Burning Bridges games #1-3

Allright, ladies and gentlemen, some time has gone buy and we've had a few snippets of games to draw material for discussion from. Firstly, to recount the story so far:

In game #1 we followed the hardened brigand Jack O' Bedlam as he snuck into the small village of Homlet to find out when the next tax collection was going to move through the area. Despite performing his reconnaissance successfully, Jack ran afoul of some guards looking to make some trouble. In a back alley they crossed swords, the duel ending with one town guard slain by witchery and the other fleeing to sound the alert. A short chase ensued and our protagonist Jack was brought down by the taxing effect of his own magic spells. The adventure was brief, but it was extremely helpful for the purposes of Brent and I getting a feel for the most basic of the basic rules. Standard tests, Versus tests, Linked tests all were made and tests for advancement were awarded. Instincts were called into play. We also got to see how the Sorcery rules worked out, and let me just say that they are badass.

Game #2 opened with Weston's character, the assiduous priest Gregory, catching wind of Jack's imprisonment via the Green Men, and the ensuing rescue mission. Through overwhelming priestliness and bombastic religious oration, Gregory was able to bewilder the guards. Eventually claiming to be taking personal responsibility for the cleansing of the sorcerer's blackened soul, Gregory convinced the guards to allow Jack to be removed to the Black Forest, where he of course was freed and allowed to recover from his treatment in the town prison. Returning to the Green Men in this fashion, Jack told them all when the next tax raid would take place, and the brigands sent word to their sponsor and companion, Count Tristam Lancaster of Merioneth, played by Dave. The hot-blooded count donned his mask and joined with the Green Men on the night of the raid. Under the cover of darkness they set their trap for the tax carriage, stepping out from the cover of the trees to ambush Prince Gerard's men. After a brief and fierce battle the Green Men had broken their enemies; those who surrendered were told to flee for their lives and to tell the tale of the Green Men of the Black Forest. Man, good stuff, lemme tell you. Anyway, we waded through a lot of good stuff this time. We got into Fight! Martial Combat, we got into Weapon Mechanics and Anatomy of an Injury, we worked up a little Faith, made a few Resources tests, some fiddling with Armor, and it was awesome.

Game #3 was short, but several things were established to allow the next adventure to open smoothly. Among other small things, Jack and Tristam began to have weapon training in the forest, and the next tax shipment was established.

All in all, I think that things are coming together a lot better than I would have imagined. I really liked the background that everyone has worked up; everyone's characters are super-exciting to me. I know I say that a lot, but I just can't get over it. I especially like the group dynamic that is being set up. It's obvious that Jack and Gregory are going to have some interesting interplay, as Gregory is extremely pure in his faith and Jack has had his dragged through the mud. Add in the madcap thrill-seeking Count and things are bound to get wild. My favorite part is that each of the characters have such disparate interests, somehow bound together by somewhat similar goals. It's so different from the group dynamic I'm accustomed to, where characters work together just, you know, for whatever reason, just because there are some lootz to get or some monsters to kill or some shit. I feel like these characters have really strong personality, thrown into greater starkness by the contrast between one another. I... I just wish I started playing Burning Wheel sooner! XD

So, in the next game we'll be bringing in some of the most sexy of supplemental rules, such as Circles and Duel of Wits (fingers crossed). After that we'll have covered pretty much all the important stuff.

That's about it. If anyone has anything they feel ought to be added, please amend my inattention to detail. Also, if anyone feels that the game writeups ought to be more thorough, as I did leave out a lot of details, let me know. I'll definitely spend more time in the future with what I feel each character's highlights for a session were, and I'll probably discuss what all the artha was awarded for.