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Every one of us here in R&D is a game tinkerer, and we all like to tweak our games with our own ideas of how to make them more fun. And where better to get original ideas than to borrow and steal them from other games?

Today I return to Burning Wheel. My last blog post discussed using beliefs from that game, either alongside or in place of alignment. This post is all about instincts from Burning Wheel. If a belief is a statement central to how your character sees the world that informs how he or she acts, an instinct is an action or habit your character performs that informs how he or she sees the world.

Instincts are actions that you reliably take, do not take, or can be relied upon to have taken. They are one-sentence statements describing your character's habits or reflexes. Burning Wheel wants them to have mechanical impact on the game; I think they're better as story/flavor impact and want to change them a bit, so let's get started.

If, then instincts are like D&D's immediate actions. The stated trigger occurs, and the character performs the stated action. This is why I feel like if, then instincts don't fit well in D&D - they already exist. Further, for them to have an impact, they must be game-mechanical, which means they must cost character resources. If we try to shoehorn them into feats, they have to balance with feats, and these are supposed to be smaller things. If we invent a new character resource for them, we then have to balance all the instincts and then we have mini-feats. That also doesn't sound like much fun. Let's come back to these - right now, I don't want them, but I have an inkling that my opinion will develop.

Always instincts are actions that your character habitually practices, things your character can be depended on to do or to have done even if no one mentions it. A character might always carry no fewer than three concealed daggers, always check around for a game of Three Dragon Ante before going to bed, or always wake up first and prepare breakfast and coffee for the party. These tell you a great deal about the character without being important, sweeping statements about beliefs - which is why I called them habits that inform your characterization. The first fellow is paranoid (I mean safety-conscious), the second appreciates socializing and gamesmanship or has desire for either risk or money, and the third likes a little quiet time in the morning and respects others.

Never instincts are actions that your character habitually avoids, and everyone assumes your character does not do those things. Your character could never pick an elf's pocket, never show off my great strength, or never sleep in a room I haven't secured myself. You see that never and always instincts are really the same thing, just with minimum negation: always refuse to show off my great strength or never fail to wake up first accomplish the same as their earlier versions.

Instincts are tools for both the players and the DM. For players, they are insurance. When the DM describes how the duke's party is a no-weapons social scene, the player doesn't need to mention his concealed daggers. Once they're in the party, he points as his recorded instinct, and he has concealed daggers. Conversely, if the characters are searched upon entering the party, the DM can point at the instinct and remind the player that his character is trying to bring weapons into the party. Whoops!

D&D groups already make some instincts for themselves. We always check for traps before the rogue opens a lock and the fighter is always in front of the marching order are common group instincts that have been around for years. Instincts as discussed here are the same, but more individualized. And just as players make the DM rewind if he didn't let them check for traps (like everyone assumed they had), instincts let the player insist on a brief rewind - if the character should have had a chance to find a secret passage (because he or she would have secured the room), the DM rewinds from the ambush to give the PC a Perception check.

They shouldn't be adversarial most of the time, but instincts can serve as a neutral observer. They also serve as handy hooks for the DM, who can introduce characters at the bard's nightly Three Dragon Ante game or reveal to a character secret panels in the inn as he checks the room out before resting. Like beliefs, instincts make a statement to the DM: the player wants this to be a facet of his character that matters. The barbarian who is forever humble about his mighty thews has a player who wants that to come up at least once.

Time for a brief return to if, then instincts. I don't like them as mechanical constructs - Burning Wheel suggests using them for drawing one's sword at the start of battle, or making attacks in reaction to ambush, and I think that doesn't have a place in D&D as it stands. But I do like them as character and story devices. If insulted, I draw my sword doesn't do anything in combat time, but does a great deal for character and story. I think if, then instincts are hardet to use than always/never instincts, but a good group can find a place for them.