The Forge Forums Read-only Archives
The live Forge Forums
|
Articles
|
Reviews
Welcome,
Guest
. Please
login
or
register
.
February 07, 2023, 01:27:01 AM
1 Hour
1 Day
1 Week
1 Month
Forever
Login with username, password and session length
Forum changes:
Editing of posts has been turned off until further notice.
Search:
Advanced search
275647
Posts in
27717
Topics by
4285
Members Latest Member:
-
Jason DAngelo
Most online today:
62
- most online ever:
660
(January 18, 2023, 03:22:41 PM)
The Forge Archives
Independent Game Forums
lumpley games
(Moderator:
lumpley
)
[DitV] Lone Willow Branch revisited
Pages: [
1
]
« previous
next »
Author
Topic: [DitV] Lone Willow Branch revisited (Read 2592 times)
Graham W
Member
Posts: 437
[DitV] Lone Willow Branch revisited
«
on:
January 27, 2006, 04:47:17 AM »
I played through Lone Willow Branch again last night, with two American friends, Tyler and Jamie. It was very satisfying but much harder going (for me) than before. Any comments welcome, as always, especially if they're "How to GM it better" comments.
It's a variation on Damien Neil's Lone Tree Branch and it goes a bit like...
PRIDE
Lone Willow Branch has been doing pretty well. Crops are good, sickness is rare, and nobody goes too hungry in the winter. Brother Micah, Steward of the Branch, has been pleased with his success.
INJUSTICE
So when the pitiful remains of a wagon train of settlers--not of the Faith--arrived in town last spring, everybody just saw that as clear proof of the King of Life's favor on them over the Faithless. They settled down just outside of town, too tired to go further. Times have been hard for them since.
SIN
Frank Miller and his wife Jane are among the settlers. Frank's a baker and a brewer by trade, and has started making some wicked moonshine. Most of the Faithful know better than to deal with him, but a few have a bottle stashed away somewhere at home. Brother Cyrus is one of them, and took to sending his daughter, Sister Susan out to the Millers' to bring back his bottle.
Sister Susan's eye was caught by James Miller, the Millers' son. Six months ago, they got drunk, and slept together. James says it was consensual; Susan can't remember; and Brother Cyrus is certain it was rape.
DEMONIC ATTACKS
Sister Susan bears James Miller's child.
The first interesting bit was during character creation. Tyler was completely into it and Jamie wasn't.
Jamie: "I don't know what to put down."
Me: "OK. Start with 'I'm a good shot'. Now, how come your character's a good shot?"
Jamie: "I don't know."
...and, at this point, I suggested some things, which was probably a mistake...
Me: "For example, maybe your Dad taught you, or maybe you practiced every day one summer. Any of those are good."
Jamie: "I don't know. I'm not very good at these things. I'm OK with D&D, when there's stats."
...and so I started to worry she wouldn't like the game. Tyler chimed in...
Tyler: "Maybe your brothers taught you? Maybe you were all at home on the farm and they taught you."
Jamie: "I don't think she's got any brothers."
Me: "OK. Write down 'I haven't got any brothers'."
...and she did, and then wrote down "I'm freckled" and some very imaginative ones to do with protecting women. I think one of them was "Lots of people think I'm a dyke", which I loved. And the thing she wanted to achieve during initiation was "I want to hear the voice of God". Fantastic.
The game itself started kinda slowly, with them going around the town interviewing people. (The people mostly said "James Miller raped Sarah!" or "Sarah's father is accusing James Miller of rape!").
Eventually they ended up at the settler's caravans. They tried to confiscate the liquor from Frank Miller and failed. Then, after various other little things, they started a conflict with the stakes: "Do the settlers leave town?". It was quite interesting and basically went something like this. I'll shorten the dialogue down to the essentials.
Tyler raises: "Leave town now!"
I see: "Frank Miller says 'No!'"
I raise: "It's winter! We'll starve!"
Tyler sees: "I don't care!"
Tyler raises: "You're unworthy in the sight of the King of Life!" (something like that, anyway)
I see: "Screw the The King of Life!"
I raise: [knocks the Book of Life out of Tyler's hand]
Tyler sees: [can't remember what he did, exactly]
Tyler raises: [pistol whips Frank Miller]
I see: [Frank Miller dies]
I raise: [There's a moment of silence and then James Miller asks the Dogs to leave them in peace]
Tyler sees: "Go away and be in peace somewhere else!"
Tyler raises: "Now!"
...and I give. I've paraphrased most of that, of course, and that's where we left the game, with the settlers leaving town.
A couple of questions, since I'm still new to this. Firstly, is it OK to raise "Frank Miller dies"? It's an attempt to escalate, of course, but is it all right?
Secondly, it's clear that there's two sides to the story of James and Sarah sleeping together: some townspeople say it was rape, some don't. Is this OK? Something feels wrong about this, given that the problem isn't laid out on a plate: the Dogs get different sides of the story from different people. But there's no attempt to hide the problem. It's just that there's two different views of it.
And any other comments and questions welcome, of course.
Logged
oliof
Member
Posts: 449
Harald Wagener - Zurich, Switzerland
Re: [DitV] Lone Willow Branch revisited
«
Reply #1 on:
January 28, 2006, 02:27:21 PM »
Frank Miller dying is a valid raise, as the conflict is not about Frank Miller, but the Settlers leaving the town. It does drive the game towards conflict, and does show the players that their actions do have consequences. Other than that, the validity of the raise is limited what the group deems OK.
And of course it's OK to have people say what they think is true. The important thing is that the Dogs normally will know when someone is lying to them. I guess the whole setup would be more interesting if Sr. Sarah would remember the incident as rape, and she and Br. James would be telling their subjective truths. Depicting something ambigiously is a great way to force the players to decide what they think of the matter.
Regards,
Harald
Logged
Harald Wagener
The Shadow of Yesterday - in german<
Solar System - in german
dunlaing
Member
Posts: 308
My name is Bill
Re: [DitV] Lone Willow Branch revisited
«
Reply #2 on:
January 28, 2006, 04:41:33 PM »
I unequivocally condone all rpg attacks on Frank Miller.
http://home.comcast.net/~dunlaing/miller.html
Logged
Pages: [
1
]
« previous
next »
Jump to:
Please select a destination:
-----------------------------
Welcome to the Archives
-----------------------------
=> Welcome to the Archives
-----------------------------
General Forge Forums
-----------------------------
=> First Thoughts
=> Playtesting
=> Endeavor
=> Actual Play
=> Publishing
=> Connections
=> Conventions
=> Site Discussion
-----------------------------
Archive
-----------------------------
=> RPG Theory
=> GNS Model Discussion
=> Indie Game Design
-----------------------------
Independent Game Forums
-----------------------------
=> Adept Press
=> Arkenstone Publishing
=> Beyond the Wire Productions
=> Black and Green Games
=> Bully Pulpit Games
=> Dark Omen Games
=> Dog Eared Designs
=> Eric J. Boyd Designs
=> Errant Knight Games
=> Galileo Games
=> glyphpress
=> Green Fairy Games
=> Half Meme Press
=> Incarnadine Press
=> lumpley games
=> Muse of Fire Games
=> ndp design
=> Night Sky Games
=> one.seven design
=> Robert Bohl Games
=> Stone Baby Games
=> These Are Our Games
=> Twisted Confessions
=> Universalis
=> Wild Hunt Studios
-----------------------------
Inactive Forums
-----------------------------
=> My Life With Master Playtest
=> Adamant Entertainment
=> Bob Goat Press
=> Burning Wheel
=> Cartoon Action Hour
=> Chimera Creative
=> CRN Games
=> Destroy All Games
=> Evilhat Productions
=> HeroQuest
=> Key 20 Publishing
=> Memento-Mori Theatricks
=> Mystic Ages Online
=> Orbit
=> Scattershot
=> Seraphim Guard
=> Wicked Press
=> Review Discussion
=> XIG Games
=> SimplePhrase Press
=> The Riddle of Steel
=> Random Order Creations
=> Forge Birthday Forum