The Branch at Scutter's Folly

[Ignotus]

I'm busy gearing up to run DitV for the first time.  I met Vince at Gencon briefly (I played in a DitV demo with some friends), and he suggested I post my town once I wrote it up; here it is.  Comments/criticism much appreciated, especially any pitfalls that veteran dogs players/GMs can forsee.

Scutter's Folly

1A PRIDE: Brother Isaac, teenaged son of Brother Abidan and Sister Hedi, Mountain Person converts, is dissatisfied with his lot in life.  He feels that his heritage as a mountain person makes him different from the faithful, and that his parents betrayed their blood by converting.

1B INJUSTICE: Brother Isaac runs away (without informing his parents) to join the tribe of Mountain People who dwell near the town.  His family, including his sister, Sister Ziporah, is devastated.  Relations with the Mountain People are poor – outright war gave way less than a decade ago to an uneasy truce.  The Shaman of the Mountain People, Oakenwight, chastises Brother Isaac and sends him back to town. Brother Isaac's family feels forced to cover for him.

2A SIN: Back at his home, Brother Isaac is impious and disruptive: he argues with his parents about going to church, and worships his ancestral gods in secret.  Also, he vandalizes part of the temple.

2B DEMONIC ATTACKS: a demon possesses a bear and kills a small child, Sister Rina, in such a way that she looks like a victim of the Mountain People.  Her parents, Sister Ruth and Brother Jeremiah, are devastated.  Relations between the Mountain People and the Faithful become overtly hostile.

3A FALSE DOCTRINE: Brother Isaac sees the possessed bear shortly after the murder.  The creature is massive and darkly majestic, rising out of the fog with blood on its mouth and paws and death in its smooth black eyes.  Brother Isaac, awed, decides that it is his ancestor spirit made flesh.  Brother Isaac does not know that the bear killed Sister Rina, but by the time the Dogs arrive, he probably wouldn't care even if he knew. 

THE BEAR SPIRIT IS THE EQUAL OF THE KING OF LIFE.

3B CORRUPT WORSHIP: Brother Isaac begins to worship the bear demon.

1A PRIDE: The town's Steward, Brother Cyrus, never much liked the mountain people.  He has both good reasons (relations with Oakenwight and his tribe are hard; the Steward remembers the times before the truce with the Mountain People; he rightly suspects a Mountain Person convert in the recent vandalism, but no one will tell him who did it) and prejudice.  Brother Cyrus comes to believe that the Mountain people can never be as close to the King as the Europeans can.

1B INJUSTICE: The Steward has forbidden his son, Brother Judah, from courting Sister Ziporah, who he is in love with; instead the Steward is trying to convince him to marry Sister Celia, the daughter of Brother Quill. 

2A SIN: The Steward is neglecting his duties to the Mountain Person converts in order to spend more time with those Faithful of European descent.

2B DEMONIC ATTACKS: A demon has persuaded Oakenwight to break the truce and begin actively raiding Scutter's Folly.  During their first raid, Brother Piltai's wife was slain.

3A FALSE DOCTRINE: The seemingly unprovoked renewal of hostilities with the Mountain People has driven the Steward to believe that the Mountain People can never truly be trusted.  Soon he comes to believe that MOUNTAIN PEOPLE CANNOT BE REDEEMED.

3B CORRUPT WORSHIP: Brother Cyrus only prays for the European Faithful under his care.

4A FALSE PRIESTHOOD: Brother Cyrus has taken to giving secret sermons to some of the European Faithful, explicating his theology.  His wife, Sister Thea, has become a believer, as has Brother Quill, and his daughter Sister Celia, who is in love with Brother Judah.  Brother Piltai, now a widower, joined the cult and has become possessed by a demon.  (Note that Brother Piltai has a son, Brother Eli.  Brother Eli is in love with Sister Celia, but he is quite ugly, and will try to avoid revealing his feelings for her).  Lastly, Brother Jeremiah has joined the cult.  His wife has noticed his newfound hatred for the Mountain People (and shares a little, though mostly confined to the non-Faithful ones), but is unaware of the cult. 

4B SORCERY: A demon has, of course, possessed brother Piltai.  Brother Piltai was an alcoholic in his youth; Dogs convinced him to give it up when he married his wife.  In the wake of her death, he purchased a quantity of liquor from a traveling merchant, including a bottle of tequila.  The merchant (unbeknownst to him), was a powerful sorcerer, and the worm at the bottom of the bottle was a bound demon.  Brother Piltai was possessed while drinking in secret with the Steward one night.  The Steward slowly convinced Brother Piltai that his wife's death was due not just to the treachery of the Mountain People, but also to the sin and unworthiness of the Mountain Person converts removing the King's protection from their town.  When Brother Piltai cursed the Mountain People one and all, and declared that the King's Light could never shine on them, the demon crawled out of the bottle and down his throat.  Another demon has been spoiling the food of the Mountain Person converts, forcing Brother Andrew and his family into poverty.

5 HATE AND MURDER: The cult has murdered a Mountain Person convert, Brother Malachi, as "payment" for the soul of Sister Rina.  He was taken from his home during the night, tried before a jury of three masked cultists, and executed.  Brother Piltai struck the killing blow, but the others cheered him on.  Sister Thea felt sick to her stomach, though fear and loyalty to her husband have stopped her from doing anything about her concerns (the Demons are keeping a close eye on her, by the way).  Brother Malachi's body has not been found.  He leaves behind his wife, Sister Adaya, and her aged father, Brother Terach.  Sister Adaya, in particular, is a ripe candidate for Brother Isaac's nascent cult.  After all, Brother Malachi was a good man, and the King didn't protect him.  Perhaps the Spirit Bear can do better?

6A THE PEOPLE:

-   Brother Isaac wants the Dogs to reject the Mountain People converts, to spur them back to the old ways.

-   Sister Ziporah wants the Dogs to talk some sense into Isaac, and she also wants them to convince the Steward to let Brother Judah court her.

-   Sister Ruth wants the Dogs to help her husband through his grief.

-   Brother Jeremiah wants the Dogs to track down the Mountain People whom he thinks killed his daughter, and shoot them.

-   The Steward wants the Dogs to convince his son to marry Sister Celia.  If he hears them express prejudice against the Mountain People, then he'll slowly try to get them to declare his heresy dogma.

-   Sister Thea wants the Dogs to do something about the cult, but she doesn't want to be the one to inform them or help them.  She'd rather the Dogs did nothing than that they hurt her husband, though. 

-   Sister Celia wants the Dogs to convince Brother Judah to give up on Sister Ziporah and turn to her, instead.  Forced to choose between Brother Judah's happiness and her own, however, she might choose his.  She doesn't want the Dogs to find the cult.

-   Sister Adaya wants the Dogs to find her husband.

-   Brother Terach also wants the Dogs to find Brother Malachi; however, once it becomes clear that Brother Malachi is dead, he will want the Dogs to try and find a new husband for his unenthusiastic and grief-stricken daughter.

-   Brother Piltai is possessed, and no longer has natural desires.

-   Brother Eli has noticed that something is amiss with his father, but believes that Brother Piltai has taken to strong drink again.  Brother Eli wants the Dogs to talk some sense into his father.

-   Brother Andrew wants the Dogs to help him survive the coming winter and put his farm back together.

-   Brother Quill wants the Dogs to convince Brother Judah to marry his daughter; he'd also like the Dogs to be hostile to the Mountain Person converts.  Failing that, he'd like the Dogs to leave his cult alone.

-   Oakenwight, the Mountain Person shaman, wants the Dogs to take the Steward down a peg or too, and leave the town ripe for more raids.  Secretly, Oakenwight would also like for the Dogs to act as a catalyst for Brother Andrew, Oakenwight's son, to leave the Faith and return to the tribe.

6B THE DEMONS:

The Demons would love it if the Dogs ignored both cults, but more realistically, they'd like the Dogs to eliminate one cult, inadvertently strengthening the other, and then leave assuming that everything has been fixed. 

6C IF THE DOGS NEVER CAME:

Brother Cyrus's cult would secretly murder Sister Ziporah to try and make Brother Judah marry Sister Celia.  The Bear demon would inform Brother Isaac of this, and help him convince Sister Adaya and his father, Brother Abidan, to join his corrupt worship.  The town would fissure irreparably, and violence on both sides would escalate.  Mountain Person converts will be subject to demonic crop failure; only those who join Brother Isaac's cult are spared.  Eventually, assuming neither sorcerer manages to kill the other, Brother Isaac takes the Mountain Person converts to join Oakenwight's band.  Oakenwight sees the demon for what it is, and refuses him.  Guided by the Bear Spirit, Brother Isaac's cultists become nomadic raiders, destroying outlying Faithful settlements weakened by sin.  Scutter's Folly becomes a cult center; Mountain Person converts who pass through are abducted and murdered.

[Ignotus]

I ran my first session of this game earlier tonight.

The Dogs:

Brother Jonas, a pragmatic Dog with a fondness for parables.  His family's pariah status in his home town drove him close to the faith.

Brother Daniel, a scholarly Dog who was schooled at a secular boarding academy Back East until his folks found out.  He's a devil in a debate but not much in a fight. 

Brother Ezekiel, a gruff Dog in his late 20s.  A dogmatist from Back East, he joined the Territorial army to escape family trouble, and from there joined the faith.  He has the zeal of a convert and the trait "God didn't make all men equal.  Samuel Colt did".

Brother Grinning Bear, a calm Dog with a coat of stitched animal skins.  Originally a Mountain Person raider, he was captured by the faithful, and converted during his imprisonment.  His initiatory conflict was "I hope I found forgiveness for my sins as a raider."  Things went very badly for him.

Upon arriving in Scutter's Folly, the party immediately went to speak with Brother Cyrus, the steward.  He immediately impressed them as a big dick; the Dogs listened with suspicious ears to his tale of little Rina murdered by the Mountain folk.  Crop blight, raids and church vandalism were soon all on the agenda.  Brother Grinning Bear realized that Oakenwight, the shaman of the Mountain Folk, is his uncle. 

The party had a long discussion about what to do before the evening banquet in their honor.  While they were still arguing, Sister Adaya found them, and begged the Dogs to look for her husband.  The party split up.  Brothers Jonas and Ezekiel went to ask the Steward about Brother Malachi's whereabouts.  The Steward, of course, denied all knowledge, but they suspected he was lying. 

Me: Do you guys want to start a conflict with the stakes "does the Steward tell us the truth"?
Dogs: Conflict with the Steward?  Over this?  No.  Well, not yet, at any rate.  My kingdom for a sense motive roll, though.

The Dogs then questioned Brother Cyrus about the vandalism, about which he was genuinely ignorant.  He sent them to Brother Eli, who supposedly saw something that night.  Jonas and Ezekiel visited Brother Eli; they found him outside, sketching.  He told them that he saw the perp running towards the eastern side of town (where the mountain person converts live, though the Dogs don't know this yet).

Brothers Daniel and Grinning Bear travelled outside the canyon in search of Oakenwight's camp.  This was our first conflict, and the players let me have a full 5d10 of demonic influence.  The sees and raises saw them wandering the area looking for tracks and signs, being ambushed by Mountain People, and convincing them to take them back to the camp.  Once there, Oakenwight's initial warm welcome to his long-lost nephew soon gave way to an icy chill, as Brother Grinning Bear made it clear where his true loyalties lie.  I allowed far too much pointed talk before insisting that dice get picked up - the barbs being tossed back and forth would have made great sees and raises.  Conflict was declared with the stakes: does Oakenwight agree to stop raiding the Faithful?  This conflict ran quite long.  Oakenwight was unfortunately quite outmatched, and his mass of 1s didn't help things.  I pulled out all the stops (I think he used all his traits in that conflict, plus escalated several times), and forced Brother Grinning Bear to take a nasty blow (he was knocked out of the medicine tent with a powerful punch to the gut).  That was when Brother Daniel joined the conflict with his gun (though he only threatened, didn't fire it).  His dice pool exhausted against Grinning Bear, Oakenwight had to give - but he warned the Dogs that if they came back to his camp, their lives would be forfeit.

With that we had to end for the night.  The game went ok; I think the lack of a juicy conflict amongst the faithful really hurt the session.  Hopefully the party will wind up with some more difficult choices soon.  Also, Zeke and Jonas's players were bored during the sequence in the Mountain People camp, but I suppose that's a danger in any game where the party splits up.  It's become apparent that my town is ridiculously large and will likely take at least 2 more sessions to complete.  Ah, well.  I was particularly dissatisfied with the investigation into the vandalism, which half the party started to obsess over.  The ill deed happened weeks before the party arrived, and there simply aren't really many leads to follow, especially not on the very afternoon they arrive, before they've had a chance to meet people..  Should I just have launched a conflict with "do we find the vandal" as the stakes?  Who would be the opposition?  Brother Isaac, or the generic 4d6 + demonic influence? 

[DamienNeil]

A 4d6+demonic influences conflict to find the vandal sounds good to me.  Dogs isn't suited for lengthy investigations; better to drop the information in the Dogs laps as soon as possible and let them chew over the nasty implications.  If you've got something interesting that they aren't digging up, push them to start a conflict over it.

I try to keep my players from spending too much time on any one person or place.  I'll tell them flat out: You've gotten everything out of this guy that he's going to say willingly.  If you want anything else from him, start a conflict; otherwise, let's move on.  Who did you want to talk to next?

Also, remember that while NPCs can and will lie to the Dogs, there's not much need to lie to the *players*.  I've acted out an NPC's lines to my players, dropped out of character and told them: "She's lying.  You can tell."

[Trevis Martin]

Actually, I and (I suspect) the great majority of other Dogs GMs would say don't make them look for it at all.  Drop it all right in their lap from different perspectives.  Man if this happened in the town, SOMEONE, and probably several someones, have a huge beef, and they want the Dogs to settle it, RIGHT FUCKING NOW.  Digging up clues and investigation isn't really encouraged by the game, it's more of a "yep, here's the problem, now what ya gonna do?"

Think of it.  The Dogs haven't been seen in months and suddenly they are there and they have MORE authority than the steward who is normally at the top of the heirarchy.  Everyone who doesn't like a decision of the steward or sees a situation that the steward hasn't done something about (or hasn't done what they want done about it) will come out and put it in front of the Dogs, hoping to see the situations resolved in their favor.

And soon the Dogs will be gone again, so there is an urgency to get it out there.

All that said, it sounds like you got some cool stuff goin' .

best

Trevis

[Ignotus]

Also, remember that while NPCs can and will lie to the Dogs, there's not much need to lie to the *players*.  I've acted out an NPC's lines to my players, dropped out of character and told them: "She's lying.  You can tell."

Oh, they were pretty sure that the Steward was lying.  They just didn't have the balls to call him on it.

[Andrew Morris]

That was when Brother Daniel joined the conflict with his gun (though he only threatened, didn't fire it). 

He joined a conflict already underway? Had he gotten in from the start? Because I'm pretty sure you can't jump into an ongoing conflict.

[Ignotus]

That was when Brother Daniel joined the conflict with his gun (though he only threatened, didn't fire it).

He joined a conflict already underway? Had he gotten in from the start? Because I'm pretty sure you can't jump into an ongoing conflict.

Actually, we were confused about this too.  I could have let him in from the start, but he was really just standing off to the side - no one would have been aiming raises at him.  Brother Daniel's player wanted to let Grinning Bear handle things unless it got physical.  What should we have done in this situation?  Is the rule that if you're not actively engaged (i.e. making raises and sees) from the beginning, you have to sit the whole thing out?

[lumpley]

Yes, the rule is that if you're not actively in the conflict from the start, you can't join at all.

Here's some text from the new book, though:

Follow-up Conflicts
A follow-up conflict is simply a new conflict that follows on the one just ended. In general you treat it exactly as you would any other, but it does have a few special considerations:

- It counts as a follow-up conflict only if its stakes follow directly from the previous conflict's resolution.

- Its stakes can be the same as the previous conflict's stakes only if all three of its participants, its stage as set, and its opening arena are different. That is, if your character tries to talk my character into admitting her sin, but fails, you can't just try again. That conflict's done. What you have to do if you want a follow-up with the same stakes is come back another time or catch her at some other place, with your friends to back you up — and this time it can't be just talking.

...

So here's a way to handle it:

Brother Albert is talking to Sister Zillah. Brother Benjamin is hanging back, waiting for it to go south. It goes south.

Brother Albert gives instead of escalating. Brother Albert and Brother Benjamin immediately launch a followup conflict, starting at violence. They can choose the same stakes again if the conflict happens in a new place; otherwise they have to choose new (but presumably similar) stakes.

If Brother Albert refuses to give, yes, Brother Benjamin is locked out of the conflict. What I like to do when that happens is this: "okay, Brother Al, this conflict has to play out fully in the instant between when Brother Benji realizes what's going on and when he pulls his shotgun off his back. Split-second raises. Go!" This is very fun.

-Vincent

[Ignotus]

We played the second session of this town on wednesday.  (Should this be in actual play now?)

We began with Brother Jonas and Brother Ezekiel trying to find out who vandalized the temple.  We got into an abstract conflict.  I was expecting their sees and raises to be interviewing people, going from house to house, finding clues, etc.  Instead, they gathered as many of the townsfolk from the eastern side of town (where the vandal was seen fleeing), and began telling increasingly terrifying stories and parables about what would happen to anyone who kept a secret from the Dogs.  At the end, a quaking Sister Zipporah approached Brother Jonas and confessed that her brother, Isaac, (aged 14-15) had come in very late that night and seemed to be hiding something; she begged Brother Jonas to go easy on him, because he is young and impetuous.  Brother Jonas agreed not to harm him.

Brother Jonas and Brother Ezekiel next paid a visit to Brother Isaac, at his parents' house.  His mother let them in.  Brother Isaac was surly and evasive, and careful not to let the Dogs look into his room (where his shrine was hidden, something the Dogs never caught on to).  The Dogs quickly started a conflict, with the stakes "does Brother Isaac tell us the truth about the vandalism"?  Brother Isaac was rather arrogant, and the Dogs didn't like him very much.  The conflict escalated to physical, as Isaac tried to push past them.  When he gave, he admitted to the Dogs that he had renounced the faith and no longer considered the King of Life to have authority over them.  At this point, Brother Ezekiel wanted to shoot him on the spot.  Brother Jonas disagreed, however; he was pacified when Ezekiel offered to let the Steward decide the boy's fate.  Jonas and Ezekiel, Isaac in tow, went to visit Brother Cyrus.

Brother Cyrus, as you may remember, is a cultist who hates the Mountain People.  The Dogs didn't know this (yet), but they did know that he's a racist.  Unsurprisingly, after listening to Jonas and Ezekiel, he agreed that Brother Isaac needed to die.   When Brother Isaac heard this, he (understandably) tried to bolt.  Brother Ezekiel initiated a conflict with stakes "do I kill Brother Isaac."  Ezekiel went first, and he's a gunfighting machine.  Even with Brother Jonas helping out Brother Isaac, the conflict was essentially over after Ezekiel's first raise dealt 18 fallout to Brother Isaac.  Jonas tried his best in the follow-up conflict to save Isaac's life, but he didn't have the dice, and no one else cared enough to help.  They left the Steward's house to see Brother Isaac's sister and mother there, watching them in silence.  Sister Zipporah simply said (to Jonas) "You promised you wouldn't hurt him," and ran off.  At this point, the other two Dogs returned to town, and w
hen they saw the body, they were not happy.  They initiated a conflict with the stakes "does Brother Ezekiel admit that his actions were rash?"

Ezekiel tried to debate, but swiftly escalated into a brawl.  He only gave when Brother Grinning Bear drew a hunting knife and cut him, clearly a pyrrhic victory for Grinning Bear and Brother Daniel.  Brother Jonas sat on the sidelines, of course, and Brother Cyrus watched from a doorway.  Brother Ezekiel took a fallout trait called "I hate the damned Mountain People" 1d4 after this conflict.

After this standoff I cut to the banquet in the Dogs' honor, though the quick killing was making everyone feel a bit subdued.  The Dogs got some food, announced that they had dealt with Oakenwight, and set about delivering the mail.  Brother Jonas spoke with Sister Zipporah about what had happened.

"I'm sorry about your brother.  Brother Ezekiel acted wrongly."

"That's what you have to say to me?  Brother Ezekiel acted wrongly?  I can accept that it was the will of the King of Life that my brother had to die for his sins.  It kills me, but I can learn... to accept.  I cannot accept that my brother was killed because of mortal error, by the very people supposed to be the hand of the Lord.  You promised me no harm would come to him!"

"No!  You have to understand!  Brother Ezekiel acted in error there, but what happened there was still the will of the King of Life.  His provenance rules all our actions, whether we understand it or not."

At this point, Brother Jonas's player asked to initiate a conflict with the stakes "does Sister Zipporah believe I deserve to die for my sins."  I accepted, but with a twist.  Brother Jonas's player expected that Zipporah would argue for death, and he would argue the other side.  I told him that since he was bringing this up, he would have to argue that he deserved to die.  He agreed, and we rolled.  His dice were better, and I soon had to give; I had Sister Zipporah tell him that she had no moral authority over him, but that it was clear that he had already judged himself and found him wanting.

The other Dogs did some socializing.  Brother Ezekiel and Brother Daniel kept an eye on Brother Piltai, while Brother Grinning Bear decided to get involved with the problem of Brother Judah's marriage.  Brother Grinning Bear first met with Brother Quill and Sister Celia, and heard their side of the story, then went to talk with Sister Zipporah.

Brother Grinning Bear: Sister Zipporah?

Sister Zipporah: Yes?

BGB: I want to talk to you about a very grave matter.

SZ:...

BGB: I want you to tell me about your relations with Brother Judah

At this point, Sister Zipporah burst out laughing at the absurdity of it all (to be fair, Grinning Bear was the only Dog who didn't know about the relation of Sister Zipporah to Brother Isaac).

Grinning Bear had a fairly unproductive conversation with Sister Zipporah, whose mind was not exactly on romance, and went off to talk with Brother Judah.  Meanwhile, Brother Piltai was leaving the banquet, and the Dogs decided to follow him.  I told them that if Brother Ezekiel followed alone, there'd be no conflict, but that if both Ezekiel and Daniel tried to follow, they'd have to win a conflict.  Brother Ezekiel started a conflict with the stakes: Does Brother Daniel trust me to follow Brother Piltai alone?

I let them handle the conflict while I ran Grinning Bear's meeting with his cousin, the soft-spoken Brother Andrew, who offered the Dogs a place for the night; suffice to say, Brother Ezekiel won.  I narrated a long, twisty passage through rain and fog and streets that didn't seem to be there in daylight, all the while dogging the sodden, hulking form of Brother Piltai.  The trail ended at the Steward's house.  Brother Ezekiel snuck down into the wine cellar, and saw the cult assembled fully. 

Given his new "I hate mountain people" trait, I thought I'd make Brother Ezekiel take a stand.  I had Brother Cyrus give the most impassioned, honest and reasonable formulation of his false doctrine that I could, while Ezekiel watched from the shadows.  At the end of it, Ezekiel faced some indecision, but decided in the end that he opposed the doctrine.  He rejoined the other Dogs.  If I'd been on top of my game (and if  it hadn't been the very end of a session), I would have had Brother Piltai call Brother Ezekiel into the light at the end of the sermon.  That would have forced him to decide his true allegiance in a much more meaningful way.  Alas.

The Dogs passed a restless night on Brother Andrew's earthen floor.  Tomorrow, they would confront the Steward.  And somewhere, out in the night, hidden from all, Brother Malachi's forgotten body still rotted away...