Switching Systems Helps My Game

[Brennan Taylor]

All right. I hope not to offend Luke, here, but this is a post about my experience with Burning Wheel, and what happened after my group switched systems to my own fantasy game, The Legend of Yore.

To begin with, the group was formed in part due to an interest in Burning Wheel, and the party was built and the game proceeded quite well until we hit combat. Then things slowed way down, and several players began to rebel. Specifically, the problem was the scripted combat. Most of the folks at the table didn't like it. They liked the skills, advancement system, and the rest of the game, but the combat system did not sit well. Two players began to agitate for me to switch systems to my own game, and since all but one player wanted this (and the one player was hesitant merely because his character was going to lose effectiveness when we switched), I went ahead and did.

Our next session was one of the best we've had since I started the game. Everyone had a great time, and it was like a weight had been lifted off the group. Unfortunately, the one player resistant to change wasn't there that night, so I'm not sure how he will react to the switch.

Anyway, this is just an actual play example for me of the principle "System Does Matter." The main difference between The Legend of Yore and Burning Wheel is what I call rules transparency. After character creation, you really don't have to think about the rules much in The Legend of Yore. You occasionally make rolls, and it is fairly quick to resolve all sorts of issues (including combat, which we haven't done yet in the new game; I'll make another report once we do). This is really what the players want in our sessions, and now they seem to feel comfortable and able to relax and just play. I'm sure part of this is that we were all brand-new to the Burning Wheel rules when we started, me included, and I am super-familiar with the new rules, since I wrote them.

[Luke]

I'm not offended in the least, Brennan. But I gotta say, I  don't quite think this pertains to System Does Matter. Having read LoY, I feel it's easily a match for BW in the crunch department. I really think this might be an issue of you and your group's simple comfortability with your own game over another less familar system.

The scripting system is one example where your group bumped heads with the system. Where else  did the system switch appear to create more satisfying play?

-L

[Brennan Taylor]

I'm not offended in the least, Brennan. But I gotta say, I  don't quite think this pertains to System Does Matter. Having read LoY, I feel it's easily a match for BW in the crunch department. I really think this might be an issue of you and your group's simple comfortability with your own game over another less familar system.

A valid point. I think that is at least half of it. See below for more...

The scripting system is one example where your group bumped heads with the system. Where else  did the system switch appear to create more satisfying play?

One of the other issues with the scripting was the group's archer. She was very unsatisfied, because she felt left out of combat. I brought this up on your list back when it happened, but I never did figure out any really satisfactory solution for this. Shooting a bow takes a long time because its game effect is deadly, but the archer player got bored waiting for her turn.

The other issue is that two of the players are big fans of LoY's percentile system. Their argument there is that it is very intuitive for them to understand their abilities, and both had expressed some difficulty with the dice pool system you utilize. When we switched, one of these players said how relieved she was that she could understand what her skills were doing during play, I think related to the percentile system again.

[Andrew Martin]

The other issue is that two of the players are big fans of LoY's percentile system. Their argument there is that it is very intuitive for them to understand their abilities, and both had expressed some difficulty with the dice pool system you utilize. When we switched, one of these players said how relieved she was that she could understand what her skills were doing during play, I think related to the percentile system again.

Hi, Brennan.
I've experienced similar feelings when transitioning to/from a percentile system. Then I noticed that what I was feeling was the gain/loss of protagonism for my character; with a percentile system I could more easily gauge whether or not my character would be likely to succeed in an action. With the aid of the modifiers section of the rules, I could tell what character actions would help me to have the character succeed instead of failing and flailing. Do you feel that this is what your players are feeling as well?

[Brennan Taylor]

I've experienced similar feelings when transitioning to/from a percentile system. Then I noticed that what I was feeling was the gain/loss of protagonism for my character; with a percentile system I could more easily gauge whether or not my character would be likely to succeed in an action. With the aid of the modifiers section of the rules, I could tell what character actions would help me to have the character succeed instead of failing and flailing. Do you feel that this is what your players are feeling as well?

I think that is a big part of it for the player I mentioned. The other player who prefers the percentile system (my lovely wife) has in fact expressed her utter disinterest in all system mechanics, and for her, the less complicated the better.

For both of these players, the chance of success listed as a percentile, just like many other statistics one encounters in daily life, is definitely a selling point. It gives them the ability to judge their relative skill level at a glance and to easily understand how this translates into success on a roll.