(Not sure what happened with my original post...)

(Cross posted at RPG.net)

I picked up Dogs in the Vineyard about a year ago, and I’d like to use it for a new gaming group.  The default setting was a tough sell for my players, so I became interested in [URL=http://"http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=16743.0"]Wolves of the North[/URL], John Harper’s alternative setting for DitV where the Wolves are Nordic priests hopping between Viking villages.  It keeps the mechanics entirely in place while changing the flavor. 

But while I was noodling all of this around, [URL=http://"http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=7691"]Roanoke[/URL] caught my eye.  I got to thinking about increasing the tension in the villages by setting in the New World.  And that’s how I got to thinking about Leif Erikson… Vikings + Mysteriously Disappeared Village = Leif (and if it’s not a perfect historical fit, it’s close enough for my purposes).  So my plan was to start the game with straight DitV rules and to try and incorporate something of the Doom mechanic from Roanoke as the campaign went on.  And then last night I found out about [URL=http://"http://www.lumpley.com/comment.php?entry=201"]Afraid[/URL], Vincent Baker’s forthcoming DitV re-imagining as a horror game. 

A quick word about what I’m envisioning for this game: I’d like the supernatural dial to be turned up fairly high, and for the tone to have a lot of tension and fear.  I love the intro to Roanoke I read introducing the colony as doomed from the very beginning, but not specifying how it will vanish.  This is the intro sketch I wrote:
Players will take the roles of “Wolves,” who, like the Dogs of DitV, go from village to village to keep the peace, root out corruption, and bring righteous justice.  The villages will be the early encampments of Leif Erikson; Viking settlers far from the home of their fathers and their gods, surrounded by a vast, strange, and ominous new continent.  Demons held at bay in the old country through powerful priests and magic see their opportunity for revenge against this new, fragile colony so far from home.

So my quandary is this: should I forget about Afraid entirely and go with what I’d been thinking?  Or are the mechanical tweaks and additions in Afraid a good match for the setting and tone of the game I’m putting together? 

Also any comments re: incorporating the Doom mechanic into DitV would be appreciated.  Or any other thoughts/suggestions for that matter.  :D

And last, [URL=http://"http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/48497118/"]here[/URL] is an image to help the creative juices flowing