Dogs in the Salon

[droog]

As suggested by GM Claire Bickell, I am writing up our experiences today with Dogs in the Vineyard.

Claire took the initiative by posting on various forae about her idea for a 'roleplaying salon'; where like-minded people would meet specifically to try a variety of games. As her list of preferred games sounds very much like mine, I contacted her and found myself at her place this afternoon, along with two other people, Rafe and Sue. I'm not sure just how late I was, but next time I'll allow more time for the train trip.

After chatting for an hour or two, we settled that Claire would lead off with DitV. Sweet--I've been wanting another chance to play for ages.

Chargen didn't take very long for me--I jotted down the first ideas I had. Here he is:

Brother Jabez
STATS
Acuity 3d6 Body 3d6 Heart 5d6 Will 4d6

TRAITS
My Pa hated me 2d8
There's a hole in my heart 2d6
I knows them woods 2d6
I'm a Dog 2d6

RELATIONSHIPS
The Dogs saved me 2d4
I love my little sister 1d6

BELONGINGS
Pa's gun 2d8+1d4
Coat to be ashamed of 1d4
A good hoss 2d6

Chargen was pretty solitary: we all looked at our sheets and wrote things down. I would have liked everybody to be a bit more interactive, but I didn't act on it. So I'm not totally solid on the other PCs, though I've got a general feel from their Accomplishments.

Bro. Jabez? He wanted to learn how to cry, but he ended up pushing a little boy with calipers to the ground and shouting at him to be tough. That boy, there somethin' missin' inside of him. Wonder what's a-goin' to happen to him out there in the wilderness?

I admit to pushing that one pretty hard in order to give the newbies a show. Claire responded well to my stuff and we got some real buy-in from the others. Shocked laughter was the vibe, I'd say.

Sue's character (sorry, forget her name) tried to come to terms with her inability to say no to her father. She didn't say no this time, either. Shoulda taken my advice and escalated to gunfire--that's one father you don't need around. Sue seemed to take to the idea of the mechanics and narration quite quickly; I really enjoyed her part.

It's my impression that Rafe struggled a teeny bit with the unorthodox style, but I'd like to hear Claire's thoughts on that. Also, Claire, would you agree that for whatever reason, Rafe's section was the weakest?

I liked Claire's work with the Accomplishments. Some nice, subtle Raises and Sees (I particularly liked the exchange between Sue's character and her father).She also made us superlative handouts and did a good job of setting the scene and getting over the essentials about the Faith. I'm looking forward to the next game.

[beingfrank]

Thanks for the write up, Jeff!

Chargen was pretty solitary: we all looked at our sheets and wrote things down. I would have liked everybody to be a bit more interactive, but I didn't act on it. So I'm not totally solid on the other PCs, though I've got a general feel from their Accomplishments.

Yeah, it was pretty solitary and I regret that.  I thought about bullying people more and making people discuss it together, but I was also trying to balance that out with people being a bit uncertain.

Bro. Jabez? He wanted to learn how to cry, but he ended up pushing a little boy with calipers to the ground and shouting at him to be tough. That boy, there somethin' missin' inside of him. Wonder what's a-goin' to happen to him out there in the wilderness?

I admit to pushing that one pretty hard in order to give the newbies a show. Claire responded well to my stuff and we got some real buy-in from the others. Shocked laughter was the vibe, I'd say.

Yeah, I admit to pushing for you to go first so we could do a bit of a show.  And you were determined to win that one!  Jabez is one cold SOB, and I'm already having fun thinking about what I can do with that next.

Sue's character (sorry, forget her name) tried to come to terms with her inability to say no to her father. She didn't say no this time, either. Shoulda taken my advice and escalated to gunfire--that's one father you don't need around. Sue seemed to take to the idea of the mechanics and narration quite quickly; I really enjoyed her part.

I'll check with Sue that she's OK with me posting Hester's character sheet, and put it up.  She's got a cool character too, with all the family and duty stuff.  I'm keen to see how Hester gets on with Jabez and Moses, and how she takes to being a Dog.

It's my impression that Rafe struggled a teeny bit with the unorthodox style, but I'd like to hear Claire's thoughts on that. Also, Claire, would you agree that for whatever reason, Rafe's section was the weakest?

I do think it was the weakest, but I think that was largely because I didn't push him hard enough when coming up with his character's initiation.  I think Rafe's got some good ideas for his character that will work well when he gets to throw them into play all the time but I don't think it was a good idea for him to be on the side of his character remaining the same in his initiation conflict because it didn't allow him to engage with the mechanics as emotionally.  And I think I did a crap job of framing that scene.  It was a bit of a mental space out on my part, but I was rather hyped up through the whole afternoon and any coherence was largely accidental.

And my impression was that Rafe will do just fine with the style when he gets the hang of it.  I could sort of see him figuring out how the different elements work together, and I think that he'll go off with a bang when he pulls them all in.

I liked Claire's work with the Accomplishments. Some nice, subtle Raises and Sees (I particularly liked the exchange between Sue's character and her father).She also made us superlative handouts and did a good job of setting the scene and getting over the essentials about the Faith. I'm looking forward to the next game.

I have to say that I really enjoyed Sue's accomplishment.  That conflict with her father was great fun, and I rolled well enough for the first time to get a chance to do some cool stuff.  And Sue was great about taking some of the stuff I threw at her, accepting it even if it seemed very unconventional, and just running with it.

I'm looking forward to the next game, and am already thinking up ideas for the first town.

I was pleased that we could bring together people with very different gaming experiences, and play a game that was largely new to them, without getting into a discussion of theory.  Even though I set up the group for people to try new things, explore new games and techniques and examine the way they play a bit, I did not want to start talking about theory.  I wanted to play the damn games and get people having fun.  Preferably in new and interesting ways.  So I was very happy with this start.

[droog]

Hi Claire

I knew exactly where you were coming from on the chargen thing--that's why I didn't say anything. And don't worry; I promise not to start talking about theory. Verb. sap., eh?

And Jabez, when he was real small he learnt cryin' never did no good to nobody. Nobody ever comes.