Dogs in the IRC

[beingfrank]

That's right, the name's Esau.  If you're gonna say something about how I ain't no hairy man, might as well say it now and get it done with.  I heard it a thousand times.

BL>  Esau is awesome.  But why isn't this a trait?  "Ain't no hairy man, heard it a thousand times" would be a great trait.

That would be very cool.

And, also, how do we see Esau and Jared getting along?  What's Jared's opinion about the mountain folk?

Jared's cautious of the mountain folk, but not hostile.  He comes from a town where relations with the mountain folk were pretty peaceful and even some trade occurred.  Except his dad wouldn't sell them guns, and wouldn't talk about it.  Esau's mountain folk blood wouldn't bother Jared, because Esau's of the Faith, as long as Esau doesn't get too mountain folky, then he'd be watchful and treat him less like a person and more like a potential source of sin.

How's that work?

And I really should have picked a name that I don't mistype Every.  Single.  Time.

[beingfrank]

I'm going to a wedding rehearsal tonight and a wedding tomorrow, so don't have a lot of free time immediately, but I'll throw the rough idea I'd had for a character into the mix and if it fits well with the group I can flesh it out a bit more after the weekend.

Jezebel
A drop-dead gorgeous sister of the faith with a hard-nosed attitude come from growing up with those looks and that name.  

Possible traits:
Damn pretty
It's just a name
Pa always said never take no backtalk
I can see hypocrasy a mile away

Just got two comments.  I love 'damn pretty' as a trait.  That makes me smile.  And way to make Jerad's brain melt.

[Jonathan Walton]

You guys are off to an amazing start.  I think we're cool to do most of character creation in this thread, since this is where Vincent posted the summery from the book.  Once we start talking about initiations and stuff, we can take it to a new thread.

Also, Doyce emailed me and asked if he could take part in the collaborative character creation thing, which I don't see as a problem, even though I basically declared the game closed.  That way too, if somebody has to drop out for some reason, we have another character that's ready to step in.

So, some comments on the delightful stew that's bubbling:

'I never thought to be a dog.' Hmm, this is a tricky one, because I'm trying to get across that it wasn't on Jared's mental landscape, he'd simply never envisioned it, let alone thought about it and decided it was something he didn't want to do.

What about taking "I don't really feel like a Dog yet" as your main Dog-related trait?  That way, it would be the obvious trait to change (which is what happens, over the course of play) once your character's worldview shifts a bit.  You initiation could still determine whether you felt worthy of being a Dog or not, but feeling worthy and feeling like a full-fledged Dog are too different things.

In any case, I like where you're going with Jared.  Very cool.  

Ben's point about d4 traits is that they tend to negatively affect the outcome of conflicts, though not always.  So painful or dangerous or mixed-bag traits are often d4s.

1) A city-boy from the back East. Raised amongst the secretive Faithful community of the East, his main problem is the struggles between the cultured, upper-class, libertine society he grew up in and being exposed to the true Faithful society. His faith is going to be tested against his culture.

Ben, that's frickin' awesome.  I love the idea of a city boy trying to make it out West, where other people don't think much of his high-falutin' language or attitude and make fun of his factory-made coat.  Though I also really like the idea of being in love with a girl he's never met.  If it wasn't disgustingly cheesy, you could almost combine the two and have him be in love with "Inspector #7" or something, who wrote out her appraisal of the machine-made coat in an elegant script that just made his heart skip a beat (but, then again, maybe not).

That's right, the name's Esau. If you're gonna say something about how I ain't no hairy man, might as well say it now and get it done with. I heard it a thousand times.

Danny, you nailed it in one.  What a great, conflict-riddled character.

A drop-dead gorgeous sister of the faith with a hard-nosed attitude come from growing up with those looks and that name.

Sweet.  I look forward to seeing where you go with this and how the other characters react to sharing the trail with a such a hottie.  All I think you need now is some sort of interesting conflict in her background, to make her less of a one-trick-pony.

Keep 'em coming, folks!  Hopefully Michael and Doyce will slap something up here soon and we can begin to stir the pot a bit, setting up a few inter-character conflicts/relationships and then prepping for initiations.  Remember to email me if you haven't already, so we can do scheduling stuff!

[anonymouse]

Took me awhile to come up with a name.  And come up with some actual background for him, not just his patriarchs.

Brother Hosea, strong history

Hosea Laurent is the nearly the last in a legendary line of Dogs, stretching back 3 or 4 generations. Schooled strong in the Faith on the Laurent Ranch, he grew up fairly isolated from the nearby city folk of Bridal Falls. Childhood was spent in contemplation and physical perfection for the calling of Dog, and a year ago he was sent to the Dogs' Temple for formal completion of his training.

At 15, he is one of the youngest Dogs in recent years, and it happened because of his grandfather.

It's hard to talk of just one Laurent without touching on others up the tree. The one to influence Hosea the most was his grandfather, who recently died in the service. Grandfather Laurent was cold, distant, and rarely at the ranch; and it's been his death that has moved Hosea's life greatest.

Grandfather Laurent, it's told, was filled with the light of the King of Life, became a manifestation of something greater, and laid waste to the town of Hope, purging the demons in a battle that shook the ground for miles around. Few survivors were left the next day when church officials arrived to survey the destruction. All that was found of Grandfather was his coat, and inside that, the hilt of a sword. The battle also claimed the lives of his father, mother, and two older brothers, Dogs all.

The leaders of the Temple decided it best to accelerate Hosea's training and see him out onto a route; several other Laurent Dogs have died over the last year since the judgement of Hope, and it's taken as a bad sign that there are but a few left patrolling the frontier.


Acuity: 4d6
Body: 4d6
Heart: 3d6
Will: 2d6

traits
Yes. Those Laurents. (4d8)
Invincibility/arrogance of youth (2d10)
Heart-wrenching singing voice (2d6)
What do you mean, where's my Book? Don't you have it memorised? (1d10)
Heard about that once, around the hearthfire (1d6)

relationships available: 1d4 + 1d6
Grandfather went out with the Fire and the Fury, and left me the name (2d8)
Cousin Amayn Laurent, fierce Dog (1d6)

belongings
Grandfather's Coat (2d8)
Temple-issue revolver (1d6+1d4)
Temple-issue horse (1d6)
antique sword hilt (1d4)

The coat is a bloody crimson red, with an excrutiatingly, elegantly detailed rood design on the back (which wasn't there before the judgement of Hope, and the coat used to be grey). The primary way it was identified was by the Old World symbols Grandfather had stiched into the collar and sleeves in pure white thread. It wears large on the kid's frame, but not comically so.

I'd really like a couple more trinket-belongings with some dice attached to 'em, but can't come up with anything super-interesting right now. Large part of that is just player preference.. I like my Items and Inventory!

Did I leave anything out? I'm not sure whether to come up with the sekrit initiation desire now, or wait for another thread (in case I stew for awhile and come up with something better..)

[Jonathan Walton]

Did I leave anything out?

Well, the family background rocks, but you haven't really told us much about how all of this affects your character.  What does he think of grandpa?  Does he feel worthy of his family name?  Is he a goody two-shoes who got treated nicely by the trainers?  Is his singing voice natural or was he trained by his family members?  How does he feel about being an orphan? Etc.

[Ben Lehman]

I'm going to comment on Hosea and Jezebel later (Jonathan pretty much said what I wanted to say, though.  These are good concepts, but I kind of end up asking "and then what.")

Cyrus Patrick Haynes II

Background -- Cyrus (only my sister gets to call me "Brother Cyrus") comes from an old family in the faith, one of the first generation of converts.  His great-grandfather, Cyrus Patrick Haynes (blessed be his name), was converted by the Prophet himself, and served time as an Ancient of the Faith before they settled in the land of balm and virtue.  His grandfather, Ezekiel Patrick Haynes (blessed be his memory), founded a large number of missionary organizations and paid for many many families to be resettled in the Holy Land.

But the Haynes family never came.  Who knows why?  Perhaps they're just too tied to their life in the east, the society, the fortune, etc.  Cyrus grew up in wealthy society circles of the east, full of spiritism, temptation, sin and decadence.  His family's Faith was, essentially, an open secret, and regarded as some odd eccentricity.  His father took the faith very seriously, and tried to get Cyrus properly educated, but his mother and sister barely regarded it at all, and openly held seances with spirits, etc.  Cyrus didn't really care either way -- he mostly just wanted to be left alone to read his books.  He was always a bright lad.

But, in the year when he was preparing for college, when the Branch called for him to become a Dog, god-damn his father was not going to let him get away with not going.  His father had always wanted to go to the Holy Land, but his obligations and his wife kept them from it.  Cyrus's mother and sister, after they had tried to persuade his father not to send him, decided to treat it like some sort of soiree, social occaision, or something -- they decked him out in fancy clothes, cologne, dancing manuals, proper gifts for young ladies, picnic baskets, silverware, etc.

So Cyrus shows up in Bridal Falls City with a stage loaded down with baggage, a bad cold, and superior disgust mixed with intense curiosity.

I haven't decided how, exactly, to make the character yet, so here's a list of traits, relationships, and possessions.  I'd love it if other people let me know what here clicked with them.

Traits:
I'm a Citizen of the Territorial Columbian Commonwealth
I could have gone to Harvard
There's a lot more books than just the Book of Life
Only my sister calls me Brother Cyrus
You are right.  That Haynes Family.
I've got soft hands
I speak proper English
My father could buy this entire pathetic town
I don't wear my coat yet
But, for what it's worth, I'm a dog

Relationships:
The girl who made my coat
Territorial Authority

Possessions:
A Factory Made Rifle-Frock Coat -- 1d4
A set of pearl-handled duelling pistols -- 2d6 + 1d4
Fancy, city-made clothes -- 1d4
Bottle-thick eyeglasses -- 2d8 (well, quality + big?  I don't know...)
Many other fancy, city made city things (soap, razors, etc) 1d6
Selma, the old easy-to-ride horse -- 1d4

The old family Book of Life, dating back to the times of the First Prophet, with the first sentence written by His Blessed Hand -- 2d8

A big, thick, fine Dog coat, inscribed with illustrated verses from the Book of Life and stitched in a thousand and one colors, that I don't wear -- 2d8

[DannyK]

I think the interaction between Cyrus and Esau might be very, very interesting.  They've got complementary insecurities.

[Ben Lehman]

I think the interaction between Cyrus and Esau might be very, very interesting.  They've got complementary insecurities.

BL>  Yeah, it'll be interesting.  They're coming at the same problem (do I belong in the faith at all, let alone the dogs?) from opposite sides -- you from the side of the outcast, and me from the side of the aristocrat.  Which is awesome.


I think, though, that to start with Cyrus won't even really regard Esau as a person -- he's never seen a Savage Indian before, and he'll be scared and condescending and curious kind of all at the same time.  Breaking down that relationship will be fun.

I think, also, that all of these characters seem to have some traits in common -- all of them are trying to live up to, or live down, their names.  Jared needs to prove himself for his sister, Esau needs to prove himself a true member of the Faith, Jezebel needs to prove that she ain't no bad woman, Hosea is needs to prove himself worthy of the family name, and Cyrus... well... Cyrus doesn't know what he wants to prove, yet, but it has to do with whether he's more Faithful or more Cultured.

I point this out because I think that Family and Name are some great repeated issues, anyway.  wink wink nudge nudge.

yrs--
--Ben

P.S.  Hey -- Hosea's player (uhm... missed your name)!  What I really want to see addressed in your character is Pride.  A family of all Dogs, who pull strings for each other to become Dogs, is just brimming with it.  How do you relate to it?  Are you a Dog out of calling, pride, family obligation, or something else?

P.P.S. James -- what I want to see with Jezebel is some addressing of what she does outside of being a pretty girl.  I don't think being pretty is enough for her to be a Dog.  Likewise, what I'm going to be watching for during play is her own sexuality -- I mean, you've put sex on the table just with that character concept, which is cool -- but I want to see what it means internally, for her, rather than just what is put upon her from the outside world.  You may already be on top of this.  I'm just shooting the breeze.

[anonymouse]

What does he think of grandpa? Does he feel worthy of his family name? Is he a goody two-shoes who got treated nicely by the trainers? Is his singing voice natural or was he trained by his family members? How does he feel about being an orphan?

Okay. I've a problem with getting FAR too wordy with my character histories, and was trying to keep it to comparative length to the others so far. ;)

Being pretty firmly a teenager, Hosea wavers fiercely between believing he's doing the family proud, and believing he's letting them down; living as a Laurent, shouldering the responsibility and legacy, is his biggest motivator right now. There will absolutely come times when he has to decide whether to be a Laurent, or whether to be a Dog, I think. Maybe he's struggling trying to reconcile the two, which may seem difficult to him but so easy for his elders.

For the lost-family issue.. I dunno yet. I want to say the emotional impact hasn't really set in yet. He sees it, at the moment, more as a loss to the Temple, to the Faith, than as a personal loss. Maybe feels a little guilty about that, a little uspet that he's.. not upset. The accelerated time at the Temple (which had no kid gloves for Hosea) didn't help; Laurents died, the Temple came for him, and now he's got his companions and his route.

The singing voice is just, at the moment, a bit of character. It's talent, pure and sweet. Hmm! Shall we say there was a choir of some sort at the Dogs' Temple? That'd be a way to work it in background-wise.

As to the Pride issue.. he's a Dog because the Laurents are Dogs, or otherwise closely tied to the church. I don't know if he's had time to really consider if this is a personal calling, or not.. he believes it is. The Temple wanted him out on the frontier as soon as possible, because they feel it's bad, bad news to have so few Laurents out there now. So.. yeah. Absolutely, a big chunk of Pride. The family does it, the Temple believe they need him out there (which in his mind, is tantamount to the King of Life personally asking him to pick up a gun and judge)..

Okay. Am I a bit better off now? Again.. trying to touch on points without devolving into novella writing, which I have.. a bad habit of doing. -.-

[Doyce]

Also, Doyce emailed me and asked if he could take part in the collaborative character creation thing, which I don't see as a problem, even though I basically declared the game closed.  That way too, if somebody has to drop out for some reason, we have another character that's ready to step in.

Ladies and gents, thanks for letting in on this a bit -- I appreciate the chance to get some feedback on my understanding of the rules, dress out a character that hopefully works with the themes I've been seeing in other's submissions, and see what comes out of it.  I know there's probably no room to play at this time, but I don't mind sitting on the bench for a game like this.

For my turn at the wheel, I found myself in the lucky-unlucky position of being the last person to pitch a concept, and wanting to find something that (a) appealed to me and (b) didn't plow over already planted earth.  Here's what I've got:

Jubal Goodall

Jubal is a convert lately come to the Faith  -- a man who has ridden many trails on patrol, but never in the service of the Dogs; rendered many judgments unto the guilty, but never in the name of the King of Life; and done many things for which he realizes he must atone.

He came to the Faith while being nursed back to health by a lone Faithful family that lived on the patrol route he rode as a lawman for the Territorial Authority -- Jubal had been waylaid by banditos who shot him up pretty badly and the family saved him and showed him the true nature of mercy-with-Justice...

... they were the family of a man he'd sentenced to hang a year earlier.

After he got his strength back (and done what he could for the family), Jubal traveled to Bridal Falls and came to the Temple with his hat in his hand, asking for whatever menial service they would give him as a way of  serving the King of Life.

Another year passed, in which Jubal cleaned, cooked, worked the fields, and studied.  One cold winter night an instructor at the temple came to him and told him he was being called to service.

It was his fifty-sixth birthday.

Strong History

Stats
Acuity 3D6
Body 3D6
Heart 4D6
Will 3D6

Traits
I'm a hard-nosed TA lawman from way back 1d6
I don't want this to end in bloodshed 1d6
I'm young in the Faith 1d10
I'm a fair hand in the kitchen 1d8
I've shot more men than I care to count 1d10
I can knock a man out if I have to 1d10
I never married 1d8
With age comes some small wisdom 1d8
Got a lot to atone for 1d6
I've got a soothing voice 1d8

Relationships
The local TA reps and lawmen 1d4
The Dogs are my salvation 1d8
The (female) instructor at Temple who's about my age 1d6

Belongings
Black Wool Coat 1D6
This simple but servicable coat was donated to Dogs Temple.  Before it was given to Jubal, someone at the Temple stitched embroidery on it: grey at the cuffs and white at the collar.  Jubal suspects he knows who.

Horse 1d6
Jubal is an old hand at traveling a patrol route -- he doesn't like it any more than he likes cleaning up after cooking his supper, but it's something that needs doing, so he does it.

Rifle 1d8+1d4
Jubal's service rifle, with which he is more than familiar.  He has removed the metal star inlay of the TA from the wooden stock, but hasn't yet replaced it with an emblem of the Tree -- he doesn't know if he should.

Jar of consecrated earth 1D6

New but well-handled Book of Life 1D6

Worn but very well-cared for camping and travel gear, including his smoker's kit 1d6

-----

For his initiation, I'd say that Jubal wants to find out if he still has a knack for knowing Evil when he sees it.

-----

That's it for now: feedback welcome.

[Jonathan Walton]

Okay, to start with Ben, here are the traits that click most for me:

I'm a Citizen of the Territorial Columbian Commonwealth
I could have gone to Harvard
There's a lot more books than just the Book of Life
I've got soft hands
I speak proper English
My father could buy this entire pathetic town [Great!!!!]
I don't wear my coat yet
But, for what it's worth, I'm a dog

...
A big, thick, fine Dog coat, inscribed with illustrated verses from the Book of Life and stitched in a thousand and one colors, that I don't wear -- 2d8

Your list of possessions is very cool, but I especially like the beautiful coat made by the mysterious girl that you don't wear.  This, of course, is just begging for a scene where Cyrus actually puts on the coat and goes to hand out the Retribution of the Lord.  You've got plenty to work with here, so I think you can work this into a semi-final form now.

Okay. Am I a bit better off now?

Much.  Thanks.  It'll also be interesting to see how the upperclass boys from the families Laurent and Haynes get on.  They might find some sympathy in each other, or might try to stay away in an effort to fit in with the pleebs.

One final thought.  You don't have a trait that asserts your Doghood, so what about something filled with Pride, like "Of course I'm a Dog."  That would be fun to mess around with and change as the character changes.

That's it for now: feedback welcome.

Very cool.  There can be something good about being the last one to come up with a character concept, because it leads you down less-trodden paths.  I like the aging ex-lawman concept and I like how you haven't made him a stereotypical recent convert extremist, out to prove that he's a stronger member in the Faith than others.

Unfortunately, I don't know that I have any special comments for you.  The character looks great to me. Anybody else got anything for Doyce?

---

Okay, so looks like everyone's getting really close.  What say we try to wrap the characters up so we can start a new thread about initiations and how we want to run them (individually on IRC, as a group, etc.).  I'll give people a few more days to finish up character stuff, but then I'll start the initiation thread anyway, so we don't run out of steam here.  After all, the whole point is Actual Play!

Scheduling email will go out soon.

[Ben Lehman]

Okay, here's some tentative stats for Cyrus.  Doyce, comments for you in the next post.

Cyrus Patrick Haynes II
Complicated History

Stats:
Acuity: 6d6
Body: 2d6
Heart: 4d6
Will: 3d6

Traits:
I'm a citizen of the Territorial Columbian Commonwealth 2d4
I was raised in the East 1d4
I could have gone to Harvard 1d10
I speak proper English 1d6
I've never seen blood 1d6
I don't wear my coat yet 1d4
But, for what it's worth, I'm a Dog 1d10

Relationships:
The girl who made my coat 2d8
The Territorial Authority 1d6
Free 4d6

Possessions:
A factory-made rifle frock coat - 1d4
An illustrated copy of the Harvard Classics - 1d6
A Gentleman's pistol, light and well made, that's never been fired - 2d6
Clothes in the latest styles - 1d6

A big, thick, fine Dog coat, inscribed with illustrated verses from the Book of Life and stitched in a thousand and one colors, that I don't wear -- 2d8

I'm open to suggestions for the training challenge.

yrs--
--Ben

[Doyce]

That's it for now: feedback welcome.

I like the aging ex-lawman concept and I like how you haven't made him a stereotypical recent convert extremist, out to prove that he's a stronger member in the Faith than others.

Heh.  I misread that initially and missed the "haven't" part, so I was shaking my head, but yeah... I'm glad that concept came across.  What I really see is a balancing act between (a) his new teachings and (b) the ingrained habits of a lifetime... some of which are very useful and some of which are so, so wrong.

And oh, I forgot... 2d6 and 1d8 relationship dice remaining.

[anonymouse]

Jonathan,

re: Dogblood.. that's part of what I was thinking that "Yes. Those Laurents." took care of, and why I assigned so many dice to it; I wanted the whole Laurent family thing to be -really- strong. In fact.. hmm. Now that I write it out that way, I can't believe I didn't devote more space (originally.. still kinda scarce) to how he deals with the whole prestigious-family-name thing. Maybe I'll take another crack at that tonight.

I'm not sure how vague and all-encompassing we can get with our traits. Can two or more traits be combined on a single roll?

[Blankshield]

Jezebel
Complicated Community

Jezebel grew up in the little town of Hope Springs, so named for the nearby springs that nothing would grow without.  Folks wandering through – not a lot, it was off the beaten path – would sometimes wonder at the names of kids in that town: Caine, Jezebel, Lilith, but mostly they just shook their heads and moved on.  Until the Dogs came to town.  Things really came to a head when a Dog asked Caine "Why'd your momma name you?" and he replied quite innocently "Because my brother died sick and she wanted me to live."  Well after that, a few folks got shot, and a few folks got exorcized and the King of Life came back to Hope Springs, courtesy of the Dogs.

Jezebel's momma wanted her to be beautiful.  And she is.  Jez doesn't know the price her momma paid for her looks, but since the Dogs, momma prayed a whole lot, and walked the straight and narrow till sickness took her when Jez was 17.  Two days later, Jez was called to serve.

Jezebel's daddy was one of the folks who got shot.

Stats:

Acuity: 4d6
Body: 3d6
Heart: 3d6
Will: 5d6

Traits:
Damn pretty 2d6
Momma walked the straight and narrow since the Dogs came 1d8
I know what demonic influence looks like 2d6
I can see hypocrisy a mile away 1d6
I got into a lotta scraps as a kid 1d8

Relationships:    Available: 2d4 1d6 1d8 2d10
The demon that gave momma my name/looks 2d4
Dogs saved my town and momma, now it's my turn 1d8
Brother Micah: The Dog who exorcized and shot my daddy, now a teacher at the Temple 1d6

Possessions:

Rich black leather that highlights her looks, with brightly stitched passages that tell the marks of demonic influence, and a beautiful spreading tree of life on the back.  The coat. 2d8
Daddy's Book of Life, with a few improper annotations d4
Jar of earth given me by Brother Micah 2d8
A horse.  1d6
A gun 1d6+1d4
Gifts from home 2d6

---
Jezebel grew up as an innocent kid who didn't have the slightest clue her daddy and her town were in the clutches of demons.  After the Dogs came,  it got harder, because while she didn't know exactly what, she did know that every time momma looked at her, momma saw her own sin.  Jez learned to hate her beauty, but all the same, knowing that her momma had paid for it somehow, she couldn't neglect it or damage it.  Deep down, she feels a whole shwackload of misplaced guilt over this.

Her teenage years were a balancing act between normal teenage rebellion (with those looks!) and her momma's straight and narrow path.  She never fell too far from the Tree, but there is some stuff she never woulda told momma, like the time she had to break David's nose because he took flirting a little too far and wouldn't back off.

The Dogs had a big effect on the Town, and Hope Springs has never had a problem with demons since.  Oh, a little touch of Pride or Sin here and there, but the Dogs always manage to root it out.  Never went farther than that; it just seems like everyone in the town right down to the kids knew what it looked like when the demons really turned their eye on a place, and kept well clear.  Every man woman and child in Hope Springs put something into her coat, not just a stitch, but also a useful little gift, like a shaker of salt or a spool of strong thread.

For her accomplishment, I'd like Jezebel to have to use her beauty as a positive thing, and maybe get an inkling that it's not just a demon-curse.

---
Jezebel's turned out to me more about the demons that I'd originally aimed for, but I think it worked out Ok.  She's definitely more than just a pretty face.  I'm seeing her in my mind's eye as a bit cold in one-on-one, but a genuine force of nature, all fire and heat when she's on the warpath.


James