This is our second article in our series on The Burning Wheel, find the first here.
Character Burner
The Big Picture and the current situation
Before characters are created and the game officially begins, you need to discuss content and expectations. This discussion goes back to a part of the social contract. This will help your group create thematically appropriate characters and allow all player voices to be heard.
What is The Big Picture and what do we mean by “the current situation”? Let’s look at LoTR as an example.
The Big Picture could be: “An evil necromancer is building an army to take over the world.” The current situation could be stated like this: “The Necromancer’s Favored Ring has come into possession of the party. You must take the ring to the Necromancer’s Forge and destroy it.” These two things allow for easier player buy-in. Which, as I have stated in my Social Contract series, is very important to any game.
This a purpose of session zero; to iron out such details and help the GM and the players understand what type of game they will be playing. For the GM it also allows them to tailor the world to their PC’s. It also allows PCs to temper their understanding of the type of game being run. That’s a lot of jargon, so let’s break this down step by step.
These steps are where (I think) Burning Wheel feels heavy to new players. I will not sugar coat it, it is heavy and involved and will take a full session. There will be many flips throughout the book for reference and looking things up. I will tell you this as well: It. Is. Worth. It. I mean it.
The other big portion of session zero is character creation. Through character creation, you will be discussing plot and what you want out of the story being told. Also, within character creation, you will learn the basic mechanics of the game. In a well run Burning Wheel session zero all players are engaged at all times. A great Burning Wheel GM will ensure that this carries on once the game starts.
Burning Wheel has a character burning workbook that you can use. In fact I highly recommend you do so. I have played in three Burning Wheel chronicles and I use it every time.
Lifepaths
When burning a character your decision points are called Lifepaths. A typical Burning Wheel game will have around 4 Lifepaths. The main book includes the following Lifepaths:
Lifepaths of Dwarves
Lifepaths of Elves
Lifepaths of Men
Lifepaths of Orcs
Each includes multiple settings. For example, The Lifepaths of Man includes the noble court setting, peasant setting, sailor setting and many more. Each provides stats, including any prerequisites for taking that path, how many years your character spent in character doing that path, the skills taught to those on that path, and lead-outs to other paths, among other things.
Conclusion
This is only the surface of what Burning Wheel offers as a game. These are my experiences, but I’m sold by the game.
Pros:
Cheap. All you need is the Burning Wheel Gold which costs $35. In fact here is a link to order it directly from the Burning Wheel HQ. Burning Wheel webstore.
Uses d6’s. No other dice needed.
Very active community on both Reddit and elsewhere on the interwebs.
Cons:
Is heavy on the front end and can take some time to fully grasp certain game concepts.
Is tailored to the fantasy genre. Tolkien-esque fantasy. While I don’t see that as a con, some might.
No PDF’s. The books are not in PDF form. Buy the physical product. With the exception of the character workbook, character sheet, reference chats and some pre-made scenarios, no full copy of the book has been made available by Luke and none is ever planned.
Give Burning Wheel a chance. It is my favorite fantasy setting – hands down. As always please leave feedback or questions. Thanks for reading. If you’d like to learn more, let us know and we can plan more articles.
Scott is a true analog gamer doing everything from pen and paper RPG’s to board games and everything in-between. He started out with Advanced D&D 2nd edition at the age of 10. From there he likes all genres and types, from the well known big names to smaller indie print publishers. Scott is Vice-President of The Wrecking Crew
*Note, all opinions are the opinions of their respective Authors and may not represent the opinion of the Editor or any other Author of Keep On the Heathlands.
Looking for a Jumpstart for your Vampire: The Masquerade Game? Check Out Dark New England: Five Chronicle Jumpstarts on the Storytellers Vault!
Hello there, please come in and sit. I understand your teacher has found time for you to learn the secrets of the Wheel. Don’t let this large tomb scare you. I promise it’s not as intimidating as it looks. Please pull up a seat, grab your paper, ink, and quill and I shall educate you all about the Burning Wheel.
We shall begin at the beginning as a history of a subject helps us understand it and makes us less likely to repeat past transgressions. From there we shall take a short walk around the Hub of the Wheel which will explain the draw of this tomb. Then we shall pack our faithful steeds and travel the lands and see the different types of characters one can meet.
You don’t have a faithful steed? No worries, I can supply one.
Along the path you will see the many styles and Paths that Life can take for the denizens of our world. Along with this will be the List of Traits and Skills that these different people use in their daily lives.
Past these areas, we will arrive at the Rim of the Wheel. This is where lesser known and utilized knowledge can be found. It is still good to know and have an understanding of, even if one may never have need of it.
Finally, upon returning here, we will conclude our journey with a celebratory toast and good food. After all traveling and learning can make one hungry, can they not?
History
Created by Luke Crane, The Burning Wheel is held in high esteem within many RPG circles. The Burning Wheel was first released in 2002 as two volumes: The Burning Wheel Fantasy Roleplaying System and The Burning Wheel Character burner. At the time, its approach to fantasy fiction in a pen and paper RPG setting was fresh. It put character at the forefront of the story in ways that hadn’t been done before. Through the Beliefs and Intents System players are constantly working toward goals and experience challenges to overcome along the way. Such a mechanic has shown up in numerous other games since, from Apocalypse world with the History stat, to Onyx Path’s Storyteller System and its Aspirations mechanic.
Later these two volumes were published with a crisper system in the Burning Wheel Gold Edition book.
The Burning Wheel is inspired by the settings and themes from fantasy fiction’s biggest names, Tolkien, Ursula K. Le Guinn, and Stephen Donaldson. As mentioned in the beginning of the Gold edition, the game is also heavily influenced by the historical accounts of Barbara Tuchman and Desmond Seward. This helps to create a vibrant, yet dirty and complicated world. A world that is not listed in the rulebook, per se.
The “world” is created via interaction between the GM and her players. Be this law, beliefs, or otherwise, the world is developed through GM and player discussion. This was intentional. Players and GM’s are treated with a high level of respect out the gate by clearly stating that any world the authors could create and put into the book would pale in comparison to what the players can generate.
Getting things done: Dice, Difficulty, and Obstacle
Like any RPG, Burning Wheel uses dice as a resolution mechanic. Nothing new there. It uses standard six-sided dice. Again nothing too foreign. It’s approach to how the dice are used and the way tests are marked is a bit different. So let’s look at that.
The Spokes of the Wheel
One of the most important concepts to The Burning Wheel is an idea called ‘Intent and Task’. When a player wants to accomplish an action, the GM should ask directly, “What is your Intent? What do you want to see happen?” Based on the player’s response, the task should become clear. “I kill him” is an appropriate intent. The GM then needs to pull out a little more information to get to the task. “I strangle him with my bare hands” or “I stab him with my knife” would imply a brawling or knife test.
As the above examples show once a character’s intent has been stated, the GM can apply the proper task. Along with determining the difficulty of the task known as the obstacle, this sets up the ability to roll the dice and determine the outcome of the role. Let’s look at an example.
Here is how a skill could appear on your character sheet:
Inconspicuous B3
Let’s break this down. The first part is the skill name: Inconspicuous. The second: the shade of the skill. Skills are broken down into three different shades. These are Black, Grey, and White. The shade of your skill determines what number on a d6 is a success.
Black: 4 and up
Grey: 3 and up
White: 2 and up
It should be noted, that grey and white shades are advanced aspects and come into play rarely.
Finally, the number 3 tells us how many dice to roll.
Determining the number of successes we need depends on the task and is decided by the GM. The difficulty is referred to as The Obstacle, often shortened to ob. The higher the obstable, the more difficult the task. So let’s look at an example.
I want to sneak up and take out a guard. Not kill them, just get past them unnoticed and out of the city walls. (note the intent here: sneak up and take out a guard, but not kill them.)
The GM decides this is a risky act, which is considered an obstacle 4 task So ze announces that getting passed the guard unnoticed would be an ob 4 Inconspicuous test. We would roll 3d6 and be looking for 4-6 on the dice. If we get 4 successes then we succeed.
But how can we get 4 successes if we only have 3 dice? There are three answers to that question:
You get help from other players. Each player can assist with one applicable skill agreed on by the GM. When they do you receive 1 additional die to your roll.
You can spend Artha. Artha is made of three pools. Fate and Persona can be spent to assist rolls and are used for different purposes. Fate can be spent after a roll has been made. When spending a point of Fate any die that comes up as a 6 can be re-rolled to get more successes, which are called open-ended rolls.
Persona allows you to add 1 die to your roll for each point you spend.
You don’t. You fail, which is a good thing.
Now, why would you CHOOSE to fail? Because in Burning Wheel you have to accrue a certain number of tests to increase your statistics. There are three different types of tests that help to increase a stat. These are routine, difficult, and challenging. To increase your number from b3 to b4 requires a certain number of each type of tests. The test type (routine, difficult, or challenging) depends on how many dice you are rolling. At some point, if you want to advance, you HAVE to attempt an action that will fail.
Failure is Good
This is part of why I love Burning Wheel. The system rewards failure. In fact, you HAVE to fail in order to progress and improve your skills and stats. Now, I know failure(, in most games,) is not fun and most of the time that uncertainty is scary. That’s fine because the GM must tell you what will happen if you fail BEFORE you roll the dice. That way you can decide if you want to actually do the task. So let’s look back at our example:
GM: In order to sneak past the guard will be an ob 4 test as the guard is attentive and alert. If you pass you tell me how you sneak past them unnoticed. If you fail the guard will stop you and will send you to the dungeon.
You now know exactly what will happen. No surprises. No guesswork. If you pass you get to narrate the action as you see it unfold. If you fail the GM has told you EXACTLY what will happen. This is player agency at its finest. It allows the players to shape the story in their own words because know the effect that their actions will have on the story. At my table, we embrace failure because failure gives way to interesting situations, which gives way to plot.
Burning Wheel stresses another important thing to remember: don’t always roll dice. You only roll dice when there is an unsure element in a scene. In fact, there is a rule: “Say yes or roll the dice.” Conflict in Burning Wheel is multi-faceted.There can be fighting, duels of wits, and many other forms of conflict. (Much like life.) However, if an action is not important or inconsequential to the story simply say yes and get back on track.
In our Next Article, We’ll Discuss Session Zero and Character Creation in The Burning Wheel
Scott is a true analog gamer doing everything from pen and paper RPG’s to board games and everything in-between. He started out with Advanced D&D 2nd edition at the age of 10. From there he likes all genres and types, from the well known big names to smaller indie print publishers. Scott is Vice-President of The Wrecking Crew
*Note, all opinions are the opinions of their respective Authors and may not represent the opinion of the Editor or any other Author of Keep On the Heathlands.
Welcome back! Last weeks article! This week we finally cover the all-important question of what game the group will sit down and play. For me this mainly comes down to knowing the amount of player “buy-in” that each person is willing to give for the game. This buy-in will vary between each game. Some games require more than others. Each game has the same basic types of buy-in:
So many games so little time
What game are we going to run?
Cost of the game.
Prep time for both GM and Player
Amount of shared (or not shared) duties when playing the game
Let’s break down each of these four points and see what each means in terms of buy-in.
As always I will give examples in italics with regards to my home groups.
What game are we going to play?
Let’s get to the meat and potatoes of this week’s topic on the Social Contract. What game will we play? This will depend on group preference. With so many genres and different styles to choose from it’s easy to get lost in the sheer vastness of games currently available. In fact, let me break it down like this. Let’s look at three generic genres and I will give a list under each for five types of games. The three genres we will use will be very generic but the games under each will vary, while still falling under the parent genre.
Fantasy
D&D (Pick your edition)
Houses of the Blooded
Burning Wheel
Within the Ring of Fire
Homecoming
Sci-Fi
Shadowrun
Era: The Consortium
Coriolis
Paranoia
Eclipse Phase
Horror
Wraith: The Oblivion
Kult
Sins of the Father
Call of Cthulhu
Night’s Black Agents
Now I would expect most people (gamers) have heard of some, if not most of these games. However, this shows the multitude of options for games to choose from. D&D is an obvious choice and I could whip up a 5th edition character in about 10 minutes and a 2nd edition character in maybe half an hour or so (it’s been awhile since I messed with 2nd edition). So that doesn’t take much investment on my part to make a character. From a GM standpoint it isn’t a big thing to pull together a game either. Give me about 10 minutes and I can do a one shot session for D&D no problem. In fact, if I don’t want to do that, I can go onto Wizards of the Coasts’ site and get one directly from them for not much money.
Now on the opposite end, I would put Burning Wheel. Burning Wheel has one of the most interesting dice mechanic and character creation processes I have personally seen, and I am a big fan. For a lot of people, it can take a bit of time to wrap their head around how the system works. A character in Burning Wheel still takes me about 2 or 3 hours if I make them all in one go. More often than not, I will sweat over details and nitpick different aspects of what I can possibly do. From a GM standpoint, most of the time for a Burning Wheel game I can only sketch out a rough plot before my players have their characters made, or burned, in Burning Wheel parlance.
Also, an important topic is type of game. This not only covers what people find enjoyable, but also covers what people might be uncomfortable with. This is a delicate subject and one that may need to be discussed in private, however, these discussions must occur.
A couple of years ago I ran a Wraith: The Oblivion game at Gen Con. The game had a caution on that the game would contain mature subject matter, as it was taking place during the days leading up to the liberation of prisoners at Auschwitz. The players were recently deceased who had to keep their remaining family members safe until the liberation. That is very heavy in terms of theme and subject matter. It’s not for everyone. So please, make sure to discuss the type of game you want to play with your group.
One of the pricier gems of my collection
Cost of the Game
When it comes to game cost in regards to buy-in, the real question at hand is how much will each person have to spend to play the game. Let’s be honest here and now though, in reality only one person NEEDS to buy the books. However, it will often better suit the group to have multiple copies of the book for rules reference.
Okay now that you have read that, let’s continue. Most books will run about 60.00 US dollars. Add into this dice… which… you can never have too many dice.
Dice normally will run about 10-12 dollars for a standard set. Copies of character sheets and pencils are honestly very small cost and negligible. So at the very minimum, if each person buys a main book and only one set of dice, they are looking at about 75 dollars’ investment. Add in pencils and paper for copies and let’s round-up to 80 dollars.
Overall this is not much more than a video game these days. So I don’t see the need to balk at this. However, there is more to this really than just a main book and some dice. At least with regards to the buy-in aspect of a game.
Prep time for both GM and players
This is a lot like work!
The time from when a game is chosen and when it starts really is the time for the GM to get their story down on paper and make notes. This honestly can only be done to a certain degree. Most games recommend (and in the case of some, require) that you do a character creation session with all the players and the GM as a group. So, prior to this it is a good idea for all involved to read up on any pertinent details. The game world (if one exists), overall game rules and especially character creation rules.
Reading up on this is no different than studying for a class. You are learning how the game is run and how the system works. Now I can hear a lot of you saying that “can’t I just have this taught to me during character creation?”
Yes…you can and if your GM offers pre-made characters this may be an option to try a game out. However, when making characters for a game it is a good idea to know the rules at least as they pertain to your character.
A great example I like to give of knowing the rules as they pertain to your character is from Shadowrun. Shadowrun is a very crunchy simulationist system at its heart. As such, the different types of characters you can play use different rule sets. When running this game, I let my players know that they are responsible for knowing their character and the rules governing them. This helps speed up combat especially, and keeps the game moving overall.
So, take the time to read and learn the game. Do your homework, so to speak. Invest the time to know and understand the game system, the world, and special rules. I promise you will be happier for it in the long run. One thing I like to do is read up on character creation and mark down any questions I have for the GM during the character creation session. Simple things like this can go a long way to making the game more fun for you, the other players, and the GM.
For the GM prepping requires even more work. They have to know the system, and have to plan out how the characters are involved in this story. PC’s are the main protagonists in a story, so, it is important to have the story revolve around them. This means that the GM can honestly only do so much planning and prepping prior to running a homemade game as opposed to a published scenario.
All of this means that the GM needs to sit down with the players and be an active part of character creation. Doing so allows them to flesh their story out around the players and this is essential.
Character Creation
This is a special portion of buy-in. Different games have different levels of character creation. Some are more involved than others. The reason this is something to discuss is not every player wants to spend 4 hours poring over a character they may only play 3 or 4 times. So know what kind of time character creation can leech. Most games ask that the first real session of a game be entirely comprised of character creation. This is a great idea. It allows for the group to discuss what each other wants to play and to build off of that.
Discussion and dialogue is what this process is really about. From what race/roles each player will fill in the game, to defining parts of the game world, this process helps to make the players really feel invested in the world. Questions can be answered as well, both in terms of rules or related to character creation choices that will require GM approval.
Amount of shared (or not shared) duties when playing the game
Finally, when speaking about buy-in aspects of a game, there is the discussion of how many shared or not shared duties exist when playing the game. This can take a couple of forms. The main concern is the amount of time a player will need to engage in a game each session.
Different people role-play for different reasons: to socialize, to escape from the mundane every day, to challenge themselves mentally, among many other reasons. This also can mean that not every player will be engaged during every scene of the game. Especially if their player is not in the scene, or center stage. When this happens, some players may start side conversations, pull out their phones, or use the time to take a bio break, or grab a snack. None of these are bad per se. However, different games require players to be more engaged on different levels.
From a D&D perspective this is easy, as the party usually with one another. Fostering a sense of duty to keep the party together is something that D&D does extremely well. Even when simply looking over the map and figures and trying to figure out the best way to approach the new room of the castle, players are all discussing and talking out plans. This is great.
On the other side of this is Shadowrun. Shadowrun combat can have different players in different places during a scene: from being in a physical fight, to hacking into a security system, or even doing spirit combat in the astral plane. This can take time and can (and in my experience will) will cause players to become disengaged.
Now neither D&D nor Shadowrun award XP for always being engaged. That is not a slight to the games, it’s just a fact. Yes, a GM could (and I think should) award good role-playing. It doesn’t normally happen, though. However, Let’s look at two other games that handle XP in a different way: Burning Wheel and Within the Ring of Fire. Both of these games use votes from the group to determine XP awards.
Burning Wheel asks for different votes based on who did the most work for the session, to who had a skill that was needed at the right time. It even goes farther than that, rewarding players to play up their Beliefs and Instincts. Doing so is an integral part of the game and one the drives the story forward. This also means that players have to be more invested and engaged in the game at all times looking for and making opportunities to play up these aspects of their characters.
Within the Ring of Fire is similar as it also uses a vote system to determine who is awarded XP. Here each person is asked to select one other player (not themselves) and explain how the exemplified their character in that session. Simple. Again this means that players will be having to pay attention to each other even when they are not in the scene.
So, how we have discussed what sort of game we are all comfortable playing and how much we all want to be involved with the game from a session perspective. We can move into our next question: Who will run the game? Normally, this will be determined during this step of the process, as the one who recommends a game usually will be the one who runs it. We will look at the process to decide to run, or not run a game. We will take a deeper look into planning a game and the GM’s role before, during and after a session.
As always, please comment and let me know your thoughts and let’s talk about things you feel I may have missed or that you liked. Until next week, may your dice always roll true.
Make It So
Scott is a true analog gamer doing everything from pen and paper RPG’s to board games and everything in-between. He started out with Advanced D&D 2nd edition at the age of 10. From there he likes all genres and types, from the well known big names to smaller indie print publishers. Scott is Vice-President of The Wrecking Crew
*Note, all opinions are the opinions of their respective Authors and may not represent the opinion of the Editor or any other Author of Keep On the Heathlands.
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Character Creation
