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View Full Version : The Gift - UK GitP Meet-Up scenario (Attendees, feedback welcome!)



Totally Guy
2010-12-03, 02:49 AM
Tomorrow it's the UK forum meet-up and I'm running a game.

I'm running a Burning Wheel scenario called The Gift. Fundamentally it's about a party of elves visiting the dwarven halls for diplomatic talks but they forget to bring a gift with them and have violated good etiquette in doing so.

So with 8 players 4 will be playing elves and 4 will be playing dwarves on each side of the conflict.

The Dwarf Prince will believe he is entitled to jewels or a set of the finest mithril armour.
The Elf Prince believes that the gift of song and good graces is valuable enough in itself.
Then there are bodyguards and advisors on each side that all have weird complex motivations of their own.

But there are so many things that make it totally different from any other scenario type game I've run before. The main conflict comes from the other players. There is a strong set of social mechanics that can be utilised to determine who wins the argument and the level of compromise.

I'm worried that I will end up with players that will consider what I'm practising to be heresy! Social conflict, PVP, pregen characters, playing to win! Sacrilege!

Or on the other hand I'm worried that the players will compromise early to make peace because they think that's what they are supposed to do. That would kind of ruin the whole situation. I need them to want to win.

I think that as GM I might be acting as the devil upon their shoulders feeding them messages "A dwarf would dare insult your lineage? You're not going to let him get away with that are you?"

I think I'll talk to the players as they arrive to explain that it's ok to play hard and to expect things to be a little different that what they are used to...

Worry worry!:smalleek:

Kaww
2010-12-03, 03:07 AM
I would advise you not to run this. It's got so many things DMs advise not to do... And I think you know it. Also chances of it working the way you imagined are slim. It will end with people arguing, murder attempts etc. The dwarves will most likely kill the elf offenders... It may easily blow up and it's even not up to the DM to stop it since you made it happen.

It's a cool idea, good concept and it is likely it will suck when put in motion...

Totally Guy
2010-12-03, 05:26 AM
It will end with people arguing, murder attempts etc.

That's what I'm going for. Well not the end... That's more like the middle. The end is after the argument has been won or after the blood has been spilled.

They might even make friends, or team up to fight a mutual enemy. But they'll need to go through the conflict to get there.

The best roleplaying session I've ever played in was an internal conflict scenario like this one.

Totally Guy
2010-12-04, 05:56 PM
Yeah, just ran this!

The high point for me was the poison plot. The Dwarven Seneschal and Dwarven Warden went behind the prince's back to meet up with a old Gnome friend of the Seneschal to poison the elves. They failed the contact roll and the poisoner was in fact out to poison everyone, not just the elves!

So the elves arrived for breakfast and the poisoner, dressed as a jester as instructed by the Seneschal, proceeded to grant the guests cups and glasses laced with poison.

The dwarves, including the prince, greedily drank their nog, with the exception of the prince's smelly drunk uncle. He thought something was unusual as this jester was not someone he knew.

The elves poured their wine and started discussing the aroma and body of their drink when the Elven Loremaster sniffed out the poison.

The dwarves started to feel a little queasy. The prince, through pure constitution did not feel the debilitating effects. But his comrades, the Seneschal and the Warden did. The two orchestrated the plot were the only ones that fell victim to it!

The prince seeing his advisors fall immediately concluded that the elves were responsible! He ordered his soldier to find the jester for questioning.

The elves proved their glasses were poisoned too and the Dwarven Warden said that drunk Uncle Oxen was responsible. How out of character for him to refuse a drink! The Warden, weakened by poison, made a case to throw Uncle Oxen in jail for treason and the Seneschal, even weaker than the Warden, made plans to ensure the gnome poisoner would, if caught, meet an unfortunate accident before formal questioning!

GrlumpTheElder
2010-12-05, 10:02 AM
As one of the players (Seneschal Kol) I can say this was one of the best games I have played!

The thing I liked the most was probably the freedom that the players had - being able to create scenary 'n stuff - Hidden passages :smallbiggrin:

Thanks for running it Glug :smallsmile:

Tiki Snakes
2010-12-05, 11:59 AM
Sounds pretty hilarious all round, frankly. :smallsmile:

Kol Korran
2010-12-05, 04:00 PM
aaaawwww... me envy! :smallsigh: sounds like cool fun! :smallsmile:

Archonic Energy
2010-12-06, 06:46 AM
Yeah, just ran this!

The high point for me was the poison plot. The Dwarven Seneschal and Dwarven Warden went behind the prince's back to meet up with a old Gnome friend of the Seneschal to poison the elves.

Slander and lies. i'd like to see you prove this!

especially after the "escape attempt" from the gnome.

it is far more likely that the Gnomes are plotting to weaken both the dwarves and the elves by starting a war then deaking with the 2 weaken forces afterwards... :smallwink:

GrlumpTheElder
2010-12-06, 09:22 AM
Slander and lies. i'd like to see you prove this!

especially after the "escape attempt" from the gnome.

it is far more likely that the Gnomes are plotting to weaken both the dwarves and the elves by starting a war then deaking with the 2 weaken forces afterwards... :smallwink:

Yes, that's totally what happened *epic roll*

Damn Gnomes!

Capt Spanner
2010-12-06, 06:52 PM
When we (the elves) challenged Seneschal Kol (Grlump) to explain why the Gnome was in the castle, poisoning us we were told it was part of gnomish plot.

He had to roll 14 successes (4,5,6 on a D6 with 6s rolling an extra dice) on 8 dice.

At odds I've now worked out to be between 1 in 6500 and 1 in 7000, he managed.

Totally Guy
2010-12-07, 04:18 AM
I'm pretty sure he had more dice than that.

He needed to test falsehood with an obstacle of 7, but he didn't have the skill so he had to test his will untrained.

I he was testing will and he spent 1 deeds point to double the base dice he was rolling and he threw in 2 persona points to add another 2. Then he spent a fate point so that he could reroll the 6s over asnd over.

So if his will was 6 he'd have 14 dice needing 14 successes. I think this was it.


If we were playing in a long term game using advancement Grlump would have earned a significant chunk of the "experience" towards advancing his will.

As the base obstacle was 7 and his will was 6 then that's automatically a Challenging test for Will as it's impossible.
If the obstacle was lower he'd either gain a Difficult test for Will or if even lower he'd be making progress toward learning the Falsehood skill which he'd need to do (10-Will=4 times). When you learn a new skill it starts at half the stat it's based on. So Grlumps Falsehood would start at B3 but he'd need to be doing easier things than fooling elves to go to war - an obfuscate in the Duel of Wits might qualify.

To advance Will from 6 to 7 he needs to attempt 2 challenging tests (which are impossible) and 3 difficult tests. Without spending his bonus points the task would be impossible and he'd be doomed to fail. But spending the points made him able to actually succeed!

Also by spending all those points on Will he'd be able to log them. When you've spent 3 deeds, 10 persona and 20 fate on a single stat then it becomes permanently Grey (3-6 succeeds). Then every new skill you learn that is based off of that stat is also Grey. And instead of needing to attempt the skill 10-Stat times it is then 10-(Stat+2) times.

Edit: One of my players was going for a character that'd someday get grey perception. He'd start learning all the Wises he could imagine and his guy would become "Whatever he says is true" man.

Vampiric
2010-12-08, 10:27 PM
Brilliant game. Very unorthodox, but still worked well. I especially liked the 'devil on the shoulder' approach, and the impersonation of the gnome! :smallbiggrin:

I would definitely play Burning Wheel again, especially if it's Glug running it :smalltongue: