Session Formula

[Wrathbone]

To satisfy my penchant for reducing things to manageable formulas, I started a bullet point list for pre- and post- session for BWG. Does this look about right? Also, do you think it would be helpful to have a formula for the session itself (ala Mouse Guard) or do you think this is handled by the Pre-Session? Any advice is appreciated. I'm mainly wondering about the sequence of the pre-session.

I'd break it down thusly.

1) Recap and review last session

2) Revise situation and introduce new twist if necessary.
— Give players a number of options for dealing with the situation

3) Review and modify PC Beliefs
— GM: How do I challenge the characteres in context of new situation?
— Players: How do I engage this new situation?

4) Declare action (What's happening now?):
• Last Time…resolve cliffhangers & unfinished actions
• Our Intrepid Adventurers Recently Discovered…recap last bit of action as prologue for coming session
• Meanwhile…if the group is split up, switch back and forth
• Later…if the game is stalled, narrate a jump in time & reframe action

5) Play!


Post-Session
• Award artha

• Log tests for advancement

• Record passage of time
• Log practice
• Trait & Reputation vote (every 6-12 sessions)
• Brainstorm next session (GM)

This is a first draft, I hope to come up with a final list that GMs can use for running sessions.

[creatorlars]

This is a very useful discussion. I realize there's probably no one way to do this for Burning Wheel, but I'm very interested in seeing how other GMs tackle this sort of workflow/mindset to their games.

[luke]

Just want to say that I support this endeavor.

Steps 2 and 5 seem the same to me.

[DagaZ]

Hey, I may use this guide the next time we play. Thanks Wrathbone

Stay cool

[Wrathbone]

Thanks for the feedback. Okay, I'm going to edit as per Luke's suggestion, but first I have a question regarding 7) modify or change beliefs. Should the players revise their beliefs in light of the new situation, or should they be given the new situation + the action that the GM has planned (the alternative being that they get the new situation, revise beliefs, and then the GM tells them the action coming for the session)?

[luke]

I'd break it down thusly.

1) Recap and review last session

2) Revise situation and introduce new twist if necessary.
— Give players a number of options for dealing with the situation

3) Review and modify PC Beliefs
— GM: How do I challenge the characteres in context of new situation?
— Players: How do I engage this new situation?

4) Declare action (What's happening now?):
• Last Time…resolve cliffhangers & unfinished actions
• Our Intrepid Adventurers Recently Discovered…recap last bit of action as prologue for coming session
• Meanwhile…if the group is split up, switch back and forth
• Later…if the game is stalled, narrate a jump in time & reframe action

5) Play!

[Wrathbone]

Thanks Luke, but I'm a little confused. You've got "give the players options and Obs" under the "Revise Situation" heading. I kind of thought of this stuff as the action.

Note I'm looking at the definition of terms p. 83 AdBu here. In fact I'm thinking of creating a session much the same way you'd set up a game in the "Adventure Burner" chapter. The only difference I see is that after Session 1, the setting and characters stay the same (mostly), you're just revising the situation and action in Sessions 2+.

[luke]

Oops. That was a copy/paste error. Edited my post above.

[Wrathbone]

Okay, I added Luke's changes, and added Obs with results for failure and success in the "Action" section (hope this is right). I also added a simple sequence for the session. This might seem simplistic but the whole point of this is to create a no-fail punch list for a session. Also added "Log tests for advancement" in the post-session.

It's probably worth noting that it's always best to go with the flow. Once a good grasp of session sequence is grasped, feel free to do what works best for your group.