DoW and Call-on Traits (with regards to The Sword)

[Berandor]

Hey,

I'm preparing The Sword as a secondary scenario should I fail to get four or more players for The Gift in a soon-to-be-played one-shot. Two questions came up during preparation that sort of deal with the Sword, specifically.

Robard has two call-on traits pertaining to Falsehood (The Story, Poker Face). If he FoRKs Falsehood into, say, a DoW test, can he use the c/o to re-roll that test thanks to the FoRK?

Second question: Say Robard keeps to the back at first, and Brechtanz and Fidhean get into a DoW about the Sword. Both the Dwarf and the Elf formulate a statement about the winner getting the sword. Does Robard as the audience have to keep to the results of the DoW, i.e. if the elf wins, can Robard still challenge the elf to a DoW for the sword? I'm wondering because if so, Robard (in this example) would neither gain from helping either side in the DoW nor from waiting to see who wins.

[luke]

Call-ons are tied to specific tests. In this case, Falsehood tests.

Robard is the audience, he must abide by the outcome.

[Thor]

Hey,

I'm preparing The Sword as a secondary scenario should I fail to get four or more players for The Gift in a soon-to-be-played one-shot. Two questions came up during preparation that sort of deal with the Sword, specifically.

Robard has two call-on traits pertaining to Falsehood (The Story, Poker Face). If he FoRKs Falsehood into, say, a DoW test, can he use the c/o to re-roll that test thanks to the FoRK?

No, he has to roll Falsehood in order to benefit from the call-on. There are DoW actions that allow you to use Falsehood as a primary action, however.


Second question: Say Robard keeps to the back at first, and Brechtanz and Fidhean get into a DoW about the Sword. Both the Dwarf and the Elf formulate a statement about the winner getting the sword. Does Robard as the audience have to keep to the results of the DoW, i.e. if the elf wins, can Robard still challenge the elf to a DoW for the sword? I'm wondering because if so, Robard (in this example) would neither gain from helping either side in the DoW nor from waiting to see who wins.

Technically, Robard counts as the audience and is therefore bound by the DoW unless he removes himself from the scene during the DoW. However, his likely best course of action is to help both sides and ensure that a major compromise is reached, and then try to make sure the major compromise benefits him.

[Berandor]

Thanks! It's as I suspected, and thanks again to Thor for the suggestion re: Robard's tactics.

[wanderer]

When I ran The Sword a couple weeks ago, I ran into the same problem of Robard, on more than one occasion, hanging back and waiting to see what happened between the other characters before making a decision. Thinking about it afterward, I realized this is pretty traditional player behavior that Burning Wheel does not support at all. He basically excluded himself from the action.

It would have been even worse had I realized he was bound by the Duel of Wits between Fidhean and Brechtanz (won by the latter). Would he have been bound by the results had he been in the scene but not given Helping dice to either side? Would he have to go so far as saying he's poking around in the rest of the dungeon or something so as not to be subject to the Duel's outcome? I see now how this, from a resolution standpoint, makes the audience a crucial part of enforcing the outcome of a Duel of Wits.

[luke]

The point of the mechanic is to spur you to action. If you just sit there, then you're not going to have a voice at all.

And yes, Daniel, it is possible to crawl so far into your shell, you're not subject to the Duel of Wits. This is lame. Why bother playing then?

[wanderer]

And yes, Daniel, it is possible to crawl so far into your shell, you're not subject to the Duel of Wits. This is lame. Why bother playing then?
Exactly. It just took me being in the GM seat to understand how Burning Wheel enforces this mechanically.