[Dogs in The Vineyard] New Newriver Ravens tale part 1

[Lance D. Allen]

Lance: I don't get it. Does "don't try to kill NPCs you don't want to kill" answer your concern? If not, why not?

Not quite. See, I don't see Dove ever *trying* to kill one of the misguided Faithful. He's the sort to try for the trick shots, like shooting a gun out of someone's hand, or other such. As such, I typically wouldn't try to force fallout on the NPC. It only takes a miscount of the dice, or the GM purposely taking fallout to save his higher dice for later in the conflict for things to shift into a new arena. All it takes then is an unfortunate roll of the dice.

Hell, both of our injured Dogs were due to rolls of 16 on d8s. I only rolled 3d8 for my fallout.. Kory's was notably higher, 7d8, but the fact remains that a single roll ended up with both Dogs near to death. The same could easily happen with an NPC that Dove only meant to scare, or wound at most.

As I said, I have no intention of making prolific use of such a ruling. But I believe that there are times when NPCs deserve a certain amount of plot immunity.

edit: On the other hand, giving it a little more thought, I realize that such a ruling is only necessary if there's a disagreement between player and GM. As the player and GM can decide between them the fate of the NPC just by how they allocate dice, an NPC never has to take fallout unless one side or the other has the will and ability to force the issue. I think some of my repressed Player -vs- GM fears may be the root of this issue. It's really just social contract.

Nevermind me.. Internal dialogue going on here...

[Lxndr]

Lance, technically you hit a 15, and then failed to See your Fallout.  Kory rolled the actual 16.

At first I was worried about the potential deaths, and then I embraced the whole thing.  Some of the most exciting roleplaying I've ever had.  

I even let players do new things (Lance's character having a new vision, for instance) with their word that they'd take said action as a Trait their next opportunity (Fallout or otherwise).  Not sure if that's precisely kosher Dogs, but it worked for me.

Another rules question that came out of last session):

What are the time and action constraints on "will die without medical attention" (i.e. someone hitting a 16 on their Fallout).  Kory's character fell unconscious after being whacked with a sandbag, which was at the time, I think, the only thing we imagined could be possible.  Later Lance's character stayed awake long enough to mend/heal Kory's character, which made me think that perhaps Kory's character could also have stayed up long enough to push through another conflict or two.

I know the only "right" answer is "as long as makes sense", but can anyone give examples from THEIR play about how long it took from "needs medical attention"  to "death" and, did you let them take actions during that time?

Edit:  Also, you roll the patient's Health + the healer's Acuity for healing rolls.  Now, who rolls that (and thus can call on traits like "I know how to mend folk" or "I'm a good healer") - the healer, or the patient, or is this a time where either individual can call on traits to add to the conflict?

And of course... it says that the healer takes the Fallout, but it doesn't say what that Fallout is.  I considered it physical (d6) but wasn't sure if that made the most sense...

(Seems that it's not all that easy to Raise on a healing roll either...)

[Vaxalon]

Okay, I understand now.  Just because the mechanic is called "Give" doesn't mean, necessarily, that the character surrenders.