Burning Wheel Beliefs 101

Beliefs are pretty much the core of Burning Wheel, and also the hardest thing for a lot of players to get into.

It requires shifting your mindset from “I’m this character” to “What are interesting struggles for this character?

So, I just recently wrote something on the BW forums and figured I should formalize it here for later reference. It’s a set of “fall back” questions that I use that help guide starting players into good Beliefs.

Situation

First, as the GM, you need to describe the situation. Who’s in conflict? What’s going on? Why is it important?

“Two weeks ago, the Han king died of illness. The elder prince Han Tsui just made his way back from the war front, tonight. He is a hardliner and disliked his father’s lax ways. There are many in the court and supporting noble houses who have much to lose if his strict rule takes place.

The younger prince Han Wen is progressive, but easily swayed and possibly being played by a couple of the noble houses. No one has made a hard move yet, but if they’re going to, they’ll need to do it soon…”

Second, be clear about what kind of game this is: are the player characters a) working together with minor differences, b) working together but possibly with major cross goals, or c) completely individual with potential for alliances or opposition, either way? (See The Same Page Tool for some ideas on that.)

Ok, if you’ve got that, then have the players think about character concepts, before they do anything else.

(“I want to play the Elder prince’s old mentor, now in disfavor.” “I want to play the youngest sister.” “I want to play one of the noble dukes.” etc.)

You may want to let folks pick life paths – but don’t do anything else before you get some Beliefs and Instincts!

A Set of Belief questions

I use these as simple fall back questions- things you can use at any time to get some decent Beliefs. Obviously, Beliefs are way more flexible than this, and characters can be set up very differently, but these 3 sets of questions work well for addressing the main things people need:

1) How does the protagonist proactively tied into the situation?
2) Who does the protagonist care about, why, and how does that tie into the situation?
3) What is the protagonist’s personal struggles?

The Desperation Belief

“What’s in this for you? What do you have to lose? What do you absolutely NEED to see happen, or face ruin?”

Ask how they generally intend to see what they need to happen, happen.

“If the elder prince doesn’t rule, I will lose my lands and my family will starve. I will spill blood if necessary to see this through.”

The Soap Opera Belief

“Who do you care about that is opposing you? What will you do to change their mind? Or keep them out of the way?”

Make sure the character is involved in the situation and has some kind of power or influence. People who are half a world away or without power to do anything about the situation don’t count.

The more you care about the character, the more interesting the situation is. Family, lovers, best friends, mentors… all of these tend to make good choices.

“My own son has thrown in with the corrupt nobles – but I know the elder prince will kill every traitor, and maybe their families if he sees disloyalty. I will lie and suffer humiliation if I have to, to keep him out of this.”

The Spiderman Belief

“What is the line you are this close to crossing, and you’re desperately afraid of doing so? Who are you afraid of becoming, or becoming again?”

This is the Spiderman Belief because it’s all about putting your character’s fears, insecurities, and moral struggle right on the table, as a big target, and asking the GM to punch it hard.

This is can be a moral line, like, “I won’t kill again, but how can I stop them otherwise?” or it can be a social/personal pressure, like, “I’m afraid of looking like a failure in front of my father- I’ll do anything he asks, regardless of the costs.”

Instincts

Tied into Beliefs are Instincts.

It’s really easy to come up with “chore Instincts” – “I keep a knife on me at all times.” “I always take care of my horse.” etc.

Better Instincts are things your character does without thinking that either a) show where your moral compass generally is, or b) show where your faults are.

- “Who do you always/never trust?”
- “When someone insults or threatens you, what do you always/never do?”
- “When a friend needs help, what do you always/never do?”
- “Who do you always/never show mercy to?”
- “What will always provoke you to violence?”
- “What’s the thing you always do that gets you into trouble?”

These kinds of things work best when they cross/complicate Beliefs or each other.

Now do the math!

So you know why your character is in this: now go and do the math of stats and skills and lifepaths.

Maybe you’ll find yourself making different choices, because you know the motivations for the character. “She won’t kill anymore, but she has a Sword skill of 6. Geez, what DID she do in the past?”

A common problem I’ve seen is a lot of people go through the effort of the math first, hoping it’ll give motivations to their characters- but the stats don’t do so much in that regard- they’re the How and not the Why. Then they get stuck on Beliefs and Insticts.

If you start with the motivations, then everything else has meaning – “This badass general has Poetry 4? Huh!”

Other stuff to check out

The last paragraph of the Extended Character Concept Generator and One Sentence Character Motivator might be worth checking out as well for ideas. When you want to get advanced with it, check out what I wrote on Shaping Beliefs in Burning Wheel.

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