[It's a Dog's Life] Plague Town

[Simon W]

One of our usual players couldn't make it last night. So in a break from the D&D3E campaign I have been running, we decided to do a one-off 'rules-lite' game. The players fancied something different, so I offered up a choice of 'The Questing Beast', or my very own 'It's a Dog's Life'. I was pleased that they unanimously chose 'It's a Dog's Life', some having played it before.

Anyway, the rules have been tweaked since this particular group have played the game, so I explained the changes (mainly to do with having a few more points at character generation, d20 rolls under attribute+ability instead of 2d6, and Legend Points being awarded at the end of adventures as 'experience' to buy new or improve old abilities or to use in the course of a quest to turn a failed roll into a success and to provide narrative control).

Jan – her character was a small Speaker, 'Dreams-of-Mountains' (Dreams), with useful Lores and Barks, but no physical stuff.

Nigel – he had a Sentinel, 'Far-Gaze' (Gaze) with a 6 Size (the max at generation) and good tooth & claw (combat) stuff.

Annette – a Scout called 'Pippa (Pip) Snow-shoes' (Pippa isn't really a name I would normally go with, but Annette hasn't done much role-playing and so we helped her decide that her character's Bark came out as more of a 'pip-pip' – hence the name. We could live with this). Again a combat-light character, but maximum Agility and good movement stuff.

I decided to run a scenario from the rulebook – Plague Town. A scout from 'Mountain-Home' had come running all the way to 'Great-Home' (the character's home, detailed in the rule-book) to fetch help for his town that had been ravaged by the Dark Death. The Scout only just reached the outer edges of Great Home, where the Jumping Gopher Tribe found him and spoke briefly with him before he died.

I asked the players what their characters were doing – Dreams was learning Prairie Tales in the High Speaker's burrow, Gaze was on duty watching over the pups at play and Pip was running around the tribal boundaries chasing insects and shadows.

The High Speaker 'Talks-with-Birds' has taught Dreams a new Tale. Whilst he has her in the thralls of wonderment, he relates to her that 'Chief Strong-Heart' has set him a small task that he needs to find some other dog to do, as he is busy with preparations for the next Council. Dreams of course volunteers and is soon rounding up the other two for a trip to the Jumping Gopher Tribe, to speak with them.

With a Scout in the group, getting around Great Home is quick and avoids Tribes and critters that are less friendly. No Scouting roll is called for. Scouts know the ways of Great Home very well. (Without a Scout, I would probably have them accidentally trespass on enemy Tribal territory or something).

Anyway, the group are soon on their way towards the mountains having been shown the spot where the Scout dropped dead. (Annette failed her Scouting roll, so I decided that this would mean Pip would lose the trail quite quickly). The group soon came across a Bison-Way that had been used quite recently, leaving no trail for Pip to follow and she became confused, so they decided to set down for the night and try to pick it up again in the morning.

At that point, Nigel decided to make a Watching roll for Gaze, which he succeeded and so I had Gaze spot a Hawk flying towards the Mountains, but then swoop suddenly. He let out a Bark of Warning and dived for cover, but as he was doing so spotted that the Hawk was going for some other critter a short distance away. The Bark had warned him too and he got into cover just in time.

The critter turns out to be a 'Wildling' (a new character Role that I haven't playtested yet, but need to). I reasoned that the group are light on fighting stuff, so he might be quite handy to have along to back them up.

Aside - I hadn't got a name for the Wildling but, as I said you hear a rustling under a thornbush, Nigel and Annette both said 'It must be Rustle Thornbush'. Again, the name isn't quite right for the game, but we couldn't let it go and, he is a Wildling after all, so it stuck).

They can tell that the Wildling is wary of them, so Dreams tells him a Prairie Tale (succeeds her roll – I gave a bonus as she tells the tale of their Quest so far). She used a Legend Point too, and decided that Rustle would tag along if she succeeded.

Anyhow, the next day things go little better – Pip lets out a Bark of Location to pinpoint where they are, but again fails her Scouting roll, losing the trail almost straight away. Nonetheless, they are heading in vaguely the right direction. A Watching roll from the Sentinel allows him to spot the Rattler that is just about to attack Pip, who is up ahead – and she makes a Scouting roll to get out of the way of the snake strike. Dreams gives a Bark of Friendship, but is not sure whether it was this or just that the rattler couldn't be bothered, that made him just coil up and go back to sleep.

(If the Scouting roll had succeeded, they would have made it that day without further incident).

The following day the group reach Mountain Home. It would have been quicker and less eventfull with successful Scouting rolls.

I'll post the next half of the session later.........

I'm generally quite pleased with the way this half went. The more I think about it, the more I like player-narrative games so I will try to get more of this stuff into the supplement book I am working on, so that there is a choice of styles in the game and more clearly defined rules for when players can take control. Barks are a particular way I might look at doing this, because I have few mechanics in the rules for the way Barks work. With Legend Points too, this may well be enough.

Simon
http://www.geocities.com/dogs_life2003/

[ethan_greer]

At that point, Nigel decided to make a Watching roll for Gaze, which he succeeded and so I had Gaze spot a Hawk flying towards the Mountains, but then swoop suddenly. He let out a Bark of Warning and dived for cover, but as he was doing so spotted that the Hawk was going for some other critter a short distance away. The Bark had warned him too and he got into cover just in time.

That's interesting. How did this work?  Are there rules that say a player can call for a roll, and if successful then something happens? Or was this just GM fiat? Or was there a wildling character in the scenario that gets introduced in some manner that is left to the GM? Or?

[Simon W]

At Mountain Home the characters smell a bad stench on the breeze. Gaze jumps on top of a boulder and looks across the Dog Town. It appears deserted and the crops are untended. Not a Sentinel in sight. Pip advances checking for tracks or anything to give them a clue. All she gets is a sense of decay and emptiness.

The group follow her into the town. They advance on the first burrow they see. It smells strongly of rottenness. Pip enters the hole and spots a dead Sentinel just below the surface. He is rotten and stinks. She gags and runs back for air.

She has to go back down to get her bearings with a Bark of Location. Dreams comes with her. Gaze stands guard. Rustle stands warily a few dogs lengths away. They enter again, holding their breath past the dead dog.

I ask Jan to make an'easy' Prairie Tales roll. She fails. I was going to remind her of the Dark Death, that Dreams may have recalled stories about

The Bark gives a very clear layout of the tunnels and any obstructions and the fact that there are some dog's nearby, who are shuffling along the tunnel towards them. Dreams feels a paw on her shoulder and smells the dog that put it there. She looks at him. He is thin, bedraggled, covered in sores and looks near dead. She then recalls the Dark Death and how it wipes out whole towns.

I didn't have Jan make another roll – I thought this touch would be enough to jog Dreams'  memory.

The long and the short of it is that most of Mountain Home has been wiped out. They are desparate for a cure. This Tribe knows of a Burrowing Owl on the far side of the Town who is said to be wise. He also sometimes eats small prairie dogs. Dreams is a small prairie dog.

Having done a Bark of location in the tunnel, I decide that Pip can easily show the group the way across town. At the edge of town I have Nigel make a Watching check for Gaze to see the owl sat in a tree a short scamper away. They scamper to the tree.

Dreams approaches the Owl, who eyes her up and down hungrily. 'Who approaches?' asks the Owl. Dreams issues a Tribal bark (normally only recognized by other Prairie Dogs, but in this case, the Owl is a Speaker, very Wise and lives near a prairie dog town, so I decided he understands it. He asks her for a Tale.

Here I give Jan a bonus, because she is sticking with the Tale of their adventure so far). She succeeds, so the Owl is impressed and will help. I don't know what I would have done if she had failed, but I suspect it wouldn't have been pleasant.

The Owl tells her of a Hermit Prairie Dog, called 'Star-Born' in the mountains, who is known to have gathered many rare healing plants. He is said to have himself been the sole survivor of town wiped out by The Dark Death many moons ago. Asking for specific directions, the Owl points out the location to the Sentinel, who, standing on a tree stump, can see across the prairie to the Hermits' burrow.

They set off and, with a good Scouting roll from Pip, soon find themselves in the 'Mountains'. It is here that they are caught unawares by 'Bite-of-Death'. He is an ancient Wolverine (who has also been recently injured in a territorial fight) and so is in need of healing.

They all decide to run, but Dreams who is the slowest, realises that the Wolverine is not chasing. She turns (stupidly, the others decide) and goes back, seeing the wounded paw. She succeeds a Critter Lore roll and can tell that although he still looks terribly vicious, he is not actually intending to eat her (yet!). She gives a Bark of Friendship, just to bolster that grain of goodwill and makes a Plant Lore roll to determine what is needed to help ease the pain. She shouts to Pip, to get some wound-wort, who also succeeds her Plant Lore, knows where it is likely to be and is shortly scampering back with some in her mouth.

There are no healers, so I decide that the paw does not mend, but the plant eases the pain for the Wolverine, who is so grateful he leads them to the hermit's lair. He sits down outside, whilst they venture in.

Here, in Star-Borns' den the group tell the wise old dog of their journey and the Dark Death at Mountain Home. This was the end of the session.

Again, I was pleased with the way this half went. My players are still not too comfortable with narrative control. In actual fact, Annette who has only been gaming about a year or so is probably the best at this, being more interested in moving the story along than in the mechanics of the thing. In fact, she seems more freeform oriented, so I find myself changing styles a bit to suit each player. It seems to work though and they are keen to keep going.

Simon
http://www.geocities.com/dogs_life2003/

[Simon W]

At that point, Nigel decided to make a Watching roll for Gaze, which he succeeded and so I had Gaze spot a Hawk flying towards the Mountains, but then swoop suddenly. He let out a Bark of Warning and dived for cover, but as he was doing so spotted that the Hawk was going for some other critter a short distance away. The Bark had warned him too and he got into cover just in time.

That's interesting. How did this work?  Are there rules that say a player can call for a roll, and if successful then something happens? Or was this just GM fiat? Or was there a wildling character in the scenario that gets introduced in some manner that is left to the GM? Or?

No, there aren't, so this is one of the things I will address in the supplement. In this case, Nigel just said, I'll make Watching roll and having succeeded, seemed loathe to take control. I decided that succeeding was a good thing, so something good should come of it and I was looking for an excuse to introduce a Wildling npc. He did actually make the suggestion, when the hawk was diving that 'there could be a rabbit or some other critter out there', so I went with this.
The Wildling was never in the scenario. I have only just come up with the Wildling Role and wanted to see how they work. Not that he got to do anything. I tend to offer npc's at various times and if the characters are interested in them, then they stick around, especially if they might need help later on. In this case Dreams sort of adopted him, so he is tagging along until they get bored of him or something horrible happens to him (they already like him, so this could be a good plot device....).

Simon
http://www.geocities.com/dogs_life2003/