Burning Wheel vs Dogs in the Vineyard
Compare Burning Wheel and Dogs in the Vineyard side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Burning Wheel | Dogs in the Vineyard | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Historical, Fantasy |
| Tags | Crunchy, Roleplay-Heavy, Character Building, Drama, Low-Fantasy, Social Combat | Narrative, Fiction-First, Character-Driven, Tag-Based, Drama, Collaborative, Improvisation, Roleplay-Heavy, Social Combat, Strong GM Support |
| Core Mechanic | Roll a pool of d6s (ability exponent = number of dice). 4+ counts as a success. Meet or exceed the obstacle number. Beliefs, Instincts, and Traits earn artha rewards. | Roll a d4–d10 pool from relevant Stats and Relationships. Players Raise with two dice and See by spending dice that match or exceed the Raise. Traits, belongings, and escalation add dice as they enter the conflict. Seeing with three or more dice earns Fallout. Giving concedes the stakes. |
| Dice | d6 dice pool | d4–d10 dice pool |
| Complexity | High | Medium |
| Availability | Free quickstart | Paid |
| Runnability | 4 of 5 book tools | 4 of 5 book tools |
| License | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Third-Party Publishing | Not yet researched | No verified route found |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Publisher | BWHQ | lumpley games |
| Year | 2011 | 2004 |
| Languages | English | English, Italian, German, Polish, Spanish |
| Best For | Groups who want character beliefs and drama to mechanically drive play, with deep subsystems that reward mastery. | Groups who want episodic frontier drama built around difficult moral judgments and arguments that can escalate into violence. |
| Highlights | Beliefs mechanically drive play. Skills advance through use. The Duel of Wits and Fight subsystems offer detailed resolution. | Escalation supplies fresh dice at the risk of harsher consequences, making continued opposition a choice about what the stakes are worth. Fallout changes Traits and Relationships to carry conflict consequences into later play. The town-creation ladder builds crises from interconnected grievances without prescribing how the Dogs should resolve them. |
| Considerations | Steep learning curve, meant to be played as written (not hackable), print availability limited | The Faith's patriarchal theology supplies concrete grievances in the town-creation rules and needs deliberate rewriting for another religious framework. Conflicts abstract range and movement into narrated actions rather than measured positioning. The GM must challenge the Dogs' judgments without preparing a preferred solution. |