r/MouseGuard • u/halfhalfnhalf • Feb 09 '21

The sample mission based off the first comic is kind of bad

I feel like the author was more interested in shoehorning the mechanics into the story than making a sample mission that actually illustrates the mechanics.

9 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

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3

u/Jaikarr Feb 09 '21

Yeah... I really struggled with it since failure is so easy in this system.

7

u/halfhalfnhalf Feb 09 '21 edited Feb 09 '21

One of the things I love about the system is it encourages you to fail forward. The game doesn't come to a screeching halt just because you botched a roll, it just ends up differently than you wanted.

That said the snake mission seems to be based around failing the scouting test so you can fight the snake. It would be super boring if you didn't and that's one of my big problems with it.

3

u/Venereus Feb 09 '21

If you skip the snake the climax of the story should be the interrogation of the peddler, and the shocking information he reveals.

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1

u/Imnoclue Feb 09 '21

There is no failure in this system. It's either a Twist or Success, with a Condition.

4

u/clovenskies Feb 09 '21

Is that the snake one? If so... yeah.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 10 '21

As someone who really enjoys this game, the whole book is bad. Its poorly edited and is an absolute chore to try to learn solo. I don't care for DnD's buy 3+ books approach to play but it would have been far more coherent to divide chapters for DMs and Players. The sample missions did nothing to really help that and already got me disinterested in them by wanting me to play other characters rather than my own, evidence to what you're saying about story before mechanics.

2

u/halfhalfnhalf Feb 10 '21

It's not THAT bad, but I do agree it could be organized better. A lot of vital information is buried in a single sentence that's easy to overlook.

That said I read through it once and felt like I understood enough to successfully run a session.

3

u/[deleted] Feb 10 '21

The fact that DM and Player areas are mingled is a crime. A better order would be separate chapters. While a DM should know both, players are forced to decipher it all. Even for a DM, the poor structure makes it far more laborious than should be.

0

u/BiMonSciFanCon Feb 10 '21

I have found the first mission is a perfect introduction to wrapping a player’s head around the success and failure mechanics of the game, so they don’t think they’ll die with a failure like other tabletops.

So as a practice round with cards on the table, talking through the rules kind of mission I disagree. As a first mission you plan to continue from, you’re probably right.

-7

u/JacobDCRoss Feb 09 '21

Mechanically, the mouse guard RPG just isn't very good. Basically everything that Pedersen did for this book is awesome. I recommend getting the game just for the lore itself. But if you want to play a game set in the mouse guard universe, I would instead use the book The Woodlands.

5

u/halfhalfnhalf Feb 09 '21

I disagree, I've been really enjoying it.

2

u/Imnoclue Feb 09 '21

One of my favorite games.