Hi all - I'm relatively new to the forge, and definitely new to DitV. I bought DitV, and really want to play it, but one of my key players (in fact, the guy I think would be best at GM-ing it) is totally turned off by the Western aspect of it. That's fine I guess - I've looked through a lot of the threads here, especially those about alternate settings, and I think that's the direction we'll have to go. I know some people feel that it oughta be played canonically first, and I acknowledge that would probably be better, but I just don't see it happening that way. We're one of those tight-knit been-playing-together-for-years kind of groups, and so essentially everyone has to totally buy in for it to work.

I understand ahead of time that for any alternate setting, key adaptations are making the Town generation sin progression stuff work; making sure the new Ceremonies make sense and map; having the Dogs' authority be recognizeable; and having a totem object to fill the role of the Coats. I'm not necessarily looking to flesh any of those out here, but if you care to include them as examples, great!

What I'm hoping this thread will be is at least a quick concept-list of ways DitV has been played or could pretty easily be adapted to play. To start, we have the ones Vincent includes in the book:

• Dogs in the Vineyard: psuedo-Mormon gunslingers in an Antebellum religious utopia of the American West
• Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God: Early Colonial witch-hunters keeping the Massachussetts colony free from witchcraft and sorcery
• Hounds of God: Inquisitors of the Spanish Inquisition rooting out heretics any way they can
• Thugs in the Family: modern Mafia enforcers keeping the mob from destroying itself by disunity or selling out to the cops
• Untouchables in the Windy City: Eliot Ness and his gang rooting out police corruption and getting the booze off the street, with Law as Faith

and some of the ones I've seen onsite here:

• Banthas in the Vineyard: Jedi knights solving problems in the Outer Rim while resisting the influence of the Dark Side (http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=13410.0, http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=14311.0, http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=16956.0)
• Delta Green/CoC: Super-secret government agents keeping the Mythos influence from destroying mankind. (http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=12648.0)
• Wolves of the North: Thor's Hammers in the icy wilderness of dark-ages Scandinavia (http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=16743.0)
• Thunder in the Vineyard: priests of Zeus acting out the gods' vengeance in ancient Greece (http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=16936.0)
• Samurai or Monks in the Rice Paddies: the Emperor's own samurai or Buddhist Monks in fuedal Japan (http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=15374.0 and elsewhere)
• SS in the Valley: SS rooting out Judaic influence in WWII Germany. distasteful, but probably possible.(Best covered at http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=16895.0)
• Panthers in the Concrete Jungle: Militant Nation of Islam or Black Panthers keeping black communities from The Man's influence (http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=16878.0)
• Judges in the Megacity: I am basically unfamiliar with the Judge Dredd setting, but I did see the thread on it.(briefly at http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=13775.0)
• Inquizitors of the Empire: Warhammer 40k Inquizitors, mentioned in this thread (http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=16156.0)
• Fireflies in the Black: Firefly setting where the Dogs are a ship's crew in the Firefly setting (mostly at http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=16313.0)
• Road Dogs on the Walk: Gang enforcers in a big prison (seen here http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=13648.0 and mentioned someplace else I can't find right now)
• Lions on the Precipice: Mountain-People preserving their heritage and culture against the Faithful (http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=12097.0)

Some others I've thought of that might work (some of these have probably been brought up here, but I haven't seen them):

• Templars in the Sands: The Templars travel from Crusader army to army, keeping greed and idolatry from hindering the retaking of the Holy Land
• Knights in the Mist: Charlemagne or Arthurian-era Knights sworn to further the True King by destroying the influence of the old paganism
• Judges in the Promised Land: Old Testament (Judges-era) warrior-prophets keeping the Children of Israel from seeking after other gods (i.e. Gideon)
• Musketeers in the Kingdom: there has got to be a great way to make the Dogs into swashbucklers, hasn't there?
• Sea-Dogs of the Spanish Main: maybe your Dogs keep Privateers from becoming full-on pirates? this one has issues, but they're PIRATES!!!
• Snake-Eaters in the Jungle: Special Forces operating with their own chain of command in Vietnam - Apocalypse Now is a great DitV story!

Thoughts on any of these or suggestions for settings I've missed are very welcome here.

(Real name: David)
hmmm... wonder why whenever I preview, my <li> tag for Templars doesn't work...

David! You've saved me substantial work. Thank you!

-Vincent

You might want to try DitV straight the first time, before going into an alternate setting. That way, it'll be easier to see what connects and what doesn't. You could bill it to your group as a preview, where you get familiar with the rules before launching into the "real" game.

Acknowledged.

What's at Stake: Can Dave get his crew to play DitV?

Predicted outcome: Overall, they have more dice than me, so i'm probably going to have to Take a Blow, which will almost certainly be loss of the canonical setting. However, if I roll well enough, I will be able to get them to play at least once in the Deseret setting so that we all know how the mechanics work and which way the tumbleweed is blowing. If I roll very poorly, the whole idea gets shelved and we keep on with our usual games.

Fair enough, David. Great job putting that list of settings together, by the way.

More found in Threads:

• More Lovecraftian suggestions in this Ceremony thread, and brief mention of Hellboy/BPRD as a setting (http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=16819.0)
• Regulators in the Neo-Utopia: Having never played Ars Magica, I don't have a good grasp on this one (http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=16777.0)
• Commissar's in the Vineyard: Secret Police behind the Iron Curtain ( http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=12790.0
• Citizens in the Revolution: Agents of La Terreur in the French Revolution (mentioned at  http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=16156.0

David, brilliant. Vincent, please make this a Sticky so newcomers can find it easily and we can keep updating it as new settings are devised - as a reporter on the defense beat, I've gotten sufficiently interested/irritated that I'm working up a "G.I.s in Iraq" variant (for which David's Vietnam link above will be very helpful; again, thanks).

Also, an addition: A generalization of the "SS in the Vineyard" mechanics to other unstable totalitarian systems, including the KGB/Cheka/OGPU in the Lenin-Stalin era, was also discussed towards the end of the thread. (see the bottom of http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=16895.0).

Thanks Sydney!
What about an Elizabethan setting:
All the Queen's Men: The players are the agents of the crown (or, more specifically, Lord Walsingham's men or agents of John Dee) in 1560s-1590s England, sorting out treasonous plots against the Queen. Treasonous influence comes from foreign sources and domestic supporters of other rulers, and from factions within the Church. Sin tree looks something like:
Misused Power or Self Interest or Idealogical Differences or Secret Religious Beliefs lead to
Injustice or Greed or Rumormongering lead to
Blaming the State or the Queen for your problems or Submitting to Foreign Influence, leads to
Dissenting in Private is sharing these views with others, which can lead to a Secret Conspiracy, which by its existence becomes
High Treason: a plot to overthrow the Queen, which will by necessity commit murders!

You get a sword, a horse, and a signet ring, plus maybe a cloak of office that takes the coat slot?

Ceremonies might include Invoking the Queen's Authority, Appealing to English Duty (maybe that's too Victorian?), Alchemical rituals if you've taken the John Dee track, and so forth.

I guess Augurann slipped below the radar?

http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=14623.0

Hey everybody.

Let's definitely not brainstorm in this thread. If you have an idea for an alternate setting, please feel free to start a new thread to discuss it - and then if you like, you can post a link to it here.

Let's keep this thread for links.

Thanks!

-Vincent

erm, I don't see this as "my job" or anything, but in the interest of keeping this sticky useful, I offer mangled summaries of more alternative settings that have been posted recently:

• Troubleshooters in the Alpha Complex: Adaptation of the Paranoia setting
• Keepers of the Flame or Dogs in the Veran Marshes: Adaptation for the  Blue Rose setting
• Hounds on the Moor: a "straight" (non-Delta Green) Call of Chthulu setting

While I think the Keepers of the Flame concept in the above post is keen and well-thought-out, I'd also be interested in Blue Rose played "Straight" using members of the Knights of the Blue Rose.  Go from town to town, spreading compassion, temperence, and understanding, lest the fires of hatred and bigotry overcome the world again.

'Agents in The Matrix' has some thoughts on adapting DitV to the world of hackers and AI.

Joshua wrote:
While I think the Keepers of the Flame concept in the above post is keen and well-thought-out, I'd also be interested in Blue Rose played "Straight" using members of the Knights of the Blue Rose.  Go from town to town, spreading compassion, temperence, and understanding, lest the fires of hatred and bigotry overcome the world again.

Joshua wrote:
While I think the Keepers of the Flame concept in the above post is keen and well-thought-out, I'd also be interested in Blue Rose played "Straight" using members of the Knights of the Blue Rose.  Go from town to town, spreading compassion, temperence, and understanding, lest the fires of hatred and bigotry overcome the world again.

A Hybrid with America in the '50s (detailed background for a more global/neutral Faith and a more modern setting)

Deloreans in Time - A 'Back To The Future' Alternate Setting by Leo M. Lalande.

Gaming Ninjae in the Vineyard (set in modern times, for those who are familiar with dysfunctional gaming groups and wished that some people would come and fix what was wrong).

http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=18917.0

Has anyone thought of playing Grammaton Clerics from the movie Equilibrium?

I think it has been mentioned as a good idea, but I don't think it has gotten any more attention than that.

If not, yes that is a good idea.  If you do anything more with it, be sure to let us know.

this CNN story about a man killed by the IRA for spying for the British offers an interesting modern-day Dogs setting

"During its 27-year campaign, the IRA's internal security unit tortured scores of IRA members suspected of passing information to British intelligence. Typical IRA methods included applying electric shocks, and administering cigarette burns. Those who admitted informing had their confessions audiotaped before being shot in the head; their bodies were usually dumped -- naked and with hands tied behind their backs -- on rural roadsides."

probably just as distasteful as any of the Secret Police settings, and further complicated by the existence of a second main story likely to overshadow the jobs of the Dogs - that is, the conflict between the IRA and the British. Still, there's probably some interesting play to be had as the Dogs try to mete out judgment on their fellow Irishmen, some of whom may have only been cooperating with the British in the interest of long-term peace.

Vincent: If you think this post is likely to threadjack, please let me know & i'll start it as a new thread.

Has anyone considered Gunslingers, as taken from Stephen King's Dark Tower series?

Here's a better Firefly adaptation: http://www.fusionofthought.com/fitv/index.htm

Aurors in the Ministry:

1. Someone gets Hurt.
2. Pain leads to Fear.
3. Fear leads to Crime.
4. Criminals become Renegades.
5. Renegades use the Dark Arts.
6. The Dark Arts lead to Hubris.
7. Hubris leads to Murder.
8. Murder leads to Waking up the Muggles.
9. Waking up the Muggles leads to Seeing which AK Kills Faster.

My group didn't like because they thought aurors weren't mobile enough.  I would remedy this by making the characters traveling Aurors outside the British Isles.

I also had an idea for Sentai in the School, which a friend of mine is now desperate to run.  Obviously, Sailor Scout and Power Ranger types are also generally confined to a town and a school therein, but I would remedy this by making each conflict have to do with a different clique.

Gah.  The above post was mine.  Elliott is a friend.  He must have signed in on my computer and forgotten to sign off.

Anyway, just so the post isn't completely worthless: why has no one mentioned the old "Star Trek" idea?

Mr. wrote:
Anyway, just so the post isn't completely worthless: why has no one mentioned the old "Star Trek" idea?

I'm gonna be playtesting an Eastern Heroic Fantasy game. Probably with a Naruto style setting (fairly light hearted colourful ninjas), and also possibly with hardcore japanese chanbarra or Ninja Scroll style setting (dismemberment and angst about duty). My notes are in the link.

Cheers!

foucalt wrote: Knights in the Mist: Charlemagne or Arthurian-era Knights sworn to further the True King by destroying the influence of the old paganism

Has anyone ever tried using Dogs mechanics for the setting found within Steven Brust's Jhereg novels?

Off the top of my head, sorcery would replace guns, there is a huge emphasis on relationships and belongings.

I can really see the Conflict system working for the verbal exchanges and the hectic pace of the combat action when it takes place.

Here is D&D-based setting with added moral conflict. PCs are tasked to keep the King's peace, and upholding his law. Includes simple rules for magic.

Simon Rogers
Pelgrane Press Ltd

I have heard twice on the "Have Games, Will Travel" podcast about "Zombies in the Vineyard." Does anyone know how to adapt the game for a zom-pocalypse setting?

I would go on the HG,WT forum and ask this question, but the link to his forum is not working.

Thanks,

Dustin

Not me! Anybody?

Google led me to this post by Carl Rigney...

All is cool. Paul Tevis forwarded a message I sent him and the guy (Carl) contacted me with what he has so far.

Cooper wrote:
All is cool. Paul Tevis forwarded a message I sent him and the guy (Carl) contacted me with what he has so far.

I've asked permission to post it here. I waiting to hear back and will let you know when I can.

lachek wrote: And that helps the rest of us how? ;)

Seriously - is Carl willing to share his system / notes with the public? If so, it'd be great if you could post it somewhere, or pass it on and I'll post it somewhere and include a link to it.

Ninja Princess Usagi-chan, my anthropomorphic ninja magical girl variant can be found here, along with some APs that illustrate how it works in action.

In short, it's about bunny ninja princesses fighting emo within the community. Basically, Usagi Yojimbo meets Sailor Moon.

And it's deadly serious.

(I've nearly forgotten about this thread, heh.)

Judges in the Mega-City: Judges upholding the Law in the crazy future of the 2000AD Comic. http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=25835.0

<a href="http://cogwars.com/tiki-download_file.php?fileId=3">CogsInTheBarrio.pdf (2.36 Mb)

Another White Wolf/World of Darkness variant (work in progress): Archons in Elysium

And the list grows larger with my idea of a Full Metal Alchemist setting.
http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=26066.0

Has anyone tried a near-future, post-apocalyptic setting?
Like the Fallout computer RPG world?
Or Postman (Kevin Costner)?
Or The Stand, Mad Max, etc.

Another Firefly DitV variant: (With a couple of example 'jobs' here & here)

Urban "gang" setting: Gang members selected to be Enforcers, who will enforce the Code on the other sets in the city.

I just recently ran Dwarfs in the Mineshaft at Conception XI, which went down quite well; basically just Ditv with the background stripped out and replaced with the dwarven society of Terry Pratchett's Discworld. No major modding required beyond replacing 'guns' with 'axes' and 'coats' with 'beards.'

knicknevin wrote:
I just recently ran Dwarfs in the Mineshaft at Conception XI, which went down quite well; basically just Ditv with the background stripped out and replaced with the dwarven society of Terry Pratchett's Discworld. No major modding required beyond replacing 'guns' with 'axes' and 'coats' with 'beards.'

Considering setting up a game using Deadlands, "Deadlands: The Agency in the Vineyard",

Pretty good fit if you replace "Demonic Influence" with "Fear" (though as it happens, they are much the same in Deadlands) and set the characters up as either members of the Agency or the Texas Rangers, plus make the minor tweak that the Reckoners require a human-starting-point to kick-start their influence (i.e.: as the sin(fear)-chain rises the Reckoners have more local influence, and can send in ever-nastier servitors to do their will), so the players need to root out the human problems that are drawing in the nasties...

Yeah, I know it's using one RPG as the background for another RPG - but I always quite liked the Deadlands backstory - just felt that the system sucked,

Hey all. First post here.

Let me say that I'm a huge fan of Dogs in the Vineyard. The system is elegant, cinematic, cool. The characters and the gameplay style it encourages is heavily social, which I love. The nature of the game is part investigation and all creativity. The energy flowing from these short pages astounds me, and ever since I played it the first time two years ago I have measured all of the other games I play against it as the standard. For the record, I really enjoy lots of the other indie games churned out by some of the very people on this forum (DRYH, Polaris, etc). But moving on to the actual topic itself.

Last summer I ran a short series of Dogs in the Vineyard games for one of my gaming groups. The group wasn't feeling the Mormon religious depth, and so I substituted the base setting for antebellum South Carolina, roughly basing the game on the Regulators movement, though chronologically displaced to about the 1820s or 1830s. Nullification is a hot button issue, the taboo discussion of racial mixing and the silently suppressed fears of slave insurrection is never spoken of but omnipresent. Racial and class issues, egalitarian freedoms versus the wisdom of the landed gentry classes of South Carolina were the main issues. The "civilized" gentlemen rely on the Regulators, rough customers willing to ride light and take the Law into their own hands, to master the settlements between the swampy Low Country and the mountainous, half-settled and half-wild lands of the Upcountry and the Piedmont. The Law was substituted for Faith; elements of ceremony were legal-themed. The game remained semi-Western in its aspect - eventually the enemies of the Regulator movement formed bands of so-called "Moderators" who constitutionally claimed the same powers as the Regs. Things got interesting.

It was a huge hit. The game was short, yet the four sessions I ran of it has left deep indelible impressions on all of the players, and myself too. If anyone is ever interested in running this Southern Antebellum version of Dogs, I would be happy to provide the few resources I used to make the conversion.

I told you all that so that I could tell you this: Dogs has been so well received that I'm going to attempt an even more ambitious, more complete conversion of the game sometime this Fall. I'm willing to hear whatever feedback and input this forum is willing to provide.

The game is called Eyes in the Stockyard. The players will take on the role of Pinkerton Detectives during the period of the 1880s-1890s (private "Eyes" as they were called). They will be set on the trail of famous cases from this period. It will be a very dark game, where players hunt monstrous killers with minimal scientific and forensic aid, relying on guts and intuition and logic to piece together the crimes. The Law plays an important role but the focus of the game has shifted away from the exercise of unlimited power and actually highlights the helplessness of the Eyes themselves. They can only observe, prod local law enforcement, and the actions they take have a decent chance of hurting themselves in the long-run. They are constrained by the limits of the law on a wild frontier and in corrupt, uncaring cities. And each character is locked in a struggle with his own inner demons, which slowly poisons their ultimate quest for Justice.

Since the game has yet to be run and I don't want to divulge more specific information on the case(s) should one of my players stumble across this forum, I'm going to be spare on campaign details and simply relate to you the rules changes and the relatively minor changes to the character sheet.

Hunches
Any time a character would ordinarily gain Experience from Fallout, they may opt to earn a Hunch instead. Player’s can only earn one Hunch, after which more cannot be accumulated until the Hunch is used. Unlike normal Experience perks, once used a Hunch are gone forever.
Hunches can be used for 3 Purposes:

1. They can allow a player to unveil a Clue or gain a small hint about a crime scene or ongoing investigation instantly without using sleuthing/deductive abilities.
2. They can allow a player to try and guess an opponent’s Trait in Conflicts, and if they guess one Trait correctly, they may then roll the number/size of the Dice for the opponent’s relevant Trait as if it were their own.
3. They can at any time be exchanged (traded in and lost) for a new 1d6 Trait, Relationship or Belonging relevant to the character’s behavior and story progression.
If a character or the group has completely hit a dead end in an investigation, they may obtain Hunches through a successful Conflict scene against their own personal demons.

*Note however, that this can be dangerous because Fallout taken in conflicts against oneself still have the potential to inflict serious damage up to and including character “death” (from stress-related ailments such as heart failure or lasting psychological trauma). Damage taken in “Hunch hunting” is still very real! Instead of gaining “Experience Fallout” the player ALWAYS gains a Hunch in Conflict against their Demon.

Giving in to or being beaten by personal Demons also raises the overall Demonic Influence in the story, with consequential bonuses to Demonic villains in subsequent scenes.

Legal Themed Elements of Ceremony
Producing a Warrant (Search or Arrest) (d8s)
Calling a Suspect by Name (d4s)
Invoking Legal Authority/Citing a Crime (d4s)
Issuing a Pardon (d6)
Displaying a Badge (d6s)
Reading Suspects Their Legal Rights (d4s)
Soliciting a Confession (d6s)
Three in Authority (d8s)

Demonic Influence
Whenever a PC calls for a conflict but there is no clear opponent, use overall Demonic Influence (so far for this town or session). Likewise, when a player wants to battle a Demon for a Hunch, roll 4d6 + Demonic Influence.

What’s the worst the Eyes have seen?

Cruelty and Corruption: 1d10
Blood: 2d10
Depravity: 3d10
Butchery: 4d10
Madness and Evil: 5d10

Cruelty & Corruption: Callousness of society, corruption of morals and ethical standards, wickedness.

Blood: Once blood enters a scene. Murder, violence, cutting oneself while shaving. Once blood is spilt the Demonic Influence raises.

Depravity: Something more wrong than mere violence. The gleaning of a sinister plot; learning a dark truth; bringing highly distasteful facts to light; stooping to new personal lows. Suffering from crises of faith. Having deranged thoughts and/or acting on them, depending on the character.

Butchery: Mass murder. Multiple deaths; uncovering a record of slaughter; acquiring grisly evidence. First hand experience required to elevate the character’s Demonic Influence!

Madness and Evil: Learning the fullness of the plot. Suffering mental and/or physical trauma. Directly challenging the source of Madness and insanity. Trying to understand the inner workings of a broken mind.