GM Mouse-on-Fire |
Unrelated...
Well, semi-related,
For those curious about how game mechanics/character creation work in Mouse Guard, this is another campaign I am taking part in here on the Paizo Messageboards which uses the Burning Wheel system. Mouse Guard is, as I posted earlier, a very simplified version of Burning Wheel. So if you read all the way through the thread you will have more of an inkling of what we are going for. Hopefully that won't scare you off.
Further side note, if you are interested in taking part, GM Peanut & I would be glad to have more players as there is a strong possibility we may be losing our other player soon...
GM Mouse-on-Fire |
To preface, thank you all for your, hopefully, patience. I realize a month is quite a while to wait for an update.
On determining Skills
First; in an attempt to simplify matters, how capable you are with a particular skill is affected by how many times you choose that skill. Consequently, if you wish to be very capable in a particular skill, select it more often, if available.
Second, do not choose a skill more than five times as that will cause you to exceed the maximum starting rating in a skill.
As one's 'Rank' within the Guard is often as much a reflection of ones experience as it is of ones authority, the higher 'Ranks' begin with more skills than the lower ranks do, for the most part.
Select one skill from those available to you from your home town.
Second, select a skill that represents your natural talents, Tenderpaws & Guard Captains select two, all other Ranks select one. This may be the same or a different skill than the skill you gain from your home town.
Administrator, Apiarist, Archivist, Armorer, Baker, Boatcrafter, Brewer, Carpenter, Cartographer, Cook, Deceiver, Fighter, Glazier, Haggler,Harvester, Healer, Hunter, Insectrist, Instructor, Laborer, Loremouse, Militarist, Miller, Orator, Pathfinder, Persuader, Potter, Scientist, Scout, Smith, Stonemason, Survivalist, Weather Watcher, Weaver
Third, if you have not already, determine your parents' trade skill. If you are a Tenderpaw, select two, otherwise only one. You may select the same skill more than once.
Apiarist, Archivist, Armorer, Baker, Boatcrafter, Brewer, Carpenter, Cartographer, Glazier, Harvester, Insectrist, Miller, Potter, Smith, Stonemason, Weaver
Now, decide which skill you normally use to convince people to agree with/or at least work with you. Patrol Leaders & Guard Captains choose two, all others choose one.
Deceiver, Orator, Persuader
Apprenticeship:
When you first joined the Mouse Guard you were placed in an apprenticeship according to the Guard's need, not your own. Select one skill from the list below. Also note that skill as it will indicate what your original Guard Mentor was responsible for.
Apiarist, Archivist, Armorer, Baker, Brewer, Carpenter, Cartographer, Glazier, Harvester, Insectrist, Miller, Potter, Smith, Stonemason, Weaver
Guard Experience:
Having completed your Apprenticeship & proven yourself equal to greater responsibility, you will have been assigned to a guard patrol & expected to handle the tasks of that patrol.
You may choose a number of additional skills dependent on your Rank. Tenderpaws gain 3, Guardmice 6, Patrol Guards 8, Patrol Leaders 9 and Guard Captains 12.
Fighter, Healer, Hunter, Instructor, Pathfinder, Scout, Survivalist, Weather Watcher
Personal Specialty:
Every member of a patrol has a specific skill they are most associated with in that particular patrol. This is where you choose yours. In general it is a good idea to choose a skill you have already chosen multiple times before. Each skill in this list may only be selected by one, or no, member of the patrol.
Fighter, Healer, Hunter, Instructor, Pathfinder, Scout, Survivalist, Weather Watcher
Putting this all together.
Now that you have selected your skills, note how many times you have chosen each skill. Your rating in a particular skill is equal to the total times you chose that skill + 1, so if you chose Fighter 3 times, you would start with the Fighter skill at four. You may not begin play with a skill higher than 6.
GM Mouse-on-Fire |
Various Esoteric Knowledge's
Besides a Guard Mouse' more directly applicable skills, all mice have a general plethora of skills collectively known as Wises.
A wise is a collection of both common knowledge on a topic & a deeper, though less practically useful understanding. Some examples of Wises are as follows.
Apiary-wise, Brew-wise, Celebration-wise, Lockhaven-wise, Weasel-wise, Winter-wise, 'specific town'-wise, etc...
This list is not exhaustive, feel free to choose wises that make sense to you for your character, wises may overlap with other skills, in fact they often do.
Just as with Skills, each time you choose a particular wise, you improve your rating in that wise. Tenderpaws choose 1, Guardmice choose 2, Patrol Guards choose 3, Patrol Leaders choose 4 and Guard Captains choose 6.
Also as with skills, once you have tallied up your choices, add 1 to each & that gives you your ranking in that wise, once more you may not begin play with a wise higher than 6.
GM Mouse-on-Fire |
Not the only one. Unfortunately I'm finding that summarizing the steps of Character Creation is taking more energy from me than I have available at the moment. It doesn't help that, having taken so long just to get to this point, everything is now spread out over multiple posts, with several posts between them. If I manage to get the rest of the Character Creation steps posted, I may start a new Recruitment thread with all the necessary Character Creation information together at the beginning. You aren't the only one disheartened either, unfortunately it's pretty much all my own fault. I will push to get the rest of the steps posted & then post an example no later than tonight or the end of this weekend. If no one but you responds within a week after that, I will try starting over with everything posted together.
GM Mouse-on-Fire |
I like the idea, but char gen seems daunting. Been watching. Promises to be a decent campaign.
It's actually quite a bit less involved than Burning Wheel, which it is based on. My difficulty, which it is possible I should remove, is that I am trying to make these posts as 'in-character' as possible. I really should just go ahead & slap the mechanics down & save worrying about player immersion for once the game starts...
I'd recommend starting over with the big post anyway. The lower the entry barrier, the higher the chance of something coming together and people being genuinely interested.
I had been thinking something similar. I just really hate scrubbing a Campaign due to my own perceived inadiquacies...
UltraFennec |
I don't know that you'd be scrubbing it per se. It's a convenience issue. The less people have to look around for mechanics, the better. Then you just link us to the new thread once you've put it up, and we can be like HEY WE FOLLOWED U!
At least, that's how I see it. Heck I've DONE that once before.
GM Mouse-on-Fire |
Given that I have managed to go over two months without a post, I am acknowledging defeat. On the bright side, this guy seems to be interested in giving it a try. I strongly recommend anyone interested take a look.