Character-burning

First off Charred is your best friend. Free, browser-based, Burning Wheel character creation app. Useable on mobile, even.

Place holder for discussion to take place on this topic.

I have used charred twice before, yeah

Please do not create/submit a character until we have gotten to that stage in the discussion.

Ok

Duly noted.

Playing around with Charred is good, great way to learn the ins and outs of BW character creation, but yeah no point in submitting anything until we've talked thru it.

Alright, so, here's what we have:

Setting:
Big Picture:
Starting Situation:
So, what we need to achieve through character burning is... like, five-fold.

When players create their characters for a BW campaign, they are writing the plot of the campaign. Does everyone understand the significance of that? Especially in contrast to how a campaign might be developed in a more traditional system (ie by the GM)?

The only things that go on in a BW campaign - the only things that get "screen-time", or even dice rolls - are things that directly related to the Big Picture, the Starting Situation, or PC Beliefs (which are largely shaped by the BP and SS). There are no random encounters in BW, there is no such thing as a sandbox campaign in BW. Essentially, the things written down under each PCs Beliefs are BW. Beliefs are The Game.

The significance of Beliefs is very important to understand, because they're perhaps the hardest part to "get right" when you're GMing a BW campaign.

I feel like participation is severely trailing off... Do people want to start throwing out character concepts and associated Beliefs, or should I just give some "pre-gen" PCs as examples, to illustrate what you need to do when moderating this process as GM?

I think a pregen might help.

So I know this is getting ahead of ourselves, but how does one prep adventures/sessions/whatever for a game like this, where players have such a strong degree of narrative control? You try to get people to nail down beliefs before the end of session zero and prep around those beliefs?

That said I'd like to burn characters, personally, but you're kind of right that it's hard to say that participation is going great.

This a great topic for discussion.

I'll take it to the "Applied Mechanics" thread so as not to detail this one.

Standby for a "pre-gen" (only talking concept and Beliefs, no actual numbers yet).

Perhaps an example character would be helpful? I haven't had the chance to go through a lot of the burning wheel material yet.

First of all, for a campaign like this - where characters are essentially Nobility and other state-level power players - I think we're looking at a 5 LP character creation. Although I'm not gonna look at LPs/mechanical character creation yet.

So, one of the most important things players do when they create their PCs is: they create in-game realities. Remember, the PC Beliefs ARE the campaign, which means the PCs are truly the central plot figures. Moreso than in any other rpg. The PCs are more than just the heroes/stars OF the story, they ARE The Story.

For example, all we have above for the Starting Sitch is "it's a contentious succession". Via character and Belief creation, we need to determine HOW is it contentious, WHAT is making it that way?

So, my "pre-gen" concept is The Chief's Bastard Son, and my No. 1 Belief is - The Chief has no legitimate-born heir, but the People know and love me. I must get the Constabulary to support my bid for the Seat to have a shot at this...

Look at all of the campaign realities I've created with these few sentences:

1. The Chief has no legitimate heir. This informs us as to how the succession is contentious.

2. I am his illegitimate child. This further informs the succession situation.

3. The People know and love me. This establishes that despite being a Bastard, I'm a "public figure" in our Homeland, and maybe further more that I've been raised in the Court?

4. I've established that, to have a shot at ascending to the Chiefdom, I must have the Constabulary behind me. Why? That hasn't necessarily been determined yet, but several logical conclusion could be made about that...

Making sense?

Questions?

With no legitimate heir, who else would have a shot at the Chiefdom?

Right, that makes sense.

I feel like with no legit heir you'd have a strong contender in the form of either the guy in charge of the military, or an Achilles-type charismatic figure who has won glory on the battlefield.

Absolutely! Both seem viable to me.

Note tho, I established - no legitimate heir. There could be a legitimate successor... Perhaps the brother or sister of the deceased Chief, who themselves could be old and dieing, or unpopular, or whatever, and therefore not widely supported even if they have a legitimate claim?

How complicated do we want the succession picture? Sounds like 3 or 4 different parties could be in the running.

Next, what we would need to decide is do we want any of the PCs to be at that level - do we want the successors as PCs? Or do we want our story to be the people surrounding those people, maneuvering for their chosen leige?

I love the idea of the dying sibling.

I like the concept but I really want a dying rightful heir to be something that is to be strongly avoided. Maybe someone given to fits of madness?

I'm not sure about having the heirs as PCs! It's definitely an option, even a good option. Just unsure.

Agreed. Something is going on that, while they may be the rightful choice, makes them not a good choice.

If we don't feel like advanced age, and/or poor health is enough, madness seems like a good option to me as well.

So, start throwing out some examples of concepts you'd like to play in a campaign like this. Think about Beliefs, and what your "real" goals are with character creation in BW.

Create THE Story.

Dictate important in-game realities.

Determine the bearing of the campaign.

Moved.

How about this; once/if you have a character concept that you want to explore, create a thread entitled by the concept, and we'll take a look at Beliefs from there.

Otherwise this thread could just get... unmanageable.