Some general advise for my 1st BW game

[MindFox]

As the title says. Looking for some input from people who know what works well.
Just bought the books, love the system and am introducing it to my long time group.

Setting Basics:
-A magic vs tech world.
-You have one giant wall separating two worlds.
-One world is like our early 1900's.
-The other is a fantasy setting, with division between the races. (Starting out in the human kingdom. Also nearest to the wall.
-The worlds being the source in either its' tech or magic, they do not work in the opposing world. Though near the wall both work to lesser effect.
-Both worlds are ignorant of the other except those towns that straddle the wall. Even in that case they know very little since they are either superstitious, or it is taboo to go near the wall.
-They are starting out in the fantasy world.

Fantasy world basics:
-Royal line slain by Sorcerers.
-Royal line was a supernatural source of protection against evil creatures.
-Kingdom is lain to ruin by these various creatures.
-Most of the military of scattered in the chaos.
-Anarchy is prevalent and communities have been able to self govern.

Their Town:
-Simple hamlet stationed near the wall.
-It being near the wall, the evil supernatural creatures instinctually stay away (Being inherently magical, they are weaker near it and just don't like the feel).
-Community is tight knit, and most people there are several generations borne.

The Players (All human):
-The Kid-
Born peasant/runner(soldier)/Musician(soldier)/scout/ clerk(village)

Enlisted young. Being a likable kid he was protected by his comrades, and was positioned in cushy spots. Eventually his commander allowed him to see more action as a scout. Was eventually hardened with skirmishes and battles with the other races. After the military disbanded because the royal line was killed his commander requested that he oversee the commander's hometown, and set him up with a job as a clerk. He waits till country calls him again.

Beliefs-
Always strive for better in life.
Patience is a virtue.
Duty and honor above all.

-The Rebel-
Born noble/student/smuggler/itinerant performer/freebooter

Was 23rd in line heir to the throne. When the royal line was slain he escaped with with his life and a curse, all that he loved would burn. Hiding in the shadows from would be assassins he learned to apply his wits and charm to survive. Joined a gang that that profited from his silver tongue, they offered him protection and the skills to survive in the harsh world. Eventually being able to call them family, they of course met an untimely demise. Joined a traveling troupe, learned to love again and bam they died. Hardened he became a pillager of the downtrodden. He has settled in this town to gain followers for his war to take the throne.

Beliefs-
-He is the rightful heir to the throne, and it will be his.
-The ends justify the means.
-Best best choice is the one that offers him more power.

-The Pact wolf-
Born peasant/hunter/trapper/wood cutter
Don't really know this character but it's along these lines. Born and raised in the town. Family has been here for several generations. Father was a serf who worked the farm and his father before him. His father was granted this land after their families years of faithful service. His uncle, the woodsman, taught him the woodsie stuff. Along the way he gained these belief;

Beliefs:
-Protect you and your own. Your "own" also includes those considered weak by rich people.
-Coming from a large family he has learned teamwork, teamwork, teamwork.
-Live with the land, not from it or for it.

The people playing em:
-The kid-
Mainly a reactionary person, doesn't take lead roles. Only ever plays support roles, and just enjoys the ride.

-The Rebel-
My resourceful player. Can easily lead a group, and is my most useful tool to move games. Tries very hard to coax people into plots. And tries not to be the center of attention. Made this character to put "The pact wolf" in difficult decisions, and hopefully get him to take more of an active role in his characters.

-The Pact Wolf-
The reason why I picked this game up. He is shy, timid, and quiet. He stutters constantly and more when nervous, this is the reason why he doesn't talk much. He wants to play a hardcore "role" playing game to try to develop his experience with gaming and talking.

Me:I've run games for 7 1/2 years and only played in games for half a year. I've never played a game that has gone on for more than 2 sessions and frankly I have been burned out for sometime now. I now muddle listless through modules for DnD. With some renewed zest and a drive to give my players one last gem from me, I picked this up to craft my magnum opus campaign and then retire. I plan to run several small story arcs in the world to set it up, and for us to get acquainted with the system. Then run the final campaign with new characters or maybe the same ones if they grow attached.

So, with all this information in hand I would greatly appreciate from you any help, advice, or ideas you all have to offer. This is for all aspects; my world, plot points, characters, running the system for the first time, and/or aids for BW.

Thanks for those who read to this point.

[pauld]

Hi Mindfox & welcome to the forum!

The world sounds pretty cool with the division of magic & tech by the giant wall.

It may be worthwhile working through Luke's questions with the players to really focus all of you on the campaign. Looks like you've got most of the questions covered but it should still be handy answering them as a group. Here's a great example. (http://www.burningwheel.org/forum/showthread.php?t=4298)

Regarding the characters Beliefs, I'll leave it to the BW veterans to refine them if they so wish and will instead attempt to give some general pointers.

Ideally each character should have a Belief that ties them to the others somehow, either directly or through a shared goal/situation and ideally in some form of conflict. With a little hunting here & on the wiki you'll find plenty of posts on turning ok beliefs into kick ass awesome beliefs.

One thing you'll all need to understand is that Beliefs, Instincts & Traits form the core of the reward mechanic - Artha! The players should aim to have one Belief that they can resolve each session and at the very least have their play driven by their Beliefs. If that's not happening there won't be much Artha flowing which will restrict their ability to succeed in the things that matter to them.

Additionally, in an ideal world you as GM should be looking at their Beliefs, Instincts and Traits and hitting them hard, navigating the players into situations where they have to make tough choices. They're the key to making your job as a GM easier - the stronger, more focused the Beliefs, the shorter your prep time :)

Hopefully I've got across how important they are!

To get you & your players used to the game system I'd highly recommend spending time before the campaign begins in earnest doing a Fight! or two plus a Duel of Wits or two at the very least. Running The Sword demo would be ideal for this. Hopefully you'll all see how potentially deadly (and fun!) Fight! can be and how damn cool Duel of Wits are.

A run through of Range & Cover would be useful too to complete the trinity of funky mechanics.

The mantra of "Say Yes or roll the dice" and the "Let it Ride" rule are so important. In fact, read that sentence again and again until it sinks in...

Coming from a mainly D&D background myself, it's a tricky thing to get your head around as you'd often roll multiple times for situations that ultimately didn't matter too much. If you can master the above your game should run smoother and your characters achieve more in a few sessions than a whole summer of D&D. Hmm, not that I'm knocking D&D - they're just two different beasts. 'nuff said.

The main play aid you should sort out are laminated Fight! & DoW checklists that you can download from the Wiki, enough for one for each of you.

When's your first session scheduled? Be good to hear what you have planned for the kick-off.

I started to paste a few essential links for you & your players to digest but basically it's easier to just hit the Fevered Circle section of the Wiki (http://www.burningwheel.org/wiki/index.php?title=Category:Fevered_Circle) & dive right in! All the articles on there, especially those relating to Beliefs and being new to the game are nuggets of mithril to help you forge a shiny game of awesome :)

That's all for now, over to the rest of the BW community.

[MindFox]

Helps much. Lurking on the forums has given me a lot of info. Though there are a couple of things I would like peoples ideas on.

1. Player aides, things people use to make interactions smooth. Like do people use index cards, laminated multichoice script sheets, miniatures, queued up rolls, or a dry erase board, and so on and so forth?

2. Forks. How many? How often? And what are some common ones people use? I have yet to find a complied list. I know that most people wouldn't want one, cause they want players to come up with em on the fly and be creative. Though it would help to know what people do, what GMs accept and examples .

[luke]

1. I have a set of laminated sheets and grease pencils.

2. On nearly every roll.