Has anyone ever ran a game with this before? I'm going to be GMing one soon and it seems like I have to homebrew a lot.
Burning Wheel is often described on /tg/ as "the best system you never played."
People seem to admire the system's mechanics and will often say reading the book provides invaluable insight into how to be a good GM, but you're hard-pressed to find anyone who's actually gotten a group together to play the damn thing.
Someday, though. Someday...
I'd be down for this if only literally anyone on earth ran it. Fun fact: Burning Wheel is the Atuk of traditional games. People who express interest in playing it disappear.
>>47493029
Welp it was nice knowing you guys.
I've skimmed through the book a few times and it's great how it's character based vs stats based. Still struggling with stating monsters not in the manual though.
What are you going to run in it that would require home brewing?
>>47493094
Not world as much as monsters/non human races not covered in any of the books. Like one of my players wants to play a half orc half elf and I need to homebrew a lot of aquatic monsters due to the setting being mostly aquatic.
>>47493071
There's a docent book for that, the Monster Burner
>>47492713
>Burning Wheel
>Rpg.net Darling of the Year 2006
>Just like Dungeon World 2015
>Worthless, pretentious systems both
>>47493114
It sounds like you're approaching it as a sort of fancy D&D, which I wouldn't recommend. Building whole new character stock out of nothing is going to be a lot work, given that each has unique and a wide breadth of life path options. If you are intent on running BW specifically, it'd be better to stick to the Tolkienesque setting it provides, or look more fitting game.
>>47493129
>different
Damned bilingual autocorrect
>>47493248
>it'd be better to stick to the Tolkienesque setting
Can it be used for other settings without a lot of homebrewing?
>>47493297
I think there are also monstrous stock options in the monster burner for players to use, but I'm on my phone, so I can't confirm.
By Tolkienesque, I mostly meant technology ranging from about the high to late middle ages, at least for human characters, combined with the (possible)presence of magic, elves, dwarves and orcs. Within that basic premiss, you have some flexibility. It's very possible to make a nautical campaign, or treasure hunters, nobility, dirt farmers, what have you.
The nature of the supernatural stocks (dwarves, elves and orcs) is completely codified in their life path options, and the special rules they get (Greed, Grief, and Hate)
>>47492713
The creator is a hardcore autist who literally did everything possible to bury this game deep in a pit and never spark wider interest.
And then he made several cutesy properties based on the game (liek Mouse Guard).
It's a cool book, but an obsession with anti-piracy and disorganized releases and versions killed this game.
Real talk, if someone would run it I'd play.
>>47492713
I genuinely like BW. It has a fantastic lifepath system--the folks I've played with ended up "burning" (creating) a ton of different characters simply because the lifepath choices were so varied and entertaining, and character creation works very hard to help you have a well-defined character.
It handles Tolkien quite well, and could easily do Martin as well. I tend to stick with the Tolkienesque, however--it's not really my system of choice for really High Fantasy or Pulp Fantasy. There are few systems to compete with it for dealing with human-centric settings, IMO. It may be a bit more work than you want to deal with, with 16 different races for players to pick from. Not impossible, mind, just not made-to-order.
New players might find pitfalls with the Duel of Wits and the scripted combat have a Forge heavy Storygames. Some folks swear it's intuitive, but it wasn't for me. With combat, I would start with the basic resolution, and as you get more comfortable, add in things like positioning. I find myself not using the Duel of Wits system much at all (and not just because I'm unarmed, har). Aside from these two items, both of which can be simplified, the game isn't too tough to pick up. Gameplay is speeded up and benefits from the philosophy of "let it ride", which cuts down on multiple dice rolls by rolling once for, say a skill like Tracking, and sticking with that roll through the entire scene, rather than re-roll at every point that skill comes up. I might also add the two books are two of the most attractive RPG books I've ever picked up, if you like that sort of thing.
There's a couple threads up on theRPGSite if you'd like to see the system in action, or read a review in the Pundits subforum
>>47496070
I'll maybe consider running a game if this one goes well and I feel more comfortable with the system.
>>47496121
Thanks I'll check it out. I watched a couple tutorial sessions on Youtube but seeing it played irl is pretty cringey.
>>47492713
The "problem" with Burning Wheel is that it R E Q U I R E S good players, and a good GM to take advantage of it.
It's the kind of system that earnestly sees nothing wrong with players trying to game the system, and in fact expects it. That's why it's so tightly and well designed. But if you have players who zone out or say "Uh, I full attack" all the time, and you put them in Fight, they're going to be overwhelmed by options and go full retard.
>>47496175
>seeing p&p games played irl is pretty cringey
>textshitters
Anyway, link
http://www.mediafire.com/download/03bfozl4dfcfonn/Burning+Wheel+-+Gold+Edition+-+Bookmarked+OCR.pdf
>>47492713
If you have any experience with 1st-3rd edition Shadowrun, it's pretty fun.
Pic related, word salad combat
>you should be able to solve this
>>47496375
>http://www.mediafire.com/download/03bfozl4dfcfonn/Burning+Wheel+-+Gold+Edition+-+Bookmarked+OCR.pdf
Already Dead
Try changing the title next time.
>>47496737
Going to run a Shadowrun 2e game soon, so that's good to hear. I'm expecting some weird and outdated mechanics, and am starting with some house rules, but I like the flavor so much better than SR4 onwards.
On-topic, Burning Wheel is pretty great, but most of what's been said in this thread is true. Hard to find players, hard to legally acquire the resources to even play it in the first place. The creator did a whole lot to ensure it would stay an indie hipster book-only thing, to the best of his ability.
>>47497758
Works for me senpai
>>47493586
Burning Wheel is not only Tolkienesque in superficial aspects, many of the mechanics mirror stuff from the legendarium. You could build most characters from the Silmarillion very faithfullly with the system.
>>47492713
You shouldn't homebrew anything with Burning Wheel. The mechanics cover pretty much every situation you need to deal with. Hell, 20% of the mechanics are all you need for a good 80% or situations, maybe 90%. The remaining mechanics are for specific niches.
>>47498931
Honestly, BW is the one system I would seriously consider if I ever wanted to tackle a Middle Earth game.
Posting one of the rarer books I've seen for BW.
>>47499141
>dark elves
Just what I needed. Thanks anon.
>>47493204
GURPS fag please go.
>>47493204hey virt
>>47492751
The system's problem is that it requires tremendous buy-in from everyone involved. A lot of games rely heavily on the GM, but Burning Wheel relies a tremendous amount on the players. The systems are complex enough that the guy who shows up to D&D and asks what his CMD is every week is going to short-circuit every time a Fight! scene starts.
I fall into the same, sad category that you're talking about. I fell in love with the system, but my group will never be up to playing it. Is that a bug or a feature? I don't know, kind of both.
>>47500790
Speaking of Fight! scenes. Technically, you don't need to use those. You can gloss over a fight with one or two Sword checks. You use Fight! , Range And Cover and Battle of Wits when the players and characters are especially invested in the outcome. E.g when significant Beliefs are at play.
The Roll20 Burning Wheel campaign
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTj75n3v9eTle4ja3M_9nHDn2ji08Jaw4
>>47492713
Just read the manual and use your experience as GM if you've been one before.
>>47492713
Have played a few sessions of this, and it really is fun. I'd love to run it myself there were any good scifi conversions out there
>>47505367
There's Burning Empires and Burning Jihad (which is essentially Dune by way of the Burning Wheel)
>>47505367
>I'd love to run it myself there were any good scifi conversions out there
http://www.mediafire.com/download/enc9eqrt3a3dkmt/The+Burning+Wheel+Burning+Sand+Jihad.pdf
Not-Dune: The Game
https://www.mediafire.com/#vh90rsfseg0br
Burning Empires
