[Burning Wheel] Turning North

[Luke]

So this week's game was a classic problematic game situation. Of the six players from last session, only three could make it to this session. In this session I had planned to change the direction of the campaign -- both with player input and my own thoughts. So what to do?

So present this week was: Rich playing Sir Tristam the Knight-Justiciar, Pete playing Brand (his sorcerer) and Brother Thom, his priest, and Drozdal playing Sigurd (Tristam's squire) and Durfang, a Samagosian shaman.

Missing: Danny playing Martin DuVey (our verbal and martial duelist), Chris playing the Gypsy and Dodge (the one who "went evil"), and Ian, playing Biggie the hobbit.

We started off the session very late and at a relaxed pace. Pete was late and Rich was playtesting the Horse Burner. Both Rich and Pete ended up burning up four different types of horses. That was actually very interesting and fairly interesting for me.

Dro was bored to tears by the horsiness, I think. But he surprised me, I offered the chance for everyone to change their character -- introduce new ones and background old ones -- if they were bored or dissatisfied. I suspected Dro would background the squire and either make a new character or focus on Durfang the shaman. Instead, he decided to foreground Sigurd. He spent a good portion of the session redoing the character sheet and working on practice.

We were also celebrating Rich's passing of the Bar. When asked what he wanted, his reply was simply, "I dunno, a dozen Krispy Kremes?" So let it be written, so let it be done! We walked down to the doughnut shop and picked up 2 dozen.

On the walk, after we quit joking around, Pete, Dro and Rich asked what was in store. I told them: You are en route to the Duke's castle, Lowen-Hohle. Once there you will seek audience and plead your case to the Duke.

These characters were to bring the first news that the great eastern fortress of Warren's Deep was besieged. They sought to warn the Duke Verdorben and have him raise his army. I asked them if they wanted to play out this scene? A resounding, "Nope, I'd rather skip ahead," was the answer.

Okee dokee, (I was expecting much rousing talk), but it's their preference.

So we got on with the character's lives:

First up to bat was Brand. In our last episode he took a Mortal Wound from Innocent's Choking Hand. Pete argued that Br. Thom would pray over Brand's body to help him heal. I argued that at the moment when these tests would have been made, there would have been no time. The battle with the demon was just ended and the orcs were coming. Rich jumped in on Pete's side and I acquiesced. (Brand only has a Health of 5. He had to make some really tough tests.) Thom prayed and Pete got enough successes to grant +1D to Health tests.

Pete acknowledged, "Brand has the Will to Live!" and spent the Persona point. Pete's obstacle to recover from a Mortal Wound was 6, Brand's Health is B5. He then was allowed to make his Health test. He decided to spend a Deeds point to double his dice.

He passed the test and even got extra successes to reduce healing time. He decided to roll of his Health tests for recovering now, rather than waiting. To make a lot rolling short: He passed all six Health tests required to recover from a MW. He spent much artha and was very pleased about this, because it pushed his Health that much close to epiphany. Also, Thom's prayer lasted for the entire recovery (all tests), not just the first.

After that, a little narration! The Duke greeted the men skeptically at first, "Why didn't they remain with the fortress?" But when he heard the complete story, he was convinced. Verdorben rewarded them amply: Tristam was promoted from knight to lord, with attendant land. (He was actually given the Lordship whose lord he himself had killed a year or two ago).  But Tristam's vow was hanging heavy. He had to join a Military Order and renounce his ties to law. The Duke and his advisors, men of faith and sword, advised Tristam to journey north, to Eu, and join the Order of the Sonne da Pracht. The Duke expected Tristam to donate his land to the Order and return to found a commanderie there himself.

Brother Thom was promoted to Father Thom and given a good palfrey and a suit of chainmail (at his request). The palfrey turned out to be quite gentle (with a hesitation of 10!)

Sigurd was given a destrier and a superior quality sword. Sigurd inquired with Tristam if he had earned his spurs. (Actually, Dro asked Rich...) Rich/Tristam agreed, and recommended Sigurd to the Duke. Verdorben knighted him in grand style and granted him a fee in Tristam's demesne.

Rich had Tristam show the court an enchanted horn he found in the layer of a forest demon last spring. The Duke's family promptly thanked him for return of the lost heirloom. Rich willingly traded the horn for favor at court. However, Sigurd also showed his (obviously) enchanted hammer to the court scholars. This had been found in the famous hero, Godeshard's, tomb. The Duke's men tried to reclaim it, but Tristam, Thom and Sigurd all pooled their skills to argue otherwise. It was a B7 Etiquette on my part vs Thom's B6 Oratory (plus FoRKs for Suasion and Haggling) plus a helping die from Tristam's Law skill. The players won the vs test and Sigurd kept his hammer.

Then the players inquired about practice. The characters were going  to be at court for a month. Tristam had to heal from the remainder of his Traumatic wound, and there were day to day matters to take care of.

Pete had Thom hire a man-at-arms/instructor to teach him to ride and to fight in harness (armor training). He paid an arm and a leg for this, but it was worth it. The instructor gave Thom a test every 6 days. I told Pete that he could take 5 tests to divide between Riding and Armor Training. He could choose where he wanted them. He took 4 Riding tests and 1 Armor Training test. These were all against his aptitude, and neither was enough to open the skill, but it did put him a lot closer!

Dro had Sigurd training by himself, but when he saw Thom training with an instructor, he quickly sought out one himself. Sigurd ended up sparring with a knight of the household skilled in Hammer and earning 4 tests against his aptitude toward opening the skill.

Tristam practiced his Faith in prayer.

After this time at Verdorben's court, the group all agreed to head north with Tristam. Eu is a three week ride on good roads. Along the way, they stopped in the gigantic city of Steinmetz and miraculously found Sigurd a suit of plated chainmail. Tristam paid through the nose for it, but I am certain it will be worth it.

While in the city, Pete wanted Thom to locate some hard to find items -- gun powder, shot and lockpicks. Now, Thom has no contacts, or associates in this city that could help him. He does have money he's willing to spend, but neither he nor I want to roleplay out the tracking down of said contacts and materials. I really (really) found myself yearning for the Resources mechanic that I discussed a while back. But, rather than stop the game and introduce new rules, or stonewall Pete, I had him find what he was after in both cases. However, the prices for said rare items were steep. Intense Haggling tests were made with Thom earning tests for advancement, but no discount. He ended up buying ball and powder, but was aghast that he couldn't afford the asking price for lockpicks. (I think even Pete was mad at me for pricing them so high.)

After Steinmetz, I described their progress through various counties and duchies on their way to Eu. Their final destination was the citadel of Furstenburg on the old border with Samagosia. All of Tristam's relations are from Eu, and the Lord-Justiciar was feted like a returning hero. This was completely and utterly my discretion.

I instructed Rich to visit the Duke's Seneschal --who happens to be Tristam's brother-- and formerly renounce his office. We roleplayed some conversation between the brothers and I let Rich know that Tristam's brother Tancred was none too happy with his choice. But a vow is a vow!

After that, we returned to Furstenburg and the Order of the Sonne da Pracht. Though I did sketch out what I wanted from this session beforehand, I did not detail the Order which Rich would join. I wanted him have as much input into this as possible. So we stopped the game right there, busted out my book about Hospitallers and drew up the rules of his order with input from all players:

• "To spread the roots of the tree and cause its branches to grow like the sun in all its splendor" is the first rule/vow of the order. This is the vow which incites them to arm themselves against heresy and spread the word of God by dint of the sword.

The other two aren't quite so eloquent:
• A rule of hospitality to fellow brothers of the sword and to the poor.

• A rule of poverty

Rich had Tristam renounce his worldy goods. But what to do with the juicy bits? Technically, in an Order with a vow of poverty, Tristam's harness and sword become property of the order. But Tristam wears enchanted armor and carries an heirloom sword! So we negotiated: Tristam's harness reverts to the order upon his death, his sword escheates to his family, as it is an heirloom.

In addition to all this holy knight stuff, I introduced Pete and Father Thomas to Bishop Herveus of Furstenburg. He inveighed Thom to spend less time with the Brother Knights and to move his belongings to the rectory.

Sigurd went out carousing with Tiel Von Goten. VG also spent a good deal of his life in these parts, and he introduced Sigurd to a  lot of his old friends. They "played games" like: get drunk and give battle on a snowbound farm in the middle of the night. Sigurd was presented to the leader of a group of free companymen, Master Frank, who took a liking to him.

Lastly, the Marshal of the Order told Tristam that the Order would be conducting a mid-winter raid into Samagosia and he was expected to come. He invited Tristam to encourage his friends to joing them. The Marshal promised they would be paid.

That's where we left it. A fairly classic "Interim Session" for us. Lots of practice, roleplay and acquiring stuff. And it ended in a good place, plenty of room to maneuver, opportunities for more characters to join, and a future goal to be taken care of.

-Luke

[taepoong]

Burning up horsies was fun and only takes a few minutes per horse. I ended up with two frickin' losers, though. I rolled terribly on the random trait charts and got one horse who's the biggest nancy this side of Le Cage aux Folles and another horse who even Pecos Bill would have a hard time riding! :o\

I like these interim sessions. I feel they are a necessary breather after every climactic scene. It allows healing, training, and some lighter role-playing.

I was really happy about the healing rolls for Brand. Luckily, because I did really well with him during the fight, I earned buckets of Artha which I soo needed after the battle. Needless to say, Brand is MUCH closer to having a Grey Health! :o)

[rafial]

... the Duke's castle, Lowen-Hohle ... the Duke Verdorben ...

ROTFL

He passed the test and even got extra successes to reduce healing time. He decided to roll of his Health tests for recovering now, rather than waiting.

I'm curious about how this will actually be handled in play.  If I'm following along correctly, you've basically set up a timeline for how long it will take Brand to be fully healed.   First, I'm assuming this is going to take a lot more than a couple months, and secondly, I assume if Brand winds up being called into active play at some point in the near future, he'll enter at his current wounded status.

I'm just interested in hearing more pratical details about this point of bookkeeping.

[Luke]

If this laughing behavior is any indication that you know a little german: SHHHHHH!! Don't tell anyone.


The mechanics I used are described on page 165 of the Burning Wheel. Basically, Mortal Wounds heal in six stages -- one for each wound category. This makes MW slightly different than other wound types, as characters must recover from each stage in succession before they are fully healed.

Pete decided he wanted to make all of his Health rolls for the MW at the outset. I guess he was feeling lucky.

I determined the healing times for each stage.
Mortal Wound stage was 1 year of rest. Pete rolled Brand's Health and got 9 successes and reduced recovery time by 30% to about 9 months of recovery time.
Traumatic wound stage was three months. Pete rolled an obscene amount of successes and reduced that time to a month (or something).

We repeated the process for each wound stage. Pete tallied the time -- about 13 months for total recovery. Brand will be unconscious/incapacitated for 9 months. Then he'll wake up incapacitated at -4D. But his mental stats are both higher than 4 so he will be awake, just unable to support himself. This condition will persist through the traumatic and severe
stages (-4 and -3D using the variant modifiers). At the Midi stage (-2D), he'll recover his strength and begin to be active again. Brand's Power is B3, at this point, it'll be B1. He must continue to rest, of course, but at least he can feed himself!

Failing a recovery test for a Mortal Wound is the end for a character. That is the system sanctioned "second chance", and if a character can't make good on it, then it's over. Failing the recovery test for the attendant stages mean crippling traits! Crippling traits build character! Botched Recovery tests are described on page 166 of the BW. Amazingly, Brand passed all of his recovery tests. But I am still going to give him a big scar on his neck in the shape of a black hand!

Does that answer your question?
-L

[rafial]

Does that answer your question?

Yeah... It's clear from this example why you use something similar to troupe style play.   How my sessions of actual play would you guestimate will pass before Brand once again becomes a playable character?

[Luke]

Getting wounded is rough; a mortal wound is the worst. Brand risked his life to bring down his enemy and lost on the gamble. Pete knew the consequences of his action. Personally, I think he's lucky to have the character around at all!

To answer your question: Lessee, Tristam took a Traumatic once and was out for about three sessions. Brand will probably be out for about a half dozen. But it really is up to your style of play. I could just as easily allow the players to hole up for a year, rest and train while Brand recovers. That could be taken care of in 1 session. It just so happens though, that Tristam had pressing business -- fulfill vow or go to hell -- and everyone else was on board to help him out.

-L