[Dan Davenport]

Originally Posted by t_wanderer

Dan,

I always enjoy your reviews, and was excited to see this one on Friday. Lately, I've been playing a lot of Burning Wheel, and would like to know more about what you thought made the system difficult to understand or explain. What about the books could you not envision as part of a table-top play experience?

Hi, t_wanderer. Thanks for the complement.

I guess the best way I can respond to your question would be to say that I can certainly envision BW as part of a table-top play experience -- just not one that I, personally, would feel comfortable running, or even, to some extent, playing.

And what made it difficult for me was trying to get a grip on the way that all of the various subsystems interact. As Chelemby says above, they <u>do</u> interact beautifully -- I can see that much. It's just that I can't handle the level of detail involved. The hardest part, I suppose, was the fact that the details steadily build upon other details, and the end result simply felt overwhelming to me. And even if I did get it, I know from experience that this level of detail would be too much for me to track during play.

None of which is to suggest that the game is flawed in that respect. Your own experience with the game illustrates that it serves its target market well.

Originally Posted by t_wanderer

Also, I've found the Duel of Wits mechanics really enhance roleplaying and provide a great structure on which to build a social conflict encounter into something more than unfocused discussion followed by a couple dice rolls (or adjudicated by GM fiat). Duel of Wits allows for a lot of freedom and creativity, and I've seen new players (myself included at one time) pick it up and enjoy it immediately. It's a lot of fun.

Thanks for your time.

--W

I'm sure it could be fun, and as I mentioned in the review, I appreciate the fact that it gives social PCs the chance to "duke it out" in their own way. I've just found that for me, interaction is so free-flowing that breaking it down into "blow-by-blow" mechanics wouldn't feel right.