GenCon 2011 - Burning Wheel RPG - The Sword

[@scottosau]

This is an excellent demo of Burning Wheel, really drives home some key features: beliefs, let it ride, multiple systems for conflict resolution. Bravo. Would love to see a team covenant BW actual play!

[@asaskald]

This is really great. I appreciate the graphical commentary. It helps to connect what I'm seeing and hearing to how it applies to the rules.

[@glissomdr]

I've been wanting to run BW for years and have had trouble because I've not had a chance to play. This really helped put a lot of the pieces together and show how the GM can turn a simple premise into a game.

[@matthewedoyle]

This is great. I really like the visual overlays of the rules and rolls. Good work.

[@Zirbip]

This video is great! Not being able to play BWG but being a huge fan of the system, it was wonderful to see actual game play. I would love to see more videos like this... a series of videos spanning an entire campaign would be even better

[@TheNiall666]

It sure is better to see a group round a table playing and interacting with each other, rather than the usual online campaign videos.

[@michaelkennedy6759]

I automatically like this game designer! He's funny, he's a designer, and he drinks Cream Soda! Not only Cream Soda, but the pinnacle of the entire kind: Sprecher! I'm attempting to create a few games myself, and it seems like this guy knows his stuff.

[@michaelkennedy6759]

Also I have to congratulate him on the Social Conflict system. It is masterfully crafted and unlike anything I've ever seen. It is also very necessary for a system that purposefully pits its characters against each other. I would be interested to know whether the idea for the Social Conflict system came first or if it came out of the necessity of making the characters have such opposed goals.

[@DarrenBrewster]

You guys do great Burning Wheel videos. Keep up the good work!

[@lumskkat]

Cool. New to Burning wheel. This is really good to demonstrate the game mechanics.

[@robalexander1790]

That wouldn't be the Burning Wheel way! Knowing everyone's secrets helps the players come together to make a better story.

[@sanjeevshah168]

Love this!

[@eixonm]

Can we all come to your place to play burning wheel Luke?

[@CarpeGuitarrem]

This is like Tabletop, but with Luke Crane!

[@kandex]

If i were the dwarf i'd argue that the sword should be seperated to reveal the metal under the handle, this is where most blacksmiths put their name/ initials/ clan weapon. or to have a neutral party inspect the sword? interesting stuff thou

[@Epiphone1964]

It would be interesting to see people play this game where the GM doesn’t have to constantly read from the rulebook… although it seems pretty rules and mechanic thick.

[@Dwarin]

Burning Wheel works better if every player knows the secrets about every PC in the group. It actually helps everyone create better scenes by putting themselves in dramatic situations and, therefore, earning more Artha (XP-like rewards).

[@GabrielAlejandroZorrilla]

The thief is trying to sneak and why the other roll perception? They are not trying to actively spot the thief. Shoulnd a simple ability test be enough so a success will do whatever he wants and a failure will render him detectable?

[@Laneofthought]

+Gabriel Alejandro Zorrilla The obstacle is set by the perception of the other person. Perception is how good you gather information from your surroundings, so it's harder to sneak by people depending on how good your are at sneaking and how easily they pick up on small details. The point of the versus test is to account for the capabilities of both people.

[@JustinSmithisawesome]

Crom!

[@billnightbloom]

Is this GenCon 2011 or 2012?

[@esperthebard]

1:13:33 hahaha, faux pas

[@wreathrappo4754]

social combat seems effective for talking to NPCs, but it seems like a pointless, clunky abstraction for in-party conversation. Players can already argue naturally, so they only difference here is that someone is forced to change their mind at some point.

[@Jeremy-Sande]

Wreath Rappo it does allow for someone who say isn't that great at argumentation, to play a character who is. I've seen this dilemma before and it's nice that the option is at least present. You can always not use the system.

[@lunaticpathos]

The point is that you get a result. Players don't have the emotional stakes the characters do. Players stand their ground where characters (and real people who need each other) would cave. As was hinted by Luke's comments surrounding the Duel of Wits, the system drives your argument to a conclusion and enforces the results. You must Let It Ride. Note that the Elf had the option to not risk being convinced by refusing the duel, but in that case we are done arguing and must shut up. We move from words to deeds.

[@drowningin]

the duel of wits is cool, but this entire thing could of been handled in 10minutes with another RPG system

[@Evil_Peter]

The point isn't to just get things over with, the point is to show how the game allows the characters to drive the story and make things dramatic. The scenario is simple by default to really highlight the struggle between the characters and their different goals. There are both quick and advanced systems to resolve various kinds of conflict (including resolving combat with a single roll) so you don't have to spend a lot of time on every single event in a session, but this is a demo adventure so of course the special mechanics will be on display. The main point of Burning Wheel is that the characters drive the play, and the GM has to take their beliefs into account when making the adventures. That's one way to make the stories about the characters rather than just about things that happen to the characters.

[@drowningin]

+Evil Peter playing mouse guard to torch and burning wheel mouse guard was good to get players we just taught dnd me included after so many years. I now agree completely that this makes games a lot more interesting and we don't have to rush into battles for some to have fun. and the systems setup gets even hesitant or strictly third person players role-playing without thinking or having time to get self conscious. our group is playing a mash of torchbearer simplified in spots they liked in mouse guard and some more indepth from burning wheel. so what I said is stupid and should be ignored. if we ever play a d20 it's going to be the new dark eye. my first love. how I learned German but could never possibly it it to table. dnd5e did a great job getting a great group and a lot of new people playing so that's great but I feel this is better games. ima bring Aventuria, and Dark Eye stories I've been writing and imagining since I was a child over to our torchburning guard mash up system we love and I die having it all in this world

[@christophergallagher3721]

You could handle it in 15 seconds without an RPG system. The point is the journey and how you get to the decision.

[@AlchemistDigitalis]

Cumbersome even with the designer....

[@0d3n.]

Yeah, this system seems VERY convoluted.

[@horrorshowmalchick]

Den It is, and it's sooo worth it. Also bear in mind that Luke's GMing a demo game with brand new players at a con. Five experienced players is different.

[@horrorshowmalchick]

Den It is, and it's sooo worth it. Also bear in mind that Luke's GMing a demo game with brand new players at a con. Five experienced players is different.

[@MirrorNexus]

It seemed imbalanced. The character who had no sword skill seemed better able to use a sword than the character with a sword skill. Also one hit seemed to let the sucessor do whatever they liked aferwards, such as takin the sword out of the other characters hands, even though they were barely damaged.

[@digitaldungeonssean371]

During the second fight though the elf was already injured. So a character who is healthy but not trained using a magic sword winning against an injured elf using a normal sword seems right to me. The steel test is to see weather your character isn't completely useless after being emotionally overcome with the violence. A more violent character used to violence and gruesome death probably wouldn’t have failed that test, so taking the sword action seems fair also, the elf just wasn't used to seeing his own blood.

[@Moxiell]

Not for me. The rules seem too abstract, dealing with the mechanics of the die rolling. A bit of meta-gaming. Beliefs are contrived, like levels and balance in D&D. I run worlds and build sandboxes. I can't figure out what this game aims to do.

[@christophergallagher3721]

The focus is on the characters over the course of a campaign. Sandbox world is a good setting for it, but the setting is the background for the characters. As a player creates a character and plays them out, the beliefs are more sensible and easier to understand. This game system isn't ideal for a one-shot, I think it calls for a minimum of 6 sessions, and it's engineered for long campaigns.

[@jademonolith]

Looks fun and innovative but a sleek system, it is not.

[@xavierpaquin]

sofullofpiss your comments are hilarious

[@pavo1394]

It lost me with the argument over who carries the sword, way too burdensome. Just have them role play it our.

[@Kyleology]

Personally, I don't see what's fun about playing dumb and metagaming since "that's what your character would do". Like, if I'm just going to do an improve sketch with some people, why have a bunch of clunky systems and dice rolling to get in the way of that?

[@jsnrvst]

I'm not sure if this is a criticism of Burning Wheel or roleplaying games in general. Surely, RPGs and improv scratch similar itches, but there are people who do and enjoy both. So what's the point of rules in a RPG? I like something that Brennan Lee Mulligan once said. RPGs are a form of gambling, but instead of gambling for money, we gamble for stories. Here the systems and dice rolling don't get in the way of story, they enhance it. Story emerges from players engaging with the system.

[@leoboon5127]

Dice rolling is precisely what makes it a game and not an improv sketch dumbfuck

[@neillennon5694]

Jen is beautiful - how come at conventions I'm always stuck next to some hairy guy with BO?

[@thadrine]

Oh man that is SO not how Burning Wheel works. The idea is to watch as you step on those social landmines, then try to pick up the pieces of what is left behind.

[@Kudagraz]

is the GM the game designer lol?

[@jsnrvst]

​@@Kudagrazhe is.

[@inflames07]

This looks like an overly complicated DnD.