Ran my Dreamation scenario this afternoon and it’s really solid. Also highly experimental! I’m trying out some neat tricks that I’ll talk about after the convention.
Running BW again, two things jump out at me:
* Still my favorite framework for playing a confrontational game. So many tools and procedures and options in place to provide a really safe and equitable experience.
* Mind bogglingly busy game relative to where I’ve spent the past few years. My God. I went and laminated those scripting sheets but no way am I putting noobs through any of that at a one shot.
I’m super glad to have put the hard work into the historical research, though. Makes the setting really vibrant and consistent.
One more week!
Man, I need to play BW with someone who knows their shit. All these rave reviews of the system makes me feel like I’m really missing out 🙁
I’d be really interested in hearing your plan for teaching BW at conventions.
How long are the slots at Dreamnation? I’ve seen videos of luke crane run the intro scenario (The Sword, is it?) in about two hours, and that includes time for teaching the Hub and Spokes. If a convention slot is 2-4 hours, that’s more than enough time, I should think.
That’s the trick for bw one shots I reckon. Looking at the subsystems, I think it’s easy to imagine that they have to be used to get the best out of the game. That’s understandable, as most games have those sort of rules to exclusively handle such conflicts. But the reality is burning wheel absolutely sings with just the hub. And it works particularity well for getting a lot done during one shots. (The subsystems seem to come into their own as focal stress points during campaign play.) Although, I find duel of wits gives a pretty satisfying conclusion to single session games, if the players are up for arguing out a conclusion.
I’ve taught BW many, many times at conventions! Really the core of the game takes about 15 minutes to talk through. Buuuut I hate running a “demo,” which is all The Sword really amounts to, so yeah, that four hours is full of good stuff.
Agreed re Duel of Wits, that one is pretty easy to introduce. I’m also murderously good at it, which means I can dial in a reasonably fair outcome (the new illusionism!).