How can I manage player's secret actions on play by chat in Mouse Guard?

Question

I'm planning on running Mouse Guard 1e in a play by chat environment without extra channels or private rooms.

Part of conflict resolution (at least what I can remember, I can't find my rule book atm) is each conflict team secretly picking their actions:

In conflicts, each side divides into teams which secretly choose sets of three actions which get resolved against one another each round.

However if the players need to secretly choose three actions, how do I adjudicate this in play by chat?

In person I'd write mine down on paper, and ask the players to do the same.

Can you do spoiler blocks in chat? Is this something your group is okay with leaving to spoiler blocks and the honors system? — Glazius, Mar 29 '22 at 15:42
@Glazius there's no spoiler block in our current chat client. — AncientSwordRage, Mar 29 '22 at 17:00
Not sure if exact duplicate due to yours being mouse guard specific and it being generic play by post, but: How to certify a secret decision revealed on a delay in a play-by-post game? — Stop Being Evil, Mar 29 '22 at 19:05
What's the chat client? Every time this question comes up the answer is that there are no easy answers unless the chat client has a feature that supports it. — , Mar 30 '22 at 05:27
@Non-novelist we use stackexchange chat. Lemme edit that in. — AncientSwordRage, Mar 30 '22 at 10:33

score 5 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 30 '22 at 04:12

Use an online collaboration tool.

A common tool in the Agile programming methodology is anonymous collaborative assessment of task effort, often called "sprint poker" or "pointing poker". This involves simultaneous selection and reveal of a face-down card.

Many online tools exist to facilitate this activity, and because different teams have different requirements, the 'poker decks' can be very customizable. Your playgroup should be supported easily enough by one of these tools without going for a full-paid version.

I can personally report I was able to set up the three-actions-at-a-time structure in parabol's pointing poker engine, but many alternative online implementations of the activity are available, including on Fog Creek's own trello.

Nepene Nep · Answer 2 · 2022-04-02T20:13:56.657

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Send it in rot13

Send the messages with online encryption. You can use rot13 or any of a variety of similar encryption services. They can share what they are using to you before, or you can just use rot13 and trust people not to convert it back.

For example they could send this.

Nggnpx gur zbhfrf naq rng gurz

Which means this. You may need to send variant messages, like don't attack the mouses, defend them to help ensure they can't crack your messages.

Attack the mouses and eat them

If you don't trust them at all, you can use an encryption service that uses a password like this.

edited Apr 02 '22 at 20:13

answered Mar 30 '22 at 16:56

Nepene Nep

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I think the idea is for it to be trustless tho! – Mar 31 '22 at 00:45
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I added a trustless option. – Nepene Nep Mar 31 '22 at 10:05
Nepene Nep nice work! – Apr 01 '22 at 00:02
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Each side’s hidden actions condense down to three words, or three letters if you want to be concise. If you’re going this route, rot13 is insufficient. A given conflict can have multiple rounds as well. – okeefe Apr 02 '22 at 14:25

okeefe · Answer 3 · 2022-04-02T14:46:05.657

0

It’s a lot easier if everyone trusts each other. Each side’s selected actions are secret for at most a few minutes while the conflict is resolved. Also, you want each side to commit to their three actions but reveal them one at a time as the interactions are resolved.

Even for an in-person game, as GM I’ll write down my actions, but I don’t think anyone has ever checked.

While I have not played Mouse Guard over chat, I have for Burning Wheel, which has several similar hidden action mechanics, and I have facilitated and demoed Mouse Guard a fair bit.

edited Apr 02 '22 at 14:46

answered Mar 31 '22 at 12:58

okeefe

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Have you played mouse guard in play by chat using this advice? – AncientSwordRage Mar 31 '22 at 15:04
No, but I have played Burning Wheel over chat, which has a similar hidden action mechanic, and I have facilitated and demoed Mouse Guard a fair bit. – okeefe Apr 02 '22 at 14:19
That seems like extremely vital information to include. I've edited it in, feel free to make it your own though – AncientSwordRage Apr 02 '22 at 14:27

How can I manage player's secret actions on play by chat in Mouse Guard?

3 Answers3

Use an online collaboration tool.

Send it in rot13