I have slept 2 hours all weekend. I am going to post my first impression thoughts, crash and hope that others who were there can fill in the holes:

Wow, what a whirlwind of gaming all packed into 12 hours.

The following gaming took place in 12 hours.

Amazing.

Spiders & Roden Game...Nest of Somethin'

It was fun gaming amidst another Luke-made dysfunctional gang but unlike Poisonous Ambition, this one just wasn't firing on all cylinders. This ain't news, Luke said it himself.

I think it is the lack of GM's handles. There is no way for Luke to turn up the heat...no Hatred, no Goblin Messengers, and no returning army fake-out and no Lash.

But it was a grand warm-up.

Luke's tabletop games with over a dozen people must be seen to be believed. He bounces around the room, laughs, mediates conflicts and when it works, drives it like a rough taskmaster.

This scenario is in need of some workshopping.

Thor's Resources and Circles Game

This is a strong effin' con game, no doubt about it. It is a more traditional group of four, so the average gamer's head won't explode upon being thrown in the middle of The Gift or P.A. These are wonderful games that have made me re-think how I want to run con games and one-shots but it was neat to play in a traditional party.

Circles rock so hard. When I realized how much player authorship it gave me...HOLY SHIT. I am going home and burning up a ton of Circle heavy PC's right the eff now.

I basically busted open the game when I said to Thor, "Um, can Jay's Dwarf roll on his Circles to meet the high-price whore the Abbot visits?"

Thor's eyes lit up. "Yes, you can."

But we hadn't even met the Abbot. I turned the scenario on its ear. Jay not only created the NPC but by suggesting it, I created a whole bunch of new information on the Abbot. It was the second Circles roll I made that game, both were doozies, both set the game careening off into exciting and unexpected new directions.

Cirlces, read the damned Circles.


Under a Serpent Moon

This was the last four hours. This game took us until almost seven in the morning.

What to say about this setting?

Take Mad Max, mix in a Matrix mind-fuck and the entire life of Hunter S. Thompson, right up to the moment where his family shot his remains out of a cannon after his suicide. That is this setting. I'd call it grim but that doesn't begin to cope with it.

The characters I thought were nice guys turned out to be monsters and the characters I thought were monsters turned out to be DEMONS...my own character very much included.

If Jack Chick had ever read this setting he would have killed himself and the monstrous aliens poising as angels would have laughed.

Other thoughts on the 12 hours of gaming:

* I learn games better having played with with those who know what they are doing and then being able to read the rules with the experience of playing as a kind of velcro. It was this way with D&D when I was 13, Riddle of Steel with a buddy of mine and Burning Wheel this weekend with Luke and Thor as resident experts.

I didnt' have anyone to model my rules game after for Sorcerer and I still occasionally feel like I am mussing something up every so often. I hate that. The texts of these games are clear but I just do not grok it until I see it at the table and I can model my rules related habits.

* Thor and Luke grinning at a player, who is right on the edge of doing something that will get them into horrendous trouble, an act that will really light the game up and Luke and Thor are saying, "Do it. Are you gonna do it? If you do, I'll give you an ARTHA."

* Luke's consistent energy level is ridiculous. I get tired watching him.

* There was one scene in Under a Serpent Sun where a character was enacting a brutal scene of domestic abuse. Everyone was squirming and Luke was really turning on the fire, capitalizing on the yucky vibe and turning it into good game.

The abuse wasn't painted as something funny, despite the nervous kind of "oh shit, i don't know what to do" laughter at the table. It was the same kind of laughter as when I studied Titus Andronicus in college and the class just didn't know how to deal with that bloodbath of a play in any kind of academic or rational way. So, we laughed, just as we did at the table on Sunday morning/Saturday night.

Thought it was an interesting exchange, possibly the most interesting of the weekend in some ways. It really drove the game and made the players react.

Hey Judd,

Thanks for the kind words! Combined with the Melee/Duel of Wits demos we ran and the Beliefs and Campaign Creation Workshop we held on Friday, and all the games on Saturday (I ran The Gift, played A Nest of Webs, ran A Matter of Trade, and played Under A Serpent Sun), I had about 24 hours of gaming this weekend!

I'm really pleased you enjoyed A Matter of Trade (the Circles and Resources game). You actually busted it wide open with two Circles tests, and both were failed tests at that.

For those of you reading along at home, Circles are a replacement for Burning Wheel Classic's 'Contacts,' which were relationships purchased when creating a character. In Revised, you can still purchase Relationships, but now these are explicitly characters that players can pull into play without having to use the Circles mechanics.

Circles cover all the other people that might exist in a character's social circles. It is explicitly a Conflict Resolution mechanic in which the player gets to state facts about a type of person they wish to find. Players decide how much they want to determine about the character and how much they wish to leave up to the GM. The more players take on themselves, the riskier the roll. Groups your character is affiliated with, and reputations, have a mechanical effect on this roll.

Circles also has the Enmity Clause. When you fail a Circles roll, it doesn't mean that you can't find someone who meets your criteria. Instead this person is ill-disposed toward you. Essentially, fail the roll, and bring an enemy into the SIS.

On Judd's first roll, his chaplain sought to make contact with a monk that could help him get an audience with the Abbot. He failed the roll and I invoked the Enmity Clause. I asked for suggestions and Judd pulled out Jaroslav, the chaplain of the PC's rival mercenary company. As a result, Judd decided to change his tactics and have Jaroslav introduce him to the peasant farmers that Jaroslav's unit had been stripping for supplies.

This lead to a rocking Duel of Wits as Judd pounded Jaroslav into doing it, using a combination of Oratory, Suasion (lots of threats to the immortal soul), and Intimidation.

While this particular series of tests didn't establish a lot of stuff about Jaroslav (in the player authorship sense), it did pull in a character who would return at the climax of the scenario with interesting results.

The second big Circles roll of the night happened when Judd suggested that his friend Jay (playing the company's dwarven quartermaster), use his underworld connections to find the whore the Abbot frequented.

This was an exciting moment that really showcased the power of Circles, as Judd mentioned in his posts. Very little had been established about the Abbot at all, except for the fact that he tends to play it safe politically. This roll established some of the Abbot's sins, and would allow me to lay down a bang that led to the climax of the story.

Jay's dwarf had good Circles to begin with, but he was also able to bring in a reputation to add dice to his test. In addition, the other players were able to get in on the action by first helping Jay to make a Linked Test (another new rule in Revised). Jay's dwarf used his Black Market-wise and Streetwise to get a feel for the brothels in town, while Rich gave Jay a Helping die from his character's Streetwise. Even Anthony's elf was able to get in on the action using his Noble-wise to help identify brothels that would be frequented by the gentry.

Success on this Linked test meant that Jay had an additional die to use on his Circles roll. The other players were also able to lend him Circles helping dice. Still, even with all those dice in his hand, Jay failed the roll. Even so, he found the place, but the madam was extremely loyal to the Abbot.

Jay pounded her with a vicious Intimidation test (and some great roleplay) and forced her to give up the goods. That was when the players discovered that it was, in fact, a young boy that the Abbot came to see. This led to some explosive roleplay, especially when the Abbot arrived incognito with Jaroslav serving as his bodyguard!