1 building scene = 3 building scenes composed of 1 test each?

Burning Empires General Questions
1

We played our first session of BE yesterday and during our session we were a little confuse about the 3 tests of the building scenes.
We were wondering if it was ok to split our building scene tests into 2 or 3 different intents. From what I read here on the forum it is ok:[http://www.burningwheel.org/forum/showthread.php?3418-Rolling-the-appropriate-skill-vs-Tell-me-what-skill-you-use&highlight=tests+left](Rolling the approriate skill vs Tell me what skill you use.)

So in a sense 1 building scene = 3 building scenes featuring 1 test each?

I used my first two tests in one scene where I showed my character preparing herself to go on a mission (circle + resource test). It was a simple but cool scene.
After this we played the last conflict scene of the manoeuver and we were about to close the manoeuver but I remembered that I had 1 test left, so I called my leftover building scene to spend my third test. And it was totally unrelated to my previous scene & intent, I tried to address my third belief, but the scene was unfocused, I managed to get a interrogation test but we were tired and the stakes were kind of boring. Bad play from me, but after the session I said that in a sense my building scene was already over and it felt like I had two building scenes instead of one split in two scenes. I liked the focus the other kinds of scene had. But when it came to our building scenes, we played different scenes with unrelated intents to get our 3 tests and it felt (for me) less focused and satisfying.

2

According to the rules, you have to use your building roles for related tasks.

That said, I think this is the most drifted rule in BE.

3

Thanks it help a lot. :slight_smile:
We will talk about this (if we drift or not) before playing our next session.

4

Drifting the rule allows more fluid application of your rolls, but it drags the game out significantly. Playing RAW limits your options, but keeps things moving.

5

I have the impression that playing RAW incite the players to have more inter-weaved beliefs and to play more scenes together in hope of addressing a belief of both participants in one scene.

And it show that the GM need to involve the PC in most of his scenes to also address their beliefs (and other BITs).

6

Also, drifting doesn’t have to mean ignoring. When we did BE, we didn’t say anything explicit about this rule, but we almost always had either one building scene, or else a building scene with two tests and then held on to the third test to use as a linked test in someone else’s scene.