The Burning Wheel

[Wafflecart]

Hi guys, I am currently unable to find any good websites on the Burning Wheel gaming system. I know absolutely nothing about it, and would like to learn. However, I would rather know what I'm getting into before spending $35 on the rule books. This thread is for people who can hopefully give me a little insight into the system, or perhaps direct me to a helpful website, also I hope it will answer some other people's questions as well. Thanks!

[elliott20]

Here (http://www.burningwheel.org/forum/index.php) is a forum dedicated to Burning Wheel.

In the mean time, let me just say that I like burning wheel immensely for two simple reasons:

1. even powerful characters are still very much human and are quite susceptible to death.

2. while not everyone likes codifying role playing as a mechanism, to me it works extremely well in BW. The belief system, in my opinion, works very well to drive role playing interaction.

The trick here though, is to understand that BW is NOT a game that is suitable for combat or for dungeon crawling. Combat with BW is very much determined by the importance of the fight itself. An important fight with an NPC who has been a long standing villain can take an entire hour onto itself while a routine encounter is usually handled with a single die roll.

The important thing to remember when running BW is that you want to use this mantra constantly: "say yes or roll dice". What this means is that when the players ask if they can do something, you either just say yes and let them, or you tell them to roll for it. (or pay some resource for it)

The smaller conflicts work very much like D&D 3.5. Two parties do opposed rolls in one skill, compare rolls. The larger conflicts take some more time.

The larger conflict resolution system happens in three parts for the serious conflicts:

1. state you stakes: what is it you want from this conflict? you need to weigh this against what the opponent wants too. basically, you try to agree on what happens to the winner and loser of the conflict

2. resolve conflict: BW uses a rock-paper-scissor sort of system to resolve conflicts. each party prepares their action hidden from their opponent, and then they reveal them to each other at the same time, resolving them one by one to see how they perform. (reading your opponent becomes especially important)

3. make concessions: short of having a complete landslide victory, the end result is usually never so clean as to have a clear winner and clear loser. Sure, only ONE party is going to get what they want, but at great expense to themselves or to the benefit of the loser too. concessions depends entirely how both parties perform relative to each other.

[Wafflecart]

Thanks man, though now I hafta say this doesn't seem to be the system for me, seeing as how my entire group is dungeon-crawl and combat oriented. Thanks though, and I'll keep looking into it.

[elliott20]

hmm... if your group is into dungeon crawls and combat, BW might be a bit too clunky for you. BW works well when you want to play very RP intensive games that codify RPing behavior.

for dungeon crawls and such, I would stick with 3.5E.

if you ever want to try out BW in all of it's glory though, try out the stand alone book Burning Empires. It's the BW system fitted to play a Sci-fi epic.

[eepop]

Even if it doesn't sound like a game you specifically want to play, I would suggest "procuring a copy" to read over once just to see how it handles things. Just "borrow" it from someone, read it once and "give it back".

I had heard some very good things about it, but after reading over it I realized that I would probably never run a game of it (I played in one that someone else ran, and would play again).

But there are somethings that are just great in there that you can adapt for use in other games. I'm planning on adapting some of the concepts to add on to D&D 4E to compensate for its lack of much of anything non-combat related.

Its a system I would suggest everyone read at least once. For some people, it may end up being the holy grail of gaming. For others, like me, it will be a source of some good ideas.

[elliott20]

Even if it doesn't sound like a game you specifically want to play, I would suggest "procuring a copy" to read over once just to see how it handles things. Just "borrow" it from someone, read it once and "give it back".

I had heard some very good things about it, but after reading over it I realized that I would probably never run a game of it (I played in one that someone else ran, and would play again).

But there are somethings that are just great in there that you can adapt for use in other games. I'm planning on adapting some of the concepts to add on to D&D 4E to compensate for its lack of much of anything non-combat related.

Its a system I would suggest everyone read at least once. For some people, it may end up being the holy grail of gaming. For others, like me, it will be a source of some good ideas.

I totally agree with this.

While the game in it's entirety is not for everyone, concepts like scene framing, codified belief systems, traits, and scene rationing are great ideas.

one of my friend's brother actually did a whole kitbashing of 4E with a bunch of different games he had and now his current 4E game is like a combination of 4E with some bits of other indy games mixed in. it seems like great fun.