At the end of the last session, my players through me for a loop.
In the town they are in, the Steward is demonically obsessed with building an irrigation system called the waterworks, and the players have just stripped him of his stewardship.
Other townsfolk are obsessed with destroying the waterworks. So the players decided to perform a divination ritual and ask the king of life if the waterworks was the source of evil in the town.
Fortunately, it was the end of session and I didn't have to figure out how to respond to that. Unfortunately, I forgot to ask about it till now and there's only 2 hours till session start. Oh well, the answer will be useful to know for the future.
I haven't exactly hidden the fact that waterworks is the focus of trouble in the town - I've been bashing them over the heads with it. But it's not the waterworks itself, it's what it means to the town (progress and prosperity or the path to decadence and ruin).
I think, though, the players are coming to the conclusion that the town needs to be destroyed, and might be looking for ways to avoid such a drastic solution. I don't want to guide them one way or another, except through interaction with the actual people in town.
So divination doesn't feel right. Also, Divination seems to me to be a bit out of step with the Dogs system. Should the PCs be able to ask the King for guidance? Isn't this the same as asking "what do you want us to do, Mr GM?"
I'm tempted to say, "yes you commune with the King of Life, and are told to folloow your hearts." That throws it back in their court, but is the right thing to do?
It's exactly what Vincent did to me when I first played.
Said I: "I pray to the King of Life for guidance."
Said he: "And you receive it. What does the King of Life tell you to do?"
Excellent :)
And quick!
Edited to add:
I can see something thing fun happening.
GM: "Okay, the King gives you guidance. What does he tell you."
PC 1: "Destroy the town!"
PC 2: "No, destroy the waterworks but save the town!"
GM: Great, we have a conflict!
God isn't an NPC.
So don't say "the King of Life tells you to follow your heart" - it's not within your rights as GM to decide that. Instead you can say something like I said to Tony -
Or check this out. This divination thing, it could be a wicked cool series of raises. What's at stake is something like "do we figure out the source of evil in the town," right?
-Vincent
Quote from: lumpleyOr check this out. This divination thing, it could be a wicked cool series of raises. What's at stake is something like "do we figure out the source of evil in the town," right?
Hmm. I could see a cool conflict in something like "what is he telling us really?".
Quote from: lumpleyGod isn't an NPC.
So don't say "the King of Life tells you to follow your heart" - it's not within your rights as GM to decide that. Instead you can say something like I said to Tony -
I was going to disagree with you there, but I think I realise what you mean. When you say, God isn't an NPC, you're saying, that God isn't a GM-controlled character - is that right?
I still see him as an NPC - he's a character (a pretty strong presence in the setting!), and not a player character. Pretty much the definition of an NPC :)
Or maybe he's a gestalt PC, distributed between the players...
I see what your getting at though. When I said, "The King tells you to follow your heart - what does he say," I meant that as a neutral "I don't know, that's what you you tell me" - but it isn't neutral, is it? That can steer the players, especially those prone to seek solutions from the GM ("we should be looking for some compassionate solution rather than imposing justice which might be cruel"). I'll stick to your more neutral statement.
I see God in DITV to be handled like Theme in most Narrativist games... something to be abstracted from the game's foundation by the characters(most importantly PC)'s interaction with it. Something that no one has direct creator-power over, even by unanimous agreement.