Burning - Dwarven Blacksmith (Starbeard)

[Starbeard]

I'd like you each to post with your:
Proposed initial relationships with other PCs
Proposed initial beliefs
Proposal initial NPC relationships that you plan to buy

Beliefs
As part of your concept, I'd like to see the start of answers to three questions:
1) What is your core belief about the life you lived before Smaug?
2) What is your core belief about the current exodus and how you'll survive it?
3) What is your core belief about someone else in the group (either another proposed PC or an NPC you will purchase as a relationship)?
4) All dwarves also get a fourth belief as an Oath. It should be phrased as an actionable promise and specify who it was made to. (Then buy a Relationship with that person.)
To go a step further, provide an action that each belief will drive you to pursue as game starts.
i.e. "My legacy is in my son. I will ensure he learns the Guilder trade and doesn't fall prey to Gilly's adventuring ways."

Since no one's picked the dwarven smith archetype, I might go with that. He'll be a disheartened and lacklustre blacksmith, who has spent most of his life hammering out supplies for the men of Dale: horseshoes and brightwork for their boats, mainly; on a lucky day he might even get to make barrel rungs for the elves of Mirkwood. He doesn't have the skill or glory of the famed dwarven mithril workers or armourers, and his dull work has given him a single-minded view of life that might even challenge most other dwarves, but also a lack of conviction and general apathy in terms of making actual decisions.

Here are the basic ideas of what I was thinking for his core beliefs
Beliefs

1. What is your core belief about the life you lived before Smaug?: 'Life was bitter and bothersome then. We lived as the servants of men and elves, and the halls of our cousins were nicer.'
2. What is your core belief about the current exodus and how you'll survive it?: 'It is a terrible thing, but it the lot of our kind to suffer loss. The mountain has been abandoned before, and it can be abandoned again, and our cousins (in the Iron Hills, perhaps?) will surely take us in.
3. What is your core belief about someone else in the group (either another proposed PC or an NPC you will purchase as a relationship)?: Still thinking on that one.
4. What is your dwarven Oath?: Still thinking on that one.

Thoughts?

Also, I'm at work now, so I can't check on the free PDF, but I was wondering whether having that would be enough to create a character, or if I'll need to buy the Gold Edition or whatever (which is fine).

[Marullus]

Since no one's picked the dwarven smith archetype, I might go with that. He'll be a disheartened and lacklustre blacksmith, who has spent most of his life hammering out supplies for the men of Dale: horseshoes and brightwork for their boats, mainly; on a lucky day he might even get to make barrel rungs for the elves of Mirkwood. He doesn't have the skill or glory of the famed dwarven mithril workers or armourers, and his dull work has given him a single-minded view of life that might even challenge most other dwarves, but also a lack of conviction and general apathy in terms of making actual decisions.

Sounds great!

I recommend everyone own a copy of Burning Wheel, but we can help you through without it for now anyway. I will just provide a little more detail, since you don't have it in front of you.

Your exact concept writes itself. There is an exact match for that.

Born Guilder --> Apprentice --> Journeyman. Required Traits: Seen Not Heard, Hungry.
Dwarven arts are highly stratified: what you describe is Black Metal Artifice. Weapon crafting, precious metal crafting, and armor crafting are separate skills (whereas for humans it is a single skill, but without dwarf awesomeness). All those other skills are controlled by the Artificers - a totally different, near-noble caste in society that you were not born into.

You have a few options for your fourth lifepath.
Journeyman (again). If he hasn't aspired, he can still be a journeyman under another dwarf. This leaves him younger and with least resources, but also makes him most skilled in his trade.
Craftsman. You stand on your own, but are no business man. You gain Appraisal and Shipwright skills, are a little older, a little more established.
Trader. You run your own business to market your wares with some marked success. You are OLDER, have many more contacts and resources, and developed appreciable social skills. (See the Stentorious Debate vs Persuasion discussion on Drumrin, Son of Tromley's thread.)

Husband. Became a family man. Doesn't sound like him, but you could.
Soldier options. He could've done some time in service to the host, as foot soldier, arbalester, or banner bearer.
Artificer option. He could've tried to better himself into the Artificer cast. He wouldn't learn much more yet, but it opened his doors for a better future.

Let me know what you think and then we can pull together details for you.

Here are the basic ideas of what I was thinking for his core beliefs
Beliefs

1. What is your core belief about the life you lived before Smaug?: 'Life was bitter and bothersome then. We lived as the servants of men and elves, and the halls of our cousins were nicer.'
2. What is your core belief about the current exodus and how you'll survive it?: 'It is a terrible thing, but it the lot of our kind to suffer loss. The mountain has been abandoned before, and it can be abandoned again, and our cousins (in the Iron Hills, perhaps?) will surely take us in.
3. What is your core belief about someone else in the group (either another proposed PC or an NPC you will purchase as a relationship)?: Still thinking on that one.
4. What is your dwarven Oath?: Still thinking on that one.

His action statements are in passive voice. It needs to be something as a player you are going to have the character pursue. It doesn't have to be Heroic, but it does need to be something where he faces resistance.

Like:It is a terrible thing, but it the lot of our kind to suffer loss. I will convince others of the folly of facing a dragon and ensure we flee.

[Starbeard]

Thinking on it a bit, I think Trader will be the way to go. I'm beginning to see him as feeling old and weary, and losing the will to take anything but the easier road and still maintain his dignity (e.g., just picking up and moving to another dwarven hold, where they will be met with weeping and sighs and noble banners, and live out their days reminiscing about the old times).

I've picked up a copy of the rulebook, so I'll give it a quick read-through and that should bring me to terms with what most of this technical stuff is.

[Marullus]

Well, here's your book stuff:

Born Guilder --> Apprentice --> Journeyman --> Trader
Age: 21+15+25+45= 106 years; +1P, +1 M/P, +1M
Resources: 5+20+25+70= 120
Traits: 1+1+1+1=4; required: Seen Not Heard, Hungry (2pts to spend)
Skill Points: 4pts General; 4+7+7= 18 class
Skills: Required: Carving*, Haggling*, Stentorious Debate* (2pts),
Optional: Black-Metal Artifice (2pts), Carpentry, Cartwright, Haggling, Mending, Persuasion, Reputation-Wise, Scutwork-Wise, Shrewd Appraisal (2pts), Tanner

You can follow along with Enoch's example here. Remember that for stats and skills, 2-3 is a beginner, 4 is proficient, 5 is advanced, and 6 is the starting max. Skills start at half the relevant stat rounded down, so even-number stats help in that case.

Stat Points:
8 mental +1 = 9
16 physical +1 = 17
+1 for either physical or mental

Divide 9 mental points between Will and Perception. Will is the root for his haggling, persuasion, etc., and important in those skills. Perception is the root for his appraisal and wises (i.e. knowledgeable). With 9 points you're likely to put 4 in on and 5 in the other. If you use your extra point, you can go 5 and 5, or 6 and 4.

You have 17 (or 18 if you use the extra point) to divide between Power, Forte (i.e. stamina), Speed, and Agility. That is 4 in each with one of them at a 5.

Skill Points:
You have 18 points. You are required to open Carving, Haggling, and Stentorious Debate, which takes four points, leaving 14 points.

You can spend the remaining 14 points first to open other skills from this list:
Black-Metal Artifice (2pts), Carpentry, Cartwright, Haggling, Mending, Persuasion, Shrewd Appraisal (2pts), Tanner, Reputation-Wise, Scutwork-Wise.
- the 2pt ones are Dwarven Arts, which act quasi-magical due to dwarven nature. (All 6s explode for more success)
- If you open all of them, it takes 12 points, leaving you only two. So, decide which of them you want / don't actually want.
- After opening them, decide which you want to be your focus (like Black Metal Artifice as a Blacksmith). Raise those to at least 4, preferably 5, or to 6 if you are exceptional.
- Wises are special skills that allow you to declare facts about the game world relevant to your wise and to your situation, and if you succeed on the roll, they are true. They also are useful as FoRKs, which is a special rule to allow them to give +1 Die to any roll that you can weave them into the narrative for.

You also have the same question to answer as Drumrin did:

How do you communicate?
You have the rare option of two good social skills.
- You are required to open Stentorious Debate. "This skill is a combination of Haggling, Oratory and Persuasion. It is loud, boisterous and heated."
- You can also open Persuasion. "Persuasion is the art of convincing someone to act on your behalf because it is in his best interest. This skill often involves an exchange of agreements-something very different from Falsehood or Oratory. Those two skills tell someone what to do or believe, whereas using Persuasion, one carefully crafts a suggestion for the victim to agree with. With luck, he'll think it was his idea in the first place."
Mechanically, they both can be used in most circumstances, including as a primary skill for Duel of Wits. Stentorious Debate is woven into the magic of dwarven nature, and so has slight differences. For the same expenditure of skill points you can have either Stentorious Debate at B5 and all 6's are rerolled for more success, or you can have Persuasion 6 and need to spend a Fate point to reroll 6's on a given test.
Story-wise, they are quite different, however, and your choice regarding these two skills will tell you a lot about who your guy is and how he operates.
GM-Caveat: Stentorious Debate can be used in a wide array of circumstances (haggling, oratory, and persuasion) but it is always a hard sell approach. If that approach is likely to be ill-received (such as by non-dwarves), I will assign an obstacle penalty.

When you get to resource points, you will likely look at Affiliations and Reputations, having been around a while and being a known quantity in the community. It is good stuff - go read on it and I can answer questions.

Age. My use of all caps above was a typo. 106 years old is not -that- old, but that number is mostly for generating statistics. I mentioned on the OOC thread that I'm open to the idea of players modifying their dwarven age (in line with Tolkien's realities, like I did for the elf) if it helps their concept. He could have been a go-getter and gotten to his current state in 106 years. If your concept is that he's pretty lazy, there's no reason you couldn't voluntarily make him older for story purposes (not mechanical benefit). With "old and weary" as the concept, I'd day we make him somewhere between 200 and 250 years old. That means he was a young dwarf during the Dragon-Dwarf War (180 years ago) and this is his second exodus due to the King's home getting sacked. Good?

That then leads to...

Traits:
1+1+1+1=4; required: Seen Not Heard, Hungry (2pts to spend)

We spend one point to make a character trait: Old and Weary
You use the last point for another character trait of your choice, pick a descriptor.

Use of these traits - whenever you invoke them in the story to cause yourself a problem, you get awarded a Fate Point which helps with a future roll.

[Marullus]

Split Starbeard's posts out to demarcate a thread about this character.

[Starbeard]

Alright, I think I will in fact settle for Born Guilder > Apprentice > Journeyman > Trader.

Age: 225; +1 P, +1 M/P, +1 M
Resources: 120
Traits: Dwarf Common Traits, Seen Not Heard, Hungry, Old and Weary, (1 pt trait?)

I'm not sure which would be better to have for the remaining trait: Bitter and Resigned to Fate are in the master list, and both seem to fit well enough, but either one could also be shoehorned into Old and Weary. I'll keep thinking about options for that one.

Stats:
Will B4
Perception B6
Agility B6
Speed B3
Power B4
Forte B4

Skills (points spent = 18):
Black Metal Artifice B3 (2 + 1 = 3)
Cartwright B3 (1)
Carving B3 (1)
Haggling B2 (1)
Mending B4 (1 + 1 = 2)
Persuasion B3 (1 + 1 = 2)
Scutwork-wise B4 (1 + 1 = 2)
Shrewd Appraisal B4 (2 + 1 = 3)
Stentorious Debate B3 (2 + 1 = 3)

From his skill and stat points, I see him as a washed up Black Metal Artifice flunky who's better at judging good work than he is at making it, and who might have been more successful in life if he had better social skills.

I like the idea of increasing his age. It helps explain his current outlook about the exodus, and it also strengthens the idea that he could've gotten farther in life if he had a different frame of mind.

Still working on resources, and revising the beliefs.

[Marullus]

That is excellent! Well done.

You can invent your own one point character traits. You've mentioned "Lazy" and "Anti-social" which both would work as traits.

Looking forward to beliefs.

[Marullus]

Character linkages:

I'd like to make you related to the Trombley Kinfolk, which are central to Rusty Tincanne's character. With your age, you could actually be Trombley's brother (older or younger), which would make you his uncle. That would come into play interestingly as he struggles with the Patriarchal trait. You could also be a more distant relation if you prefer to lessen this connection.

I'd like you to consider if you had or have any children or wife - you didn't focus on the role (i.e. no Husband lifepath) but could still have them. (Important if you buy them as relationships, otherwise it can be developed in play.)

I'd like you to consider having Lann as your Apprentice, which would tie together roleplay for you and Glaiz (pointyearedrogue's PC). Lann would be a relative of some kind (your choice- son, nephew, cousin-once-removed) who worked as a Delver until his wife disgraced him and disappeared almost 20 years ago. Impacted by this shame, he came to you as an apprentice as a way of moving on with his life. If that works for you, it moves some of the key drama to player interaction (where I prefer it). You could buy the apprentice relationship with him for 3 or 4 points and (as his Master), Glaiz would have to come through your PC to find him before I played him as an NPC. Or, I would also offer that you could buy him for 10 points as your ever-present apprentice and you could speak for him narratively in the story, too. You have enough RPs, and as this will be a key relationship I'd prefer to see players engaging each other. Your choice as to what you'd prefer, if anything.

[Marullus]

Spending Resource Points
You had a specific lifestyle and comforts. I recommend:
60rps - Workshop
15rps - Large house
(Both lost to Smaug.)
8rps - Mount (and personal cart)
3rps - Clothing, Sturdy Shoes, Traveling Gear

This gives the following portable goods for roleplay:
10D Cash: This includes items of value and tradegoods you grabbed from your home or workshop. As this is rather large, you can define it in play. (It used to be a sizeable B5 resources but was tied to a happy, sedentary life. You lost a lot to the dragon.)
Dwarven smithing tools: portable tools included in the purchase of a workshop. They give +1D with Black Metal Artifice.
Personal mule and wagon. Plying your trade among other races has meant occasionally taking your tools to them. You have a small enclosed wagon to provide you a simple cot, storage of personal goods, and your portable smithing equipment. (This secures a 'private home' separately - if you include it in a purchase of Carts and Baggage below, it isn't "his private space" per se.)
Clothing, Sturdy Shoes, Traveling Gear: You've travelled, you had stuff in your cart.

It also raises your base Circles from B2 to B3.

120-86 = 34 points remaining.

Other things to consider:

• 4pts or 10pts for Lann the Apprentice (per above) (If you are okay having Lann as an apprentice but don't spend points on the relationship, that works, too. It means he's even a bigger shirker than you - he can still function as your problem for PC-to-PC roleplay, but he is never there when you need him... you have to roll Circles to find him to get him to do something productive.)
• 3-5pts Relationship for Oath. Your guy shirks commitments, but he cared enough about something to make an Oath to someone. What is it? If he loves the person or they hate him, make it 3 points instead of 5. If both, then it costs only 1 point.
• 7pts for a 1D Reputation. Decide how he's known. "Reputable Blacksmith" "Humble Dwarf" "Honest Appraiser" "Good with a Wagon Wheel" "No Job is Too Small" etc.
• 10pts for a 1D Affiliation with Men of Dale, or 25pts for a 2D Affiliation with Men in the region. You were a dwarf that smithed for non-dwarves. Doesn't help among your own kind, but among humans your name is known. (This also roughly equates to a B1 or B2 Resources, too, depending which you pick.)
• 5pts for shoddy arms (did you have usuable weapons?)
• 15 pts for Carts and Baggage. If you have wagon(s) of saleable goods, you can load them along. Buying this gets you +1D Resources.

Cash vs Resources
Just to help with the definition. Your permanent Resources attribute (i.e. Resources B3, if you had a 1D Reputation, 2D affiliation, and 1 carts and baggage) is a permanent amount of wealth, credit, and favors that you can try to use (i.e. roll the dice) to acquire goods. You can roll it every time (with rules for reducing it on failure). Cash works the same way, but a die of Cash only can be used once. So, if you divide up your 10D Cash over several small transactions, you can "rebuild your wealth" by advancing your permanent Resources attribute.

[Starbeard]

Finally able to sit down and put some honest work into this!

I'll be posting throughout the day during work breaks. Here's the first snippet, on character relations and background. Let me know what you think, or if I've taken too many liberties with other players' NPCs:

Biography of Niping: Niping is a part of the Trombley kinfolk, and is in fact Trombley’s eldest nephew. Niping’s father Kerdmen was Trombley’s elder brother, and in his youth married into the household of Regin, a respected jeweller. After his wife Harfag died he retired from Regin’s house and came to live with his brother, who had by then established his own clan.

Connection to Drumrin: Since Niping never married, his weight within Trombley’s kinfolk has always been marginal, despite being a senior member. This has, of course, been the cause of some competition between himself and his younger cousin Drumrin, partriarch of the household.

Connection to Glaiz: As a blacksmith and general craftsman he apprenticed Lann, a relation on his mother’s side (a cousin from his mother’s sister). After working as a delver for the Regin household Lann was shamed by the disappearance of his wife nearly twenty years ago, and Regin counselled him to apprentice under Niping—which both interpreted as Regin’s way of distancing the kinfolk from Lann’s disgrace.

[Starbeard]

Also, I think 'Spiritless' might be a good candidate for his final trait. It allows a fairly wide range of interpretation, from apathy to indolence. He's not quite feckless, as he's not exactly irresponsible or a layabout; he just lacks the spirit to be excited about anything, which means that he rarely sees any value in going above and beyond the call of duty.

[Starbeard]

Possible beliefs?

1. On life before Smaug: ‘Life was bitter and bothersome then. We lived as the servants of men and elves, and our halls were homely and unbecoming of proper dwarves. I will make the men and elves aware of their part in this catastrophe, by shackling us here.’

2. On the Exodus: ‘I t is a terrible thing, but the lot of our kind is to suffer loss. I will convince others that we can flee to the Iron Hills, where we will live in honour rather than squalor.’

3. On Drumrin: ‘Drumrin is a fine and level-headed patriarch, but he has little experience of the world outside, and does not realize that our existence here is not worth saving. I will convince him that he needs to seek aid personally from another dwarven hold, in the expectation that his travels will open his eyes.’

[Marullus]

Excellent work!

Traits: I like "Spiritless." That sets you as:

Traits: Dwarf Common Traits, Seen Not Heard, Hungry, Old and Weary, Spiritless.

Clarifying...your name is Niping? So you are the older first-cousin of Drumrin, but childless and less respected than the younger, ambitious dwarf. I can roll with that. We look to Rusty for final comment.

The link to Lann is good, making him related to you but not to Drumrin. That intensifies the situation for you, and works for a good story. Are you interested in buying Lann for 0pts (shirking and useless), 4pts (useful), or 10pts (useful, present, and under your narrative control)?

1. On life before Smaug: ‘Life was bitter and bothersome then. We lived as the servants of men and elves, and our halls were homely and unbecoming of proper dwarves. I will make the men and elves aware of their part in this catastrophe, by shackling us here.’

I am confused about the intent. Shackling who, and where?

2. On the Exodus: ‘I t is a terrible thing, but the lot of our kind is to suffer loss. I will convince others that we can flee to the Iron Hills, where we will live in honour rather than squalor.’

3. On Drumrin: ‘Drumrin is a fine and level-headed patriarch, but he has little experience of the world outside, and does not realize that our existence here is not worth saving. I will convince him that he needs to seek aid personally from another dwarven hold, in the expectation that his travels will open his eyes.’

These are both good, but the goal of each is too similar: i.e. "convince others to go" and "convince Drumrin to go." Can we adjust the goal on #3? How else would he see to educating his younger cousin Drumrin on hard realities?

3-5pts Relationship for Oath. Your guy shirks commitments, but he cared enough about something to make an Oath to someone. What is it? If he loves the person or they hate him, make it 3 points instead of 5. If both, then it costs only 1 point.

Remember that you need four beliefs, the fourth being an Oath you made to another person (either a PC or a purchased NPC relationship).


As a final note, I was truly inspired this weekend, thinking about your B4 Scutwork-wise. Normally people leave that wise at its opening value to be thrown in as a +1D FoRK because they're used to at gruntwork. By raising it, it means you intend to roll it. Mechanically, you call on a linked test to change the situation, getting a reduced obstacle or bonus die to the situation. Storywise, that is the ultimate "work smarter, not harder" mentality... you regularly change the situation to make scutwork easier. I realized how that skill is the epitome of this character.

[Starbeard]

It finally looks like this character is starting to tighten up!

Excellent work!

Traits: I like "Spiritless." That sets you as:

Traits: Dwarf Common Traits, Seen Not Heard, Hungry, Old and Weary, Spiritless.

Clarifying...your name is Niping? So you are the older first-cousin of Drumrin, but childless and less respected than the younger, ambitious dwarf. I can roll with that. We look to Rusty for final comment.

The link to Lann is good, making him related to you but not to Drumrin. That intensifies the situation for you, and works for a good story. Are you interested in buying Lann for 0pts (shirking and useless), 4pts (useful), or 10pts (useful, present, and under your narrative control)?

Yes, I decided on the name Niping (I thought it would be fitting to lift a name from the same part of the Poetic Edda where Tolkien got his names for the Dwarves in The Hobbit). I like the idea of buying Lann for 0pts, actually. I sort of envisioned neither of them as being particularly happy with the circumstances, That way Lann would be an adversarial but necessary NPC for two PCs, and unwanted apprenticeship to Niping can be used as a further plot point for his frustration toward his returned wife, since he would obviously blame her disappearance for his reassignment to Niping's shop.

1. On life before Smaug: ‘Life was bitter and bothersome then. We lived as the servants of men and elves, and our halls were homely and unbecoming of proper dwarves. I will make the men and elves aware of their part in this catastrophe, by shackling us here.’

I am confused about the intent. Shackling who, and where?

Essentially Niping rationalizes his own troubles by blaming circumstances, and therefore blames the people who are central to that circumstance. The way he sees it, the men and elves were entirely dependent on the industry of the dwarves, which is the only reason why the dwarves would live in conditions that he considers unbecoming of proper dwarves. Had the other races shown a bit more industry or independence in their trade, the dwarves would have moved on to be with their own folk long ago. Now Smaug has come, and he imagines the other races blame them for attracting him with their dwarven treasure and greed. He has turned this back on the men and elves in his mind, blaming them for 'shackling' the dwarves to them by being economically dependent, which then blaming the dwarves for 'attracting' Smaug.

How's this for a revision: 'Life was bitter and bothersome then. We lived as the servants of men and elves, and our halls were homely and unbecoming of proper dwarves. I will make the men and elves aware that it was they who brought Smaug, by relying so much on our industry that we became a defenseless target of the dragon's greed.'

2. On the Exodus: ‘I t is a terrible thing, but the lot of our kind is to suffer loss. I will convince others that we can flee to the Iron Hills, where we will live in honour rather than squalor.’

3. On Drumrin: ‘Drumrin is a fine and level-headed patriarch, but he has little experience of the world outside, and does not realize that our existence here is not worth saving. I will convince him that he needs to seek aid personally from another dwarven hold, in the expectation that his travels will open his eyes.’

These are both good, but the goal of each is too similar: i.e. "convince others to go" and "convince Drumrin to go." Can we adjust the goal on #3? How else would he see to educating his younger cousin Drumrin on hard realities?

How's this:

2. 'It is a terrible thing, but the lot of our kind is to suffer loss, and a dwarf can always make new things. I will convince others not to try to retrieve anything from the mountain, and either do without it or make a replacement instead.'
3. As it was.

3-5pts Relationship for Oath. Your guy shirks commitments, but he cared enough about something to make an Oath to someone. What is it? If he loves the person or they hate him, make it 3 points instead of 5. If both, then it costs only 1 point.

Remember that you need four beliefs, the fourth being an Oath you made to another person (either a PC or a purchased NPC relationship).

Not sure if I'm working out this Relationship the correct way, but here's what I've got:

3-point Relationship for Oath: Valafl, a dwarf of Regin's folk and a master artificer, also known for his sagacity, patience and generosity. When Niping was young he dreamed of becoming an artificer, but Valafl was more gifted and more liked, and so won Regin's prized apprenticeship, forcing Niping to settle with doing the 'unimportant' work. Niping has a deep-seated envy of Valafl, obviously.

Oath: 'I will always refuse Valafl's generosity.'

As a final note, I was truly inspired this weekend, thinking about your B4 Scutwork-wise. Normally people leave that wise at its opening value to be thrown in as a +1D FoRK because they're used to at gruntwork. By raising it, it means you intend to roll it. Mechanically, you call on a linked test to change the situation, getting a reduced obstacle or bonus die to the situation. Storywise, that is the ultimate "work smarter, not harder" mentality... you regularly change the situation to make scutwork easier. I realized how that skill is the epitome of this character.

I thought so too! I figured that it was going to be my job to argue how I'm going to use my skills to add to the narrative, so I tried to tailor the stats to be in keeping with his personality concept.

Spending Resource Points
You had a specific lifestyle and comforts. I recommend:
60rps - Workshop
15rps - Large house
(Both lost to Smaug.)
8rps - Mount (and personal cart)
3rps - Clothing, Sturdy Shoes, Traveling Gear

This gives the following portable goods for roleplay:
10D Cash: This includes items of value and tradegoods you grabbed from your home or workshop. As this is rather large, you can define it in play. (It used to be a sizeable B5 resources but was tied to a happy, sedentary life. You lost a lot to the dragon.)
Dwarven smithing tools: portable tools included in the purchase of a workshop. They give +1D with Black Metal Artifice.
Personal mule and wagon. Plying your trade among other races has meant occasionally taking your tools to them. You have a small enclosed wagon to provide you a simple cot, storage of personal goods, and your portable smithing equipment. (This secures a 'private home' separately - if you include it in a purchase of Carts and Baggage below, it isn't "his private space" per se.)
Clothing, Sturdy Shoes, Traveling Gear: You've travelled, you had stuff in your cart.

It also raises your base Circles from B2 to B3.

Looks good to me. I'll keep the personal mule and wagon separate from the purchase of Carts and Baggage.

120-86 = 34 points remaining.

Other things to consider:

• 4pts or 10pts for Lann the Apprentice (per above) (If you are okay having Lann as an apprentice but don't spend points on the relationship, that works, too. It means he's even a bigger shirker than you - he can still function as your problem for PC-to-PC roleplay, but he is never there when you need him... you have to roll Circles to find him to get him to do something productive.)
• 3-5pts Relationship for Oath. Your guy shirks commitments, but he cared enough about something to make an Oath to someone. What is it? If he loves the person or they hate him, make it 3 points instead of 5. If both, then it costs only 1 point.
• 7pts for a 1D Reputation. Decide how he's known. "Reputable Blacksmith" "Humble Dwarf" "Honest Appraiser" "Good with a Wagon Wheel" "No Job is Too Small" etc.
• 10pts for a 1D Affiliation with Men of Dale, or 25pts for a 2D Affiliation with Men in the region. You were a dwarf that smithed for non-dwarves. Doesn't help among your own kind, but among humans your name is known. (This also roughly equates to a B1 or B2 Resources, too, depending which you pick.)
• 5pts for shoddy arms (did you have usuable weapons?)
• 15 pts for Carts and Baggage. If you have wagon(s) of saleable goods, you can load them along. Buying this gets you +1D Resources.

• Relationship for Oath: Valafl (3 pts)
• 1D Affiliation with Men of in the region (25 pts)
• Shoddy arms (5 pts)

Total: 33 points (1 left over)

[Marullus]

Yes, I decided on the name Niping (I thought it would be fitting to lift a name from the same part of the Poetic Edda where Tolkien got his names for the Dwarves in The Hobbit)

Oooooh. Love it!

How's this for a revision: 'Life was bitter and bothersome then. We lived as the servants of men and elves, and our halls were homely and unbecoming of proper dwarves. I will make the men and elves aware that it was they who brought Smaug, by relying so much on our industry that we became a defenseless target of the dragon's greed.'

Very nice. Much more actionable!

2. 'It is a terrible thing, but the lot of our kind is to suffer loss, and a dwarf can always make new things. I will convince others not to try to retrieve anything from the mountain, and either do without it or make a replacement instead.'

That works fine - it is in direct opposition to another PC's beliefs, so should come up easily.

3-point Relationship for Oath: Valafl, a dwarf of Regin's folk and a master artificer, also known for his sagacity, patience and generosity. When Niping was young he dreamed of becoming an artificer, but Valafl was more gifted and more liked, and so won Regin's prized apprenticeship, forcing Niping to settle with doing the 'unimportant' work. Niping has a deep-seated envy of Valafl, obviously.

Oath: 'I will always refuse Valafl's generosity.'

Relationship is fantastic!

That is a HEAVY oath - more of a Grudge. Oaths are formal and publicly sworn - so you swore to Valafl (to his face) that you'd never accept his generosity and he knows it. If you want this as a grudge, then you replace the Spiritless trait with the Grudgekeeper trait which you can buy for 1 point. (That does seem fitting for the character.)

If you don't want to do that, then you could have this grudge/oath as one of your other three beliefs and still have a normal oath. (Normal oaths are sworn in front of the Greybeards and thus I assume are at least somewhat positive to society. They should also be potentially fulfillable, even if remote and unlikely, where your grudge is eternal.)

Relationship for Oath: Valafl (3 pts)
1D Affiliation with Men of in the region (25 pts)
Shoddy arms (5 pts)

Total: 33 points (1 left over)

Okay, I'll confiscate the one point and invoke the "So Close!" rule to round-up on his resources.

Final tally:
Resources: B2, +10D Cash
Circles: B3

Affiliation: 2D Northmen across Rhovanion

Relationships:
0pts - Lann the Apprentice
3pts - Valafl the Artificer

Gear:
Clothing, Sturdy Shoes, Traveling Gear
Rolling Home (Mule with Wagon)
Dwarven smithing tools (+1D with Black Metal Artifice)

Weapons:
Pick any weapons that he has kept for personal use (they are human-made, not dwarven quality.)
As a note: he also might have additional weapons amongst his trade goods and things rescued from his workshop with which he could equip others. If it comes to that point in the story, it is a Resources roll.
If he ever decides to smith new weapons, it is a Beginner's Luck attempt with the War Art skill (which he didn't ever learn because he wasn't admitted to the Artificers). (p.s. a desire to do something like that is a good thing to build a belief on in-play.)

[Starbeard]

3-point Relationship for Oath: Valafl, a dwarf of Regin's folk and a master artificer, also known for his sagacity, patience and generosity. When Niping was young he dreamed of becoming an artificer, but Valafl was more gifted and more liked, and so won Regin's prized apprenticeship, forcing Niping to settle with doing the 'unimportant' work. Niping has a deep-seated envy of Valafl, obviously.

Oath: 'I will always refuse Valafl's generosity.'

Relationship is fantastic!

That is a HEAVY oath - more of a Grudge. Oaths are formal and publicly sworn - so you swore to Valafl (to his face) that you'd never accept his generosity and he knows it. If you want this as a grudge, then you replace the Spiritless trait with the Grudgekeeper trait which you can buy for 1 point. (That does seem fitting for the character.)

Relationship for Oath: Valafl (3 pts)
1D Affiliation with Men of in the region (25 pts)
Shoddy arms (5 pts)

Total: 33 points (1 left over)

Okay, I'll confiscate the one point and invoke the "So Close!" rule to round-up on his resources.

The Grudgekeeper angle does seem pretty fitting. If I put the 1 point left over into the Grudgekeeper trait, what would his final resources be, unrounded up?

[Marullus]

Grudgekeeper needs a trait point, not a resource point. So, you would trade Spiritless for Grudgekeeper. (You still have Old and Weary, which I think fills the purpose.)

Resources remain the same.

[Starbeard]

Gotcha. So then it looks like he's now got his background, stats, traits, beliefs, resources, & relationships squared away. Anything else, or should I turn this into an official PC sheet now?

[Marullus]

Go for it! I think you are there! I will do the final check once you do.

[Marullus]

I'm only seeing three beliefs, you need four. Did I miss one?

• Life was bitter and bothersome then. We lived as the servants of men and elves, and our halls were homely and unbecoming of proper dwarves. I will make the men and elves aware that it was they who brought Smaug, by relying so much on our industry that we became a defenseless target of the dragon's greed.
• It is a terrible thing, but the lot of our kind is to suffer loss, and a dwarf can always make new things. I will convince others not to try to retrieve anything from the mountain, and either do without it or make a replacement instead.
• I will always refuse Valafl's generosity.