Strat and PTA

[drcpunk.livejournal.com]

I visited the Strategist today. Nothing to get today, but they expect cool stuff soon, including Luke Crane's Burning Empires.

I lamented the lack of other indie games and the guy I talked to said that the Stat would love to carry more. He said they wanted to be good to small companies and that every big company used to be a small one. And he wants the designers to know: The Compleat Strategist does want to carry your stuff.

I want to want Burning Empires. But I'm not sure it will be my cup of tea. I enjoyed the Burning Wheel demo I played in back in January, it did what it was supposed to quite well, and what it did was woth doing.

And, I still found the crunch level too high for my tastes, the strategizing in physical or social combat.

So, will I have the same reaction to Burning Empires? Is it not a game for me? Luke doesn't need the sale to me, and I don't want to buy a game I won't like because I want an apple and it's a banana.

Or is there enough non-system stuff I'll like enough of the book?

Meanwhile, we got as far as the Pitch in PTA and beginning chargen. Genre: Arabian Nights Police Procedural, more or less.

Comments

[marcmagus]

"Or is there enough non-system stuff I'll like enough of the book?"

This describes my opinion of Burning Wheel perfectly. I'm dubious I could ever do justice to it. I'm slightly doubtful that anybody who isn't Luke can actually run it so it works and doesn't get bogged down in the crunchy bits. But I think the book is probably worth reading for anybody who GMs anything, ever.

Dunno...that might apply less to you, since you're more involved in theoretical discussions on a regular basis than I am. And I have no idea if Burning Empires will be the same. My guess from what I know of you and of BW is that you wouldn't want to run it, but it might be worth the read anyway. Which probably isn't very helpful, since it just agrees with your thoughts.

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

doubtful that anyone who isn't Luke can actually run it so it works and doesn't get bogged down in the crunchy bits

I've been running a Burning Wheel campaign for about a year. It's up there with my "longest running campaigns".

I know I'm not running the game right exactly right, and so do the players know this. However, we've found that over the long haul, slowly but surely, the crunchy bits are seeping in to the game.

My strong suspicion is that BW is a game that rewards long campaign play, and is in this respect reminiscent of Traveller (Classic), C&S (redbook), and other similar Golden Age Of Gaming games.

I think the primary question that anyone considering BW has to ask themselves is this: are you the type of group that's willing to play a long term campaign? Is your group interested in devoting years of time to a game? Eventually you will internalize these rules (heck, remember Space Opera?), and I think the game does have a lot to offer.

If, on the other hand, your group is more interested in playing games in four or six month stints and then moving on to some other cool game, I highly doubt BW is for you. Unless you're lucky enough to get jump-started by being tought the game by an old hand (like someone from BWHQ): participating in a convention game with an old hand might be enough jumpstart for you (heck, it was for me with respect to HeroQuest), but for some it may not be.

[ewilen.livejournal.com]

I own BW Revised and I like it enough to say I wouldn't sell it. There are ideas in the rules that are fantastic, and the game seems to be mostly playable. (How do you do combats with more than two people, though?)

I'd say, get either BW or BE, but not both.

[drcpunk.livejournal.com]

Well, I passed my copy of BW1 on to a friend and never got BW2. It sounds like Burning Empires might be worth a look, and the sf background will probably hold my interest a bit more.