30 Days of The Burning Wheel: and so it begins…

Yep, I’m at it again. I’m starting another “n Days of…” roleplaying game project. This time it’s The Burning Wheel, Luke Crane’s blazing masterpiece of an RPG. I’ve been playing BW for over a year. I started with the first edition, then transitioned to BW Revised when it came out in May 2005.

I’m sure you have a few questions.

Q. Why only 30 days? A. Did you see the results of the “101 Days of D&D” thing? Yeah. That made it 43 days. I’m being more honest with myself with this one.

Q. Why Burning Wheel? Don’t you already know how to play it? A. Yeah, I know, more or less. “Less” tends to dominate that, though. Sure, I’ve played quite a bit of it, but I still don’t have it at the muscle-memory stage where I really think it’ll start to blaze. [Yes, there will be LOTS of fire jokes and references in this series. Deal.] Also, I really like BW. I love it, in fact. BW Revised is just full of awesome roleplaying advice and rules for really getting the most out of your game.

Q. Do you have a plan? A. Um, yeah. Sortof. I plan to talk about some mechanical things as I work through them, starting with the hub (the core mechanics and character burning) and the spokes (more core mechanics and the reward system), then move on to some of the rim (Fight!, Duel of Wits, Circles, etc.). I also plan to go through the Monster Burner’s stuff, too, as what I’ve read of it has some very interesting things that really explain how BW works “under the hood.” I may even get to some of the stuff in Jihad: Burning Sands (guns, spaceships, propaganda, ancestry, etc.) if I have time or decide to extend it. We’ll see.

I’m sure I’ll have some more generic RPG things to talk about, too. The upcoming game will be my first attempt at GMing Burning Wheel, so I’m sure I’ll have some things to say about that aspect of the game.

In the meantime, I’m going to start at the beginning and re-read The Burning Wheel tonight. Wish me luck!