[Burning Wheel] Named vs Black Destroyer

[Luke]

Three orcs rode breakneck through the winter woods. Two leading orcs reined their wolves in a non-descript clearing. "Here it is, I've found something." Growled the Black Destroyer. His companion, He Who Sits Astride the Howling Black Beast and his black wolf skittered to the edge of the clearing.

The third orc, The Named, and his wolf, Wrath, heaved to a halt in the clearing. The Named barked, "What is it? What have you found?"

Wrath growled as he sniffed the air, "I smell nothing."

"I've found an old woman that needs to die!" Bellowed the Black Destroyer! He heaved his axe back and brought it down in a deadly arc on the Named.

The orc leader barely managed to raise his shield in time, his armor absorbing most of the blow. "Hn?! Treachery?" He hissed. But without hesitating, he urged Wrath closer to the Black Destroyer and brought his wicked axe into play.

The Black Destroyer's wolf, Bestride Death, slewed out of the way of the path of the Named's deadly blade then brought his master in close again -- his own jaws closing around the nose of Wrath and tearing away chunks of flesh.

The Astride the Beast loosed an arrow into Wrath's flank as well and wounded the beleaguered wolf. Red blood spewed from his mouth and eye. The snow turned to red slush beneath him.

Above the failed Ebon Tyrant, the Named and the Black Destroyer clashed again. Axes ringing off mail and shield. The Black Destroyer sent his full weight into a hard blow to the Named's coveted dwarven shield -- a vertitable artifact and unbreakable defense -- and sent it flying. "Sabotage!" Gasped the Named as he glimpsed the straps burst under the weight of the traitor's blows.

In rage, they clashed again -- master and bodyguard. The Named brought a furious blow down on the Black Destroyer's shoulders and cleaved his head from its moorings. Bathed in blood, he let out a terrible cry -- the orcish Cry of Doom.

Bearing down on him with spear raised, the Astride the Beast struck his lord's chest as he was in full howl. The shock of the impact shook the Named, but utterly failed to kill him or even given him pause. In the instant of the pass, as his master's spear glanced off the Named's mail, the black beast, Slavering Swift, slew Wrath -- crushing him with his terrible jaws. But realizing his failure to finish the deed, in complete terror of his master's fury, He Who Sits Astride the Howling Black Beast fled atop Slavering Swift.

Dazed and wounded, the Named slashed at the traitorous coward as he passed, but found no purchase for his axe. Disgusted by the ineptitude of the failed coup, the Named turned back to camp, trudging through the moonlit snow, muttering to himself.

============================

That's a narrative synopsis of the pre-climax to the game we played last night. Since this post could contain many spoilers, I've only chosen one moment of the night to describe.  The climax is too much of a spoiler! (It's from a demo adventure that I am going to be running at cons in the near future.)

Gameplay notes:
This ambush was completely plotted and planned by the player characters against another player character. My only participation was at the request of the ambushers -- they asked me to "descibe the tracks they had found from the human ambushers" so their information would seem legitimate to the whole table and, most importantly, to their quarry.

Aside from that, I just called out volleys and adjucated a few rules calls.

The fight between the three was scripted -- starting AFTER the Black Destroyer's first blow upon the Named. At that point, both ambushers were ready -- the Black Destroyer with his axe and the Astride the Beast had moved off earlier and nocked an arrow.

There were four other players aside from the combattants, plus me and few other observers/hangers on. Probably ten people all told. Everyone not involved was huddled around the table howling and cheering at the blunders and successes. It created an incredible atmosphere.

The Named's dwarven shield failed completely (it fell away) on the first 1 rolled on his shield dice. He blinked in dismay and the crowd went absolutely wild. It was sabotage! In fact, it was the Black Destroyer himself who had managed to get access to the shield earlier on and weaken the straps. We agreed that the straps would burst on the first 1 rolled. So there was even a small chance that the sabotage would have failed to come into play! But oh did it come into play! As I said, everyone was freaking out at the reversal of fortune.

The combattants fought in neutral stance mounted on brutal black wolves. I scripted for the wolves (except when the players issued a direct command), but I let the players roll for their mounts. The orcs fought pretty agressively, both desperate to bring the other down. So there were some defensive maneuvers scripted, but it was the hammer-strike axe blows that really mattered.

The Black Destroyer and the Named were evenly matched in skills. But the Named was faster than his follower and he possessed better equipment -- his axe was Superior Quality and had a VA 2, his shield was also "enchanted" but it was neutralized early on.

Despite these advantages, the Named barely managed to get a devastating lucky shot in. There were two simultaneous strikes coming down in the volley. The Named got a Superb hit while the Black Destroyer actually missed. The Black Destroyer's armor failed him utterly and he was killed, showering the Named in his blood.

The Astride the Beast then hit, he was charging in with his spear. The Named issued the Cry of Doom as he was struck and forced a Steel test on the Astride the Beast. The wolf rider failed the test and essentially just kept the momentum from his charge and bolted away.

The Named was left alive and barely wounded (1 superficial from the AtB's spear) atop his dead wolf. The Black Destroyer's wolf stood nearby (having failed a Steel test as his master was killed), and rather than bringing the whip to bear, the Named menaced him with his axe and chased him off.

This failed coup attempt took about a half hour of game play. What's more, the night wasn't over. The Named was in for a nasty suprise as he headed back to camp....

What I loved about this moment in the game was how the scripting facilitated intensely dramatic combat. And the armor, wounds and DOF rolls all moved in to support it. Even better it was all player instigated. As a game designer I was in 7th heaven.

I felt that scripting gets a sufficiently bad wrap and a little defense in its name couldn't hurt.

hope it was an enjoyable read.
thanks!
-Luke

[JamesDJIII]

In cases where scripting is bad, isnt'  it just the case that the participants didn't want scripting (is there a term for this? "Incoherence"? GNS article masters, help me out here...)? I can see instances, like the one above, where everyone agrees to it it can be a good thing.

It's not my cup of tea, but if it lubes your tubes, then, by all means, sip away!

[Luke]

In cases where scripting is bad,

I've found that scripting works just fine in nearly any rpg combat/conflict situation. Of course, certain allowances need to be made when dealing with dozens of participants, but those situations are rare.

There are, of course, certain times when even I don't script -- those unfortunate circumstances where a combat isn't dramatic, where it is just a function of the situation and just needs to be resolved.

As far as scripting's bad wrap goes, I dunno. Most people who balk at it have never tried it.

-Luke

[Ron Edwards]

Hi there,

Here's my take on scripting in The Burning Wheel: people get a weird and wrong image in their heads when they see the word.

All "scripting" means in this game is, a series of provisional actions. It's what the character charges into the fray intending to do. Everyone writes them out privately, and then we all show one another what happens for "action one."

Faced with an unpleasant action on someone else's part - in other words, their action is driving at you - you can abort scripted actions to defensive ones.

When all the mayhem is over for everyone's "action one," move on to "action two" if anyone has anything left.

That's it! Sound "scripted" in the sense of being predetermined, stuck with stuff, or assigned stuff you can't control? I don't think it is.

In fact, the systems for complex and violent resolution in Sorcerer and The Burning Wheel have a lot in common.

Best,
Ron

[Mike Holmes]

That's probably often the case, James, in play, if and when that happens. But some people reject Luke's game based soley on the idea of the scripting without having tried it first. That is, it seems to indicate a certain style to some people that's erroneous.

Luke has the solution, which is that he demos the game well to players, who then can tell if they'd really like it or not. Outside of that, however, all he can do is tell people that it's better than they think it is, and to try it themselves.

Mike

Crossposted with Luke. :-)

[JamesDJIII]

Wow! Ok, a substantially different context than what I was thinking of.

I was coming from the experience of scripting like:

* That AD&D Slaver module where no matter what the PCs do, they are captured and drugged into the next module...
* That WHFRP module where no matter what the PCs do, they are defeated by some insanely powerful NPC in his labyrinth and made to do his bidding or else...
* When the GM tells me that the NPC I've been tailing looks up at the last second, detecting me in a crowd, as if he sees me suddenly, but cooly looks down his nose at me before the elevator doors close despite ZERO chances for me to avoid this outcome ...
* or any other trip on the railroad.

Based on what was said above, I think I'll check out Burning Wheel and give it a spin.

[Matt Wilson]

Hey Luke:

In my pondering over a possible upcoming game, I've been looking at the traits list, and there's some really cool ones in there. The talk of scripting reminded me of a trait that, IIRC, lets a player abort an action more easily. Any examples of trait use applicable to the fight you described above?

[Luke]

Hi Matt, you are talking about the Artful Dodger trait. Probably one of the most powerful in the game.

Though neither of the Orcs described had it (Named: Paranoid and Aura of Malevolence. Black Destroyer: Temperamental and Proud.)

One of the characters from the previous actual play example has it, the frankish knight, Martin.

If you'd like we can start another thread here or in the BW forum to discuss it.

-L