I ran my first game last night. It went pretty well, although not as nicely a James Holloway's did last Saturday. For a start we had four players, two of whom were keen to get in on every conflict whereas on Saturday people were happy for conflicts to be individual. This made them more personal and meaningful.

Also not all the players were as engaged as we were, they was more joking, we had food and a bit of chat. At SteveCon it was much more full on. And James has a phenomenal memory for rules and flavour whereas I had to look things up on occasion.

Some of my players were also much less used to the idea of narrative gaming and slightly resistant to it. One very important moment occured during the accomplishment phase when one of the players looked at his dice and mine and said, with some hurt in his voice, "but I can't possibly win! What's the point?!"

We then explained about narrative gaming, again. He's already played MLwM but that does have some winning condition and so is easier to come to terms with for an Old School gamer. Understanding fallout better gave him something to focus on and, to be fair, he came up with some nice touches throughout the game.

The players had chosen a few supernatural abilities such as driving out demons or being able to see sin and so dial was firmly set to weird west.

What's going on in this town:
Buffalo Run is nestled up against the mountains and used to be on the Buffalo migration route. Now it's settled the beasts don't run here anymore. Mountain Men live up in the wooded foothills but don't often come near the town although they are occasionally to be seen at the river.

Sister Hester is a widow. Her husband died some years ago whilst hunting. She runs the trading post. Elijah is the miller. His son, Pleasant, is a bit simple. Pleasant kept getting in Elijah's way, falling into the millrace and holding up the milling. Hester found that this interfered with trading and so decided to take Pleasant away from Elijah 'for his own good'. She got him working in the trading post on odd days, sweeping up and carrying heavy loads. This went so well she insisted that Pleasant stay with her and got the steward to back her up. Elijah was sorry to see his son go but happy to discharge his responsibility.

Then seeing how well she looked after Pleasant, Hester persuaded the town's people to finance the building of a hospital in which they could put all their old, infirm and simple people to keep them out of the way.

This faithlessness has let in the demons. In fact, Hester is possessed although she is not aware of this. Whenever she is at the hospital accidents happen: Hiram has badly injured his leg, the foundations were overrun with gophers, some buffalo left their usual run and careered into the side of the building. Some of the wood supplied by Jehu, a forester who lives in the woods was warped and unfit. Jehu is known to have dealings with the Mountain Men and is now viewed with suspicion. He doesn't come into town anymore.

Also a rumour started that Mountain Men had cursed the building and some the townsfolk have been shooting them when they see them. This has severely depleted the Mountain Men tribe and they are planning a final assault on the town. Drums and smoke signals are obvious to any who have eyes and ears.

Pride
Sister Hester thinks she can care for people better than their proper stewards.

Injustice
Pleasant should not have been taken from Elijah. Elijah should have been left to discharge his stewardship. Jehu has been unfairly tarred with the brush of collaboration.

Sin
Faithlessness: people are not carrying out their duties of stewardship.
Violence: people are killing the blameless Mountain Men.

Demonic Attacks
Accidents at the hospital:
Attacks on the Mountain Men.

False Doctrine
Hester is the best steward for those who are difficult to manage.

What do the townspeople want?
They want the Mountain Men to pay for the curse

What do the demons want?
They wany Hester to have the old and infirm in her care.

What do the demons want the dogs to do?
They want them to kill the innocent Mountain Men and help build the hospital

What would happen if the dogs didn't come?
Those people put in the hospital, as they became more of a burden, would be killed by Hester, 'because it's what's best, really'. Also there would be bloody war with the Mountain Men.

The conflicts we had were:
Saving Hiram's Leg from amputation.
Understanding the Mountain Men drums and smoke (not really necessary for the story but really necessary from the point of view of explaning contests to one of the players).
Persuading the Mountain Men not to attack the town.
Showing the steward that he was guilty of bad stewardship
Dealing with Hester
Driving the demon out of Hester

There was some fierce debate amongst the player characters over whether the Mountain Men should be given some of the townsfolk's grain but this didn't actually lead to a contest. It probably should have but it was time to go home.

I think I might have made the relationships more complicated than they were but for a first game I wanted to keep it fairly simple.

I really like this town. Very interesting. In fact, I may just use it after we're done with Silent River.

I don't see a list of individual townsfolk and what they want from the Dogs. Did you have one? Or rather, did you establish what all the named individuals wanted from the Dogs, or just the townsfolk as a whole?

-Eric

quot;GB_Steve] Some of my players were also much less used to the idea of narrative gaming and slightly resistant to it. One very important moment occured during the accomplishment phase when one of the players looked at his dice and mine and said, with some hurt in his voice, "but I can't possibly win! What's the point?!"

GB Steve wrote: Some of my players were also much less used to the idea of narrative gaming and slightly resistant to it. One very important moment occured during the accomplishment phase when one of the players looked at his dice and mine and said, with some hurt in his voice, "but I can't possibly win! What's the point?!"

demiurgeastaroth wrote: (At the time, it never occurred to me to say, "wow, this is clearly important to you - I'll Give.")

nikola wrote:

demiurgeastaroth wrote: (At the time, it never occurred to me to say, "wow, this is clearly important to you - I'll Give.")

I'm not sure that's a good idea anyway.

demiurgeastaroth wrote: I'd agree with you most of the time but here, there were two reasons that I might have done it here:
It's an accomplishment, and it doesn't do any harm to let the players have what they want here, and It was a one-off.

I would never, ever Give just because somebody complains loudly and sadly. In fact, if I was considering Giving for other reasons I'd immediately discard the idea. As I say to my four-year-old "If I let you get your way by screaming this time, what does that teach you to do the next time you want something?" If the behavior someone is modelling is not behavior you want to see again and again, do not reward it.

... plus, it breaks the game. Giving early is not an option you have as GM. It's overstepping your authority and reducing the impact of every conflict that comes after.

One of the cool things that can happen in the Accomplishment is that the negative outcome you acquire can be as fascinating and exciting as a good one.

nikola wrote: ... plus, it breaks the game. Giving early is not an option you have as GM. It's overstepping your authority and reducing the impact of every conflict that comes after.

I'm going to disagree with.. well, it seems pretty much everyone, about giving early. It is not wrong to Give when you're not forced to it by either escalation or fallout. Giving is as important a narrative tool as escalation, and it seems to me that you're discounting it. If it is important to the player to win something, but the dice simply don't go his way, it's perfectly appropriate to make him sweat, make him work for it, even "knowing" he's going to lose, then Give at the dramatically appropriate moment.

It doesn't in any way cheapen later conflicts; Later conflicts are validated or not on their own merits, and the circumstances that surround them, not by the numerical outcome of earlier conflicts. As a player or as the GM, giving should always be considered a tool in the arsenal of telling a good story. On the flip side, I in no way considered it "cheap" when I threw my own accomplishment conflict, and Lx decided it most appropriate to just give. He possibly could have pushed on and won the conflict, and Dove would have gained the trait "There's a middle ground between words and guns".. But that wouldn't be nearly so cool.

GB Steve wrote: This faithlessness has let in the demons. In fact, Hester is possessed although she is not aware of this. Whenever she is at the hospital accidents happen: Hiram has badly injured his leg, the foundations were overrun with gophers, some buffalo left their usual run and careered into the side of the building. Some of the wood supplied by Jehu, a forester who lives in the woods was warped and unfit. Jehu is known to have dealings with the Mountain Men and is now viewed with suspicion. He doesn't come into town anymore.

On page 85 it says that a possessed person is "either a) a willing knowing heretic, that is a believer in false doctrine, possibly acting alone or b) a sinner withinn the false priesthood of a sorcerer."

Sister Hester is a believer in false doctrine and a willing knowing heretic, but that doesn't necessarily mean she knows she is possessed. She might feel that is righteousness that fills her with power. Well, that's how I read it anyway. I think it's a no foul situation.