So, I’ve got Burning Wheel Revised, and now Burning Wheel Gold. What should I be reading for big changes? Or should I just hunker down and read through the whole thing, throwing out what I had previously known?
Big changes? Range and Cover, Fight, and Sorcery are a good place to start.
Honestly, I found it very helpful to read it through, cover to cover, page by page. There are several smaller changes tossed in throughout (Instruction has variable Obs now, The Fear is limited to being used once per scene on any given character, the “blood clock” is tied to scene economy now, rather than time, what used to be “open” tests [not open-ended] are now called “graduated”, there are rules for creating funds, armors and shields have been tweaked, rules for using shields have been tweaked, mounted combat tweaked… and more).
There didn’t seem to be as many changes in the Hub and Spokes (lower cost for Aristeia?, Perception not open-ended), but I realized I needed a little bit of a refresher on even the stuff that hadn’t changed… it was good for me to tighten up on my application of some of the rules!
Circles: Detecting Movement/Quietly Among Sheep is no longer.
Which makes it a great “Enmity”-style complication now. The Baron finds out that you met with and hired an assassin to off him…
I noticed that Run Screaming now states that you drop something you held in your hands as you run. I dont recall that being in BWR, and it makes Run Screaming less optimal than it was before if you have to abandon your nice shiny sword. That’s a great change! 
Yes, that’s indeed a change, and a good one at that. In BWR it also made you withdraw on every volley where you were running and screaming, which could also take you out of harms way should you be successful. Is there anything to simulate that or are you just as screwed as if you were standing and drooling until the next exchange?
You have to script disengage at the next positioning, but until then you seemingly are indeed in a rough spot. Thats interesting, actually. You pick Run Screaming but dont actually start running until the next exchange?
Look at the interactions on page 454. You essentially count as Avoiding. Run Screaming is a much better defensive option than Stand and Drool.
Thats actually not a bad deal at all. You can always buy a new sword to replace the one you dropped when fleeing for your life!
Ah, I’ll have to remember to look at the pdf charts before asking questions as there’s lots of answers there. Sounds good, but does the “vs Run Screaming” case only come into play on actions where the attacked player has an action scripted?
Of course! It only works on hestitation action. Otherwise, you use the No Action interaction.
Thanks, then I’ve understood it correctly.
This would have drastically changed the outcome of The Sword when I ran it for some friends a few weeks ago. The Roden won purely based on speed using BWR rules - he ran and got to the sword first. When the gambler betrayed him he failed his steel test and ran screaming away only to be caught by Robard but saved by Brechtanz. Then later Robard tried to catch him unawares in his sleep at the same time as he was trying to sneak off with the sword. Another steel test, another failure, more running screaming and this time he got away.
If he’d dropped the sword that first time it would have been a very different game!
I noticed a subtle but important change in the meta-human races. The Elf, Dwarf, and Orc emotional attributes are now all granted by specific traits; Elves and Dwarves have the traits Grief and Greed respectively, while Orcs are granted their Hatred through the Loathsome and Twisted trait.
Which means that you can officially grab Grief, Greed, or Hatred using the Fey Blood trait.
Also, Void Embrace is now super awesome. Orc sorcery and summoning is officially terrifying now.
Yes and Yes! Rituals of Blood was a last minute fix when we broke, ahem, fixed Sorcery. I can’t wait to see Orc werewolves now!
When I read that I wasn’t sure what had changed from Revised, but I knew that Rituals of Blood was amazingly cool and wondered if I had missed it on my first read - I’ve never played with orcs. Rituals of Night has some sweet spells, but Rituals of Blood just packs all sorts of orky goodness into one slick package.