Hi all,
I realize I'm a little late to the game but was wondering if any other GMs or players have any experience with Burning Empires, based on the Burning Wheel RPG? We picked this up a few weeks ago and I'm very excited by the setting and the structure of the game.
We're going to give it a go with just one player and a GM. Not sure how well that will work but I guess we'll see.
Would love to hear what others have done with the game.
M
Oh, nice. I appreciate that it's written as a story...most of the campaign recaps stick mostly to the mechanics.
Yeah, it's pretty far away from my group's tastes as well. I'm exploring it with my co-GM separate from my group. We've completed world burning and are working on characters. Pretty interesting so far.
Would love to play it with an interested, engaged group of gamers.
M
Burning Wheel and Burning Empires by association are as good as you make them. The group has to bring a lot to the table, and the GM has to be comfortable with a lot less micromanaging since they are more like "first amongst equals" instead of an autocratic authoritative position. It's a hard game system to just "up and play" on a rainy Saturday, for me. But it's one of those game systems where my friends will go 'man I have a real hankerin' for some Burning Wheel Jess' and then we scamper off to have mass fun and hijinks. Or sometimes I'll get a cool idea of something I want to hack into Burning Wheel and then I sell it to my groupmates and we go scampering off to have mass fun and hijinks. But in both cases it requires buy-in and the intent for group story telling. Not everyone's cup of tea, but a worthy experience if you can dig it.
If you guys are stoked about the Iron Empires setting then that goes a long way toward enjoyment. If you haven't snagged them yet I'd recommend checking out the source material by Christopher Moeller Faith Conquers & Sheva's War available in PDF from DriveThruComics and in print from various sources)
Thanks for the recommendation. I have indeed gotten those, as well as the Bloodstained Stars flavor add-on. Really good stuff and I'm wondering why Mr. Moeller doesn't just play the game some more to create stories for new novels. :)
Edit: You have an enviable gaming group. Our guys mostly want to be murder-hoboes...they're less interested in story. My co-GM and I regularly explore "story games" on our own as a break.
I've played Burning Wheel a little and enjoy it quite a bit. I really want to play Burning Empires at some point, the addition of the long term meta-game tickles my itch for strategy games that doesn't get a lot of attention in RPG's.
Unfortunately BW is not a game I can GM. I've tried and it just doesn't fit my personality. I can play in someone else's game and have a great time, I just can't run it myself.
I have some notes and ideas about mashing up WEG Star Wars with Burning Empires. Or maybe Green Ronin's ASOIAF. My one complaint with BW and BE is the humongous skill list. I hate long skill lists.
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Oh, nice. I appreciate that it's written as a story...most of the campaign recaps stick mostly to the mechanics.
Yeah, it's pretty far away from my group's tastes as well. I'm exploring it with my co-GM separate from my group. We've completed world burning and are working on characters. Pretty interesting so far.
Would love to play it with an interested, engaged group of gamers.
M
One word ... PaizoCon!
If you run it, I will be there. :)
Really? LL and I are trying it out now and I think I could be ready to run something by the show. I would totally like to try it with more...though we'd have to shrink the scope of the game a bit to fit it in at the show. Think you can bring a friend? I forget the name of the guy that joined us for Star Frontiers and Firefly but, if he's coming please invite him.
We'll be in on Wednesday afternoon, leaving Monday sometime, and are open to gaming all hours. Let's set it up.
M
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This may seem a strange statement, but watch some old school Hitchcock movies. Make some mental notices on how he presents the movie. That is how you need the run a game based on The Burning Wheel rules. Hide nothing from your players. What I mean is unlike D&D where you call for Perception checks then tell players what they do or do not see, you tell the PLAYERS everything and then have them make rolls and determine what their CHARACTERS do. Takes a little getting used too. Works well in practice. I'm currently running the classic D&D Ravenloft adventure using BW and it is awesome.
Luke Crane (the author) usually replies to questions in a few hours on the forum!
S.
Funny. We were just talking about Ravenloft using BW. Agree with everything you've said. I grokked that from reading the BE book. Playing it should come off just about like reading one of his graphic novels.
Zylphryx: Man it's odd having conversations with you...because of our avatars. :) When are you getting in to PaizoCon? It's always hard to get up a game on Thursday because of the Meet & Eat but we'll be in to town by Wednesday afternoon and that seems like a good night to try to do it if you're in. Let me know.
Gotcha. Well, how about a *drink* Wednesday after you get in and BE on Thursday morning?
M