<strong>Goals, and how to create them</strong><br/><br/>Each character has a Goal—a task, mission or vow that he is trying to complete. A Goal can be accomplished in one session of play (one GM Turn and one Player Turn). This means that most Goals change every session. You write a new Goal for the session based on the mission handed down from the GM for this session and based on the developments in the previous session. Accomplishing your Goal earns a reward. You want to be rewarded at the end of every session, so make sure you accomplish what you set out to do!<br/><br/>At the beginning of each session, write a Goal for your character. A Goal is some action or deed you want to accomplish in that session. A Goal must be something appropriate to your missions and duties as a guardmouse. And a Goal must be something you can reasonably accomplish this session. You might not get there, but it’s got to be possible if you try.<br/><br/><strong>A Goal includes a statement about your character, an action, and a target. Really good goals include a condition on top of those.</strong><br/><br/>A Goal includes one of the following imperatives:<em>I will, I will not, I must, I must not.</em><br/><br/>A Goal includes an action like these:<em>find, stop, return, rebuild, demonstrate, protect, feed.</em><br/><br/>These are example targets:<em>the grain peddler, the Patrol, DeeDee, Baba, some other character, etc.</em><br/><br/>These are example conditions which will help you accomplish your Goal:<em>quickly, why they have stopped.</em><br/><br/>A Goal is not an immediate or simple action. “I’m going to make a pie!” is not an appropriate Goal for this game. Neither is a Goal a far off wish, “I will bring peace to the Territories!” nor “I will prove that I am worthy of promotion.”<br/><br/>In play, the GM uses your Goal as a guideline for what you’re interested in playing during this session. Once I know what you want to accomplish, I’m going to throw obstacles in your way. A hero is defined not by what shining gem he ultimately captures, but by what obstacles he overcomes to reach his Goal. So, when you see a hurdle in your path, run toward it. Don’t avoid it. Those obstacles are the moments when you get to define yourself as a hero. Succeed or fail, it doesn’t matter. You must try. And if you keep trying, you’ll succeed. The only thing that can stop a guardmouse is death—and even that rarely works!<br/><br/>A Goal is accomplished when the conditions you’ve written down are fulfilled during play. If there’s a question, the other players and the GM can decide as a group if the conditions were completed or not. You get one Goal per session. If your Goal is not accomplished by the end of the session, you should change it at the start of the next one. Rewrite it to make sure you can accomplish it in the next session. Don’t sit on an unaccomplishable Goal. You want to accomplish your Goals. Achieving your Goal gets you rewarded. Rewards are good! You can use them to help you accomplish your next Goal.<br/><br/>Along with introducing our characters in the narrative thread, let's create our Goals here, and add them to our character sheet.