donbaloo
05-07-2005, 07:48 PM
Okay, guess I'm a real tard because I managed to delete the entire original post in which you guys answered some of my questions. That was just after I managed a quadruple post too. I don't know what happened. Anyway, if you can remember what we were discussing....
Okay, thanks for the clarification on extortion. That should cover the other instances of similarly used skills that I was curious about as well. And I keep forgetting that its the players job to declare their skill use, not mine as GM...that should help. Redoid-Yeah I stink at rememberings skills too and I just foresaw doom ahead when I realized the degree of specificity the skills list exhibited.
Abzu, you cleared the cobwebs from my understanding of Scavenge and like traits. Thor, I understood that the skill could be used without any skill points but the problematic aspect of it was that I just simply didn't understand the need for such a skill. In a typical game of mine if someone wanted to sneak into town and find some sacks then it was my job to determine if the sacks would be there and if I thought so, we'd do a brief roleplay and the sacks would be gathered. All on my judgement. Abzu cleared that notion up with the idea of player authorship. Now I don't have to decide anything, the PC does it all. This is the most unfamiliar aspect of gaming that Burning Wheel has offered to me and its been very difficult to come to grips with. I'm excited about seeing it in action though, and a little scared if truth be told. Its just something completely foreign to us.
Thor, went back and reread the success and intent sections, as well as failures like you said. It did help, especially while keeping in mind the notion of player authorship. However it brought forward another question about success, failure, and let it ride that I'd like to ask. I'll use the example from the book. So the character's lockpicking skill is being tested with the intent of opening a door before the guards get there. Failure. Now the book drills home the idea of alternate forms of failure, one being that the guards show before the lock is popped. Lets say that the guards are disposed of in some way though. Now, the player still wants to get through that door. Under Let it Ride the task was failed but in narrating the failure in the way we did, it seems to indicate that the character may still have a chance at opening the lock. How do you handle this? Alternately, suppose the character succeeded in opening the door to begin with. Once inside, they need to open a chest to retrieve certain documents that they are after. Does the initial success for the door count as successful lockpicking for the scene and so the chest is opened as well. My apologies for coming across as so dense but I just want to make sure that when I'm playing that I'm allowing the system to function in the way you guys have created it.
Steel. I've read the section twice and now skimmed it for a third time. I guess my initial impression was that the majority of obstacles are simply your Hesitation (your base) and that typically there wouldn't be very much modification. I guess through a combination of the situational conditions as tests and the list of modifiers that over time sufficient tests can be logged. It still appears though that the greatest number of tests are going to be simply against your hesitation with a -1D for a wound in battle. Of course, that could just be my D&D/combat mind not opening up enough.
Thanks for the help once again you guys and if you get a chance to address my let it ride and scene success issue above I'd appreciate it. Anything from the previous post that I didn't mention here was cleared up by a combination of all of your posts. This system has been very eye opening to me and though I must appear as quite the dolt through my questioning, flowers of enlightenment truly are beginning to bloom in the garden of my mind. I hope to have the time to post my thoughts soon on how Burning Wheel has begun to shatter my belief that I've ever truly role-played at any significant level in all my years of gaming. Take care...
Okay, thanks for the clarification on extortion. That should cover the other instances of similarly used skills that I was curious about as well. And I keep forgetting that its the players job to declare their skill use, not mine as GM...that should help. Redoid-Yeah I stink at rememberings skills too and I just foresaw doom ahead when I realized the degree of specificity the skills list exhibited.
Abzu, you cleared the cobwebs from my understanding of Scavenge and like traits. Thor, I understood that the skill could be used without any skill points but the problematic aspect of it was that I just simply didn't understand the need for such a skill. In a typical game of mine if someone wanted to sneak into town and find some sacks then it was my job to determine if the sacks would be there and if I thought so, we'd do a brief roleplay and the sacks would be gathered. All on my judgement. Abzu cleared that notion up with the idea of player authorship. Now I don't have to decide anything, the PC does it all. This is the most unfamiliar aspect of gaming that Burning Wheel has offered to me and its been very difficult to come to grips with. I'm excited about seeing it in action though, and a little scared if truth be told. Its just something completely foreign to us.
Thor, went back and reread the success and intent sections, as well as failures like you said. It did help, especially while keeping in mind the notion of player authorship. However it brought forward another question about success, failure, and let it ride that I'd like to ask. I'll use the example from the book. So the character's lockpicking skill is being tested with the intent of opening a door before the guards get there. Failure. Now the book drills home the idea of alternate forms of failure, one being that the guards show before the lock is popped. Lets say that the guards are disposed of in some way though. Now, the player still wants to get through that door. Under Let it Ride the task was failed but in narrating the failure in the way we did, it seems to indicate that the character may still have a chance at opening the lock. How do you handle this? Alternately, suppose the character succeeded in opening the door to begin with. Once inside, they need to open a chest to retrieve certain documents that they are after. Does the initial success for the door count as successful lockpicking for the scene and so the chest is opened as well. My apologies for coming across as so dense but I just want to make sure that when I'm playing that I'm allowing the system to function in the way you guys have created it.
Steel. I've read the section twice and now skimmed it for a third time. I guess my initial impression was that the majority of obstacles are simply your Hesitation (your base) and that typically there wouldn't be very much modification. I guess through a combination of the situational conditions as tests and the list of modifiers that over time sufficient tests can be logged. It still appears though that the greatest number of tests are going to be simply against your hesitation with a -1D for a wound in battle. Of course, that could just be my D&D/combat mind not opening up enough.
Thanks for the help once again you guys and if you get a chance to address my let it ride and scene success issue above I'd appreciate it. Anything from the previous post that I didn't mention here was cleared up by a combination of all of your posts. This system has been very eye opening to me and though I must appear as quite the dolt through my questioning, flowers of enlightenment truly are beginning to bloom in the garden of my mind. I hope to have the time to post my thoughts soon on how Burning Wheel has begun to shatter my belief that I've ever truly role-played at any significant level in all my years of gaming. Take care...