Hello, all.
I just stumbled on DitV by chance at Origins and I think it is one of the most inspired things I have seen in a bit.
Now that the gushing is out of the way...
Thoughts and comments on my first foray into town creation?

ALTAR SPRINGS BRANCH

SET UP
==
The Dogs arrive early on Services morning. They see the Faithful on their way
out of Services. One of the group notices a mountain man walking away from town.

When they are spotted the people are joyful, and they quickly draw a pleasant
crowd looking for news and mail. In their excitement they share that a baby
was born last week that needs added to the rolls. An idea is born to have a
picnic that evening as a celebration. Some faces looks less than enthused, but
the idea clearly cannot be denied.

THE MOUNTAIN MAN
==
About 5 weeks ago a Twofeathers came down from the mountains after the death of
his wife, who was a former member of the Faithful who left them out of love for
her man. She admonished him on her deathbed for taking her away from the Faith
and said that she wanted him to embrace the Tree of Life to atone for her sins.

After her death, he packed up his meager belongings and traveled down to Altar
Springs, where he quietly setup a lean-to/Shack on the edge of town at a small
grove near the stream. He has not spoken to anyone. It seemed odd to the
townsfolk, but the Steward advised patience and an open heart.

Then Twofeathers started slipping in the back during services and quietly
listening. He slips out again without speaking to anyone. Several in town are
disturbed by his presence, and lately those voices have gotten louder.

Sister Hope is the only one in town that has gone to visit Twofeathers' meager
home, and left him food and some simple clothes.

He is an innocent man, dealing with his grief and penance in his own way,
struggling with conversion and guilt.

THE GRIEVING MOTHER
==
Three weeks ago Brother Micah was walking along the gully when a sudden storm
blew up and a flash flood carried him away. His mother Sister Deborah has been
grieving horribly since. She has made no secret of her belief that it is the
presence of "that man from the mountains" who has been "lurking around town"
that heralded her son's death and his demonic presence will "surely bring more
suffering".

She has publicly berated the Steward and her husband for failing to take
action and has been trying to rally the town to her way of thinking.

It will not take long for Sister Deborah to try and grab the Dogs' ears about
the failings of the Steward and the clear need to take action.

THE YOUNG LADY
==
Sister Hannah is a beautiful young lady, and the talk of the town. She was
being courted by Brother Micah (and all agreed it was a good match) when he
was killed, and some tongues are wagging that she failed to display the proper
amount of mourning. Regardless, now everyone knows that Brother Amos (Micah's
best friend) is after Hannah to be his wife.

However, Hannah is in love with Brother Jonah - she feels that only the son of
the Steward is good enough for her. While she is sad about Micah's death she is
not disappointed. She had wished for a way for her courtship with him to end,
to clear the way for Jonah. But now Amos got to her father before Jonah could.
If only Amos was out of the way, too....

Her friend Sister Hope has tried to calm her thoughts and get her to accept
Amos, but Hannah has accused her of trying to steal Jonah for herself.

WHO’S WHO
==
Sister Deborah
Wife of Brother Adam, and a grieving mother

Sister Hope
unmarried Daughter of the blacksmith and friend to Sister Hannah

Sister Hannah
Pretty young woman of marrying age.

Sister Virginia
Wife of the Steward.

Sister Prudence
Wife of Brother Michael, and Mother to Sister Hannah

Sister Lavina
Proud mother of the infant Hiram

Brother Michael
Husband of Sister Prudence, and Father to Sister Hannah.
A strong voice in favor of Sister Deborah's calls against the mountain
man.

Brother Adam
Husband to Sister Deborah, and a carpenter

Brother Simeon
Husband to Sister Virginia, and the town's Steward.
Also a former Dog.

Brother Amos
Young man, with a small farm on the edge of town.
He is courting Sister Hannah.

Brother Jonah
Son of the Steward.

Twofeathers
A man of the mountain people, living rough on the edge of town.

SOMETHING’S WRONG
==
The town is divided on the subject of the strange man from the Mountain People. The resulting split between the Steward and Sister Deborah will devastate the town.

PRIDE
==
Sister Deborah is disregarding the Steward and placing her own grief ahead of
the town and its leaders.

Sister Hannah is placing her own prideful vanity ahead of her proper match.

INJUSTICE
==
Sister Deborah wants the death of an innocent man to satisfy her desire for
justice.

Sister Hannah has brought death and suffering onto others out of her own vanity.

SINS
==
Vanity by Sisters Hannah and Deborah.

DEMONIC ATTACKS
==
Demons have responded to the wishes of Sister Hannah and struck down Brother
Micah.

FALSE DOCTRINE, CORRUPT WORSHIP, FALSE PRIESTHOOD,
==
none

HATE
==
Sister Deborah has allowed her grief to manifest as hate for the mountain man.


SORCERY AND MURDER
==
Sister Hannah has allowed herself to channel the powers of demons to change her
marriage match. She may not admit as much to herself, but her desires have been
given destructive form.

WHAT DO THE TOWNSPEOPLE WANT FROM THE DOGS?
==
Sister Deborah: wants the Dogs to judge the man of the mountain people - to
avenge her son.

Sister Hope: wishes for the Dogs to find a way to spare the mountain man who
seems so gentle and kind, and to quiet Sister Hannah's heart.

Sister Hannah: wants the Dogs to see that she should marry Jonah and not Amos,
just like fate proved that she shouldn't marry Micah.

Sister Virginia: Hopes the Dogs can help her husband from losing his town.

Sister Prudence & Brother Michael: wants nothing from the Dogs, unless they
stay long enough to bless the marriage of Hannah and Amos.

Sister Lavina: wants her baby blessed

Brother Simeon & Brother Adam: hopes the Dogs can help Sister Deborah see the
Light and bring peace to her grieving heart.

Brother Amos: wants nothing from the Dogs, unless they stay long enough to
bless his marriage to Sister Hannah.

Brother Jonah: wishes the Dogs would allow him to court Sister Hannah.

Twofeathers: wants nothing from the Dogs, unless they can give him peace over
his wife's wishes.

WHAT DO THE DEMONS WANT?
==
The demons want the death of innocents and the souring of love and marriage in
the town to open it for complete corruption in the future.

WHAT DO THE DEMONS WANT THE DOGS TO DO?
==
The Demons want the Dogs to blame the corruption in the town on the innocent
mountain man, and then bless a marriage between Hannah and Amos. The former to
protect themselves and lead the Dogs astray, and the latter to bring sorrow to
Hannah and let them tempt her to stray from her marriage bed to Jonah's arms.

WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF THE DOGS DIDN’T COME?
==
Sister Hannah would allow the demons to end Brother Amos' life so she could
marry Jonah. With Amos' death, Sister Deborah would gain enough of a following
to completely undercut the Steward and lead to the lynching of Twofeathers.
With the complete corruption of Hannah and Deborah and a weakened Steward, the
town would lie open for complete ruin.

Hi,

Nice ideas and good twist you have here about the discreet convert as a false suspect. I'm wondering however if you can sorcery at that point, since the level of sin and consequences don't seem that serious.

A comment ; I think you need to have False Priesthood with 3 people before you can have sorcery and demon channeling. Also, for ease of reference, I suggest you adapt your adventure to the usual frame presented in the DITV book ; you'll find it easier to manage your session during play.

Cheers,

Erick

baron wrote:
Hi,

Nice ideas and good twist you have here about the discreet convert as a false suspect.

baron wrote:
I'm wondering however if you can sorcery at that point, since the level of sin and consequences don't seem that serious.

A comment ; I think you need to have False Priesthood with 3 people before you can have sorcery and demon channeling.

baron wrote:
Also, for ease of reference, I suggest you adapt your adventure to the usual frame presented in the DITV book ; you'll find it easier to manage your session during play.

I cleaned up the description of Altar Springs.
Any other feedback, or if anyone plays it, let me know. I think I have some friends convinced to try DitV soon, but not sure when we will get to this town.

Clearer Alta Springs is, yes. :)

<insert Yoda voice>

Thanks. I appreciate you input.

I just read it again, and some things I can clean up - like spelling and I dropped the who's who list - but overall I am already turning my mind to which town to use first for my players and what ideas I can put in a second town. :)

I think the Dogs are arriving in town too early. 
There are bad things here which -might- happen, later.
But the shxt hasn't hit the fan yet.

If the Dogs show up -after- the grieving mother gets the Indian lynched... then there's a mess to clean up.

Same with the marriage story: if Amos is already murdered beforehand, the Dogs have something un-ignorable to sort out.
And I'd have Hannah actively kill Amos, instead of passively 'letting' the demons do it.

My concern is that you'll have a flat first session of just meeting a bunch of unpleasant NPCs who haven't yet done anything worth the Dogs caring about.

Call wrote:
I think the Dogs are arriving in town too early.   
There are bad things here which -might- happen, later.
But the shxt hasn't hit the fan yet.

If the Dogs show up -after- the grieving mother gets the Indian lynched... then there's a mess to clean up.

Call wrote:
Same with the marriage story: if Amos is already murdered beforehand, the Dogs have something un-ignorable to sort out.
And I'd have Hannah actively kill Amos, instead of passively 'letting' the demons do it.

Call wrote:
My concern is that you'll have a flat first session of just meeting a bunch of unpleasant NPCs who haven't yet done anything worth the Dogs caring about.

Taltos (You have a real name I missed somewhere?),

I'm not sure I agree with Curly.  It's perfectly viable to have a town that doesn't go past Sin and/or False Doctrine, without anything "bad" happening.  Even if the progression goes all the way up to Hate/Murder, the Dogs aren't just there to pass judgement on the "bad" stuff.  They're there to root out the Pride and the Sin that started the whole thing and deal with that.  After all, the Injustice, False Doctrine, Sorcery, Hate and Murder are all just symptoms that spring from and point to the real problems, Pride and Sin.  Deal with the Pride and Sin, the rest of the stuff takes care of itself.

So, I personally would keep the Mountain Man alive, at least at the beginning of the scenario.  Why remove that large chunk of tension from the town?  Why do the Dogs's job for them?  I can personally see a great scene where the Dogs come upon a lynch-mob headed off to hang the heathen.  What do they do?  If you remove the Mountain Man, you can't have that scene.  You also remove the tension from any NPC that is agitated or has some want/desire that is attached to the Mountain Man.  I say keep him alive.  Kill him during the session if neccessary to escalate things but have him alive initially.

Andrew wrote:
Taltos (You have a real name I missed somewhere?),

Andrew wrote:
I'm not sure I agree with Curly.  It's perfectly viable to have a town that doesn't go past Sin and/or False Doctrine, without anything "bad" happening.  Even if the progression goes all the way up to Hate/Murder, the Dogs aren't just there to pass judgement on the "bad" stuff.  They're there to root out the Pride and the Sin that started the whole thing and deal with that.  After all, the Injustice, False Doctrine, Sorcery, Hate and Murder are all just symptoms that spring from and point to the real problems, Pride and Sin.  Deal with the Pride and Sin, the rest of the stuff takes care of itself.

So, I personally would keep the Mountain Man alive, at least at the beginning of the scenario.  Why remove that large chunk of tension from the town?  Why do the Dogs's job for them?  I can personally see a great scene where the Dogs come upon a lynch-mob headed off to hang the heathen.  What do they do?  If you remove the Mountain Man, you can't have that scene.  You also remove the tension from any NPC that is agitated or has some want/desire that is attached to the Mountain Man.  I say keep him alive.  Kill him during the session if neccessary to escalate things but have him alive initially.

Just curious, Noel ; you have the same second-name as I do (I'm Erick-Noël) ; are you by any incidence French or French-Canadian (as I am)?

If so, you might be curious to know that a few Frenchmen opened an intimate forum (in French) presenting to the French public THE FORGE's games and philosophy :

http://www.silentdrift.net/forum/index.php

You'd be surprised at how little the French roleplayers know about GNS Theory and the Indie scene in general... :/

baron wrote:
Just curious, Noel ; you have the same second-name as I do (I'm Erick-Noël) ; are you by any incidence French or French-Canadian (as I am)?

I'm a French Canadian/Mohawk mongrel. I sympathize! ;)

I really badly want to comment on this town, Noel, but I just haven't found the time.

Soon!

I hope.

-Vincent

I'd be interested in your thoughts.

And for that matter, anyone's play experiences of the town - as I'd like to make more as I learn what works.

(However, it looks like I won't be playing DitV - my local players have had a severe negative reaction to the religious overtones and women's role in society. And I couldn't get them to accept that it was just the milieu of the setting, as in any other game. Probably worth another thread... but they loved the conflict system (the most outspoken even purchased the pdf). We will be trying our hands at a version of Firefly with the rules, however. I am working with the notes for that alternate setting on this forum to get us started.)