ORC.

yeah, orc

Humen.

go with dwarf

Orc it is!

Orcs in Burning Wheel are nasty pieces of work. Forget about the noble savage types of Warcraft or Elder Scrolls: these guys are mean, brutish, cowardly, and they hate everything and everyone - they hate so hard Hatred is an actual stat for them. But we'll get to that soon enough.

Character creation is based on lifepaths, stretches of time that your character spent doing something before the game began. Lifepaths are divided in broad geographical/social groupings called settings and subsettings: the main difference is that characters must start in a setting, since only they include the all-important Born lifepath every character must have.

Orcs have the Chattel (goblins) and Great and Black (big bad orc) settings, and the Servant of the Dark Blood (sorcerors and cultists) and Black Legion (self explanatory) sub-settings.

>WILL OUR ORC BE BORN CHATTEL, OR GREAT AND BLACK

Orc.

Ten lifepaths.

Orc on far right related.

>>13498963
We're going with five, just for starters.

>>13498949
>GREAT AND BLACK

THIS.

ONCE YOU GO BLACK, YOU NEVER GO BACK.

>>13498949
CHATTEL! Goblins are bessttt

Chattel

Chattel

>>13498967

But being a wolf rider with no legs, one eye and one hand is fuckawesome.

Great and Black. drafting is easier that way

Alright, three votes to two, Chattel it is. Goblins HO!

All lifepaths look the same: I'll type out the Born Chattel lifepath for you (I won't do this for all lifepaths, of course)

Lifepath: BORN CHATTEL
Time: 10 years
Res: 5
Stat: +1P
Leads: Black Legion, Servant
Skills: 2 pts: General
Traits: Orc Common Traits plus 1 pt: -

First there's the name, of course. Time is how long it takes to complete the lifepath - the total time spent on lifepaths is our character's age. Res is our resource points, which we'll use later to buy gear, affiliations, and other goodies. Stat is the bonus (or in very are cases, penalty) this lifepath gives to our physical and mental stats. Leads are exits to other settings and subsettings we can take from this lifepath. Skills and Traits are, well, the skills and traits associated to the lifepath.

We can either take a lead to Black Legion or Servant right from here, or take a lifepath available to us from the Chattel list:

>CATTLE SLAVE
>SCAVENGER
>FORGE SLAVE
>HAULER
>CUTTER SLAVE
>TUNNELER
>RAVAGER

>CHOOSE YOUR DESTINY

>>13499153
Forge Slave!

>>13499153

Servant to the sorcerers.

>>13499170
TUNNELER

I DON'T CARE IF WE AREN'T DORFS, STRIKE THE EARTH

>>13499153

Black Legion

>>13499229
Seconding STRIKE THE EARTH.

In search of CLOWNS and their CLOWN CARS.

>>13499229
>>13499301
STRIKING THE EARTH

Under the cruel ministrations of the Pitwrights and Whipmasters, our young chattel orc was put to work on the dark corners of the earth, mining ores for the forge or digging tunnels for the warriors of the Legion to traverse, safe from the damned sunlight.

>Born Chattel --> Tunneler

There are no leads from this lifepath. You can select the same list of lifepaths as above, with the addition of
>PITWRIGHT

>>13499371
Forge Slave

>>13499371
Well, Pitwright it is, then.

>>13499371
Pitwright sounds fun. Now we can find COTTON CANDY to enjoy before the CLOWNS show up.

Pitwright

>>13499371

Pitwright.

Pitwright! Spending so much time underground actually gave your runty orc an idea of how tunnel digging should work, beyond "grab a pick and dig dig dig before the whip gets you again)

>Born Chattel --> Tunneler --> Pitwright

No leads again. Lifepath options are the same as above, plus
>WHIPMASTER

>>13499471
Whipmaster.

Climb the ranks LIKE A BOSS
Whip some slaves LIKE A BOSS
Fuck the hot ones LIKE A BOSS
Eat their corpses LIKE A BOSS

>>13499538
I get the sense that you want to be a boss.

Whipmaster!

>>13499471

Whipmaster. It's time to wield the lash instead of just tasting it.

LIKE A BAWSS

Turns out getting to do the lashing is more fun than being lashed. Who would've thought.

>Born Chattel --> Tunneler --> Pitwright --> Whipmaster

Leads are: Black Legion. Lifepath options are the same as above (you can repeat a lifepath if you wish)

>>13499601

Black Legion.

Go for spider taming guys!

>>13499601
Black Legion. Whipping slaves is fun. Capturing and breaking in new slaves is better.

>>13499601
I did want to become an awesome smith, but no way in hell am I going back to slave-level work to do it. I'm good with either Black Legion or another stint as Whipmaster.

>>13499653

Who needs smithing when you can RIDE A GIANT SENTIENT SPIDER

One year later, our enterprising slave driver has joined the ranks of the Black Legion!

>Born Chattel --> Tunneler --> Pitwright --> Whipmaster --> Lead to Black Legion

Options for our final lifepath are as follows:
>GOBLIN
>SUN BLOTTER (ie, archer)
>LEGIONER
>HATRED BEARER
>DESPAIR SHOUTER
>BEARS THE LASH
>PACKMASTER

CHOOSE YOUR DESTINY

>>13499741
Either "bears the lash" or "packmaster" seem in line with what we've done in our life so far.

>>13499741
Bears the Lash.

We take our lash, and we bear it. With real bears.

Alright then, our character has lived by the whip his whole life - and now he gets to do some serious whipping of their own.

>Born Chattel --> Tunneler --> Pitwright --> Whipmaster --> Lead to Black Legion --> He Who Bears The Lash And Drives Us Ever On

Orcs get the least lifepath choices, but the best lifepath names.

Right then! Now we'll start giving our character some flesh. (cont.)

I'm all for bear the lash, but could you tell me anything about hatred bearer?

>>13499898
Hatred Bearer is the Legion's banner bearer.

>>13499870
Now we'll start pooling up and spending our Ages, Skill, Trait, Resource and Attribute points.

First, Ages, since that'll give us our initial attribute points. Our character is 38 years old in total, which gives us an initial 6 Mental points and 14 Physical points. Combining that with the lifepath bonuses, we have a total 9 Mental and 16 Physical points.

Attributes are as follows:

9 Mental Points split between Will and Perception.

16 Physical Points split between Agility, Speed, Power and Forte.

Your call, peeps.

>>13500047
5 Will, 4 Perception, even split on the physical traits.

>>13500071
Let's go with that.

Our stats are:
>Will: B5
>Perception: B4

>Agility: B4
>Speed: B4
>Power: B4
>Forte: B4

See that B behind the number? That's our 'shade', the "tier" of sorts our attribute is in. We're currently in the Black (mortal) shade, we need to roll 4+ on our dice to get a success. The other shades are Grey (heroic, 3+) and White (2+). Shades have some big effects in game besides making easier to roll successes - a guy with a sword dealing Grey damage is going to kill almost every dude in a single blow. Unfortunately for our orc, it's pretty expensive to improve our shades - five extra points for Grey, a whopping ten for White, and even then it requires GM approval. (cont.)

>>13500047

What is Forte?

>>13500167
Constitution/stamina type attribute.

(Incidentally: rolls here are made on d6-based dicepools. They never get Shadowrun crazy, mind you.)

Now, the derived attributes.

First, Health. It's the average of Will and Forte (B4 in our case), modified by the following questions:

>Does the character live in squalor and filth? If yes, -1 Health.
>Is the character frail or sickly? -1 Health.
>Was the character severely wounded in the past? -1 Health.
>Was the character enslaved or tortured? (yes to this one :D) -1 Health.
>Is your character a Dwarf/Elf/Orc? +1 Health.
>Is your character athletic and active? +1 Health.
>Does your character live in a really happy, clean place? (oh hell no) +1 Health.

>WELL?

>>13500228
While you answer that, I'll continue with Mortal Wound and Reflexes.

Mortal Wound is the biggest wound we can take. It's the average of Power and Forte, rounding down, plus six.

>Mortal Wound: B10

Reflexes is the rounded down average of Agility, Speed and Perception.

>Reflexes: B4

>>13500228
>Does the character live in squalor and filth? If yes, -1 Health.
No. Cleaning is a good job to use for the first stage of breaking in slaves.
>Is the character frail or sickly? -1 Health.
No. If he was, he'd have been fragged long ago.
>Was the character severely wounded in the past? -1 Health.
No. He would never have made it to his position if he were.
>Was the character enslaved or tortured? (yes to this one :D) -1 Health.
Yes.
>Is your character a Dwarf/Elf/Orc? +1 Health.
Yes.
>Is your character athletic and active? +1 Health.
Yes. In the Legion and lives by his own strength.
>Does your character live in a really happy, clean place? (oh hell no) +1 Health.
Yes. His standard of happy just happens to include making other people miserable.

>>13500295
Therefore, net Health bonus of +1.

>Does the character live in squalor and filth? If yes, -1 Health.
Fuck no. We whip our way into the best sleeping spots and towards the best food in the Legion.
>Is the character frail or sickly? -1 Health.
If we were, we'd have been killed by the people we whip. No.
>Was the character severely wounded in the past? -1 Health.
I doubt it. We'd have died if we went through such a period of weakness.
>Was the character enslaved or tortured? (yes to this one :D) -1 Health.
We pretty much started that way.
>Is your character a Dwarf/Elf/Orc? +1 Health.
Naturally.
>Is your character athletic and active? +1 Health.
That whippin' takes muscles! Yes.
>Does your character live in a really happy, clean place? (oh hell no) +1 Health.
The best spot of dry ground and slightly less maggoty bread is still dry ground and maggoty bread. No.

>>13500228
>Does the character live in squalor and filth? If yes, -1 Health.
Maybe. Anyone else have some input on this one?
>Is the character frail or sickly? -1 Health.
No. He was a badass orc digging tunnels and then later whipping people so they would dig the tunnels.
>Was the character severely wounded in the past? -1 Health.
I'm going to say 'probably not.'
>Was the character enslaved or tortured? (yes to this one :D) -1 Health.
Yes.
>Is your character a Dwarf/Elf/Orc? +1 Health.
Obviously.
>Is your character athletic and active? +1 Health.
Quite. It sounds strenuous to be part of the Black Legion.
>Does your character live in a really happy, clean place? (oh hell no) +1 Health.
No.

>>13500356
>>13500334
He lives in a clean place, because a good way to get slaves used to the idea that they had better not fuck up is punishing the hell out of them if they miss a spot when cleaning your quarters. And conversely, by giving them an occasional treat (a scrap of clothing, some ointment for the whip injuries) if they go long enough without any acts of incompetence or rebellion.

>>13500334
>>13500356
So it looks like a +1 to Health?

Right then, our starting Health is B5.

Next, Steel. Steel is the attribute we use to resist shock, pain and fear. It starts at B3, modified by the following questions:

>Has the character ever taken a conscript/soldier/knight/bandit/squire type lifepath? +1 Steel.
>Has the character been severely wounded? If yes to the previous question, +1 Steel; if not, -1 Steel.
>Has the character killed or murdered with his own hands? If so, and more than once, +1 Steel.
>Has the character been enslaved, tortured, or beaten terribly over time? If Will is 5 or higher, +1 Steel; if not, -1 Steel
>Has your character lived a sheltered life, away from violence and pain? (as if) -1 Steel
>Has your character been raised in a competitive (but not violent) culture - sports, debate, strategy games, courting? +1 Steel
>Has your character given birth to a child? +1 Steel
>Is your character Gifted or Faithful? (no to this one, we can't have the required traits) +1 Steel
>Is the character's Perception exponent 6 or higher? +1 Steel.
>Is the character's Will exponent 5 or higher? +1 Steel. If 7 or higher, +2 Steel instead.
>Is the character's Forte 6 or higher? +1 Steel.

>>13500436
>Has the character ever taken a conscript/soldier/knight/bandit/squire type lifepath? +1 Steel.
Yes.
>Has the character been severely wounded? If yes to the previous question, +1 Steel; if not, -1 Steel.
No.
>Has the character killed or murdered with his own hands? If so, and more than once, +1 Steel.
Yes.
>Has the character been enslaved, tortured, or beaten terribly over time? If Will is 5 or higher, +1 Steel; if not, -1 Steel
Yes, and Will is 5.
>Has your character lived a sheltered life, away from violence and pain? (as if) -1 Steel
FUCK NO
>Has your character been raised in a competitive (but not violent) culture - sports, debate, strategy games, courting? +1 Steel
Going to say probably not.
>Has your character given birth to a child? +1 Steel
Let's go with "Yes", to make this more interesting.
>Is your character Gifted or Faithful? (no to this one, we can't have the required traits) +1 Steel
No.
>Is the character's Perception exponent 6 or higher? +1 Steel.
No.
>Is the character's Will exponent 5 or higher? +1 Steel. If 7 or higher, +2 Steel instead.
Yes, 5.
>Is the character's Forte 6 or higher? +1 Steel.
No.

>>13500436

>Has the character ever taken a conscript/soldier/knight/bandit/squire type lifepath? +1 Steel.
Oh, he's certainly a soldier.
>Has the character been severely wounded? If yes to the previous question, +1 Steel; if not, -1 Steel.
I think we've established this as no.
>Has the character killed or murdered with his own hands? If so, and more than once, +1 Steel.
I would say yes.
>Has the character been enslaved, tortured, or beaten terribly over time? If Will is 5 or higher, +1 Steel; if not, -1 Steel
Yes.
>Has your character lived a sheltered life, away from violence and pain? (as if) -1 Steel
Of course not.
>Has your character been raised in a competitive (but not violent) culture - sports, debate, strategy games, courting? +1 Steel
I'm not sure. If violence still counts, then yes.
>Has your character given birth to a child? +1 Steel
I hope not.
>Is your character Gifted or Faithful? (no to this one, we can't have the required traits) +1 Steel
Nope.
>Is the character's Perception exponent 6 or higher? +1 Steel.
No.
>Is the character's Will exponent 5 or higher? +1 Steel. If 7 or higher, +2 Steel instead.
No.
>Is the character's Forte 6 or higher? +1 Steel.
No.

>Has the character ever taken a conscript/soldier/knight/bandit/squire type lifepath? +1 Steel.
Of course.
>Has the character been severely wounded? If yes to the previous question, +1 Steel; if not, -1 Steel.
No.
>Has the character killed or murdered with his own hands? If so, and more than once, +1 Steel.
Yes, most definitely.
>Has the character been enslaved, tortured, or beaten terribly over time? If Will is 5 or higher, +1 Steel; if not, -1 Steel
Yes, and 5 or higher.
>Has your character lived a sheltered life, away from violence and pain? (as if) -1 Steel
Fuck no.
>Has your character been raised in a competitive (but not violent) culture - sports, debate, strategy games, courting? +1 Steel
Um, I think we hit "violent".
>Has your character given birth to a child? +1 Steel
No. Uh, I think. Not so sure about the goblin life cycle; for all I know they use both sexes in all military roles and the women drop kids on the job.
>Is your character Gifted or Faithful? (no to this one, we can't have the required traits) +1 Steel
No.
>Is the character's Perception exponent 6 or higher? +1 Steel.
No.
>Is the character's Will exponent 5 or higher? +1 Steel. If 7 or higher, +2 Steel instead.
It's 5, so +1.
>Is the character's Forte 6 or higher? +1 Steel.
No

>>13500485
+5 Steel, for a total Steel of B8.

I suspect that's fairly hardcore.

>>13500486
>>13500494
Female goblin, started life as slave, this probably means that pregnancy happened at least once.

I think making this character female just makes things scarier, since I suspect this is the sort of setting where "-4 Strength" is at the very least a common assumption in-setting.

>>13500523
Sure, let's make this goblin a her! That would add another plus one to my answer, for a total of 5 as well.

>>13500523
Any of those people that we killed or murdered with our own hands could have been our child, and we wouldn't have cared.

Because we're that brutally evil.

Alright then, Steel B8! Our whipping orc lady is, indeed, hardcore. (You can actually spend those 5 bonus points into turning the Steel shade Grey, but I'd say B8 is pretty damn good as it is)

Next: HATRED. (cont.)

Like I said earlier, Orcs in BW hate hard enough that Hatred is itself an attribute. Several Orc skills are rooted in Hatred, and you can use the attribute in special ways to channel that terrible emotion into grand, horrible deeds. Hatred starts at B0 but, due to a certain trait we have to pick up later due to lifepaths, we'll start with a B1 Hatred.

And now that I check the Hatred question table, I noticed I missed something. Orcs need to roll a d6 from the 5th lifepath they take onwards: if they roll a 1 (or 1-2 from the tenth lifepath on) they lose bits of their body (starting with digits, moving on to limbs) because Orc life is that brutal. We'll assume that we didn't roll a 1 for the fifth lifepath.

Hatred is powerful, but dangerous: a Hatred reaching 10 means the orc has gone insane and can no longer be played. And in-game experiences can increase Hatred.

Add 1 Hatred for each YES to the following questions:

>- Has the character even been horribly wounded?
>- Has the character ever rolled a 1 on the Brutal Life table? (what I forgot, no to this one)
>- Has the character ever been tortured?
>- Has the character ever been a slave to another?
>- Has the character ever killed their superior or parents?
>- Has the character ever attempted to command a unit of goblins in battle?
>- Does the character have a Will of 2 or lower?
>- Does the character have a Steel of 5 or higher?
>- Does the character have a Perception of 6 or higher?

>>13400000

please ignore me

>>13500674
(Again, you can shift the shade to Grey for five points.)

>>13500674

>- Has the character even been horribly wounded?
No.
>- Has the character ever rolled a 1 on the Brutal Life table? (what I forgot, no to this one)
No.
>- Has the character ever been tortured?
Yes.
>- Has the character ever been a slave to another?
Yes.
>- Has the character ever killed their superior or parents?
Let's say yes to this one just for fun.
>- Has the character ever attempted to command a unit of goblins in battle?
Probably. Let's add one here.
>- Does the character have a Will of 2 or lower?
No.
>- Does the character have a Steel of 5 or higher?
Yes.
>- Does the character have a Perception of 6 or higher?
No.

Ouch, up to a B6 Hatred already.

>>13500713
>>13500718
Oooh, oooh. Let's do that. G1 Hatred.

>- Has the character even been horribly wounded?
No
>- Has the character ever rolled a 1 on the Brutal Life table? (what I forgot, no to this one)
No
>- Has the character ever been tortured?
Yes
>- Has the character ever been a slave to another?
Yes
>- Has the character ever killed their superior or parents?
Yes
>- Has the character ever attempted to command a unit of goblins in battle?
Yes
>- Does the character have a Will of 2 or lower?
No
>- Does the character have a Steel of 5 or higher?
Yes
>- Does the character have a Perception of 6 or higher?
No

We hate with 5 units of hatred.

What exactly are the benefits and costs of going Grey? I don't think I understand the system well enough to make this call.

>>13500737
see
>>13500165

>- Has the character even been horribly wounded?
No.
>- Has the character ever rolled a 1 on the Brutal Life table? (what I forgot, no to this one)
No.
>- Has the character ever been tortured?
Probably yes.
>- Has the character ever been a slave to another?
Yes.
>- Has the character ever killed their superior or parents?
Maybe to the first. We had to have become Whipmaster somehow, and disposing of the previous one for incompetence seems fitting.
>- Has the character ever attempted to command a unit of goblins in battle?
Attempted, hell! We SUCCEEDED!
>- Does the character have a Will of 2 or lower?
No.
>- Does the character have a Steel of 5 or higher?
Yes.
>- Does the character have a Perception of 6 or higher?
No.

That's a +5; not sure whether adding it to our Hatred or turning our Hatred Grey would be a better use of the points.

>>13500737
>>13500758
I think we should. More successes when doing Hateful things. And it gets us farther away from the score of 10 that kills our character (I think... correct me if I'm wrong).

>>13500758
You know what, let's go with G1 Hatred.

We don't hate often, because we're pretty hardened to shitty things happening to us or the few things we care about, but when we do hate we hate intensely.

>>13500737
It makes it easier to succeed, but you roll less dice. Over time I think Hate builds up again. Not sure, been a while since I looked at BW. Neat idea though, OP - should do Drow some time.

>>13500745
I read that already; while it explains "see, Grey is really good compared to Black" that's basically it. What do higher numbers do? How would this work out in play?

>>13500787
''HATE. LET ME TELL YOU HOW MUCH I'VE COME TO HATE YOU SINCE I BEGAN TO LIVE. '
—AM

G1 Hatred it is - pretty nice.

Now, as for advantages and disadvantages vs. the B6 Hatred we could've gotten otherwise:

Skills are rooted in attributes (ie, when buying them, the initial rating is determined by the attribute), and some Orc skills are indeed rooted in Hatred. We won't have access to those with our lifepath set, but having G1 as Hatred would mean that they would start pretty low in terms of actual dice rolled in the dicepool, but you would have an easier time getting successes out of them. We'll go deeper into shades in play once we actually get an example of play thread - I hopefully will make one once we're done with the character creation thread.

And speaking of skills... (cont.)

>>13500804
It works on a die pool, where you roll dice to get 'successes' to beat obstacles (a set number representing the difficulty of a task). The shade determines how often your dice succeed, the number dictates how many dice you roll. Exponents cap at 10. Shades determine how often your dice succeed, for Black it's 3/6 (4+), Grey 4/6 (3+), White 5/6(2+). B6 will succeed at obstacle 3 task half the time. G1 will never succeed at tasks greater than 1, but it will advance very quickly due to how Hatred works. I'll let the OP tell you more when he decides to, he seems to know what he is doing.

ARGH TYPE FASTER GODDAMN

What the fuck let me post goddamn

>>13500989
That makes things much clearer. Thanks. How difficult is advancement in the different colors as compared to different levels- you mention that our hatred will go up quickly; would our steel also go up more quickly if we turned it grey?

(4chan was derping on my post for some reason. Sorry!)

Remember the Born Chattel lifepath? We get a number of skill points from it and the other paths we took. The Born Chattel lifepath has specifically "general" points - we'll set those aside for now, since we can buy and improve any skill with those.

The "regular" skill points can only be used to buy and improve skills in the lifepaths we've chosen. We are forced to open (buy) the initial skill in each lifepath - a character with a "swordsman" lifepath will at the very least know how to handle a sword.

As I said earlier, skills are rooted in attributes - the initial rating for the skill will depend on the attribute it's linked to. Specifically, half the attribute rounded down, or half the average for skills with two roots. (cont.)

>>13501077
It would.

The advancement system is kind of hard to explain while doing the chargen stuff - I'll get to it later.

>>13501094
JESUS FUCK 4CHAN IT'S JUST A SKILL LIST STOP EATING THE POST

2+4+4+5 = an initial 15 points. We'll take four to open the required skills from our non-Born lifepaths, which is to say:

Ditch Digging (Power): B2
Excavation (Perception/Power): B2
Interrogation (Will): B2
Intimidation (Will): B2

>>13501163
It's because something in your post resembles regular spam, probably the shit from anontalk.

>>13501163
We were never that good at digging. Whipping people, though, is our life's work.

11 points in Intimidation. Spend five on turning it grey.

>>13501163
We can use our remaining 11 skill points to improve those skills (one point for one skill point, no shade shifting) or open the other skills in the lifepaths:

Torture (Perception)
Command (Will)
Sword (Agility)
Brawling (Agility)

Back Breaking Labor (This is a training skill - it has no rating, you either have it or you don't. It costs 2 points instead of 1.)

How about it?

>>13501249
Intimidation - 2
Command - 3
Sword - 3
Brawling - 1
Back Breaking Labour

>>13501249
Command seems like a good idea. Our horrible dominatrix goblinette is a leader of men! For some reason!

also, I like Back Breaking Labor, and sword.

>>13501249
Four into Intimidation.
Four into Command.
Three into Torture.

>>13501249
4 Intimidate
3 Command
2 Back Breaking Labour
2 Sword

>>13501274
This, but trade the Brawling for Sword.

>>13501286
Scratch that.
4 into Intimidation.
3 into Command.
2 into Back-Breaking Labor.
1 into Torture.
1 into Sword (or Whip, as the case may be).

>>13501320
Drop one from intimidation and put it into Sword.

>>13501319
Oops. There's Sword in there already. Seconding as-is.

>>13501077
Advancement only depends upon the exponent of a skill. Unfortunately Steel would not advance as quickly as Hatred. Steel advances like any other skill or Stat. Hatred is an emotional attribute, the specific rules for Hatred make it so that it advances as if it were at exponent 4 or less. Now as for what this means, you need an understanding of how advancement works. Basically, whenever you use a skill/stat/attribute/whatever to overcome an obstacle it is called a test, depending upon the number of dice you roll and the magnitude of the obstacle, it will be called Routine, Difficult, or Challenging. You must gather a selection of these different test under a skill to advance it. For levels 1 through 4 this is a number of Routine tests equal to your exponent and a number of Difficult OR Challenging tests that don't have as obvious a mathematical relation to your exponent. After a skill achieves the fifth exponent this selection consist of only Difficult AND Challenging Tests. As Routine tests are easy to come by, Hatred advances very quickly if you are not careful.

Also, don't worry about shade so much, it can be advanced in game, however it is time intensive do so.

>>13501320
Move Torture into sword. We don't need to be an artist at pain when we can both shout and people and cut them.

>>13501320
Third-ing this.

>>13501325
I think Intimidate makes more sense for the character, but I'll bow to consensus if necessary.

>>13501361
No, high Intimidate is good. Putting less than 4 more points into it would be shameful.

>>13501343
We do need to be an artist at pain if we want to reliably inflict it upon slaves without impairing their ability to work.

>>13501361
>>13501372
I'd prefer a character who can actually back up their threats a little.

(Maybe I should get a name for these threads.)

>>13501320
Let's do this!

Total skills:
Ditch Digging (Power): B2
Excavation (Perception/Power): B2
Interrogation (Will): B2
Intimidation (Will): B6
Torture (Perception): B2
Command (Will): B5
Sword (Agility): B2

Scary lady.

Now, the General skill points. We have two of them from our Born lifepath: we can use those to open and improve our lifepath skills, or we can buy from the general skill table. I'm not crazy enough to type out the whole general skill table for you, but give me some suggestions on how to round out the character skills wise and I'll see what fits best.

>>13501379
We can. We're starting at Sword 2 when we open the skill.

Our Steel is the real key, though. We're the Implacable Goblin Woman; if we want to kill you, we do it, regardless of what gets in our way. And everybody knows it.

>>13501407
I'd say one more point into torture or sword and then another into something to do with survival, wilderness living or something. Or maybe tracking? So we can find escaped slaves.

>>13501407
Yeah. Name yourself 'Burning Wheel OP' or 'Whipgoblin'.

Put one of the general points into Sword.

>>13501407
Use them on a General Skill that seems a bit at odds with the rest of our character. Something mundane, or artistic, or otherwise unexpected of a scary-as-fuck goblin slavedriver. Real people tend to be contradictory, so most good characters should be no different.

Alright, there's the name. One extra point to Sword and...?

>>13501407
Hmm. Key to our character is that we have minions under our command, what would help make best use of that?

Is there some sort of tactics skill, or is that covered by Command already?

Or something that would help us with interacting with the bosses, since presumably as someone who is responsible for the actions of many grunts we'll be taking orders from someone even more frightening than we are.

Or some kind of scrounging skill, that would help us make sure that our unit always has the supplies that we need.

>>13501468
Seduction

>>13501480
>something that would help us with interacting with the bosses
>>13501489
>Seduction

Why do these seem inextricably intertwined in my head?

>>13501489
Why not? Go for it.

>>13501432
Escaped slaves who we need decent tracking skill to recover aren't worth the effort. Besides, if they're meant to be slaves we'll recapture them anyway. If they aren't, then their escape was as natural as our own rise from our lowly birth as a tunnel slave.

This doesn't mean that we just let slaves escape; we take every precaution we can think of. What it means is that if a slave does escape in spite of it, and we don't recapture them within a day or two at most, we acknowledge that if slavery was truly their destiny they'll be in our hands again eventually.

>>13501480
Tactics, Persuasion, and Scavenging respectively.

>>13501501
Because terrifying dominatrix undertones in a femgoblin.

>>13501489
Put both points into Seduction. Force of will is attractive, and we've got plenty of it. Plus our appearance is likely at least tolerable by goblin standards, since we're in good shape and we get decent rations/living conditions.

>>13501522
No, we should put at least 1 point into sword.

>>13501522
Actually, never mind. 1 into Seduction, 1 into Persuasion. Unless you folks think otherwise?

>>13501489
Nah. Orcs hate everything and everyone, sexual manipulation probably isn't a thing in their culture.

I do like the idea of subordination, though--any skills involving the character acting like they're cowed but still actively seeking opportunities for comeuppance? Cunning, maybe? Persuasion would work as a last resort I think.

>>13501528
We already have 2 points into Sword, and most of the killing can be done by our minions.

Tactics, Persuasion, and Seduction are all attractive options to me. If I understand the rules correctly leveling them from 1 to 2 should be very easy once play has started, so I'd drop one point in two of those three skills.

>>13501528
We have two points in Sword already. Given what our character is, we're not fighting on the front lines unless things have completely gone to shit; we're motivating dedicated fighters instead. This means we want to improve our ability to get people to do what we want them to do.

>>13501528
This is a reasonable compromise, combat is a very important part of Burning Wheel.

>>13501534
I don't think faking subordination would work. We're just too obviously scary for it to seem reasonable.

Alright, one extra point to Sword and one to (eeek!) Seduction (rooted in Will)

Final skills:
Ditch Digging (Power): B2
Excavation (Perception/Power): B2
Interrogation (Will): B2
Intimidation (Will): B6
Torture (Perception): B2
Command (Will): B5
Sword (Agility): B3
Seduction (Will): B2

Now, on to Traits!

I FUCKING LOVE BURNING WHEEL!

But yeah, Luke Crane is a real pretentious dick.

>>13501552
If combat is important, I would put our points into Tactics instead of Sword. A character in our position is more likely to be successful in combat by directing subordinates to properly kick ass than by kicking ass personally themselves.

>>13501534
That's going to be a trait if we have any points yet. Skills are about performing tasks. Traits are about how your character acts.

>>13501534
>Nah. Orcs hate everything and everyone, sexual manipulation probably isn't a thing in their culture.

So something other people wouldn't expect of our character, then? That makes it an even more attractive option.

Tactics is a great skill to FORK into other skill rolls, but not a great one in direct confrontation most of the time. Not once you're in the thick of it, anyway.

>>13501564
Well... this is 4chan I suppose. Can't have a whip-wielding orcess without some dominatrix undertones.

Traits are features of our character. They can either be cosmetic ('character' traits, playing to them earns us BW's equivalent of fate points) or have a definite mechanical effect ('call-on' traits let us reroll failed dice or break a tie in our favor; 'die' traits give us dice bonuses, penalties, and a host of other effects)

As before, we need to total our trait points from our lifepaths, and buy required traits from them. As Orcs, we also have a list of common Orc traits we MUST take.

> Cannibals (Char; no problem eating our own)
> Cold Black Blood (Dt; +2 test obstacle when in direct sunlight, +1 if it's twilight, reduce hesitation obstacles due to pain by two)
> Breeders (Char; breed like rabbits)
> Fanged and Clawed (Dt; our mouths and claws are nasty enough to count as actual weapons, stats to be posted later)
> Loathsome and Twisted (Dt; stat maximums are capped at 8)
> Lynx Eyed, Like Burning Coals (Dt; no penalties for darkness or shadows)
> Vile Language (Char; the usual Black Tongue spoken by orcs and other evil creatures)

(cont.)

>>13501572
There's a difference between defying expectation and being unrealistic. Specifically, one is desirable and the other is not.

But it looks like Whip-Gob has the skill anyway, so I guess it is a thing in their culture after all.

While OP types, could someone explain what it means to FORK a skill into another skill?

>>13501621
I told you, Orcs are nasty. At least those are free.

We start with 6 points. We need to buy:

> Tasting The Lash (from Tunnel Slave; Dt; character is broken under the whip and MUST obey any order given at the crack of it)
> Deep Sense (from Pitwright; Perception can be used to discern depth, inclination and direction when underground)
> When There's A Whip, There's A Way (from Whipmaster; Dt; we can force other orcs, trolls, slaves or whathaveyou to reroll a failed test by cracking the whip and yelling at the fuckers)

(Bears the Lash has the same required trait as Whipmaster, there's no need to buy it again)

We have three trait points left. We can spend 2 in removing Tasting The Lash, leaving us one last point to spend on any random character trait. We could also buy Black Lung from Tunnel Slave with it, but it's actually disadvantageous (Dt; hacking cough gives us +1 Obstacle to all Health, Stealthy and Inconspicuous tests) - in BW you have to actually pay to have disadvantages.

Or we could leave Tasting the Lash as is and buy one of the special three-point Orc traits - Blasphemous Hatred (lets our hatred work sorcery, pretty useless without the specialized training of a Servant) or Enemy of the Sun (completely deny the Cold Black Blood penalties for sunlight)

So?

>>13501721
I vote for Enemy of the Sun. Marching slaves across vast wastelands doesn't work if you can only come out when it's dark.

>>13501721
Enemy of the sun? we could have our gobbo be specialized in 'motivating' troops on the surface to power through their Cold Black Blood penalties.

>>13501721
Enemy of the Sun I think.

>>13501721
Important Question: can we use our whip to effectively hypnotize ourselves into doing things by giving ourselves commands while under our own whip?

>>13501767
Nope. That's actually specifically forbidden in the Tasting the Lash writeup.

>>13501767
I will paraphrase the author of this roleplaying system as stated in the primary rulebook.

*ahem*

NO FUCK YOU.

>>13501710
It means that when you attempt a skill check, any other skills that might reasonably contribute to the situation can "FORK" one die into the contest. This applies to both skills and traits. So, for example, if you're a bandit trying to intimidate a caravan into giving you their cash on hand, you would be rolling Intimidate, while you might be able to FORK in the trait Brute, the skill Caravan-Wise, and the skill Merchant-Wise. This would be rationalized as: you are intimidating them, utilizing your brutish nature to terrify them even more, while backing up your threats with detailed knowledge of how much money they may likely be carrying and letting them know that YOU know exactly which roads they might try to take to get around... and you won't let that happen. So for each skill/trait you FORKed into Intimidate, you'd gain one die to your effective skill.

Alright, so Enemy of the Sun.

YOUR GOBLIN DOMINATRIX CAN FLIP HER FINGER AT THE SUN FROM SMB3. HOLY SHIT. SHE IS HARDCORE.

As long as someone else doesn't whip her, but traits can be removed in-game so don't worry that much about it.

Next! Resource points, which are never enough.

>>13501805
Thanks much. Oh, my gosh, I've always wanted to find a game system that had something like that, this Burning Wheel thing is awesome!

>>13501805
So in other words, having a breadth of complementary skills has its own advantages over high skill specialization, especially considering that you can FORK in almost every situation; even in combat (an example given in the book: FORKing your Brawling skill into your Sword skill for the purposes of an attack if you fluff it up as "violently elbowing him, then swiping at him with your sword while his guard is down").

>>13501843
Burning Wheel is a good system. My biggest problem with it is that advancement is sometimes predicated on failure. Well worth a look though.

>>13501849
Nice! I think I like this system. I liked the lifepaths way of determining stats a lot, but this just makes things great.

>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdXQJS3Yv0Y&feature=BF&list=PL2E459D498119C1AD&index=
2

>SO appropriate.

>>13501849
Hmm. How does one open up advancement in new skills? It seems like we'll want to do that a lot in order to be mechanically successful.

Is that, "Where there's a whip, there's a way?2

To start with, we'll total our Resource points from the lifepaths:

5+3+10+15+9 = 42. Better than the regular goblin, for sure, but not MAD MONIES.

What can we buy with Resource points?

- Gear: obviously enough, actual equipment. List is as follows:
>Orc Arms: 5 rps for run of the mill quality, 3 for poor quality, +1 per weapon modification (beaks, weights, etc.) You take what you need and makes sense for your character.
>Orc Armor: Run of the Mill Hides, 3 rps, Poor Quality Hides, 2 rps; Run of the Mill Plated Leather, 7 rps, Poor Quality Plated Leather, 3 rps, Superior Quality Plated Leather, 25 rps; Run of the Mill Chainmail, 12 rps. These are full suits of armor; ask me if you want to buy piecemeal.
>Poor Quality Bow: 3
>Run of the Mill Bow: 5
>Poor Quality Crossbow: 4
>Run of the Mill Crossbow: 6
>Black Iron Helmet: 5
>Black Iron Shield: 4
>Riding Mount, Pack Animal: 9
>Great Wolf Mount: 15
>Rags: 1
>Traveling Gear: 3
>Hobnailed Boots: 1
>Whip: 2 (OH YES)
>Poison: 5
>Brazen Horn or Clan Banner: 9
>Skill Tool Kits: 9
>Spoils of War (one item from any other character stock list - want an Elven cloak? Ask for price)

Nice, huh? Now, the problem is, this is not all we can buy with our hard won Resource points. (cont., wait until I'm done to start buying)

>>13501854
It's worth noting that it does that on purpose, though. And actually, you DON'T technically ever have to fail, since by spending Artha for extra dice/rerolls you don't actually raise the number of dice you're rolling for the purposes of gaining skill points.

Personally, I really like that aspect. It means that great warriors, sages, etc. actually DO have to somehow challenge themselves at some point to be able to actually progress. Especially considering it's not usually many Challenging skill uses that you need to actually level a skill; it's just finding them that's the interesting part.

Anyway, I'm not arguing or anything, I just wanted to chip in. There is a lot of stuff in BW that doesn't sit well with people, and I can see why some of it isn't liked by others.

>>13501911
Bow
Whip
Great Wolf Mount
Chainmail
Travelling Gear
Orc Arms
42 exactly. All run of the mill quality.

>>13501945
Did you not see the man saying to wait 'till he's done? Boy, this is grounds for a light to moderate beating.

>>13501905
You open up a new skill by using a skill a number of times equal to your "Skill Aptitude", a number determined by the ability that the skill is based on. (usually anywhere from 4 to 7, on average). Once you do that, it opens up at its starting value based on the determining attribute.

>>13501945
>Now, the problem is, this is not all we can buy with our hard won Resource points. (cont., wait until I'm done to start buying)
>wait until I'm done to start buying)

READ. THE MOTHERFUCKING. POST.

We can also buy relationships - NPCs our characters are involved with and that we want to have a recurring role in the game. These are NOT random contacts (see Circles, later), but NPCs that matter to our PCs, even if we just hate their guts.

Prices are:
- 15 rps for an very important and significant character in the setting.
- 10 rps for a character of some importance to the setting.
- 5 rps for a character of minor importance to the setting.

Cost can be reduced adding complications to the nature of the relationship (minimum is always 1.)

- Immediate family relationships? -2 rps
- Other family relationships? (cousins and aunts and such) -1 rps
- Romantic love? -2 rps
- Forbidden relationship? (princeling and his bandit pal, Romeo and Juliet) -1 rps
- Antagonistic/hateful relationship? -2 rps

Of course, you don't have to take one if you don't want to (Dwarves, on the other hand, are forced to take one due to the nature of their traits.)

(cont.)

>>13501905
Well to open a skill you have to attempt a number of beginners luck rolls equal to 10 minus the base stat (It can be modified by some traits). Beginners luck is what happens when you want to use a skill, but do not have it, you then roll the base stat against a double obstacle. Once you have done the required number of tests, the skill is then opened at half of the base stat.

Mr. Burning Wheelie, you have convinced me to try this RP system out.

It sounds fucking wonderful. Thank you!

>- 10 rps for a character of some importance to the setting.
>- Immediate family relationships? -2 rps
>- Romantic love? -2 rps
>- Forbidden relationship? (princeling and his bandit pal, Romeo and Juliet) -1 rps
>- Antagonistic/hateful relationship? -2 rps
Regular emotionally twisted (hate?)sex with our father, who is a moderately important orcish general: 3 points.

>>13501985
Take a minor NPC. Add the following complications:
-Romantic Love
-Forbidden relationship
-Antagonistic/hateful relationship

Some slave we keep catching, they keep escaping, we keep recapturing them while doing something unrelated a while later, they escape again, we recapture them again...

It's a pretty fucked up relationship, needless to say. And both parties are pretty much convinced at this point that fate is fucking with them just for shits and giggles.

>>13502046
Seconding this.

Aw, fuck. I just realized something.

We've basically created a dark goblin counterpart of the main character from Kushiel's Dart, haven't we?

A special case of relationship is buying a bodyguard/squire type of character - they always cost 10 rps and they must be created by the player, with two lifepaths less than the PC limit for the game.

We also have a special Circles attribute (rooted in Will) - this is what we use to get minor NPC contacts and tracking people through our social network. It'll depend on the people we know - our goblin slavemaster will have an easier time finding a slave or getting in touch with the clan's forgers than, say, getting a hold of the Orc King's personal head-taker.

We can also buy affiliations: standing within a particular organization. They're rated from 1 to 3 dice, which are added to our Circles when testing within the organization.

1D, 10 rps: a small specialized group, like a cabal or a large family.

2D, 25 rps: a large, regional group: a powerful clan, a trade guild, a pirate fleet

3D, 50 rps: a national, powerful, ruling group: a merchant league, a duchy, and so on.

(cont.)

>>13502040
>>13502046

Both of these. 4 points.

Then a whip, two points.

Orc Arms--I want to say a war-pick, but we went with swords, so. Run of the mill there, so 5

Run of the mill plated leather is 7.

RUn of the mill bow is 5

hobnailed boots, is 1

Adds up to 24 points, I'll let other anons fill in the rest.

JESUS CHRIST FAGGOTS LET HIM FUCKING FINISH HIS LIST.

>>13502073

Didn't realize he wasn't done. I apologize for getting ahead of the thread and the OP. I'm easily excitable.

We can also buy reputations for our character, that will broaden our Circles like affiliations:

1D, 7 rps: local reputation - the fastest kid on the block, the neighborhood thug
2D, 25 rps: regional reputation - an old war hero, a notorious bandit
3D, 45 rps: a national, major reputation - the motherfucking King, a theocrat, the undefeated general of the armies

If we were a sorcerous type of character, we would also have to buy our spells here. But we're not, so that's that.

>WHAT WILL YOU BUUUUUYYYYYYY

Remember to buy a >Skill Tool Kits: 9
of torture gear so we can use that skill.

>>13501911
>>13501985
>>13502064
>>13502111
See? 42 points for all of that. Never enough.

Unless you're a goddamn Guilder Dwarf because those fuckers are swimming in Resource points.

>>13502111

Let's do this >>13502071 plus regional reputation and whatever other people want to add.

as I said in >13502071

which comes up to 24

add in a 1D Local reputation for 7 points, adds up to 31

then a 1D affiliation with a small specialized group (the slaver ring we operate with?), adds up to 41

and one point left over, no idea what to spend it on.

>>13502133
Oops, I mean local reputation.

>>13502135

herp derp I cannot into post-linking >>13502071

>>13502071
Do we have bow-use skill? Does that run on sword?

>>13502162
Yeah, if we can't use a bow, it would be better to buy traveling gear.

>>13502162

hrm, maybe not? I don't think so. If so, free up the bow, gives us six left to spend if we follow what's above. But we need nine for a torture kit?

... and we should probably get some travelling clothes too. Hmm. Maybe we don't need an affiliation...

WHIP: 2
>>13502040
>>13502046
THIRDING THESE: 4
LOCAL REPUTATION FOR BEING THE COLD-HEARTEDEST, SLUTTIEST, BITCHIN'EST, BRUTALEST ORC IN ALL THE MINES: 7
ORC ARMS: 3 (SPIKES, SPIKES EVERYWHERE +1) =4
TORTURE SKILL TOOL KIT=9
RUN OF MILL PLATTED LEATHER=7
RUN OF MILL BOW=5

THAT'S 38 TOTES

>>13502071
Add 17 rps to get a d1 reputation and a d1 affiliation. The latter is obviously with a local crime ring that either does some slaving itself or moves slaves for people who do.

>WHAT WILL YOU BUUUUUYYYYYYY
Relationships: >>13502046 and >>13502040, for 4 points.
Reputation: Local reputation in the Black Legion as a fuckin' scary and highly effective whip-driver type. 7 points.
Gear:
>Orc Arms: 5 rps for run of the mill quality
>Orc Armor: Run of the Mill Plated Leather, 7 rps
>Black Iron Shield: 4
>Whip: 2 (OH YES)
>Traveling Gear: 3
Circles: Black Legion quartermasters, armorers, and other support personnel, 10 points.


I think that spends everything.

>>13502162
No we do not.
>>13502135
I'm not sure ring is the best term for the relationship Orc's have with slavery. It's sort of an institution.

>Finally getting to start a Burning Wheel campaign with some friends IRL after burning out on Dark Heresy and 4e.

>Find character burning thread on /tg/

>also, pun not intended

We'd eventually want to get a Great Wolf as a mount, though.

It would be the one creature we'd be openly sappy towards, and vice versa. Fucking with him also immediately earns you a spot on our undying hatred list.

>>13502214
>>Implying wolves aren't for faggots and that we need to be nice to anything.

>>13502189
Yep, that's 42. Let's go with this one.

>>13502192
The slaving ring isn't Orc run. We trade with them to acquire slaves we aren't generally able to find in battle, or if we need something specialized on fairly short notice. In exchange, they're the first ones we go to when we have extra slaves and loot we want to dispose of.

>>13502227
We don't NEED to be nice to anything.

But if we choose to be nice to one thing, that's our choice, and anybody who doesn't like it gets to lubricate our torture equipment with their blood and tears.

>>13502189
Alright, so...

(Jesus fuck these relationships)

Relationship:
>Some slave we keep catching, they keep escaping, we keep recapturing them while doing something unrelated a while later, they escape again, we recapture them again... (1 point)
>Regular emotionally twisted (hate?)sex with our father, who is a moderately important orcish general: (3 points)

(GODDAMMIT GUISE)

>Orc Arms: 5 rps for run of the mill quality
>Orc Armor: Run of the Mill Plated Leather, 7 rps
>Black Iron Shield: 4
>Whip: 2 (OH YES)
>Traveling Gear: 3
Black Legion quartermasters, armorers, and other support personnel, (1D affiliation with the Black Legion 10 points.)

Next: some random attribute bullshit then Beliefs, Instincts and we're done!

>>13502269
(drr dropping my name for a while there)

>>13502269
You forgot our reputation, I think.

>>13502241
It is my recollection that in this Universe, Orcs would never trade with anyone, even slaves. They are basically in a constant state of war with everyone.
What I'm saying is, I have looked at the fluff, and It doesn't seem like something they would ever do. It sort of ties into their Hatred ability. They HATE everybody.

>>13502292
Oh yeah, good catch. I'll include it in the completed character sheet.
----
We need to complete our Physical Tolerances. This will matter in combat.

We saw way back that our Mortal Wound was B10. This is organ-splitting, massive hemorrhage damage we're talking about. On the other end of the scale, we have Superficial wounds - eye-watering amounts of pain, but nothing life threatening. Our Superficial wound is half Forte, rounded down, plus 1. At least Crane admits this shit is arcane.

Between Superficial and Mortal we have Light, Midi, Severe and Traumatic wounds. We can place these anywhere between Superficial and Mortal in our damage scale, with a maximum gap of (half Forte rounded up) between them. This stuff is really funky, so I'll handle it myself:

Superficial: B3
Light: B5
Midi: B7
Severe: B8
Traumatic: B9.

These are our Physical Tolerances. There's a nice grayscale wheel for them on the character sheet, but for now all you need to know is that these are used to determine how much punishment we can take and how much time it'll take us to recover from it, if we can - it's possible to get stabbed, win a fight, and still die to blood loss later if untreated.

(cont.)

>>13502347
And to finish with, my favorite part of BW chargen: Beliefs and Instincts.

Beliefs make your character act. They are not vague, they're clearly defined and your character is involved with them. A paladin doesn't just have a Belief in "justice", but one like "I am the sword of justice; I will bring swift death to those who pursue evil and harm innocents." A pacifist prince doesn't just think "war is bad" but "The pen is mightier than the sword; war will never be an option while I rule." Playing to your Beliefs and fulfilling them gives you Artha points.

Instincts are precisely that - actions so internalized by your character that they barely consider before performing them. The archetypal instinct is "Always draw my sword at the first sign of danger" but can be anything that your character always keeps in mind, like "Always assess at every juncture while underground," "Never wake up before 12PM", "Forage for food while marching with the army" or "Check my gear every morning and evening." Instincts don't have to get you in trouble (you are not forced to draw your sword if you meet your nemesis while at the court of a neutral lord, frex) but playing up the trouble can give you artha points.

Your character can have 1-3 Beliefs and 1-3 Instincts. One suggestion each, please.

>>13502453
Instinct: Never let anyone stand close behind us.

>>13502453
Belief:
"The strong live, and the weak die. The strong rule, and the weak serve. I was weak once. I will never be weak again."
Instinct:
"Never give a name on the first meeting."

>>13502453
What are Artha points?

>>13502453
Copied from my earlier post:
>
Escaped slaves who we need decent tracking skill to recover aren't worth the effort. Besides, if they're meant to be slaves we'll recapture them anyway. If they aren't, then their escape was as natural as our own rise from our lowly birth as a tunnel slave.

>This doesn't mean that we just let slaves escape; we take every precaution we can think of. What it means is that if a slave does escape in spite of it, and we don't recapture them within a day or two at most, we acknowledge that if slavery was truly their destiny they'll be in our hands again eventually.

I'm definite that this can be condensed down to a single belief statement, but I'm frankly a bit too tired to figure out how to do it right now. Some sort of Nietzschean ubermensch thing, maybe, in the sense it was originally meant in?

>>13502453
Belief: Slaves who do not rise are useless scum.

Instinct: Any break or slowing of labor on the part of a slave gets them a whipping. (slave slacks off, whip em immediately.)

>>13502490
Think fate points in other games.

Seconding this >>13502479 belief and this >>13502468 instinct.

>>13502490
AWESOME STUFF THAT IS AWESOME. They help you succeed when you need them most. Primarily by modifying dice rolls or temporarily shifting the shade of a skill.

>>13502453
Instinct: take great care in our appearance, including baths whenever we can manage them.

It fits with our predilection for strength, as mastering our own appearance is a facet of self-control. And there's definitely ways to make it cause problems for us for roleplaying purposes.

>said dianatra

Dianatra? I think you may have just named our character, Captcha.

>>13502496
I like that instinct.

>>13502541
Dianatra, huh? Sounds good to me.

>>13502541
Hmm. Not really sure I like this as an instinct- perhaps a belief? "How someone looks is a reflection of who they truly are. If someone lets themselves look like a slave, they are a slave in their heart."

>>13502496
Disagree on the instinct. A slave who's just shirking gets whipped, yes. A slave who collapses from exhaustion also gets whipped.

A slave who stops because if they don't they will collapse from exhaustion? As long as they clear it with us first, we'll let them rest until we determine they can work again.

The reason for that is that thinking tools can maintain themselves, and the ones that choose to do so have that spark of something different in them. Thinking tools that choose not to maintain themselves, are too stupid to maintain themselves, or simply refuse to be used as such, though? Those are worked until they break for good, and then their corpses are "recycled".

>>13502599
There's more chattel where that one came from.

There is always more chattel. Orcs are Breeders.

>>13502599
Hate. Hate. Hate. We Hate them. If they collapse, then they should have been stronger. Our will be done, or else. Hate.

>>13502621
Also true. The Chattel who might be forged into something more useful by the fires of slavery, though, are something much rarer, and should be dealt with accordingly.

Also, I'm assuming that orcs take slaves from other races? If so, the same thing goes for how she treats them.

Proposed amendment:
"The strong live, and the weak die. The strong rule, and the weak serve: to serve the strong is natural, to serve the weak is pointless and stupid. I was weak once. I will never be weak again."

The implications of the new bit mean that use of Intimidation (appearing strong) feeds the belief.

>>13502651
You say "potential", I hear "future competition". Torture it until it's gone, before it becomes a problem.

does anyone have a link to a megaupload or rapidshare of all the ruleboks for this? my search-fu is very weak

>>13502635
If they shirk, they are obviously too difficult and/or stupid to be useful as more than immediately expendable tools. If they collapse, they are obviously too stupid and/or too weak to be useful as more than immediately expendable tools. If they take the path that makes them the most useful, then they bear watching, because they (like us) know how to forge themselves in the fires of pain, and how to wait for the right moment in order to advance themselves.

>>13502693
There is a copy on /rs/ I think, but IIRC it's from the original version, which is different from the current Revised edition.

>>13502693

Don't worry, man, you just have to expand your upload site repertoire.

http://www.mediafire.com/?mmm0ymrmzim

>>13502681
Future competition must be allowed to compete before we can crush them. If we are meant to crush them, we will succeed in doing so even if we give them the chance to fight us; if we aren't, then trying to crush the future competition too soon just means we get less use out of them before they fight us and win.

>>13502715
>>13502708
ah, thank you both, sometimes /tg/ can be quite rude to requests of this manner

>>13502599
>>13502651
>>13502660
>>13502697

I just had this image of our character echoing Dak'kon: "Endure. And in enduring, grow strong."

It fits her worldview frighteningly well.

>>13502715
That's just BW, not the revised version.

>>13502721
Of course we're meant to crush them. If we CAN crush them, it's because we're stronger than they are. The strong dominate the weak. The strong crushes the weak when the strong sees fit. And when we see a weakling who may become strong, we see a weakling who may challenge our rule. That's intolerable.

>>13502751
THE WEAK SUFFER. I *ENDURE*.

>>13502715
That's the original version. It won't line 1:1 with this thread.

---

Alright so! How about:

B: "The strong live, and the weak die. The strong rule, and the weak serve. I was weak once. I will never be weak again."
B: "Strength comes from pain. Those who endure become stronger."
B: "How someone looks is a reflection of who they truly are. If someone lets themselves look like a slave, they are a slave in their heart."

I: "Never let anyone stand close behind me."
I: "Never give a name on the first meeting."
I: "Any break or slowing of labor on the part of a slave gets them a whipping."

We cool? If we are, I'll compile the finished character sheet.

>>13502806
(drr, that's me again - I keep taking the name off while I'm goofing around in other boards)

>>13502806


we cool.

>>13502806
The never give a name on the first meeting thing seems a little bizarre to me and I'd be interested in hearing the logic behind it. Also, I'd reword the second belief to be a more direct Planescape reference as in >>13502751, because that's how I roll.

Aside from that, I'm cool with this.

>>13502779
There is no "may". A weakling who will become strong will become strong, regardless of what we do; our character's own life has convinced her of that. You don't determine whether you're truly stronger than somebody else simply by attacking them in a moment of weakness; survival might necessitate you doing so, but otherwise it goes against the core of what our character believes in.

Also, attacking someone in a moment of weakness frequently could lead to them misunderstanding their place in the proper order of things, causing much future annoyance. Defeat them in their strength with your own strength, however, and they cannot fail to grasp their position beneath you.

>>13502847

As the one that came up with the never-give-a-name instinct, I'm not really sure of hte logic behind it myself, but it just felt right. Probably something to do with her past as a slave?

>>13502847
One thing about Orcs in BW is that the implicit setting states that most orcs are not, nor will they ever be, important enough to actually have a name: they're worth at best a grunt or a nickname related to their role in the clan. Having a name is a great deal: there's a specific lifepath for it (Named) and performing a successful Naming Ritual for someone in-game will give the orc a free 1D reputation, because it matters that much.

So I'm thinking, maybe our slave driver has given herself a name, and fuck everyone who thinks otherwise - but she's not suicidal enough to just blurt it out around the clan. Hell, maybe rejig the Instinct a little: "Never give my name." Maybe she'll do something that will make her name official, and then she can change her Instinct

>>13502875
Names have power, most of all the name you give yourself. Diatnatra chose her name after becoming a pitwright; when she was a tunneller, she was just a set of numbers and letters denoting precisely where she worked and who she served under. She only gives it to those she deems worthy of it, and only those who deem themselves her equal use it; those below only know her by her titles, those above her would generally only refer to her by her titles (despite knowing her name).

>>13502863
There's a very simple way to prevent weaklings from becoming strong. In fact, there's a very simple way to prevent anyone from doing anything.

Kill them first. Don't attack them, of course; you're absolutely right about that possibly leading to future trouble. Just use your position of power over them to push them so hard that they'll break under the pressure. We know to do that because that's exactly what our overlord tried on us, but we didn't break because they didn't push us hard enough.

The character believes in strength at any cost. Including depriving others of their own.

(This is an awesome conversation.)

>>13502938
Agreed. I'm actually tempted to just call it a draw and say that this is one area where she's inconsistent in how she applies her own beliefs, because I think we're both drawing equally valid conclusions from them. Sometimes she leans more one way, sometimes more another; the shifts happen slowly, over the course of months or even years, but they're still happening at the point when play begins because she hasn't yet decided exactly where she stands on this.

>>13502925
All right, that's some nifty background and makes it make a lot more sense. I think we're good.

>>13502993
Good deal--determinism and fate are dodgy enough that going back and forth on the subject is understandable for a character.

>>13503029
An amicable agreement to disagree?

On MY 4chan?

Dianatra, Orc Slavemaster ("Mistress" to the slaves, "whip-bitch" to the rest of the clan, but never to her face)

Stats:
Will: B5 Perception: B4
Agility: B4 Speed: B4 Power: B4 Forte: B4

Attributes: Reflexes B4, Steel B8, Health B5, Mortal Wound B10

Skills
Ditch Digging B2, Excavation B2, Interrogation B2, Intimidation B6, Torture B2, Command B5, Sword B3
Seduction B2

Traits:
Cannibals, Cold Black Blood, Breeders, Fanged and Clawed, Loathsome and Twisted, Lynx Eyed, Like Burning Coals, Vile Language, Tasting the Lash, Deep Sense, When There's A Whip, There's A Way, Enemy of the Sun

Relationships:
- (forbidden, romantic) Rip-Ear, that one slave that keeps running away, that I keep catching...
- (forbidden, romantic, antagonistic, immediate) Khramm Shunk, Black Legion General, a twisted tale of love and hate and incest

Circles: B2
Affiliations: 1D Black Legion quartermasters, armorers, and other support personnel,
Reputations: 1D Local reputation in the Black Legion as a fuckin' scary and highly effective whip-driver type.

Resources: B1*

*Another thing I forgot, the Resources exponent- an abstract measure of our purchasing power. It increases the more we spend on property (as in, lands and assets and shit - orcs have little to no access to that), affiliations and reputations.

>>13503056
Hardly unknown on /tg/, dear chap.

>>13503110
Gear:
A nasty looking scimitar with a spiked handguard for close encounters, run of the mill plated leather, a black iron shield, whip and traveling gear

B: "The strong live, and the weak die. The strong rule, and the weak serve. I was weak once. I will never be weak again."
B: "Life is pain. Strength comes from pain. Those who endure become stronger. Those who endure live."
B: "How someone looks is a reflection of who they truly are. If someone lets themselves look like a slave, they are a slave in their heart."

I: "Never let anyone stand close behind me."
I: "Never give my name."
I: "Any break or slowing of labor on the part of a slave gets them a whipping."

>>13502993
>>13503029

You two are fucking bros.

>>13503110
Relationships errata: the first one should also be antagonistic.

And that's it!

6 hours more or less from start to finish. It goes a lot faster when not typing up all that chargen stuff and with the help of a worksheet.

I hope you've enjoyed this thread. I'll be going to bed now, and tomorrow I might start an example of play thread - including a shot at BW's feared Fight! system.

Good night, and thanks for participating!

>>13503144
Oh, yeah, durr me. Considered it fixed come next thread.

>>13503146
Thanks very much for doing this, OP! Do you game-master for this? If so, do you do it online?

>>13503146
I will watch for you. If this thread is still alive then, please link your new one here.

>>13503110
>Resources: B1*
I would be interested in hearing more about how this value is determined. It seems like in our case it's almost purely derived from our Circle score.

>>13503166
Offline? Nah, I live in a very tiny town with no other RPG players in sight.

Online... BW has certain difficulties regarding online gaming that will become apparent in the example of play. Namely, the conflict subsystems require that GM and players hide information from each other, and reveal it at the same time. Unless everyone is on the honor system (a definite possibility) ensuring that people are not changing their moves in advance is hard without specialized software.

>>13503188
Resources is: rps spent on property, reputations and affiliations/15 rounded down.

We spend a total of 17 points on reputations and affiliations, for a total of 1.1333... so, B1.

242 replies, 0 sages, and a brutal gobliness whipmaster.

Good show, /tg/.

>Dianatra has had children
>no relationship purchased with them
>no fucks are given about her own spawn
>my face

>>13503425
It was
>implied
earlier that she may have just strangled the little bastards to death shortly after their whelping.

>>13503454
Considering who's going to be doing most of the fathering... yeah.

i know the rulebook was already linked up there, but does anyone have a link to the revised version? thanks a bunch

>>13503262
Why would I post with sage in this thread?

>>13503495
>>13503495
Thirded.

Has anyone archived this?

The neat thing about BW is that all races have this defining characteristic, like Orcs have Hate. There's Faith, Grief, Greed, Spite

>>13503425
At most, I'd have considered a single one-point relationship (Immediate family -2, Antagonistic -2) with the one child of hers that has managed to survive and rise above the rank of slave. She has always done her best to force her children to grow strong, but in most cases her belief in the need for pain and abuse to accomplish that only killed them or broke their spirits. In a single case it actually worked... but that one child hates her for it, even as they've finally risen to a status where Dianatra has a tiny bit of respect for them.

>>13502715
I'm not the guy who requested it, but I've downloaded this copy of the rules and for the life of me I can't find anything to do with character generation there. Am I just being amazingly blind?

>>13506419
Alright, your problems are twofold. Your first problem is that there are two books you must have to play Burning Wheel. The First is the rules, which is what was posted, and the second is the Character Burner which was not. As a note: Whenever you make something to insert into a campaign it is called burning, like Burning up spells, monsters, and characters.Your second problem is that that is the unrevised edition of Burning Wheel, and there has since been an update to Burning Wheel. Now, the unrevised addition is just lying around everywhere. As for the revised addition, I have never seen a digital copy, I suspect that it is on a hard drive, locked deep in the caves underneath Luke Crane's house.

If you just look for "Burning Wheel Character Burner," I am sure you will find the alright but not great unrevised edition somewhere online.

I hope I have answered your question.

There's an online generator tool, if anyone has a revised copy of the rules they can supply us with the passwords. :3 I would love you forever.

*discreet whistle*
http://janklabs.com/bwlp/

>>Labour? Faccheal!

Way to go, captcha.

>>13508736
Passwords for the Character Burner:

Ivar
Graybeard172

I don't have the other books, sorry.

>>13508953
I has a character!
http://janklabs.com/bwlp/characters/071c35313faceb6f870c2a450f9383dd.html

It's a nice tool, but it won't let you create a full character without the books - it only gives you the lifepaths.

>>13507376
>I suspect that it is on a hard drive, locked deep in the caves underneath Luke Crane's house.
I'm pretty sure I've read somewhere that Crane refuses to sell BW Revised on PDF for whatever reason (compare Burning Empires)

New thread at >>13510804