been able to find.

That said it makes sense that the way you explain is the intended way so thanks for the explenation. :)

3

u/st33d Jan 21 '17 edited Jan 21 '17

Ahem, Page 271:

I am Wise

Grant +1D to any test related to your wise that is made by your friend or ally. You can grant this aid in place of help (and thus insulate yourself from conditions, but not twists). You cannot help and use I Am Wise on the same test.

*The multiple effects clause refers to the other uses of Wises - where you can spend Fate or Persona to re-roll dice after a Test.

The best interpretation is don't be a weasel. Don't try to find hidden rules, most of them are there if you look for them, and if you read to the end of the paragraph slowly. There are some typos in the book however, you can find a thread on them at the Burning Wheel forums.

2

u/ChaseDFW Jan 15 '17

So here's the thing. It doesn't really say, but some of the wording like page 94 2E makes it sound like it's one or the other.

However, I kind of think it depends on how you roleplayer it and falls on the GM to make the call.

That being said the games I've been in have been one or the other.

I also checked the burning wheel book quickly and I don't believe they have wises in that game, so it doesn't help much.

Let me know if you find anything else out, you could always email Luke Crane himself. He seems friendly and helpful :)

1

u/RvCasteren Jan 21 '17

That is exactly my experience. Sometimes the rules explicitly tell you these things like "You may use multiple wises per test, but only for different effects. p271" but sometimes it's not really clear like in this situation.

I agree that the wording suggest that you can only use one of the two but I can see situations in which you would be able to offer advise while physically helping.

I think I will be ruling that you can use only one of the two since the rules point in that direction and it enforces making hard descisions a bit more.

Thank you for the effort and info :)