Dogs in other Genres

[Vagabond]

I was looking through the forum and saw a couple of references to Dogs games in other genres. The CoC: Delta Green one looked especially cool. Anyways, I thought I'd make a thread where you can add in your DitV mod. Here's mine:

I've always liked Legend of the Five Rings. The idea was always really cool, but as Ron Edwards has pointed out, the Narritivist text doesn't really match with the Gamist/Simulationist system, leading to a) a lot if ignoring the rules or b) throwing all narritivism to the wayside.

Anyways, using the Dogs premise, our players are Imperial Magistrates. They are special travelling investigators given the full authority of the Emperor to do what ever they want in order to root out "evil" or "injustice". Again, just like in Dogs, you create a town with a problem. In the L5R game there is also the Shadowlands and it's corrupting influence. So if you wanted to play a Shadowlands campaign you would be travelling from town to town on the border of the Shadow lands.

The influence of evil might be something like this:

Someone has a strange habit or desire.

The desire leads to dishonorable behaviour.

The dishonorable behaviour builds and the Shadowlands start influencing the NPC in some way.

The influence leads to power in the community and that power leads others to commit atrocities.

Finally, with followers and power, the NPC becomes a creature of the Shadowlands and leads the community to darkness.

Of course its the PCs job to root out this evil any way they can. They also have to be careful of the politics of the region, but I would make the game give much more authority to the PCs. The role of Imperial Magistrate really means something and when they enter a town, people will be looking to them to do the same things Dogs do, settle minor disputes, bless people's homes, name children, etc. etc. The L5R game works under the premise that your PCs are low powered and will eventually gain political power. I would say that being an IM already gives you enough power to take the Daimyo of a town out of his home kicking and screaming and execute him in the middle of the street. The political fallout might be severe, but that would be up to the GM of course. Depending on what kind of game they want to play.

I think the rules would work perfectly for this. The L5R game has an honor stat, but I don't see the need for it. Perhaps a Shadowlands taint trait might be in order as a cost of certain actions. But I really wouldn't add too much to the game except magic. The magic might take some work... what to do you think? Viable? Anyone care to take a crack at an L5R game done with a political focus?

[Clinton R. Nixon]

Great thread idea! Mine, which I thought up on the loo today:

The source: "We, In Some Strange Power's Employ, Move On A Rigorous Line," by Samuel Delany, who is one of the world's best SF writers. I will hear no argument about this.

Anyway, the short story is about the power company. Specifically, it's about the power company in the future, where power is free for everyone, which has led to great advances in medical care and quality-of-life. The protoganists are "devils," traveling power workers onboard a gigantic moving power station who repair broken power lines and bring power to the small corners of the earth that don't have it yet.

Some corners of the earth don't want it. They want to stay in the past, to continue survivalism and bigotry. The question the story asks: is everyone's way of life to be accepted? Should we drag people into the future, or should we leave them alone? Should we eliminate savagry, no matter what the cost?

Of course, the Dogs are these devils, travelling from one unpowered community to another, finding the root of the community's backwardness and then deciding whether to flush it out.

Personally, I like my Jedi mod better, but I really want a system to run a campaign based on this short story with.

[Blankshield]

One that I've been rolling around in my head for a while is using Dogs to run Heralds of Valdemar.

Instead of a coat, you get a companion.  You must take a relationship to your companion instead of needing an "I'm a dog" trait.
Instead of escalating to guns, you escalate to gifts.

The players are heralds travelling circuit, going from town to town, trying to solve the problems.  It's a pretty clean conversion that way, modelling Arrow's Flight.  I would edit the setting slightly to allow for Heralds to ride circuit in groups.

There's very little mucking needed: the settings are strongly parallel, particularly in the Arrows trilogy.

James

[Doyce]

One that I've been rolling around in my head for a while is using Dogs to run Heralds of Valdemar.

The game earned many comparisons to Heralds of Valdemar during chargen with my group...

Favorably -- in that folks liked the Dog angle better than they said they enjoy the HoV books.

[Vagabond]

Hi Blankshield and Doyce,

Heralds of Valdemer? I don't think I've ever heard of that series before.
What's it about? How does it fit with the "Dogs" idea?

The players are heralds travelling circuit, going from town to town, trying to solve the problems. It's a pretty clean conversion that way, modelling Arrow's Flight.

Is it high fantasy instead of the Western setting?

Tell me more, I'm intrigued...

P.S. Blankshield, we've never met but I think we have friends in common (Thor Petersen, mebbe Phil Rajotte). I used to be a member of the U of A's gaming club, so I think I heard of you. :)

[Blankshield]

Hi Blankshield and Doyce,

Heralds of Valdemer? I don't think I've ever heard of that series before.
What's it about? How does it fit with the "Dogs" idea?

The players are heralds travelling circuit, going from town to town, trying to solve the problems. It's a pretty clean conversion that way, modelling Arrow's Flight.

Is it high fantasy instead of the Western setting?

It's high fantasy, most distinctly.  It's a whole series of books by Mercedes Lackey, probably her most famous set of books.  Certainly her most prolific setting.  I would recommend starting with the Arrows trilogy (Arrows of the Queen, Arrow's Flight, Arrow's Fall) and if you like those, pick up some of the others.  In essence, aside from the setting change, and authority running from the divine through the monarch, there's very strong parallel's between the Heralds and the Dogs.

P.S. Blankshield, we've never met but I think we have friends in common (Thor Petersen, mebbe Phil Rajotte). I used to be a member of the U of A's gaming club, so I think I heard of you. :)

Holy Incredible Shrinking Universe, Batman!  Cool.  That was [mumble mumble] years ago now...  Are you keeping up with any of that crew?  Fire me a PM. :)

James

[Jason Morningstar]

Road Dogs on the Walk

Welcome to prison.  Its mind over matter . . . They don't mind and you don't matter.  You are ‘in the car’, enforcers in a large prison gang.  

The levels of escalation:

Words
Postures
Fists
Weapons

Something is wrong:

Somebody is NOT DOING THEIR OWN TIME (getting involved in another’s affairs)

Not doing your own time leads to GETTING ATTENTION

Getting attention leads to ANTAGONISM (jealousy, bullying, sex, robbery)

Antagonism leads to GANG ATTACKS

Gang attacks lead to REPRISALS

--Jason

[Joshua A.C. Newman]

Revoltingly delicious!