Three of my regular players made Dogs last night. It was easily among my top five game sessions of the year, and we did was make freaking characters. Here's the moment it "turned on" all the way for me:

One of the Dogs was raised in the Dog's Temple - he was taken from his mother because, to put it bluntly, she's a prostitute. The player gives us this detail, which is some pretty good stuff, and states that he thinks it would be cool if this was relatively widely known as gossip among the Watchdogs as a whole.

We have a bit of back-and-forth about if that would work, and I lean in with my well-oiled GM hat on, about to make the call. I stop halfway through my sentence, shake my head, lean back, turn to the player and say "Would it be cooler for you if this known? Is that what you *want* for your character?"

He says "Yes.", and the lights come on for me when my instant reply is "Well, then. That's the way it is." Because it's not my story, and it's not about the world.

It's their story; it's about them - I'm just here to help them tell it.  And that, most sincerely and truly, is the thing and the whole of the thing.

Actually feeling that, all the way to the bone, is quite the moment.

Levi,

I've been waiting for a post like this from you for a week or two now, after reading some of the things you've had to say both here and on rpg.net.  Damn you for keeping me waiting!

But, I tell you, it's put a great big smile on my face because I've been right there and it's changed the way I game forever.

Regards,

Daniel

coffeestain wrote: I've been waiting for a post like this from you for a week or two now, after reading some of the things you've had to say both here and on rpg.net.  Damn you for keeping me waiting!

But, I tell you, it's put a great big smile on my face because I've been right there and it's changed the way I game forever.

Good on ya, Levi!

There are lots of other cool moments in store for you with Dogs too, I suspect - like when your players realize they don't have to be paranoid, they can just say what they want to do, because the conflict mechanics don't screw you if you didn't elaborately detail how you were peeking around every corner when the psycho townsman snaps and comes out of his house guns a'blazin.

I will say that your player could also emphasize this directly by taking a trait like "Everyone knows my mother was a whore 2d4" or something like that. The game totally enables you to put the things about your character front and center through the openly defined traits and relationships.

Ride on, Dog!

Very cool indeed.

How about "everyone knows my momma was a whore 2d10"? What kind of statement does that/i] make?

It's 2d4 on his sheet, as it happens.  Which is pretty cool.

Although another players (the preacher - mystic one) has "I'm a praticed pacifist 2d8", and I thought that was pretty interesting, too.

Levi: Welcome, man!

It's an inspiring moment to be sure. And one of the coolest things about it is that, once you've had it, life gets easier as a GM. You - I at least - totally shed that pressure of feeling totally responsible for the success of a game. WE are responsible for how the game goes, together.

It's not that it's the only way to game, or to game pleasurably. But it's a very functional one, particularly for the adult gamer. I get the appeal of world-oriented play, but even if I still had the inclination for it I don't have the time, esp to GM such a game. Ron's got a lovely little passage in Sorc&Sword about playing so that the setting is "something the protagonist wears." That was a "light goes on" passage for me, because it was so well put and so rich in implication. If a setting is like clothing, well, one chooses clothing to accent oneself in some way, or however you want to put it. But clothing also has form, right? Your shirt doesn't change colors or become pants or morph from collared to collarless. So, a stability that SERVES to help define the profile of the protagonist. Gotcha.

Related to your experience, though not the same.

Best,

Jim