[DitV] Longview Branch

[two_fishes]

I made and ran my first Dogs game the other day. It went well, but I could have made it better. I thought I'd post the town.

Victor wrote in the book that he wants to hear about attempts to start town creation at any point prior ro 1A) Pride, and I did. I knew I wanted a werewolf, so I put it either as a Demonic attack resulting from Sin or from Possession (I never properly decided which). I decided I wanted the victim to be pretty sinless, and the the sinner to be pretty justified. Some kind of relationship, expecially romantic, between the sinner and the victim was really desireable.

So I went from there, back to the beginning. A few versions later, I got:

1A) Pride
MINERVA WELLESLEY has the prettiest, smartest girl in the world (PENELOPE or PENNY). She deserves the very best of everything. Minerva will only marry a man who can prove his wealth.

1B) Injustice
AUGUST TULL, a poor farmer, can't compete with the wealthy rancher, SILAS BELLOW, for the attentions of Minerva. She has accepted Silas's proposal, and August has been cheated of... A fair courtship? A deserved marriage?

2A) Sin
In an effort to prove his value throughout the last winter, August has emptied his larder and diminished his own woodpile. His elderly mother, PHILOMENA, and two sisters, PATIENCE and CHARITY have suffered a cold and hungry winter as a result of his neglect.

Under guise of taking in laundry, Patience has been sinning with ranch hands in exchange for money to buy medecine and food and wood. I had had this in False Doctrine, but I realise now it belongs here.

At a late point, I had added an affair between Minerva and DAVID RUNNING DEER, a convert from the Mountain people, and a hand on the Tull farm. I didn't have any justifying injustice, or resulting demonic attack, I just liked it in there somewhere.

2B) Demonic Attacks
For a long time, I had the werewolf here, and it was a demon attack on David. I ultimately decided to put it in Sorcery.

The Tull mother catches a demon; she's sick and bedridden.

Little Penny, she starts having terrible nightmares whenever she spends the night at the Bellow ranch. In play, I missed the opportunity to have a nightmare at the ranch so she was just having nightmares in general. If I had been thinking quick enough, I'd have had her mention that the nightmares went away whenever "Uncle David" spent the night.

3A) False Doctrine
Patience decides that her sinning ain't bad if she's doing good with it. She's feeding her family, and buying medecine for her mother.

3B) Corrupt Worship
Patience prays as she washes her clothes, as if it were an act of contrition, cleansing her of her sin.

4A) False Priesthood
Patience convinces Charity and David of her false doctrine. They agree to keep it secret from her mother and brother. They all wash clothes together.

4B) Sorcery
The werewolf, David, belongs here. As a member of the cult, he's been unwittingly possessed. As said, he's turning into a beast and killing the cattle of Silas Bellow. I hadn't made any ceremony for the possession, though.

It was also important to me, that Silas be taking Minerva as his second wife, and that his wife, ALTHEA, not be opposed to marriage. It's the one of the bones of an old version that I couldn't let go. I wavered between them being childless, thus envious of Minerva' son, and making them entirely guileless. I ended up doing the latter in the game and mentioned a couple of daughters.

6A) What everyone wants from the Dogs:

MINERVA WELLESLEY wants the Dogs to  cure her daughter of her nightmares. She doesn't want them to find out about her affair with David. (I hid it too well and they didn't.)

SILAS BELLOW wants the Dogs to kill whatever's killing the cattle, and hey! He wants the Dogs to perform the marriage! Isn't that nice?

ALTHEA BELLOW -- I had written that she wants the Dogs to get the ranch hands to stop stealing (they need money for Patience's favours) but during play something better came up; she wants them to keep that Tull woman away from them. "She's doing more for them than taking in their laundry, if you take my meaning!"

AUGUST TULL wants the Dogs to condemn the marriage of Minerva to Silas. After all it's me she loves, is what he says. She's only marrying Silas for his money! And he wants the dogs to cure his mother.

PENNY WELLESLEY wants her nightmares to go away, and she wants "Uncle David" to keep visiting even after she goes to live on the Bellow ranch.

PATIENCE TULL wants the Dogs to cure her mother. she doesn't want them to find out about her sinning. I had a thought that she might want them to cure David as well but I hadn't decided if she knew about his possession or not. At one point in play one of the players asked why she hadn't turned to the Steward for help, and I thought crap! good question. I invented a pride for her, "The Tull family have always taken care of themselves."

CHARITY TULL wanted... I never had much of an idea for her. She was mostly added just to fill out the cult, and it showed in play, with her being kind of working aimlessly in the background. Cure her mother, I guess.

DAVID RUNNING DEER never got really clear wants, either. I had had a version where he and Patience are in love, so I had some stuff protective of her, wanting them to get her to stop sinning.

6B) THE DEMONS want the ranch hands to fight over Patience. They want Philomena Tull to die cursing her son for his neglect, and daughter too, if the secret is uncovered. They want to drive August Tull to kill Silas.

6C) What would happen if the Dogs never came? Uh... hate and murder. I didn't have it written, and during play I felt the lack.

In hindsight
The biggest change I would have made in addition to filling out all the peices I was missing would be to put August as the cult leader, and leader of the conspiracy of silence to keep their mother from learning of Patience's sin & then dropped Charity altogether. He's also ideal as the one to send David against Silas's cattle. I also need a good reason for Patience to continue sinning, after the money is no longer as issue (the hard times of winter is over, August can no longer court Minerva.)