One: Is this hack actually a thing, that somehow I have missed?
Two: Has anyone managed to succeed at using the Move-style resolutions
(Yes, and…/Yes, but…/Maybe, but…/No, and…) in a more Skill-list format?
Three: The Mouse Guard Playbook… Really?
One: Is this hack actually a thing, that somehow I have missed?
One: Is this hack actually a thing, that somehow I have missed?
Regarding One: good god I hope so. This is the first I’ve seen of it, though.
Regarding Two: I had a long-running 4e campaign where I made Moves (Identify a Creature, Spout Lore, Do Research, Read Scene, Manipulate Someone, etc.) that used the skills, DCs, and modifiers.
They got a lot wordier than most PbtA moves are, but yeah, they worked pretty well.
Sadly, the wiki where I had all that crap posted is gone. I might be able to find my original notes if you’re interested.
Sounds interesting and mine-able!
I like the moves the way they are, but sometimes I miss those long skill lists… it’s a fight I have with myself occasionally. XD
For DayTrippers I blended the two. The Character Build system uses points and a Skill List, but the Action Resolution is descriptive and interpretive, with target numbers based on Difficulty and possible results of NO AND, NO BUT, YES, YES BUT & YES AND. I like to refer to the mechanic as “FUDGE meets Archipelago”. 🙂
http://www.rpgnow.com/product/142287/DayTrippers
about 35 skills… 40 traits… and an infinite number of wises…
And that would be a lot of moves to write up…
…how many do you figure are unnecessary?
besides nearly all the -wises.
Naw, the trick to writing moves is to figure out the situations in the game you want resolved by said moves. Broadly and a high level. With a skill list like this, you just use the skills, wises, and traits as modifiers if and when they apply.
I always find myself wanting an AW hack of Luke Crane games
I have figured out the situations in the game I want resolved by the moves… now I just need to cut-chaff and condense that list.
XD
What I really want, is skills that work like moves… simple.
… or is it moves that are selected like skills.
No no… it’s not about that — it’s about the resolution.
I want skills, that avoid flat binary answers, and have inherent resolutions;
(12+ = Yes, and… because you are exceptionally advanced at this…)
10+ = Yes, but… choose some properties that help you narrate how…
7-9 = Maybe, but… it will probably cost you, or not be the most delightful outcome, if you don’t loosen your grip…
2-6 = Not really… and, things are getting worse, because…
In order to support the to do it, do it when a skill is employed.
Let’s not call them skills or moves then, let’s call them… capabilities.
Though you are correct, that would be one way to do it… there is not an easy way to write a generic “When you use X capability, at a random task…” that makes sense either.
So the question (for me) isn’t… does an Apiarist get this-or-that Move, or does the Apiarist Skill apply in this-or-that situation — but, rather, I use my Capability of Apiarist Knowledge and Techniques to achieve some Bee Related Results… because with skill I move, and that is what the Capability does in motion.
And the player says “this is what I do.” …does it, and then describes the results from the use of the contained rule chunk, and the MC/GM/Whatever intervenes, or not, as appropriate to the result, done… the group moves back into the conversation level of descriptions and questions about setbacks and reactions, until someone calls on a resolution again.
Another way of looking at it is; in character creation, I don’t want to trade;
Pick 15 Moves from 50 Capabilities that are applicable to the daily life and various techniques known by a diversity of people living in the setting.
for
Pick One of 150 Playbooks with applicable combinations of technique and knowledge in the setting, each with Capabilities represented by it’s own 15 Moves.
Since we are talking Mouse Guard… it’s really all about each player customizing the same Guardmouse Playbook anyway.
Would play.
There’s something about using sex moves while playing post-apocalyptic mice that both intrigues and disturbs me in equal measure.
That’s a Ralph Bakshi movie waiting to happen!
It escapes me at the moment, Tom Pleasant, but I think there is a term for them feels… with a definition less archaic than awful awesome, or foreign as kowai kawaii.
I see from forums, that my main concern with shifting Mouse Guard to a new system is based on a common complaint — to derail the railroadiness of the MG process of GM/Player turns.
I would rather play MG with Fronts, yet not eliminate the entire structure of the MG Character Sheet in the shift to a new process.
From the abandonment of dice pools, I would rather use granular non-binary rule-chunk player-driven descriptive resolutions of declared action (Moves) without losing the diversity of characterization that comes from the Skills and Traits.
Mouse Guard : Weasel Wastelands sounds like an interesting Apocalypse Mouse World Hack… but I do not necessarily want to change the base canon and environment that much just to change the play style of game processes; Player/MC agencies, agendas, and principles.
And while I do want the system to better encourage character interactions, triangles, and development, I don’t necessarily want to ignore the time consuming duty of the Gaurdmice.
So somewhere in all that, I am looking for a hybrid that doesn’t exist yet — I’m sure.
William Mims that is the thing, Luke Crane’s design vocabulary can absolutely be converted to Vincent Baker’s. They bounce design off eachother already, and though their results vary a lot, their philosophies are compatible
I want to simulate the environment more, emulate the pre-told comic/book/movie/script less, and encourage dynamic character development better, while unburdening the host(ess) of double blind uncertainties, and still creating an emergent recognizable narrative… and I want to gamify that Holy Grail.
XD
…just like every other game design geek.
That is like my two favourite games!
I like Vincent’s way of describing a conceptual experience in a manifest process…
..::points at game book::.. “ugnh, Ugnhhh ugh!”
…and that explains everything.
https://plus.google.com/103310083405331563157/posts/W6aJanbw6oT
Had a moment of inspiration, and wrote a generic love letter from the Office of The Matriarch to a new recruit;
###############################
Dear Guard Recruit;
Your honor is here-by noted, and respected, in your petition to devote your service to a position among the ranks of mice pledging to the common needs of The Mouse Territories. Here are some things that we need to get out in the open, up front;
1. Amongst the known associates that you will be asked to put on record (Your Parents, Senior Artisan, Mentor, Friends) you may want to give consideration to how at least one of these is connected to another petitioner, or is another petitioner in the case of a Tenderpaw charged to a Patrol Leader for tutelage after the apprenticeship cycle. You will eventually form a team, and teamwork is best upheld by acknowledging certain associations, direct and indirect, with other members of your team. It will be the responsibility of your superiors to ensure, that any recruits known to harbor mutual enmities will not be placed in direct conflict, however it is understood that the dynamics of enmities may not be known at the time of petition, or may develop during the course of your service — you are advised to keep disagreements from reflecting poorly on The Honor of The Guard.
2. Upon acceptance as a full rank Guardmouse, and in training as a Tenderpaw or Petitioning Recruit, you will be part of a unique Order of Mice amongst many Orders of Mice that guard the territories; be forewarned — all individual settlements may distribute their authority within their sovereign boundaries in a diverse array of methods. The Guard insists on keeping a degree of honor and custom to a series of higher ideals than many other Orders of Mice, yet these settlement structures are not beholden to participate or acknowledge these ideals, however, all members of The Esteemed Order of The Mouse Guard to The Territories under the authority of Papal Office held by Our Blessed Matriarch Gwendolyn, are expected to respect the local customs and authorities of individual claims recognized as protected settlements. In the course of your duties, you may encounter the mice acting as guards to other orders and recognized sovereignties, and even Chief Offices of High Ordainment held in accordance to local customs — respect these with the due service of The Guard to The Territories in the acknowledged fact that you are in the house of another mouse. Always remember that your loyalty is first to The Mouse Guard of The Territories, and you are not obliged to follow the edicts of other Orders of Mice, or maintain a position in the boundaries of another House of Sovereign Mousehood without direct orders from the authority of The Mouse Guard of The Territories.
3. Your duties are first to the orders issued, second to those with you on an assigned mission, and lastly to the personal devotions that you may have fostered before pledging your voluntary service to The Esteemed Order of The Mouse Guard to The Territories under the authority of Papal Office held by Our Blessed Matriarch Gwendolyn. Your services, as a voluntary service, is of a high importance to the survival of ALL MICE within The Territories, and you can expect favors and good treatments from local settlements. You may also expect fair lodging, respite, and provisions, available in locations that are maintained by The Mouse Guard of The Territories. As a philanthropic voluntary service supported by the good graces of those who donate their time, resources, and expertise, you are however encouraged to maintain your own accommodations, luxuries, and equipment, as much as you can afford. While many other mice must carry the burden of individual coin and possessions, the Guard may seem to some as hording greater resources than is actually present. It should be understood; rarely does The Guard directly issue script or coin for your service, and recompenses to members are based on the conceits of an honor system, with respect to the availability of resources in the discretion of any locally posted Quartermouse, and from the support of donations of hardworking mice — do not be tempted to squander the resources of The Guard, or mistake your position as a licence to unfairly hoard personal wealth at the expense of less fortunate mice.
Thank you, on behalf of all mice struggling to survive in The Territories, for your service and honor; Our Blessed Matriarch —
GWENDOLYN
###############################
Based on the Setting Expectations that the MC is encouraged to clear up during the character creation phase, modified for the Expectations of Mouse Guard.
Noticed a tendency for some mistaken impression, that coin and script is not used in The Territories… adjusted point three to this consideration.
Note — a detail collected from several locations; Copperwood and Ironwood are the most popular Treasury Mint sources of coin among merchants across The Territories. The market of many Settlements are balanced on the stability of Copperwood’s market, and Copperwood (along with Flintrust’s fiat-currency and Shorestone’s foreign-credit) is one of the few Settlements that economically control a multi-settlement political estate.
Hidden in these details, there is a multi-mission arc based on Weather: Market Scarcity — Wilderness: Poor Harvests — Mice: Greedy Banksters and Animals/Weasels: Economic Saboteurs centered on the Copperwood availability of commodities and currency… that could lead to an Economic Apocalypse!
Oh, hell, yes, I’d play this in a heartbeat!
The normative environment aesthetic for Mouse Guard is cast as early medieval and city-state feudalism… after a voracious war with grossly disparate cultures, and mutual aggressions left in a stalemate… all on the crest of some forgotten collapse, of a forgotten precursor civilization — The Territories is a cradle to a young civilization, set in the struggles to provide more survivability in wilderness justice, a community barely held united, with tragedy and idealism for all.
It’s already an Apocalypse World.
I tried to steer away from the unintentionally tangential comparisons, granted I probably started it, but some of the discussion really belongs here instead…
https://plus.google.com/108033020920167493075/posts/R6duWWNWwM7
/shrugs/…
…sometimes the brain storms on it’s own clock.
I stand by my often expressed sentiment… A low medieval civilization is a dark age in the world of mice and men, and such a world to the perspective of a golden age civilization now fallen, or the societies of enlightenments yet to come — it is an Apocalypse World.
I managed to spew out a process-of-play that combines elements of translation between Mouse Guard and Apocalypse World sequences. MG does look a little like a collaborative writing process, I think, while AW is a little more like a staged improvisation troupe. The first being a bit more mindful of a story arc, and the latter being a bit more mindful of character development — yet the better tools for each are squarely in the other.
interesting…