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In Short

The Good: If you like good production values, inspiring artwork, clever mechanics, and a game that encourages tactical thinking at the table then you’re going to love Burning Empires. The science fiction elements are driven home through the high quality artwork, flavorful short stories, and illustrations of various weapons, ships, and other gear found in the Iron Empires universe.

The Bad: If you prefer rules lighter games Burning Empires is probably not for you. The vast majority of this book is rules, with sparse setting information presented through short text segments, artwork, and the mechanics. Be aware that it may have a high learning curve for some groups.

The Physical Thing

On the downside some consumers may find the smaller size of the book a problem. Less information is presented per page and the book was at times awkward to hold – it’s just a little too fat for its size. It’s also worth mentioning that my copy, and other first printings of Burning Empires, has a binding problem. However, the author assures me that the problem has since been fixed and if you do end up with a defective copy just email Luke Crane and he’ll take care of it.

The Ideas

Under the Cover

To add some relevance to what’s to come, here’s how the core system works. Be aware that this is the system at its simplest. Burning Empires is very robust and includes special rules for all different sorts of situations and conflicts. D6 dice rolls are made based on a pool composed of the relevant Stat, Attribute, or Skill plus modifiers for situation, equipment, help, and other factors. Once you have your pool, typically ranging from around 3 to 10 or so, roll and count any dice rated 4 or higher as successes.

Big conflicts involve each side having a Disposition number. Each side plans out one or more maneuvers in advance, dice are rolled, and then the Disposition for the losing side is lowered. These conflicts are more poker-like because you’re planning your next round’s maneuvers without knowing what the other side is planning, then both are revealed and compared. A variety of options are presented offering differing degrees of offense, defense, and special benefits for each of the maneuvers. There’s even a gambling element. For instance, some maneuvers will give you a large bonus to attack but cause you a missed action or penalty to defense.

Burning Empires showcases some truly incredible GMing advice – some of it is so good that even I left the book with new ideas for approaching my games. To say this is impressive is an understatement – most books rehash the same stuff from the past 20 years. That the excellent advice is directly incorporated into the mechanics is even more impressive.

The World Burner - 58 pages.

To kick everything off the whole group sits down and builds a world together. How does this work? First off, everyone in the group must have input into the world creation and if anyone feels like they haven’t contributed then the group has to go back and change things until everyone is happen. Mechanically this is done by choosing dozens of different options to customize a planet, from determining where in the universe it’s located (a core world or fringe world), atmosphere, hydrology, topography, and other physical factors to social factors such as tech index, ruling factions, government, and other decisions still.

When the group is done you’re left with a very robust setting that everyone has had a hand in. The tech index, factions, and other decisions will alter what options are available later on. Certain life-paths in The Character Burner require specific factions or a certain level of tech index to be present in order to be available natively on a given world.

The conflict that Burning Empires games are meant to progress through is a Vaylen invasion. This is split up into three stages – Infiltration (spying and moving agents into key positions), Usurpation (taking control of government and industry), and Invasion (actual invasion by starship and infantry). Decisions in the World Burning process will add to each side’s disposition and give each side advantages. For example, a Military Dictatorship makes things easier for the Vaylen during the Usurpation phase but makes things more difficult in the Invasion (because of the strong military focus of the world).

Note that World and Character Burning is very time intensive, but once it’s done the game will almost entirely run itself. This is due to Beliefs/Instincts and character relationships (discussed later) combined with an established progression of events (battling through the three stages of conflict). After one or two sessions of prep the next 20 or so of the campaign should mostly just be rolling dice and kicking butt.

The Character Burner - 202 pages.

Burning Empires uses a life-path system which means the player starts with their character as a child and then chooses what profession or activity they perform for a block of years, making more and more choices until they have a fleshed out adult character. Each pick grants Skills, Traits, and other boons.

What makes a character is split up into a few segments. Stats, the inherent capabilities of all people, include Will, Perception, Agility, Speed, Power, and Forte. Attributes include even more abstract capabilities of a character, including Steel (grit), Resources, and Circles (friends). Skills and Traits are far too numerous to list, and tend to be very specific. There are two things going on that makes specific Skills a good thing here. First, players often are setting scenes in motion and determining what Skills are being used. Second, a lot of Skills can complement one another, especially the –wise skills (such as Politics-wise or Vaylen-wise) which represent knowledge in a specific area.

Let’s burn a character!

The first step is to create a character concept.

Example: My character concept is a Psychologist – a person gifted with psionics who also studies human behavior – who came from a wealthy merchant family, moved up the ranks of the Psychologists, and ultimately was cast out for crimes he fabricated against himself in order to escape a Vaylen-occupied superior (Speaker Gabriel). He has spent the last 14 years regretting his cowardice, but has been living on the streets in fear that he will become a target for the Vaylen should he ever assume a powerful position. Now that the Vaylen have finally arrived at the doorstep of his world he has a second chance to stand up and oppose them, bringing the underworld to bear against this threat.

Next a player chooses three Beliefs for their character. Beliefs are extremely important – they both signal to the GM what sorts of things interest that player and character but also provide a method for the player to earth Artha – points that may be spent to influence the game.

Example: I want this character to be a sort of Beggar King, the protector and ruler of the downtrodden and criminals in a particularly poor segment of the major starport on this world. I also want him to have to deal with his earlier decision. These make for easy Beliefs. Finally, I’d like to have a love interest (Senora) that screws everything up – a prominent thief who has been hulled (taken over by a Vaylen) and works for the other side. She is also his second in command. 1. The poor and downtrodden are my subjects and I am their King. They owe me my due and I owe them my protection and guidance. 2. I must destroy Speaker Gabriel through any means. Only then may I know redemption. 3. Senora is the best thing to have ever happened to me and I’d do anything for her.

Next, a player chooses life-paths for their character. This is sometimes done in reverse order – if a player wants to command a giant starship he’ll want to check out the prerequisites before diving into the system. Most characters are built on 7-8 life-path picks. Life-path choices that move a character from one list to another, or move from a native to a non-native choice (like a high tech life-path on a low tech world) add extra years onto their cost to represent the character traveling or otherwise moving into that path.

Example: I start off with 1. Born to the League to reflect my character’s initial status as the son of a wealthy merchant family. I then buy 2. Foundation Student, 3. Psychologist, and 4. Psychologist to represent his time with the Psychologists learning the power of the mind. Just before he could become a Speaker he leaves the Psychologists and goes into hiding. I finish my paths with 5. Beggar, 6. Pick-Pocket, and 7. Beggar King. Each choice has an age cost and gives some combination of Skills, Traits, Resources, Circles, and Stats. Characters in the game are clearly meant to be the big movers and shakers – the fleet admiral, the general, the noble lord.

Age is then determined. People live a lot longer now, but the body still deteriorates over time. Age determines the number of points to spend on Mental and Physical Stats.

Example: Counting it all up, including moving between professions, my character is 46 years old. That gives him 7 points for Mental Stats and 12 points for Physical Stats. He also gains points from his life-paths, providing another 3 Mental and 1 Physical. The two Mental Stats are Will and Perception, and I assign 4 into Will and 6 into Perception. The other four Stats are Physical and I assign my points evenly – 4 Stats of 3 each.

Skills are very important in Burning Empires. They say how the character fits into the story and what means they use to accomplish their goals. Life-path choices require certain Skills to be purchased with points from that life-path, but players still have leeway to add in other Skills.

Example: I have 40 Skill points from my life-paths, 36 of which must be spent on skills from those paths and 4 of which may be spent on anything. When I buy a Skill I initially spend one point to open it – it starts at 1/2 (round down) of the Stat it’s attached to. Psychology, for example, is based on Perception. The first point I spend opens it up at 1/2 my Perception, or 3. I may then spend additional points to increase it. When I’m done my list looks like this: Psychologist-wise 5, Psychohistory 4, Persuasion 4, Begging 4, Sleight of Hand 5, Oratory 4, Psychology 6, Conspicuous 3, Streetwise 6, Scam-wise 6, Persuasion 4, Vaylen-wise 3, Propaganda 4.

Traits are special perks and capabilities and are also purchased with points from life-path selection. The first Trait listed with a given life-path is required; others may be purchased at a discount. A player may also purchase from a general list.

Example: I buy the following required Traits: Capitalist at Heart, Bright Mark, The Psychologist’s Code, Fearless, Downtrodden, Plain Face. Some of them offer special qualities, others are just key-words that can be used for an in-game bonus. I then buy Flamboyant at a discount (thanks to the Pick Pocket life-path) and Family. Family reflects his status as a beggar king and connection to other beggars, thieves, and low ranking members of the underworld.

Circles is an Attribute that reflects the characters social connections – friends, organizations, etc. It starts at a base of 1/2 Will and life-path choices provide extra points to spend either on specific connections or to raise Circles with.

Example: I have a base Circles of 2 with 6 points to spend. I could use this to raise my base – it would make it easier to come up with contacts on the fly in game – but my King needs a kingdom to rule. I take my free relationship with Senora, my Queen and second in command. I buy Affiliation at 3D for the underworld of the entire system – my character has had many years to pursue empire building, and while it’s loose he can command an audience with thieves, beggars, murderers, and other lowlifes anywhere in the star system. I buy Reputation at 3D to reflect his status as Beggar King – a joke title that the local nobility laughs at in public but pays respect to behind closed doors.

Every character gets three Instincts. Instincts are things that automatically happen, either if/then statements or general statements. “I always have my blaster close at hand” is an example. In the shower, while having sex, in space – the character always has her blaster close at hand.

Example: Instincts are a little more difficult for me to think up than Beliefs. I think I want to relate them to his general suspiciousness and the instincts he has developed from living on the streets. 1. I always know where the exits are. 2. When I meet someone important I steal their identification. 3. I always make contact with the underworld as soon as I arrive somewhere new.

Steel is an Attribute that reflects grit and ability to deal with frightening situations.

Example: Starting Steel is 3. Then players answer a series of questions about their character that can raise or lower Steel, such as “Has the character taken a soldier, lord-pilot or warrior-type life-path? If so, add one Steel.” After answering the questions I record a Steel of 6 – not bad! Hesitation, the value Steel is rolled against, is 10-Will-Traits. With a Will of 4 and the Fearless Trait my character has a Hesitation of 3. Between that and his high Steel he’s a cool character under stress.

Finally, Wound and Physical Tolerance is calculated. Burning Empires uses a simple wound level chart, with different weapons doing different levels of wounds. This means that really nasty guns can drop a character in one shot, but people can often take a few hits from lesser weapons. On the whole, battle is an unpredictable and serious affair.

Note that while I created a human character above other options are available. The Kerrn, a large lizard-like alien race, and the various types of Vaylen are also possibilities and take up a significant portion of the Burner.

The Burning Wheel - 348 pages.

This section is everything else – technology creation, Duel of Wits, Firefights, Artha, and many other topics. Be aware that there’s more here than I’ll cover in this review, but know that many of the mechanics are similar and if you find what I describe appealing then you’ll enjoy the rest of Burning Empires. Let’s delve in!

Burning Empires doles out a set number of Scenes per game session to each player. Everyone typically gets a mix of Building Scenes, Color Scenes, Interstitial Scenes, and Conflicts. Building Scenes are used to setup later conflicts. They’re for introducing your cool starship, spreading propaganda through the city, or hacking the network. They involve dice rolls but tend to be individual sorts of things. Color Scenes are for pure roleplay – the player shows off their character, looks cool, has a big argument with their brother, etc. Interstitial Scenes are a mix of Color and Building Scenes between characters used to patch the narrative together. Finally, Conflicts are often what everything has built towards – Duel of Wits, Firefight, a psychic duel, or something else. By distributing scenes to each player everyone gets a roughly equal amount of input into the game and the story becomes more of a collaborative effort.

Building Scenes are particularly awesome. Why? Skills and Stats increase through use - a character must make a certain number of die rolls at different difficulties and then that particular Skill or Stat increases. There’s no XP in Burning Empires just training through use and practice.

When a Skill or Stat is used the user declares an explicit intent. If it’s an opposed roll the other player or GM will declare their intent, and some bargaining may occur before the dice are rolled.

Example: It’s a Building Scene and I want to roll my Propaganda. I think for a moment how I can use it in the current game, and then I start talking. “The Beggar King will hit the streets in his garish clothes and begin pressing flesh and spreading lies. ‘Outworlders are here, and they’re using mind control devices to try and get us. The Psychologists in orbit gave them these devices, so do everything you can to keep the Psychologists from landing.’ I tell the GM my goal is to prevent the newly arrived Psychologists from establishing a foothold on the planet. He accepts and now I roll Propaganda against a difficulty set by the GM. If another character, say a Psychologist, was working to counter my Propaganda then this might have gone differently. The GM might have said “Ok, but if my character wins the people will believe the Psychologists are there to offer relief and medical aid to those who want it.” Then I’d be rolling against the other character.

All the standard skill modifications are here. Situational bonuses, bonuses for helping friends, and bonuses for technology are all present. One rule which I love is Let It Ride. Let It Ride states that if a character has rolled something once this scene (excluding rolls for social/physical conflicts) then that roll stays – no asking the character to roll Stealth 10 times until they finally fail!

A system for creating technology is also present here. Technology is normally ‘color’ – it’s in the game but has no mechanical benefit. Your shiny blaster, kick butt starship, or awesome clothes are fine to talk about and include in scenes – it’s when you seek a mechanical benefit from them that you’ll have to pay. A variety of advantages and disadvantages are added together to determine the purchase or manufacture cost of a piece of technology (with modifiers for the world’s tech level and other factors).

The real guts of the game, the Vaylen invasion, occurs in three phases. Infiltration, Usurpation, and Invasion. Each of these phases begins with each side totaling up their Disposition – effectively the hit points for their side of the conflict – and then the two sides square off by choosing different maneuvers and working against one another. Think of these maneuvers as the big picture actions. In Infiltration the humans want to keep the Vaylen off world and the Vaylen want to get on world and start possessing people. A lot of energy, then, might be put into establishing a trade embargo, creating a high level quarantine, or forcing the big Vaylen supporter out of play by destroying his reputation.

Maneuvers, like other actions in Burning Empires, always work as some variant of the GM picking one or more actions in secret and the players then choosing theirs. For the Invasion Maneuvers each side just chooses one, but in Firefights and other variations on this mechanic it’s three Maneuvers at a time. These Maneuvers have specific Skill requirements and each one has its own strengths and weaknesses. Ultimately the goal is to score more successes in attack Maneuvers than your opponent gets in any Defense maneuvers and apply those successes as a sort of damage to their Disposition – lowering it until they lose the conflict. You will often be asking questions like “Should we attack? How hard? Should we put some energy into defense? Do we need to just go on the defensive for a while? What will the other party do?”

Example: The group has chosen to use an Assess maneuver right off the bat in the Infiltration Phase to see what the other side is up to. My King is leading the Maneuver using one of the relevant Skills – in this case his Streetwise. Meanwhile the GM has chosen a different Maneuver and we’ll have to square off against one another to determine what just happened.

Please note that this is a very simple example and the book does an excellent job of showing how scenes and the Maneuvers are being woven in together to create a big conflict in game.

Duel of Wits is a social combat mechanic that works primarily the same way. Here the participants decide on what they’re trying to get – they both have to agree – and then they engage in the Duel. The winner convinces the loser of something, such as convincing someone to leave the star system, turn themselves in to the authorities, or to adopt a new faith. Different Skills are used for different maneuvers (called ‘Vollies’, examples being Incite, Avoid the Topic, and Rebuttal) here and once again the goal is to knock out your opponent’s hit points – this time called the Body of Argument.

Firefights, representing small and large combats, in Burning Empires are especially cool. Units are determined, a map of the battle area is drawn, objectives are stated (usually capturing or destroying some key resource), Disposition (the hit points for a Firefight) is determined, and then the sides start squaring off by choosing Actions in batches of three (such as Observe, Suppressive Fire, and Flank). As with Duel of Wits and Maneuvers these Actions are hidden then revealed thereby creating some uncertainty as to what the enemy is up to.

Psychic Duels follow largely follow the same rules, but there’s one innovative mechanic I want to mention. A player of a Psychologist has a pool of dice for Psychic attacks and defenses, and she may grant one of those dice to another character. This die gives that character a bonus to certain social Skills, and it makes it easier for the Psychologist to support that character, but it also opens the door to the Psychologist unduly influencing that character. I like this because it’s a sort of combination of in-game mechanics with an outside consent among players that it’s ok for the Psychologist to influence the character – the door has been opened.

Example technology, including weapons, vehicles, ships, and other devices rounds out a lot of the rest of the book. An Alien Burner allows for the creation of new alien races, which works well for anyone wanting to play a new type of Vaylen or a Vaylen Geneticist. Finally, Burning Empires concludes with good GMing advice and a comprehensive index.

My Take

I have a few nitpicks. The organization of the book broadly doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. GM advice last makes sense, but the technology seems unnecessarily spread out and even with the Index I had to do some page flipping to recall certain rules. I also wish the author had avoided more specific game lingo – calling a number an ‘exponent’ harms clarity and just results in another barrier to accessing this product. Even as a reviewer I was initially a little surprised at the number of new words for routine things I needed to assimilate, though I now have no problem and consider it to be the book’s own unique color.

Nevertheless, this is one of the most focused games on the market and its flaws are tiny, if they exist for you at all. Just be aware of what Burning Empires is and is not – it is a focused game that incorporates competition and a group narrative into its mechanics – it is not a general science fiction game suitable for adventures outside the Burning Empires mythos. If you go in expecting that, and are willing to invest the time into learning the rules, then I think you’ll find a truly incredible game waiting for you.

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