I've been looking to run a "next gen rpg" for a while, and settled on "The Mountain Witch".  The book is great, but it was the posts in these very forums that allowed me to understand the subtle points of the game without having ever actually played it before.  I hope this play report is a helpful way to say thanks.

A friend of mine is leaving the country, and I wanted to have a chance to play TMW before he moved.  Having read the descriptions (and replies) on play here I decided to not try and push the whole game through in a single session, even if we weren't going to be able to complete it.  Instead I figured that it would be better to do a solid single session rather than push the game towards a broken conclusion.  That turned out to be, in retrospect, a good instinct (as you'll see. 

Character creation went pretty well.  People got their fates together quickly, although, as mentioned here, the abilities took too long.  I think that it's hard for people to get their heads around the ideas of "effects" that don’t modify the die rolls in any way, but I found that leaning on the idea of powers that can do one thing got us through it fairly successfully.

Oh, and hiding the fates from the GM is pretty cool.  I really think it empowers the players, and gives them a sense that this isn't the "usual" kind of rpg right from the start, although it also led to some player's shutting down a little bit, since they didn't want to give away their fate too early.

Since I was trying to get a handle on things I started the session with a warm-up scene.  Everyone wanted to get to know how these characters had met, so instead of placing the players on the mountain I has them meet in a bar the night before and start talking.  One player rolled against the bar to see how well his gambling was going, and came away with a partial.

Leaving the Bar and heading up to camp on the slopes of Mt. Fuji I then sent some Baku into their pre-game "dream" sequence.  I actually had one Baku appear as one of the character's he had just met and accuse him of being an idiot for trusting him.  That was a little confusing, but ended up being okay…

The players began fighting to wake up from their nightmares.  Meanwhile as the characters did wake up they had to fight to fend off some wolves that had invaded the camp. 

At this point we were struggling with the system a little bit.  I was trying to get my head around the what the GM was, and wasn't,  supposed to do.  At first it was hard for me to remember that I wouldn't for narrating all the outcomes, although as soon as I started pitching it back to the players it went pretty well.

The best move I made all day was sending the player's into an enchanted wood.  I gave it a base of 3 dice (1 for the woods, 1 for the magic, and 1 for the darkness of the dense canopy).  When things slowed down there was always the wood to deal with, and it gave things a nice background tension.

One player used his power to shimmy up a tree, and he saw a glimmering lake a few miles in.  I'll also not that if you fell the need as a GM to narrate something, just don't make it a contested roll… This gave the player's a direction to head, and things got rolling.

The Wood's goal was to separate the players, and that worked out nicely.  They separated into two groups right away.  The first one found a ghost, who (after I asked) became one character's (Jiro) murdered father.  The ghost was pointing for them to go back, but couldn't speak.  The father's goal was to communicate, and Jiro wanted to find out if he really was his father's ghost.  The mixed success gave the father-ghost a partial he could use as damage.  This was nice because I described it as a disorienting blast of frustration.  When the Father got a success he told his son to go back.  (Advice he ignored.)

The group quickly got back together and tied themselves to each other with a rope.  I think that for people who are more used to traditional RPGs the idea that you can't "plan" your way out of a problem is a hard lesson to unlearn.  But their rope was no match for the haunted wood that rolled a six and separated them all from one another instantly.

This is when the system really got humming, as I started a "round the table" approach, giving each player a small scene on their own.

The first player (Shigeru) tried to find the other player's, but failed solidly (critical).  I sent him skidding down an embankment for his failure, and landed him in a puddle of mud for the extra partial.  (Damn that forest was mean!)  Sitting there he tried to get his wits together and listen for the others.  Failing at a critical again I had him have a slight fit of panic (partial), and discover that he had taken some damage in the fall he hadn't noticed at first (regular).

The other players used the time to try and find each other, but only managed to become more lost.  Heiji got trapped in a bog, and was able to use his rope and a critical success to finally free himself and start to find his friends.

Jiro tied his severed rope to a tree, figuring it would protect him.  Instead he failed his roll and got pulled toward some Tengu by the forest, Evil Dead style.

At this point Shigeru, covered in mud, ended up discovering one of the other Samurai who had once been a part of his household.  This Ronin now worked for the mountain witch and began to offer Shigeru a job.  Sato made his discovery roll and came upon the scene.  He immediately attacked and manged to get in a flesh wound.  Angered, the Witch's samurai began to taunt them both, laughing at how far he the mud drenched Shigeru had fallen, literally and figuratively.

During this battle the players began to see the power of working together.  Something clicked and the battle turned quickly from a slow death by a thousand cuts to a beautifully executed dual kill by both samurai.

Meanwhile, somewhere else in the forest, Jiro was having a hard time with the Tengu, although their goal was only attempting to humiliate him rather than killing him.  Jiro rolled a partial success, and then began to narrate the Tengu in a totally different way then I had planned.  That was a really surprising moment for me.  It was also when I realized that I was just as beholden to his narration as he was to mine.  In some ways I think that this was the moment things really clicked for me that this wasn’t what I was used to either.

Heiji made his discover roll and helped him to attack the Tengu.  They were angry demons but no match for my player's new understanding of the system.

At this point everyone was getting tired and had been pretty beaten up.  I ended the chapter and let them juggle their Trust.  I used the hidden allocation rules, and nobody gave anyone trust who hadn't helped them out at least a little.

After another failed attempt for the two groups to find each other I had the forest itself attempt to lead them to the next Bang I had planned, the lake in the middle of the forest.  The forest got only partials, and one group (Shigeru and Sato) made a fire and sat down for the night.  The other pushed forward and found the lake.

Since I knew by this point that Heiji had the romance fate I figured he'd dig the Bang I'd made for that.  A "Ghost Woman" living in the hut at the center of the lake. Jiro, who by this time was using his fate powers at every opportunity, pointed out that the hut had once belonged to his uncle before their family had been run off these lands.  Once again I found myself wanting to do it "my way" and finding out the system wasn't going to let me.

But in the end, although the player's found it amusing, I felt that the bitter ghost (who had murdered her husband after he had killed her lover) fell flat in comparison to the eerie malevolence of the forest itself.  I got in some fun acting, but the players were beginning to fade.

Sensing the end of the game was near Shigeru really wanted to stir things up.  He kept looking for a way to gain an advantage over Sato while he slept.  "Can I steal his sword?"

"Yes, but it'll make no difference to the actual roll he makes if and when you fight."

He wondered if he could to use the Ai-Uchi and take himself and the other player out with a Double Success.  I didn't allow it.

Instead he woke Sato up, and admitted to him Sato's master had killed his lord, and now he wanted revenge.  I told Sato he didn't have to go this way, but He went for it, and we discovered he had secretly allowed his lord to be assassinated by his son.

DrVital wrote: Oh, and hiding the fates from the GM is pretty cool.  I really think it empowers the players, and gives them a sense that this isn't the "usual" kind of rpg right from the start, although it also led to some player's shutting down a little bit, since they didn't want to give away their fate too early.

The Wood's goal was to separate the players, and that worked out nicely.

He wondered if he could to use the Ai-Uchi and take himself and the other player out with a Double Success.  I didn't allow it.

Sorry, for the late reply!

DrVital wrote:
People got their fates together quickly, although, as mentioned here, the abilities took too long.  I think that it's hard for people to get their heads around the ideas of "effects" that don’t modify the die rolls in any way, but I found that leaning on the idea of powers that can do one thing got us through it fairly successfully.

Oh, and hiding the fates from the GM is pretty cool.  I really think it empowers the players, and gives them a sense that this isn't the "usual" kind of rpg right from the start, although it also led to some player's shutting down a little bit, since they didn't want to give away their fate too early.

At this point we were struggling with the system a little bit.  I was trying to get my head around the what the GM was, and wasn't,  supposed to do.

The best move I made all day was sending the player's into an enchanted wood.

During this battle the players began to see the power of working together.  Something clicked and the battle turned quickly from a slow death by a thousand cuts to a beautifully executed dual kill by both samurai.

Jiro rolled a partial success, and then began to narrate the Tengu in a totally different way then I had planned.  That was a really surprising moment for me.  It was also when I realized that I was just as beholden to his narration as he was to mine.

Sensing the end of the game was near Shigeru really wanted to stir things up.  He kept looking for a way to gain an advantage over Sato while he slept.  "Can I steal his sword?"

"Yes, but it'll make no difference to the actual roll he makes if and when you fight."

He wondered if he could to use the Ai-Uchi and take himself and the other player out with a Double Success.  I didn't allow it.

timfire wrote:

DrVital wrote:
People got their fates together quickly, although, as mentioned here, the abilities took too long.  I think that it's hard for people to get their heads around the ideas of "effects" that don’t modify the die rolls in any way, but I found that leaning on the idea of powers that can do one thing got us through it fairly successfully.

Yeah, I'm thinking of putting up some more examples on my web page, since this continues to be a problem area. But really, I think this seems like more of a problem than it really is, 'cause the rest of chargen is so quick.

Sensing the end of the game was near Shigeru really wanted to stir things up.  He kept looking for a way to gain an advantage over Sato while he slept.  "Can I steal his sword?"

"Yes, but it'll make no difference to the actual roll he makes if and when you fight."

He wondered if he could to use the Ai-Uchi and take himself and the other player out with a Double Success.  I didn't allow it.

You could have narrated the sword stealing as damage, if you had wanted. That would have given Shigeru an advantage, though Sato could continue fighting. The Double Success Ai-Uchi is also totally acceptable. That's one of the reason I wrote those rules, for just that situation. It's a totally samurai thing to do, to give one's life for the success of your goals.