Raising the Stakes

Stefan (Hygelak’s player) just asked me about a new mechanism to set obstacles for tests. As tests are negotiated in Burning Wheel, he proposed that one might allow to lower the obstacle as a tradeoff for more dire consequences of failure. For example, consider the following situation:

Hygelak wants to use his Oratory (task) in order to instigate a riot in the streets of Arcadia that will cause enough of a distraction for the group to break into a nearby building without being noticed by the guards (intent). The GM decides that failure in this test results in a riot that will be dispersed very quickly on the guards’ first movement so that the heroes will be caught in the act when they leave the house some minutes later. The obstacle to cause an uprising in the peaceful citizens of Arcadia is set to 5.

Now Hygelak offers to raise the stakes: For a -1 Ob, he is willing to accept that upon failure out of all the houses surrounding the market place, the rioting mob decides to set fire to the very house into which the group has broken.

I’m not sure whether or not this is a good idea. On the one hand this basically means complications for which there already is a mechanism in Burning Wheel, although there is an important difference: Modifying the obstacle does not only affect the chances to realize the stated intent, it might also affect advancement because a challenging test might become difficult and a difficult test might become routine. That way, the player gains momentum to drive the advancement of his character’s skills in the way he wants by offering new complications and story twists – possibly.

And that’s why I am uncertain about this rule: Complications as defined by Burning Wheel allow the character to achieve the stated intent even though he has failed his test. This is a boon that allows the player to ensure the plot goes in the direction intended by him – even if only indirectly because of the upcoming complications. This mechanic has also to be fueled by artha.

The “Raising the Stakes” mechanic as presented by Stefan is another beast: The obstacle is lowered before it is clear whether or not the complications take effect, and then you gain the additional benefit of possibly shifting difficulty categories in your own favor. At the very least, this should be another artha burner.

I also feel that granting bonus dice would be more in line with the existing mechanics as obstacles are forever only raised by the circumstances, never lowered. Anything that goes in the actor’s favor essentially manifests as bonus dice.

Unfortunately, artha dice don’t count towards advancement, so if you pay a fate point to raise the stakes and gain a bonus die by accepting graver consequences of failure, you don’t get the momentum concerning controlled advancement as described above. You just improve your odds to succeed at what you’re doing which can also be done by the regular complications mechanism that would actually be more powerful (which is why I wrote “fate point” above).

So I guess, I will try this option in our next session although I remain sceptical.

I messed up my character – no you didn’t

Welcome to this first installment in a new category called “Meta” that will not deal with the events in our campaign only, but look at Burning Wheel in general as well as on any random topics that might come up during play. I have a list of issues about which I’m going to write articles so be patient if the stuff I address here does not occur to you as the problem that should be addressed first – it might still be covered in one of the future articles.

This time, I want to talk about a problem that actually is none or, at least, appears to be bigger at first glance, than it really is. On the way back from Flo’s place after the last gaming afternoon, I talked to Stefan about his character and how he has messed up the latter’s skill selection, BITs and general setup. We both agreed that Hygelak’s skills are not all that helpful in the current game situation (exploring a ruined city in a remote mountain area that is infested with vicious spellcasting spider-hybrids).

First of all, Hygelak obviously isn’t an optimized character and is clearly the result of a first shot at character burning: He only has four skills, two of which are rather exotic and not very helpful in most conflicts (the skills in question are Philosophy and Sculpture). Furthermore, Hygelak has quite, well, weird BITs that I as a GM find very hard to challenge (“Don’t trust bearded men unless they’re redheads”).

At the gaming table, the result of this setup is that Hygelak constantly has to test skills that he has no points in, so he tests his Beginner’s Luck over and over and fails from one desaster to the next. Stefan asked me, if we could sit together in the group and rework the characters mechanically as then, after about 6 to 8 gaming sessions, we will have a better feel for the system and can take better informed decisions. Back then, I agreed to that idea but thinking about it, I tend to say that this isn’t necessary at all. So why’s that, you might be asking.

The simple answer to this question is that in Burning Wheel, there isn’t such a thing as messing up your character as long as you don’t get him/her killed. If you’ve taken the “wrong” skills, you will face unfavorable odds at the beginning and fail a lot of tests. I know that this has been annoying to my players as they had imagined their characters a little more “heroic”, so to say. Anyway, failing is not a bad thing because a failed test doesn’t mean that the PCs won’t achieve their goals (i.e. Beliefs) – it only means that the intent of the task at hand is not realized.

As a GM, I really try hard to come up with cool complications as a result of failed tests that actually do add a twist to the story and possibly lead your characters to new paths they wouldn’t have trodden if they didn’t fail to achieve their initial goals. Just remember Kyrila’s failed Orienteering test on the way from the rebel camp to Cantopia that resulted in the exploration of the cavern with the Child of Norimaar and earned Hygelak the Hellbound trait that has already led to cool situations and will allow him to unlock the secrets of Sorcery in the future if he wants to pursue this path (he could also state a belief to seek redemption in order to get rid of the Hellbound trait which would be at least equally awesome).

So, first thing to remember: Failing is not a bad thing because it creates unforseen story twists. I will hit you guys hard if you fail, but I won’t kill you (deliberately, that is). You will bleed but you won’t bleed to death. And after your wounds have healed, you will emerge from struggle stronger than ever.

Which leads us to the second reason why we don’t need to rework the characters: During the last session, the advancement mechanics finally fired because the characters had earned sufficient tests or this ability or that skill. There are also many Skills Being Learned on the character sheets that will soon open as new skills, so formerly difficult tasks in which the heroes have failed in the past will become more and more achievable – allowing them to fail at greater things.

That being said, I agree that the system did game us to a certain degree as nobody of us is sufficiently comfortable with the rules in order to play them to our own advantage. So what I actually mean is that the players certainly will get a better grip on writing good beliefs and insticts that will guide the development of their characters in the direction intended by them: Want to advance your character’s wilderness survival type skills? Great – just write a belief that involves traveling through the wilds to search for the mighty X of Y (just happened because of Baldur’s Mystificator-belief). Feel like your character needs to develop more expertise on the social battlefield? Let me know that by writing a Belief that says that you want to go to the Free City of Arcadia to find allies for your cause (whom you could then circle up).

For my part as a GM, I promise to try harder to incorporate those BITs in the game and make them the central pivot point of each and every gaming session. That way, the Artha Wheel will start turning. Characters will gain points that allow them to try harder tests and push the advancement of their abilities. I also promise that once we have finished the current story arc that involves finding the Mystificator and overthrowing chieftain Marduk, there will be a ingame downtime of about one year that the characters can use to find instructors for skills they want to learn or advance, practice on their own or pursue personal goals (= Beliefs) which we can play out in 1on1 sessions or via Skype.

Finally, there still is the pentagonal tower that appeared in Cantopia only because a test was failed – and although I still have no clue on what it contains, I do have decided that there will be something helpful inside. Just don’t make the mistake to believe that I will give it away for free, whatever it may be.