[DitV] Multiple opponents and high stakes

[Dr_Pete]

I played in an awesome game of Dogs, my first, over the weekend.  A point came up which seemed like kind of a tough call, and I was curious to hear feedback/feelings about it.

The situation:
A four player game, with lots of intra-party conflict.  Two dogs want to kill an NPC, one is willing to fight to defend him, and one is a bit on the fence, but siding with the defender PC.

Conflict starts out talking, with 2 Dogs vs 2 Dogs.  The one on the fence drops out of the conflict when he runs out of dice, rather than escalate.

The conflict between the other 3 escalates to weapons, and to firearms.  Once it gets this vicious, the one who had dropped out earlier, seeing the implicit stakes in this new level of conflict wants back in to help/defend the lone Dog.  He's now willing to go to weapons to help his fellow dog, but it's not so clear he's invested in the stake itself.

Should he be able to sit out a period of conflict, then escalate himself back into it, or is out out?  We ended up playing with "he can roll, but only assist" but in retrospect, I'm not sure I liked that compromise.  Any thoughts?

[lumpley]

Dogs' rules don't handle this situation perfectly, alas.

My solution: when he wants back into the conflict he's already dropped out of, treat him as an improvised thing. Is he normal, excellent, big, both, or crap?

-Vincent