[DitV] First Play

[legion329]

Hello everyone. I'm going to post up what happened in my first DitV session last night. But first, note the following:

• I heard of DitV about two days ago, on the Burning Wheel Forums
• I got the rulebook roughly 2 hours before we started playing the game, and didn't have much time to read it until we started.

Knowing that, we can progress onto the session report.

The Players
Brother Leslie -- Brother Leslie is best described as a 'showboatin' bastard'. He carries around his 'fathers own handcannon' with pride, and enjoys being in the spotlight when dealing with problems. For his initiation, he 'hoped that Brother Leslie learned when to be serious'. He was pulled into Council by his elders, who attempted to show him the error of his ways via some talkin'. He eventually had to Give, and we realized that we may have played this particular Stake a bit oddly (I don't know why I chose to have him in Council instead of something more proactive), but we went with it and Brother Leslie learned to be somewhat more serious when things got really bad.

Brother Ian -- Brother Ian is a convert from the East. His parents worked all the time, and he spent all his time reading books on fantasy and demons. His experience with the Faith started after he and some friends successfully called a Demon into his body. He managed to fight it off, but he remains 'demon-tainted' to this day. He has a way with books and machinery. For his initiation, he 'hoped that Brother Ian learned to be inconspicuous'. We opened the scene with him having a series of fits in his room. Some of the Temple acolytes went to investigate, and Brother Ian managed to convince them that he had it under control (which he mostly did at that point). He suffered some Fallout (some folks in the Temple know what he is, but you know what they say about Dogs and qualifications), but got away with the 'inconspicuous trait'.

Brother Shep -- Let's just say that Brother Shep's defining trait is "Built like a brick shit-house." He's also "Good at pontificatin'". The player runs him like a friendly giant, but a friendly giant who firmly believes the best way to do everything is with the Book of Life in one hand and the Sign of the Tree in the other. He's highly protective of the Faith, and goes out of his way to correct the even small problems with a kind hand. For his initiation, he 'hoped that Brother Shep would learn to be more proactive'. He was walking down the streets of Bridal Falls when he came upon some kids bullying a younger child. Shep went up and talked to the leader of the bullies. I ran out of steam for my Raises, and promptly escalated to fightin'. Shep let the kid punch him in the chest pretty hard, and just stood there. Needless to say, the kid was ready to listen to our Iron Giant after that incident. And so Shep learned to be more proactive in his life, and earned Mike the Bully as a Relationship.

Sister Elizabeth -- Sister Elizabeth was a cause of worry back home. She grew up with her six brothers, and hardly had time to learn the values every young woman should have. She curses like a sailor, fights against being a 'stereotypical woman', and generally fits in with her male Dog brethren far better than the Dog Elders wish. Nonetheless, Fate is Fate and we of the Faith must walk the road we are given. Elizabeth's player was mighty confused at the time, so she decided to model her hopes after one in the book: "I hope Sister Elizabeth learns to stop swearing". She was brought into Council (and got to see Brother Leslie on his way out), and given a stern talking to. She managed to back up some good dice with great narration, and convinced the Council that it wasn't worth their time at the moment. She decided to Give before the Council ran out of dice, so she could take the "learned to stop swearin' in public" trait she was after.

The Town: Almsbergh
I'll post the details of the Dog's first expedition onto the open road and their encounter with a town on the brink of destruction later. Let's just say we were all somewhat tired at that point, and I was a little heavy-handed with the demonic influence.

Conclusion
This game is exactly what I wanted. Playable, easy to learn and teach, and fluid. It's light on the rules without sacrificing the organic feeling of actually doing things with your character. We love the Escalation mechanics, and the conflict resolutions mechanics as a whole. Thanks for a great evening, Vincent!

Also, if anyone can spot anything we've done wrong so far, please let me know. I'd appreciate the feedback, as we're going to finish up the 'episode' today.

[Indy Pete]

Hi legion

Haha, I liked that you were a bit heavy with the demon dice

One thing I did notice when reading your post was that '[Sister Elizabeth] decided to Give before the Council ran out of dice, so she could take the "learned to stop swearin' in public" trait she was after.'

On p30 of the DitV rulebook it states...

'Win or lose, you get a new d6 Trait. If you win the conflict, the Trait should match your side; if you lose, it should match my side.'

If you Give, you lose the conflict and cede the stakes. So Sister Liz should have got a new Trait like 'Foul-mouthed (D6)', or 'I never know when to shut the hell up (D6)', or something like that even though she was the one to Give. If she had won - forced the Council to Give because it ran out of dice - then she could've got a new D6 trait like 'I can hold my tongue', 'I never swear' or something. Either way she still gets the D6 Trait.

IME the intent of the initiation is not to get an extra Trait - since you always get that regardless - but rather to flag up an issue that the player is interested in. So in the case of Sister Liz, the fact that swearing was an issue for her might have led me as the GM to throw characters who cursed mightily into her path. What would her character do if she heard a little light cussing from some of the Faithful during normal, non-stressful situations: for example, a greeting 'Well hot damn, if it ain't little Sister Liz.' She's okay with that? How about some cursing during a sermon from a too-eager preacher? 'Ya'll gonna burn unless you are saved. Ya'll are shit unless you are saved.' She's still okay with that? I'd break out a David Mamet script at that point and have one of the Faithful reel off profanities like there's no tomorrow. Sister Liz is still okay with that? Gee, then I guess swearing wasn't such a big issue for her character after all.

Anyways, do post your Actual Play about the Town. I wanna hear about how your heavy handedness with those demon dice manifested.

Cheers
Pete

[legion329]

I sort of dropped off of the fora for awhile here, and unfortunately have forgotten the details of that game.

Luckily I'll be running DitV again this coming Friday, so expect another Actual Play report from me then. :-)