Luke Crane to Kickstart Torchbearer, Old School D&D Burning Wheel

Though I’ve been snuck a few exciting details, I hadn’t heard much about Luke Crane‘s new Moldvay-inspired Burning Wheel game. While it was called “Dungeoneers & Dragonslayers”, Crane (editor) and Thor Olavsrud’s (writer) have rebranded their game as “Torchbearer”. A fitting name for a game that promises to be an adaptation of the Mouse Guard system that trades the emulation of brave little mice for the emulation of the choking darkness. According to Forbe’s two spreads on the game, we have every reason to be exited for the next book in the Burning Wheel library.

Old School Bean Counting

Using  charming RPG.net verbage, Crane and Olavsrud set out to create a game that allows you to be fantasy “murder hobos” out to make a buck by delving into dangerous environs. While this is the shared goal of most fantasy RPG designers, most modern fantasy systems lack the tools necessary to make the dungeon itself a palpable presence at the table. Delves end up more like the tabletop version of Peter Jackson’s Mines of Moria or a game of Rogue: glossed-over uninteresting interstitial passages linking big set piece caverns. The systems are much more about the “dragon” rather than the “dungeon”.

Not so in Torchbearer, says Olavsrud. Quoting his interview with Forbes, Olavsrud “…wanted to make a game where caving and dungeoneering felt like a big deal. [W]here your character could be cold and wet and feel the oppressive weight of the dark.” In Torchbearer your all-too-few inventory slots must be split between armor, spellbooks, food, and water. Getting lost and running out of food will kill as surely as any attack roll. Torches are consumed at a steady rate, running out of light in the middle of an encounter forces the would-be-heroes to run automatically. The dungeon itself is omnipresent in the system, a mechanically backed-up nemesis.

This unavoidable bean counting is a brave design choice that shows that Torchbearer has an modus operandi: scare the shit out of players as they delve. As a DM, that sounds very appealing.

New School System

The system is described as “Advanced Mouse Guard and Dragons”. The system is not a simple “rules-lite” adaptation of old school games; the gaming scene hardly needs another one of those. Instead, Torchbearer retools Mouse Guard’ system to determine the fate and fortunes of treasure hunting murder hobos. It employs a beefed up version of the Conflict system, conditions, and fail-forward mechanics to convey its stories. There are no hit points, no d20s, no experience points. This game is not just an “old school revival”, it stays true to its Burning Wheel roots.

But Torchbearer does meet its inspiration half-way by introducing levels and classes, features that have heretofore been absent from Burning Wheel games. It attaches these concepts to the reward-feedback-loop that already exists within Mouse Guard. Acting in accordance to your Beliefs, digging yourself into interesting predicaments with Traits, and using your wises to help allies will allow you to level up. The strict Player/GM Turn structure from Mouse Guard exists within Torchbearer, but it makes more sense within the trappings of dungeon delving adventurers rather than adventuring mice. The player turn is the “going back to town” part of the D&D game that we’re all familiar with, while the GM turn is the dungeon itself. It’s a brilliant marriage that will hopefully work well.

Ready to Kickstart

Even after just these two Forbes articles, I’m extremely excited to see Torchbearer in its final form. The creators estimate that it’s “85% finished”. Crane revealed in his interview that he’s getting ready to Kickstart the game’s publication in the next few months. I already have a wad of bills ready to toss at this Kickstarter, we’ll keep you posted when it goes live.