Thema: Belief Clinic

[Umberto]

Also, der Belief mit dem Alk und das Trait ist weg. Ersetzt habe ich das mit:

Trait: Thousand Yard Stare
Belief: I've helped those two Kupferhämmer who let themself get cut down and I have not yet received a proper reward. Next time I'll make sure I will get something prior to helping.

Werde den Bogen raufladen, sobald Berandor sein OK gibt.

[Charles]

Das waren keine Kupferhämmer, nur Söldner.

[Umberto]

Das waren keine Kupferhämmer, nur Söldner.

Ah ok, gut. Aber weisst du was? Ich lass das so, volle Absicht. Mein Charakter denkt halt einfach dass diese mit den Kupferhämmern unter einer Decke stecken und macht daher keinen Unterschied.

[Charles]

Kein Problem, wollte nur mal darauf hinweisen, weil das schon mal irgendwo fälschlich so stand.

[Die Alte]

Also, der Belief mit dem Alk und das Trait ist weg. Ersetzt habe ich das mit:

Trait: Thousand Yard Stare
Belief: I've helped those two Kupferhämmer who let themself get cut down and I have not yet received a proper reward. Next time I'll make sure I will get something prior to helping.

Werde den Bogen raufladen, sobald Berandor sein OK gibt.

Ich weiß nicht, das klingt mir (trotz der Länge) mehr nach einem Instinkt. Ich wäre aber bereit, mich auf den Belief einzulassen als:

"From now on I will make my cut before I start cutting" (wichtig ist mir das fette, also dass sich das nicht nur aufs nächste Mal bezieht. Oder als konkreter Belief fürs "jetzt": "I won't hand over the seeds before I have money in my hand.")

[Umberto]

Das "next time" wurde aus der Vorgabe des nahen Bezuges geboren, was ich so interpretiere, dass sich dieser belief in naher Zukunft erfüllen sollte oder Komplikationen auslösen kann. "From now on" ist mir zu schwarz/weiss und permanent. Das mit den Seeds geht eher in die angedachte Richtung.

[Die Alte]

Naher Bezug = soll in naher Zukunft erledigt werden können. Probleme machen die Beliefs eh immer. Es geht ums "Abhaken", weil man dadurch Personapunkte kriegt.

[Die Alte]

Thousand Yard Stare geht auch klar. "The character may not Run and Scream"...

[Symeon]

Das war jetzt aber kein neuerlicher Aufruf, oder? Sonst würde ich im Moment erst einmal alles so lassen wie es ist.

[Umberto]

Thousand Yard Stare geht auch klar. "The character may not Run and Scream"...

Habe es mal angepasst. Also im sheet in meinem thread.

[Die Alte]

Nochmal zwei Links, von denen vor allem der zweite sehr gut ist:
http://www.burningwheel.org/wiki/index.php?title=Belief_workshop

http://www.burningwheel.org/forum/showthread.php?t=4900

Den zweiten zitiere ich mal hier. Lest ihn euch durch, aber dies ist kein "Befehl", Beliefs zu überarbeiten. Denkt vielleicht mal drüber nach, ob das bei euch alles so hinkommt, und dann ist gut. Beliefs können ja jederzeit verändert oder abgelöst werden.

Ich fand die Herangehensweise jedenfalls sehr hilfreich.

Spoiler (Anzeigen)

Beliefs Workshop #1
 
 
Step 1: Identify what THE PLAYER cares about.
 
This step happens in two parts. First part is to lay out all the elements about which you can make a Belief.

• In what sorts of activities do you, the player, want to participate in this game? Here are some ideas:
  • Fight?
  • Negotiate?
  • Make things?
  • Escape?
  • Prove yourself (and to whom)?
  • Be vengeful (and for what cause)?
  • Make discoveries?
  • Get rich?
  • Overcome a weakness? (Take a look at your “bad” traits for ideas.)
  • Improve your character’s abilities? (Combat, DOW, crafting, wises, supernatural)
• What elements of the game as it currently exists do you, the player, care about? Here’s a rough list of things that come to mind:
• The Key of Vol
• The Old Ways
• The New Faith, and its threat to the Old Ways
• The town of Valdai
• Poverty
• The barkeep
• The slutty barmaid
• The as-yet-unmet girl at the mine
• The Icesteel mine
• The Dark Forest
• Bandits
• The Witch Hunt
• Cyrus the scary wizard
• Sahad the Viscount of Acubar
• The other characters: the Witch Hunter, the idiot blacksmith, the jovial thug, the clever scavenger, the mysterious ranger

Second half of step 1 is to put together the elements in interesting ways. Idea: Pick one item from each bullet point and put them together. Examples:

• Get in fights + Key of Vol
• Negotiate + town of Valdai
• Prove yourself + Bandits
• Vengeance + Dark Forest
• Make discoveries + Poverty
• Cyrus + Supernatural abilities
• Slutty barmaid + improve DOW abilities

Step 2: Figure out the Ideology
 
Okay, so you’ve put together your elements in ways that are interesting to you, the player. THIS IS SUPER IMPORTANT. Do not, under any circumstances, start out your Beliefs with “things my guy would do/believe/care about.” You won’t care about what your character is doing. The player MUST be the one who cares about this stuff. The character is an expression of what the player cares about.
 
Step 2 is to phrase your ITEM + ITEM idea in an ideological way – this is the “belief” part of Beliefs. Let’s look at the examples I already put up there, and figure out how to express your interest in the setting item via your character

• Fighting + Key of Vol = “The Key is sacred.” or “The Key’s true owner is already fated” or “The Key is worth a lot of money.”
• Negotiate + town of Valdai = “Valdai needs money to pull itself from poverty” or “My town needs a true leader” or “Valdai is a backwards and superstitious place.”
• Prove yourself + Bandits = “The bandits are a threat to my town’s well-being” or “The bandits are a disorganized rabble in need of leadership” or “My family would respect me if I did something about those bandits”
• Vengeance + Dark Forest = “Innocent people have died within the Dark Forest” or “Bandits use the safety of the Dark Forest to make their escape”

At this point it is absolutely okay to introduce new “facts” about the game setting if they don’t contradict what’s already been established. So, continuing down that list, you could do stuff like this:

• Make discoveries + Poverty: “There are tales of a forgotten fortress within the Forest” or “The Icesteel Mine surely must have a rich vein within it”
• Cyrus + improve supernatural abilities: “Cyrus teaches only the worthy the secrets of magic” or “Cyrus possesses the secrets of magic but will not share them with anyone.”
• Slutty barmaid + improve DOW abilities: “I care deeply about the barmaid’s soul” or “I love the barmaid and must save her from a life of prostitution.”

Step 3: What are you going to do about it?
 
Now that you’ve identified ITEM + ITEM things you, the player, care about, it’s time to lay out a plan of action to pursue those things. Questions to ask yourself:

• What’s in the way of accomplishing your goals right now?
• What are you willing to do to accomplish your goals?
• What do I want the GM to hit me on?

The reasons the “to do” part of your Belief is so important are many: They give you, the player, a clear direction of what to do with your character (yes, this is your job in this game, not the GM’s – at least not all the time). They tell the GM what to come at you with. Maybe most important, they let you know when you’ve accomplished your goal and you earn a Persona.
 
Here’s how those example Beliefs might be filled out with to-do items.

• Fighting + Key of Vol: “The Key is sacred. I will strike down anyone who touches it” or “The Key’s true owner is already fated. I will swear my sword to defend its holder” or “The Key is worth a lot of money. I’ll take it by force if necessary.” In all these cases, this is a clear message to the GM that you want to fight for the Key of Vol.
• Negotiate + town of Valdai: “Valdai is a backward and superstitious place. I will convert the town’s leaders, starting with the Mayor himself, to the New Faith.” Or “Valdai needs money to pull itself from poverty. I will make an agreement with the Viscount to provide funds to our town.”
• Prove yourself + Bandits = “The bandits are a threat to my town’s well-being. I will capture/kill the Bandit King and disrupt their operations.” or “The bandits are a disorganized rabble in need of leadership. I will find the bandit’s hideout and challenge the strongest one for the right to command them.” or “My family would respect me if I did something about those bandits. I’ll go to the town leaders and organize a posse.”

The bottom line
 
A well-written, actionable Belief should clearly identify the elements of the story the player cares about, and a clear to-do item in pursuit of that element.
 
Step 4: Beliefs 202
 
To further develop your Beliefs, consider the following:

• Make your BITs conflict with each other. Give yourself hard choices! You get a Persona every time a hard choice comes up.
• Be prepared with new to-do items in advance. Obviously this will be hard without knowing the context of how you fulfilled your Belief, but you can be thinking a few moves ahead.
• Develop your Beliefs with the overt intent of being able to fulfill at least one of them every session of play. EVERY SESSION. And then be ready to update them immediately for the next session.
• If you want to think about your Beliefs in terms of winning and losing: If your Beliefs get engaged during play and you’re earning Artha, you’re winning. If your Beliefs are not triggering – either because you don’t care to engage them or you decline to engage with them when someone tries to do so – you’re losing.
  
• When you’re setting up Beliefs, think like your character’s author and not your character himself. Your character probably wants to live a quiet, long, safe life. Tales of quiet, long safe lives are booooooring. Dream up ways to put your own character into hot water, and make sure the GM knows what kinds of hot water interest you.
• Take the Trait nomination under consideration when you're setting up Beliefs. If you see a kickass Trait you want to acquire, you need to spend a Fate or Persona pursuing it to get it nominated (1-3 point die trait for Persona, 4+ die trait or call-on for Deeds, a character trait for Fate).