I ran Dogs in the Vineyard for first time yesterday, and the unanimous decision was that it rocked on toast. I'm trying to figure out why.

Players

We had six players. Ryan (Brother Thomas), Sarah (Sister Rachel), and Roy (Brother Enoch) are part of my weekly gaming group. Over the past two years I've run three long-term games with them: Unknown Armies, Nobilis, and The Riddle of Steel. Roy and Sarah have also played a in two session game of My Life with Master that I ran. Carl (Brother Wylie) and I played together in a Wheel of Time d20 game several years ago, but he moved away. Ted (Brother Mark) had played an Unknown Armies one-shot and regular Shadowrun game with Ryan, Sarah, and Roy; I ran the former but had no involvement with the latter. Christina (Sister Prudence; also Ted's wife) had never played with the rest of us. I don't know what her gaming history is, as I met her for the first time on Friday.

The Setup

Roy and I had read Dogs, and Christina had skimmed it, but none of us had ever played it. I gave the players the character sheets, briefly explained character creation and conflict resolution, and read aloud the section about becoming a Dog. I answered a few questions, and then we played through everyone's Accompliment scenes. By the end, the players seemed comfortable playing out conflicts. This process took about an hour and a half. I then ran the Whitechurch Branch scenario from the book, which took about three and a half hours.

The Game

As the book suggested, I presented the town very quickly. On the way into town they encountered Brother Thomas' uncle, August, who complained about his tools breaking. (As they approached they saw him break pitchfork.) He blamed it on the shopkeepers and asked the Dogs to stay and help him bring in the harvest. They declined and there was no Conflict; he didn't press the issue.

When they arrived in town, the quickly discovered that Lavina, the Steward's daughter (and Sister Rachel's niece) was being courted by Ezekiel, Sister Prudence's cousin, but that she would have none of him. This, and the high prices being charged by the Unfaithful shopkeepers was causing the Steward no end of consternation. When the Dogs went across the street to inspect the quality of the goods in the general store, the encountered Ezekial, loaded down with gifts for Lavina. He invited the Dogs to dinner at his parents house. Meanwhile, Brother Enoch and Brother Thomas confronted Hezekiah, the shopkeeper and asked him about the quality of his wares. He told them it wasn't hi fault if the locals didn't know how to use them. He also made up an excuse about losing shipments to the Mountain People to explain why his prices were so high.

This process took about forty-five minutes. After that, the players drove almost the whole thing. Sister Prudence went to talk with Sarah, Hezekiah's wife, and brought about our first Conflict. At Stake was winning Sarah's trust, but Sister Prudence failed. Meanwhile Brother Wylie got cornered by August, who engaged him in a Conflict to agree to help bring in the harvest. Brother Wylie had to Escalate to physical in order the keep the old man from extracting the promise, and August took Long-Term Fallout, losing 1d6 Body. Unrelated the story at hand, Sister Rachel tried to convince Brother Enoch accept a new riding horse, which he initially resisted though he eventually Gave. She latter met with Lavina and convinced her to be open to the idea of marriage, even if she didn't want to marry Ezekiel. Meanwhile, Brother Enoch and Brother Wylie confronted a group of young men and convinced them help August with the harvest, while Brother Thomas talked with his uncle and determined that the tool breakage was likely caused by demons.

Dinner was nicely exciting. Four of the Dogs ganged up on Ezekiel to convince him that it was his duty to court multiple women and not to just focus on Lavina. This turned a little ugly when Ezekial Escalated to fighting, but Sister Prudence took him out by tossing vinegar in his eyes. Ezekiel's father made a slightly mistake when, unaware of the blood relationship betwen Lavina and Sister Rachel, referred to Lavina as a "hussy." Sister Rachel immediately demanded that he take it back. He eventually did.

Eventually Brother Wylie apologized to August for his behavior, while the rest of the group confronted Hezekiah, hoping to get him to come to a more equitable arrangement with the town. He refused, and when he Escalated to gunfighting, he shot Sister Rachel. Brother Thomas ended it by blowing off his hand. (He took 18 Fallout.) The session ended with the Hezekiah and Sarah packing up their belongings and heading Back East, leaving the town without a general store.

Observations and Questions

I was amazed at how quickly all of the players "got it." As soon as I had set things up, players started asking for Conflicts. Of the ten or so that we played out, they initiated all but one. (I had August confront Brother Wylie to get his player more involved.) What was it that caused them to latch onto the game so quickly?

I was also amazed at how well everyone (including myself) was able to use the See-Raise mechanics to run arguments. Roy and I had had some difficulties with the Persuade-Rebuff mechanics in The Dying Earth, but we had no such problems here. By the third or fourth argument, we were all playing out back-and-forth with ease, citing relevant points of the Faith to shore up our positions. This made Conflicts really fun to watch. Why did this work so well?


Overall, I was very pleased with how the game went. Everyone told me they had a good time, and everyone said they wanted to play it again. Now I'm curious: Why did such a disparate group of players have such similar reactions to it?

--Paul

There's a lot of parts about DitV that contribuite to its being one of the hardest-to-screw-up Narrativist games.

I think part of it is that the game is very hardwired to a powerfull narrativist construct that nearly every part of the game to some degree serves "You're here to pronounce judgement. Would you call judgement X in this situation? What about this?"

Another thing is the character roles. I think just about anyone latches onto religious warriors as "People who are there to stand for something.", wheras there's often more confusion for say, medieval-fantasy-heroes, which many people latch on to as "Touchy dolts who are handed busywork.", or any number of other things.

Hey Paul.

As to why Dogs works, I'm inclined to make all kinds of grandiose claims, so maybe I'm the one guy who shouldn't answer. But this:

Now I'm curious: Why did such a disparate group of players have such similar reactions to it?