Burning Wheel
Published by: Luke Crane
Written by: Luke Crane

I recently picked up a new role playing system called Burning Wheel. I learned about the game through a few podcasts that I listen to regularly, particularly noting The Podge Cast, and I was intrigued by the way they seemed to use a classic fantasy world of similar to that of Dungeons and Dragons without being overly reliant on the rules. I’ve been able to play more than a handful sessions as well as a prefabricated module.

Conflict Systems
The rules system for Burning Wheel is a dice pool system that only uses six-sided dice, with successes being usually 4, 5, and 6. There are two main forms of combat; Fight! Combat System and Duel of Wits social conflict system. Both systems are based on choosing a number of actions beforehand, secretly and without knowing your opponents choices. In the Fight! system the available choices include Strike, Block, Feint and a variety of more advanced options. This choice is then compared with that of your opponent and results are determined. While the combat system is interesting and different from anything I’ve seen before however, it can be confusing to new players . I give the Fight! system a 7/10.

The Duel of Wits system is what really got me excited about the game. A Duel of Wits is invoked whenever there is an argument where players want to do more than role play the conversation out. It isn’t mandatory to participate in a Duel of Wits but if they decline they cannot argue with the opponent anymore. If accepted the Duel of Wits is much like the Fight! system but instead of you choose actions such as Point, Avoid the Topic, Dismiss, Incite or my personal favorite, Obfuscate. You then roll dice based on action decisions. Don’t look at this the wrong way, it doesn’t replace role-playing, it just adds another element, you still must role-play out the conversation. Since it is so original and it really does help move the game along I give the Duel of Wits system a 9.5/10

Character Creation
Character creation is based off a system of life paths, or major events in your character’s life that allow you to have a good outline of your character’s entire history before you have had a chance to play them. For example, a man who is at the head of the guard might have a life path line similar to this, City Born, Page, Squire, Foot Soldier, Prisoner of War, City Guard, Captain of the Guard. While 7 life paths makes a veteran character you could play a normal character with 5 life paths, or a rookie character with 3 or 4 life paths. This determines how many dice you can assign to your four physical stats (Power, Dexterity, Forte and Agility) and to your two mental stats (Will and Perception). The life paths also determine how many points you get for skills, resources, relationships, traits and attributes. The first time through character creation takes awhile, and it is almost necessary for players to have their own rulebooks, but it creates a detailed and easy to role play character. So I give the Character Creation of Burning Wheel a 8/10.

Skill, Attribute and Magic Systems
The skill system is much like any other role playing game that uses a skill system. For a skill to be successful the player just needs to roll a number of successes with their skill. Based on the number of dice you roll and the number of successes you needed you get a type of successes, which are classified as either routine, difficult or challenging, which is the experience system for the game. Once a set number of these successes have been reached your skill goes up by one exponent. I give the attribute system a 7/10 because it is a basic system but the experience system for it allows for interesting and realistic growth.

Attributes are another category much like skills except usually only used when the GM calls for it to be rolled. Health, Steel, Reflexes and Mortal Wound. My favorite among these is Steel. The GM calls for this attribute whenever the players see something horrible, if they fail this check then they have 3 options; Run and Scream, Stand and Droll, and Feint. All three must be done in full, meaning if you choose Run and Scream, you have to both run and have to scream. While it might make your heroic fighter seem like a frightened little bunny, this only happens if you fail your Steel check, and if your fighter is truly heroic then he won’t fail the Steel check. I will give the attribute system a 8/10 because I love the feel that each attribute brings to the game.

The magic system in Burning Wheel is based off one skill, Sorcery. Whenever a spell is cast the mage will roll their sorcery plus their will stat. However the interesting part is using the spell, and learning new spells. When a spell is used the mage must first make a number of successes to cast the spell. If it isn’t cast then the spell fails and one of three things happen, usually the spell simply fades but other times a different spell will be cast that can hurt the spell caster or something is summoned. Then the spell caster must test their Forte stat and if they fail they lose points in their Forte, and when it reaches 0 the mage passes out. Here’s the best part, well worst part for the mages, when learning a new spell the number of successes is doubled, making spells harder to cast, and easier to pass out from. To me its hilarious watching the mage pass out in combat, and oh yeah and there is a huge demon he just accidentally summoned in front of him. I give the magic system a 9/10 for uniqueness and its challenging aspects.

Overall Review
Burning Wheel is a great alternative for those who enjoy political intrigue and heroic fantasy without dealing with the stagnant rules set of Dungeons and Dragons. In addition, it is well worth the low-low price for $25 for the two core books.

Go out and get your copy at Chicagoland Games today!

And check out www.burningwheel.com for more information on the game.

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