I’ve owned Burning Wheel for years. Since the Revised edition first came out, in fact. I love everything about it: The mechanics, the way character creation works, distances and stances, the duel of wits, burning up monsters, lifepaths… It’s phenomenal.
But I’ve never played it.
It continues to sit on my shelf, collecting dust, and I occasionally pull it out and look on it longingly, thumbing through the lifepath section, imagining what a character I made would look like.
So why haven’t I played it? I think one of the reasons is that our group gets together once a week and plays for only two hours. That’s not much time for gaming. The time we do get, we don’t want to spend learning new rules.
I think, also, it’s because I’m a little scared. For a couple of reasons.
One, I’m afraid we’ll sit down and play, and the game won’t be as cool as I thought it was going to be, ruining it for me. I’ve set it so high on a pedestal, I’m afraid I’m going to knock it down.
Also, I’m afraid that I won’t run it right. It requires a certain attitude to be able to pull of Burning Wheel, I think. And I’m worried I don’t have it.
What about all you all? Any suggestions on how I can sit down and actually play this thing?
Do any of you have any games you idolize, but just haven’t played?
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September 1, 2009 at 11:52 am
DNAphil
Mine is close to yours…my game is Burning Empires. It too is a Burning Wheel mechanic, but with the Sci Fi setting.
When I bought it, 2 years ago, I was not ready to run it, I was in the middle of running another game. I think that after the game I am currently running (Corporation), when it concludes (no rush for that), I will bring up Burning Empire up to my group.
One day it will get played…one day.
September 1, 2009 at 4:57 pm
Qlawdat
Well I recently found burning wheel, and let me tell you; running it has been nothing but awesome. Duel of wits is my favorite mechanic of all time. It is a BIG change if you are coming from something like DnD. Focus the game on more diplomacy, status, relationships, and much less on combat. I say this for two reasons. The combat in BW is the only thing about the system I don’t like. It requires an approach to combat that I have zero experience doing, it has to be very descriptive and free form. I just can’t get the hang of it. The combat is also very deadly. My suggestion is this, start playing it. BW is a great game and just dive in. I had my players be nobles, so there was a ton of political intrigue, relationships, secrets and a whole lot of plotting. At one point one of my players told me that he had so much going he didnt have time to fight, but was still having a blast. That was great to hear. If you want I will be happy to share more of my experiences about it. Another thing I would suggest is that you check out the podgecasts kingdoms the last generation section. Its a recap of their BW campaign (it was all of their first time playing BW).
http://podgecast.com/archives/tag/ktng
September 5, 2009 at 3:15 pm
MJ Harnish
BW is one of those games you really need to play to learn – reading the rulebook can be a bit overwhelming, but the game is actually much easier that it looks once you wrap your head around the rules. 2 hours per week would actually work quite well since it means you can take the system bit by bit – the game tends to work just as well in bits and pieces since it lends itself really well to a scene by scene structure. It also works great with a low # of players.
@Qlawdat – I know what you mean about combat. It’s a lot to manage, especially at first. One of the key things, especially at first, is to keep it small – the game really doesn’t do the “party against 20 orcs” kind of encounters very easily. Combat is indeed deadly but not as deadly as you’d think if the characters have artha. One way to modify things a bit would be to graft the combat mechanics from Mouse Guard on to BW instead – those tend to be much more streamlined and encourage teamwork. They are also far less gritty though they still can be deadly. I’ve toyed with that idea myself but my players love the “I could die at any moment” tension the Fight! system creates.
September 27, 2009 at 3:42 am
bankuei
I’ve played a bunch of one-shots and even demos with Luke, and am gearing up to do a short campaign. Here’s what I’m doing:
1) Pregen situation & Characters
2) A 2 page summary of basic rules!
http://bankuei.wordpress.com/2009/09/25/blood-ink-gearing-up/
I want to get my group into play right away, and have them seeing what BW does right away.
Character Burning is an involved process, and for groups who may not have played any rpgs where the character motives are the primary driving force, they might have a hard time syncing up initially- giving them pre-gens that fit a situation lets them just run with it and see how it fits together.
It’s easier to sell an awesome scenario and get folks playing than it is to try to hand over the book and hope they understand that a) not all the complex rules will be in play at once and b) they actually do lead to fun. It’s rather like handing someone who’s never flown before blueprints to a jetliner and trying to convince them that it will actually fly.