I’d like to GM a game of Burning Wheel (Gold, revised edition). Below are three ideas I have in mind, although I’m only going to run one of them. Let me know by PM if you’re interested in any. If a group of two to four decent, mature individuals seems interested, I’ll run whichever we can decide on. So, if you’re interested in any of these games, just give me a PM and tell me a bit about yourself. Maybe we can set up a time to chat, see if our personalities will be a good fit. And I should note: No prior experience with Burning Wheel will be required, although you'll want a copy of Burning Wheel Gold Revised (and maybe the Codex, depending on what we decide to play). ……………………………………………………………………………… Burning Thrones Tagline: The king is days, even hours, from death. Who will don the crown after he passes? Whose claim will you back? Or will you make a bid yourself? Win or lose, you — and the realm — must deal with the consequences. Thematic Notes: My vision for this game is that the players take on the roles of figures of the royal court (possibly even high in the royalty), engaging in the intrigues and power plays that are part and parcel of opulent, cosmopolitan, fantasy centers of power. The opening situation will be to decide who wears the crown. From there, we play to find out what happens. This is a game about human emotions — grief, greed, spite, hatred, faith. These all have strong presences in this game. The clash of these emotions is at the core of this game. Also, in my vision of things, the game is set almost exclusively in the same city, the halls of its various powerful groups, and the surroundings. Unless, of course, the political microcosm is invaded by events of the wide world… Mechanical Notes: This is a game in which I would only allow humans (no elves, dwarves, orcs, trolls, rodeo, or great wolves). I would also restrict magic fairly heavily. I see this as fairly low-fantasy, although certain not devoid of magic. I would like to see Summoning and Faith, but probably not the normal Sorcery rules. Let’s talk about that some more, as a group. Also, every player better know the rules for Duel of Wits! Finally, I would consider extra initial resource points, or possibly just giving everyone an appropriate reputations and affiliations as members of the court. Fictional touchstones: A Song of Ice and Fire, especially the early parts in King’s Landing. HBO’s Game of Thrones. HBO’s The Sopranos (although I haven’t watched that in about 10 years). Under Heaven and River of Stars, by Guy Gavriel Kay (and likely other works of Kay’s that I’ve not read). Shogun, by James Clavell. HBO’s Deadwood. The more political parts of Spartacus. The Tudors, Versailles, and a host of other historical, political dramas. ……………………………………………………………………………… Burning Banner Tagline: You lead the remnants of your people through the wilderness, searching for succor against the onslaught of an otherworldly invasion. Where will you run, and how much will you sacrifice to see your people to safety? Thematic Notes: This is my homage to Banner Saga (mostly 1 and 2, as I haven’t played 3 yet) and Mad Max: Fury Road. This is a game about journey and sacrifice and an existential threat and how a group of people changes in the face of that threat. Starting as fugitives from a city sacked by mysterious and inhuman invaders, you flee through the wilds. Who leads? Who follows? Who gets left behind? This is a game about the possible end of your people, a culture’s existential threat. Will your people survive, and, if they do, how they will be forever changed? Also, I really want the band of refugees to come alive. The drama should be as much, or more, about dynamic relationships among the refugees as it is about external threats. Fear, uncertainty, and mistrust should be big themes here, as well. Mechanical Notes: I don’t have much to say about the mechanics here. We should all agree on a single stock, probably. Perhaps a single pack of great wolves? Or a single orc clan? Both of those sound super cool to me! The idea behind this game is fairly nebulous still. There would be a lot to talk about as a group. Touchstones: Banner Saga 1 and 2. Mad Max: Fury Road. And that’s pretty much it. Maybe some of R Scott Bakker’s The Darkness That Comes Before trilogy — there is a really good feeling of journey and culture-wide transformation in that series, in my opinion. ……………………………………………………………………………… Burning in the Dark Tagline: Criminals and cultists, knaves and ne’er-do-wells , vigilantes and villains. When the Burning Wheel falls from the sunless sky into Crow’s Foot, what can the unsavory types of Duskvol do except fight for what they believe in? Notes: Yep, I want to run Burning Wheel in Duskwall, the city of John Harper’s acclaimed Blades in the Dark roleplaying game. And don’t get me wrong — I really love the Blades in the Dark rules. I just think that playing Burning Wheel in that setting would be super fun and very emotionally rewarding. Thematic Notes: Each player takes on the role of a scoundrel — a thief, assassin, cultist, con-artist, or so on — and the group is bound together in an effort to construct a successful criminal enterprise within a sunless, industry-fantasy city. You’re criminals. You do the crimes. What type of crime, and how you do it, is up to the group. Greed, vengeance, strange cults, opulence versus destitution, corrupted government institutions, disenfranchised social groups, secret societies, shadowy underworld figures — I foresee all of these in the murky pool of my scrying bowl. Mechanical Notes: There would be a bit to discuss (and possibly tweak) about the mechanics here, mostly regarding magic and life paths. It would require a little extra work on the front end, but I think it’d be well worth it. And, fortunately, rudimentary firearms are already worked into the Burning Wheel rules! Again, humans only. Also, this won’t be a port of the Blades rules — I’m not going introduce Stress or Heat or Hold or Flashbacks or crew type or whatever into the Burning Wheel rules. The exceptions to this are magic and possibly the crafting mechanics, if anyone is interested in either, but they should be quick and easy to set up. Touchstones: Blades in the Dark, of course! Peaky Blinders. Gangs of New York. The Lies of Locke Lamora, by Scott Lynch. Priest of Bones, by Peter McLean. The Thief series of video games. The Godfather I and II. And many more that you should read about in Blades in the Dark. ……………………………………………………………………………… There’s more to say about the games of course, settings to describe, starting situations and action to hash out. I haven’t really done any of the that, because I think we should do it as a group.
Maybe a bit about me is in order, before you sign on. I’ve been running games for about five years. I’ve particularly enjoyed Blades in the Dark (I also ran a couple sessions of Scum and Villainy and a few sessions of a Lord the Rings-style Forged in the Dark hack of my own design, which was rather fun). I’ve run a bit of Torchbearer and loved it. I’ve made a couple personal projects that were Powered by the Apocalypse, both of which lasted all of about three sessions each. And the very first game I ever ran was a delightful little zombie apocalypse game set in Portland, OR, using (gods only know why) HERO 6th edition. I’ve never run (or even played in) a game of Burning Wheel, but I’m excited to do so now. And I’ve dirtied my hands a bit with Torchbearer, which has been called “Burning Wheel light.”
