I've only played The Mountain Witch once, with Tim Kleinert, at one of the Double Exposure conventions a while back. Still, I thought I could run it without much difficulty. So, I fearlessly printed out character sheets and gave a brief description of the game to the players who were unfamiliar with it.

We had a small crowd. The players were Tim, Russell, Krista, and Frank. Tim and Krista are fairly regular players in my indie games, but Russell and Frank were new to the group. I'd met Russell at the DE conventions and played with him a few times, and I thought he'd fit in well. I've known Frank for a while, though I hadn't seen him in years. We'd played together in local LARPs, but never table top.

The game felt a bit sluggish and weak to me, for which I blame only myself. I'd been at a Mardi Gras party the night before, and I'd slept almost the entire day recovering. I've also developed a bad habit from all the indie games I've played -- I don't prepare much. With great games that run beautifully with little or no prep, I've stopped really doing much in the way of preparing for sessions, figuring I can just "run with it" during the game itself.

Characters
Tim and Krista took one of the pregen characters from the demo kit, while Russell and Frank created their own.

Tim - Sonjo (Dog) - Ronin because he failed his master and was dismissed from service. He wanted the money to pay for his entry into another bushido school, so that he can regain his honor through service to a new lord. (I think)

Russell - Sato Tokubei (Monkey) - Ronin because his lord was killed in battle. He wanted the money to buy his own estate.

Krista - Kajiwara (Horse) - Uhmm...can't remember more info about her character. Hopefully she can fill it in if she reads this thread.

Frank - Kudo Sanjiro (Rat) - I can't remember why he became ronin in the first place, but he wanted the money in order to buy his own boat and become a merchant captain.

Act 1
The players began their trek up the mountain, fighting off wolves and giant spiders. The wolves were actually pretty tough and did some serious damage to Russell's character, mostly because I couldn't recall the combat rules and flubbed it a bit. There was some more issues with rules (who gets narration when, etc.) that came about because I didn't bone up on the rules before playing.

Act 2
The players reached the residence of the Mountain Witch, and encountered general weirdness (sounds are strangely muted, tracks don't show up even on snow, etc.) and a lack of any opposition. When they split up to explore, the Witch sent each of them a message targeted to their Dark Fates. I flat-out told the players to narrate the message, both so that the other players (but not characters) could appreciate what was happening, but also to give me more information as the GM how they wanted to see their Fates play out.

I really stepped back (mechanically speaking) for this part, and let the players work things out in character. I suggested and lead to certain things in an effort to keep events moving, and it seemed to work out well, from my point of view, at least. Kudo was rattled by a ghostly encounter, Kajiwara and Sato had a bit of posturing over what to do, and Sonjo quietly assessed the others and took a stance about honor.

It was interesting to see the players allay their characters as you might expect from the zodiacs -- Sonjo backed up Kajiwara as leader, while Kudo and and Sato began working together naturally (though they don't trust each other entirely, of course).

Conclusion
Everyone seemed pretty happy to take a break and finish the game next week.

I'm going to reread the rules and see just how badly I mangled the mechanics and come up with some ideas for the ending. To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised at all if the Dark Fates explode in Act 3, leading to PC on PC violence and death in Act 4. The Witch might escape death completely.

Dark Fate Cards...
...are easily destroyed by the grease from Chinese take out. Any way to get new ones?

Andrew wrote:
Dark Fate Cards...
...are easily destroyed by the grease from Chinese take out. Any way to get new ones?

Andrew wrote:
Krista - Kajiwara (Horse) - Uhmm...can't remember more info about her character. Hopefully she can fill it in if she reads this thread.

pedyo wrote:
And 1-year-old children are just too dangerous to be let anywhere near them!!!
/Peter

I like the way we're going and I'm especially looking forward to when our dark fates start smacking us around.

Sato has been an interesting character choice for me because I can see him going in many different directions despite the single-mindedness of his purpose when I drew him up.

As far as the pacing of the game, I don't think there's anything wrong with you making suggestions to keep us moving along. I know there's a concern about coming off as forceful, guiding the action, but if it feels sluggish don't be afraid to inject some ideas.

The amount of player involvement (especially narrating your own victories) requires a more active stance from the players. There's nothing wrong with demanding that from us. Outright telling us that until we suggest bigger actions we'll just spin our wheels. I think we'll have plenty of ideas since most of us are LARP experienced, where if you don't make your own fun you'll be bored for quite a while waiting for the GM to wander over.