Feedback requested on running a Rise to Power game

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mrlost
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Feedback requested on running a Rise to Power game

Post by mrlost »

Not a thread on Power Gaming mind you. I'm going to try running a solo Burning Wheel game seeing as how all attempts to run BW up to now have ended in frustration predicated by glorious totally awesome drama and fulfilling character arcs. I still fundamentally like BW. I hate players who don't want to be emotionally involved in games or stories and only want to kill things though.

Which is why I'm going to attempt running a game for a friend that wants basically the same stuff out of the game as I do and has experience with BW. I'm a little worried though for the aforementioned reason of previous attempts meeting with failure.

The player in question, Redfox, wants to play basically a clever villain that surprises everyone with his unpredictability or complex planning and ultimately takes over as the authority in the region. Emperor Palpatine for instance. He also wants the character to be a magic user of some sort.

Anyway, we've discussed only what kind of character he'd like to play and established a few details about the setting.
  • The world is a hollow clockwork mechanism. Slowly winding down.
  • The dwarves maintain the machines that support life and await the return of the Clockmaker.
  • The Empire is massively corrupt and in decline.
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DeadDogg
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Post by DeadDogg »

I too find BW fascinating in design, but awkward in execution. I DO believe that a one-on-one game might do it the best justice, however.

One idea you and your player might consider is tweaking/changings some of the life paths to better suit your setting. As presented in the character burner, things like the Dwarf and Elf life paths seemed more campaign-centered than generic, IMHO.

One more thing: I think that BW would do a beautiful job of having a Villan-centered game, but there are certainly other areas that may need tweaking. If I remember, there were some of special qualities for every 'race' that it seemed the 'heroes' might be struggling against. That might work very differently for an evil campaign.
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Count Zero
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Post by Count Zero »

Here is one of the keys to Burning Wheel, it isn't really a game that can be run if only the GM knows the rules. All of the systems require the player to be familiar with the rules.

One of the key things that makes a game not work well is when one player knows the rules and the other has no clue what maneuvers to use in combat. If you strip out the detailed social and physical combat, it can be easier, but you also loose some of the uniqueness of the system.

I think the historical fantasy game that we ran a while back turned out quite well, even though it was unfortunate that you dropped out early on. The key thing that I learned from that and my four other failed BW/Burning Empires games is that you can't have a player trying to struggle their way through character creation with no idea what anything does.

I have had most games fail during character creation, and that is mainly because players are so burnt out from the trying character creation process, that usually getting players enthusiastic about the game is hard. I do think that maybe my first Burning Empires game might have gone off well if it hadn't been for the fact I moved. In fact, we got a game in and i think it had potential.

Its a tricky game to run too. You have to be ready to deal with the systems, because there are a ton of them. It is a very crunchy system.

The final bit of advice I have for you is to be prepared. If the players create an NPC for their background, it is probably a good idea to write them up as a full character. Any major NPC should have a full character sheet. If you have some minor NPCs that you are just going to use fixed skill levels, make sure you have some beliefs and instincts ready to go.

That is pretty much all I got at this point. If anything more occurs to me, then I will chime in.
Whenever I get confused about D&D alignment morality, I just imagine Abraham Lincoln and Mahatma Ghandi arm wrestling shirtless on the back of a killer whale.

In other words, I remember that it doesn't really make a whole lot of sense and deal with it best I can.
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mrlost
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Post by mrlost »

Well redfox is sick at the moment. We did nail a few things down.
  • Its now a space opera setting
  • Its set in a transdimensional alternate universe setting
  • FTL space travel is impractical, if not impossible and seldom attempted.
  • There is a gate network that links different parallel realities
  • Prime material from the original reality is needed to use or build gates and it can be used as a drug to make phantom soldiers who are partially out of sync with the shadow universe.
  • The phantom effect makes small groups of soldier/drug users who are properly equipped with a phase generator invincible.
  • Power limitations prevent widescale use of the device and long term exposure to the phantom effect triggers extreme genetic mutations.
  • Progressive abuse of the drug unlocks psychic abilities needed to operate and attune new gates.
  • Every parallel universe was being conquered by a new roman imperium until the imperium encountered an alternative version of themselves which they've fought to a stand still. The imperium, consisting of hundreds of parallel worlds is now in decline.
  • A science conspiracy accidentally shut down the entire gate network in a ploy with a military faction to fake the failure of a single gate.
  • The cut off an expeditionary force sent to a recently discovered parallel reality were partially in on the ploy.
Right now we've finished burning the setting and I am at such a loss. I have no idea where to start this game. The expeditionary force seems a lot more interesting from a story perspective than the science conspiracy or the politics/rise to power.

Tomorrow is my D&D Lizardfolk + Heavy Metal game
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Count Zero
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Post by Count Zero »


[quote="mrlost"]I have no idea where to start this game.[/quote]

Look at his beliefs. They should be written in such a way that they are actually goals. Basically, you will have three goals with which to build an entire campaign around.



Look at his instincts. Create situations which test those instincts and force the player to deal with the consequences of them.



Look at his traits. Create situations which reinforce those traits.



I know this may seem obvious, but it is especially important with burning wheel. Those three things are the ways in which players gain Artha and advance. Make sure to test the character's skills.

Whenever I get confused about D&D alignment morality, I just imagine Abraham Lincoln and Mahatma Ghandi arm wrestling shirtless on the back of a killer whale.

In other words, I remember that it doesn't really make a whole lot of sense and deal with it best I can.
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