Little Details of your setting

[Levi Kornelsen]

The setting in Dogs gets fleshed up a little differently by each group that plays it, I think.  I'm going to put down some of the things my group has grown between us, just as a matter of talk; if you have your own, share 'em.

The Head of the Table
The Dogs often end up going to dinner at various homes, especially the Steward's house.  It's a given in our world that the person at the head of the table has control over the conversation - effectively, it's a sign of authority.  Seeing if someone gives them that chair, if they take it, and who takes it, that's an interesting little side note about once a game.

The First Families
In general, the players have taken to noting who in a town is part of a founding family of town - that's usually where a lot of the authority goes, and where many long-term problems happen.

The Town Bell
Every town in our world has a big bell, usually in a main square in the center of town, sometimes on the temple or town hall.

The Service Rotation
This one, I added off-the-cuff; each town has a rotating, yearly standard progression of services.  The Dogs have checked up a few times to see how the various Stewards handle this progression.  This progression is mirrored in little prayer books that many educated Faithful have.

So, got any sismilar little things that add detail to your games?

[TonyLB]

In one of my first games I had trouble goin' on with the womenfolk in the Stewards house.  So I said "Hrm ... place doesn't look to have been dusted real well in the recent past.  Cozy and all, but ... it could be cleaner."

I swear, every single player at the table came on point like they were freakin' golden retrievers.  I had the hardest time keeping a straight face.  I mean, sure, you can get morally vested in whatever you want and I respect that, but ... a little dust?  Caught me off guard, that's for sure.

But since then I've been sure that I at least think, during town setup, "How would Sister such-and-so keep house?  What's it like to sit down a spell and talk with these folks in their own home?"

[Supplanter]

In one of my first games I had trouble goin' on with the womenfolk in the Stewards house.  So I said "Hrm ... place doesn't look to have been dusted real well in the recent past.  Cozy and all, but ... it could be cleaner."

I swear, every single player at the table came on point like they were freakin' golden retrievers.  I had the hardest time keeping a straight face.  I mean, sure, you can get morally vested in whatever you want and I respect that, but ... a little dust?  Caught me off guard, that's for sure.

Well that was a brilliant bit of "show don't tell" on your part, is the thing. I think as mostly cosmopolitan sexual egalitarians playing archaic religious conservatives, we're alive to gender issues in Dogs anyway. And if you have people at the table who are juggling some combination of jobs, kids, hobbies and housework, they already understand homemaking as a problematic relationship issue. You happened on a nice "hooking the players" instance, is what I think happened.

Best,


Jim

[TonyLB]

You happened on a nice "hooking the players" instance, is what I think happened.

Sure.  I agree completely.  All I'm saying is (huckster mode on) "You TOO can have this easy, well-crafted player hook, for one low low price.  But don't answer yet!  You also get a subtle examination of the fairness of gender expectations in a troubled community!"  (huckster mode off)

[Tindalos]

In our game, the supernatural dial is pretty low except for one thing.  The Dogs are capable of "laying on hands" to heal disease and injury.

Another detail is that every faithful branch has an explicit temple that was one of the first structures built and served as a communal home for the faitful while the rest of the town was built.  Therefore, these temples tend to be fairly large with plenty of room and even some private rooms.

Oh and like the above we also have had a bell in every town.

[Vaxalon]

We decided that the "sign of the tree" is simply a hand raised, with fingers splayed.

Every town has a tree... used for celebrations and hangings.

[Levi Kornelsen]

Every town has a tree... used for celebrations and hangings.

That's really cool.

[14thWarrior]

Every town has a tree... used for celebrations and hangings.

I concur with Levi.  I think I might scoop this idea.  Though rather than just one tree, I'd be tempted to have two trees at opposite ends of town; one in the east for celebrations (the sunrise side), and one in the west for hanging (the sunset side). :)

[TonyLB]

Oh, I think there is something incomparably grim and wonderful about it being the same tree.

[Alex F]

Yes, it strikes a similar tone as the end of The Wicker Man.
Shudder.

[14thWarrior]

Oh, I think there is something incomparably grim and wonderful about it being the same tree.

I agree there is a creepy quality to using the same tree.  I was just going for slightly different symbolism by suggesting two opposed trees.  It really all depends on the tone you're trying to achieve in the game. :)

[Andrew Morris]

The only thing that I can think of is that ex-Dogs display their coat(s) on the wall in their living room. It makes a nasty trait to pull on the PCs when they're confronting the legendary former Dog gone bad.

Oh, and groups of Dogs are called "packs." We couldn't find a name for the group, so we just naturally settled into using that.

[Levi Kornelsen]

I agree there is a creepy quality to using the same tree.  I was just going for slightly different symbolism by suggesting two opposed trees.  It really all depends on the tone you're trying to achieve in the game. :)

This just jumped through my mind, and I like it

"Looking from the door of the temple at the tree in the town square, you see that passages of scripture, written on ribbons, hang on the right-hand side of the tree.  The branches on the left-hand side have a few stray knots tied among them with loose remnants of rope blowing from them; the reminders of old hangings.  These are prayers for the righteous, to go with their souls to the right hand of the King of Life, and reminders of the sinful, who have been sent on to his left hand."

I don't know if that's coolness, or a really neat form of Apostasy.

[TonyLB]

I don't know if that's coolness, or a really neat form of Apostasy.

You say po-TAY-toe, I say po-TAH-toe ...

[Transit]

Cool stuff here.  You better believe I'm adding Brother Vaxalon's "every town has a tree" idea to my DITV game.

Some quick random thoughts about towns and their trees:

Yeah, some towns have one tree, and some have two.  Some towns choose not to have one at all.  And some towns HAD a tree but it died - what does THAT say about the town?

Some towns have such a wonderful tree that they take PRIDE in it.

Some towns disagree over which of several trees in their town is THE tree, and need the Dogs to come sort it out.

If every town has a tree, does the founding of a new branch always include picking a site that has a good "life tree" to build the town around?   Or do they plant it from a seed?  From a sapling?  And then wait.  10 or 15 years or more?  Does that mean no hangings allowed until the tree has matured?   Or do the faithful locate a nearby tree, dig it up and haul it into town, replanting it in a big communal ceremony similar to a barn-raising?

Or maybe it can’t be just any old tree.  Maybe they have to be grafts descended from some sort of “One True Tree.”

Maybe back at Bridal Falls City there is a long row of dirt-filled wagons, hundreds of them, each with a single large tree growing in the back.  So every time a new branch is settled, a tree or two gets sent off to be planted in the new town.

I’m having this cool picture in my mind of a wagon train of starving, struggling settlers slowly making their way up a narrow mountain pass.  They’re using a team of oxen to haul a huge wagon with a TREE growing in it.  They’re struggling to make it to their new town site before winter comes and kills them. They're singing hymms ("golden leaves and silver branches" and "every town has a tree") and dribbling the last of their water onto the tree’s roots.

Man, I love DITV!