The Journey Begins: My Family's Mouse Guard Journey Session 1

 The Journey Begins

I started running a game of Mouse Guard for my family. My wife (ign Nola) is the troop leader and my 12yr old daughter (ign Brittany) and 7yr old son (ig Finn) are playing along with. Our first session was without my son (he needed an early bedtime :P ). This was a great chance to see what my wife was willing to do and see how my daughter interacted with things.

The Beginning

The start of their journey was a simple one: Take the mail to the town of Darkwater. This sounds like a simp task and with two Tenderpaw mice, it is a good one to stretch their legs. Nola was given an additional task. This mission is important as no word has come from Darkwater in two weeks. The troop is to scout it out and determine why there has been silence.

The Path

Along the path, they found it rather unkept. It is the start of spring and much of the path had not been maintained over the winter. This proved to be a challenge for them to navigate, both in finding the path and ensuring they didn't lose it. Between the two, they successfully navigated the perils and did not encounter any enemies.

The Village

Smoke rose from the village of Darkwater. Nola spotted it from afar directing Brittany to approach the town carefully. Many buildings were burnt, no mice were to be seen. The most mysterious thing was that upon investigation they discovered no one had left nor entered the town as there were no tracking in or out in any direction. Both Nola and Brittnany hunted around and found some torn fabric high up in a tree outside the village.

They decided to make a "suspicious noise" to see if anyone was around. Well they attempted to sling a rock at a pan but Brittany failed the throw... The rock instead knocked a brick out of a crumbling wall. At first this seemed small, until the entire wall fell down with the rest of the building following it. After a few deafening moments of silence, a Hawk swoops down and lands on a remnant of a building. On the back was a hooded mouse who glanced around before flying away in the same direction as the tree with the fabric scrap in it.

After the bird flew away, several mice ambushed the two mouse guard, breaking through the rubble from hidden tunnels. Seeing their cloaks, they recognized them as mouse guard and asked them to quickly hide underground.

The End

This was a great first session to get the two into the game and get used to rolling dice. My daughter is fully invested, creating her own character art and all! Stay tuned for more session in the future including ones that will involve my son (7 yr old)!

The Student of the Game Master Screen

 Passion for the Hobby

As a tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) player and game master (GM), I have a lot of things I love about the hobby, but one particular facet has held my attention over the last 5-6 years: The idea of mastering the GM role. My passion for the hobby has begun to focus on this particular role and set of skills. Yes, I too enjoy rolling dice and acting the part as a player, but there is a different level of satisfaction that comes from being a GM.

Being a GM for years with very little time as a player has given me several different habits and thought patterns. I have grown to value many things about the games as a holistic hobby. I have learned a great deal about many things from history, to craftmanship, to the narrative arts. These all together has led me to understand something I am calling "the Student of the GM Screen."

The Process

Throughout my time I am developing a process to become better as a GM. This involves a lot of aspects and for some people, these will be different in priority based on your own table and personal style. With that in mind, below are the main processes I will be diving into.

1. Play Games - The most important aspect of becoming a better GM is actually running the game! You will make as many mistakes as you will make great memories and often those go hand in hand. Focus on having fun and you will learn a lot along the way!
2. Consume Book/Videos/podcasts - By reading, watching, and listening to media you will both gain a massive number of tools and inspiration to use in your games
   
3. Explore the different side hobbies involved with GMing - Map making, miniature painting, and other side hobbies can be incorporated into the GM role. I want to explore many of these I am unfamiliar with and find what I enjoy doing and develop those skills!
   

What's Next?

I have the following items I am doing to pursue my goal:

1. I have a game with my family I am running using Mouse Guard. It will be my first true campaign with my oldest two and my Wife's first time playing any kind of TTRPG. This is going to help me explore teaching the game and making shorter sessions to accommodate their attention spans. 
2. I will be running a monthly Genesys game within my own homebrew setting. This is where a lot of my hobby time will be put as a month between sessions will allow for a lot of artistic exploration in preparation. This campaign goes along with the next activity.
3. I will update my World Anvil. I have many years' worth of details and notes about my homebrew setting and I have used World anvil to keep them all. I am working to update it and bring everything into sync with the current evolution of the setting.
4. I will begin my Deep Dive series on the Adventure Syndicate discord again. I love to dive into new games and share them with other. I will be starting with Mouse Guard and work to explore these games including revisiting old ones. I want to record and put them on YouTube for reference. This is more for my own sake but maybe others will find value in it as well.

This will be a fantastic journey, and I will be sharing all the fun along the way! If you have any suggestions or ideas to include in this process, feel free to leave a comment! Let's roll some dice!

Guild Ball is Back! Here to Stay?

 

It has been over 3 years since Guild Ball was ended by its publisher, Steam Forged Games (SFG). however, several weeks ago SFG made an announcement that they were opening their models up for print on demand service. This is huge as this allows people to get ahold of models and play the game. But does this mean that the game is alive? What has happened since SFG stopped supporting the game? Do people even want this anymore?

The Shattered Glass

SFG announced that their flagship game of Guild Ball was no longer going to be supported. This was something that came as a shock to some and as an outrage to others. The company had been making promises, giving sneak peaks at future plans, and otherwise stoking hope and excitement for this gladiatorial soccer game. This announcement shocked those who had thriving groups and greatly angers a large portion of the passionate community, leaving them feeling betrayed and lied to. This wasn't what killed the game, however, but rather confirmed the fate that many did see coming.

SFG had a dismal time trying to get product into the market. They had moved away from the metal miniatures and to a PVC plastic, and then to a resin all within a couple years. This amount of rapid change saw problems with quality but even worse with product availability. For over a year the game struggled as new players could only find teams in the form of used models or a select few that had been over produced. In addition, SFG had been focusing on their successful big IP games such as the Dark Souls Board Game which were proving to be financially successful to the contrasting financial losses of Guild Ball. At this point, Guild Ball was struggling to stay alive and SFG decided to put the final nail in the coffin... or so they intended.

Picking up the Pieces

At this point many put their models in boxes or on eBay, forever thinking they would never touch the game again. Another group stubbornly decided to continue playing the game they loved instead. This group over time created the Guild Ball Community Project (GBCP). The GBCP sought to further the game through internal game balance and even created, tested, and crowdfunded a brand new minor guild, the Lamplighters, including STLs for people to print. This passionate group kept the game alive in much the same way other games such as Blood Bowl by Games Workship was kept alive for well over a decade. This allowed many to continue to enjoy their beloved game, but that was about all that was to happen.

The New Mosaic

A little less than a month ago, SFG announced something that no one thought would happen. SFG would be moving their miniature line for Guild Ball to a print on demand service. This was a massive move as it achieved several things: 

1. The company communicated it is not opposed to supporting the game if it can make sense. Guild Ball cost more money than it made the year they ended its support. The move to print on demand would be a litmus test if they were willing to allocate any resources to Guild Ball moving forward.
2. The company admitted things could have been handled differently at the time of the original announcement. Many fans took what SFG as the company blaming players for "ruining the game" and "making it too competitive." While their statement here did not melt the hearts of many fans, this was at least a good step forward in their communication. They have since been upfront with the uncertain nature of the game's support but hoped it would do well.
   
3. They acknowledged the work and passion of the GBCP, stating that they passion and work are responsible for keeping the game alive.
4. The most important factor is product availability. This was the real reason Guild Ball could not be profitable in the past and why it was becoming harder and harder to get new people into the game. With this, the logistics of getting product into gamers' hands was finally a real possibility.
   

The Current View

The first official update from SFG has been released. They announced that the launch of the print on demand exceeded expectations. In addition, they are expanding the models available to certain special models the community expressed interest in (alternate minor guild versions). They made it clear that they are working with the GBCP to release a new, official errata coming this next month.

In summery, the game is far from dead and has a real hope of being fully supported by SFG once again! While there is still a lot of time needed to see if the game will fully come back, these are exciting time for us fans. Not all will trust SFG, and arguably with justification. However, I am excited, eager, and ready to get some more games on the pitch!

Stay tuned for more about this!