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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.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Can you do spoiler blocks in chat? Is this something your group is okay with leaving to spoiler blocks and the honors system? \$\endgroup\$
    – Glazius
    Commented Mar 29, 2022 at 15:42
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Glazius there's no spoiler block in our current chat client. \$\endgroup\$
    – AncientSwordRage
    Commented Mar 29, 2022 at 17:00
  • \$\begingroup\$ 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? \$\endgroup\$
    – Stop Being Evil
    Commented Mar 29, 2022 at 19:05
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    \$\begingroup\$ 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. \$\endgroup\$
    – user73918
    Commented Mar 30, 2022 at 5:27
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Non-novelist we use stackexchange chat. Lemme edit that in. \$\endgroup\$
    – AncientSwordRage
    Commented Mar 30, 2022 at 10:33

3 Answers 3

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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.

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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.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I think the idea is for it to be trustless tho! \$\endgroup\$
    – user73918
    Commented Mar 31, 2022 at 0:45
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    \$\begingroup\$ I added a trustless option. \$\endgroup\$
    – Nepene Nep
    Commented Mar 31, 2022 at 10:05
  • \$\begingroup\$ Nepene Nep nice work! \$\endgroup\$
    – user73918
    Commented Apr 1, 2022 at 0:02
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    \$\begingroup\$ 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. \$\endgroup\$
    – okeefe
    Commented Apr 2, 2022 at 14:25
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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.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Have you played mouse guard in play by chat using this advice? \$\endgroup\$
    – AncientSwordRage
    Commented Mar 31, 2022 at 15:04
  • \$\begingroup\$ 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. \$\endgroup\$
    – okeefe
    Commented Apr 2, 2022 at 14:19
  • \$\begingroup\$ That seems like extremely vital information to include. I've edited it in, feel free to make it your own though \$\endgroup\$
    – AncientSwordRage
    Commented Apr 2, 2022 at 14:27

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