[DitV] Actual Play: Using PCs in initiation conflicts

[Ginger Stampley]

We tried using PCs in each others' initiation conflicts this weekend and it worked out pretty well.

My character, Sister Hepzibah, ended up by traits as kind of a ladylike Miss Manners wannabe (as opposed to the reformed prostitute from Back East who'd gotten secondary virginity from the King of Life, or the rodeo girl convert). Her initiation conflict was to learn when hitting someone was appropriate.

Brother Virgil had the trait 1d4 "I don't much like women". The GM had the teachers approach Brother Virgil and Brother Ethan (also kind of a ruffian) to get their help to teach Sister Hepzibah when it was OK to hit. They pushed ahead of her in the chow line and told her they should go first because they were men. Brother Virgil in particular was verbally aggressive. I played out all Sister Hepzibah's traits and stats to stay talking as long as I could until finally Brother Virgil cheesed her off and she decked him.

In addition to Sister Hepzibah's initiation accomplishment (1d6 "There's a time to stop talking and start fighting"), I ended up with a 1d4 relationship with Brother Virgil from fallout. By the end of the weekend, ongoing play had built that to 3d4, and he has a 1d4 relationship with her. I'm not sure we would have gotten there without using the initiation conflict as a starter for the relationship. Certainly we wouldn't have gotten there as easily.

[lumpley]

Ginger, that's pretty cool. I've had mixed luck including one PC in another's intiation. Sometimes it's gone just like that, sometimes it's turned kind of harsh and inter-player.

Who rolled dice?

-Vincent

[Eric Provost]

I'd like to hear more about who rolled dice too, this sounds really interesting.

And to Vincent, when you say that it ended up 'harsh and inter-player', how do you mean?  How did it fall to that?  I'm curious, because it seems, in my imaginination, that the inter-player bits would end up being a good & tasty thing for initiations.  

-Eric

[Ginger Stampley]

I think the GM was rolling. I was busy chasing my own dice and paying more attention to that than what they were doing until it was time to start seeing and raising.  

Both Brother Virgil's player and the GM (my husband) are around here. I'm hoping they'll step up and add comments.

I think there are some reasons the situation worked out pretty well for us:

[*] I came in with the goal of mixing it up and trying to work with different people.
[*] Both players came definitely prepared for possible intraparty conflict (as witnessed by traits: he doesn't much like women and she doubts the faith of converts, like him).
[*] The play in town worked out to get us to support each other, which was a combination of chance and player choice (we ended up working together when the group split).
[/list:u]
I like the 3d4 relationship, because obviously Brother Virgil is important to her, but it's a complicated thing.

[lumpley]

The time that it went worst for me was a time when the players' investment in the stakes of the conflict made this little conflict a stage for a much bigger conflict between their visions of the game world. Like, "can I correct this guy on his point of doctrine?" really meant "in this game, are women equal to men?" It wasn't just a trait at stake, but the whole future experience of the game.

I have nothing really against that kind of thing in principle, but for those players at that time it wasn't fun. I should've handled it differently than I did.

But yeah! Big d4 relationships with other Dogs are really fun.

-Vincent

[MichaelCurry]

I think the GM was rolling. I was busy chasing my own dice and paying more attention to that than what they were doing until it was time to start seeing and raising.

You know, I was the one playing Brother Virgil, and I'm not sure either, though I'm leaning toward the GM as the one who was rolling the dice.  I think it just didn't seem to matter much at the time.

I think there are some reasons the situation worked out pretty well for us:

[*] I came in with the goal of mixing it up and trying to work with different people.
[*] Both players came definitely prepared for possible intraparty conflict (as witnessed by traits: he doesn't much like women and she doubts the faith of converts, like him).
[*] The play in town worked out to get us to support each other, which was a combination of chance and player choice (we ended up working together when the group split).
[/list:u]

It never actually occurred to me to think of Brother Virgil being part of Sister Hepzibah's conflict as anything but a good, fun idea.  I guess I can see though how a different sort of investment in stakes could make it a problem in some groups.

I like the 3d4 relationship, because obviously Brother Virgil is important to her, but it's a complicated thing.

I like it too.  A lot.  And it couldn't be anything but complicated.