[DITV] Good raises are hard!

[Brand_Robins]

Hm.  I guess I'll give it one more shot, but it sounds like I'm just not creative enough to run this game.

Brian, I am not creative enough to run this game. I almost doubt Vincent is creative enough to run this game.

Here is the magic ticket to being able to run it despite not being creative enough: you aren't in it alone. You have a whole table of people around you, and their ideas will give you enough creativity to run with.

Read this post. Watch me suck and screw up at least three times. Watch us start with mushy, wussy stakes and slowly form them into stakes that work (even though we never formally changed the stakes, you can see it happening). Watch as it is not Brand, the GM, that comes up with the good ideas -- but the players.

I am telling you, I SUCK. But when I run Dogs it ROCKS. This is because it really isn't about me, it's about the group as a whole.

[Brian Newman]

So, stakes drift is okay in the middle of a conflict?  Even for initiation conflicts?

[lumpley]

Danger! Danger!

Everybody, take the rest of the day off and come back tomorrow. This conversation needs to start fresh, in a new thread - possibly about "stakes: what and how?" - but only if taking the rest of the day off and thinking about it isn't enough.

Thanks, everybody!

And I've failed massively to say: Brian, welcome! I'm glad you're here and I'm glad you like my game.

-Vincent

[Brand_Robins]

So, stakes drift is okay in the middle of a conflict?  Even for initiation conflicts?

Okay, 24 hours down. Can I sneak back in now?

....

Vincent, if I'm out of line you can delete this post or whatever.

....

Okay. Brian, I wouldn't normally shift the stakes in the middle of a conflict. I'd end the conflict and start a new one. What I was talking about in the example of play is the way we messed about with the stakes before the conflict proper started. Once the conflict dice actually started coming out, it was clear what we were doing and didn't mess with it after that. But before the dice came out, oh boy were we changing things....

We had something really vauge, like "Learn to be a Dog for its own sake" which is something hellishly hard to narrate out. I honestly have no idea how I would have come up with raises for that. But by the time we actually started the conflict and he rolled his dice we'd move through something like "Will Brother Isacc learn to respond to need with love and kindness?" to "Will Brother Isacc help Sister Relief, or turn her away because he's a selfish dick." We never stated that last part formally (which I think we probably should have, but hey, I'm not perfect), but if you look at the banter around the poses it seems that everyone is pretty clear on it.

The thing about it is I never would have come up with that on my own. Or at least, I wouldn't have in the 5 minutes leading up to the conflict. My group, however, gave us most of the ideas and the focus for the stakes by their contributions. Using your group to help you define your stakes is a good thing.

[Brian Newman]

I believe I get it.  I was just concerned when everyone started jumping in and saying how it should have been so easy.  I took that to mean I messed up something, and since I seemed to go by the book, it must have been me.

[Brand_Robins]

I believe I get it.  I was just concerned when everyone started jumping in and saying how it should have been so easy.  I took that to mean I messed up something, and since I seemed to go by the book, it must have been me.

Naw, no way.

It's easy once you get the hang of it. Getting the hang of it is a pain. (Well it was for me. It was probably easy for some, but I wasn't one of them.)

Anyway, it sounds to me like you're off to a good start, and I am eager to hear of more play!