Actual Play – Octavian Offensive (4/4/2010)

GM: Shaun Hayworth
Players: Sean, Eric, Travis and Kristin
System: Burning Empires

We ended up gaming on a Sunday night because I would be out of town during our normal game time (minor detail: wife’s birthday). The game suffered some of its usual starting late plus low energy as the night progresses issues. We didn’t do our belief review, which isn’t a big deal on its own but it means next session will start that much later. The more I play the more I think Burning games need to be treated a little differently than most RPGs. Usually you set aside game time, game time that is used ubiquitously for pre-game bullshitting, setup, actual play, tangents, breaks, eating, post-game rewards and wrap up. Since in most of these games almost any of these steps can be skipped or at least shrunk down (example: “okay, tonight you guys killed about 20 orcs, so you get 1000 xp each”) we don’t worry much about fitting them in.

Burning Empires includes a few other mandatory components: Belief review before game, maneuver planning, managing a scene economy (which sometimes means everyone going down the checklist to make sure everyone got their scenes in), maneuver rolls, and Artha rewards. I separate Artha rewards from the standard “post-game rewards” because it’s one of the more important parts of the game and can take a fair bit of time.

Given that and the Maneuver details, Burning Empires really needs to be played in a more structured fashion. If we’ve got three hours to game that means two actual hours of play with a half hour on either end for the game prep and wind down.

And now, on with the show…

Locke’s Beliefs

Actual Play – Down with the Rebel Line (3/27)

GM: Shaun Hayworth
Players: Sean, Travis, Eric, and Kristin. Omar was off doing something silly like having a baby.
System: Burning Empires

YES! This game is starting to really hit the sweet spot. We’ve started having scenes that flow from each other rather than feel like cuts between different stories. Tensions were high in conflicts, regardless of scale. I think my argument with Gorrey about how to address the nobles was just as intense as my argument with the Rebel Leader to give up his claim. Cool.

Alas… four pages of notes that I’ll feel remiss if I don’t include, even though they can be summed in a few highlights. I’ll try to do it justice.

Locke’s Beliefs

Actual Play – Burning Proxeria (2/26/10)

GM: Shaun Hayworth
Players: Kristin, Sean, Eric, Omar and Travis
System: Burning Empires

Maneuver 3 was a low energy game. We had a great time shooting the bull beforehand (and even during) but the game itself was pretty mellow. The stuff that came out of it, however, was pretty rocking. I’m really looking forward to next game and already have A LOT planned for it.

Maneuver 3

Actual Play – Burning Proxeria (2/5/2010)

GM: Shaun Hayworth
Players: Sean, Travis, Eric, Kristin, and Omar
System: Burning Empires

This s a little late as DundraCon just happened, but luckily I took notes so most of the scenes (at least the core components) will be preserved.

Looking over the notes I’ve got to say something awesome happened. The first scene of the game was Locke and Kesling having a very civil discussion about Kesling’s allocation of power, essentially Locke trying to put more of it in the hands of the nobles. Later in the game Misha (the Kerrn and good friend of Kessling) got into a heated argument over the same topic. Well, the same topic from a different angle. It’s pretty awesome to see how those two scenes look juxtaposed with each other.

Also, Omar showed up and pulled out some of his psychological wizardry on us. I think Locke is going to HATE Fox before very long.

Maneuver 2

Actual Play – Burning Proxeria (1/29/2010)

GM: Shaun Hayworth
Players: Sean, Travis, Eric, and Kristin
System: Burning Empires

We started our Burning Empires game last night. Well, we started it two weeks ago but I didn’t know how to write an AP report about world and character burning. Here is the world we made: http://campaigns.thismoderndeath.com/index.php?title=Burning_Proxeria

Maneuver 1

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