Let's vote up another Burning Wheel Character!

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Totally stealing Totally Guy's thread here. Long story short, let's just have some fun and walk through one of the more involved character creation systems out there. It's not Traveller, but it's still pretty hefty, in a fun way.

Background: Burning Wheel (I'm using the latest and greatest iteration of the rules) is a crunchy, Tolkienesque fantasy system. That's about all you need to know. Character creation will come in a series of steps...

Step 1: Concept. Concept always comes first but in this instance it undermines the whole idea of voting it up so we’ll pass this one and see what we get.
Step 2: Choose Lifepaths. We’ll do a series of votes to get through the process bit by bit. We’ll use four lifepaths as they make good starting characters.
Step 3: Stats.
Step 4: Skills.
Step 5: Traits.
Step 7: Q&A for Health and Steel
Step 8: Resources
Step 9: Beliefs and Instincts
Step 10: A name

Let's start with the simplest choices; I'll tally votes separately for each choice.

This character is a (male/female) (dwarf/elf/orc/human).

For reference...

Dwarves are generally (but not always) filthy rich, physically tough, prone to greed, and from a complex society.
Elves are ancient, ethereal, and inherently magic.
Orcs live nasty, brutish, short lives, and are filled with loathing for life and beauty. (they're not Always Chaotic Evil, but being anything but ACE is an uphill battle for an orc)
Humans are varied in culture and skill, and can potentially gain access to Faith magic or Sorcery

Don't gun too hard for any one concept; this is, after all, creation by committee, and I'm also not throwing the whole system out there. You'll be picking things up in pieces. (Seriously, lifepaths are a minigame unto themselves, which is kinda cool. Here, I'll be presenting them in a far more organic method.)

[Fenix_of_Doom]

If we vote up another dwarf then we can let this character interact with totally guy's character, therefore I vote Dwarf!

[Sanguine]

I say we go with a Human. I want to see how a different races changes things.

[Sodalite]

I'll vote for Orc, since I'm up for a challenging life.

[Urpriest]

Orcs are for fighting and winning.

[Amphetryon]

Yet another Orc vote

[ExtravagantEvil]

I'm going to fall in line with a growing majority, and say Orc.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Seeing the overwhelming majority...Orc it is! I've never burned up an orc, this should be fun.

So. Orc lives are often nasty, brutish, and short. They live in a brutal society, and many of them don't survive long. Their evil tendencies are partially a product of their cruel environment, and partially a product of the twisted hate that is imbued into their very nature. Though it's still possible for an orc to personally be redeemed...

Anyhow, there are two possibilities to choose from. Do we want our orc to be Born Chattel or Born Great?

(Unlike standard characters, orcs are not limited in lifepaths. However, the more lifepaths they take, the riskier it becomes...there's a little bit of a Traveller element here.)

[Amphetryon]

Born Chattel, just because.

[Xefas]

Born Great, because I want to see an Orc Warboss, Burning Wheel style.

[Sanguine]

Born Great

[Zelphas]

I would also like to go with Born Great. More versatility there, it seems.

[Fenix_of_Doom]

Born Chattel. you guys wanted the hard way, you're getting the hard way.

[Totally Guy]

There is so much oppression in the orc settings. The orcs have way less social mobility than all the others. I'm going to go for Born Great as it opens more doors (Mordor's?). We'll see more of the setting that way.

[ExtravagantEvil]

Born Great, for the reasons above.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

My, my, this thread is starting to pick up! I'll move on to the next phase when I get back to my books, this evening. Though it looks as though we have a winner. As Totally Guy notes, it's a tough route to get to some of the higher-status goodies. The chattel can claw to the top, but not easily.

Preview: once we rack up our fourth lifepath, I'll give a brief overview of our orc's relative strength (which might not be that great), as well as potential future paths, and then people can vote on whether to go on for another lifepath. Doing so risks maiming our orc, but we'll get to increase that orcish experience. It's sort of like Russian Roulette, actually.

Also, I'm still taking votes on male or female.

[Urpriest]

If it doesn't heavily restrict lifepath choices, female. I don't know how misogynistic BW orcs are, so if this means the character won't be allowed to do anything interesting then change my vote to male.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

No lifepath restrictions. I believe that the humans have one or two female-only lifepaths (I believe "midwife" is one of them? I'd have to check the books), but the orcs have no such restrictions.

[Sanguine]

If there are no restrictions then let's go Female.

[Sodalite]

I was actually going to go with female anyway, but I guess that post didn't make it.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Sounds good! A female orc who was Born Great. So, let's see what that opens up for us...

Our orc can undergo The Rites, which must be taken now (or else not at all); this primarily lets her progress into the upper ranks of the military.

She can be a Servant of the Gate, a rather unexalted path which sees her doing lots of physical labor for highers-up. (It's more rewarding, Resource-wise, than The Rites, and it gives you an opportunity to get into the military...)

Alternately, she can branch into the Servant of the Dark Blood subsetting, which is basically the dark orc sorcerers. The only lifepath she can take there is Slave to the Dark.

So, definitely a simple choice; what's the priority to be? (Servant of the Dark Blood can also be entered into later, and if you embark upon that path now, you can always split over into the military path.)

[Sanguine]

Let's go with The Rites, cause I love me my badass warrior chicks.

[Sith_Happens]

Definitely Slave to the Dark. Because an orc sorceress born/destined for greatness can only turn out awesome.

[Sodalite]

I'll take the one-time offer of The Rites over the options of being a Slave to the Dark, which I would definitely like to take later.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Mmmm, I'm curious to see whether or not we have a strong point of divergence here.

[ExtravagantEvil]

The Rite, due to it being a one shot chance to take.

[Zelphas]

I'm going to go with majority opinion and pick The Rite as well. It sounds interesting.

[Xefas]

Gonna go with The Rites, as I believe it's the quickest way to get to Warbossitude.

[Totally Guy]

Slave to the Dark.

Because two wrongs don't make the rites.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Ouch. Bad pun. Bad pun.

BTW, I just realized I won't be back to my books until Sunday evening, I'm off to a retreat for the weekend. So...hang in there!