I play Burning Wheel

[Luke]

So I'm bored at work and I thought i'd post some actual play for BW -- since
there is absolutely none out there. Let me see if I can illustrate how the
BW system facilitates (and rewards) good, gritty, dramatic play in our
fantasy setting.

We are currently playing in our "dark europe" setting -- imagine the Caucauses extending from greece to the baltic, to the east of them the world ends.

We find our intrepid, unwitting heroes in the foothills of said mountains -- the very edge of the empire. They have been out in the hills for nearly a month now searching for what they have just found:

The have just emerged from a lost tomb in a sunken valley --Godeshard's Tomb. Covered in black oil, deaf from explosions and blind from smoke they come hurtling out of the tomb dragging with them their dead and wounded.

Freeze frame. Cut to: Close-up of Sir Tristam D'Euford lying unconscious in the arms of his squire and his best friend. Tristam is a 6 LP human knight, he bears an enchanted bastard sword and a suit of enchanted plate mail. He's the most powerful man --socially and martially-- in the group and the defacto leader. He's unconscious, just having accepted a terrible and shocking blow from a gigantic, rotting demon --controlled by necromancers-- that the group has just narrowly defeated in the tomb. He's taken a
traumatic wound, and he's out.

Freeze frame. Cut to: Close-up of young Martin Du Vey, a youthful frankish knight, far from home. He's a friend of Tristam's and he's worried for his friend. Martin also was a key figure down below -- though he miraculously survived intact, he did much of the dirty work.

Freeze frame. Cut to: The Gypsy, and trim middle aged, olive-skinned man well-dressed if a bit garish. Unlike his companions, his face is clean and hair unmussed. "Bring him to me! Bring him to me! Quickly, get him on the horse!" Shouts the Gypsy in his strange accent. He is frantic about Tristam's wounds. "We must find fresh water! We must wash off the oil! Quickly!" They strip off Tristam's armor as they go.

The Gypsy has encountered the necromancer's oil before, he knows some of its secrets. He knows that it will seep into the mouth and eyes and corrupt its victim.

In addition to those three, there are a number of others: Another knight, a squire, an archer, five men-at-arms and a Samagosian shaman.

The Samagosian shaman and some of the men-at-arms track down a stream and a muddy pond. The group dashes into the water and begins to pull their oil-soaked clothing off and scrub themselves clean. The poor Samagosian can't get the oil out of his hair (Hairy trait). And the (even poorer) men at arms have to shave him! (So covered with knicks and scrapes was he that I made him keep the Superficial wounds he earned in the fight down below).

The Gyspy calls on his charms, checks the weather and offers a little prayer. Martin steps up to him and asks if he can help --Martin's mother taught him some medicine before he left home. The Gypsy hurriedly agrees and they set to work on administering to the fallen knight.

Chris --the gypsy's player-- rolls his B6 Herbalism plus FoRKs from Ills and Ails and Omens (Astrology) plus Martin's helping die. He also spends a Deed point of Artha to double his dice, muttering "Must save the knight...." That's 6 from the skill, doubled, plus all the other bonus dice: 15 dice!
Everyone holds their breath as he rolls against the Ob 6 for treating a Traumatic wound.  He makes it! And gets extra successes which he donates to Tristam's coming Recovery roll.

Another Deeds point is spent, this time by the knight. He passes the Health test with flying colors. He'll be unconscious for a week, but he'll make it. (He gets 1D back for each week of rest.)

Stop. Award artha.
Martin gets a bonus Persona for being MVP in the tomb.
The Gypsy gets a bonus Persona for playing his character so well, and for accomplishing a personal goal -- he owed the knight his life. In addition, the Gypsy got the only Deeds point awarded -- for putting everything on the line to save the knight's life.

Start. What do we do now?
The party is lightly clothed and cold with a wounded, unconscious knight and the corpse of another. (Another knight had taken a Mortal Wound and they couldn't save him.)

They light a pyre, warm themselves and burn Ulrich (the fallen knight).  During the night they here a roar and thunder as something goes crashing out of the valley heading east (into the mountains).

Uh oh.

Stop.
The knight's player, who does he play? With minimal grumbling -- more about his bad luck, than about his playing this character -- he jumps into the knight's surviving squire, Sigurd. He is Brave and Ambitious, and his loyalty to his master knows no bounds.

Start.
The next morning. What to do? They decide for the nearest town. There's a bigger town at the foot of the mountains, but it's farther away. And there's a fortress to the east up the pass, but they all agree they need to see a priest and borrow some artifacts from a local temple -- holy water and relics are the order of the day for fighting the walking dead and their demonic allies.

They head two days south to Sentendra. Arriving on a rainy afternoon, they find the whole town abandoned. There is a pile of half-burnt corpses in the market square with signs on the posts: Plague.

Still intent on their mission, they head to the church. It too is abandoned. Though they see some figures lurking in shadows behind shutters, the only person they meet is an inmate at the hospital who's locked himself in a closest. His left arm is infected with the necromancer's oil. After questioning him briefly about what happened --the head priest became infected and the town was hastily abandoned-- Martin stabs him through the heart with his rapier,  killing him (splattering oil all over their harness and clothes).

They decide to leave the town and lock the gates behind them. As they do so, scouts spy a massive pack of feral dogs roaming the hillsides around the town. Visible shudders go round the table, "Those dogs are feeding on the corpses. They're infected." mutters Martin.

After a brief discussion, Martin, the Gypsy and Sigurd decide to send Von Goten, the men-at-arms, wounded Tristam and other incidentals east to the fortress while they return to the tomb and search it. (Basically, all the NPCs and unplayed PCs head for safety, while our crack team heads back for some excavation and information finding.)

Martin, Sigurd, the Samagosian and the Gyspy return to Godeshard's tomb to find the roof collapsed. Refusing to give up on their mission, Sigurd begins to dig out an entrance with his barehands. Martin eventually helps him and they manage to clear out a crawl space.

At this point, Martin and Sigurd get into an argument about who is going in. Sigurd expects Martin to lead --Martin is a knight, Sigurd hasn't earned his spurs yet-- but Martin makes some very compelling points regarding angry, trapped tomb-guarding spiders. He refuses to go in. Sigurd shrugs and sets about going in. Martin's traits kick in (Impulsive, Dashing, Braggart) and he pushes Sigurd aside and takes the lead.

Fortunately for them, all of the tomb's guardians fled with the demon when it erupted from its prison. They do, however, find information. Plot points are hinted at on scraps of calf skin and etched in stone on the inside of sarcophagi. An enchanted footman's hammer is found (I'm not such a cruel gm after all!).

After leaving the tomb, they decide to follow the path of the demon. They quickly realize that they sent their friends off in an inadvertant intercept course. They hurry to try to catch them.

On the path in the torn up forest, they find a little old, jaundiced man sitting on a stump. The samagosian captures him (Stealth and a Lock!) and it turns out that this man, Guelph, and Martin know each other. Guelph was a prisoner of the necromancer (he calls him a nigromancer), Innocent. Innocent and another witch, Olegi, forced Guelph to reveal the location of Godeshard's Tomb and hence the location of a demon's bones.

But, due to his captivity, Guelph learned much about the nature of black oil.
Guelph explains a little. Major related plot points begin to click into place. Players start getting antsy. They realize they are in big trouble. As it turns out, the necromancer has unleashed a demon, who is no longer under his control. The demon-- they realize -- is being controlled by an ancient Orc Summoner whom they captured last year who now resides in the oubliette of the fortress to the east. Uh oh! Got to warn the fortress!

Guelph also explains that the "nigromancer's oil" has many different properties, but by and large it attacks/affects the living and not the dead. En route to the fortress, Martin and company find two more abandoned towns. The necromancer is raising his army!

At last they come within sight of the fortress. It is surrounded by hundreds of the necromancer's minions, including one very large black shrouded figure. They also overtake their friends on the road.

A plan is formed. They decide they must get into the fortress and warn them about the imprisoned Orc summoner. Also, inside the fortress is a powerful --if sorely maimed-- monk of great faith. They must explain what has transpired and get him to help!

Who will sneak into the fortress and deliver the message? Martin immediately speaks up, "I can do it."
"You can sneak in?"
"Yes."
"You can climb the cliffs?"
"Yes, without a problem"
"You know the way?"
"But of course!"

In the end, Martin, the Gypsy and the Samagosian sneak in.

Stop.
I asked them if they want to do a blow-by-blow sneak in, with multiple rolls indicating increments of sneaking-- situation of more control. Or let the entire "sneak in" be reduced to a single roll: succeed and be in without trouble, fail and be caught. They vote to take the single roll. Artha is spent, rolls are made.

Start.
"Only two successes, huh?"
"If they're caught, am I caught, too?"
"You're all caught, now listen..."
(all mark Stealth tests, as it happens, Martin's Stealth advances from 4 to 5 due to the difficulty of this encounter.)

Just as they have made a deserted portion of the walls of the fortress (everyone's attention is currently diverted to the gate being smashed to bits by a demon) Martin hears a familar voice behind him -- it's the witch, Olegi, one of Martin's many lovers and an ally of the necromancer's!

"Martin. You are caught, come with me. Don't resist." Olegi has two companions lurking ten paces behind her. She easily spotted Martin's approach via the Sense -- the samagosian shaman stuck out like a candle in a dark room.

"Ah yes, Olegi. You are here, of course. But you do not want to catch me, do you? The hunting and chasing, thrills you. It brings us closer together, does it not?"

Stop.
Let's playtest some new rules! We tried out my new Duel of Wits mechanics. They are essentially argument/social skill resolution mechanics using a scripted system like melee.

Start.
They dodged, parried, slashed and thrust away each other with their words. She promised him power untapped, mysteries unimagined. He evaded her offers while murmuring about love and passion. Finally, he breached her defenses with a kiss and left her breathless and fuming. He was right! Her breast burnt for him and she could not take him before Innocent and the demon.

Stop.
Martin won the Duel of Wits. He scripted brilliantly, got lucky, and destroyed her arguments. Martin's player, Danny, let out a deep sigh, "Whoa, that was tense! I can't believe I won!" He (and everyone but Drozdal) was on the edge of their seats. If Martin lost, he would have had to either challenge Olegi to a duel (not a pretty thought, her being a sword wielding witch and all) or returned with her to the necromancer.

That's where we left off, Martin and company parting from Olegi on the walls of the fortress. Next session (after Recess) there will be mass combat, miracles and more Martin!

I hope this was somewhat interesting read.
Help me out by asking questions if you are curious about how a mechanic worked at a certain point.

thanks,
-Luke

[joshua neff]

That was an extremely interesting read. Thanks, Luke.

[Lxndr]

Duel of Wits?!

Do you have that posted anywhere?!

[Luke]

Duel of Wits?!

Do you have that posted anywhere?!

Nope, not yet. They are written (2nd draft form), but still in playtesting. (Yes, I actually playtest all my mechanics).

I can tell you that there are six "verbal" maneuvers: Point, Rebuttal, Avoid, Feint, Dismiss and Obfuscate. You only script one action per volley (Reflexes don't matter). And you try to destroy your opponent's argument in the form of their Will. And, of course, you must be prepared to roleplay out your maneuvers!

On another note, I really do stop the game and utter the dreaded: "Ok, what now?" I think this amounts to what people refer to as scene-framing. I end the previous scene, sum up what's transpired, and ask the players where they are headed next. They discuss --in character-- and choose a course of action. This isn't a mechanic in BW, just a play style thing.

Joshua, what did you find interesting? Can you be a little specific so I can better focus my actual play reports?

-Luke

[joshua neff]

Yeah, sorry about that vague, "Hey, cool!" I actually do have some questions & observations, mostly based on the fact that I don't have Burning Wheel & everything I know about it is what I've picked up from other posts & such.

1) Is switching (or "jumping into") characters, like from a knight to his squire, a feature of Burning Wheel, or is it just something you did because one of the PCs was out of commission?

2) I like the lending of successes & such. It's one of my favorite aspects of HeroQuest, & it's good to see other RPGs including that in the mechanics.

3) I've read some about the scripted combat in BW, & the extrapolation of that into a Battle of Wits sounds very, very cool.

That's all for now.

[A.Neill]

Luke - the duel of Wits mechanic sounds exciting! If you need/would like anyone else to playtest it I'd be more than happy to oblige and  try it with my gaming group.

Alan.

[Luke]

1) Is switching (or "jumping into") characters, like from a knight to his squire, a feature of Burning Wheel, or is it just something you did because one of the PCs was out of commission?

thanks for the speeefics, josh. now i know better what to dish on in the future.

The jumping in and out of chararcter thing is not inherent to the BW rules, it was just something our group does. However, after seeing what's out there as far as rpgs go, I am thinking of writing it into the next edition. We do it fairly often and to great effect. It also helps keep everyone involved in all aspects of the game. For example:

Last session, my friend Rich jumped into the squire Sigurd -- he actually jumped characters right in the middle of combat as soon as Tristam went down. Very cool.

The Gypsy player also played an archer/insurrectionist enamored with Martin's charm. He would play the gypsy mostly, but then jump into "Dodge" for combat type situations.

Martin's player, Danny, also was playing the knight Ulrich who was killed in the tomb. However, Martin is such a strong and active character, I prefer it when he just focusses on one character.

Lastly, of the witch's two lurking "henchmen" one of which was a PC mage! This character is played by Rich -- Tristam/Sigurd's player -- and he jumped into Godfrey as soon as he saw he was present on the scene. I gave him no warning or prompting.

I love this stuff. In addition to multiple "PC level" personas, I always make the players take on the roles of groups and crowds in the background --largely letting them determine their reaction to a player's pleas/ploys. Again, it keeps everyone involved and adds a little humor and life to situations that would otherwise be me talking to myself a lot.

We've actually had these "off screen" personalities blossom into full blown heroic characters who were played in later adventures  (and saved the day!).

-L

[rafial]

I thought i'd post some actual play for BW -- since
there is absolutely none out there.

Hey!

Let me see if I can illustrate how the
BW system facilitates (and rewards) good, gritty, dramatic play in our
fantasy setting.

...valuable stuff.

Everyone holds their breath as he rolls against the Ob 6 for treating a Traumatic wound.  He makes it! And gets extra successes which he donates to Tristam's coming Recovery roll.

Okay... I think I found this one in the book.  This is working Diligently applied to a healing roll.  There is no general "donating successes" mechanism in BW (ala Sorcerer) that I am aware of.  Or did I miss something?

In addition, the Gypsy got the only Deeds point awarded -- for putting everything on the line to save the knight's life.

Hey, this kinda reminds me of Star Wars D6, where if you spent a force point for heroic and pure purposes, you get it back.

The knight's player, who does he play? With minimal grumbling -- more about his bad luck, than about his playing this character -- he jumps into the knight's surviving squire, Sigurd. He is Brave and Ambitious, and his loyalty to his master knows no bounds.

With reference to this, and also the horde of NPCs mentioned earlier...  Having just done some Savage Worlds, I was inspired by that games exhortation to give players a pretty free hand it running their allied NPCs.  It sounds like Lukes actual BW play style has something in common with this.  I'm curious to hear more about the practice behind the principle

I asked them if they want to do a blow-by-blow sneak in, with multiple rolls indicating increments of sneaking-- situation of more control. Or let the entire "sneak in" be reduced to a single roll: succeed and be in without trouble, fail and be caught. They vote to take the single roll. Artha is spent, rolls are made.

Okay, I'll bite.  I'm re-reading the rules in preparation for my upcoming campaign, and I just recently got through the whole "one roll, and let it ride" rant.  So what's this about multiple rolls of "increments of sneaking".  How does it create a situation for more control?

Let's playtest some new rules! We tried out my new Duel of Wits mechanics. They are essentially argument/social skill resolution mechanics using a scripted system like melee.

<devil-sign>Rock on!</devil-sign>

I'm *very* looking forward to seeing the results of this!  Having a game system provide the same sort of opportunities for drama and tension in a social conflict as is normally lavished on combat is a sorely needed thing.

[taepoong]

This is working Diligently applied to a healing roll.

You are correct! "Donating" implies generosity in this case. The gypsy could've used those extra successes to quicken the job, but instead he made it easier for the knight to make his health test.

So what's this about multiple rolls of "increments of sneaking".  How does it create a situation for more control?

With the one roll, the die result stands for all encounters. This can be for better or worse, but it saves time in the long run. Multiple rolls result in mixed success and more game time wasted, but it does allow you to pick up the pieces from a bad roll.

Having a game system provide the same sort of opportunities for drama and tension in a social conflict as is normally lavished on combat is a sorely needed thing.

It also really benefits those who are not so capable in roleplaying social situations. It's a good encouragement as well as a fun way to get results.

[Luke]

I think I found this one in the book. This is working Diligently applied to a healing roll. There is no general "donating successes" mechanism in BW (ala Sorcerer) that I am aware of. Or did I miss something?

Pete's correct, he could have spend up the time needed or "donated them". And that was a bad choice of words on my part: The gypsy allocated his extra successes to working diligently and thereby lowered the knight's Health test obstacle for Recovery.

So what's this about multiple rolls of "increments of sneaking". How does it create a situation for more control?

On occasion, for critical situations, I'll give the option for the players to make two or three rolls to get the job done -- rather than the single "Let it Ride" roll. First off, sometimes it just makes players feel better to have this option. Second, if they fail the roll, I'll take them to the moment of failure -- and we will roleplay out a blow by blow wherein they can attempt to extricate themselves from their failure. However, a blow by blow in Burning Wheel can get pretty ugly -- my players will generally do anything not to have to play out the moment to moment of a crisis (i am a bastard GM).

However, I think is more of a play style choice for my group, resulting from my habits as a GM. I recommend sticking by what the book says, a single skill test decides the outcome/fate. Mechanically, I think it works better than multiple rolls -- it allows players to juice their one roll, rather than hoping against hope across multiple die throws.

Hey, this kinda reminds me of Star Wars D6, where if you spent a force point for heroic and pure purposes, you get it back.

::crumples up game and scraps life's work::

oh well, back to the drawing board!

actually, I like the SW d6 game just fine. I just didn't like the Force point/heroism mechanic all that much. But it seems i've imitated it at last in an attempt to encourage self-sacrifice.

Btw, the Gypsy would have gotten a Deed point had he spent one or not. He was performing an action for the greater good -- of the gypsies, of the party, and of the empire! -- therefore had he spent the point or not, pass or fail, he would have got the point.

-L

[drozdal]

and everyone but Drozdal was on the edge of their seats

Hah someone has to think for all those pure souls who are soo easily distracted by witches :P, while they were watching (quite entertaining) duel of wits sarmagossian shaman was setting up alternate escape route (thunderclap), but now i see that i misjudged sir Martin social skills, I should have more faith in him :))

Dro

One more thing - it's quite fun to play character like this shaman, who has no combat skills, and two not too powerfull spells (from which one could be usefull in combat - but just for distracting purposes :P)