I don’t usually like to write posts concerning my Role Playing hobby, mostly because I only got into roleplaying in my latter years of college and as such I’m not entirely comfortable with being open about something that screams “Geek!”. Not to mention very few other roleplayers actually read this Blog. But come on. Anyone who’s known me for any significant length of time know I’m a seriously harcore Geek at heart and there’s really no hiding it at this point.
Mostly our group sticks to the standard Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 Edition, just like everyone else. But recently I’ve been trying to get my group into other RPG’s (roleplaying games). Mitch gave us a set of books called Burning Wheel a while back, but hadn’t gotten into it until just recently.
Basically, same setup as D&D, but a little more (pardon me, fellow D&D players…) grown-up. The rules are more detailed and lend to a more “gritty”, human, realistic game. Perhaps the biggest difference between D&D and Burning Wheel is, where D&D is very Game Master (the person who writes all the adventures) controlled - the GM writes the adventure, offering “hooks” to the players to get them to go along on the adventure - Burning Wheel puts the power in the hands of players.
Players are involved in every aspect of creating a “shared, imagined space” from the ground up. They help decide the focus of the story, the major antagonists and how each character is connected to the plot. The GM in a Burning Wheel story is really more of a player who knows just a little bit more than the other players, rather than an omnipotent, omniscient figure.
Click the “Burning Wheel” link above to check out the site if you’re interested in roleplaying games, if you’re used to playing only D&D, or any other d20 style game, Burning Wheel will truly be a breath of fresh air. Or check out this Blog by one of the developers of Burning Wheel who is taking his group through “30 Days of Burning Wheel”. He does a good job of getting to the chewy center of Burning Wheel, while bypassing all the crunchy rule bits, so novices can get a feel for what Burning Wheel is all about, without getting bogged down by confusing rules.
Anyway, as my group gets into it, I’ll post a bit more on how things are going, and their thoughts and opinions (as well as mine!) on the whole thing. Stay tuned…I’m sure you’ll all be on the edge of your seats… 
On a related topic, you can follow the link to the right under Mike’s D&D World to keep up with what’s happening in our current D&D campaign.
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