Burning wheel

[steph]

what do you think of the burning wheel game ?

[archer]

I think the Tonton Macoute played it in Haiti years ago but other than that....

[Killer Shrike]

I own some of the game books and have (attempted) to read them, but just can't get into it. Bounced off multiple times.

[Scott Ruggels]

It’s a dice pool system, based on 3D6. Characters are generated through backstory to develop their ethics and antipathies. The game is a bit too consensus heavy, and narrative focused to be my cup of tea. 

[Stormraven]

It's got some good ideas that often get buried in a very dense, idiosyncratic writing style.

 

BITS - Beliefs, Instincts, Traits are a great thing - especially Beliefs and Instincts. The first are ways for a player to define what is truly important to their character. It's a good guide for a GM to know where to push plots.

 

Instincts, on the other hand, are a good short cut for furthering communication between player and GM, indicating things that are automatic for a character. One the one hand, it helps the player ensure that certain things will always be their character's first action unless overruled. On the other hand, they give the GM a way to get the character into dicey situations in a way that stays true to the player's desires for their character. And, of course, as noted, they can be overruled - but do it often enough and it's no longer an instinct.

 

Then there's the one that I think should be explicitly called out for every single game out there. Let it Ride. When you've made a roll, good or bad, the roll's outcome remains unless and until the circumstances change. (Combat is always changing, of course.)

 

An example would be picking a lock. If your character fails, just trying again and again won't change anything. But getting ahold of different tools, taking some time to learn more about the lock itself, etc., would change the circumstances enough to give another roll.