It's That Time Again...

... who wants to try to do some Burning Wheel!?!

Seems like every 6 months to a year, I get the itch to try to make it happen. I'd be interested in trying to run something or play.

Anyone else interested, curious, or appalled by the idea?

I did buy the books from the author, some years ago. Never got any further than that

It's a very... special... RPG.

Playing it is a little like trying to repair an old pocket watch. You can see all of these beautiful pieces that are made to fit together so precisely, and form this intricate mechanism that combine into a thing of beauty. But if you don't understand how the pieces fit together, it's impossible to get it to work...

I've ran or played in I think four or five, maybe more, games of it here on GP, and I think only one has gotten to the 6 month mark. Most have died either before starting actual play (it can have a rather lengthy and involved "session zero" process), or shortly after beginning play.

It's actually a great system for PbP, mechanics-wise. They're very basic. But the game itself tends to be heavy and cerebral and intensely rp driven.

After all the failures, I think I've learned two things:

1. Don't try to teach ppl the system with your PbP game. So, any accepted players would have to have read and understand particularly Beliefs, Instincts, and Traits. But also the dynamics of the core, Task and Intent mechanic...

2. Don't do the session zero, campaign burning part. The GM needs to have the general world built or designated, a Big Picture and Starting Situation defined and ready to go, and the players need to just buy into that. No fuss, no muss.

I’m intrigued. Reading about it and looking over the free version a little bit, it sounds like something I’d be interested in trying out.

Yeah guess I could have linked the free Hub and Spokes.

And the browser based character creator, Charred.

I enjoyed reading it when it first came out, and could visualise the great potential it has. Never played a game yet though.

Hmm, looks interesting, I'll give it a read first.

I'm thinking of going with a dwarf artificer.

Heh, yea, no, that's not really how it works...

PCs must be highly tailored to the setting, Big Picture, and Starting Situation.

Like I said... it's a fiddly bit of machinery.

Coming in with pre-conceived character concepts usually doesn't work out to well, cuz it's not just a dungeon-crawling game, or even usually not a high-adventure game where any old adventurer makes sense fitting into the story.

OMG so many autocorrect errors.

I'd be interested

I see. I should wait for your idea first. Btw, this does look pretty complex. I think I'll wait first to see if the spots are filled, and if not then I'll join in.

It has a lot of complex mechanics that may be added if it makes sense for the game, but the core mechanic is very simple, and is capable of handling anything, so long as the table is okay with not using that granularity (which just potentially "flattens out" some of the nuance possible between different character types).

It is conceptually complex in how your rp ties into Beliefs/Instincts/Traits and in turn how that ties into Artha, and how the gameplay at best revolves around those B/I/Ts to earn Artha. But it's also what created the pretty unique gameplay that defines Burning Wheel.

The "skills advance by using them" mechanic requires a bit of bookkeeping, but is a cool take on advancement in that way.

But yes, character concepts shouldn't be formed until a game concept is formed.

That said, while there is enough interest, it doesn't sound like there's much practical/actual play experience. Which... is a huge road block. But I find myself thinking the same thing I always do it this point, "How can I ever expect to find ppl to play with/expect the player-base to grow, if I don't play with ppl who've never played/introduce ppl to the system?"

I'm at least familiar with everyone here by username/reputation, if not by in-game experience, so that gives me hope...

Let me think about it. It takes a lot of time and energy to teach this system...