Beginner's Lucks in a series of tests

Burning Wheel First Reading
1

Hi, when my unskilled-in-many-way character enters a Fight! or a Duel of Wits –
I’ll be rolling many skills I don’t have. I wonder if:

  1. If there’re both Routine and Difficult/Challenging rolls for, say, Sword – do I get to tick for both learning Sword and for Agility?
  2. If I roll Will many times in place of Persuasion/Oratory/&c. – do I get a learning tick for each skill, or only one skill of my choice?

Thanks!

2
  1. Sure.
  2. That’s the way Thor plays and I think it’s cheating.
3

So Luke, are you advocating 1 check per scene?

We play like Thor.

4

Luke is advocating for one test per ability per scene (as per Burning Wheel core rules) and that “Skills Being Learned” are purely stat tests. Luke’s advocacy is that if you’re learning Persuasion and Oratory that you can only earn a test towards learning one of them per scene and not both (and that a Difficult or Challenging test for Will would block either of those for that scene).

For the record, I play the same cheaty way that Thor does.

5

Luke’s response to the first part of the question seems to indicate a D/C test would block the beginners luck test, just that you only get one beginners luck test per scene.

6

Oh, huh. That’s actually a bit odd. I’d say either one beginners luck test per skill plus a Difficult or Challenging OR one Stat test period (with the bigger one (Difficult/Challenging) blocking or nullifying any previously earned beginners luck checks).

7

Out of curiosity, does playing the Cheater way actually break anything?

8

We play cheaty and it hasn’t broken anything yet. Opening new skills still takes a lot of work.

9

Thanks for the answer!

My GM offered me the cheaty path. Imma turn him down,
and daydream I can hold out long enough to shade shift my Will before any of those skills open.

10

Oof. Cheating breaks the game. Thor has demonstrated this to me many times (while grimacing and making a stabbing motion over his shoulder).

You won’t see the effects in a short term game, but you’ll be very sad you cheated in a long term game.

11

But it is the most ready interpretation of the rules you wrote…

12

I can’t help but think along these lines…

Punisouffle: Is the Thors way correct?
Luke: No, no, no. Quicker, easier, more seductive.

:wink: