[DitV] Re-approaching Clement's Patch

[Eric Provost]

So, now that I've managed to twist some arms and get my core group to try a little Dogs, they're hooked, and my once indefinately delayed Town, Clement's Patch is scheduled to run tomorrow evening (Thursday).

When I was looking over my inital write-up of the town, I realized that I'd dropped the ball in step 6.  Mostly 6a, but a bit in 6b too. So, I decided to do a little polishing.  No severe changes, just some polishing.

Furthermore, I've decided to add, for myself, a Step 7: The Five Minute Hook.  Once I know all about the inhabitants and problems of the town that I need to know, I make sure that the ball starts rolling quickly by jotting down the notes I need to make sure the players are hooked into the story in five minutes or less.

The following are my new 6a, 6b, and 7.  There are some holes, important holes I think, in 6a, but the inspiration isn't hitting me.  I'd love some suggestion & input for polishing this off.

Oh yea, and I kinda added to the question of 6a.

6a:  What does each named person want from the Dogs, and how are they most likely to try to get what they want?

Brother Pleasant wants the Dogs to inspect his idea that Brother Derrik has obtained all his finer things through illicit means.  He will do so indirectly, pestering the Steward to bring the matter before the Dogs.

Brother Derrik dosen't understand Pleasant's anger and resentment towards him, but is getting a little tired of his bad attitude.  He'll personally ask the Dogs (likely over a large supper) to settle things between himself and Pleasant.

Sister Ninea, Pleasant's wife, desiring the attention and approval of her husband so badly, wants the Dogs to prove him right.  To this end, once she knows they are in town, she will steal an item of some minor value from the town mercantile, and plant it in an obvious place within Derrik's barn.

Brother Jada, Pleasant's son, is looking for attention from the Dogs, especially any men amongst them.  Unfortunately, Jada's in the habit of seeking attention in an unconventional manner.  A short walk from his home, Jada has himself a little 'trophy room'.  A collection of short rocks upon which all the rotting carcasses of his kills lie in formation.  He'll want to drag the Dogs out there to see it.

Sister Althea, prostitute daughter of Pleasant.  She's been a bit of a sticking point with me as I've been polishing.  The only desires pertaining to the Dogs I can think of for her are either boring, or mirror the desires of the Demons.  I'm hoping to come up with something just for her before tomorrow evening.

Sister Marille, orphaned prostitute, feels that the Steward has not done enough to seek vengance for the loss of her family from the Railroad Men.  She wants the Dogs to convince the Steward to confront the Railroad Men directly.

Sister Electa, single woman from outside the faith.  I'm having the same problem with her that I'm having with Althea;  I'm not sure what she'd want from the Dogs that the Demon's don't already want.

6b  What do the Demons want?
The demons want a regular brothel here in Clement's Patch.  As the Demons aren't willing to sit back & wait for the Dogs to leave on their own (cuz that would be boring), they'll eagerly posess first Marille to seduce them, and then Althea to kill them.
Further, feeling the pressure from the Dog's arrival, they want to step up the pressure on Electa to join the other ladies.  As they've got a bit of a grip in Jada from his youthful murderous ways, they'll convince him to break into Electa's home and steal all her valuables.  Once she's flat broke, she'll have to turn to Althea to make money.

As for Jada... I'm thinking of, when the time comes for the Demons to send him to rob, of narrating a scene with Jada in the pile of rocks with his trophies as they come to unlife to speak to him, telling him what a great hunter he is, and that his reward is a box of poorly guarded money.  

7.  The Five-Minute Hook

Marille's levelled home.
-A nice description of coming over a hill and finding the blasted house, along with the following hook/clues;
-Remnants of a wagon-wheel and a 'Railroad-Property' placard in a nearby tree, left there from the blast.
-remnants of a wooden crate, with the word 'nitroglicerine' stenciled on it.
-a series of recently made graves & grave-markers in the back-yard

Well, that's about it.  

As I'd said, I'll appreciate any insight or feedback that comes to mind.  I think it's going to be a terrific session, and I can't wait to play.  I promise to post the results here either later on that night, or during the day on Friday.

-Eric

Edited to include the link to my original thread on the 'Patch.

[Eric Provost]

As it turned out, we only got part way through the 'Patch last night.  I think that what's left is going to be strong and exciting, but lemmie catch you up on what went down.

Lisa's character.
Lisa had a tough time coming up with traits for her character, and I had a terrible time trying to help her come up with those traits.  What we really could have used at that point was something for coming up with traits that's a little more helpful than 'Start with I'm a good shot'.  Step by step is good.  Very good.  But what when the player dosen't want their character to be a good shot?  Or to have any of their traits revolve around shooting?  We worked it out, of course, but I think that some better advice on working out traits for those stuck for inspiration would be nice.

Who she came up with is Sister Temperance, who very much dosen't like people to be unhappy, and who likes doing things 'by the book'.  She settled on the Accomplishment of "I hope Temperance is able to comfort someone."  I set the stage at the wake of a husband and wife who were slain by a runaway team of horses.  There, sitting in the front row, were their three orphaned children.  (We seem to be running a special on orphans so far in our Dogs game)  Temperance began by wishing the three well, then moved on to quoting scripture for them.  Lisa was using Jason Morningstar's wonderful little 'Wisdom from the Book of Life' production.  Good stuff.  At one point, the eldest of the orphans Turned the Blow on Temperance by renouncing the King of Life!  Firey stuff!  Temperance escalated to Physical by hugging everyone in sight, thus winning the conflict.

Good stuff.  But still shakey on the narration bits for us.

Ullyses continues to play Brother Theophilus, Good Cop, wimp, and a helluva talker.

My Five-Minute Hook was half-successful in my opinion.  After an inspection of the blown-away house and the rubble 'clues' around it, the players were immediately interested in what the heck was going on in Clement's Patch.  On the other hand, what I failed to do was to provide the players with an immediate opportunity to have an effect on the game.  I fell into my old ways of clue-laying.  I'm going to get over that.  When I wrote that I wanted to give the players strong choices to make, I neglected to realize that those choices should be plot-moving, not plot-reacting.  
This will be corrected in future efforts.

The Dogs rode into town, and by virtue of talking to a lady walking down the street and the town Steward, they discover that Marille is the sole survivor of the explosion.  As they talk to the Steward, he broadsides them with the hefted responsibility of settling things between brothers Pleasant and Derrik.  When the Dogs ride out to see Pleasant, they find him sitting on his dilapidated porch, keeping an eye on Derrik and his family up the hill.  Pleasant presents his case that Derrik just has more than he deserves.  The players spend the next hour and a half to two hours riding around town, questioning everyone they can think of as to the habits of Pleasant and Derrik.  

Eventually they come to the conclusion that Pleasant is just lazy and has a bad attitude.  Which is pretty much what I had in mind.  So, the two go back to Pleasant's house, and bring him out to a back pasture to confront him.  I don't remember the exact phrasing of the stakes here, but it came down to the Dogs wanting Pleasant to worry more about what he has than what his neighbors have.  This confrontation turned out pretty juicy.  Theo led right off by prounouncing that he was charging Pleasant with the crimes of Jealousy, Idolity, Gossip, .. and a few others I didn't write in my notes.  Pleasant accused the Dogs of having fallen to the temptation of wealth (as the Dogs did have a nice dinner with Derrik and his family).  At some point, Pleasant had had enough talking, and escilated by moving to just walk away from the Dogs.  In which case, Theo convinced him to stay by gently laying his rifle on Pleasant's shoulder.  There was some pushing and shoving that followed, all the while with Temperance quoting scripture.  In the end, Pleasant hadn't enough steam to overcome the wills of the Dogs, and relented to taking care of his and his own.

Unfortunately, my time is running short.  I've got a lunch date to meet.  I'll come back in the afternoon to finish up.  Most interesting was acutally our last confrontation for the night, and I'm looking forward to explaining the problems we had with the scenario of the murderer slipping in to kill a Dog as she slept.. and how I think we've overcome those problems.... maybe.

-Eric