DarrenMantle
08-01-2008, 10:08 AM
This is a question that I first thought of in the scope of Burning Empires, but it applies to Burning Wheel as well...
A Persona Artha is awarded for resolving a belief, but does that resolution have to be a positive one?
A couple examples:
First, negative resolution. Say a character has the belief: "The Mundas Humanitas is a poison, I must save my sister from it before it takes her life". You play a few maneuvers, get into a conflict scene where you're trying to steal your sister away from the Church and she gets gunned down by the Cotar Fomas in the process. Obviously the scope of the Belief is over, and pretty much exactly the opposite of the stated goal of the belief came to pass. Is this Belief resolved for purposes of earning a Persona point, or is it just eliminated by circumstances?
Second, neutral resolution. A character with the belief "My father is a powerful man, I must become part of his inner circle to be in position to defend our world." In play, the character witnesses his father being hulled. Now, the player could keep the belief and continue to try to become part of his father's inner circle, but all things considered that's probably become less critical now. The character changes the belief to "My father is the rot at the heart of our strength, I will overthrow him." Is there a Persona point awarded for the change in circumstances that led to the first Belief being effectively nullified?
In both cases, I would assume the answer is no, there is no Persona award because the character didn't accomplish the goals stated in the beliefs. I'm just curious if I'm interpreting that correctly. Thanks!
A Persona Artha is awarded for resolving a belief, but does that resolution have to be a positive one?
A couple examples:
First, negative resolution. Say a character has the belief: "The Mundas Humanitas is a poison, I must save my sister from it before it takes her life". You play a few maneuvers, get into a conflict scene where you're trying to steal your sister away from the Church and she gets gunned down by the Cotar Fomas in the process. Obviously the scope of the Belief is over, and pretty much exactly the opposite of the stated goal of the belief came to pass. Is this Belief resolved for purposes of earning a Persona point, or is it just eliminated by circumstances?
Second, neutral resolution. A character with the belief "My father is a powerful man, I must become part of his inner circle to be in position to defend our world." In play, the character witnesses his father being hulled. Now, the player could keep the belief and continue to try to become part of his father's inner circle, but all things considered that's probably become less critical now. The character changes the belief to "My father is the rot at the heart of our strength, I will overthrow him." Is there a Persona point awarded for the change in circumstances that led to the first Belief being effectively nullified?
In both cases, I would assume the answer is no, there is no Persona award because the character didn't accomplish the goals stated in the beliefs. I'm just curious if I'm interpreting that correctly. Thanks!