I'm ramping up for my 1st game of DitV, and it'll be the 1st time th eold group has gotten togeather in over a year. We're pretty psyched!
Knowing that, I really want to rock their gaming world with my 1st go. Any advise on running a successful game, what mechanicaly should we look for or try real hard to remember, do or not do etc..

Say yes or roll dice.  Only introduce conflicts which are interesting and offer good direction to the story whether the participants win or lose.

For the first session, go all the way to "Hate and Murder" in the progression of sin.  The further you go on the progression, the easier it is the pass judgement, the easier it is for new players.

yrs--
--Ben

Every NPC the Dogs meet wants something out of the Dogs, and as a rule they should be unashamedly asking for it as soon as the Dogs get to talk to them. If you've followed the town creation rules, you know what everyone wants already, so just make sure you don't get timid about having them demand it. Make sure there are at least three sets of contradictory demands being made, and you're golden.

Speaking of dice... You don't have enough of them.  You need more d6s, more d4s, more d8s, and more d10s. 

It doesn't matter how much you think you have, you don't have enough of them.  Raid the Risk box, raid Yahtzee, do what you must to ensure that the entire table is covered with dice. 

And maybe... maybe.. it'll be enough.  If everyone else brings the same and shares.

1. Actively reveal. The Town. In. Play!

(Make absolutely sure YOU'RE not running the game as a mystery, and make sure your players aren't playing it that way. Shove everybody's problems in their face. Don't be afraid to tell them straight out that they've learned all there is to know about something. My first town was Judd's New Gidea and I had to make sure that one player didn't get too sidetracked trying to find "holes" in the story of the rape.)

2. Make sure you're not putting too much pressure on yourself.

(When I hear a GM proclaim his desire to "rock . . . world" my inner worry wart says, "This guy's setting himself up to fail. He's going to have the worst case of flop sweat and will give off the same anxiety rays that women find such a turnoff in insecure men." Maybe that's just me. But I think, "Here's an opportunity for us all to have a great time" beats "I'm going to rock your world RIGHT NOW" as an approach.)

3. Make or pick a town with an eye toward what your players dig.

(I threw a dinosaur bone dig into my first town because I knew the most "trad" gamer in the group dug both dinosaurs and the early history of paleontology. For your group it won't be dinosaur bones, but it will be something.)

4. Reread the conflict and NPC/town chapters as soon before playing as possible.

5. Tell 'em straight out: "I'm not running this to see if you guys come up with the 'right answer.' I'm running this because I'm dying to know what you'll decide."

6. "That part's easy: they want what they've always wanted." Best sentence in the book. Write it on your palm.

Best,

Jim

Hello, this is my first Forge Post and I got only very few game mastering experiences under my belt, but, please, allow me to chime in (also english is not my native language, hope you’ll bear with me).

My (relatively new) gaming group is playing a series of DitV Towns right now. Usually I love to be a player and find too much a difficult job to master a game but DitV fascinates me. I tried a pre-written town, liked it, run some other 3-4 pre-written towns and am currently running the one I lovingly wrote especially for my fellow players.

Here are some thing I have learnt make a better experience of running a DitV game:

- Be sure to have clear in your mind the NPC character and personalities. If you feel to know them and they make sense in your mind you will always know how to have them act the PC, even in the most unpredictable situations.

- Listen to Jim: DON’T TRY TO RUN A MISTERY/INVESTIGATION. I already saw it: it doesn’t work.
Instead turn the need to “Actively reveal the Town in play” to your advantage. With one revelation after the other you can keep a nice rythm in the story or, if the PC don’t act quick enough you can precipitate events (and you’ll know how to do it thanks to your clear understanding of the NPC). This way you’ll avoid that boresome moments when players look one another in the face unsure what to do.

- Try to pick Towns suitable to the taste of your players (Gunwielding Action or Fights with Awful Demons or Subtle Exploration of Human Hearts, etc.)

- Try to pick Town that will put your PC in the most difficult positions when they’ll have to decide what to do: exploit shamelessly all the Characters traits and relationship and (a whole lot more cautiously) your personale knowledge of the players personality.

This said I wish you the gratest time playing DitV (I know I’m having it!)

Welcome to the Forge, Claudia.  Good post.

Aside from my rather cheeky but true mention on dice, I should also mention that a really good tactic is to make the Dogs related to someone important in the story, background permitting.  Extended family works nice, like cousin, second cousin, aunt, uncle, that sort of thing.  Blood relations always makes things more complicated, and a heck of a lot more fun.

No one has said anything about Stakes!!!

Set Stakes BEFER the dice hit the table!!! Make the Stakes Matter!!

Don't let the players say: "If the [NPC Name] wins I die" or "If I win the [NPC Name] dies!" Let death be part of fall out. (unless they really hate the NPC... but even then this is better "If I win he is down on his knees for mercy that I will not give him."

Ask them what they WANT from the NPC and what they WANT from the situation (not just what they are doing). those are the stakes.

I found that rmembering to set stakes before dice were rolled to be one of the things that I f'ed-up more than anything else.

Also escalate!

Have fun, IU have run two games last week, it rocked each time.

Everybody, thanks for this thread! It's like a love letter to my game.

-Vincent