Question about Dogs other duties

[Nev the Deranged]

Listed among the Dogs duties is carrying mail, news, and dissemination of new interpretation of scripture. Has anybody actually used these as part of a Dogs game?

Also, these somewhat imply the possibility of... for lack of a better phrase, "inter-townal stuff".  IE Sister Josephine asks the Dogs to carry a letter to her cousin in the next town... what does the letter say? Is it really to her cousin, or to her secret boyfriend, or fellow cult member, or...?

Or, if the Dogs are bringing new doctrine, different towns are going to react to it different ways, probably.

Or, what happens when the Dogs leave a town in flames (or whatever the case may be) and Brother Abraham, the Steward of the next town, says "Oh, you guys just came from Fiddler's Peak? How's my son Lemuel handling his Stewardship there?"

Anybody got any actual AP examples?

[Andrew Morris]

I've only used that as color -- I deliver his letter and question him why he's been acting so shady.

[lumpley]

I believe it's Ben Lehman always writes "big, excellent mail, 2d8" on his character sheet.

-Vincent

[Ben Lehman]

I believe it's Ben Lehman always writes "big, excellent mail, 2d8" on his character sheet.

-Vincent

Yup.  Any time a conversation stalls it's "oh, wait, I think I've got some mail for you."

And, because it's excellent mail, you know that it's important!

yrs--
--Ben

[Ben Lehman]

From now on, I'm also adding:

Excellent news 2d6.  "Oh, that's excellent news!"

and

Crap interpretation of scripture 1d4 "Yeah, now we read that as saying the pi is definitely equal to the three.  Sorry, man."

yrs--
--Ben

[Lance D. Allen]

I know we've frequently used mail carriage as a conversation starter with the Branch Steward, but except for a few personal cases (Malachi delivering a letter personally to his cousin... from his mom, I believe) we've not really delivered mail personally to the townsfolk. We've also done some dissemination of news, but I don't think we've had any new interpretation of scripture. We've also done some of the other additional duties, such as presiding over/blessing a marriage, sanctifying the dead.. No babies to name, though.

[jrs]

Old geekery rears its head ...

"Gangway!"
         
       #             
### ---.--------     
  ##.........d.|     
    |....&@....|     
    ------------       

Julie

[Ben Lehman]

Old geekery rears its head ...

"Gangway!"
         
       #             
### ---.--------     
  ##.........d.|     
    |....&@....|     
    ------------       

Julie

But why isn't the Dog next to the demon so that he can use ceremony on it?

yrs--
--Ben

[lumpley]

I am a failed geek. What's this thing?

-Vincent

[Ben Lehman]

NetHack

Required for game designers.

yrs--
--Ben

[jrs]

@ = you, or rather, the intrepid dungeon adventurer
d = tame dog (both "tame" and "dog" being variable)
& = represents demons as a class of monsters, in this specific case it represents the mail daemon (tenuously portrayed by the "Gangway!" line comment that I believe only comes from the mail daemon when it overruns an existing monster)

As Ben already mentioned, it's from Nethack which originated as a unix based game.  It can be compiled to interact with the player's account such that notification of new email is indicated in game by the delivery (by said mail daemon) of a "stamped scroll" that self-identifies as a "scroll of mail" once read.

And, yes, I have wondered way far away from the topic at hand.

Julie

[Nev the Deranged]

You know, if NetHack had been multiplayer, it would have ruled.

Although I never could get past the third level.

Oh, and Julie... you're a geek.

[ironick]

We used the delivering of the mail several times in our game to meet the NPCs of the towns--we always delivered it personally, usually by setting up in front of the Branch at sundown and having people file through.  A few times, if I remember correctly, it was an actual method of letting us know about the Sin.  Damned if I can recall how specifically, though.  We also named children *all the time*.  It was pretty much just color, but I think we were all tickled by the idea.

In a recent one-shot, I used mail delivery as the basis for a trait as well: I read other people's mail, 2d6.

Nick

[Nev the Deranged]

In a recent one-shot, I used mail delivery as the basis for a trait as well: I read other people's mail, 2d6.

Now, see, that's the kind of thing I'm interested in.  So the Dog reads someone's mail. What does it say? Does the GM have something in mind? Do they just wing it? Do they let the player narrate the contents of the mail and wing that? Is it just flavor/color? Does it contribute to the plot (the evolving in play plot, not the railroady type plot, obviously)?

And if it does contribute, does it in any way tie more than one town together in a meaningful fashion?

[Vaxalon]

As I read it, Dogs is an old-fashioned game in terms of GM authority over NPC's.

"I look through the letters I'm carrying.  Are any of them for Sister Lavinia?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, you have one... it's quite old, an oilskin envelope tied with string.  It's one of the ones you got when you left Bridal Falls City.  It looks like it's been dragged from town to town looking for Sister Lavinia for a long time."

"I open it up."

"Inside you find  a child's slate, as would be used in school.  It's like new.  There's also a letter, congratulating Lavinia on her new position as schoolmistress, and expressing certainty that she'll serve the town of Lookout Pine well."

"But we're not in Lookout Pine... Lookout Pine was the town we passed through where everyone was dead, and the buildings all burned down."

"Well, fancy that."