[DitV] Red Creek Falls

[droog]

I wrote up our initial chargen/accomplishments session in this thread here: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?board=14.40 . This week--our first town.

For various reasons I've studiously avoided looking at any sample towns apart from how they come out in AP. So I don't know whether Claire created this one out of whole cloth or not. At this point in the game I'm not sure exactly what's going on in Red Creek Falls, but it sure is fucked up.

Now, to set the social scene.

There are five players: me, Rafe, Sue, Lev and Erica. Most of us are new to each other, though I understand Rafe and Claire knew each other many years ago. Lev and Erica both joined the group this session, so they created their characters first while we watched. I was intrigued that both Rafe and Sue seemed like old hands compared to the newcomers; perhaps a fortnight's reflection had increased their comfort with the game. There seems to be a steep learning curve for new players in Dogs, unless like me they've read 5000 threads about the game before playing it.

Maybe this has some relevance and maybe it doesn't, but I was the only person drinking alcohol at the table. As far as I'm aware it wasn't a problem (others may feel differently, of course).

I consciously decided to take a back seat this session and let others run with their characters. I didn't take up any opportunities to get involved until late in the game. That's entirely cool with me, perhaps because I've spent more time GMing than playing. I wanted to watch and learn, and in the event I was entertained by everybody else anyway.

What can I say about Dogs that hasn't been said before? To me the system works beautifully and the setting has enough familiarity that you can swim, without getting caught and drowning in a Sargasso Sea of detail. Claire does a fine job of coping with the players and the system, and I can only see her improving as we go. Personally, I'm having a great time and I look forward to collaborating on many more games.

It seemed to me that Erica was a little uncomfortable with the set-up (also with the dice mechanic). She muttered a few things about racism and sexism, and her character Sister Seraphina has some notion of 'infiltrating' the Dogs—I would have been reluctant to go with this as a GM, but Claire took it in her stride. It will be interesting to see where this goes.

I'm finding this a difficult AP to write, because I want to do the game justice but there are far too many points floating around in my head at present. I'm going to leave it here; possibly it can be developed further through dialogue.

[agony]

At this point in the game I'm not sure exactly what's going on in Red Creek Falls, but it sure is fucked up.

That line alone has me interested in seeing an actual play write up.

[beingfrank]

At this point in the game I'm not sure exactly what's going on in Red Creek Falls, but it sure is fucked up.

That line alone has me interested in seeing an actual play write up.

Heh.  I'm interested in seeing a write up, and I created the town.

Jeff, I know you're struggling with a write up.  What would help?  Do you have any particular things you want to discuss?  Do you want me to bugger off and stop reading the thread to make it easier for you?

I don't feel like I should write it up myself, because the town's not done yet, and I'm not sure what you guys all think is going on.  In fact, I suspect that with five players there's at least five theories.  And I certainly have no idea what you're going to do about it.  This is a cool group of Dogs who currently seem to have aims as disparate as furthering true love, spreading spiritual enlightenment, and killing everyone just in case they might sin in the future.

I will talk about some bits I've been thinking about.  We did have two new players, and I pushed us through character creation a lot faster and less collaboratively.  I did accept a lot, when I pushed the first three players a lot more to express exactly what they were after in order to get traits people were excited about.  But I think the characters will work out fine.

And I don't have to do a thing to get the PCs disagreeing with each other.  :-)