18 thoughts on “So, I’m looking at using some things from Burning Wheel for a Dungeon World game.”

  1. DW actually says in the book that you can muck with the XP system for different goals, and beliefs are not that different from Alignments. I imagine you could give a character beliefs, instincts, and even session goals that generate XP in the End of Session move

  4. A discussion I found that is kind of relevant

    https://m.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/w8j3f/using_burning_wheels_beliefs_instincts_traits/

    My two cents: You won’t get very much reward out of tacking it on to DW because of the way the Artha cycle runs in BW, at least in a mechanical sense.

    I think you could try rewording bonds to better fit a goal, belief and instinct regarding other players, such as “I will always jump to {blank’s} rescue” or “{Blank} will lead us to victory at the Castle Grey, and I will be his man!”

    Come to think of it… Look to Mouse Guard for help on this. It might be a better fit!

  9. It may help to think of Beliefs as player-set priorities. They’re ways of saying what the player wants to happen in the game. Repurposing alignment moves gives you a good general goal to work towards, and thinking of bods as similar extensions of the player’s priorities would give them a more belief-like quality. So, a vote for recycling the existing systems in play to better suit your needs.

    Instincts don’t really need rules, they’re just a few things that are always fictionally true without having to say them specifically. Just drop them into the game and make it part of the fiction.

  10. Peter J I have a freeform alignment system in my DW game that mirrors beliefs (using the form “I feel X, therefore I do Y”), and I allow for up to 2 alignment moves per character, allowing both to generate XP at End of Session.

  11. I agree with John Love that Mouse Guard’s variation on Beliefs and Instincts is a good fit for DW. I’d replace alignment with belief.

    Beliefs and instincts are great for roleplaying. The GM can pit a player’s beliefs against her instincts. You should also pit a players (informal) goals against her beliefs.

    In addition to the end of session question, “did I uphold my belief”, you can ask, “did I uphold my belief at great cost to myself.” The latter could be worth more XP.

  13. Yeah, I’ve never been real happy with either the aleignment or bonds in DW and was looking at replacing them with the Beliefs/ Instincts in BW. I only have BW gold, is the Mouse Guard version better?

  15. I like Mouse Guard a lot. I think you could easily turn Beliefs, Instincts, and Goals into something that approximates the End of Session move.

    But that doesn’t make a very cohesive party. I wonder if it would be useful to have party-level BIGs too

  16. Rowdy Scarlett Mouse Guard is simplified. You could probably look up the differences online. Though if you’re interested in buying the setting is fantastic. Embarrassingly, I don’t know enough about the Burning Wheel literature to compare.

    Aaron Griffin I’m interested. Where would you lose party cohesion?

  17. Tyler Solomon I meant compared to Bonds. A fresh start with a DW game has a mechanical system to setup back story between characters, specific to their roles. Using personal beliefs, instincts, and goals sort of eschews this system.

    You COULD run it like the Fate Core phase trio where maybe you start off the first session by describing your character and their Instinct, then start off with an adventure or situation you were in where this instinct got you into trouble. Another player can chime in and describe how their Belief got you out of the jam, until everyone’s instincts and beliefs are introduced.

    Just spit balling…

  18. Aaron Griffin I think that’s a completely legitimate way to start a session!

    I also enjoy games in which people are roleplaying their character directly, as opposed to out of character description. I find that it has more gravity when a person is acting it out.

    Well written beliefs and instincts just invite tension and fun play. After everyone declares their instincts and beliefs at the beginning of the game, place them in a scene or context that will lead to trouble. And then continue to improvise moves that force players to make hard choices between upholding a belief, or reacting with an instinct, and other discretions.

    Again, your approach sounds good to me. But you don’t have to start with a questionnaire either. Just throw players into the thick of it and have them make the hard choices that they’ll later tell stories about.

    Edit: ninja grammar edits

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