So last night we started using the Burning Wheel system. I am actually very excited because this is a game I have been wanting to try out for more than a year now, and I just ordered the books shortly after last Christmas.

The system can be very simple: roll however many d6 you are supposed to and count the successes. The more successes, the better. Additional rules can make it more complex, but makes the game more cool.

The system is also very player-friendly, and it encourages the group to work together in almost everything (no hidden stats, no hidden dice, combined effort in creating the setting, etc.)

Last night we created the setting. I decided to write down few questions to ask the players to make the setting-creation go smoother. All in all, it took us maybe 20-30 minutes to get a rough idea of what the setting was like. We had a very mixed setting, with several kingdoms and countries with all kinds of rulers and religions. We had a setting where magic is rare among humans, but not so rare among elves. All kinds of magical creatures exist and a common language exists over multiple other languages (so each country has its own language, but there's an additional language that is common nearly everywhere).

The character creation took much longer. We started creating characters around 8pm and some did not manage to finish after midnight. It was of course expected since it was a new system and we only had 2 books for 4 players. But we did get something done.

In our group we have a young girl with Anastasia complex. Her royal family was killed in a coup and only she and her older brother managed to survive (but her brother is imprisoned). She is only 11 years old, and seriously younger and weaker than the rest of the group.
Another character in the group is a guard that was a prisoner of war during the coup set against he royal family. He just recently escaped and found his way to the little girl, whom he has sworn to protect.
The third character is also human. I have to admit I lost track of exactly what kind of character it is, but he is a lier and a cheater who intends to use the girl for his own advantage.
The last, but not least, is the elf of the group. The only character who is not human, so her player got to create the elven society by herself. The elf is the daughter of an elven elder of the upper council and she herself is a member of the lower council. She is 212 years old, has traveled most of the known world and has made her way to the little girl. Apparently, she swore her service to the girl's grandfather or great-grandfather some dozens of years ago and she intends to serve the girl as well.

Tomorrow, we intend to meet again and officially start this game of ours. I'm looking forward to it, specially since I think we have a really cool group of characters. I'll return to this log once we have finished the session

We had our first session last night. I thought it was fun, and the rest of the group thought so too, but one player did mention a thing or two that I could do better. Oh, well.

Additionally, the guard character's player could not make it due to a friend of his was moving in with him. We won't have another session for a week, at which time he will have just gone to London for a whole week. That lucky bastard. All those gaming shops.

Anyways, because of that previously mentioned moving, another player couldn't make it until later, so we didn't start until then. We started with finishing the characters. We have the 11 year old girl that everything revolves around, Kerralyn Darstan, aka Bree. We have the charming, manipulative tax-collector, Dunstan. Finally, we have Melora, a travelling elven princess (except she isn't actually a princess, but comes from a good family).

I wanted to start the game after the three had managed to get to know each other, but Bree's player started roleplaying as if Dunstan and Melora had just found her. Seeing as how Bree isn't supposed to be very trusting, that created some interesting and uncomfortable roleplaying. (Melora's player isn't much for actual roleplay and is a bit shy. She told me this after the game so I'll try and fix it for her.)

After some feeding and bathing, Bree began to trust the elf a bit more, specially after hearing stories about her father as a child (Melora is 212 years old and was in Bree's grandfather's service for a while). However, Melora managed to grab the attention of the city's guards. Not many elves visit the city, and even fewer make it a habit of visiting the slums regularly. She tricked them into believing she was there just to help those in need, but now she had the guards watching her every move.

The group managed to get out of the city without any trouble and made their way towards the next town or city. The trip would take them days, and on their way they came to a village. The clouds looked like it was about to rain, as evidently had happened recently, and they didn't know how far it would be to the next inn, so they decided to stay in the village's inn. Each house had the windows and doors shut, and wooden spears guarder every wall. They asked a stable boy about it, who warned them about staying in this village, but the innkeeper couldn't have disagreed more.

After helping a couple to find their lost boy (who they were searching for as if the sky was falling), they found out that a troll had been attacking the village. Hence the wooden spears. Most recently, it had attacked a carriage full of hay and killed the horse. They also found out that the troll only attacked when the sun wasn't in the sky, such as when thich clouds were covering the sky or when it was dark.

Since clouds were in the sky and it was closing to evening, the group decided they would be safer staying at the inn for the night. That was pretty much where we stopped the session.

Our next session won't be until next sunday, so stay tuned for more adventure next week. Who knows? Maybe I'll write something more exciting then