Hey, :)

How important is it that first-time players are familiar with the town progression rules? (I'm talking about the pride->injustice->sin->etc... part)

Cheers,
J.

I don't think they have to know it at all, though it also can't hurt if they understand it. Primarily it's a guide to creating a loaded situation, though the degree the players have exposed does control the number of demonic dice brought in when appropriate. When I played, I knew that there was a progression, but didn't know the exact sequence, but I didn't see any situation where it mattered to me as a player.

Frank

I agree with Frank - I don't think it's important at all.
The first time I ran it, I tried to tell the players about the escalation procedure, but I realise now that was a mistake - just too much information to start with, and it also encourages people to think in the traditional terms of "the GM has a 'right' answer, and the players have to figure that out."
I've played it with three different groups since then (well, 'groups' is an exaggeration: two sets of 2 players, and one single player), and in each of these cases I just told them something like the following:
[Quote="Me"]The faith has all the common ideas of what is a bad thing: don't commit adultery, don't commit murder, that kind of thing. Plus it also has a few local ideas of bad and good things: it's wrong to drink alcohol, it's okay for respected men to have multiple wives, and so on.
But when you arrive in town, and are faced with a situation, you get to make a judgement for this specific instance, and can ignore all those rules when you do. Some of the people may tell you "You are wrong - the Book of Life says this." They may be correct - but in play that doesn't matter: as God's Watchdog, your judgement trumps the written word. So don't feel the need to ask me whether something is right or wrong according to the faith - your own gut instinct will do fine.
The people of the town may disagree with your judgement so fervently they get out the pitchforks and rifles, but if they do, it's your job to judge them for that, too.

It's worked well so far. The kind of issues and situations produced by the town creation system tend to the sorts of human issues that transcend religion - you only need to be human to know how to act as a Dog.

As others have stated, the escalation is virtually seperate from the judgement the player's place.  It merely is a framework to develop an interesting situation which is "grabby".  I've never told my players as it didn't seem relevant/worth the time.

But when you arrive in town, and are faced with a situation, you get to make a judgement for this specific instance, and can ignore all those rules when you do. Some of the people may tell you "You are wrong - the Book of Life says this." They may be correct - but in play that doesn't matter: as God's Watchdog, your judgement trumps the written word. So don't feel the need to ask me whether something is right or wrong according to the faith - your own gut instinct will do fine.
The people of the town may disagree with your judgement so fervently they get out the pitchforks and rifles, but if they do, it's your job to judge them for that, too.

I like using the progression of bad because it gets players looking all over for the town's Pride and such.  Just the basic Pride to Injustice to Sin (which lets the Demons attack) to False Worship, etc.  It allows for the players to hunt for the root causes, instead of just the sins.

~B

I introduce the Hierarchy of Sin to the players, 'cause the book says that their characters are indoctrinated into it.  I find that it doesn't tend to restrict them at all, in play, but rather makes them focused on Pride, which is a damned good thing.

yrs--
--Ben