Actual Play – Trait Vote (4/26/2012)

GM: Shaun Hayworth
Players: Sean Nittner, Kristin Hayworth, Justin Dhiel, and… Noam Rosen (he’s back)
System: Burning Wheel
Setting: Burning Theorsa

I mucked up this session some because I forgot about prior obligations, so I didn’t end up making it till around 8:30. Thankfully the plan was to do the train vote and that usually kills a session anyway. So we did it, and then spent time bullshitting afterwards. Woot.

We zipped through it fast. I was delighted to ditch maudlin. I argued pretty hard for a 2D rep as well, but I think it was worth it considering the culmination of Baldric’s badassery.

Moya

  • Vote Off
    • Arrogant
  • Vote On
    • Sworn Homage
  • Reputation
    • Accepted Catamere’s Surrender 1D

Afon

  • Vote Off
    • Hard Hearted
  • Vote On
    • Jaded
    • Big Talker
  • Reputation
    • House Auley’s Honorable Man 1D

Baldric

  • Vote Off
    • Maudlin
  • Vote On
    • Alcoholic
    • Romantic
  • Reputation
    • Killed the Catameres! 2D

Actual Play – Cut off his thieving hand! (4/11/2012)

GM: Shaun Hayworth
Players: Sean Nittner, Kristin Hayworth, Justin Dhiel
System: Burning Wheel
Setting: Burning Theorsa

This game was a pivotal one for the characters. Baldric and Moya had been allied in their cause since the beginning of the campaign. They both served the Duke Roderick (who also happened to be their father) and sought worked to put the heir Owain onto the throne of Theorsa. This is a crazy bold mission, one that has sent them all over the world and consumed the last year (and change) of their life.

Their companion, Afon, however, really, really doesn’t care about that mission. Like he actively could give a shit about it. His only tie to the mission, to the characters at all was his old friendship with Moya. At times he has sworn allegiance to various patrons, but (to steal a little bit from Martin) words are wind. As Baldric’s squire for instance, he never actually served him. In fact the idea of serving Baldric was so alien to him that the one time the knight asked him for a sword, Afon just looked at him dumbstruck. Until he said “you know, like squires do for their knights?”

For a while this wasn’t a problem, either for the characters, or the players. Even when the characters were infuriated, that wasn’t a big deal. I mean, our characters are always infuriating each other. But eventually it’s started to cause a problem for me as a player. One thing that I think makes a game VERY strong is having a common social construct that the characters are all invested in. Dogs in the Vineyard is fantastic in that it asserts that all the PCs are Dogs, and that they all care. When I ran my Burning Warcraft game, it rocked so hard because the characters were all invested in Arthas, and his quest. The other night, we were talking about how “teenagers in high school” really doesn’t bond the characters together nearly as much as “teenagers in a rock band”. One is something forced on them (they have to go to high school), the other is something they chose to do, and that choice makes the difference.

As a player, I was getting frustrated because I realized we didn’t have a common bond between our character, or in fact, any bond at all. This had manifested in the game in the form of neither Afon nor Baldric caring about the other one, and even being quite willing to kill (or at least let die) the other.

So… now fast forward to the current situation. Afon has stolen from Baldri’s brother Aeric. Aeric wants Baldric to hold Afon down so he can cut off his hand! Thinking in character my first impulse was “Yeah, he’ll totally do that.” but that wasn’t very satisfying for me. Cutting off Afon’s hand is not the way to bring the characters in line. So, instead I thought about the knight Baldric thinks he should be and opted for these two beliefs:

Belief: By Argent’s Tits! I’ve let the spirits get the better of me and now my brother is about to cut off Afon’s hand. I must be a better knight than this. I’ll convince Aeric to stay his anger.
Belief: Ferros’ Bent Nail I hate Afon and his self-serving insolence. I’ll find out the cost of his loyalty, by sword point if need be.

I also emailed Justin about where these came from, and what I wanted as a player: for our characters to find common ground. We went back and forth a bit, over text and just before the game, and he came up with this belief, which to me was all that I needed.

Belief: I know no road to follow anymore but the one my sister-in-arms know. I must be worthy of following Moya and make a sacrifice to her cause.

The play is the thing…?

That said, this game was really more about our characters bonding that, the amazing events that happened.

We started with a Duel of Wits between Baldric and Afon to try and get him to cool his heels and let justice be measured out by trial (and not trial by combat).  Baldric won with the concession that he be the prosecutor.

The trial itself, because we just had had a DoW to make it happen, was handled as a versus between Baldric and Moya. Moya won, and Afon kept his hand, was given an apology even (her case being that he didn’t steal them but was trying to keep them safe for Aeric).

After the trial, Baldric and Afon were left alone in the yard. We had what would have been called an interstitial scene in Burning Empires. I’m not sure if I led off with “how can I ever trust you?” or “what makes you tick?” but the results were the same, Afon revealed that the only thing that he was loyal to was Moya, she was his sister and because of his bond to her, he would follow her anywhere. Baldric is in love with Moya (though he only admits that when he is drunk or thinks he is about to die), so for him, that’s good enough.

After that Afon, Baldric, and eventually Moya got drunk in a tavern outside the keep. Badric boasted of his prowess with the blade, danced with patrons, and got silly drunk. Moya and Afon snickered about the knight and found their peace as well, agreeing that their bond to each other was enough to carry them through the tough times ahead.

Epilogue

The game started with a letter from Moya to Lord Galen requesting his presence at Duke Roderick’s castle and ended with him arriving and treating with us. Though he wanted Moya as his war wizard Baldric made the plea that he should accept Duke Catamere’s soldiers in her stead, as Roderick needed her to fight off the inevitable advances of King Kentigern.

Just as the alliance was made and as we toasted the doors burst open. My lords! Redvale is under attack. The King is at our borders!

Thoughts on the game

Though the plot did move forward, I was really, really happy with the character development. Afon and Baldric’s relationship has been like a broken record. I’m glad to see it changing.

I’m also glad the game has mechanics for awarding characters for changing. Afon earned both “Moldbreaker” and “MVP” for this game. Deservedly!

I’m looking forward to a trait vote. Some things need to change on our character sheets and want a big honking reputation for Baldric!

Actual Play – Terms of Surrender (4/3/2012)

GM: Shaun Hayworth
Players: Sean Nittner, Kristin Hayworth, Justin Dhiel
System: Burning Wheel
Setting: Burning Theorsa

This game was something of a down beat for me, which is to be expected. We hit a huge victory last session, this time we were reflecting on what that meant. In contrast Justin said it was a major highlight for him. Interweaving these stories is cool indeed.

So what’s the what…

Last time we left off the duke Baric Catamere had just surrendered his duchy to house Auley, and pissed his pants in the process.

Now came the tedious task of negotiating the terms of that surrender. Moya wanted a hostage, which Baldric was against in principle, but he ceded to her judgement. Catamere was fresh out of sons, however, and his daughters were all being raised by other other lords. The best he could (or would) muster was 20 soldiers to ride with us and serve under duke Roderick.

Next up on the “oh shit” list was putting Moya’s insides back in her and sowing her up so they didn’t fall out again. We rounded up a court physician (or a physician that often worked in the court) who came in and promptly told everyone to shut the hell up and help him get Moya on the table. He did his work deftly, but she had already lost too much blood. She would live but would not be the same. Moya gained the die-trait “Jesus wound” and lost 1D from power (Successful surgery roll, failed health check).

Advanced fuckery

Afon meanwhile was looking out for Afon. He skirted out of Aeric’s room (where he had been looting last session) and down to the court. Intent on causing strife he refilled Baldrics wine (just what an alcoholic needs), pissed off nobles and generally made trouble.

Brotherly love

It’s kind of funny. I really didn’t know what to have Baldric say to Aeric. They had been apart for five years, five very formative years, and I really didn’t know what they should talk about. So I played up exactly that. Baldric found Aeric ransacking his own room (looking for the stolen letters) and tried to make pleasant conversation. And he failed. It wasn’t that he offended Aeric, he just didn’t know what to say to him. The best he could do was “okay, I’ll meet you by the horses”. And comically, he knew the moment he said it, how stupid (and obvious that sounded).

The theme of Baldric not knowing how to talk to Aeric returned several times. Each time, the elder brother feeling at a total loss of words with regards to the other. Aeric actually initiated their first real discussion. One night while they traveled on the road he asked why we supported the old line of kings, why we refused King Kentigern’s rule. It was an interesting conversation and one that clearly showed our different points of view based on respective upbringings. Baldric argued that Kentigern was not the rightful king, that he took the throne unjustly by force. Aeric conceded that he took it by force but argued that the old king was weak and decadent. It reminded me very much of the argument between the Pure and the Forsaken in Werewolf: The Forsaken.

We didn’t have a duel of wits, we didn’t even roll a versus, it was just converstaion. Baldric asked that Aeric at least spend some time at home, with father, and then decide which side he supported. An extreme act of moderation for the knight he was used to demanding his opinion is correct.

A family re-united

Just a Baldric was awkward with Aeric, so was Aeric way awkward with Roderick (their father) when they were united. And in tern Roderick was uncomfortable around Baldric, not knowing if he could trust him around spirits. It was a perfect circle of social awkwardness preventing what should have been a joyous reunion.

I made sure not to mention Duke Catamere’s surrender and I wanted to give that one up to Moya to announce. We’ll get to that next session I’m sure.

“Brother hold him down so I can cut of his hand!”

The big highlight at the end of the session though was when Afon returned Aeric’s letters to him. He found Baldric outside his room with apples and fruit, trying to work out lines of dialog to say to his brother, as if he was practicing for an interview or an exam. Afon knocked and when admitted into Aeric’s room produced the letters and admitted to stealing them from him.

This was when fun began. Baldric was still outside the door, holding a bowl of fruit and apples when Aeric and Afon started arguing. Aeric was furious that Afon would steal form him, especially something so personal and precious (love letters). Afon attempted to intimidate the boy, but the moment he touched the hilt of his sword, Baldric (still pretty drunk) charged him from behind and knocked him down.

Incensed, Aeric ran to his table and brandished his sword “Brother hold him down so I can cut of his hand!” That how we left off the session. Bad ass!

Thoughts on this game

Baldric’s relationship with Afon is nearly non-existent. He removed him from his service as squire (never believing that Afon actually was his squire). He doesn’t trust him, and most of the time, he just hates the guy. He has tolerated him so far because of various mitigating factors (he was friends with Moya, he swore fealty, he offered wine or ale when Baldric wanted drink) but fundamentally he can’t stand the guy. So I have a real incentive to lead with a belief like “Afon is a thieving bastard, he deserves to be one hand short!”

The thing is that I want to want a relationship with another PC. I want there to be something compelling that brings the characters together, even if they come together in conflict… especially if they can come together in conflict. But for that to happen, I as a player need to know what Afon cares about, so I can figure out ways to make my character care about those things too. Based off that, my beliefs for next session are instead (look at #2 and #3)

  1. Phlome have mercy, Moya can’t leave us. We need her now more than ever. I’ll convince her to stay in my father’s service.
  2. By Argent’s Tits! I’ve let the spirits get the better of me and now my brother is about to cut off Afon’s hand. I must be a better knight than this. I’ll convince Aeric to stay his anger.
  3. Ferros’ Bent Nail I hate Afon and his self-serving insolence. I’ll find out the cost of his loyalty, by sword point if need be.

I also need to talk with Justin about this, as this requires cooperation from the players as well. I’m emailing him now to that effect.

Man, I love the awkwardness of not knowing how to relate to my brother. I love the struggling (and failing) to stay sober, and I love that Moya, who is normally so in charge, is really set back by her injury, and unable to keep a lid on things. Excited about next session!

Actual Play – Epic Win (3/28/2012)

GM: Shaun Hayworth
Players: Sean Nittner, Kristin Hayworth, Justin Dhiel
System: Burning Wheel
Setting: Burning Theorsa

I don’t use a title like “Epic Win” lightly. I’m not Jane McGonigal, pronouncing every gaming experience as this awesome confidence building, real world preparing exercise. I think most gaming is gaming. Fun, but not enough to put a cramp in my stomach because I’m so worried, or to make me shout with joy after a great victory. Last night, however, was exactly that.

Two parts

The heroes were divided the entire game. Moya and Baldric in Duke Barec Catamere’s court and Afon sneaking around his keep.

I’m going to address Afon’s erm, “deeds” first. He was locked inside a room with Wallace, the Usurper’s man who we took as prisoner and let us to Catamere’s castle. Wallace had tried to bludgeon him when Moya and Baldric left (better odds) but ended up impaled on Afon’s blade.

Trying to turn this to his advantage, Afon gave himself a wound to make it seem like the fight had been more serious and then made a pentagram on the floor with Wallace’s blood. “Guards. Come quickly, I have found a sorcerer trying to cast a blood ritual to kill the Duke!” Yay for Falsehood! Convinced that Wallace was a sorcerer, they hauled him off to be burnt at the stake and conveniently left Afon free to sneak about the grounds.

Hiding in shadows, and using the clamor in the court (see Moya and Baldric below) to draw attention away from him, Afon searched the grounds until he found Aeric’s chambers, and although they were much nicer than he expected (the noble ward was well treated by the Catameres) they didn’t contain Aeric.

Missing his noble person, Afon did the next best thing, he ransacked Aeric’s chambers for anything of value. Woot! He found love letters written to Aeric from “L”. Some lady presumably, but we don’t know yet. All we know is that Afon failed his roll to find them, so when Aeric learns he possesses them instead of being grateful, he’ll be infuriated that Afon invaded his privacy and stole from him.

The Court of Duke Catamere

Last we left off Baldric had just offered Catamere a chance to join the winning side. After the laughter and mockery died down, Moya could see that Baldric was prepared to tell the Duke about the boy king and possibly even the Crown of Kings! If that won him over, that would be fantastic, but if not, it would mean putting that very fragile advantage in the hands of the enemy!

Wisely Moya interjected, she was in command of the mission after all, and said that she should address the Duke. We had a nice verses test to settle that. I’m such a bastard some times. I totally goaded Kristin in to taking over the conversation and then when she tried, I contested it, forcing her to make a beginners luck “Command” roll vs. my Noble-wise about who should address the Duke. Baldric decreed that because of his noble lineage and experience in the court, he should stay beside her, as her adviser (and won). Certainly not the most aggressive stakes I could have gone for, but as a player I actually wanted Moya to be leading this discussion (and what I knew would quickly become a Duel of Wits).

First, lets drink

As her first action, Moya called for wine, which was just so beautifully ironic.

First, the duke chided us for waiting until now to accept his hospitality. (based on the noble wise roll made the previous session that meant we weren’t guests until accepting food). Luckily, face was saved by a successful OB3 Etiquette roll (yay for having maxed that out at character creation) when we decreed that it would not be fitting for us to accept hospitality from anyone but the duke himself. Score for knowing protocol.

Second, after weeks of depriving Baldric of spirits, Moya just gave him free reign to them. He he was halfway into his second glass of wine before realizing that drinking until he reached oblivion would be a very bad idea.

We want Aeric back

After the formalities were complete, Moya jumped right in. We want Moya back. The norther lords were laid waste to after the war and to rebuild they need aid from Kentigern’s men.  Baldric followed with an additional incentive that he had accounts of the Duke’s nephew Captain Catamere (aka the guy Baldric killed and had been impersonating for a year) and his search for the crown that could be useful to the Catamere family and the king (yep, aiding with Falsehood!).

The Dukes body of argument was simple. Sure, you can have the hostage back if Duke Rothgarn (Baldric and Aeric’s father and all the heroes patron) swear allegiance to him and turns over his lands to the Catamere family.

Damn, those were some serous stakes. Serious enough that before the duel started Moya opted to Aristeia (spend 1 deed, 3 persona and 5 fate to turn one skill grey for a scene/intent) her Persuasion skill and turn it into a G5 before even rolling her Body of Argument.  (First Deed Spent)

The Duel of Wits

Kristin, Shaun and I are all pretty familiar with each others patterns. Shaun likes to play conservatively. He scripts Obfuscate and Rebuttals often and likes to go for an Incite followed by Dismiss if he thinks the temper of the character calls for it. Kristin is more direct, favoring moves that will reliably reduce her opponents BoA, she favors Point and Rebuttal. I like to try wacky things, hoping my timing will be right. Knowing they both like rebuttal, I like to chance throwing in feints, as well as avoids to trip up the incite and obfuscates. Usually that feint just gets me murdered but I try it just the same.

Having all three of us involved in a DoW meant a lot of guessing, and second guessing (at least on Kristin and my part). We ended of scripting Avoid, Rebuttal, Point vs Shaun’s Obfuscate, Rebuttal, Incite. The first two volleys nothing happened, but in the third Moya (and her giant fucking G Persuasion plus persona) got a whole bucket of successes and took out the duke in a single swing. Perfect victory.

Fallout

Man, I have to say I felt bad about this. I didn’t want the results to be so quick and decisive in our favor. I was all ready to offer up Baldric as a hostage as a concession, if we needed to make one. But as is we had a perfect victory.

So I did the back seat GM thing I do. “Hey Shaun, you know he can always just draw on us and not accept the DoW as valid.” I mean it’s an option in the book. I should have shut my mouth. Not because it wasn’t a good idea, but because Shaun was planning it anyway and I may have stole his thunder. Still it earned me these tweets from Kristin:

The duke called Aeric forth (who had been in the court all along, we just didn’t notice him because he wasn’t making a display of himself and the years it had been since we had seen him). He said “My dear Aeric, it seems our time together is at an end. You are free to return to your family… The same cannot be said however for you two. Guards!”

Instinct: When surprised I cast The Fear

Hah, Moya has been toting that belief around since character creation. It’s come up once or twice before, but it really went off here.

Results. Everyone hesitated except Moya (who cast it) and the guards (who came charging forth, swords drawn). Wow, this was going to be ugly. Four armed guards against Moya (who was trying to cast Choking Hand on the duke) and Baldric (in his armor, but unarmed). Oh dear!

Fight!

What ensued was one of the hardest fights I’ve ever seen played out. Who knew a dragon would go down easy, but four run of the mill guards with the upper hand (weapons drawn, hell just having weapons at all) and things were grim for us.

Highlights include Moya getting really, really, really stabbed up (two superficial wound and one midi wound that nearly took her out of the fight) and persisting through to get off her spells anyway. Second Deeds spent making the steel test to endure that midi wound.

Baldric doing not one, but two disarms in the fight (the first with his bare hands). The ob on the fist one was only 4. The second, after he had picked up his sword, but was at “hands” range was 6. In retrospect there are moves I could have done to take the advantage back but instead, I dropped my deeds int Sword to double the B7, to a B14, and that happened to be the only think necessary to “Epiphany” and change my sword skill to G7 permanently. Wow! So I rolled by (now) G14 and handily took away the last man’s blade. A few strikes (and shards) later and the fight was over.

“You’ve lost, surrender my brother now or die.”

The Duke Catamere has lost the Duel of Wits, his guards had lost the fight (although only barely, Moya was hanging on by a thread) and the final roll of the night came down to one giant intimidation check. Either he would surrender willingly, or Baldric was going to take of his head “just like I did your cousin!”

Failing would have been cool. His pride would have gotten the better of him and forcing Baldric’s hand, the knight was ready to kill a duke and make ALL KINDS of enemies in the process, but the dice were in our favor tonight. Shaun offered a generous +2D Advantage for us winning both the DoW and the Fight!, I forked in my Sword for +2D more and Moya helped with Falsehood (“you’ve only seen a portion of what my magic can do” when really she was about to pass out). Success!

House Catamere surrenders to House Auley!

Read that? We went to rescue Aeirc, my characters’ younger brother, and we’re going to come back with him AND the dutchey that had him captive. SO DAMN AWESOME!

Thoughts on the game

This Fight! had the most interesting use of positioning I’ve ever seen. We are all using different length weapons and and several moves (one charge and two disarms) kept changing who had the advantage (not to mention positioning between exchanges).

Holy Metal Rocks Batman. I had a character have an “Epiphany”. I’ve never seen that in any Burning Wheel game I’ve played. Ever. EVAR. It helps that I’ve used Aristeia  twice (once fighting the Ophidians and once fighting the Dragon Feraxus), and use Fate and Persona on Sword whenever I can, but still. Epiphany. Crazy.

I’ve never had a session feel like such a triumphant win. Considering all the struggles our characters have had, all the times they have had mud on their face but had to carry on anyway, finally they had a moment to be both Awesome (TM) and Right (TM)! It doesn’t happen often (nor should it) but damn it feels good when it does.

Here’s the note I sent to everyone after the game:

I want a trait vote after this game. I know we had one very recently but I can think of several that are very important.

  • Baldric is losing Maudlin. I’m striking it down. Perhaps he can take addict/alcoholic in it’s place and we can see he struggling to stay sober, but Maudlin is going.
  • Moya needs Sworn Homage (if we haven’t given it to her already) to represent her knighthood and fealty to Roderick.
  • I want a reputation for us out of this. Personally for Baldric, the court just saw him Epiphany. I’d personally like 1D Bested two swords unarmed. Kristin you have an idea for Moya? I think she deserves one as well.
  • It may be exceptionally close to our last one, and I don’t mean to be Artha mongering, but I think we went so damn far above and beyond, not just for Aeric, but for the Auley family. I’d like to propose a deed. If not (since we just got one) that is totally cool, but I feel like this game was so far above and beyond, it is worthy of one.
  • Moya getting a fucking never stand down, never give up trait. I dunno what it is yet, but thinking of something like that. Maybe a call on for steel? The ones I found were “Resigned to Death” and “Show no fear”. Both are conditional (only work in certain cases) but I think either could work just fine. Anyway, she deserves it!

Actual Play – A Belligerant Drunkest (3/23/2012)

GM: Shaun Hayworth
Players: Sean Nittner, Kristin Hayworth, Justin Dhiel
System: Burning Wheel
Setting: Burning Theorsa

This rounds out the third and last “my character is an asshole drunk” game. It was, for unknown reasons though, a night we were all of our game. I was tired, Kristin was tired, hell, we were all tired.

The result of that was me pressing for very simple solutions hoping someone else would figure out what to do when the got complicated. Anyways…

A drunken appology

The game started with Baldric and Moya trying to explain to Lord Galen why Moya wouldn’t be coming with him as he departed Stormwarden. Oy, that was fun. Baldric, still drunk declared that he needed Moya and the decision for her to leave his service was made without him present. Lord Galen pointed out that was being he was busy pissing himself and beating his servants, an accusation Baldric (still drunk) did not deny.

Curiously though, Baldric won Galen’s blessing through tricks he picked up from Moya. The knight who started off as “Idealistic” had lied so many times he now had Falsehood open at B2. He lied a bout a letter being sent to Moya’s mentor Houdin and that the old man would be summoned and serve in her place. It was a bold lie, especially considering that Baldric can’t write (the folded parchment was blank) and that Houdin is a whole continent away, but miraculously it worked, and Galen was mollified.

Belief:  I need Lady Moya’s respect not her pity. I’ll earn it by taking responsibility for breaking her pledge to Lord Galen, as a knight should!

That didn’t quite work thought. Galen was off our back but Moya was not pleased. Yes sir, may I have another fate, I only have 29 now.

Departure

Moya made an observation roll to root out all the alcohol Baldric had been stashing with their envoy and forced everyone to make a “dry” expedition. During the trip she didn’t allow anyone to go into town or civilization either, they had been camping all the way, all in an effort to keep Baldric sober. It worked, instead of being drunk, he was just mad when they arrived at the border. I was playing off these two:

Belief:  Life is hard. It’s harder without a stiff drink. I’ll ensure our envoy is well equipped with spirits.

Instinct: Always keep a stiff drink in hand.

End result was one cranky, but sober Baldric. Which I was pretty please with (thank you Kristin).

Fatigue sets in

From there I think we all lost some imagination and creativity as we got more tired. Example, I wanted to sneak past the border patrols and into the keep. I made a stealth roll and we were there. Shaun had some ideas for encounters along the way but we just avoided that all together by playing off let it ride. I thought that was probably a lot less challenging that it should have been.

When we arrived, I had fun with a noble-wise roll stating that once you accept food from a host, you are considered a guest and both parties are bound by rules of hospitality (stolen without shame from Martin/Song of Ice an Fire). By not eating we essentially granted ourselves license to act as enemies within the Duke’s keep…. only we didn’t. Instead believing diplomacy would be a better option.

In the morning we were admitted to Duke Barec Catamere’s court (yep, the uncle of the knight Baldric killed and impersonated for so long) and when asked what a bunch of cowards and traitors were doing in his court we answered “Giving you a chance to join the winning side”.

Thoughts on the game

The claim seemed utterly ridiculous at the time, but it was oddly prophetic. Fun.

Being tired sucks. We all felt the like the game fell flat.

I’ve been methodically changing out Baldrics Beliefs and Instincts to be less and less focused on being drunk all the time, as well as less petty. Despite the session not being our finest, I’m really happy that everyone has been down with me pulling him out of his rut.

Actual Play – A Belligerant Drunker (3/20/2012)

GM: Shaun Hayworth
Players: Sean Nittner, Kristin Hayworth, Justin Dhiel
System: Burning Wheel
Setting: Burning Theorsa

Again, with the belligerence. This game was a continuation of the last one. We didn’t really feel like the last one was over so we held off on Artha awards at the end and played this as the continuation of the last. However, in this one, after being put in the dungeons for a night to sober up, Balric finally did something good (or good-ish) and I already started feeling much better about him. But I get a head of myself…

The opening scene was in Duke Rothgarn’s court where everyone was supposed to attend. Moya was there, even Afon was there. Baldric was getting drunk in the dungeons while trying to worm information about his brother Aeric from their captive.  Court was notably annoyed that Baldric didn’t attend but ventured to proceed anyway.

The stakes -> The nobles would work together, fight off the usurper king, but the powerful Lord Galen wanted Moya in his service. He needed a wizard to aid his troops.  And without much fight Moya gave it up. To secure the alliance between Duke Rothgarn and Lord Galen, she would leave the duke’s service. Wow, big sacrifice.

Just as that deal was sealed, Baldric came stumbling in, completely inebriated and smelling of piss and ale. The original plan had been to try and marry Baldric off, but he successful thwarted that plan but being so undesirable, nobody would have him. He also managed to halt the meeting by vomiting on a guard and offending the noble host.

This ended him up back in the dungeons and this time, behind the bars. Yet, there was a point to all this drunken belligerence!

Baldric could not, or would not, allow his father to go to war with the usurper while they still held his brother (and the Duke’s youngest son) hostage. Baldric loves his brother like nothing else, and would do everything in his power to keep him alive… Thus came a very important Duel of Wits to make his father agree to send Baldric and Moya (who had just been promised to Lord Galen) south to the lands where Aeric (the young brother) was kept hostage and free him.

Despite Moya working against him, Baldric won, but only by the smallest margin (Body of Argument down to 1) so he conceded that Moya, the level headed one, would lead this expedition.

Later, he protested that a servant could not take charge of a knight, and just when Rothgarn though he was trying to rebuke the decree that Moya would lead them, he suggested that his father use that sword it his side to knight er already. Moya from ex-family servant to knight in one blow. I felt very, very good about this:

Thoughts on the game

I had a plan to use his drunkenness as a ruse, something to put off the nobles and by the heroes time to save Aeric. Would it be reasonable that Baldric would have actually thought of that plan? Probably not, but it made something redeeming about him and I needed that. Winning drunken master style!

Should a single night in the dungeon with a wretched headache have sobered Baldric so much? Again, probably no, but I played out his headaches, his aversion to light and noise, and took obstacle penalties for all of that, so I felt good winning that Duel of Wits. Besides, even if Baldric was drunk, the emotional drive to save his brother was still loud and clear.

Actual Play – A Belligerant Drunk (3/13/2012)

GM: Shaun Hayworth
Players: Sean Nittner, Kristin Hayworth, Justin Dhiel
System: Burning Wheel
Setting: Burning Theorsa

This isn’t a game I want to dwell on too much. My character became a maudlin ass hat over the course of the last two chronicles (dividing chronicles by trait votes) and now, even though they returned victorious, he was drunk and bitter.

What he managed to accomplish in this game (which dominated a lot of the game mind you):

  • Disappointing and infuriating his father.
  • Unlawfully detaining Moya and trying to whip her, but instead taking the beating out on Afon.
  • Disgracing the Auley name in front of the visiting nobles.
  • Generally making a giant ass of himself.

Thoughts on this game

I talked to the group about this one. I am fundamentally apposed to the “that’s what my character would do” defense used to explain horrible behavior. I don’t think it is okay, ever, to be an asshole at the table and blame it on a fictional construct call your “character”. I’ve talked about this on Narrative Control, and I really believe there is no excuse for asshattery at the table.

That said I had a conundrum. How to honor the fiction and make some sense out of the story? How my make Baldric still be a believable character and not suddenly “all better” after all those betrayals? So I asked everyone “is it cool if my character is a complete ass for a bit, and gets punished for it accordingly, on his way to redemption?” The players were for it so I tried it.

I also asked the internet “My knight lost “Idealistic” and gained “Maudlin” and “Hypocrite”. Any advice on playing emo porn without being lame?” Kindly, they replied:

Playing was satisfying in that “oh, look how horrible I can be” way, but man, it isn’t for me. I was very glad that at the end of the session, impending trouble was coming Baldric’s way.

Actual Play – Trait Vote (3/5/2012)

GM: Shaun Hayworth
Players: Sean Nittner, Kristin Hayworth, Justin Dhiel
System: Burning Wheel
Setting: Burning Theorsa

The boy king found and returned to Theorsa, the mighty Crown of Kings recovered as well, our heroes returned triumphant. Only they were embittered and broken and miserable.

Beliefs and Instincts

Our beliefs and instincts, I think spell out just how bad off our next chronicle was going to start though. Here are the relevant ones I knew would lead to gnarly in-fighting:

Baldric

  • Beliefs: My servant Moya disapproves of me and her chiding has become insufferable. When we arrive in Theorsa, I’ll have her flogged for her insolence.
  • Instinct: Never hide my name
  • Instinct: Always keep a stiff drink in hand.

Moya

  • Belief: Baldric has done nothing but feel sorry for himself since we beat Feraxis. I will convince him that Aziz will never succeed as king with such a sorry excuse for a leader and friend.
  • Instinct: Follow Baldric’s orders without question.
  • Instinct: Never speak of the family secret.

Afon

  • Belief: I’m a servant again after so recently gaining my freedom. I want to push Baldric enough to find his breaking point.
  • Belief: Moya could be free of the Duke and her life as a member of a great family. I will try to convince her to act against the wishes of her father.
  • Instinct:Answer aggression with steel.

Trait Vote

Character

Voted On

Voted Off

Afon

Mercenary, The killer

Moya

Protective, Fortitude, Obstinate

Spiteful, Bastard

Baldric

Aura Of, Determination, Maudlin, Hypocrite

Idealistic, Determined (upgraded)

Eogan

Forgiving, Peacemaker

Ink-Stained Hands, Sonorous Voice

Owain/Aziz

Gifted

 

Some explanation is in order for some of these:

Afon – Well, he just doesn’t think twice before gutting someone. And he should have had mercenary all along, Afon is THE consummate mercenary.

Moya – She has change so much during play, from being very self involved to taking charge of the mission to make sure it succeeds. Bastard was removed specifically because of the Dragon’s magic. She was no longer the daughter of Duke Rothgarn, so she couldn’t be his bastard. Spiteful was removed as the character had just been far less concerned with her own personal grievances. The traits she gained were all just very much inline with the way Kristin has been playing her.

Balrdic – Oh Baldric you sod. After killing so many innocent people but berating Afon for killing a single one, we finally had to consent that he both lost the idealistic trait (the world is an ugly place) and gained Hypocrite.  Also, as his world had been wrecked and he turned to drinking and whoring he took the Maudlin trait. One good thing did happen though, all his sacrifices and horrific acts took the previously voted on character trait “Determined” and bumped it up to the massively powerful “Aura of Determination”. I had been pushing hard for this one ad was really glad I got it.

Eogan – Man, he just didn’t get a chance to do much after the stabbing.  We voted off traits that had never showed up and added ones that reflected how “forgiving” he was to Owain, after the boy nearly killed him.

Owain/Aziz – Though and NPC he had been played for a couple of games by Noam and in those games really came to life. His faith was so devout and so powerful that we wanted to give him something for it. We decided that he had spent time with his god (a Dragon). We were going to call it Faithful but decided that his God’s magic was sorcery, so we voted on gifted. Awesome!

 

 

 

Actual Play – Dragonslayers! (3/2/2012)

GM: Shaun Hayworth
Players: Sean Nittner, Kristin Hayworth, Justin Dhiel
System: Burning Wheel
Setting: Burning Theorsa

Our final showdown started AND ended on a grim note.

The game opened on some pretty heinous acts.  Things that made me wonder if I still wanted to play my character, as he has become. The grim part I’m fine with, the maudlin part is giving me issues. More thoughts on that to come with the next AP reports.

 They know who we are, Aeric is in danger

Without much pretense Baldric started the game killing hundreds of helpless people in a horribly cruel way. His method was going to be to starve them, Afon suggested drowning, which seemed more reliable, so he went for that. Either way, it was horrible.

Here’s his reasoning. All of these people know, thanks to the lost Duel of Wits, that the Auley family opposed the new king, and since the king holds Baldric’s brother Aeric hostage, that means if word got back Aeric’s life would be forfeit. So, the solution was to kill everyone that knows, including hundreds of people they left behind in the caves.

In fact Baldric’s new instincts were (again because he lost a DoW and agreed to use his real name):

  • Instinct: Never hide my name.
    Instinct: Kill anyone who learns my name.

Yeah, it was like that.

Here was the really messed up part of this. Where Baldric really shows what a hypocrite he is. The whole time he’s planning to kill all these people, he’s fuming about how he suspects that Afon killed Sgt. Telgarn. It wasn’t even that he had feelings for her so much as he respected her and believed an arrow through the back of a leader was a horrible act of dishonor. So, Baldric is working away at collapsing a tunnel, you know, to commit mass murder, and gets in a fight with Moya about Afon, only to have the rubble collapse on him and trap him under it… just as Afon returns.

Trapped under rubble Baldric accuses Afon and to his credit, the mercenary doesn’t even hesitate “yep, I killed her. She deserved it.” Baldric is just fuming he’s so mad, but trapped under the rocks he can’t do anything about it. The two men spend some time yelling at each other about honor vs. the way the world really works and finally they compromise. To earn Baldric’s trust and faith, Afon will be his squire.

What?

I know, I know. I doesn’t make any sense. Baldric is pretty much at the point where he hates everyone on this journey, including, perhaps especially, himself. But what’s he going to do. There are only four of them, Eogin is badly wounded and the boy was flown off by a dragon. His duty compels him to accept the offer, tolerate both Afon and Moya a bit longer and try to find a way to sleep at night. Because he knows, he’s actually the worse one there… as he continues to murder hundreds of helpless and unsuspecting people.

Moya shoves the apology down Baldric’s throat

After all this, Baldric is just in a foul mood and Moya tries to apologize to Baldric for what she’s done, but he totally doesn’t want to hear it. So, as usual they fight. Moya trumps baldric in the first exchange of a Duel of Wits. (Her Point vs. his Feint -> Very bad) and he ends up accepting “Fine, I would have done the same thing for my brother.” But he sure as hell isn’t happy about it.

Finding the boy king

We fast forwarded to arriving in the center of Kashkyr, at the city of the Dragon God Seleth. Moya had arranged for signs to be left for us by the god-ling son of Seleth so we, after securing a safe place for Eogin to recuperate, made our way to the hidden city by the mountain.

At the gates Afon tried to tell a lie, that go misinterpreted as a warning that the city was about to be attacked, and so, rather by folly we were allowed into the city. A city, which to our knowledge had never had a Theorsan step foot in it. At least until a few weeks ago when Aziz, or Owain, boy king was delivered here by the dragon. Ha!

We made for the mountain in the center of the city and there we found Owain and Ferraxis outside. Both we eager to see us.

This was Baldric’s first encounter talking with a dragon, and the discussion started very amenable. He wanted us merely to speak to his father on his behest, to try and earn his favor back. It seemed an innocuous request, but Moya saw through his deception and knew there was a reason he would not just himself. Eventually the dragon relented that he wanted to take his father’s place and planned to kill the old dragon! Yeah!

So we had this brief, and somewhat comical discussion amongst ourselves about whether or not this is just how dragon culture works, and as none of us have dragon-wise, decided that even if this was the standard for dragons, we wouldn’t be part of it. Baldric commanded Ferraxis to flee his fathers mountain as they would be no part of his treachery… and he comes *this* close. The dragon responds with fire!

Fight!

Yep, we fought a dragon. Okay, a little dragon, but a dragon just the same. I was afraid the fight would be very lopsided, that having three times as many actions as he had, we would just trounce him, and we did, but not because of what I expected.

The fight started looking pretty grim. Afon managed to put an arrow in his hind and deliver a superficial would, but the dragon breathed fire on him and sent the mercenary running and screaming for a large body of water. Baldric pounded away relentlessly at his mid section (scripting counterstrike, set, great strike, set, great strike over and over to try and get through his heavy armor) and the dragon was having trouble catching the knight, as he was inside his range (thank the stars for him positioning with his breath weapon and baldric taking the advantage with sword).

The the wonky thing happened. Baldric landed a light wound. Nothing severe enough to stop the dragon, but he did hesitate for a single action, which is exactly the action Moya’s choking hand went off. Normally it would have been a power vs. power test to choke the dragon out but because it was hesitating the dragon didn’t get a roll and Moya trounced it, choking it out in two actions. The fight was actually over very quickly. Seleth, in his colossal majesty flew from his mountain, picked his son up by the neck, much as a dog would pick up her pup, and then shook with such strength he snapped his sons’ neck and left his broken body where it fell.

 Yay, we win, well almost

Would be usurping dragon defeated, Owain’s pilgrimage was complete. He had met his god Seleth (and the creature was impressive enough, most of us were inclined to treat him with some level of divinity as well). Having met Seleth, Owain was now ready to return to Theorsa with us, but there was one thing missing; a mighty artifact called The Crown of Kings.

Baldric asked Seleth for this prized object and the haggling began. God or not, Seleth was still a dragon and still loved nothing more than his horde. We made several offers, and he eventually accepted a trade of the Throne of Theorsa, a giant throne made of the bones of his brother. However, he wouldn’t do so without collateral. So Moya offered up her name. Yep, her name. Through some dragon magic, he was able to take her family name such that none of her family recognized her as their kin!

HOLY CRAP. Seriously. After Baldric and Moya had gone through so much turmoil over the importance of family and of honoring your name, for Moya to offer it up was the final nail in the coffin for Baldric. She took everything that she convinced him that mattered and threw it away. After that he just hated her. For a full night (until the ritual was performed) he knew why he hated her. After that, when he didn’t remember that she was his sister, he just knew that every time he saw her he just felt a giant hole inside himself.

Thoughts on this game

This game was an emotional roller coaster for Baldric, and to a lesser extent me as well. I had hoped he would come out of this story as a redeemable figure, somebody that I was still excited to play, but by the end he was a maudlin bastard. Completely disillusioned with the world and not even sure exactly why (as he didn’t know Moya was his sister, he just knew she used and betrayed him).

The fight with the Dragon was cool for the first exchange but it felt cut short. I guess that is part of how Fight! works in Burning Wheel, it’s unpredictable. I was hoping to take him down, little at a time, landing blow after blow until he finally succumbed, but in truth that isn’t really how BW works. Since wound penalties are cumulative, it’s pretty easy to become quickly incapacitated by them.

I tried using Aristia again (with sword) and got my sword to G6, going into aggressive stance that meant G8, spending fate, taking a FORK here and there, and rolling well, I was getting 7+ success every blow. Having a high grey skill is just ridiculous.

Afon is SO different from Eogin. I have to give Justin mad props for playing one character that is such an understanding and forgiving soul and another that is such a self serving bastard

Actual Play – Honor Duel Fail (2/21/2012)

GM: Shaun Hayworth
Players: Sean Nittner, Kristin Hayworth, Justin Dhiel
System: Burning Wheel
Setting: Burning Theorsa

The setup for Disaster

Baldric demanded that Beliah (the leader of the Ophidians) besmirched his honor. He cornered the Sergeant into allowing him to duel the monster. He was the challenger however, so Beliah set the terms of the duel: swords, no armor.

The dueling ground set, Belia unfastened her breastplate and dropped it to the ground. Meanwhile Baldric conferred with Moya. “I know your mind Moya, you won’t honor this duel, but promise me, promise me that you won’t interfere, that you won’t use sorcery unless she does first.”

Then, without warning, he grabbed hold of her and pressed his lips to hers. “What are you doing?” she yelled the moment he let go. “What I should have done moons ago.” With that he pulled his sword from his sheath and entered the ring. Oh yeah, way to confuse your older half-sister.

Chaos ensues

The fight was going back and forth, each warrior trading blows. Baldric had taken first blood early on, but Beliah had come back with a nasty blow to the head and blood was dripping into his eyes.

Baldric faltered and Moya decided if she was going to act, she needed to act now.  She stepped into the ring and cast choking hand on Beliah, dropping her to the ground, where Baldric disemboweled her.

What the what?

There was a moment of silence as everyone took in what just happened. Sergeant Telgarn, who had approved the duel, stepped forward and asked what exactly was going on. “What kind of man fights like this? Who brings his whore in to fight his battles for him?” It might have been the way she was gesturing at Moya, but Afon, who had found a precipice with a good vantage point, saw Moya in danger. He took aim, and fired, an arrow right through Telgarn’s back.  The arrow exploded from her chest and she fell down dead.

FIGHT!

So, all along the Al-Amesh and the Ophidians had been getting ready to take advantage of this duel to unleash some aggression on each other. And that arrow was just the thing they needed. A gigantic fight erupted. Ophidians vs. the Al-Amesh with the Theorsan forces trying to press them both back. In the middle of it was Baldric and Moya, staring daggers at each other.

Thoughts on this game

The way the duel was interrupted was that Moya waited out the first exchange (3 volleys of Fight!) casting her spell and then engaged in the second exchange when the spell was ready. It was a bit fiddly to figure out, but it worked.

My first reaction to this game was a lot of frustration. Two things, very much out of my control, sent the story in a direction I was totally unprepared for. I had wanted a kill, in fact I had even wanted a difficult kill (Baldric had a superficial and a light wound, I was very happy about that, and would have happily taken another), and out of the blue my opportunity for that was gone. Further, my character’s sense of honor was thrown in the trash. So, while I generally crave punishment for my characters, this felt a little like his core concept was shattered. I was trying to keep that frustration under wraps, be a good sport and accept that I don’t get to control the outcome of the game. Despite that I can tell that everyone knew I was frustrated. Mostly I just needed a little time to both cool off and figure out what to do next.

Thankfully, with a week between games I got exactly that. I thought about what would be a good direction to go and decided that based on Moya interfering, that while as a player I was now cool about it, Baldric was furious and it was time to really have at it with her. The belief I wrote for the next game was : “Moya has betrayed everything I hold dear. I’ll cut the lying tongue from her mouth.” Severe yes, but I talked to Kristin about it some and she was down. She walked into the game thinking “damn, what if we replaced my tongue with a dragon tongue, how awesome would that be.” It seemed like a fitting reaction.

I see this as a turning point for Baldric, where his ideals finally fall short and his own inherent barbarism can no longer be tempered by his upbringing. We talked after the game and it occurred to me that this was one of those incidents that will have repercussions for ages. It’s going to change the characters and the way they think about each other. And now having played a few sessions since, I can confirm that is true. Good stuff there!

 

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