Multiple Copies of Core?

Burning Wheel First Reading
1

This is more of a practical meat-space logistics question than something systems related, but how many copies of the core do you keep at your table during play?

I’m just wondering about this, since BW seems like a game that would benefit from having multiple texts to reference, at the very least during character creation, and I could swear I read somewhere once that multiple copies were almost needed. (Or maybe that was Burning Empires?)

So: Can a group get by on one copy and some of the play sheets? Or will we regret our miserly ways once things get underway?

2

I generally play online games via skype and/or g+ with 2-3 players. I (the GM) have a copy of the rules, as does one of the players. The others don’t.

3

For BW/MG/TB I find it helpful to have at least two copies. One for the GM, one for the players to look up stuff in.

4

It can be very slow going, especially in character burning, to only have one copy. Obviously, you can get by with just one copy (start-up games do it all the time) but in my opinion, the more the merrier!

5

For our table (GM + 3 players), we’ve got 3 books to hand.

For our previous table (GM + 5 players), we had 3 - 4 books to hand.

2 copies is our sort of minimum to keep everything moving swiftly.

6

Thank you for the advice guys! We’ll look at grabbing an extra copy in case and see how that goes.