kyoryu
2012-02-17, 03:40 PM
So I picked up Burning Wheel Gold, and am about to inflict it on my gaming group. But since there seems to be a bit of curiosity about the system, I thought I'd go ahead and post my initial impressions (before playing!).
I'll update this after I've played tomorrow, and then another sample session I'm running in two weeks.
I know that Totally Guy on this board is also active on the Burning Wheel forums, so I expect him to pipe up and tell me things I'm wrong about.
General Mechanics
Burning Wheel is a dice-pool based system that uses d6s. Like most dice pool systems, you have a number of dice that represent your abilities, and you roll all of them, counting the number of "successes." Successes in Burning Wheel are generally 4-6 on the die. This isn't always the case, but for most players it will be the case, most of the time. More on that later.
Skills or attributes can be "tested" by either rolling against a set Obstacle (need at least as many successes as the Obstacle) or a Versus test, where you compare successes with another character. The size of the dice pool you use can be increased in various ways, from using related skills, to getting help from a friend, to working carefully, or from using special game rewards. The use of helping mechanics, specifically, helps keep everyone involved.
For injury, BW uses a wounding system. Damage results in a "wound" which can have various severities, and each severity is tied to a mechanic. Multiple wounds of the same severity can combine into a single wound of a higher severity.
BW is a usage-based advancement system. You advance a skill by using it. You have to use a given skill a certain number of times at various difficulties to advance it. Generally, whether the use of the skill is successful or not is irrelevant.
Character Creation
Character creation is somewhat unique in BW, at least in my experience. To create a character, the first mechanical thing you do is choose a number of "lifepaths," which represent a period in your character's life. For instance, to create a soldier character I could have him Born Peasant, become a Foot Soldier, and finally a Sergeant. Each lifepath has a certain amount of resources associated with it, along with enabling the character to purchase skills or other character traits, and attribute bonuses.
Once this is done, you add up all of the goodies, and use them to buy Skills, Traits (which can be anything from pure adjectives, to mechanical bonuses). You use your resources to buy gear, relationships, affiliations, reputations, etc.
Show me your BITs
Arguably the most important part of character creation is the definition of your BITs. This stands for Beliefs, Instincts, and Traits.
A character generally has three Beliefs. Beliefs are things that you believe that drive your character. These aren't generally fluffy things like "we should all work together," these are more typically action-oriented, such as "I will repay my debt to my people," "The duke is evil and must be deposed - it is my duty to bring him down," or "I want to be accepted, so I will do whatever my group asks me to earn their love."
Instincts are effectively rule overrides. "I draw my sword at the first sign of trouble" is a common example. This guarantees that your character will have his sword drawn, without spending an action, and regardless of whether or not you remind the GM. Instincts can override rules as well. An Instinct of "Always start a fight in the Aggressive stance" does just that - even though the normal rule says you started in a neutral stance, and it takes an action to move to Aggressive.
Traits come in several flavors. The simplest are character traits - adjectives to describe your character. These have no direct mechanical benefit, but as we'll discuss later, they can help your advancement track.
Call-on traits allow you to reroll failures (once per session, I believe) from an associated skill. Bad Oratory roll? Call on your Silver Tongue trait, and reroll those 2s!
Die traits are general mechanical advantages that you are given, frequently in the form of a bonus die.
The importance of your BITs
BITs are nice descriptions. They're also a primary way that the game is driven.
BW has three types of game rewards, called Artha. These are Fate, Persona, and Deeds. In general, these are given due to interactions with your BITs. Does your Instinct get you into trouble? Have a Fate point. Play up a Trait? Have a Fate point. Does your Belief drive the game session forward entertainingly? Have some Persona.
In this way, your BITs act as a two way interface between you and the GM to define the type of game you want to play. If you have the Belief that the Duke needs to be overthrown, you're telling the GM that you want to play in a game that involves overthrowing the Duke (eventually, anyway). Since you will get Artha awards for following this Belief, you will try to drive the game that direction. Since a job of the GM is to challenge your Beliefs, he knows which way to drive the game, and which way you're likely to push things.
This is also an important aspect of advancement for two reasons.
First, advancing skills past a certain level requires that you tackle challenges beyond what your abilities are. This means an automatic failure, since this rating is done based on the dice used, including helping dice. However, benefits gained from Artha (extra dice, doubling a pool, "opening" 6s so that each 6 lets you roll another die) do *not* count as dice rolled, allowing you to have a chance of succeeding on these necessary tests.
Secondly, spending enough Artha on a particular skill or attribute will allow you to shift it's "Shade" from Black, to Grey, to White. This changes the target number needed to count an ability as a success. Black (default) requires 4 or higher, Grey requires 3 or higher, while White will succeed on anything but a one. This happens rarely, and is likely the result of a long campaign.
So what do you do NOW?
The primary interaction in the actual game of Burning Wheel is based around Intent and Task.
Intent is the desired outcome. "I kill this guy." "I buy a sword." "I get into the hallway without being seen." Task is how you want to accomplish your intent. "I stick my sword into him." "I scrounge up what money I have." "I sneak past the guard."
Once a player has announced his intent, the GM has three options.
1) Say yes. This should generally be done if nothing is hanging on the result.
2) Set an Obstacle or vs. test, and roll the dice! If the player succeeds, they get what they want. If they don't, it's the GM's job to introduce a complication. Their opponent parries the blow aside and counterstrikes. They go into debt to get the sword. They're too loud, and the guard notices them. It is generally recommended in the system to NOT roadblock.
3) The Intent/Task is declared invalid. This is the anti-"Magic Tea Party" clause. "I sneak past the guard by becoming invisible!" "Um, you're a soldier with no magical abilities. No." This is generally only used if the Intent or Task are truly invalid, *not* merely unlikely, or part of the plot that the GM has in mind.
A note here: Unlike in many games, the *GM* sets the skill and obstacles. The player's job is simply to declare the Intent and Task - they don't get to dictate to the GM what skill they will use, what obstacles they are facing, or anything else. This admittedly puts a lot of power in the hands of the GM - so don't play with a bad one!
The "Big Three" Systems
There are three major subsystems in the Burning Wheel - the Duel of Wits, Range and Cover, and Fight! These are used to cover social combat, ranged combat, and melee combat, respectively.
They all function somewhat similarly. A sequence is divied into three separate actions. Characters declare individual actions (in secret) for each sequence from a list of available actions. These are then run through, one at a time.
Actions happen sequentially unless specified. So if both characters in a Fight! perform a Strike, both Strikes will land, even if the result of the first one is a dead or incapacitated character.
Actions do interact with each other. For instance, a Block action will defend against a Strike action, turning it into a versus test. However, a Block action does nothing against a Push (or is it Charge?), as the character just slams the shield instead of the body, and the knockdown still happens.
The goal of this is to add a tactical dimension to target. Your actions now are not just taking advantage of your strengths, but also predicting your opponent's moves. This is more than rock-paper-scissors, however, as your opponent will have better success in some areas than others, allowing you to have some insight into what he is doing.
We're All In This Together
One interesting aspect of the game is the power that players have to change the game. This is alluded to in the section talking about Intents and Tasks, but it goes beyond that, primarily through Circles and Wises, though other skills can have an effect, too.
Wises are "knowledge" skills. They can be used to determine information about something. They can also be used to *assert* that something is true. An example of this given on the Burning Wheel site (from a game involving the system author, I believe!) is a character asserting that an NPC cares about the well-being of another NPC.
Circles allow you to whip up an NPC on demand. In a strange city? Check your Circles to see if you know anybody! The more specific you're looking for, the harder it will be. But, if you exceed the Obstacle for the Circles test, not only do you find the NPC, but you get to name them, and from then on have a 1d bonus to finding them!
The combination of this means that Burning Wheel is not a game that a GM can easily railroad, if they're playing anywhere near the intent of the system. More than just about any system I've seen, it explicitly gives players the ability to drive the game in the directions they want it to go, and forces the GM to adapt.
I'll update this after I've played tomorrow, and then another sample session I'm running in two weeks.
I know that Totally Guy on this board is also active on the Burning Wheel forums, so I expect him to pipe up and tell me things I'm wrong about.
General Mechanics
Burning Wheel is a dice-pool based system that uses d6s. Like most dice pool systems, you have a number of dice that represent your abilities, and you roll all of them, counting the number of "successes." Successes in Burning Wheel are generally 4-6 on the die. This isn't always the case, but for most players it will be the case, most of the time. More on that later.
Skills or attributes can be "tested" by either rolling against a set Obstacle (need at least as many successes as the Obstacle) or a Versus test, where you compare successes with another character. The size of the dice pool you use can be increased in various ways, from using related skills, to getting help from a friend, to working carefully, or from using special game rewards. The use of helping mechanics, specifically, helps keep everyone involved.
For injury, BW uses a wounding system. Damage results in a "wound" which can have various severities, and each severity is tied to a mechanic. Multiple wounds of the same severity can combine into a single wound of a higher severity.
BW is a usage-based advancement system. You advance a skill by using it. You have to use a given skill a certain number of times at various difficulties to advance it. Generally, whether the use of the skill is successful or not is irrelevant.
Character Creation
Character creation is somewhat unique in BW, at least in my experience. To create a character, the first mechanical thing you do is choose a number of "lifepaths," which represent a period in your character's life. For instance, to create a soldier character I could have him Born Peasant, become a Foot Soldier, and finally a Sergeant. Each lifepath has a certain amount of resources associated with it, along with enabling the character to purchase skills or other character traits, and attribute bonuses.
Once this is done, you add up all of the goodies, and use them to buy Skills, Traits (which can be anything from pure adjectives, to mechanical bonuses). You use your resources to buy gear, relationships, affiliations, reputations, etc.
Show me your BITs
Arguably the most important part of character creation is the definition of your BITs. This stands for Beliefs, Instincts, and Traits.
A character generally has three Beliefs. Beliefs are things that you believe that drive your character. These aren't generally fluffy things like "we should all work together," these are more typically action-oriented, such as "I will repay my debt to my people," "The duke is evil and must be deposed - it is my duty to bring him down," or "I want to be accepted, so I will do whatever my group asks me to earn their love."
Instincts are effectively rule overrides. "I draw my sword at the first sign of trouble" is a common example. This guarantees that your character will have his sword drawn, without spending an action, and regardless of whether or not you remind the GM. Instincts can override rules as well. An Instinct of "Always start a fight in the Aggressive stance" does just that - even though the normal rule says you started in a neutral stance, and it takes an action to move to Aggressive.
Traits come in several flavors. The simplest are character traits - adjectives to describe your character. These have no direct mechanical benefit, but as we'll discuss later, they can help your advancement track.
Call-on traits allow you to reroll failures (once per session, I believe) from an associated skill. Bad Oratory roll? Call on your Silver Tongue trait, and reroll those 2s!
Die traits are general mechanical advantages that you are given, frequently in the form of a bonus die.
The importance of your BITs
BITs are nice descriptions. They're also a primary way that the game is driven.
BW has three types of game rewards, called Artha. These are Fate, Persona, and Deeds. In general, these are given due to interactions with your BITs. Does your Instinct get you into trouble? Have a Fate point. Play up a Trait? Have a Fate point. Does your Belief drive the game session forward entertainingly? Have some Persona.
In this way, your BITs act as a two way interface between you and the GM to define the type of game you want to play. If you have the Belief that the Duke needs to be overthrown, you're telling the GM that you want to play in a game that involves overthrowing the Duke (eventually, anyway). Since you will get Artha awards for following this Belief, you will try to drive the game that direction. Since a job of the GM is to challenge your Beliefs, he knows which way to drive the game, and which way you're likely to push things.
This is also an important aspect of advancement for two reasons.
First, advancing skills past a certain level requires that you tackle challenges beyond what your abilities are. This means an automatic failure, since this rating is done based on the dice used, including helping dice. However, benefits gained from Artha (extra dice, doubling a pool, "opening" 6s so that each 6 lets you roll another die) do *not* count as dice rolled, allowing you to have a chance of succeeding on these necessary tests.
Secondly, spending enough Artha on a particular skill or attribute will allow you to shift it's "Shade" from Black, to Grey, to White. This changes the target number needed to count an ability as a success. Black (default) requires 4 or higher, Grey requires 3 or higher, while White will succeed on anything but a one. This happens rarely, and is likely the result of a long campaign.
So what do you do NOW?
The primary interaction in the actual game of Burning Wheel is based around Intent and Task.
Intent is the desired outcome. "I kill this guy." "I buy a sword." "I get into the hallway without being seen." Task is how you want to accomplish your intent. "I stick my sword into him." "I scrounge up what money I have." "I sneak past the guard."
Once a player has announced his intent, the GM has three options.
1) Say yes. This should generally be done if nothing is hanging on the result.
2) Set an Obstacle or vs. test, and roll the dice! If the player succeeds, they get what they want. If they don't, it's the GM's job to introduce a complication. Their opponent parries the blow aside and counterstrikes. They go into debt to get the sword. They're too loud, and the guard notices them. It is generally recommended in the system to NOT roadblock.
3) The Intent/Task is declared invalid. This is the anti-"Magic Tea Party" clause. "I sneak past the guard by becoming invisible!" "Um, you're a soldier with no magical abilities. No." This is generally only used if the Intent or Task are truly invalid, *not* merely unlikely, or part of the plot that the GM has in mind.
A note here: Unlike in many games, the *GM* sets the skill and obstacles. The player's job is simply to declare the Intent and Task - they don't get to dictate to the GM what skill they will use, what obstacles they are facing, or anything else. This admittedly puts a lot of power in the hands of the GM - so don't play with a bad one!
The "Big Three" Systems
There are three major subsystems in the Burning Wheel - the Duel of Wits, Range and Cover, and Fight! These are used to cover social combat, ranged combat, and melee combat, respectively.
They all function somewhat similarly. A sequence is divied into three separate actions. Characters declare individual actions (in secret) for each sequence from a list of available actions. These are then run through, one at a time.
Actions happen sequentially unless specified. So if both characters in a Fight! perform a Strike, both Strikes will land, even if the result of the first one is a dead or incapacitated character.
Actions do interact with each other. For instance, a Block action will defend against a Strike action, turning it into a versus test. However, a Block action does nothing against a Push (or is it Charge?), as the character just slams the shield instead of the body, and the knockdown still happens.
The goal of this is to add a tactical dimension to target. Your actions now are not just taking advantage of your strengths, but also predicting your opponent's moves. This is more than rock-paper-scissors, however, as your opponent will have better success in some areas than others, allowing you to have some insight into what he is doing.
We're All In This Together
One interesting aspect of the game is the power that players have to change the game. This is alluded to in the section talking about Intents and Tasks, but it goes beyond that, primarily through Circles and Wises, though other skills can have an effect, too.
Wises are "knowledge" skills. They can be used to determine information about something. They can also be used to *assert* that something is true. An example of this given on the Burning Wheel site (from a game involving the system author, I believe!) is a character asserting that an NPC cares about the well-being of another NPC.
Circles allow you to whip up an NPC on demand. In a strange city? Check your Circles to see if you know anybody! The more specific you're looking for, the harder it will be. But, if you exceed the Obstacle for the Circles test, not only do you find the NPC, but you get to name them, and from then on have a 1d bonus to finding them!
The combination of this means that Burning Wheel is not a game that a GM can easily railroad, if they're playing anywhere near the intent of the system. More than just about any system I've seen, it explicitly gives players the ability to drive the game in the directions they want it to go, and forces the GM to adapt.