[DitV]Oakview Branch, first try

[Dick Page]

BrendanC has created a new thread to discuss relationships and traits, and it's very interesting, If I do say so myself.  I'm definately going to try to integrate my player's (at the moment undeclared on character sheets) relationships into the game.  It makes so much sense now!

In other news, here's some favorite moments from our game, and some problems/rules bendings/weirdnesses.

The accomplishments were awesome.  What a great way to define characters.  Everyone was engaged in what was happening to the other characters, if not rapturously, at least more than in other RPGs we've played.

It was also cool how quickly the players (characters?) took sides when they heard what was going on.  As soon as someone told them that Brother Joshua had made himself a Dog coat, they knew he was going down.  Then there was a great "oh shit" moment at the end of the session when Elias and Joseph, confronted with a possessed Joshua, beat him within an inch of his life in order to avoid being convinced of his authority.  On the other hand, when they heard about Sister Rachel's plight, they wanted to be sure about Brother Joshua's authority before they did anything, but also cautioned her against seeing Zachary.

There were some cool supernatural moments.  After Brother Cuthbert broke down and was about to spill to the Dogs, Brother Ezekiel attacked them.  I knew I didn't have enough dice to actually drive the Dogs from the room, so I used my two largest first to force some fallout, but the Dogs retaliated similarly spectacularly with Three in Authority, dealing some serious damage to Br. Ezekiel, who bailed.  Brother Octavious later called on Ezekiel at his grave, and we had a few conflicts before Octavious and Stephen convinced him of his sin, forgave him, and sent him to reside with the King of Life.

I really liked how much player input there is in the narrative.  It really took a lot of pressure off of me.  When I was stuck for something to Raise with in an argument, I just asked the players, who provided a totally fresh angle.  Also in the pressure-relieving department: the proto-NPCs are great.

We bent the rules a bit on Elias' accomplishment.  Neither acuity+heart nor  body+heart seemed appropriate for tracking someone through the desert.  We used body+acuity until the bandit saw him, when we added heart for the chase.

I also had Joshua be possessed, sort of, by a demon, even though there was no actual cult or sorcery yet.  It was meant to be representative of his demon-granted powers of persuasion.  I was kind of disappointed by how this conflict worked out, because I forgot to add his supernatural abilities until a follow-up conflict, which I think lent itself to the general vibe of the game of victimization.  We'll see what the players finally judge for Brother Joshua; we stopped right after they beat him to a pulp and the other two players sent Ezekiel to eternal rest.

I think the next town will definitely tie in some character relationships.  I'm thinking perhaps some Bacchic revels at a local Mountain Folk camp to bring in the adultery and Mountain Folk pasts.  Also will work in someone's yet-unlisted personal relationship.

As far as the level of supernatural activity, I think I'll keep it at its current amount of "intensity" (demonic possessions, ghosts, exorcisms) since the players seemed to enjoy that.  I'll scale back the presence of it next time and focus more on NPC faults and sins.  I'm particularly curious how the players will react to grievous sin like murder or adultery.  They seemed eager to visit God's wrath on a worthy sinner;  I'll try to set up a situation where they would be perfectly justified in killing someone, but it wouldn't help the town at all.

Thanks for a great game!

[Lance D. Allen]

Remember also.. At any time that the Dogs have relationship dice unspent, they can declare a relationship. If they're in the middle of a conflict with Br. Jethro, whom they've just met, they can declare a relationship with Br. Jethro, and assign dice to it, then roll them into the conflict.

So while it's good to have a couple dice spent beforehand, it's very powerful to leave dice unassigned.