[RPG]: The Burning Wheel, reviewed by Brennan Taylor (3/5)

[RPGnet Reviews]

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/9/9148.phtml

Brennan Taylor's Summary:

The Burning Wheel is a set of generic rules for fantasy role-playing self-published by designer Luke Crane. The rules are tight and enjoyable, and although there are some problems with their applicability to more unconventional settings, they have a great air of brutal believability that fits nicely with my admittedly gritty preferences for fantasy role-play.

Go to the full review (http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/9/9148.phtml) for more information.

[RPGnet Reviews]

Post originally by abzu at 2003-03-20 11:15:28
Converted from Phorums BB System

Ok, ok. One small point I'd like to add to regarding Brennan's comment about the random missile weapon damage in Burning Wheel.

The "randomness" jumps from a scratch to a painful wound to a deadly or debilitating shot. Having a tightly controlled random damage mechanic allows a significant chance for even the unskilled to pull off a killing shot.

Characters of high level of skill can increase their chances of doing more damage to their target in the form of +1 and +2 bonuses to the Die of Fate. These bonuses can be earned by exceeding the obstacle (difficulty) of the shot. And those are significant bonuses in a range of 1-6.

Anyway, sorry for being such a niggler.

Thanks Brennan!

-abzu

[RPGnet Reviews]

Post originally by Brennan Taylor at 2003-03-20 11:51:26
Converted from Phorums BB System

OK, point taken about the bonus for characters with high levels of skill. It just seemed strange to me to change the mechanic for missile weapons, when the damage mechanic works fine for hand-to-hand combat.

[RPGnet Reviews]

Post originally by abzu at 2003-03-20 18:31:39
Converted from Phorums BB System

It just never worked for missile combat. We tried it for a couple of years--- using the single roll/skill = damage system. The biggest flaw was that unskilled people couldn't kill anything. And even a marksman pulling off the toughest shot of his life had no chance of actually killing someone. He could meet his obstacle and do an incidental hit, but couldn't actually get "lucky" and get a kill.

This just didn't sit right with me. It is very important that a weapon designed to injure and used with the intent to harm have a chance of doing serious injury. So we introduced the very tightly controlled random damage mechanic and it seemed to relieve the stress.

Feh. More niggling. Thanks again for the very kind review. I am glad you like the game.

-abzu

[RPGnet Reviews]

Post originally by Brennan at 2003-05-14 12:11:53
Converted from Phorums BB System

I mentioned in the review that I had some doubts about the advancement system. I am happy to report that this system, although a bit difficult and atmosphere-damaging at first, becomes quite smooth and easy to use after a few sessions. It no longer interferes with play and is second nature to me and my players.

[RPGnet Reviews]

Post originally by Kublai at 2004-01-08 16:05:03
Converted from Phorums BB System

I was just reading this review again and realized that there is a lot of new, optional rules that make BW work more smoothly. Be sure to check out www.burningwheel.org's download, news, and forum sections for updates. Some of the new stuff is definitely going to replace some of the current rules in future editions.

1) A new wounding system that replaces the controversial +1/+2 DN modifiers. Healing is also revised to reflect the new rules.

2) Improved DOF for ranged attacks. Basically, surpass your obstacle for a +1 to your roll. Double it for a +2 and triple it for a +3. This almost ensures a killing blow for skilled marksmen.

3) An improved Script Sheet that makes it much easier to familiarize oneself with the concept of scripted combat.

4) New magic systems, races, traits, and lifepaths are there as well.