[Burning Wheel] Things Fall Apart in Tarshish

[rafial]

Well, its the fifth of our planned seven sessions of Burning Wheel, and we appear to have crested the hill and are now (hopefully) skidding toward our denouement.  It's a fascinating process to simply set an arbitrary cut off, and then let everybody work toward a resolution in that agreed upon time frame.

In our latest installment, Kvardo the dwarf arrived at work to find the office in a tizzy as his uncle Heidvar had ordered all goods sold for hard cash.  In the process of clearing some crates out of the warehouse, Kvardo found a lost/hidden crate containing some jeweled statuary of similar workmanship to the fake icon he had earlier "borrowed" from the estate of Lord Khaldun, which was marked with runes in the hand of his ne'er do well cousin.

Thinking quickly, he had the crate shipped off to Darius, who was rather otherwise involved, both with the sudden arrival of a bireme bearing the Inspector-General direct from Thebes itself, as well as the sudden reappearance of his dad.  Fortunately he did gain possession of the crate, and carted it (and his protesting father) off to be looked over by the minions of Amir, Prince of Thieves, before his home was ransacked by Theban guards.  After that, he spent some time working the palace during the welcome feast, discovering that there was something up between Lord Khaldun and the IG.

Meanwhile, Cpt. Jessup continued his scouting mission up north, and discovered that in fact the main raiding forces had pulled out of Dila, and that the Theban guard was apparently marching toward a decoy.  He had himself put ashore, while his crew sailed for Tarshish, and was able to find a farm and bribe/browbeat the farmer into giving him a ride south until he was able to find the army and deliver his warning.

As far as mechanical issues of play went, we all seem to be getting very comfortable with the rules.  I'm making it a point to remember to announce an obstacle before the players rolls.  This has the benefit of allowing players to decide when they want to spend Artha on their rolls, which has boosted overall spending.  The one thing I'm having the hardest time with is awarding Deeds points (there have been none awarded to date).  The existing Deed guidelines seem to be appropriate for a more heroic style of play than we are employing, where everybody seems to be focused on looking out for number one.

I'll mention my favorite use of a Trait as a call-on to date -- Darius using "Melodramatic Family" to persuade his dad to sit tight in the seedy Thieves Guild inn with a choice bit of emotional blackmail.

We had one short instance of scripted combat, when Cpt. Jessup was faced with a group of looters.  He was attacked by a knife wielding bandit, who easily slipped inside his guard (he was armed with a sword) and I thought things were going to get ugly -- but then he smacked the guy in the head with the sword hilt for B9 damage! (Cpt. Jessup is extremely strong, and he spent some serious Artha on the roll -- 6 successes).  I then made use of the "Sharp Clash" mechanic in Luke's beta Simple Melee rules to resolve Cpt. Jessup driving off the rest of the bandits.  Needless to say, I awarded an extra die for the fact that he had just killed their leader with a single blow from the pommel of his sword.

Actually, the situation that led to the fight was interesting from a role playing stand point.  In narrating the Cpt's journey south by donkey cart in company with the farmer, I threw in the incident of an inn being looted, not by the sea raiders (Orcs) but by human looters taking advantage of the disarray.  The Cpt chose to ignore the situation and ordered the farmer drive on, which was totally in line with his beliefs and instincts.  I had the Cpt make a Command roll, which failed, so the farmer wound up going to the rescue.  The scene closed with the innkeeper's beautiful daughter pleading for assistance over the unconscious, possibly dying body of her father, and the Cpt. just takes a swig of ale and orders his driver back to the cart.  Very character driven moment.  He got a point of Persona for being a total bastard.

The other thing I've been struggling with, that I think I made some progress on in this session was getting Kvardo the Dwarf pulled into the story, such as it is.  Kvardo's beliefs and instincts bind him strongly to Dwarven society, and in the last session, the blackmailer that was forcing him to disturb his comfortable life was dealt with.  So this time I chose to take a torpedo to the underpinning of Kvardo's "normal life" with his Uncle suddenly shutting down his trading house and possibly preparing to skip town.  It's kind of like the situation mentioned in The Pool: Dragons and Jasmine with the innkeeper who refuses to leave his bar.  It's not that James (Kvardo's player) is turtling, it's just that he is driving the actions of the character from his understanding of Dwarven culture as presented in the CB, which is inherently highly conservative, and so while James wants all sorts of nonsense to happen to Kvardo, he's not going to have Kvardo go out looking for trouble, which makes life a little more challenging for the GM, since I have to figure out how the trouble comes to him, despite his assiduous efforts to avoid it.

In talking to James after the game, he mentioned that because BW provides such distinct cultural imperatives for the various races, that playing a satisfing story with multiple races in BW could be quite difficult, because characters will have very divergent motivations.  I'm inclined to agree, and in fact I note that Luke, in his examples often shows us an all human or all elf or all orc situation.

[Matt Wilson]

Needless to say, I awarded an extra die for the fact that he had just killed their leader with a single blow from the pommel of his sword.

Awesome. That sort of "play the ball where it lies" play is so damn satisfying when the dice land in glorious cooperation. Something about that style of play, where you suffer through the bad rolls and wait for that kickass payoff...

[Luke]

Awesome. That sort of "play the ball where it lies" play is so damn satisfying when the dice land in glorious cooperation. Something about that style of play, where you suffer through the bad rolls and wait for that kickass payoff...

Agreed, and this is part of "life" in BW. But the piece of Raf's post that really made me cheer was the perfect give and take moment between player and GM:

GM: Narrates a scene and proffers a potential hook.
Player: Shrugs shoulder's and points to BITs and says, "No way, uh uh."
GM: Shakes head and rewards player for embodying character

ROCK ON.

That moment where Jessup takes his swig and blows off the daughter -- and his player is rewarded for it -- that is a little bit of what it is all about to me.



I've been thinking about Matt's comment a lot recently. We had a moment of abject failure, much like Raf and Matt had in the search for the statue. Made me really think hard about that mechanic -- a player really wants it, does everything he can, but can't get the dice to cooperate. It definitely leaves one a little dissatisfied.

But I confess that I like the nature of uncertainty in the mechanics. I prefer it in fact. In BW, we never know who the hero is until the dust settles and we see who's still standing. It's not hero by nature, more like hero by deed (or perhaps hero by survival? ;))

BW really does seek to emulate the "life" of the characters within. Life is full of ups and downs and we never know how it is going to turn out. Sometimes satisfying, sometimes disappointing.

Anyway, can't wait to hear more. Now that you are in the home stretch, do you have any plans for a conclusion or climax?

Also, regarding the dwarf, I think you offered him a good opportunity to get involved -- a Kicker, in Ron's parlance, no? -- but what's he really after? Could you repost his Beliefs?

Actually how about beliefs for all three?
Very curious as I have been doing a lot of burning lately and working hard on getting beliefs into play.

-L

[rafial]

GM: Narrates a scene and proffers a potential hook.
Player: Shrugs shoulder's and points to BITs and says, "No way, uh uh."
GM: Shakes head and rewards player for embodying character

ROCK ON.

Oh this stuff has been going on left and right.  It's been a real rollercoaster for me as GM.

Anyway, can't wait to hear more. Now that you are in the home stretch, do you have any plans for a conclusion or climax?

Oh, yes, but I'm terrified of them.  We had a (at least from my perspective) gut wrenching penultimate session last night, which I will get around to writing up as soon as I settle down.  And the book will be closed on the 29th when we do our final session.

Actually how about beliefs for all three?

Sure thing... Also, Traits have been really essential, so I'll include those:

Kvardo son of Kvordal:

1. Leaving dwarven society leads to ruin.
2. It's okay to be a city dwarf -- cities are the new mountains.
3. It's better to be credible than sincere.

Traits: Dwarven Traits plus Aura of Innocence

Darius

1. I'm doomed to be the go-between.
2. A good man makes the best of what he's given.
3. There's something better than this, if we can just get past all the arguing.

Traits: Rapier Wit, Cynical, Cool Headed, Melodramatic Family

Cpt. Avram Jessup

1. All men get what they deserve.
2. Nothing's happening in the sticks.

Traits: Driven, Dreadful, Cool Headed

[johnzo]

Cpt. Avram Jessup

1. All men get what they deserve.
2. Nothing's happening in the sticks.

Traits: Driven, Dreadful, Cool Headed

Av is also Greedy and Determined.  I also think that I should invert his first belief somewhat--Av believes that all men deserve what they get, but that they don't necessarily get what they deserve.  Defining this belief really nailed down Av's character for me pre-play, which is unusual.  It  normally takes me at least three sessions to lock into a character.  So, a win for BW there.

When I found that belief, I decided I wanted Av to be a fantasy neocon, someone who had been very self-satisfied and comfortable and who had built up a whole mindset to justify his good standing--and who had suddenly lost that and happened into an opportunity for some spiritual growth.  But when the time came for Avram to walk the road less traveled, he turned his back on it and kept after the gold.

This wasn't something I'd author-moded out ahead of time.  In retrospect, I think that a lot of that decision came from BW's simulationist flavour and Raf's GMing style.  The combination of those two factors really give Tarshish the feeling of an overpowering status quo, one that had to be coped with rather than changed.  I said last night that Tarshish is the least radical game I've ever played in; all of our characters see themselves as having roles within society, and they aren't seeking to transcend those roles, merely enhance them.  

(Allan, James, If I'm speaking out of turn, let me know, but that was the impression I got last night.)

Anyway, I'm having a ton of fun playing BW.  Last night, I think, was the best session yet, even if we did terrify our GM.

zo.