Hi, folks. I'm very new to Dogs, but I threw caution to the wind and volunteered to run a game a small convention here in Vermont. I have run a couple brief sessions, each with one player, but it has made me hanker for a game with multiple dogs. I also have some questions, in no particular order.

During the initiatory conflict, the GM gets 4d6 + 4d10. Do I get to pull in 'things,' too? What about follow-up conflicts? The example of Brother Ezra and his profanity is great, but is it all from the original 8 dice? Or would that include dice for the two other NPCs?

The rules state in several places that a raise has to involve something that the opponent can't ignore. I was puzzling over how some of the more cinematic exchanges -- the flickering of light reflecting from the flipped coin, flashbacks and memory descriptions -- how do those qualify as something the opponent can't ignore?

I'm also trying to understand what signals escalation. Someone throwing a punch is obvious, but what about drawing a gun or knife and menacing your opponent? Is that escalation, or does escalation happen when the trigger is pulled or the stab is attempted? I read a thread here about being able to escalate to, say, just talking from a gunfight? I'm guessing that the dialog that might be interwoven with the gunfire doesn't qualify.

I'm inclined to try to run the con session with character generation and initiatory conflicts, with a couple of lists (names, traits) to facilitate. Anyone have any advice for running Dogs at a con?

Many thanks. (And thanks to Sons of Kryos for bringing the awesome game to my attention.)

--Geoff

Hi.  I'm not Vincent but here are my answers and he can correct me.

1) During initiation I don't see a problem with pulling in thing dice (NPCs who enter the conflict after its start would also be "things").  I personally don't do it as I see the initiation as just a quickie tutorial.

2) I think "can't ignore" can extend to "can't ignore from a cinematic perspective" as well.  For example, if the camera in a movie suddenly zooms in on the coin flipping mid air glinting with sunlight then we, the audience, are waiting with baited breath to see what comes after.  If nothing comes after it's lame, so it can't be "ignored."

3) You can "escalate" from any arena to any other arena at any time.  And yes, you have to fire the gun or try to stab the guy, just drawing the weapon doesn't count.  Threatening someone with a weapon is still just using words so it's still "Just talkin'" although you do get your thing dice for the object.

3b) Yes, dialog mid-gunfight DOES count as as "escalating" to talking BUT it's based on what action is counting for the raise.  If you say, "I draw my gun open fire and yell, 'DIE!  You sinful bastard!'" then that's Gunfighting.  But if you raise with, "I hunker down behind the water barrel while I reload and say, 'You know, Joe, it was your wife who turned you in.'" Then that's "escalating" to Just Talkin'.

Basically the rule is this: Whatever action you're preforming as your raise, is the arena of conflict for that raise.  If you haven't used that arena before then you've "escalated" and you should bring in the new dice.  But you're never "locked" into an arena.  You can Raise/See in any arena you want at any time.  So it's totally okay to shoot the guy, yell at him, throw a punch, shoot him again, yell some more, yell again, shoot again, etc.

Jesse

Thanks, Jesse. Your explanations make a lot of sense.