While I am in love with the ORE, I must admit that Burning Wheel has some very good ideas. One of them is the Duel of Wits social mechanic. For those not in the know, you can check it out here. It’s basically a system for resolving an argument between two characters, and it plays out a lot like combat in that you have specific maneuvers (Point, Rebuttal etc.) that you use to destroy the opponent’s argument. To make a long point short, I have tried my best at converting this mini-game to the ORE system (more specifically, to Reign).

Before I present my attempt at this stunt, I’d like to point out that I did not adhere to the original’s “script three volleys in advance”-mechanic. Instead, it plays out the traditional ORE-way, with declaring actions for one round only. However, you do declare simultaneously (like the Chase-mechanic from Reign), to avoid it becoming too predictable. You can also make multiple actions the usual way, and this is of course a further departure from the original mechanic in Burning Wheel.

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The Argument - This is a score that measures the strength of your case. You must destroy your opponent’s argument while keeping yours as high as possible at the end of the duel. The argument is calculated the following way: 1+Knowledge stat+Width of Graces roll+Width of Stability roll. If you want an even more unpredictable duel, the players can hide this score from each other (making Dismiss move even more of a gamble).

The Actions
Point. Skill: Fascinate or Inspire (or Haggle if, well, haggling). Effect: Remove the set’s Width from the opponent’s Argument score.
Note: unlike an attack in combat, this does not knock a die out of his set.

Rebuttal Skill: Fascinate or Inspire (or Haggle, again). Effect: The set acts as GD against Point and Dismiss actions. If you reduce his attack to 0 Width, he loses 2 Argument (the opponent cannot refrain from attacking if he gets a set, to avoid the damage).

Obfuscate Skill: Deceive or Graces. Effect: The set act as GD against Point, Dismiss and Feint actions. Against a Point action (not against Dismiss/Feint), you can combine the GDs to form a single GD with a Height equal to the Heights combined. However, by doing this your opponent gets a +1d bonus next round as your unrelated points appear exceedingly desperate and ridiculous.
Note: I merged the Obfuscate and Avoid the Topic actions from the original Burning Wheel.

Dismiss Skill: Inspire or Intimidate. Effect: Roll pool at +1d and use every set as a Point to remove Width from your opponent’s argument. If you fail to end the debate with this action you take a -2d penalty next round. It cannot be part of a multiple action, and cannot be done two rounds in a row.

Incite Skill: Intimidate. Effect: On a success, the opponent loses 1d from a set. In addition, he must immediately roll Stability and try to gobble the Incite set – otherwise he takes Width-1 in penalty next round. If the Incite fails, the opponent simply shrugs off the ad hominem attack and gains +1d next round.

Feint Skill: Deceive. Effect: Remove the set’s Width from opponent’s Argument; Rebuttal GD do not defend against this. However, it deals no damage if the opponent has not declared a Rebuttal in the first place (if he makes both a Rebuttal and an Obfuscate action, he may use Obfuscate GD to defend against the Feint).

Read Opponent Skill: Empathy. Effect: Next round you gain the set’s Width-1 in bonus dice to your pool, and your opponent must declare one action before you – though he may add other actions to that. E.g.: he first states he will make a Point, but unbeknownst to you, he then adds an Incite to that. If both players perform this action, they both get bonus dice next round but only the Widest set (or Highest, if tied) get to see his opponent’s action first.

The rest of the Duel of Wits plays out exactly as the Burning Wheel version: terms of debate, compromises, escalating to violence etc.

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I came to the conclusion that the defensive actions should give more than simply Gobble Dice, even if the Duel isn’t time-sensitive, and therefore is easier to defend. The reason is that with only one opponent, it is still too tempting to go all-in and make Points every round, since it is still a lot harder to defend than attack. I’m quite pleased with how the Rebuttal action turned out (it also mirrors the counter-point mechanic from the original), but I’m still not entirely satisfied with the Obfuscate action. It basically works like the “Superior Interception” martial technique, and I think it is balanced as-is. It is not as elegant as I’d like it to be, however.

Comments and critique are welcome. I haven’t playtested yet, but game-balance was a high priority in converting this.