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-Page 1
-Dogs
-Vineyard
-in
-the
-A Roleplaying Game
-Written by D. Vincent Baker
-ad mmiv
-Page 2
-Dogs in the Vineyard
-© 2004 by D. Vincent Baker
-—
-A lumpley game
-GenCon
-’
-Cover illustration © 2004 by Drew Baker
-Interior Illustrations © 2005 by D. Vincent Baker and
-© 2005 by Ed Heil
-Printed in OldStyle, Oldstyle Small Caps, and Oldstyle
-Italic, old linotype fonts reproduced by the H. P.
-Lovecraft Historical Society
-Book Design by D. Vincent Baker and Joshua Newman
-ISBN 0-9769042-0-9
-Page 3
-Contents
-i: How To Play – 5
-Introduction — If You’ve Never Roleplayed Before —
-What’s it like to play? — Before You Play — All This and
-Platonic Too — At the First Session — From Then On
-ii: A Land of Balm and Virtue – 11
-Setting — The Landscape — The Faith — Towns — Food
-and Fashion — Guns — The Mountain People — The
-Territorial Authority — Back East — Nonbelievers
-iii: Creating Characters – 21
-Overview — Procedure — Background — Going
-Forward — Leaving Play — GMing Character Creation
-Creating Characters: Recap – 50
-iv: Conflict & Resolution – 53
-Overview — The Simple Case — Escalating — Using
-Traits and Things — Giving — Fallout — Follow-up
-Conflicts — Using Relationships — Multiple Opponents
-— Helping — Using Ceremony — Demonic Influence
-— GMing Conflicts
-Conflict & Resolution: Recap – 78
-Page 4
-iv
-v: Resolution in Action – 85
-Split Seconds — Other Time Tricks — Bodyguards —
-Ambush — Life or Death — Special Effects
-vi: The Structure of the Game – 93
-Character Creation — Long-term Play: Each Character’s
-Service as a Dog — Short-term Play: Each Town —
-Short-term Play: Between Towns — Long-term Play: At
-the End of a Dog’s Service
-vii: Creating Towns – 97
-Pride — Injustice — Sin — Demonic Attacks — False
-Doctrine — Corrupt Worship — False Priesthood —
-Sorcery — Hate and Murder — Procedure
-viii: Between Towns – 121
-Reflection — Direction — GMing Between Towns
-ix: Creating NPCs – 125
-Proto-NPCs — NPCs in Play — Groups — Possessed
-People — Sorcerers — Demons? — Names
-Creating NPCs: Recap – 135
-x: How To GM – 137
-Play the town — Drive play toward conflict — Actively
-reveal the town in play — Follow the players’ lead about
-what’s important — Escalate, Escalate, Escalate — DO
-NOT have a solution in mind — Playing God? — Some
-Actual Play
-xi: Design Notes – 147
-Resources — Comment: Relationships vs. Traits vs. Things
-— Adapting the Faith — Thanks
-Rules Index – 153
-Page 5
-iv
-i: How To Play
-D
-ogs in the Vineyard is about God’s Watchdogs,
-young men and women called to preserve the
-Faithful in a hostile frontier territory. They
-travel from town to isolated town, carrying mail, news,
-and doctrine, healing the sick, supporting the weary,
-and pronouncing judgment upon the wicked. One early
-playtester said what she loves about the game: a town
-welcomes you with celebration and honor, but what you’re
-there to do is stir up its dirt and lay bare its sins.
-The setting is a fantasy inspired by pre-statehood
-Utah, the Deseret Territory, toward the middle of the 19th
-century. Picture a landscape of high mountains, icy rivers
-and cedar woods, falling away westward into scrublands,
-deserts, buttes and swells. The summer skies are
-heartbreaking blue, but the winters are long and killing.
-Picture religious pioneers, fleeing persecution and
-violence in the East. They’re trying to establish a society
-based on faith and righteousness out in this frontier.
-They’ve made the long trek westward but they’re still in
-danger: their towns are small and isolated, vulnerable to
-attack from without, sin and corruption within. Under
-pressure, their pride becomes sin, their anger becomes
-violence, their resentments become hate. Winter and the
-demons howl...
-You are God’s Watchdogs, holding the Faith together.
-Page 6
-Dogs in the Vineyard
-i: How to Play
-If You’ve Never
-Roleplayed Before
-Y
-ou and your friends sit around a table or the living
-room, talking. You’re collaborating on a story about
-these characters, these Watchdogs of God, their adventures
-and the challenges they face. Each of your friends acts
-for one of the characters, making decisions and taking
-action and speaking pretty much for that character alone.
-Anybody can suggest anything to anybody, but when it
-comes to that character, the buck stops with that player.
-You’re the GM, though, and that means you don’t have
-just one character: you have everything else. You play all
-the supporting characters and antagonists, you have final
-say over the imaginary sets where the action happens. You
-set the pace, push the characters into conflict and crisis,
-and describe the consequences of their decisions.
-Sometimes the characters’ stories are funny, sometimes
-exciting, sometimes frightening or intense — it’s all good.
-Sometimes you’ll sit back from the table just shaking
-your head at how cool. The characters can’t help but
-be transformed by the challenges they face and their
-changing relationships. Sometimes they even die. Your
-game will have an overall story, made up of the interwoven
-individual stories of your characters.
-If it’s not as fun and engaging as the best TV shows, I
-haven’t done my job.
-What’s it like to play?
-I
-t’s episodic. A town per session, a town per two sessions
-if it’s a big deal town. A good model here is a traveling
-TV series, like The Fugitive or Farscape: each town presents
-a situation for the characters to deal with and becomes
-part of their ongoing story.
-The game works best when the players all contribute,
-all the time. You should all call out suggestions, kibitz,
-laugh, digress, ooh and aah, say what’s cool and boo the
-Page 7
-Dogs in the Vineyard
-i: How to Play
-villains. I’m serious, just because your character’s out of
-the scene doesn’t mean you have to sit quiet.
-Along the same lines, if you’re the GM, feel free to tell
-the players things their character’s can’t know. “You cut
-out across the field toward the smoldering wagon. There’s
-a gang of robbers hiding in the grass and behind a couple
-of nearby trees. You haven’t seen them yet. What do you
-do?”
-Furthermore, the game calls for a pretty particular
-division of power between players and GM, one you might
-not be accustomed to. For instance, it’s never the GM’s job
-to plan what’ll happen. The GM’s job is to create a town
-at a moment of crisis (which I’ll tell you how to do in good
-detail) and from then on, only respond. Play the NPCs up
-to your elbows but then be willing to let them die.
-I don’t provide too much setting; that’s by design. I’ll
-give you some broad strokes, geography, an outline of the
-Faith and its enemies, some color. But as you play, you’ll
-fill in the rest, details of how the people live and what they
-care about, their rituals, their demons and culture and
-politics. Own the world! It’s yours.
-It may seem odd at first, but the rules are there to
-support you and make it easy. I can’t wait to show you the
-dice in action! And the payoff is terrific — blood, passion,
-judgment, fire. Real, gripping drama all the way around
-the table.
-Before You Play
-Y
-ou’ll need a GM. You’ll need some players — the
-game works well with as few as two, and I wouldn’t
-go over say four, plus you the GM. There are other games
-that really rock with a big group, so if you’ve got a big
-group, try one of them.
-You’ll need to read the rules. Get a picture in your head
-of how they play out.
-You’ll need to get your fellow players to buy into the
-game. If you tell them it’s a western and they look at
-Page 8
-Dogs in the Vineyard
-i: How to Play
-you like, a western? what’s that about? then this isn’t
-their game. It’s okay, I’ve been there. There are lots of
-alternatives that might be more to their taste; allow me to
-recommend Trollbabe, Universalis, My Life with Master, or
-Primetime Adventures as good possibilities.
-You’ll need to create a town. Follow the rules in chapter
-nine. Once the game gets going, creating towns is the
-GM’s big responsibility, since the characters’ll visit a new
-town practically every session. Fortunately it’s easy and
-fun.
-You’ll need a big ol’ pile of mixed dice. At least a dozen
-d6s, better fifteen or twenty, plus six or eight each of d4s,
-d8s and d10s. Pool everybody’s if you’ve got to and put
-them in a bowl on the table.
-Dice Conventions
-d6 means one six-sided die. 3d8 means three eight-sided
-dice. 4d6 1d10 means four six-sided dice and one ten-sided
-die.
-The game’s rules sometimes say to “add a die” or
-“change the die size”:
-— If you add a die to 1d6, you get 2d6.
-— If you add a die to 3d8, you get 4d8.
-— If you change the die size of 1d6 to d8s, you get 1d8. If
-you change it to d10s, you get 1d10.
-— If you change the die size of 3d8 to d10s, you get 3d10.
-If you change it to d4s, you get 3d4.
-They also sometimes say to add a particular die or dice:
-— If you add 2d10 to 1d6, you get 1d6 2d10.
-— If you add 1d8 to 3d8 1d10, you get 4d8 1d10.
-Much as you’d expect.
-Page 9
-Dogs in the Vineyard
-i: How to Play
-At the First Session
-A
-t the first session, you need to:
-— Get a group hit on the setting and setup
-of the game. If you want you can just read out the
-“Background” section in the character creation chapter.
-— Create characters. Follow the procedure, out loud, at
-the table. Don’t anybody come with a character already
-made.
-— Play through an initiatory conflict with each player.
-This a) introduces the game’s dice; b) introduces the
-players’ characters; and c) begins to establish you, the GM,
-as the author of the adversity in the game. This is a real
-big deal.
-— Introduce the first town and launch into play proper.
-From Then On
-F
-rom then on, you follow the characters’ stories where
-they go.
-In every town the characters visit, there’s something
-wrong, and their job is to figure out what it is and put it
-right. Sometimes what’s wrong is just a minor thing with
-the potential to become much, much worse; sometimes it’s
-worse already. Either way the characters will uproot it,
-judge it, and enact upon it the will of God. God’s mercy,
-God’s justice, God’s vengeance? That’s theirs to decide.
-The game’s rules’ job is to help you, the GM, reveal
-the pride, sin and corruption in the towns you create,
-and provoke the characters’ judgment. They work a) by
-helping you create congregations in turmoil, then b) by
-seizing conflicts and relentlessly escalating them, then c)
-by bringing the consequences back home to the players. I
-can’t wait to show you them in action.
-Over time, the players will reveal their characters in
-depth. The characters might grow in faith, they might
-fall by the side, they might struggle with doubts and
-misgivings. You’ll find each one fascinating, maybe noble,
-Page 10
-Dogs in the Vineyard
-pure, maybe good-intentioned but weak, maybe flawed,
-maybe fatally flawed. Some will die. They’ll choose where
-to stand and where to give way and what’s worth killing,
-dying for.
-You’ll get to see sides of your friends you haven’t
-before. It’s wicked cool.
-Ready?
-Page 11
-Dogs in the Vineyard
-ii: A Land of Balm
-and Virtue
-I
-will prepare for you a garden on the mountain, I will
-prepare a land of balm and virtue.
-Setting
-I
-’m just making stuff up! I have an image in my head, a
-picture of what the characters look like, what the towns
-and landscapes look like, and my thoughts in this chapter
-follow from it.
-As you play the game, you’ll form your own picture of
-its world. Make up details to fit your picture, don’t worry
-about sticking to mine.
-It’s especially important to note that everyone playing
-will form a slightly different picture, leading to slightly
-different details. That’s fine! As GM, it falls to you to draw
-the other players’ details into the confirmed, consensus
-“reality” of the game. When a player asks you, “is there
-a [whatever] here?” you should either say yes outright,
-or turn the question back to the group: “I dunno, does it
-make sense to you all that there’d be a [whatever] here?”
-Similarly, if you think that a detail you’re introducing
-might be at all surprising or controversial, take it to the
-group: “I want there to be a [whatever] here. Does that
-make sense to everybody?”
-Page 12
-Dogs in the Vineyard
-ii: A Land of Balm and Virtue
-If you’ve GMed many other roleplaying games, you’re
-probably accustomed to creating a consistent world by
-adhering strictly to one person’s vision — either your
-own as GM or else the game designer’s. I don’t intend
-Dogs to play that way. When you play Dogs, you create a
-consistent world by actively building one out of the bits and
-pieces of each player’s own vision.
-All of which to signify only: when I go on and on about
-what shape the guns are, but don’t say a single word about
-the horses, don’t take it as gospel. It’s just what I care
-about.
-The Landscape
-T
-he mountains are really tall. They peak above
-the snowline. They have deep canyons, smashing
-waterfalls, some rivers with ice in them year-round.
-Winters even in the foothills are fierce and long.
-There’s a broad fertile range — hundreds of miles
-broad — on the west of the mountains, with lakes and
-good land, rolling down westward and southward to a vast
-scrub desert. The lower mountains and the fertile range
-are the home of the Faith.
-The capital of the Faith is called Bridal Falls City, for
-the four beautiful waterfalls — the Four Brides — you can
-see if you look up to the mountains. It’s still quite a small
-city, pretty much dominated by its temples and temple
-compounds.
-The scrub desert is not sandy, dune-y or Sahara-like at
-all. It’s all buttes, swells, canyons, and deep-cut valleys. It
-used to be wetter and more fertile, probably, but it’s still
-got lots of scrub oak, sagebrush, and those hardy little
-cedars. In places wind and rain have carved the sandstone
-until it looks like the ruins of some prehistorical kingdom
-— mile after mile of eerie natural monuments.
-Page 13
-Dogs in the Vineyard
-ii: A Land of Balm and Virtue
-Page 14
-Dogs in the Vineyard
-ii: A Land of Balm and Virtue
-The Faith
-T
-he whole name of the Faith is the Faith of All Things
-in the King of Life, Reborn.
-The whole name of the Dogs is the Order Set Apart to
-the Preservation of Faith and the Faithful. Casually, the
-King’s Dogs or Life’s Watchdogs. Dogs are always called
-Brother or Sister by their first name: Brother Jeremiah,
-Sister Patience.
-The Faith is the only true religion in the world. All
-other religions are a) actively demonic, cults created by
-Faithful leaders fallen into sin; b) corrupt and decadent,
-like the majority religions of the East; or c) idle nonsense,
-like most of the religions in the wider world.
-Towns
-I
-n a typical town, there might be:
-— Mostly farmers;
-— A blacksmith;
-— A barrel-maker;
-— A shoemaker;
-— A miller;
-— A carpenter;
-— A midwife;
-— A Faith meeting house;
-— A one-room town hall;
-— A one-room schoolhouse;
-— A town square and market;
-— A dry goods store.
-In the larger towns, there might also be:
-— A potter;
-— A baker;
-— A mason;
-— A glassblower;
-— A wheelwright;
-— A harness maker;
-— A doctor;
-— A lawyer;
-Page 15
-Dogs in the Vineyard
-ii: A Land of Balm and Virtue
-— A theater;
-— A hotel;
-— A courthouse;
-— A schoolhouse or two;
-— A hotel;
-— Competing dry goods stores.
-Food and Fashion
-T
-he staple foods are dairy and wheat.
-Common foods include beef, chicken, pork, game
-(elk, rabbits, fowl), fish, eggs, milk, cheese, fruit (apples,
-plums, apricots, various berries), vegetables (corn, squash,
-tomatoes, carrots, onions, peas, beans, beets, spinach),
-herbs, honey.
-The Faithful don’t drink coffee, black tea, wine or
-liquor. They do drink herbal teas, various brewed soft
-drinks like lemonade, spruce beer and root beer, and
-— although it’s going out of fashion — mild barley beer.
-Only old people use tobacco at all, and they get some grief
-for it from their families and their Stewards.
-Clothing’s made from cotton and wool, mostly. Finer
-wools and linen are luxury materials. Silk’s used for
-handkerchiefs and neckties, but more silk than one small
-item in an outfit would be ostentatious or even decadent.
-Dress is simple and modest. Men wear mostly black,
-gray and dark brown, with generally white shirts. Women
-dress more colorfully, but for a woman to show her ankle,
-wrist or throat in company would be risqué.
-Throughout the Faith, practicality trumps decorum,
-though: a woman won’t show her wrist in company, but in
-the kitchen? She rolls her sleeves.
-Page 16
-Dogs in the Vineyard
-ii: A Land of Balm and Virtue
-Guns
-I
-mentioned the guns, right? We’re talking pre-Civil War
-revolvers, which means they’re before the Colt Navy and
-that distinctive six-gun look. They’re heavier-slung guns
-with lower profiles and big, big bores.
-To load them you slide out the rod or break them open
-at the hinge, take out the cylinder, put the cartridges in the
-front and caps in the back. You make your own cartridges:
-a lead bullet and a measure of powder in a twist of
-(nitrate-soaked) paper. They’re single-action, which means
-that you have to pull back the hammer with your thumb;
-pulling the trigger doesn’t advance the cylinder or cock the
-hammer.
-They’re slow, loud, smoky, and sometimes the cap
-misfires or the cartridge jams the cylinder, but they’re
-quite accurate and when they hit you they smash great big
-holes into you. You’ve seen a Colt Dragoon? They’re scary
-monsters.
-The Mountain People
-T
-he land here wasn’t uninhabited when the Faith
-arrived, not precisely, but its natives are nomads and
-at the time they were elsewhere. While the pioneers were
-establishing themselves at Bridal Falls and the lush valleys
-around it, various accidents of history, the travels of the
-elk herds, agreements between family groups, and perhaps
-the will of the King of Life all kept the natives away. By
-the time their paths brought them back, Bridal Falls City
-and a dozen other towns already stood.
-As the Faithful have expanded, it’s been easy for
-them to push the natives — the Mountain People — out
-in front of them. The Faithful have guns, work animals,
-organization, and everywhere they go they make roads
-and walls. The Mountain People are accustomed to
-packing up what they own and moving on.
-Page 17
-Dogs in the Vineyard
-ii: A Land of Balm and Virtue
-By now the Mountain People live only at the edges of
-the Faith’s territory, in the scrub, the desert, and higher in
-the mountains.
-The Mountain People don’t have any social or political
-unity. Each family group is autonomous, forming alliances
-and agreements with other families at need or convenience.
-Consequently the towns at the edges of the Faith have to
-negotiate ongoing relations with nearby Mountain People
-as best they can. Sometimes it’s easy, sometimes it’s not.
-In some places it’s violent; in other places the Mountain
-People are more likely to trade, or even beg, than to raid.
-According to the doctrines of the Faith, the Mountain
-People are a fallen remnant of an ancient Faithful
-civilization. Out of respect for the antiquity of their
-covenant, the Faithful don’t fight with them or murder
-them without cause, and whenever a man or woman of the
-Mountain People repents and comes to the Faith, it’s joy
-and celebration. Beyond this, the Faith’s position is that
-the Mountain People today are sinners and idolaters no
-different from any other.
-But folklore inevitably springs up. According to some,
-the Mountain People are uniquely beloved of the King of
-Life and destined for a glorious renaissance, despite their
-present wickedness and idolatry. A few Faithful even say
-that the Mountain People possess secret true doctrines!
-These hold that one of the most important duties of the
-Faith is to restore the Mountain People to their rightful
-place in the Book of Life.
-Others say instead that their fall from righteousness
-makes them especially vulnerable to demonic influences,
-easily possessed and naturally sorcerous, and that
-they serve the demons by raiding and murdering the
-Faithful. Extreme versions even make them out to be
-wholly unredeemable. They’re dedicated absolutely to the
-downfall of the Faith, just as the demons are absolute in
-their rage against the King of Life.
-You can guess which stories arise in towns where
-relations with the Mountain people are hard, and which in
-towns were relations are easy.
-Page 18
-Dogs in the Vineyard
-ii: A Land of Balm and Virtue
-Regardless, sometimes individual Mountain People do
-convert to the Faith. Sometimes orphans of the Mountain
-People are adopted by a Faithful family and raised
-righteously. Sometimes they even serve as Dogs!
-The Territorial Authority
-R
-epresentatives of the Territorial Authority will
-generally be either a claims officer or other
-bureaucrat, or a circuit rider not unlike you Dogs.
-Only larger towns will have any sort of Territorial law
-enforcement — a sheriff — but he’s most likely to be
-Faithful, elected to the job by his congregation. The
-Territorial Authority’s real concern is that taxes are paid
-and nobody interferes with the mail — it worries about
-“keeping the peace” only insofar as lawlessness interferes
-with taxes and mail.
-It’s worth pointing out that the Dogs are authorized
-by the Faith to do some things — like shoot sinners in the
-street — that are against the law. Exercise your authority
-cautiously.
-Back East
-B
-ack East is all decadence, sin, cruelty and occultism. It
-has huge cities, each with a population bigger than the
-entire body of the Faith, and they’re foul, stinking places.
-The few wealthy practice unspeakable vice and violence
-and bribe the law to look away. The majority suffers
-poverty, disease, filth, crime, slavery — and even still are
-too blind to turn to the King of Life.
-Small communities of the Faith remain Back East even
-now, although fewer and fewer.
-Occasionally, a Faithful family will send a child Back
-East to college. Those are perilous years.
-Page 19
-Dogs in the Vineyard
-ii: A Land of Balm and Virtue
-Nonbelievers
-L
-ots of people other than the Faithful profess to serve
-God. Some even call Him by His true title: the King
-of Life. Obviously, they don’t truly serve Him — if they
-did, they’d join the Faith! Instead:
-— Atheists believe that there is no God, or that if there
-is a God, He doesn’t participate in our lives. If they follow
-a religion — and practically all of them do — they don’t
-follow it with heart or faith.
-— Dogmatists believe that what matters is obeying
-scripture or dogma, not obeying God. They analyze their
-faith for legalistic adherence to precedents or rules, and
-thus don’t recognize the true promptings of their souls.
-— Spiritualists believe that some spirit, or some class
-of spirits, is God. They follow pagan superstitions or
-ask the ghosts of the dead for guidance. The Mountain
-People are Spiritualists, of course, worshipping their dead
-ancestors and the spirits of the landscape. Back East,
-more contemporary forms of Spiritualism are currently in
-vogue.
-There aren’t many nonbelievers out here among the
-Faithful, but there are some. It might be, for instance,
-that the claims officer is a stodgy old churchgoing Atheist,
-while his faddish wife holds séances or reads Tarot.
-Page 20
-Page 21
-iii: Creating
-Characters
-Y
-ou are one of God’s Watchdogs, a young man or
-woman called to service in the Faith. Your duty is
-to travel between the Faith’s isolated congregations
-— its branches — and hold the Faith together. You’ll face
-danger, sin, betrayal; you’ll represent God’s mercy to the
-sinner and God’s justice to the downtrodden; you’ll root
-evil out and balance the line between divine and secular
-law.
-You have a badge of office: a long coat, colorful,
-beautiful, hand-pieced and quilted by your friends and
-family back home. To you, it recalls their love and your
-duty; to others, it’s a powerful symbol of your authority.
-Overview
-S
-tarting characters are all young men and women at the
-end of their teens or the beginning of their twenties.
-They’ve just spent two months or more in training,
-education and ceremony to prepare them for their duties.
-They know one another, although they didn’t necessarily
-choose one another as companions. They are, to a one,
-unmarried virgins. They’re allowed to travel mixed and
-unchaperoned, because of the strength of their devotion
-and duties.
-For more, see the “Background” section, upcoming.
-Page 22
-Dogs in the Vineyard
-iii: Creating Characters
-Create your character the first time you meet to play.
-Take a copy of the character sheet in the back of the book
-and fill it out using the procedure in this chapter. Please
-don’t make your character in advance! Come to the table
-with nothing particular in mind, pass the book around,
-kibitz, and see what comes out at the end.
-Most of the process is informal: several decisions to
-make and you can wing it. Poll your friends, call out
-suggestions and just make stuff up. The last step, though,
-introduces the game’s resolution rules. We’ll take each
-player in turn and work through it in good order.
-At the end of the process you’ll have a character
-uniquely capable, strong and weak, primed to face and be
-transformed by the challenges to come.
-Procedure
-First Step: Background
-Choose one of the following:
-Well-rounded: Choose this if you want your character
-to be straightforward, balanced and effective. It’s a good
-choice for men born in the Faith. On your character’s
-sheet: 17d6 in Stat Dice; 1d4 4d6 2d8 in Trait Dice; 4d6 2d8
-in Relationship Dice.
-Strong History: Choose this if you want your
-character to have had a good education, lots of experience,
-or specialized training. On your character’s sheet: 13d6
-in Stat Dice; 3d6 4d8 3d10 in Trait Dice; 1d4 3d6 2d8 in
-Relationship Dice.
-Complicated History: Choose this if you want your
-character to have overcome a troubled, dangerous, or
-challenging upbringing. It’s an especially good choice if
-you want your character to be convert to the Faith. On
-your character’s sheet: 15d6 in Stat Dice; 4d4 2d6 2d10 in
-Trait Dice; 5d6 2d8 in Relationship Dice.
-Strong Community: Choose this if you want your
-character to be socially adept and from a strong, caring
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-family. It’s a good choice for women born in the Faith. On
-your character’s sheet: 13d6 in Stat Dice; 1d4 3d6 2d8 in
-Trait Dice; 4d6 4d8 3d10 in Relationship Dice.
-Complicated Community: Choose this if you want your
-character to be socially vulnerable or from a broken, in-
-crisis, or destructive family. On your character’s sheet:
-d6 in Stat Dice; 6d6 2d8 in Trait Dice; 4d4 2d6 2d8 2d10
-in Relationship Dice.
-Let’s say that you choose Well-rounded. In the
-space for Stat Dice on your character’s sheet, write
-; in the space for Trait Dice, write 1d4 4d6 2d8; in
-the space for Relationship Dice, write 4d6 2d8.
-Second Step: Stats
-Divvy your character’s Stat Dice between the four
-Stats. Don’t roll the dice now! Your character’s Stats (and
-everything else) are rated in dice: “my character has 4d6
-in Will,” you might say. When any particular Stat comes
-into play, that’s when you roll its dice.
-The minimum for each Stat is 2d6; there’s no
-maximum.
-Let’s say you divvy your 17 Stat Dice like this:
-Acuity 4d6, Body 6d6, Heart 5d6, Will 2d6.
-Acuity: More dice in Acuity means a character who’s
-perceptive, alert, educated, clever, savvy or well-read.
-Body: More dice in Body means a character who’s big,
-healthy, strong, wiry, muscular, tall, graceful, quick, or
-steady.
-Heart: More dice in Heart means a character who’s
-compassionate, attractive, charming, gentle, courageous,
-enduring, faithful, or likeable.
-Will: More dice in Will means a character who’s
-tenacious, aggressive, confident, unflinching, strong-
-willed, or unshakable.
-You won’t usually roll any Stat alone. Usually you roll
-them in pairs:
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-— If your character’s just talking, roll Acuity and
-Heart;
-— If your character’s doing something physical but not
-fighting, roll Body and Heart;
-— If your character’s fighting hand to hand, roll Body
-and Will;
-— If your character’s gun fighting, roll Acuity and Will.
-Now you might already have a sense of who you want
-your character to be when you start assigning the Stats
-their dice, but you might not. If you don’t, that’s just fine.
-Divvy the dice however seems good at the moment. Once
-they’re assigned you’ll have a good basis for figuring out
-who your character is.
-Body and Heart are your character’s high Stats,
-so that implies a physical, athletic character. A
-rangy young man, let’s even say, good-looking,
-strong, and well liked.
-Third Step: Traits
-Create some Traits for your character and divvy your
-character’s Trait Dice between them.
-Words vs. Dice: You can create your character’s Traits
-as tidbits of history: “I used to break horses with my dad.”
-You can phrase them as simple facts about your character:
-“I’ve worked with horses and I know how they think.” You
-can phrase them as skills: “horsemanship.” You can phrase
-them as attitudes: “I’m very comfortable working with
-horses.”
-You can’t give your character more Traits than you’ve
-got dice to assign, but you can double up (or even triple up)
-dice on a single Trait if you want. The only limit is that
-all the dice you assign to a given Trait have to be the same
-size: “horsemanship 2d6” is fine, “horsemanship 1d4 1d6”
-isn’t.
-I prefer to write four or five Traits and then divvy my
-dice between them, rather than assigning dice as I go, but
-you might prefer the opposite. Either way, assign more
-and bigger dice to the Traits that are most important to
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-your idea of your character. You don’t have to assign
-dice to match competence at all: you might take “I’m a
-masterful rider, at one with my mount 1d4” and “I can’t
-see well without my eyeglasses 2d10,” for instance. That’d
-just mean that it’s more interesting to you that your
-character’s nearsighted than that your character’s a good
-rider.
-If you can’t think of any Traits to start with, try
-this trick: write “I’m a good shot” on your character’s
-sheet. (“I’m a good shot” is always a safe take.) Now ask
-yourself: where did my character learn to shoot? From
-whom? What were the circumstances? Tease a second Trait
-out of those circumstances, something like “I used to hunt
-with my brother” or “I once killed a wolf that was killing
-my family’s calves” or “I fought a year in the Territorial
-Army.” For your character’s third Trait, choose something
-unrelated but opposed, for balance: “I’m a good cook,
-too,” maybe, or “I’m well-read,” or “I know the names of
-the constellations.” Now you’re underway, and it should
-be no problem to come up with a couple more Traits as you
-need them.
-d4 Traits: Because most of your character’s opponent’s
-dice are going to be d6s and better, rolling d4s makes it
-more likely that your character’ll suffer consequences in
-conflicts. The most straightforward approach to d4 Traits
-is to take them as disadvantages: “I’m scared of horses” or
-“I get winded easily” or “my eyesight isn’t too good.”
-But consider taking them as seeming strengths, too.
-“I’m a good shot 2d4” means that yes, your character’s a
-good shot, but when guns come out, your character’s life
-gets even more complicated than usual.
-I’m a Dog: Since your character’s a Dog, “I’m a Dog”
-makes a very reasonable Trait. (If you prefer “I’m God’s
-Watchdog” or “I serve in the Order Set Apart to the
-Preservation of Faith and the Faithful,” that’s just fine.)
-If you don’t give your character “I’m a Dog” as a Trait,
-you have to give him or her a Relationship with the Dogs
-in Step Four.
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-So at the end of step three, here are your
-character’s Traits: I’m a good shot 1d6. I’ve never
-shot a gun at a living thing 1d4. I’m pretty handy
-with a knife 1d8. I’m good looking 1d6. I’ve got a
-very good, but completely untrained, singing voice
-d6. I’m a Dog 1d8.
-Fourth Step: Relationships
-Name a couple of people with whom your character has
-a relationship, and assign some of your Relationship Dice
-to them.
-Don’t create very many, and leave most of your
-character’s Relationship Dice unassigned! You can assign
-them to the people your character meets after play begins,
-so save a bunch of them for that.
-If you like, you can give your character a Relationship
-with the Dogs. If you didn’t give your character “I’m a
-Dog” as a Trait, you have to.
-Otherwise just name a person or two, say who they are
-to your character, and give them dice. In play you can give
-your character Relationships with institutions, demons,
-places, and even sins, but for now stick with people.
-Blood: Whenever your character meets a blood
-relation, you can write that person as a Relationship on
-your character’s sheet at 1d6 for free. You never need to
-spend Relationship dice on your character’s kin, in other
-words, unless you want the Relationship at some other dice
-than 1d6.
-Like Traits: Like with Traits, the number and size of
-the dice you assign to your character’s Relationships don’t
-have to reflect the closeness or significance of the person
-to your character. You might write “my older brother,
-whom I worship and with whom I’ve always been close
-and caring 1d4” and “this old man I saw once across a
-field in Bowers Draw 2d8.” Assign the dice based on how
-interesting you think the relationship is.
-Only assign a single size die, like Traits. 2d8 is fine, 1d4
-d6 isn’t.
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-And also like with Traits, a d4 Relationship will
-complicate your character’s life.
-Let’s say: My brother Hiram 1d8. This old ranch
-hand Ned 1d6. That leaves you 3d6 1d8 to write in
-your character’s Available box.
-Fifth Step: Belongings
-Name some things your character owns, and give them
-dice if they warrant ’em.
-The Stewards at the Dogs’ Temple make certain that
-every Dog owns a horse, a coat, a copy of the Book of
-Life, a small jar of consecrated earth, and a gun. They
-won’t insist that your character take the horse or the gun,
-if for some reason he or she chooses not to.
-Your character might also own other weapons, other
-books, pen and stationary, some distinctive article of
-clothing like a hat or a fine dress, keepsakes, or anything
-else you think’s interesting — provided it fits the game’s
-setting and a person could reasonably travel with it on
-horseback.
-Things: Write a belonging as you would a Trait or a
-Relationship: “big knife 1d8” or “excellent horse 2d6.”
-Only bother with possessions you actually care about; you
-don’t have to write down the provisions you’re carrying or
-anything like that.
-Here’s how you give a thing dice:
-— 1d6 if it’s normal.
-— 2d6 if it’s excellent. It’s only excellent if people
-meeting your character would notice and comment on it:
-“ooh, that’s a mighty fine horse.”
-— 1d8 if it’s big. Similarly: “holy smokes that’s a big
-knife.”
-— 2d8 if it’s excellent plus big.
-— 1d4 if it’s crap. Crap plus big is still just 1d4.
-This is true of everything in the world, horses, dogs,
-knives, hats, boots, rakes, hoes, forks, spoons, houses,
-fences, you name it. If it needs dice, it gets 1d6 if it’s
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-normal, 1d4 if it’s crap, 2d8 if it’s excellent plus big, and so
-on.
-There’s just one exception: guns. All guns get an extra
-d4. Thus an excellent plus big gun gets 1d4+2d8, a normal
-gun like anyone might carry gets 1d4+1d6, and a crap gun
-gets 2d4.
-You can give your character as many belongings as you
-like, of whatever quality you like. The only limit is that
-the rest of your group thinks it’s reasonable for him or her
-to be carrying it around on horseback, in the wilds, in the
-weather.
-Your Coat: Also write what colors and patterns are
-in your character’s coat. Most characters’ coats start out
-worth 2d6 for excellence, but see the “Background” section
-for more.
-Your character has: a revolver 1d4+1d6, a rifle
-d4+1d6, a horse 1d6, a fearsome big razor-sharp
-knife 2d8, and a coat 2d6: kind of a smoky gray,
-white and blue, with bars of deeper blue across the
-shoulders and a gold eight-point star in the center
-back.
-Sixth and Final Step:
-Accomplishment?
-Up until now, you’ve been building your character in
-public at the table, but while you’ve (I hope) been open to
-suggestions, nobody else has had any actual say what goes
-onto your character’s sheet. This final step, that changes.
-Say that I’m the GM for your game. I call on each of
-you — the players — in turn:
-: Say something that you hope your character
-accomplished during initiation. “I hope that my
-character won distinction in the eyes of the teacher of
-scripture,” you might say, or “I hope that my character
-overcame his fear of blood,” “I hope that my character
-exorcised a demon,” “I hope that my character learned
-to curb her temper,” “I hope that my character solved a
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-serious problem without resorting to violence,” or whatever
-grabs you. That accomplishment is what’s at stake.
-Don’t choose something that’ll break your character if
-it goes the wrong way. “I hope that my character survived
-initiation” or “I hope that my character didn’t get sent
-home in disgrace” aren’t good.
-: Now we take sides. This calls for a little bit of
-examination and judgment, so bear with me.
-a: If your accomplishment for your character is
-straightforward, that’s cool and easy! You take your
-character’s part and I take the part of your character’s
-opposition. “I hope that my character won distinction in
-the eyes of the teacher of scripture,” for instance: you take
-your character’s side and I take the side of your rivals. “I
-hope that my character exorcised a demon”: you take your
-character’s side and I take the demon’s. Or “I hope that
-my character solved a serious problem without resorting
-to violence”: you take your character’s side and I take the
-other side of the problem, whatever it is.
-b: If, on the other hand, your accomplishment
-for your character is growth, learning, or a change
-of habits, then we play a little trick: you take the part
-of your character as he or she is, and I take the part of
-whatever forces or pressures are on your character to
-change. “I hope that my character overcame his fear of
-blood,” for instance: you take the side of your character in
-fear, and I take the side of your character’s teachers, who
-see his weakness and want to help him overcome it. “I hope
-that my character learned to curb her temper”: you take
-the side of your character’s temper, her reluctance to be
-changed, and I take the side of her teachers.
-I’ll give examples of each kind in a bit.
-: We set a stage. Between us we figure out a pivotal
-moment with regard to your accomplishment for your
-character. We say who’s there and what’s going on. “I
-hope that my character exorcised a demon” and we create
-a possessed person, we put her in a locked room, we have
-your character led there and put inside, with practiced
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-exorcists outside the door in case things go badly. They
-might.
-: We’ve launched a conflict! We play it out between
-us using the game’s Conflict & Resolution rules. I’ll
-explain them in full blood and bones detail in an upcoming
-chapter. Don’t forget to roll Fallout!
-You’ll roll dice based on your character’s Stats, Traits,
-etc., same as you will in ongoing play.
-I’ll roll 4d6+4d10. The GM always rolls 4d6+4d10 for
-initiations.
-: Win or lose, you get a new d6 Trait. If you win
-the conflict, the Trait should match your side; if you
-lose, it should match my side. “I hope that my character
-won distinction,” for instance: if you win, write “I won
-distinction 1d6” on your character’s sheet. If I win, write
-“I didn’t win distinction 1d6.” “I hope that my character
-exorcised a demon”: if you win, write “I’ve exorcised a
-demon 1d6,” but if I win, write “I’ve failed to exorcise a
-demon 1d6.”
-Remember how with “I hope that my character learned
-to curb her temper,” you took the side of your character’s
-temper and resistance to change? If you win that one,
-write “I haven’t learned to curb my temper 1d6,” but if I
-win, write “I’ve learned to curb my temper 1d6.”
-Either way, you’re allowed some editorial spin on your
-new Trait. “I hope that my character exorcised a demon,”
-say. Depending how the conflict goes, you might write “I
-handily exorcised a demon 1d6,” “I’ve exorcised one demon
-and I never want to face another 1d6,” or (if it went the
-other way) “a demon handed me my butt 1d6.”
-Once you’ve gotten to really play, you’ll find that “I
-learned to read 1d6” and “I haven’t learned to read 1d6”
-are both valuable, interesting Traits. For now you’ll have to
-take my word for it: losing your initiatory accomplishment
-doesn’t disadvantage your character.
-Example of accomplishment: I come around
-to your turn and you say, “I hope my character
-healed someone dying.” We take sides: I’m the
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-dying person’s illness or injury, and you’re your
-character. We set a stage: Your character’s just seen
-a boy trampled by an ox and she’s the first person to
-him. He’s thrashing and puking blood. Conflict: go!
-You Raise: “I put my hands on him to calm him
-down and examine him.” I Take the Blow to See:
-“Cool. He’s still shuddering and burbling but you
-can get his shirt open.” I Raise: “His ribs are all
-smashed and floating, and now he’s drowning. He
-stops breathing.” You Block or Dodge to See: “Oh
-no he doesn’t. I mark his forehead with consecrated
-earth to hold him in Life.” You Raise: “I whisper to
-him, ‘what’s your name?’” I Block or Dodge to See:
-“He can’t draw in enough breath. His mouth moves
-but no voice.” I Raise: “His eyes go wide and his
-body starts to relax.” You Take the Blow to See:
-“He’s seeing Heaven.” You Raise: “‘Child, don’t go,
-you have work yet here.’” I’m out of dice, I can’t
-See your Raise, so: “He looks so calm, and then the
-pain rushes back over him. He doubles over, trying
-to scream. Other people are joining you, one’s a
-doctor and he takes over. The kid will live.”
-You roll Fallout for the Blow you Took, but let’s
-just say that there’s no lasting consequence.
-You add “I healed a boy trampled by an ox 1d6”
-to your character’s sheet.
-Example of growth: I come around to your
-turn and you say, “I hope my character learned
-not to swear so much.” We take sides: you’re your
-character and his foul mouth, I’m his teachers
-who want him to knock it off. We set a stage: They
-call your character into council. Your character’s
-most senior teacher, an imposing old man with an
-enormous gray beard and sharp eyes, on one side of
-the table, and your character on the other.
-I’ll Raise: “‘Brother Ezra, your profane
-and common language will not serve you in the
-vineyard. You’ve got to curb your tongue.’” You
-Block or Dodge to See: “I quote some scripture,
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-something about ‘when you see filth, call it filth.’”
-You Raise: “‘Is that all? Can I go?’” I Reverse the
-Blow to See: “He says, ‘in fact, that is all. You’re
-dismissed.’” I Raise: “Two nights later, two men
-corner you behind the stable. They’re big guys,
-one’s your teacher’s right-hand man. He has a bar
-of soap.” You Block or Dodge to See: “Oh man. I
-don’t let them back me against the wall.” You Raise:
-“When one of them comes close, I lunge at him and
-then make a break the other way.” I Block or Dodge
-to See: “The other one grabs you as you try to shove
-past.” I Raise: “He holds you and your teacher’s
-man comes up with the soap.” You decide not to
-Escalate to a fight and instead Give: “jeeze, they
-wash my mouth out?” And I say, “oh yes indeed.”
-You didn’t Take any Blows so you don’t roll
-Fallout.
-You add “I learned not to swear in public 1d6”
-to your character’s sheet. And I’m like, “in public,”
-very nice.
-Background
-H
-ere’s what life is like from your character’s point of
-view.
-By the time you’re 12 or 13, the Steward of your Branch
-is already considering whether you would make a good
-Dog. Some kids are so obviously unsuited that the Steward
-dismisses the idea at once, some kids show promise, some
-kids have destiny on them like a light. There’s a spiritual-
-intuitive component, divine guidance, if the Steward is
-even remotely qualified — so the “obviously unsuited” kid
-might be the kid who’s outwardly dedicated and actively
-pursuing service in the Faith, and the kid with destiny
-might be the town’s delinquent troublemaker. From 12 or 13
-to 17-19, the Steward keeps his eye on you and guides you
-as best he can, mindful always that he’s not responsible for
-building you into a Dog-to-be. It’s your own duty.
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-So at 18-20, the Steward formally interviews you and
-then calls you to be a Dog. You say your goodbyes, pack
-up a few things, and make the trek to the Dogs’ Temple to
-be initiated. The whole process, starting at the interview
-and ending at your first assignment, is an initiation. You
-spend two months in the Dogs’ Temple at Bridal Falls City.
-The schedule there for training initiates is continuous and
-rolling. Usually there’ll be a dozen, maybe fifteen initiates,
-but fewer in the winter and more in good years.
-Your teachers at the Dogs’ Temple don’t necessarily
-love you, they love the people you’re going to serve. Their
-goal isn’t to make you a Dog; again, that’s your own duty.
-Their goals are:
-— To prove or cull you. They exhaust, humiliate, stress,
-hurt, disappoint, tempt, scare, provoke, and overwhelm
-you. By the end, you’ve proven yourself to them.
-— To train you. They train you to ride, shoot, fight,
-preach, persevere, ask questions, be patient, notice, be
-discerning, and survive. By the end you’re a capable and
-confident person, whatever you were before.
-— To educate you. They teach you scripture, doctrine,
-ceremony, theology, cosmology and demonology. By the
-end you’ve got a solid grounding in those studies.
-— To initiate you. They set you apart, invest you with
-the authority of the Prophets and Ancients, consecrate you
-to your service, receive your oaths, and sanctify you. By
-the end you’ve proven yourself worthy and taken on your
-duty.
-— To inspire you. At some moment, some thing that
-someone says will make your soul light up. Nobody can
-predict when or what that thing will be, but without it, you
-won’t make a Dog.
-Your personal background, naturally, has a big effect
-on how long they spend on each of those things. If you
-can already ride, shoot, fight and survive, they notice right
-away and move on. If you’re a scriptural scholar already,
-they’ll put you to work teaching your fellows — maybe
-even just teaching them to read.
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-Meanwhile, while you’re there learning and proving
-yourself, your family and your home town are making
-your coat. It’s an honor and a point of pride to make
-a coat. Primary responsibility is your mother’s, your
-grandmothers’, your aunts’ and sisters’. If your coat is
-poor, it reflects badly on them foremost. The boys and
-men in your family are expected to help and participate,
-but to do what they’re told. The women are expected
-to have the skills necessary to oversee the project and
-coordinate the efforts of everybody else.
-There’s a traditional party where everybody in your
-extended community who can and will comes to your
-parents’ house and puts a stitch in your coat. At the end of
-the party, all the men bless it (in whatever state of unfinish
-it is at the moment) with consecrated earth and laying on
-hands.
-So toward the end of your two months’ training and
-initiation, you receive the package from home containing
-your coat and letters of blessing and well-wishing.
-You’ll serve actively as a Dog for three or four years,
-usually, sometimes less and sometimes more — sometimes
-lots more — and your beautiful new coat won’t hold
-up. It takes a fierce beating in the field. It becomes the
-responsibility of the communities you serve to maintain
-your coat, patching, piecing, repairing, even replacing it
-as you need. Some Dogs come out of their service with
-three or four coats, the earlier ones packed carefully away
-to preserve them. Some come out with only their original
-coat, and it’s torn and battered and ruined. In later life, as
-you’re called to higher and higher sacred offices, you are
-always allowed to replace whatever vestments accompany
-your office with your old Dog’s coat, no matter how beat
-up it is. And if you end up in the Dogs’ Temple training
-and initiating new Dogs, your old coat is powerfully
-significant.
-(Picture one of the Dogs’ teachers. His coat’s so faded
-and stretched across his shoulders that you can see his shirt
-through it. It has an old stain and a crude patch under his
-left arm. The boyfriend of the woman he loved stabbed
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-him, so long ago, and he had to stitch his coat back up
-himself. How high in the esteem of the new Dog initiates
-he is! He regards them all with love, hope, and very mixed
-feelings.)
-All of the above: typical case.
-S
-ome Dogs’ years of service are in communities where
-getting the people to stop murdering and screwing
-each other is hard enough, let alone them making you a
-beautiful piecework coat. These Dogs do the best they can.
-I imagine one with only a remnant of her original coat,
-reef-stitched to the back or around the arm of a normal
-wool or canvas coat like anybody might wear.
-Some new Dogs don’t have families who’ll make them
-coats. They can’t go without, so sometimes their teachers
-in the Dogs’ Temple work together to make one. Sometimes
-such a coat will be made with just as much love as a
-family-made one, but often it’ll be just thrown together.
-There are also people in the Faith who make coats and send
-them to the Dogs’ Temple for whoever needs them, with a
-similar range of made-with-love to just-thrown-together.
-Rarely, a new Dog will fall through the cracks and not get
-a coat, and have to fend for her or himself, like a character
-in an early playtest who stitched the rough silhouette of a
-dog’s head onto the back of his plain old wool coat. Again
-there’s a spiritual-intuitive component: somebody in the
-Dogs’ Temple watched this character do it, and let him be.
-It was as it should be, for reasons known to the King of
-Life.
-The Stewards of the Dogs assign you a route and
-companions, based on needs and spiritual-intuition. (If
-you find yourself at the end of your initiation unassigned
-to companions and a route, you stay on, help out, and
-eventually they’ll be inspired to assign you.) Over the
-course of your service, you return periodically to the Dogs’
-Temple, maybe twice annually. At those times, they might
-reassign you.
-Some Dogs serve faithfully until they’re released from
-service. At the end of faithful service you can expect just
-about any local-level office you ask for, if you’re a man.
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-Non-Dog men can and do hold office in the Faith, but
-Dogs are always considered preferentially. Only former
-Dogs can initiate new Dogs, although non-Dogs can teach
-them skills and theology, technically, if no former Dog
-wants the job — which is not the case now. Every teacher
-at the Dogs’ Temple today served as a Dog himself.
-If you’re a woman, you can expect prestigious suitors
-and far more say in your future than non-Dog women
-have. No suitor can demand that you marry him, for
-instance, where most women — even if nobody does
-demand them, there’s always somebody who could. The
-Prophets and Ancients of the Faith, the seventy old men,
-when they want another wife, they always court and
-propose to just-finished Dogs, for instance, and you can
-turn them down if you want to. Which is a big deal,
-actually.
-When you do marry, you can expect your husband’s
-respect, and if you marry an office-holder, you can expect
-to participate in the administration of his office. You can
-expect to be regarded as a spiritual advisor and, if your
-inclinations run that way, a theologian in your own right.
-If your husband treats you badly, you can expect the Faith
-to take your complaints seriously.
-Usually what happens is this: over the course of your
-service, you’ll return periodically to visit the Dogs’
-Temple. If the Dogs’ Stewards have decided that your
-service is complete, they release you then. However, if
-something urgent comes up in the field and you need
-to be released, you can send to them, they release you
-ceremonially by proxy when they receive your message,
-they send back confirmation, and you’re supposed to wait
-for the confirmation before you go forward no longer
-a Dog. Unless you’ve done something dodgy already,
-ending your service this way is as honorable and faithful as
-waiting for them to release you. (The typical reason you’d
-ask to be released is that you’ve met a person you’re going
-to marry, and you don’t want to wait.)
-Some Dogs leave service unfaithfully, though. You
-aren’t punished at all; everybody knows that the job’s
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-hard-to-impossible and nobody expects you to do better
-than your best. If you need it, you are guaranteed a place
-in the Dogs’ Temple, working in the kitchens, the stables,
-sweeping up, doing household chores, whatever, until you
-find your way to better. Often if you desert your calling,
-though, you don’t choose to go back like that.
-Some Dogs just stay Dogs. The Stewards of the Dogs
-don’t release them — again according to their spiritual
-intuition — and they don’t ask to be released. Few Dogs
-in the field are in their thirties, but I suppose one or two
-might be.
-Converts
-A
-nd here’s how your life might be different if you’re a
-convert to the Faith.
-Most converts come from Back East; practically
-everyone born out here in the mountains is raised Faithful.
-Being from Back East means that you’ve left friends and
-family behind and made the trek westward to join the
-body of the Faith. One person in ten dies on that trek.
-How old were you when you converted to the Faith?
-The oldest Dogs in the field are men and women who
-converted as adults.
-Or it might be that you’re a Mountain Person. If you’ve
-been raised in the Faith, by convert parents or by an
-adoptive Faithful family, your life is only a little different
-from your fellow Dogs’. The Mountain People don’t look
-like the Faithful: they’re leaner built, they have different
-eyes, different faces, different hair, so you never quite fit
-in. You’ve been subject to prejudice, both the outrightly
-hostile kind — you’re naturally wicked, superstitious,
-lazy, dirty, mean — and a subtler kind. Some see you as
-uniquely noble, admiring the antiquity of your Faithful
-heritage, holding you to a high standard and expecting
-you to be at once insightful, powerful and humble, with
-little compassion for you if you fail. If you’ve been adopted
-by Faithful parents, it’s very likely that they see you this
-way themselves.
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-If you’ve converted more recently, you have to deal
-with not only those twin prejudices, but also an upbringing
-in a culture at odds with your new one. You used to take
-comfort from and find meaning in your people’s worship
-— your ancestors looked after you, the spirits led and
-provided for you. How do you now understand your native
-religion? It might even be that the little thoughtless habits
-of your childhood, themselves innocent, bring evil to your
-mind and to the minds of the people around you. What
-balance can you find — if any at all — between serving
-the King of Life and remembering your own kind?
-Going Forward
-New Relationships
-W
-henever you want, you can write someone’s name
-on your character’s sheet and assign one or a couple
-of your available Relationship dice. It doesn’t have to be
-someone your character knows well or feels strongly about;
-it should be someone that you yourself are interested in.
-Your relationship dice don’t describe your character’s
-family or community, before initiation. Instead, they
-reflect what your character learned from it.
-If you grew up in a complicated family, you’re going to
-know how to create complicated new relationships. If you
-grew up in a strong family, you’re going to know how to
-create strong new relationships.
-In addition to people, your character can have
-Relationships with institutions, like the Dogs or the
-Faith; places, like a particular branch, mountain, grove
-or river; sins, whether that means habitually committing
-them, struggling with them, or being particularly resolute
-against them; and demons.
-Generally speaking, you get to roll the dice for your
-character’s Relationships when the person or thing is a)
-your character’s opponent in a conflict, or b) what’s at
-stake in a conflict. See the Conflict & Resolution chapter
-for more.
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-Ceremony
-I’ll say more about this in the Conflict & Resolution
-chapter too, but meanwhile you should have an idea what
-the ceremonies of the Faith look like. Your character’s
-initiation included investing him or her with the authority
-to perform all of these:
-— Anointing with Sacred Earth. Sacred Earth
-is consecrated river clay. All Dogs carry a jar of it.
-You anoint someone with it by marking it on his or her
-forehead.
-— Calling by Name. When you call someone by their
-full, whole name, with authority, their soul can’t ignore
-you.
-— Invoking the Ancients. This means simply declaring
-your authority as a Dog and an office holder of the Faith.
-— Laying on Hands. Generally you put both your hands
-on the top of someone’s head, but any contact between the
-palm of your hand and someone else’s skin will do.
-— Making the Sign of the Tree. The Faith’s most
-sacred symbol is a stylized tree, the Tree of Life. You
-make the Sign of the Tree by holding your right hand up
-at shoulder level, palm forward, with your fingers wide
-spread.
-— Reciting the Book of Life. The Book of Life is the
-Faith’s scripture.
-— Singing Praise. Lots of the Faith’s rituals incorporate
-sung hymns.
-— Three In Authority. Whenever possible, have at
-least two other Dogs or office holders of the Faith perform
-ceremony with you. (Dogs are generally sent out in groups
-of three or four, although two is acceptable because most
-branches have a Steward who can make the third.)
-When you perform a ritual, incorporate whichever
-elements of ceremony suit your needs. Here are a few of
-the Faith’s most common rituals:
-— To Name a Baby: Hold the baby on your left arm.
-Mark the baby’s forehead with Sacred Earth. Say
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-something like, “by the authority given me by the Ancient
-Prophets of Life, I name you...” and say the baby’s name.
-If you’re moved to do so, you can give the baby some
-specific blessing or make some prophecy about the baby’s
-life.
-— To Solemnize a Marriage: Have the couple hold
-hands before you. Mark both of their foreheads with
-Sacred Earth. Call upon the authority of the Ancients and
-recite one of the many relevant passages from the Book of
-Life, declaring them wed. Call the wife by her new name.
-— To Heal a Sick Person: Lay hands on the sick person
-and anoint him with Sacred Earth. Calling him by name,
-command him to health. If he’s able, have him sing one of
-the healing hymns with you.
-— To Drive Demons out of a House: Make the sign
-of the tree. Declare the authority you have from the
-Ancients and command the demons to depart. Bolster your
-commands — and make the place less hospitable to them
-— by reciting scripture and singing hymns. If you know
-the demons’ names, use them!
-— To Dedicate a Person to Office: Lay hands on the
-person. Call him by name. Give him his new office, call
-upon the Ancients of the Faith to give him their authority,
-and charge him to serve faithfully until such time as he is
-released from duty.
-— To Sanctify a Corpse: Mark the corpse’s forehead
-with Sacred Earth, reciting the Passages for the Dead
-from the Book of Life. If you know the person’s name, use
-it. According to the folk beliefs of the Faithful, after you’ve
-died, each minute that passes before someone sanctifies
-your corpse presents a temptation to remain on earth
-as a ghost, which is a sin and will count against you at
-Judgment. The Faith has no such official doctrine.
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-A Dog’s duties
-As your character travels from branch to branch, here
-are some things he or she will routinely be called upon to
-do:
-— Carry mail and news.
-— Officiate or participate in holy ceremonies: naming
-babies, dedicating children to the Faith, solemnizing
-weddings, blessing the sick, anointing and sanctifying
-the dead. Most branches will have a Steward who can
-perform these, but the Faithful will be honored by your
-participation.
-— Deliver doctrine and new interpretation as needed to
-the branch’s Steward and other office holders, and consult
-with them about the challenges the branch faces.
-— Preach.
-— Participate in, but hold yourself apart from, the
-branch’s social functions and celebrations.
-— Help the branch out with physical work, like bringing
-in a harvest or digging out from a blizzard, only when the
-need is immediate and acute.
-In a perfect world, your character would mostly shake
-hands and kiss babies. Too bad it’s not a perfect world,
-huh?
-When things go wrong in a branch, it looks like this:
-— Someone’s proud.
-— Pride, enacted, creates injustice.
-— Injustice leads to sin. Either the proud person
-becomes bold, or the victims of the injustice become
-resentful; either way, someone breaks the rules.
-— Sin in a branch lets the demons attack it. (A sin-free
-branch is protected from the demons by the power of the
-Faith.) The demons aren’t themselves corporeal, so they
-have to use some intermediary to attack: raids by outlaws
-or Territorial Authority soldiers, disease, disaster, failing
-crops, drought, storms — whatever serves to threaten the
-branch.
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-— Sin and demonic attacks, over time, create false
-doctrine. The habitual sinner might fall into heresy to
-justify her sin, or the victim of demonic attacks might
-blame the Faith or the King of Life for his misfortune.
-— False doctrine, enacted, is corrupt worship.
-Inappropriate ceremonies, incorrect observances, subtle
-changes to the order of things — or even blatant and
-outright demonism! (I’ll point out also that when corrupt
-worship begins in a branch, the demons might immediately
-stop attacking it.)
-— If a corrupt form of worship ever has three or more
-followers, it becomes a false priesthood.
-— A false priesthood commands the attention and
-obedience of the demons. That’s called sorcery, when you
-tell the demons what to do and they do it.
-— Sorcery will eventually lead to hate and premeditated
-murder. That’s the demons’ ultimate goal.
-So when you arrive in a branch, it’ll be (rarely) just
-fine, or else it’ll fall somewhere in this process. Maybe
-there’s someone whose pride is causing some injustice, and
-that’s it — nobody’s sinned yet, and your character can
-deal with it just by taking the guy down a peg or two.
-Maybe that guy’s been sinning, having an affair with his
-cousin’s daughter say, and it’s been a terrible year because
-the crops have blight — your character will have to find
-and resolve that hidden sin. Maybe all that’s past and the
-niece has taken it into her head that women can have more
-husbands than one, just as that guy was her own secret
-husband, and she’s gradually winning the support of her
-sisters in the branch — your character will not only have
-to deal with her somehow, but also find the sin behind her
-heresy. Maybe, worse, she’s already won the support of
-her sisters, and now there are several women in the branch
-who have second, secret husbands, plus demons at their
-call! Leave that branch alone and soon they’ll be killing
-each other and it’ll be on your character’s head.
-Knowing just this makes your character a theologian!
-Most Faithful will know that people shouldn’t sin, because
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-when people sin they lose the blessings of the Faith, but
-honestly they’ll think more and harder about whether it’ll
-be a bad winter and they hope their horse isn’t coming
-down sick and isn’t it getting to be time to bring the apple
-harvest in? Keeping the Faith in order is your job, Dog.
-A Dog’s authority
-When your character is acting to preserve the faith of
-a branch, he or she can take whatever steps are necessary,
-and no one can justly complain. Your character acts on
-behalf of the King of Life; if anyone has a problem, they
-can take it up with Him.
-Check this out:
-Brother Zachary is the worst thing in Steward
-Joseph’s world. It’s not just that he’s a sinner, it’s that he’s
-unteachable, unreformable. Too mean and too proud.
-Brother Zachary is single-handedly destroying Steward
-Joseph’s branch. But when Steward Joseph goes to the
-King of Life for guidance, it’s all: see to his needs, call him
-to repentance, cultivate him, serve him, help him, show
-him compassion. That, after all, is Steward Joseph’s job:
-look after each person in his care. The King of Life tells
-Steward Joseph what’s best for Brother Zachary. Steward
-Joseph has invested more time and care and worry in
-Brother Zachary than in any other single thing in his life.
-Your character comes to town. The branch has a septic
-wound. A thousand resentments, sins waiting to burst
-free. If you leave it as it is it’ll tear itself to pieces. Steward
-Joseph’s doing his very best by everyone, but it’s stone
-clear: Brother Zachary will become too much for him to
-carry. Steward Joseph will do something terrible, with lots
-of people caught up in it, and it’ll be bloodshed, sorcery,
-and damnation.
-Your character doesn’t care what’s best for Brother
-Zachary, he cares what’s best for the branch. You have him
-drag Brother Zachary out of his house and shoot him in
-the street.
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-Steward Joseph comes in a rage. “All my work, all my
-time, all my investment in Brother Zachary’s salvation!
-And for what, you kill him!”
-“Your job is to heal the wound,” your character says.
-“My job is to save the body.”
-Your character’s conscience and
-your own
-Does this mean that your character can’t sin?
-No. But it does mean that no one’s in a position to
-judge your character’s actions but you yourself. Your
-character might be a remorseless monster or a destroying
-angel — I the author of the game can’t tell the difference,
-your GM and your fellow players can’t tell the difference,
-only you can.
-As play progresses, you’ll have the opportunity
-to consider your character’s actions and change your
-character’s Stats, Traits and Relationships to reflect
-them. That might mean that you give your character
-Relationships with sins and demons, problematize his or
-her Traits, and burn out his or her Relationships with
-the Faithful — or it might mean no such thing. Sin,
-arrogance, hate, bloodlust; remorse, guilt, contrition;
-inspiration, redemption, grace: they’re in how you have
-your character act, not (just, or necessarily) in what’s on
-your character’s sheet. Those moments, in play, are what
-matters.
-Your character’s conscience is in your hands.
-Leaving Play
-S
-tories end. Lives end too.
-At any moment in the game, you can choose to have
-your character leave play. “That’s it,” you might say. “I’m
-not gonna put up with this any more. I retire to be a dirt
-farmer.” Being a Dog isn’t easy and you don’t really know
-up front when your character will quit. Or sometimes,
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-a character’s story is finished and it’s time for you, the
-author, to move on to a new one.
-Also, occasionally, your character will get killed. The
-conflict resolution rules will keep it from being pointless
-or arbitrary: it’ll happen only when you’ve chosen to stake
-your character’s life on something.
-Either way, take some time to wrap up — work with
-your GM and your fellow players to give your exiting
-character an epilogue or a eulogy. The moments leading
-up to the end will probably be some of the highlights of the
-game, so don’t rush over them or hurry past.
-But when it’s all said and all done, you’ve collectively
-given your character’s story the recognition it deserves,
-and you’re satisfied, you can stay in the game! Just go
-ahead and make a new character:
-— Grab a blank sheet for your new character.
-— However many dice in Stats your old character had,
-divvy that many dice among your new character’s Stats,
-plus 1d6 for your trouble. You definitely do not have to give
-your new character the same number of dice in any given
-Stat as your old character had.
-— However many dice in Traits your old character had,
-give your new character that many dice in Traits, plus 1d6
-for your trouble. Make up all new Traits and assign the
-dice to them however seems good.
-— However many dice in Relationships, assigned or
-available, your old character had, give your new character
-that many dice for Relationships. Don’t assign them all
-now! Just like when you made your old character, name a
-couple of people and then write the rest of the dice in the
-“available” slot on your character’s sheet.
-— If you like, you can shuffle dice one-to-one between
-your pool for Traits and your pool for Relationships. You
-might have emphasized Traits for your old character, for
-instance, but you want to emphasize Relationships for your
-new character. That’s fine, just shift some Trait dice over.
-— It’s up to you whether your new character’s a new
-Dog or an experienced one. If new, say something you
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-hope your character accomplished during initiation, same
-as for your old character. If experienced, say something
-you hope your character accomplished during his or her
-service so far. Either way, set a stage, roll dice, resolve
-the conflict, and give your character the outcome as a 1d6
-Trait.
-— Equip your character as appropriate. Don’t forget his
-or her coat.
-Then work with your GM and fellow players to get your
-new character introduced. You might have to play a piece
-of the game with no character, sitting at the table and
-contributing as usual but not so directly represented in
-the game, but I hope you all figure out a way to minimize
-that. If nothing else, it’s within bounds for your character
-to just show up: “The Stewards at Dogs’ Temple sent
-me here, I’ve ridden straight through the night, and can
-somebody tell me why?”
-GMing Character Creation
-W
-hile your fellow players are creating their characters,
-you need to stay on top of four things.
-. Are we developing characters who’re competent to
-serve? If we aren’t, you need to redirect us. Try asking
-questions like, “and how would this person make it through
-initiation?” and pointing out the Dog’s responsibilities
-and what initiation entails. I’ve noticed that some players’
-impulse is to create clowns. Clowns are fine, but make sure
-there’s some hardness, some will, underneath.
-. If we lose our characters’ initiatory conflicts, will
-we be out of the game? “I hope my character makes it
-through initiation” isn’t an acceptable conflict, whatever
-specific form it takes. We already know that all our
-characters are going to be Dogs, that’s the game.
-Instead, suggest a conflict that cements a Trait the
-character already has. Like if my character has “I’m good
-with horses,” suggest that I try to accomplish something
-related: teaching a new initiate to ride well, winning
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-the admiration of the hostlers, or arranging for my
-companions to all have excellent mounts when we leave.
-Remember: as GM, you always roll 4d6+4d10 for
-initiatory conflicts.
-. How much supernatural effectiveness are we
-building into our characters? Don’t judge whether it’s too
-much or too little — you’re to keep an open mind and
-follow our lead. The supernatural in the game will be
-somewhere on a continuum. At this end, barely any, where
-the demons are really just bad luck and the pressures a
-town has to struggle with to survive, and the ceremonies
-of the Faith only reassure the Faithful and remind them of
-their commitments to one another. At the other end, lots
-and lots, with the Dogs as powerful exorcist-gunslingers
-battling demons, sorcerers and ghosts, where calling a
-person by name can restore him to life and bullets slide
-off a Dog’s coat, striking sparks. Look at the Traits we
-give our characters, and you’ll begin to see where on that
-continuum this particular game will fall.
-...But “follow our lead” doesn’t mean keep your mouth
-shut. If one of us is stuck for Traits, feel free to suggest
-“I’ve exorcised a demon,” “the King of Life speaks to me
-in dreams,” or “I’m a healer.” When it comes to initiatory
-conflicts, be sure to suggest some supernatural ones, along
-the same lines. If we don’t respond, then follow.
-. What’s up, I mean really what’s up, with our
-characters? Does mine have some sort of love-hate thing
-going on with his family? Does Em’s have a mean streak?
-Does J.’s have secret doubts?
-Don’t act on them yet — in fact, it’s way too early to
-draw any conclusions a’tall — but file them away. Now’s
-the time to start going “mmhmm” like good Dr. Freud.
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-Recap
-Creating your Character
-Your character’s initiation took two months at the
-Dogs’ Temple in Bridal Falls City. The teachers there
-proved, trained, educated, initiated, and inspired him or
-her. The Dogs’ Stewards then assigned your character to
-companions and a route.
-It’s your responsibility to create a character suited to
-service and within the genre of the game.
-. Choose one:
-— Well-rounded: 17d6 for Stats, 1d4 4d6 2d8 for Traits,
-d6 2d8 for Relationships.
-— Strong History: 13d6 for Stats, 3d6 4d8 3d10 for
-Traits, 1d4 3d6 2d8 for Relationships.
-— Complicated History: 15d6 for Stats, 4d4 2d6 2d10 for
-Traits, 5d6 2d8 for Relationships.
-— Strong Community: 13d6 for Stats, 1d4 3d6 2d8 for
-Traits, 4d6 4d8 3d10 for Relationships.
-— Complicated Community: 15d6 for Stats, 6d6 2d8 for
-Traits, 4d4 2d6 2d8 2d10 for Relationships.
-. Divvy your character’s Stat dice between Acuity,
-Body, Heart and Will. Give every Stat at least 2 dice.
-. Create some Traits and assign your character’s Trait
-dice to them.
-. Create a couple of Relationships and assign some
-of your character’s Relationship dice to them. The rest of
-your character’s Relationship dice are Available.
-. Write down your character’s Belongings and assign
-them their dice. Remember to describe your character’s
-coat.
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-— It’s normal: 1d6.
-— It’s excellent: 2d6.
-— It’s big: 1d8.
-— It’s big and excellent: 2d8.
-— It’s crap: 1d4.
-— All guns get an additional 1d4.
-. When your GM comes around to you, say something
-that you hope your character accomplished during
-initiation. Make it what’s at stake in a conflict, set a stage,
-roll dice, See and Raise, and at the end give your character
-the outcome as a new Trait at 1d6.
-GMing Character Creation
-— Are the characters suitable Dogs?
-— Are their initiation conflicts’ stakes appropriate?
-— How supernaturally effective are they?
-— What are their interesting underlying issues?
-For initiation conflicts, you roll 4d6+4d10.
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-iv: Conflict &
-Resolution
-T
-he shopkeeper from Back East? His wife isn’t really
-his wife. He’s the procurer and she’s the available
-woman. Their marriage is a front.
-Your brother’s son, your nephew, is fourteen years old.
-He’s been stealing money from his father, your brother,
-and taking it to visit this woman.
-Your brother is in a bitter rage, humiliated by his son’s
-thievery and grieving his son’s lost innocence.
-He’s going to shoot her.
-What do you do?
-Overview
-W
-e’ll use dice to resolve the conflicts the characters
-get into. The dice determine not just how the
-conflict turns out at the end — who wins? — but also
-how the conflict goes throughout. They provide reversals,
-escalation, daring advances and desperate retreats, broken
-bones, cutting betrayals, and all the other juicy goodness a
-conflict should have.
-All the players who have an interest in a particular
-conflict roll their own dice. Your dice represent your
-bargaining position in the conflict: the more dice you
-roll, the more say you have in how the conflict goes. This
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-is because your dice give your characters’ actions and
-reactions weight, consequence. When you have a character
-throw a punch, you use your dice to back it up. When
-your character takes a punch, your dice determine whether
-he shrugs it off or down he goes.
-To launch a conflict, we begin by establishing what’s
-at stake, setting the stage, and figuring out who’s
-participating. Every participating player takes up dice
-to match the circumstances and throws them down all at
-once. From there on, the conflict plays out kind of like
-the betting in poker. One player “raises” by having a
-character act and putting forward two dice to back it up,
-and all of the other players whose characters are affected
-by the act have to put forward dice of their own to “see.”
-When you use dice to Raise and See they’re gone: put
-them back in the bowl and don’t use them again in this
-conflict.
-Depending on how effectively you See, you might have
-to take Fallout Dice: dice representing blows your character
-took — hard words or punches or knives in the ribs or
-even bullets — and when the conflict’s over you’ll roll
-them to see how badly your character is hurt.
-If you’re losing, you can get more dice by escalating the
-conflict. Someone’s getting the better of your character in
-an argument? Pull a gun. That’ll shut ’em up.
-Anyone who has too few dice to See when they have
-to — and can’t or won’t escalate — is out of the conflict.
-Whoever’s left at the end gets to decide the fate of what’s
-at stake. Everybody deals with their Fallout Dice, and then
-the conflict’s done!
-The Simple Case
-.
-Establish what’s at stake. Any player can make
-suggestions, and everybody should feel free to toss it
-around until you arrive at the right thing.
-What’s at stake is: does your character’s brother
-shoot the woman?
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-. Set the stage. Say where the conflict’s taking place,
-what’s around, maybe mention where the conflict might
-range or what features of the environment might come into
-play. Also have someone say how the conflict will start.
-Your character meets his brother on the twin-
-rut road between his farm and town. The nearest
-building is his tool shed, a hundred feet behind;
-otherwise it’s all around swaying gold wheat. The
-sky is insane summer blue and it’s before noon.
-Your character’s brother has his old smoothbore
-carbine and his jaw is clenched. You’ll start with
-just talking, you say.
-. Who’s participating?
-Just me and you, for now. You’re taking your
-own character’s side, of course, and I’m taking
-your character’s brother’s.
-. Take up dice. You’ll take dice from your character’s
-sheet, as appropriate to this conflict as it opens. I’ll take
-dice from your character’s brother’s sheet. Here’s how it
-works:
-Stats: Which Stats you roll depends on what arena
-the conflict is currently playing out in. Just talking: roll
-Acuity + Heart. Physical, but not fighting: roll Body +
-Heart. Fighting hand-to-hand: roll Body + Will. Fighting
-with guns: roll Acuity + Will.
-Since we start out with our characters just
-talking, you roll d6s equal to your character’s
-Acuity plus d6s equal to your character’s Heart:
-let’s say 6d6 together. I roll d6s equal to your
-character’s brother’s Acuity plus his Heart: let’s
-say 7d6.
-Relationships: You roll the dice listed for your
-character’s Relationships under pretty limited
-circumstances: when your Relation is your character’s
-opponent or when your Relation is what’s at stake.
-Since your character’s brother is your opponent,
-you get whatever dice you have listed for him
-on your character’s sheet. Recall that for blood
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-relations, if you don’t specify any dice you get a d6.
-Let’s say that for this particular relationship you
-have 1d8 listed and I have nothing. You roll your
-d8 and I roll the default 1d6.
-Traits: You roll the dice listed for your character’s
-Traits when you bring them into play as part of a Raise or
-See. You roll a Trait’s dice only once per conflict, the first
-time you bring the Trait into play.
-Things: You roll the dice listed for your character’s
-Belongings, as for Traits, when you bring them into play in
-a See or a Raise. You only get each thing’s dice only once
-in a conflict. If you bring something into play in a See or
-a Raise and it’s not on your character sheet, you get its
-normal dice if you’re using it as it oughta be used, and a
-d6 or a d4 otherwise.
-Since neither of us has Raised or Seen yet,
-neither of us get dice from our characters’ Traits or
-Belongings.
-All told, you take up 6d6 plus 1d8, and I take up
-d6.
-. We roll all our dice. Leave ’em out on the table where
-everybody can see. You can push them around into order if
-you want.
-You roll: 1 2 2 3 4 4 7. I roll: 1 1 1 3 4 5 6 6.
-. Now we take turns Raising and Seeing. Here are the
-ground rules:
-Your Best Roll is the sum of your two highest dice.
-Your Best Roll is 11, mine is 12.
-To Raise, say what your character does and put
-forward two of your dice.
-You Raise always with two dice. They can be any two,
-including or excluding your best roll. When you Raise,
-have your character do something that his opponent can’t
-ignore. We’ll call it an “attack” for now, but of course it
-doesn’t have to be violent.
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-(You can Raise with one die under two particular
-circumstances: when you’ve Helped someone else, and
-when it’s your Raise and you have only one die left.)
-Your Raise is both what your character does and the
-dice you’re using to back it up. Don’t put dice forward to
-Raise without describing your character’s action.
-To See, say how your character responds and put
-forward one or more of your dice.
-You See by putting forward dice to equal or exceed the
-standing Raise. You See with as many dice as you need.
-Your See is both your character’s response and the
-dice you’re using to get it. Don’t put dice forward to See
-without describing how your character deals with the
-Raise:
-If you See with one die, that’s Reversing The Blow.
-Say how your character turns the attack back onto the
-attacker, and don’t discard the die you used to See, hold
-on to it for a minute. When it’s your turn to Raise, use
-that die as one of your two dice to Raise. It counts twice,
-in other words: you See with it and then immediately use it
-again to Raise before you discard it.
-If you See with two dice, that’s a Block Or Dodge. Say
-how your character defends against the attack.
-If you See with three or more dice, that’s Taking The
-Blow. Say how the attack lands and how your character
-reacts.
-When you Take The Blow, you always get Fallout
-Dice. Take a number of dice equal to the number you
-used to See — so if you Saw with three, take three, if you
-Saw with four take four, and so on up — and set them
-aside until the conflict ends. The size of the Fallout Dice
-you take depends on the nature of the blow: d4s if it’s not
-physical, d6s if it’s physical but not a hit with a weapon,
-d8s if it’s a hit with a weapon but not a bullet, and d10s if
-it’s a bullet.
-And finally, if you don’t want to play through to the
-end of a conflict, you can Give instead. You lose the stakes,
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-but gain an advantage in any follow-up conflict. Under
-some circumstances you might rather that than staying in.
-Here’s the procedure:
-a. Whichever character’s opening the conflict, that
-player makes the first Raise. Say what your character does
-and put forward two of your dice to back it up.
-You’re opening the conflict, so you start: “Hey,
-Zeke, you don’t just go shoot people,” you have
-your character say. “Let’s talk about this.” You
-Raise with a 4 and a 3, for 7.
-In cases where it’s not clear who should open the
-conflict, have it be the player with the highest best roll.
-b. Everybody whose character is affected by your Raise
-has to See. Remember that you Raise with two dice and
-See with as many as it takes.
-I put forward my own 4 and 3 to See. “Get out
-of my way, boy,” I have my character say.
-c. Now whoever’s next gets to Raise. In this case, me.
-“In fact, if you had any conscience of your
-own, you’d be with me.” That’s my Raise, so I put
-forward a 5 and a 6, for 11.
-d. Again, everybody whose character is affected by
-my Raise has to See. Notice that with only two of us, we
-simply trade back and forth: you Raise, I See then Raise,
-you See then Raise, I See then Raise ... and on until one
-of us is out of dice and the conflict ends.
-You have my 11 to See, so you slide forward
-your 7 and your second 4. “Don’t try to tell me
-about my conscience,” you have your character say;
-that’s your See. Here’s your Raise: “you go home
-and see to your son.” Raising with your best dice
-left: two 2s.
-I see with my last 6, Reversing The Blow. “Ha!
-I remember how he used to look up to you! Maybe
-if you’d been in his life he wouldn’t have gone this
-way.” Because I Reversed The Blow, I get to keep
-the 6 for my Raise. I add one of my 1s to it.
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-So now you only have the one 1 left. You can’t
-See my Raise, so I win the stakes. Your character
-stands there with the wind out of his sails and I
-have my character push past and on into town,
-where he murders the shopkeeper’s supposed wife.
-Escalating
-A
-nd that’s pretty grim, no? Let’s look at something you
-can do about it.
-When you Escalate, you get to roll Stat dice for the
-new arena. Let’s take it from my Reversal:
-“...Maybe if you’d been in his life he wouldn’t
-have gone this way.” I put forward my 1 to go with
-my 6, so you have a 7 to See.
-“Forget this,” you say. “I punch you.”
-Now your character isn’t just talking any more! He’s
-fighting, and that means you roll Body plus Will. Take
-up those new dice, throw ’em down, and add them to
-whatever’s still left on your side.
-Let’s say that your character’s Body plus Will is
-d6. You roll: 1 3 4 5 5 5 6. Also, let’s say that your
-character has “Fist fighting 1d8” as a Trait, so you
-roll that d8 as soon as you say “I punch you.” You
-roll a 4 on the d8 and you still have that 1 left from
-before too.
-So you See my outstanding 7 with your 4 and
-your 3, and put forward two of your 5s to Raise.
-Now I don’t have the dice to See your Raise. If I don’t
-want to Give, I have to Escalate to match. Will I? Yes!
-Let’s say that my character’s Body plus Will is
-d6. I roll crap: 1 1 2 2 2 5. I have no immediately
-relevant Trait and my two leftover 1s aren’t much
-comfort.
-I have to See your 10. I See with my 5, two 2s
-and a 1. Because I’m Seeing with more than two
-dice, I’m Taking The Blow: “I’m surprised and
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-you catch me right in the jaw,” I say. I take four
-Fallout Dice, the number of dice I used to See, and
-since I took a punch they’re d6s. I set 4d6 aside for
-after the conflict.
-Now all I have left to Raise with is a 2 and
-some 1s, and you have a 6, a 5, a 4 and some
-stuff. If I stay in the fight, you’ll beat the crap out
-of me. Instead I Give. Now you get the resolution
-of what’s at stake: you have your character take
-my gun away and send me home, bruised and
-grumbling.
-You don’t need to wait for the Raise you can’t See to
-Escalate. You can Escalate as soon as you want.
-In any given conflict, you can roll each of your Stat’s
-dice only once. In a gunfight, we’d roll Acuity plus Will —
-but we both rolled our Acuity when we were just talking,
-and we both rolled our Will when we started punching!
-Having my character raise the gun wouldn’t give me any
-new Stat dice.
-Using Traits and
-Things
-E
-scalating to gun fighting would, however, give me dice
-for the gun itself — 1d4 plus 1d8, as it happens — plus
-dice for any gun fighting Traits I might bring into play. It
-works like this:
-When you use one of your Traits to Raise or See, you
-get to roll its dice. When you use one of your Belongings
-to Raise or See, same thing, you get to roll its dice.
-Roll the dice after you say your action, but before you
-put dice forward.
-Like Stats and everything else, you can roll a Trait’s
-or a Belonging’s dice only once in a conflict. After that,
-you can still use the Trait or Belonging to See or Raise,
-but you don’t get more dice for it. It doesn’t matter how
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-many times I have my character adjust his eyeglasses, for
-instance; I get to roll their dice just once, the first time.
-So let’s see how that could go. Let’s take it from the
-punch.
-Now all I have left to Raise with is a 2 and
-some 1s, and you have a 6, a 5, a 4 and some stuff.
-If I stay in the fight, you’ll beat the crap out of me.
-Instead ... I have Zeke raise his gun.
-“I can’t believe you hit me,” I say. “I pull the
-trigger.”
-First thing first: I’m Escalating to gun fighting.
-If I hadn’t already, I’d roll Acuity and Will. I have
-so I don’t.
-Then I roll the dice for the gun, 1d4 plus 1d8.
-I roll a 3 and a 7. I also have a Trait: “I’m a good
-shot 2d6,” so I roll those dice: a 2 and a 4.
-I look at your dice: your highest two are still a 6
-and a 4. If I put forward my 7 and my 4, I’ll force
-you to Take the Blow — but I don’t want that, as
-it happens. That’s Fallout in d10s and you’re my
-brother, after all. I put forward my 3 and my 4; I
-know you can Block or Dodge a 7.
-Your character has a wicked handy Trait, though:
-“disarming enemies 2d8.” So when you say (Seeing
-with 6 and 1, Block or Dodge), “I grab the barrel of
-the gun and shove it upward so you shoot into the
-air,” and then you say, “and I jerk it out of your
-hands,” things take a bad turn for me. You roll a
-and an 8 on your 2d8. You Raise with the 8 and
-your 4, so I have to Take the Blow. I See with my
-and my two 2s. Your character gets the gun and
-I get 3d6 Fallout. (We’ve escalated to gun fighting,
-yes, but the blow I took was merely rough physical
-treatment, not a gunshot.)
-Anyhow we struggle over the gun but if you’ve
-been paying attention to our dice, you’ll see that I
-can’t win.
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-Now your character does send mine home,
-humiliated and gunless.
-Is the potential for bad, bad Fallout — inflicted and
-received, remember; when one gun comes out, others often
-follow — anyway is it worth those dice? Depends on the
-circumstances and your personal will.
-Improvised Things: Sometimes you’ll have your
-character use a tool or weapon not listed on your sheet.
-If your character’s using it to its intended purpose
-— shooting a gun, looking through a spyglass, hitting
-things with a hammer — you get its normal dice. If your
-character’s using it for something unintended — hitting
-someone with a pistol’s butt, wedging a hammer into a
-doorjamb to hold it shut — you get 1d6, or 1d4 if it’s a
-dumb, desperate or dangerous thing to do. There’s an
-example in passing below, so keep an eye out for it.
-Occasionally a character will burst into a conflict
-already in progress. The player doesn’t get to roll dice
-— you can’t join a conflict already underway as a full
-participant — so instead you can treat the character
-mechanically as an improvised thing. Incorporate her into
-a Raise or a See for 1d8 if she’s big, 2d6 if she’s excellent,
-d8 if she’s big and excellent, 1d6 if she’s normal, or 1d4
-if she’s crap. If you have a Relationship with her, that’s
-like a belonging written on your character sheet: roll your
-Relationship dice instead, no matter how excellent, big or
-crap she might be.
-Timing Traits and Things
-— Say your See or Raise, incorporating the Trait or
-Thing. This brings it into play.
-— Roll its dice and add them to whatever dice you’ve
-already got.
-— Put forward the dice you’re using for your See or
-Raise.
-If you say “I shoot you” for a Raise, for instance,
-you get to roll your gun’s dice and then put your two dice
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-forward. The dice you roll for the Trait or Thing are
-available to you.
-Remember that you can roll a Trait’s or Thing’s dice
-only once in any conflict, no matter how many times you
-incorporate it into a See or Raise.
-Giving
-W
-hen you Give instead of Seeing, you don’t need to
-Take the Blow. In fact, one of the best reasons to
-Give is to avoid a Blow you can’t bear to Take.
-There’s no need to stay in a conflict to the bitter end.
-You can and should Give as soon as your character would,
-as soon as you’re willing to let the conflict go — be it
-because the stakes aren’t worth it, or because you’ve
-thought of follow-up stakes even better — or as soon as
-you realize you can’t win.
-When you Give instead of Raising, you get to cut your
-losses. Grab your highest remaining single die and set it
-aside. If there’s any follow-up conflict, roll your Stat and
-Relationship dice as usual, then add this reserved die to
-the mix. Don’t reroll it! This represents the advantage you
-keep by ceding the previous stakes on your own terms.
-Fallout
-B
-ut what about those blows my character took? Here’s
-how Fallout Dice work:
-a. Roll all your Fallout Dice. If you Took more than
-one Blow, you might have Fallout in different sizes; that’s
-just fine. Roll ’em all and add the two highest together;
-that’s your Fallout Sum.
-I roll my 7d6 Fallout: 1 1 2 4 5 5 6. I’m hurtin’
-at 11.
-b. Is your Fallout Sum less than 8? If so, your character
-suffers only short-term consequences. Choose one of these
-things (this is the short-term list):
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-— Subtract 1 from one of your character’s Stats for your
-next conflict.
-— Take a new trait rated 1d4 for your next conflict.
-— Change the dice of one of your character’s
-Relationships to d4s for your next conflict.
-— Have your character leave the scene and spend some
-time alone. Only choose this one if nobody else launches a
-follow-up conflict.
-c. Otherwise, if your Fallout Sum is 8 or higher, your
-character suffers lasting harm. Choose one of these things
-(this is the long-term list):
-— Subtract 1 from one of your character’s Stats.
-— Take a new trait at 1d4.
-— Take a new relationship at 1d4.
-— Add 1d to an existing d4 trait or relationship.
-— Subtract 1d from an existing d6+ trait or relationship.
-— Change the die size of an existing trait or relationship
-to d4.
-— Erase a Belonging from your character’s sheet.
-— Rewrite your coat’s description to include permanent
-damage. Reduce your coat’s dice if it’s called for.
-d. In addition, is your Fallout Sum 12 or higher? If so,
-your character’s injured. Choose again from the long-term
-list.
-Injured how badly, though?
-e. Is your Fallout Sum less than 16? If so, Roll dice
-equal to your character’s Body. If you can See your
-current Fallout Sum in 3 or fewer dice, your character will
-recover without medical attention. Stop here. Otherwise,
-bump your current Fallout Sum up to 16 and continue.
-f. Is your Fallout Sum 16 or higher? If so, your
-character’s badly injured. With medical attention he might
-live, but without it, he won’t.
-— If your character gets medical attention, launch a new
-conflict. You roll your character’s Body plus the healer’s
-Acuity, plus any relevant Relationships, Traits and Tools,
-of course. (If your healer is a fellow Player Character, have
-that player roll the dice.) I roll all your Fallout Dice again
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-plus the Demonic Influence (about which, more later).
-What’s at stake is whether your character will live. Your
-healer takes any Fallout from this roll. If you and your
-healer win, your character will live; stop here. Otherwise
-bump your current Fallout Sum up to 20 and continue.
-— If you don’t get medical attention, bump your current
-Fallout Sum up to 20 and continue.
-g. Is your Fallout Sum 20 or higher? If so, your
-character’s dead. Choose one of the following:
-— Die now.
-— Set up your death scene, during which you’ll die.
-Notice that since only guns inflict d10 Fallout, only a
-gunfight can kill your character outright, and then only
-if you roll two 10s on your Fallout Dice. Otherwise, your
-character will at least have the opportunity to survive with
-medical care.
-Notice also that since just talking inflicts only d4
-Fallout, only if you roll two 4s will an argument give your
-character long-term consequences.
-h. While your Fallout Dice are still there on the table,
-check to see: did you roll any 1s?
-If so, your character gets something good out of the
-conflict. Choose one of these things:
-— Add 1 to one of your Stats.
-— Create a new Trait at 1d6.
-— Add or subtract 1 die from an existing Trait.
-— Change the d-size of an existing Trait.
-— Create a new Relationship at 1d6.
-— Add or subtract 1 die from an existing Relationship.
-— Change the d-size of an existing Relationship.
-— Write a new Belonging on your character sheet and
-give it its usual dice.
-(This is the experience list. Choose only one per
-conflict, no matter how many 1s you rolled in Fallout.)
-i. All of these many choices you get to make, whatever
-you choose, you have to justify it out of the events of the
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-conflict. If any of your fellow players can’t see it, you have
-to explain better, say more, and win that person over.
-My Fallout Sum, as you remember, is 11. My
-character suffers lasting harm but isn’t injured.
-From the long-term list I choose to change the
-die size of my character’s Relationship with your
-character, his brother, to d4. Is it justified? I’d be
-surprised if anyone even asked.
-Also I did, in fact, roll at least one 1 on my
-Fallout Dice. From the experience list I choose a
-new Relationship for my character: the shopkeeper’s
-purported wife, 1d6. I explain that while he’s
-not gonna go shoot her, his hate isn’t resolved,
-it’s festering. He thinks about her all the time.
-Everybody agrees that that makes sense, so there we
-go.
-Follow-up Conflicts
-A
-follow-up conflict is simply a new conflict that follows
-on the one just ended. In general you treat it exactly
-as you would any other, but it does have a few special
-considerations:
-— It counts as a follow-up conflict only if its stakes
-follow directly from the previous conflict’s resolution.
-— Its stakes can be the same as the previous conflict’s
-stakes only if all three of its participants, its stage as
-set, and its opening arena are different. That is, if your
-character tries to talk my character into admitting her sin,
-but fails, you can’t just try again. That conflict’s done.
-What you have to do if you want a follow-up with the same
-stakes is come back another time or catch her at some other
-place, with your friends to back you up — and this time it
-can’t be just talking.
-— If you cut your losses in the previous conflict, Giving
-instead when it was your turn to Raise, you get to keep
-your single best die from that conflict. After you roll
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-your dice for this conflict, add your reserved die (without
-rerolling it) to the mix.
-— As the GM, I get an extra option, and it’s a good
-one. If nobody cares about my NPCs’ Fallout, when I
-roll my Fallout Dice, I don’t calculate and choose Fallout.
-Instead, I simply give you the two highest dice to add
-into your side of the new conflict. You don’t reroll them,
-just put them straight in with your own dice. They’re the
-advantage you carry into the follow-up.
-If anyone does care, I roll and assign Fallout as usual.
-Later on, I have your character’s brother hire
-some thugs to go burn down the shopkeeper’s store.
-We play it out as a conflict and your character fends
-them off and manages to corner one in a nearby
-stable. There’s lots of hitting and even a couple of
-shots fired during the conflict, so I have some ugly
-Fallout Dice: 6d6 and 3d10; when I roll them the
-two highest are a 6 and a 9 — but nobody really
-cares whether this thug is hurt or killed, nobody’s
-going to keep track of his Traits or Relationships.
-You launch a follow-up conflict; what’s at stake
-is whether this captured thug reveals that your
-character’s brother is behind the attempted arson.
-So instead of giving the thug his due Fallout, I give
-those two highest Fallout Dice to you for the follow-
-up conflict. You roll your character’s Acuity and
-Heat and then I pass them over.
-Frankly, an extra 6 and 9 for you to Raise me
-with? I don’t like my odds.
-Using Relationships
-B
-ecause rolling your character’s relationship depends on
-who your character’s opponent is and what’s at stake,
-you’ll roll them at the beginning of the conflict, with your
-Stats.
-With a Person: A relationship with a person
-contributes its dice to your side of a conflict when a) the
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-person is your character’s opponent, b) the person is what’s
-at stake, or c) the person comes to your character’s active
-aid in a conflict already underway.
-With an Institution: A relationship with an
-institution (like the Faith or the Dogs) contributes its dice
-to your side of a conflict when a) your character’s opponent
-is a person with authority in the institution, or b) what’s
-at stake is your character’s status with regard to the
-institution.
-With a Place: A relationship with a place contributes
-its dice to your side of a conflict when a) your character’s
-at the place, or b) the place is what’s at stake.
-With a Sin: A relationship with a sin contributes its
-dice to your side of a conflict when a) your character has
-committed the sin and it’s relevant to the conflict, b) your
-character’s resisted committing the sin and it’s relevant to
-the conflict, c) what’s at stake is someone’s commission of
-the sin — your character’s, your opponent’s, or someone
-else’s.
-With a Demon: A relationship with a demon
-contributes its dice to your side of a conflict when a) the
-demon is your character’s opponent, via a sorcerer or
-possessed person, or b) the demon is what’s at stake.
-If your character has a Relationship with a demon,
-he or she can ask the demon for help at any time. Add
-the situation’s Demonic Influence to your side, with
-supernatural special effects. This makes your character a
-Sorcerer; what that means to your character’s soul is, as
-always, in your hands.
-Timing New Relationships
-If you have unassigned Relationship Dice, you can put
-a new Relationship on your character sheet at any time.
-Just name the relationship and assign dice to it.
-If you assign a new Relationship during a conflict, and
-the Relationship is with either your opponent or what’s at
-stake, roll the newly applicable dice right away.
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-Multiple Opponents
-T
-he Raise-See-Raise rhythm is very easy when there’s
-only you and me, but what if there are more of us?
-a. Whenever you Raise, everybody whose character is
-affected has to See. You decide who that is; make it clear in
-your description of your Raise.
-b. Break it into Rounds and Goes if that helps. In every
-Round, every player gets one Go; your Go is when you
-Raise.
-c. You get your Go in order of highest Best Roll.
-So here’s a little outline of how it works, stripped down
-to the bones:
-Round Starts.
-Order by Best Roll is: Player 1, Player 2, GM, Player 4,
-Player 3. Boldface marks each go.
-Player 1: I Raise, GM is affected.
-GM: I See.
-Player 2: I Raise, Player 3 and GM are affected.
-Player 3: I See.
-GM: I See.
-GM: I Raise. Player 1, Player 2, Player 4 are
-affected.
-Player 1: I See.
-Player 2: I See.
-Player 4: I See.
-Player 4: I Raise. GM is affected.
-GM: I See.
-Player 3: I Raise. Player 2 is affected.
-Player 2: I See.
-Round Ends.
-Next Round, everybody still in the conflict gets one
-Go again, but the order may have changed. Here’s how it
-might look, fleshed out:
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-The other PCs have had enough of your
-character’s brother. They’ve decided to beat sense
-into him. You see their point but, well, he’s your
-brother, and you’ll stand with him. They corner the
-two of you in a hay barn.
-You’re Player 3; I’m the GM. Zeke’s your
-character’s brother, recall; I’m playing him. We join
-the fight in progress:
-Round starts.
-Order by Best Roll is: Player 1, Player 2, me,
-Player 4, you. Boldface marks each go.
-Player 1: I grab Zeke from behind and hold
-him for you to punch [to Player 4].
-Me (Block or Dodge): He twists out of your
-grip. You can keep hold of his jacket if you want.
-Player 1: Cool. I throw it down in the hay.
-Player 2: I hook your ankle and throw you
-over into Zeke [to you].
-You (Taking the Blow): Oof. I windmill my arms
-and go down on my butt.
-Me (Block or Dodge): ...But Zeke jumps out of
-the way.
-Me: In fact he jumps over to the wall and
-pulls down a big ol’ hay rake. Since you’re
-down [to you], he swings it freely, chest high,
-like whaa! at all of you [to Players 1, 2, 4].
-(I roll a d6 for the improvised weapon, by the
-way.)
-Player 1 (Taking the Blow): You knock the wind
-outa me.
-Player 2 (Block or Dodge): I throw myself
-down. Whish!
-Player 4 (Block or Dodge): I catch the rake, like
-hah!
-Player 4: ...And jerk it out of your hands
-[to me].
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-Me (Taking the Blow): All yours.
-You: Hey, you’re down in the hay with me
-[to Player 2]? I roll over onto you and get you
-in a head lock.
-Player 2 (Taking the Blow): Ow! Get off! Urk!
-Round Ends.
-In play, you should make explicit who you expect to
-See your Raises. Usually it’ll be each and every one of
-your opponents, and usually it’ll be obvious from your
-description of what you do. Only take care that none of
-your opponents could simply ignore your Raise; a Raise is,
-remember, something that your opponent can’t ignore.
-If you Reverse a Blow in a group conflict, keep the die
-for whatever you do next, whether it’s Raise or See.
-Helping
-I
-f you and a friend are in a conflict together, you can
-help one another. It works like this:
-On your friend’s Go, you can give one of your dice to
-your friend’s Raise. You have to have your character do
-something that would a) clearly and directly contribute
-to your friend’s character’s action, and b) be obviously
-something your character could do, given everything else
-going on. If anyone objects that your character’s too busy
-or in the wrong part of the scene, you should graciously
-withdraw. Given that everybody thinks it’s reasonable,
-though, just slide one of your dice over to go with your
-friend’s.
-On someone else’s Go, you can give one of your dice to
-your friend’s See. Again, you have to have your character
-do something both clearly helpful and clearly possible, and
-again if anyone objects, don’t insist.
-Either way, however, you’ve spent the die, and
-moreover, you’ve borrowed against your own next Raise.
-On your next Go, Raise with only one die.
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-You can’t help two people between your Goes. If you
-could, you’d have to Raise with no dice, and that doesn’t
-make any sense.
-Player 4’s character has reversed the rake in
-his hands and brings it crashing down on your
-character’s back. Player 4 puts forward a big
-Raise, and you’ve only got small dice: you’ll be out
-of the conflict.
-I’ve been holding a good die in reserve, though.
-“Zeke shouts and shoves you out of the way,” I say,
-and I give you my die. With it, you’re able to See
-and stay in the fight.
-I’ve spent it from my next Raise, though, so
-when it comes around to my Go, I’ll Raise with only
-one die.
-When you give a die to a friend for a See, it doesn’t
-count against her for Fallout. In other words, if your
-friend is able to See with one die plus yours, that’s a
-Reversal; with two dice plus yours, that’s a Block or
-Dodge; with three dice plus yours, that’s Taking the Blow
-for three dice of Fallout.
-Using Ceremony
-S
-orcerers, demons, the possessed, and the souls of
-the Faithful can’t ignore ceremony performed with
-authority. That means that when your character’s in
-conflict with one of those sorts of opponents, you can use
-ceremony to See and Raise!
-Your character can perform an entire ceremony,
-including many ceremonial elements, as a single See or
-Raise, or each See and Raise can be a single element of
-ceremony. Choose whichever better serves the pace of the
-conflict. I call upon the Authority of the Ancients! I make
-the Sign of the Tree! I command you By Name to depart!
-Raise 9! Or, if you’d rather: I call upon the Authority of
-the Ancients! Raise 6! I make the Sign of the Tree! See 7! I
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-command you By Name to depart! Raise 9! Either is, as I
-say, valid.
-In addition, the elements of ceremony that your
-character uses determines the Fallout dice that your
-character’s opponent receives when Taking the Blow.
-Ceremony is like a weapon, in that way.
-Ceremonial Fallout:
-— Anointing with Sacred Earth: d8s.
-— Calling by Name: d4s.
-— Invoking the Ancients: d4s.
-— Laying on Hands: d6s.
-— Making the Sign of the Tree: d6s.
-— Reciting the Book of Life: d4s.
-— Singing Praise: d6s.
-— Three In Authority: d8s.
-If you’re creating a multiple-element ceremony as a
-single Raise, inflict the highest die-size Fallout of all the
-elements you’re including. If, for instance, your ceremony
-includes Calling by Name, Invoking the Ancients, and
-Making the Sign of the Tree, it inflicts d6s for Fallout.
-Strictly, bringing ceremony into a conflict is not
-escalating. You don’t get to roll new dice — unless you’ve
-got a Trait or Belonging that now applies. No, ceremony is
-useful only because it lets you Raise against demons and
-sorcerers on their own terms.
-Remember the supernatural continuum? If your game
-is at the low-supernatural edge, you might go the entire
-thing without using ceremony a’tall.
-Demonic Influence
-S
-ome conflicts call for me as the GM to “roll Demonic
-Influence,” that is, to bring to bear the sort of
-generalized badness of what’s going on in the town.
-Demonic Influence depends on what the Dogs have
-discovered about the town, not what’s actually going on.
-What’s the worst “something wrong” manifestation the
-PCs have seen here?
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-— Injustice: the Demonic Influence is 1d10.
-— Demonic Attacks: the Demonic Influence is 2d10.
-— Heresy: the Demonic Influence is 3d10.
-— Sorcery: the Demonic Influence is 4d10.
-— Hate and Murder: the Demonic Influence is 5d10.
-There are three cases in particular:
-When a character’s critically injured but gets
-medical attention, I scoop up all of the Fallout Dice the
-player just rolled, add the Demonic Influence, and roll
-the lot. If the character’s dying but didn’t roll any Fallout
-— if the character’s life was named as what’s at stake in a
-conflict, for instance — I roll four dice plus the Demonic
-Influence. I roll four dice of a size appropriate to the
-circumstances or the resolution of the conflict: 4d10 if the
-character’s shot, 4d8 if she’s stabbed, hacked, hanged or
-clubbed, 4d6 if she’s strangled, stomped down, fallen or
-drowned.
-When a character launches a conflict and there’s
-no clear opposition, I roll 4d6 plus the Demonic Influence.
-When a Sorcerer calls upon the demons for help,
-I roll the Demonic Influence into the sorcerer’s side of the
-conflict, as though it were a Trait or Thing.
-GMing Conflicts
-I
-think of this as “second session” advice. The first
-time you play, you’ll be busy figuring out the simple
-mechanics and rhythm of the game. It’s when you reflect
-on the first time that this section will make the most sense.
-— As GM, you get to help establish stakes. If your
-player says “what’s at stake is this” you can say “no, I
-don’t dig that, how about what’s at stake is this instead?”
-Not only can you, you should. This is an important duty
-you have as GM and you shouldn’t abdicate it.
-— As GM, you should push for small stakes. It’s
-natural for the players to set stakes big. “Do we get the
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-whole truth from her about everything that’s going on?
-Do we convince him to give up his sinnin’ ways and do
-right forever after? Do we undo all the harm the cult has
-done?” You as GM have to engage with them and wrestle
-them down. You should be saying, “no, how about do you
-win her trust about some small matter? Do you give him
-a moment’s pause? Do you make this one person breathe
-easier, right now?” It’s out of creative tension between
-their big stakes and your small stakes that the right stakes
-are born.
-What you’re after is two things: follow-up conflicts and
-givable conflicts.
-Since you want good follow-up conflicts, the right
-stakes can go either way without creating a dead end or a
-dull patch. Pushing stakes smaller will tend to make them
-less make-or-break.
-Givable conflicts — that’s the trick. The right stakes
-will make it so that escalating, taking a blow and giving
-are all roughly equal. Set the stakes too large and
-Escalating is always worth it. Set them small enough and
-Giving vs. Escalating becomes a real question, as does
-Giving vs. Taking a bad Blow.
-Conflicts always end with a Give. It doesn’t have to be
-because one side has used every single last die. It can be as
-soon as one side sees which way the wind’s blowing - but
-that won’t happen if the stakes are too grandiose.
-— As GM, don’t put up with hedged stakes. “Do
-we get him to repent?” is fine. “Do we get him to repent
-without spilling blood?” is not. Think outcomes, not
-methods; the methods come from playing the conflict
-through.
-— As GM, you should always follow your group’s
-lead. A big part of your job in the first couple of sessions
-is to figure out, mostly by observation, your group’s
-standards for legit Raises and Sees, invoking traits, valid
-stakes, using ceremony, the supernatural, and so on.
-However, the thing to observe in play isn’t what the
-group’s doing, but instead who’s dissatisfied with what
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-the group’s doing. The player who frowns and uses
-withdrawing body language in response to someone
-else’s Raise, or who’s like “that’s weak” when someone
-reaches for dice — that’s the player whose lead to follow.
-Everyone’s Raises etc. should come to meet the most
-critical player’s standards. As GM, it’s your special
-responsibility to pay attention, figure out what those
-standards are, and to press the group to live up to them.
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-Recap
-Resolving Conflicts
-First, say what’s at stake.
-Second, set the stage and the opening arena.
-Third, roll Stat dice, depending on the opening arena:
-— Just talking: Acuity + Heart.
-— Physical, not fighting: Body + Heart.
-— Fighting hand to hand: Body + Will.
-— Gun fighting: Acuity + Will.
-Fourth, roll Relationship dice if they apply.
-Relationships apply when your relation is your opponent,
-or your relation is at stake.
-Fifth, take turns Raising:
-— A Raise is an action your opponent’s character can’t
-ignore.
-— Whoever opens the conflict does the first Raise.
-— In every round, everyone Raises once, in order of Best
-Roll.
-— For every Raise, everyone affected has to See.
-— If your Raise or See brings one of your Traits or
-Belongings into the conflict, roll its dice.
-— If you See with one die, that’s Reversing the Blow. If
-you See with two dice, that’s Block or Dodge. If you See
-with three or more dice, that’s Taking the Blow.
-— When you Take a Blow, you get Fallout Dice equal to
-the number of dice you used to See.
-— If you Escalate the conflict to a new arena, roll your
-appropriate Stats.
-— If you Help someone, give her a die, and Raise with
-only one die when it’s your go.
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-Sixth, when someone can’t See a Raise, or else when
-someone Gives, that person’s out of the conflict.
-— If you Give instead when it’s your turn to Raise, you
-get to cut your losses: keep your single highest die for a
-follow-up conflict, if there is one.
-— The last person in the conflict gets to say what
-happens with what’s at stake.
-Seventh, everybody rolls Fallout:
-— If you roll any 1s, choose something from the
-experience list.
-— If your highest two dice sum to less than 8, choose
-something from the short-term list.
-— If they sum to 8 to 11, choose something from the
-long-term list.
-— If they sum to 12 or more, choose two things from the
-long-term list, and your character’s injured.
-— If they sum to 16 to 19, your character’s badly injured.
-Launch a follow-up conflict where what’s at stake is
-whether he dies.
-— If they sum to 20, your character’s dying.
-Eighth, somebody launch a follow-up conflict, or
-move on to the next scene.
-Timing Dice
-— Roll Stat dice at the beginning of the conflict and
-when the conflict escalates to a new arena.
-— Roll Relationship dice at the beginning of the conflict,
-only.
-— Roll Trait and Thing dice when you bring the Trait or
-thing into play, incorporated into a See or Raise. Roll the
-dice after you say the See or Raise, but before you assign its
-dice.
-— Roll each Stat’s, each Relationship’s, each Trait’s and
-each Thing’s dice at most once per conflict.
-Fallout Dice
-Whenever you Take a Blow, you get one Fallout die for
-each die you used to See. The size of the dice depends on
-the blow you took:
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-The Blow was...
-— Not physical, not ceremonial: d4s.
-— Physical: d6s.
-— A weapon: d8s.
-— A gunshot: d10s.
-Ceremonial:
-— Anointing with Sacred Earth: d8s.
-— Calling by Name: d4s.
-— Invoking the Ancients: d4s.
-— Laying on Hands: d6s.
-— Making the Sign of the Tree: d6s.
-— Reciting the Book of Life: d4s.
-— Singing Praise: d6s.
-— Three In Authority: d8s.
-— If the ceremony included more than one of these, take
-the highest die size.
-Interpreting Fallout:
-— Did you roll at least one 1? Choose something from
-the experience Fallout list. Continue.
-— Did your two highest dice sum to 7 or less? Choose
-something from the short-term Fallout list. Stop.
-— Did your two highest dice sum to 8-11? Your
-character’s injured: choose something from the long-term
-Fallout list. Stop.
-— Did your two highest dice sum to 12 or more? Your
-character’s badly injured. Choose two things from the
-long-term Fallout list. Continue.
-— Did your two highest dice sum to 12-15? You might
-need medical attention. Roll your Body. Consider your two
-highest Fallout dice to be a Raise; if you can See in three
-dice or fewer, you’ll recover without medical attention;
-stop. If you can’t, bump your Fallout sum to 16; continue.
-— Did your two highest dice sum to 16-19? Without
-medical attention your character will die: bump your
-Fallout sum to 20 and continue. With medical attention,
-your character might live: launch a follow up conflict: your
-Body + the healer’s Acuity vs. your Fallout dice (rerolled)
-+ the Demonic Influence. What’s at stake is: does your
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-character live? If you lose, bump your Fallout sum to 20
-and continue; otherwise stop.
-— Did your two highest dice sum to 20? Your character’s
-dying. Stop.
-The short-term Fallout list:
-— Subtract 1 from one of your character’s Stats for your
-next conflict.
-— Take a new trait rated 1d4 for your next conflict.
-— Change the dice of one of your character’s
-Relationships to d4s for your next conflict.
-— Have your character leave the scene and spend some
-time alone. Only choose this one if nobody else launches a
-follow-up conflict.
-The long-term Fallout list:
-— Subtract 1 from one of your character’s Stats.
-— Take a new trait at 1d4.
-— Take a new relationship at 1d4.
-— Add 1d to an existing d4 trait or relationship.
-— Subtract 1d from an existing d6+ trait or relationship.
-— Change the die size of an existing trait or relationship
-to d4.
-— Erase a Belonging from your character’s sheet.
-— Rewrite your coat’s description to include permanent
-damage. Reduce your coat’s dice if it’s called for.
-The experience Fallout list:
-— Add 1 to one of your Stats.
-— Create a new Trait at 1d6.
-— Add or subtract 1 die from an existing Trait.
-— Change the d-size of an existing Trait.
-— Create a new Relationship at 1d6.
-— Add or subtract 1 die from an existing Relationship.
-— Change the d-size of an existing Relationship.
-— Write a Belonging on your character sheet and give it
-its usual dice.
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-Demonic Influence
-What’s the worst “something wrong” manifestation the
-PCs have seen here?
-— Injustice: the Demonic Influence is 1d10.
-— Demonic Attacks: the Demonic Influence is 2d10.
-— Heresy: the Demonic Influence is 3d10.
-— Sorcery: the Demonic Influence is 4d10.
-— Hate and Murder: the Demonic Influence is 5d10.
-GMing Conflict Resolution
-— Help establish stakes.
-— Push for small stakes.
-— Don’t accept hedged stakes.
-— Learn and stand for your group’s standards!
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-v: Resolution
-in Action
-Y
-ou can see how the conflict rules apply to
-arguments, chases, fistfights, shootouts, preaching
-to a crowd, exorcising a demon — but they’re more
-flexible even than that. Here are some subtler cases to get
-you thinking.
-Split Seconds
-.
-What’s at stake: do you outshoot the shooting
-instructor?
-— The stage: the shooting range outside the Dogs’
-Temple. You’ve been shooting at cans and scarecrows; now
-someone flips a nickel. Do you hit it? All the Seeing and
-Raising has to come between when the person flips the
-nickel and when you pull the trigger.
-— You roll Acuity + Will. I roll 4d6 + 4d10 (this being
-your initiatory conflict).
-— My Raises might include the sun’s glare, the distance
-to the shot, the nickel’s flickering in the light, the fact that
-you’ll hurt the instructor in front of your fellow initiates,
-your grandfather’s insistence to you as a kid that you never
-take a shot you can’t hit.
-— Your Raises might include stilling your breath,
-stilling your mind, leading your target, remembering your
-grandfather’s hand on yours as he taught you to shoot,
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-fear that if you miss the shot you’ll look presumptuous and
-foolish.
-. What’s at stake: who draws first?
-— The stage: the dusty street through town. The big
-town clock has just made that click noise it makes before it
-strikes noon. All the Seeing and Raising has to happen in
-the instant before the first gong.
-— We roll Acuity + Will.
-— Our Raises might include flexing our hands,
-narrowing our eyes, a bird flying across the sun, our
-fear of death, stilling our thoughts, little flinches and
-hesitations, doubts about our rightness in the fight.
-Other Time Tricks
-.
-What’s at stake: do you learn to ride?
-— The stage: the hills and brooks and scrubland
-above the Dogs’ Temple. You’ve never ridden a horse before
-you came here. Our Seeing and Raising will take place
-in snapshots over the months of your initiation, like a
-montage sequence in any movie.
-— You roll Body + Heart. I roll 4d6 + 4d10, again.
-— My Raises might be the challenging riding situations
-you find yourself in.
-— Your Raises might be riding challenges you set for
-yourself, but each time, you start with “on the next day
-that I go out riding...”
-. I gave an example way back in the Character
-Creation chapter:
-What’s at stake: do you learn to stop swearing?
-— The stage: your teachers bring you into council and
-take you to task.
-— You roll Acuity + Heart. I roll 4d6 + 4d10.
-— We Raise and See back and forth, but somewhere in
-the middle I Raise with this: “two nights later, two men
-corner you behind the stable...”
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-Cool, huh? Two nights pass between my See and my
-Raise.
-. How about flashbacks?
-What’s at stake: do I lose you?
-— The stage: you’ve tracked me into the mountains up
-above Bowers Draw. My hideout is up here somewhere.
-I’ve killed some people and you aren’t inclined to let me get
-away.
-— We roll Acuity + Heart.
-— We Raise and See back and forth, but somewhere in
-the middle you Raise with this: “flashback to me at the
-scene of the killings. I’m bent down, looking at something
-on the corner of the doorframe: some red mud. I do it like
-this between my fingers. It’s the same red mud as up here
-in the creek bed!”
-Bodyguards
-.
-What’s at stake: do you gun me down?
-— The stage: you’ve tracked me into the mountains
-up above Bowers Draw and run me to ground. I’ve got
-a couple of my thugs with me. You aren’t in the mood to
-talk.
-— We roll Acuity + Will and start shooting.
-— The interesting thing here is that I can have one of
-my thugs take the bullet as a Block or Dodge, if I want.
-You Raise with “I creep up along the ridge until I’ve got a
-shot at you” and I Take the Blow, “I keep shooting where
-I thought you were.” Then you Raise with “I draw careful
-sight at the side of your head ... BAM!” and I Block or
-Dodge, “my thug Billy sees the glint of your barrel and
-dives! You splatter me with his gore!” Billy’s dead, poor
-jerk, but it was still a Block or Dodge because you didn’t
-hit me.
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-Ambush
-.
-What’s at stake: do you get murdered in your bed?
-— The stage: your room at night. A possessed
-sinner creeps into your room without waking you.
-— You roll only Acuity, because you’re asleep. I roll
-Body + Will.
-— My first Raise will be to hit you in the head with my
-axe. I get my axe dice too! I’m rolling a lot more dice than
-you, so probably you have to Take the Blow. But check it
-out — that means you take Fallout and get to say how,
-it doesn’t mean you’re dead. You aren’t dead unless the
-whole conflict goes my way.
-— So let’s say that you take the blow: “I hear him
-coming even in my sleep, but he gashes me bad...” Then
-it’s your Raise, and you can escalate: “...I come awake
-already in motion, with blood in my eyes and my knife in
-my hand!” Away we go!
-I should tell you, in an early playtest I startled one of
-my players bad with this very conflict. In most roleplaying
-games, saying “an enemy sneaks into your room in the
-middle of the night and hits you in the head with an axe”
-is cheating. I’ve hosed the character and the player with
-no warning and no way out. Not in Dogs, though: the
-resolution rules are built to handle it. I don’t have to pull
-my punches!
-(You’ve GMed a bunch of RPGs before, right? Think
-about what I just said for a minute. You know how you
-usually pull your punches?)
-Life or Death
-.
-What’s at stake: are you dead?
-— The stage: you’ve been hit in the head with an
-axe. You Took the Blow and rolled a 16 for Fallout. Your
-companion’s rushing to your side to provide first aid.
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-— Your friend rolls your Body plus his own Acuity. I
-roll all of your Fallout Dice again, plus the town’s Demonic
-Influence.
-— My Raises might include you falling unconscious, you
-hearing the voices of angels, your blood spurting, your
-pulse failing, your deceased loved ones welcoming you
-among them.
-— Your friend’s Raises might include medical attention,
-exhortation, and ceremony.
-There’s another way to die than by taking bad Fallout.
-What’s at stake is: does my character kill yours? It’s
-possible for you to lose the conflict without taking any
-Fallout a’tall, let alone rolling a 16+.
-When that happens, treat it exactly as though
-your attacker hit you with four dice Fallout, of the size
-appropriate to his weapon — d10s for a gun, d8s for
-an axe, etc. — and you rolled a 16. If you get medical
-attention, we roll over into this new conflict: are you dead?
-If you don’t, we don’t: you’re just dead.
-For instance, I have a possessed person hit you in the
-head with an axe, what’s at stake is does he murder you, I
-put forward a fat Raise and you don’t have the dice to See
-... so you have to Give. You’re dying of an axe in the head.
-Ouch. Your companion rushes to your side. So now we roll
-forward into this conflict where what’s at stake is: are you
-dead? I roll 4d8 + Demonic Influence, just as though you’d
-taken 4d8 Fallout.
-Special Effects
-.
-Think back to that supernatural continuum. Let’s say
-that we’re playing somewhere in the middle of it: not
-flashy, not colorful, but creepy...
-What’s at stake: do you figure out who murdered
-her?
-— The stage: you’re bending over her body, cold, where
-it lies in the tool shed. She’s got a rake through her.
-— You Roll Acuity + Heart. I roll Demonic Influence.
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-— Your first Raise is to Call her by Name and ask her
-ghost to answer your questions.
-Sweet! Now we get to incorporate the chills, the
-disembodied voices, the reenactment of the crime, the
-pain, the hate of talking to a ghost into our Raises and
-Sees.
-. What’s at stake: do you control the demon?
-— The stage: this is another initiatory accomplishment.
-Your teachers take you to a prepared place outside of
-Bridal Falls City, where there’s a consecrated grove of
-trees and a huge marble box. The box is carved with
-prayers and inside it there’s a demon. Your teachers give
-you a crowbar and wait among the trees.
-— You roll Acuity + Heart. I roll 4d6 + 4d10.
-— Naturally your Raises and Sees will be all ceremony.
-— I decide at once that the demon’s going to try to
-possess you, and if it succeeds it’ll pantomime forcing itself
-back into the box, as a ruse to get your teachers to let it
-escape. So in my Raises I have it battering on you like
-wind, whispering into your ears, forcing itself into your
-mouth and eyes, anything to get inside.
-I hope I win. I have a great follow-up conflict in mind.
-. Or let’s say that we’re playing way out on the
-other end of it, where the whole landscape of the game
-is magically charged. It’s a Western version of a Chinese
-Ghost Story!
-What’s at stake: do you stop me from murdering her?
-— The stage: I rode down on her in the middle of the
-town street, but you spooked my horse and it bucked me
-off. Now I jump up, swinging my wicked big repeater
-around and escalating to shooting!
-— We roll Acuity + Will.
-— My Raise is fanning the hammer. Bam bam bam bam
-bam!
-— You put forward dice to Block or Dodge and say
-something like this: “I sweep my coat around and the
-bullets spark off of it, like pang pang pang! I’m mighty
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-with the power of righteousness!” Then you Raise with
-something like this: “I Call you by your Secret Name!
-Drop the gun!”
-Fun, huh?
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-vi: The Structure of
-the Game
-I
-f Dogs in the Vineyard were a board game, this would
-be the board.
-. Character Creation
-Players:
-— Create suitable characters;
-— Contribute to one another’s characters;
-— Contribute details to the game’s landscape and
-culture, in the form of back story, Traits, et cetera;
-— Get a handle on the game’s resolution rules.
-PCs:
-— Get initiated.
-GM:
-— Contribute to the players’ characters;
-— Present the game’s landscape and culture,
-incorporating the other players’ contributions;
-— Begin to establish your role as the primary author of
-adversity in the game, via conflict resolution.
-NPCs:
-— Support and/or oppose the PCs’ initiations, as called
-for by the initiatory conflicts.
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-. Long-term Play: Each
-Character’s Service as a Dog
-Players:
-— Show your character in action.
-— Comment on each others’ characters in action.
-— Continue to contribute details to the game’s setting.
-PCs:
-— Travel from congregation to congregation, facing
-danger and putting things as right as they can.
-GM:
-— Create and present towns and NPCs.
-— Continue to develop and present the game’s setting,
-with the players’ contributions.
-— Identify and challenge the PCs’ moral grounds, by
-provoking their judgment.
-NPCs:
-— Variously oppose, support, and otherwise engage the
-PCs, to serve their own interests.
-. Short-term Play: Each Town
-Players:
-— Play your character!
-— Respond actively to your fellow players’ play;
-— Drive play toward conflict;
-— Set stakes, follow up, and assign your character’s
-Fallout, as called for.
-PCs:
-— Deliver mail and news;
-— Bless babies, sanctify marriages, heal the sick and
-injured, participate in ceremonies and celebrations;
-— Uncover the town’s pride, sin, apostasy and hate, lay
-it bare, and pronounce judgment upon it.
-GM:
-— Play the town!
-— Drive play toward conflict;
-— Actively reveal the town in play;
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-— Follow the players’ lead about what’s important and
-what’s not;
-— DO NOT have a solution in mind, but be open to
-whatever solutions the PCs come to;
-— Escalate, escalate, escalate.
-NPCs:
-— Try to get the PCs on their side;
-— Try to undermine the PCs’ authority;
-— Reveal their troubles to the PCs, either directly or by
-protesting too much;
-— Try to chase the PCs off with threats and violence;
-— Offer to help the PCs in any way necessary;
-— Try to murder the PCs in their sleep;
-— Ask the PCs for special considerations;
-— Ask the PCs for honest advice;
-— Tell the PCs that it’s no big thing, when obviously it’s
-all that matters;
-— etc.!
-. Short-term Play: Between Towns
-Players:
-— Assign your character’s Experience for the town.
-PCs:
-— Decide: press on to the next town, return to a
-previous town, or return to the Dogs’ Temple;
-— Travel and reflect.
-GM:
-— Prepare the town the PCs are traveling to, by creating
-or updating it.
-— Prepare a batch of proto-NPCs.
-. Long-term Play: At the End of a
-Dog’s Service
-Players & GM:
-— Create an epilogue or eulogy for the exiting
-character.
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-Player:
-— Create a new character.
-Going Forward:
-— If the exiting character comes back into play, he or
-she can be played as either a temporary PC, an NPC, or
-some combination.
-If you prefer, you can think of this chapter as the
-skeleton of the game, and all the other chapters as the
-meat.
-If at any moment of play, you don’t know precisely
-what to do right now, check this chapter first.
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-T
-here’s something wrong, of course. That’s what
-makes the game interesting, otherwise you’re just
-roleplaying being welcomed by the people and
-kissing their babies and shaking their hands. So when
-the PCs arrive, amidst all the baby kissing and being
-welcomed, some people are acting odd, or something bad
-has recently happened, or there’s something just not right.
-Your job as GM is to reveal the wrongness, in all its dirty
-little glory.
-“Something wrong” falls into a tidy progression, which
-looks like this:
-Pride (manifests as injustice).
-...leads to...
-Sin (manifests as demons attacking from outside, in
-the form of famine, plague, raiding outlaw bands, or
-whatever).
-...leads to...
-False Doctrine (manifests as corrupt religious
-practices and heresy).
-...leads to...
-False Priesthood (manifests as demons within the
-congregation: sorcery, possession and active evil).
-...leads to...
-Hate and murder.
-When you create a town, you identify some key people
-in it, decide what’s wrong with it and how it affects the
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-people you’ve identified, decide how people will react to the
-PCs’ arrival, and imagine what might happen if they never
-came.
-Something’s Wrong:
-Pride
-P
-ride means wanting something better, or more, or
-higher, than your fellows have. Pride doesn’t value a
-thing for itself: it isn’t Pride to say “I want that because
-it’s pretty.” Pride values a thing only by contrast to what
-others have: it’s Pride to say “I want that because I should
-have something prettier than yours.”
-. Stewardship
-The Faith’s organization is made of nested domains of
-spiritual authority, called Stewardship. Stewardship forms
-a hierarchy of responsibility from each individual Faithful
-up to the Prophets and Ancients of the Faith, who derive
-their Stewardship from the King of Life. You’re responsible
-for anyone who falls within your Stewardship, and you’re
-responsible to whomever holds Stewardship over you.
-At the end, you’ll be judged for how you fulfilled your
-Stewardship.
-The Faith overall looks like this, where “}” means
-“falls under the Stewardship of”:
-Local Families } Local Officials } Regional
-Officials } Prophets & Ancients of the Faith
-Families look like this:
-Children, Elder Parents, Related Unmarried
-Adults in the House } Married Adults } Husband
-Local Officials look like this:
-Various Duty-specific Officials, if there are
-enough families to need specialized offices }
-Counselors, if there are enough families that one
-Steward can’t do it all } Steward.
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-Regional Officials look just the same. The duty-
-specific regional officials are to the local officials as the
-local officials are to the families:
-Various Duty-specific Officials, if there are
-enough Branches in the region to need specialized
-offices } Counselors, if there are enough Branches
-that one Steward can’t oversee them all } Regional
-Steward.
-And the Prophets and Ancients of the Faith have
-their own internal structure, but it’s not relevant. They
-speak and act as one, from our point of view here.
-Now, the Dogs! The Dogs look like this:
-Congregation } Dogs Assigned to it } Stewards at
-the Dogs’ Temple } Prophets & Ancients of the Faith
-Notice that the branch Steward has Stewardship over
-the families in his congregation, while the Dogs assigned
-to that route have Stewardship over his congregation as a
-whole, including him in his official capacity. Dogs have no
-authority to solve the problems of families or individuals,
-that’s the Steward’s job, except as the problems spill over
-into the congregation as a whole. (Which they pretty much
-do, so that’s okay.)
-Oh, and an individual person looks like this:
-Day-to-day Behavior, Obedience, Destiny,
-Personal Relationships } You
-You do not have Stewardship over your role in your
-family, your congregation, or the Faith! Those belong to
-your Steward.
-What Stewardship means in practice is: the King of
-Life will talk to you about what you have Stewardship
-over, and expect you to keep it in order.
-An example: Brother August is a man in Brother
-Parley’s branch. He has a wife, six children (two of whom
-are unmarried adults), and his wife’s aging mother in his
-family. The King of Life does not talk to Brother Parley
-about Brother August’s wife, kids, or mother in law. He
-talks to Brother Parley about Brother August’s family:
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-“Brother August’s family is troubled,” He might say. “See
-what you can do about that.” Then Brother Parley goes to
-Brother August and says, “The King of Life tells me your
-family is troubled; what’s up?” And Brother August might
-answer: “well, He tells me that my oldest is impatient and
-bored, which would explain why he’s being so rude to his
-grandmother. I’m thinking I’ll send him to my brother’s
-out in Chapelton for a change of scenery.” That’s if
-Brother August is lucky and on top of things. If he’s not,
-he might answer: “yeah, the Wise Dead only knows what’s
-going on with them. Fight fight fight, and I can’t keep
-anyone under control.” Now Brother Parley has to say,
-“okay, well you’d better get right with the King and quick,
-so He’ll help you get your family in order.” If Brother
-Parley’s congregation is big enough to warrant an official
-in charge of gettin’ right with the King, Brother Parley
-will tell him to go visit Brother August; otherwise, Brother
-Parley has to see to it himself.
-Stewardship applies to interpreting doctrine! The
-King of Life tells the Prophets and Ancients the Truth
-Immortal. The Prophets and Ancients derive from Truth
-Immortal specific doctrines, as It applies to the here
-and now, which they tell to the regional Stewards. The
-regional Stewards apply the doctrines to the circumstances
-of their regions, and tell their branch Stewards. The
-branch Stewards apply these interpretations to their own
-congregations, and tell the families. The husbands apply
-the interpretations to themselves and their wives, and with
-their wives apply them to their children and other family
-members. Responsibility for following doctrine goes back
-up the line: if family members don’t, the husband has to
-answer to the branch Steward; if a branch doesn’t, the
-branch Steward has to answer to the regional Steward; if a
-region doesn’t, the regional Steward has to answer to the
-Prophets and Ancients.
-Pride can enter into Stewardship when:
-— You think that you’d do a better job with someone
-than that someone’s Steward, like if you think you know
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-better what’s good for Brother Zebediah’s wife than
-Brother Zebediah does.
-— You think that your convenience is more important
-than your Stewardship, so you don’t attend to it.
-— You think that fulfilling your Stewardship obligations
-means you deserve recompense or special consideration.
-— You think that the person with Stewardship over you
-is doing a bad job or doesn’t deserve it, or you don’t have
-to listen to him.
-— You use your Stewardship over someone as though it
-were power, not responsibility.
-— You favor some of the people over whom you have
-Stewardship above the others, seeing to their needs
-preferentially.
-Stewardship probs will generate conflict in the game
-by themselves pretty much only insofar as your group is
-interested in the Faith’s structure, order, and who has to
-obey whom. But it underlies everything that follows, so
-best to have a good grip on it.
-. Women’s vs. Men’s Roles
-Girls are expected to:
-— be retiring, demure, quiet, polite, patient, and
-deferential.
-— do boring, repetitive, menial work without
-complaining.
-— be afraid of spiders, mice, guns, horses, climbing,
-falling, and swimming.
-— not be afraid of blood.
-— tend their younger siblings.
-— help make meals, keep the house clean, and keep the
-animals fed.
-Boys are expected to:
-— be obedient, energetic, respectful, enthusiastic, smart,
-and confident.
-— do hard physical work without complaining.
-— not be afraid of anything.
-— take on increasingly adult male responsibilities.
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-— not be too hard to clean up after.
-Unmarried women are expected to:
-— keep to their families.
-— be receptive to courtship.
-— fight to keep their courtships proper.
-— overcome their girlish fears.
-— continue on essentially as girls, otherwise.
-Unmarried men are expected to:
-— aggressively court multiple women (intending to
-marry only one of them, until called to marry another by
-the Faith, which may never happen).
-— travel.
-— work as men.
-Married women are expected to:
-— bear and raise children.
-— serve their husbands.
-— keep house.
-Married men are expected to:
-— provide for their families.
-— educate their wives and children.
-— defend their homes.
-Old women are expected to:
-— help their daughters raise their grandchildren and
-keep their houses.
-— be sweet, patient, indulgent and wise.
-Old men are expected to:
-— help educate their grandchildren.
-— be clear-spoken, opinionated, stern and wise.
-Pride can enter into Gender Roles when:
-— you aren’t satisfied with the roles of your gender: you
-want more freedom, or the roles of the other gender.
-— you want someone of the other gender to act outside
-her or his roles.
-— you deny someone full access to her or his roles (by
-locking your unmarried adult daughter in the house or
-overprotecting your son, for instance).
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-People, especially women, who want to transcend their
-gender roles are sympathetic. Lots of good, interesting,
-very satisfying conflict possibilities there.
-. Love, Sex, & Marriage
-Here’s the Faith’s position on love, sex and
-marriage:
-— Between husband and wife, all sex and all love is
-virtuous.
-— Between two men or two women, no romantic love is
-virtuous (although familial and comradely love can be) and
-sex is a sin (and, coincidentally, a crime).
-— Between two people married to others, no romantic
-love is virtuous and sex is a sin.
-— Between an unmarried man and a married woman,
-no romantic love is virtuous and sex is a sin.
-— Between a married man and an unmarried woman,
-romantic love might be virtuous, and sex is a sin.
-— Between an unmarried man and an unmarried
-woman, romantic love is virtuous, and sex is probably a
-sin.
-Except in the unfortunate case of a husband and wife
-who don’t love one another, sex is never virtuous without
-love.
-Now, see that “probably”? That’s because the King of
-Life is, occasionally, a realist. Sometimes, when it matters,
-He prefers a loving family to official recognition.
-Especially because getting married isn’t just a Faith
-thing. It’s also a Territorial Authority thing. Not all
-people who should marry are able to, legally, be it because
-of fees, corrupt Territorial representatives, or various
-other difficulties — all the result of the unrighteousness
-of the non-Faithful and the corruptness of the Territorial
-Authority and the other religions.
-Pride can enter into love, sex & marriage when:
-— you demand the love of, or impose your love upon,
-someone who doesn’t love you.
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-— you act as though you love someone when you really
-don’t.
-— you consider your love to transcend sin and virtue,
-like when you’re in love with someone inappropriate.
-— you want sex, without considering love, virtue or sin.
-— you pursue marriage with someone who reflects well
-on you or who can advance you, not whom you love.
-— you buy the affection and loyalty of your intended
-spouse with money or prestige.
-— you demand that your suitor buy your affection.
-And you know? That stuff’s all rare bloody story meat.
-. Polygamy
-Polygamy (technically polygyny; polyandry isn’t
-allowed a’tall) is, in the Faith, a reward to men for long-
-term service and dedication. No man under, say, 30 has a
-second wife, and no man under 40 has a third (or fourth,
-or fifth, or sixth...). To get official allowance to court a
-woman after your first wife, you must:
-— have been called upon by the King of Life to do so, as
-confirmed by the person with Stewardship over you.
-— be fulfilling the Stewardship of your office in the
-Faith in an exemplary fashion (or have retired from a
-lifetime of doing so).
-— have a woman in mind.
-— be able to support the addition to your family,
-including the inevitable children and elder parents.
-And pride can enter into Polygamy when:
-— you consider polygamy to be your right, instead of a
-reward you have to deserve.
-— you think that you deserve polygamy when really you
-just want it.
-— you’re seeking a second or subsequent wife in order to
-display your worthiness and faith.
-— you’re a wife and you don’t welcome a righteous
-subsequent wife.
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-— you’re a second or subsequent wife and you resent the
-wives before you.
-— you put your relationships with your fellow wives over
-your relationship with your husband.
-— you’re pursuing or part of a polygamous marriage
-unapproved by the Faith.
-— you’re a wife who wants an additional husband.
-Polygamy is love, sex etc. times two. Or more. It
-puts people in complicated and high-pressure situations.
-Problematic polygamy can drive your game.
-. Money
-Nobody in the Faith should be hungry when someone
-else is eating. The King of Life has said so, and it’s maybe
-the Faith’s most constant struggle.
-Pride can enter into money when:
-— you think you deserve more than someone else.
-— you don’t want to give up what you have when
-someone else needs it more than you do.
-— you exploit the poor to buy community respect.
-And that’s pretty good story stuff, but, well, it just
-ain’t sex.
-Injustice
-W
-hen a person acts on pride, when a person’s pride
-influences the workings of a community, injustice
-inevitably results.
-. Money: Someone is hungry when someone else is
-eating. Someone is cold when someone else has clothing
-and shelter.
-. Role: Someone is prevented from fulfilling his or her
-role in the community. A mother can’t care for her child, a
-husband can’t protect his family, one laborer has to do the
-work of two, a young man can’t court a young woman.
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-. Righteousness: Someone has to choose between sin
-and suffering. A person must steal food or else go hungry.
-A child must lie to his parents or else be beaten. A young
-woman must see her fiancé behind her father’s back, or not
-at all.
-Sin
-.
-Violence. It’s a sin to harm or kill another person,
-unless you have just cause. Self defense and war are
-just causes; “he slept with my wife” is not.
-. Sex. It’s a sin to have sex with someone you aren’t
-married to, unless all of the following are true: your
-marriage is ordained in Heaven, you’re prevented from
-wedding by inescapable circumstances, and you wed as
-soon as you are able.
-. Deceit. It’s a sin to lie, cheat, steal, or break
-promises.
-. Disunity. It’s a sin to conspire against another
-person or to profit from another person’s misfortune.
-. Blasphemy. It’s a sin to call upon the King of Life in
-an unworshipful manner.
-. Apostasy. It’s a sin to worship the King of Life
-in any way not according to the dictates of the Faith, to
-call upon any god but the King of Life, or to turn to the
-demons for favors.
-. Worldliness. It’s a sin to dress immodestly, to smoke
-tobacco or drink hard liquor, to use vulgar language, to
-sleep in the same room as an unbeliever, to gamble for
-money, to work on a day set aside for worship, or to show
-comfort in the presence of sin.
-. Faithlessness. It’s a sin to neglect the duties of your
-office in the Faith.
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-Demonic Attacks
-T
-he presence of sin opens a community to attacks
-from Demons. Since demons are non-corporeal, the
-demonic attacks take various material forms, some subtle,
-some overt. The demons will assess the character of the
-community and act on some or all of these goals: isolate
-the community, endanger the community’s survival,
-exacerbate the community’s injustices, prosper the
-community’s sinners, oppress the community’s faithful.
-The demons might see the PCs’ arrival as a threat or an
-opportunity.
-Should the specifics of the demons’ attacks follow from
-the specifics of the sin? Maybe. Consider:
-Brother Eleazer is having an affair with his neighbor’s
-daughter, Sister Alise. a) The demons are able to attack
-Brother Eleazer, Sister Alise, and nobody else. b) The
-demons are able to attack Brother Eleazer, Sister Alise,
-and both of their families, interests, and holdings. c) The
-demons are able to attack anybody in town, except the
-exceptionally righteous. d) The demons are able to attack
-anybody in town, including the exceptionally righteous.
-And consider:
-Brother Eleazer is having an affair with his neighbor’s
-daughter, Sister Alise. a) The demons’ attacks are
-specifically sexual: inspiring lust, souring marital
-relations. b) The demons’ attacks have to do with, y’know,
-fertility: blighting crops or herds, making women barren
-or too fecund. c) The demons’ attacks are all about
-relationships: inspiring hate within families and between
-friends, inspiring distrust between spouses. d) The
-demons’ attacks might be anything.
-Choose what’s best for this particular town. But
-you should know: what you choose now will constrain
-your choices later. Over time, your players will develop
-expectations about the rules the demons follow — and
-that’s good. Defy those expectations with caution.
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-False Doctrine
-S
-in causes guilt. If I’m a habitual sinner, adopting a
-false doctrine is a way to numb my conscience and
-justify the sin.
-Alternately, if I see someone else sinning but don’t see
-anyone stepping in to correct the problem, I might conclude
-that it’s my Steward at fault, or some other office holder of
-the Faith. I might further conclude that there’s some flaw
-in the Faith allowing the sin to continue. I might arrive at
-a false doctrine that way.
-False doctrines are always concrete. Here are some
-examples:
-The King of Life allows a woman to have more
-than one husband.
-Brother Parley is not the true branch Steward.
-We should worship at the quarters of the moon,
-not on the Sabbath.
-The oldest son should not work with his
-brothers, he should serve as a second father.
-Marriage is a convenience; I need not marry my
-lover.
-God told me to kill him.
-The Book of Life isn’t scripture but merely
-human wisdom.
-The Mountain People hold the true keys to
-Heaven.
-Corrupt Worship
-T
-he outward expression of false doctrine is false
-worship and corrupt ceremony. Holding to a false
-doctrine will corrupt your observances, even if — as in the
-case of “God told me to kill him” — the false doctrine isn’t
-especially related to them.
-As the GM, it’s your job to create and present the
-corrupt religious practices of your heretics.
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-False Priesthood
-S
-o far everything has been individual. One person is
-resentful of injustices, then commits sins, then adopts
-weird beliefs. False Priesthood is when the heretic develops
-a following. The followers may themselves be anywhere
-on the continuum — they might be heretics in their own
-right, they might just be sinners or proud, they might even
-be humble and decent but misled. The point is that now the
-heresy has the force of a (sub-)community behind it.
-Sorcery
-O
-rganized worship has power. The power of an
-organized heresy is that the demons will serve it.
-The false priest is a sorcerer. He or she will have
-demonic attendants — overt or covert, noticed or not.
-Since the false priest necessarily wants, at heart, to bring
-the congregation to ruin, the demons will give up their
-own agenda and adopt the cult’s.
-Members of a cult are also vulnerable to demonic
-possession. The demons take control of the person’s will
-and act through the person directly.
-Look ahead to the chapter on NPCs for more about
-sorcerers and possession.
-Hate and Murder
-A
-nd here I’m talking about something way more
-serious than passion and rage. Hate is an organized
-and deadly assault on the Faithful by the demonic, made
-wholly personal. Hate causes murder — and not the tidy
-“just a sin” murder that a love triangle or stolen cattle will
-cause. The murders that follow from false priesthood and
-sorcery have an entirely different tenor. They’re senseless,
-or ritualistic, or their victims are innocent, perhaps good
-people who threaten the cult. When you dig into those
-murders, you find occult significance, motives that don’t
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-add up, dirt on the upstanding in the community. The
-murder is the tip of something big and sinister and it
-promises more murders to come or more murders already
-done and covered up. When the Faithful murder the
-Faithful, it means that things have gone as wrong as they
-can go.
-Procedure
-Setup
-B
-efore you start in earnest, there are three things you’ll
-want to be sure to get out of the process: some NPCs
-with a claim to the PCs’ time, some NPCs who can’t ignore
-the PCs’ arrival, and some NPCs who’ve done harm, but
-for reasons anybody could understand. In the following
-procedure I talk about whether the town “seems grabby
-enough” and whether there are “enough NPCs to keep
-the PCs busy” — those three things are what I’m talking
-about.
-It can also be very useful to bring a secular authority
-figure into play, a person who represents the Territorial
-Authority in some fashion. Since the needs of the
-Territorial Authority are different from the needs of the
-Faith, you can thereby introduce a person who a) has
-legitimate reason to be involved in the situation, but b) is
-working at cross-purposes to the Dogs.
-You can also repeat steps if you want. A town might
-have one situation going all the way up to murder, and a
-second, unrelated situation still at the sin level, and then
-four more budding prides. If I wanted a town to take more
-than a session or two to sort out, that’s how I’d do it.
-If you like, try starting with the step corresponding
-with the level of wrongness you’d like the town to have,
-and working backward. If it works, or if it spectacularly
-doesn’t, write me! I’d love to hear about it.
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-Step 1
-a: Pride. Scroll through the list of Pride problems
-above. Choose whichever one jumps out at you. Attach a
-name to it and write a (very short) paragraph.
-b: Injustice. Pride creates injustice. How is somebody
-better off or worse off than everybody else, because
-of the pride? Attach a name or names to it and write a
-paragraph.
-c: If the situation seems grabby enough to you, which
-it probably won’t but if it does, you can stop. Skip ahead to
-step 6.
-Step 2
-a: Sin. Unaddressed, injustice leads to sin. The
-advantaged person becomes bold or the disadvantaged
-person becomes resentful — either way, they break the
-rules. Choose an appropriate sin from above, and choose
-a sinner and a victim. Attach a name or names to it and
-write a paragraph.
-b: Demonic Attacks. Sin allows the demons to attack
-the town. What form does their attack take? Attach a
-name or names to it and write a paragraph.
-c: The demons want the sin to become habitual.
-d: If you’ve got enough NPCs to keep the PCs busy
-and you’re happy with the situation, you can stop. Skip
-ahead to step 6.
-Step 3
-a: False Doctrine. Habitual Sin and/or Demonic
-Attacks create false doctrine. Either the sinner invents
-false theology to justify the sin, or the victim or witness of
-the attacks creates false doctrines to explain or repair what
-seems to be a failure of the Faith. What’s the false tenet?
-Attach names and write a paragraph.
-b: Corrupt Worship. False doctrine expresses itself
-in bad religious practice or an incorrect use of ceremony.
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-What’s the form it takes? Attach names and write a
-paragraph.
-c: The demons want the false doctrine to win over
-other people.
-d: If you’ve taken the situation as far as you want to,
-you can stop. Skip ahead to step 6.
-Step 4
-a: False Priesthood. When a corrupt worship has
-three or more worshippers, it becomes a false priesthood.
-Who is the cult leader and who are the cult? Attach names
-and write a paragraph or two.
-b: Sorcery. A false priesthood commands the service
-of the demons. What does the cult have the demons doing?
-Attach names and write a paragraph or two.
-c: The demons want someone to kill someone, plus
-they want whatever the cult wants.
-d: If you’re happy with the situation, you can stop.
-Skip ahead to step 6.
-Step 5
-a: Hate and Murder. Eventually someone kills
-someone. The demons especially like it when a) the very
-Faithful and b) possible threats get murdered. Attach
-names to the murder and write a paragraph.
-b: Stop now, or repeat 5a until the situation is grabby
-enough for you. Unresolved, murder leads to more murder.
-Step 6
-a: What does each named person want from the
-Dogs? Write a sentence or two for each.
-b: What do the demons want in general? What do
-they want from the Dogs? What might they do? Write a
-paragraph.
-c: If the Dogs never came, what would happen — that
-is, what’s the next step up the “what’s wrong” ladder?
-Write a sentence or two.
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-You’re done!
-Example One: the Boxelder Canyon
-Branch.
-Brothers Artax, Benjamin and Cadmus are the Dogs.
-a Pride: The Territorial Authority guy thinks he
-deserves his living without working. He’s a Faithful who’s
-been assigned to negligible civic duties — keeping census
-info and reporting it annually — but he thinks that it’s
-enough to warrant his family’s maintenance.
-b Injustice: Because he spends his time pestering
-the town for more money instead of working, he, his wife
-(Brother Artax’ aunt) and their children are dirt poor.
-c: I need more people and more grief. I keep going.
-a Sin: The Territorial Authority guy’s wife, Brother
-Artax’ aunt, makes whiskey and sells it to the town’s
-farmhands on the sly.
-b Demonic Attacks: The church meeting house
-burned down. Brother Benjamin’s uncle was badly burned
-in the fire. He’s healing but pissed off.
-d: The situation doesn’t seem baked yet. I keep going.
-a False Doctrine: Brother Benjamin’s burned uncle
-blames the Steward for the fire, because the Steward’s
-grandmother is a Mountain Person convert and she lives
-in the Steward’s house. It’s dumb bigotry, but he’s decided
-that the Steward’s Calling is invalid.
-b Corrupt Worship: Brother Benjamin’s burned
-uncle has taken to ceremonially praying for the Steward’s
-grandmother’s death.
-d: I’m happy with the situation, but I want to hook
-Brother Cadmus in! How about Brother Cadmus’ younger
-brother, a farmhand newly arrived in town. He’s listening
-too hard to Brother Benjamin’s raving uncle: he’s a
-potential convert to the potential cult. Good, all done. I
-skip to step 6.
-, 5: skipped.
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-a the People:
-— Brother Artax’ aunt, the Territorial Authority census
-guy’s wife, wants the Dogs to stay out of her business. She
-wants to keep her whiskey a secret.
-— Brother Benjamin’s uncle wants the Dogs on his side
-vs. the Steward.
-— Brother Cadmus’ little brother wants the Dogs to
-tell him who to trust, but not to tell him to stop drinking
-whiskey.
-— The Territorial Authority census guy wants the Dogs
-to side with him, that he deserves to be paid a living wage
-for his (negligible) civic office.
-— The Steward wants the Dogs on his side vs. the uncle.
-He especially wants to convince them that his grandmother
-is a convert with no malice in her.
-b the Demons:
-— The demons want the farmhands to join the cult.
-They’ll attack the town where the Steward oughta be able
-to protect it, and undermine his authority where they can.
-— They want the Dogs to join with the uncle.
-— They want the whiskey to stay secret.
-— If the Dogs get close to the whiskey, the demons’ll
-work overtime to implicate the Steward’s grandmother.
-They’ll make it look like she’s using them to attack the
-uncle — that’s a good twist!
-c If the Dogs Never Came:
-— Sooner or later the cult would get its three members.
-Then they’d overthrow the Steward, and the demons would
-whisper to them that leaving him and his grandmother
-alive is dangerous to them. Eventually, murder!
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-Example Two: the Whitechurch
-Branch.
-Brothers Artax, Benjamin and Cadmus are the Dogs.
-a Pride: Brother Artax’ niece is resisting the
-appropriate courtship of the Steward’s son, for no good
-reason. She just doesn’t like him.
-b Injustice: Consequently, the Steward’s son has
-become obsessed with her. He’s buying her more gifts
-than he can afford, burdening his family.
-a Sin: The shopkeeper, not a Faithful, is marking
-up his prices. He doesn’t consider it a sin to profit from
-injustice, but it is one. He and his wife — Brother
-Benjamin’s cousin, young, pretty, Faithful — are getting
-way rich and are lording it over.
-b Demonic Attacks: The demons want to make the
-situation worse, so they’re breaking tools and making
-them wear out faster. Brother Cadmus’ aged uncle’s farm
-is one of the worst hit. The old guy values his independence
-— whether that’s Pride too is up in the air.
-, 4, 5: skipped.
-a the People:
-— The Steward and his son want Brother Artax to talk
-sense into his niece. The Steward would be content if he
-talked sense into his son.
-— The shopkeeper wants the Dogs to keep their noses
-out. They’ll have to figure out how to deal with him given
-that he’s not Faithful. (Is he a Spiritualist, an Atheist, a
-Dogmatist or what? Wing it!)
-— His wife, Brother Benjamin’s cousin, wants the Dogs
-to assuage her guilt. She doesn’t especially want them to
-convert him to the Faith — she loves him how he is.
-— Brother Cadmus’ uncle wants the Dogs to stay
-over and help him get his farm back together, “just this
-harvest.”
-— Brother Artax’ niece wants to marry Brother
-Benjamin or Brother Cadmus.
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-b the Demons:
-— The demons want to drive prices and demand up, up,
-up!
-— They want the Steward to pronounce that it’s okay for
-the town to rob the store — which would be false doctrine.
-— They want the Dogs to buy stuff, so they’ll try
-to break their stuff too. They don’t want the Dogs to
-pronounce that it’s okay for the town to rob the store —
-because if the Dogs say it, it’s probably not false doctrine.
-That’s what Dogs do, after all.
-c If the Dogs Never Came:
-— eventually the Steward would declare the store to be
-the congregation’s property and run the shopkeeper and
-his wife out. The demons would keep applying scarcity
-pressure — without the shopkeeper, how will the town
-restock the store? — until it all blows up.
-Example Three: the Tower Creek
-Branch
-Brothers Artax, Benjamin and Cadmus are the Dogs.
-a Pride: The branch Steward has just taken,
-righteously, a second wife. His first wife, Sister Bethia
-(Brother Artax’ cousin) is against it.
-b Injustice: Sister Bethia is monopolizing her
-husband’s attention, manipulating him so that he has little
-time for his new wife. By “time,” of course, I mean both
-“sex” and “public regard.”
-a Sin: The new wife — Sister Edie — turns to the
-town’s deputy sheriff, Brother Cyrus.
-b Demonic Attacks: The demons make Sister Edie
-barren.
-a False Doctrine: Sister Edie thinks, correctly, that
-she can’t conceive because of her infidelity. She concludes,
-incorrectly, that she should marry her lover, Brother
-Cyrus. She thinks that women of the Faith can have
-multiple husbands.
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-b Corrupt Worship: She talks a third woman,
-old Sister Wilhelmina (Brother Benjamin’s aunt) into
-performing a secret wedding.
-a False Priesthood: Sister Edie, Brother Cyrus,
-Sister Wilhelmina — that’s three! They’re a small cult but
-they’re a cult. By performing the false wedding, Sister
-Wilhelmina has established herself as the false prophet.
-b Sorcery: Sister Wilhelmina’s trying to sorcerously
-restore Sister Edie’s fertility, by robbing other women of
-theirs.
-a Hate and Murder: Sister Wilhelmina sorcerously
-kills a child in the womb. Yesterday, the unborn baby was
-healthy. Today, it’s stillborn.
-a the People:
-— The Steward wants the Dogs to bless his second wife,
-Sister Edie, to conceive.
-— The Steward’s first wife, Sister Bethia, wants the
-Dogs to prevail upon her husband to put aside Sister Edie.
-— Brother Cyrus, the deputy sheriff, wants the Dogs to
-solemnize his marriage to Sister Edie — he’s skeptical of
-old Sister Wilhelmina’s authority.
-— Sister Wilhelmina wants the Dogs to leave. As they
-get closer to her, she’ll call upon the demons to protect her
-and mislead them.
-— The injured mother wants the Dogs to Name her
-stillborn baby, because “he wasn’t meant to be born
-dead.”
-b the demons:
-— The demons want the Dogs to blame Sister Bethia,
-the first wife, for the stillbirth. They’ll set her up as a
-sorceress, even though she’s not one. Her Pride will be
-obvious even without their help.
-c if the Dogs never came:
-— Maybe the Steward could sort it all out and put it
-right — but no, you know that Sister Wilhelmina would
-talk poor Brother Cyrus into killing him first.
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-viii: Between Towns
-Reflection
-D
-id your characters do a good thing? Is the town
-better than when they arrived?
-What did the events in the town reveal about
-your characters? Whose character do you like better than
-you did before? Whose don’t you like as well as you used
-to?
-What are you saying about people, in the actions of
-your characters? Playing Dogs will raise questions about
-duty, obedience, responsibility, sin, love — where do your
-characters come down on the issues?
-It’s also very appropriate for you to talk about the
-experience of the game as players — what you liked and
-didn’t like, what went well, where the action bogged and
-where it was sharp.
-Reflection Fallout
-Choose one of these:
-— Add 1 to one of your Stats.
-— Create a new Trait at 1d6.
-— Add or subtract 1 die from an existing Trait.
-— Change the d-size of an existing Trait.
-— Create a new Relationship at 1d6.
-— Add or subtract 1 die from an existing Relationship.
-— Change the d-size of an existing Relationship.
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-Dogs in the Vineyard
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-— Write a Belonging on your character sheet and give it
-its usual dice.
-This is exactly the same as the experience Fallout list,
-so don’t let that throw you.
-Whichever you choose, justify it by your character’s
-experiences in the town you’re leaving.
-In addition, choose one of these:
-— Add any two dice to your unassigned Relationship
-dice.
-— Add 2d4 plus any one die to your unassigned
-Relationship dice.
-— Rewrite your coat’s description to reflect damage,
-wear, repairs or replacement. Change your coat’s dice if it’s
-called for.
-— Choose again from the reflection / experience Fallout
-list.
-Direction
-W
-here do the characters go from here:
-— To the next town on their assigned route?
-— Back to the Dogs’ Temple, to make an accounting of
-their service so far?
-— Back to a previous town, to follow up?
-— Home or elsewhere, abandoning their service?
-GMing Between Towns
-R
-emember how, at the end of character creation, you
-went “mmhmm” like the good doctor? Here’s where
-you angle the game to hit those issues. In the town just
-past, what were the characters about? What positions did
-they take? Which sinners did they judge harshly, and
-which did they show mercy? What did they say, I mean
-really say, about themselves and others?
-Your goal in the next town is to take the characters’
-judgments and push them a little bit further. Say that in
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-Dogs in the Vineyard
-this past town, one of the characters came down clearly on
-the side of “every sinner deserves another chance.” In the
-next town, you’ll want to reply with “even this one? Even
-this sinner?” Or say that another character demonstrated
-the position that “love is worth breaking the rules for.”
-You can reply with “is this love worth breaking the rules
-for too? Is love worth breaking this rule for?”
-But Dogs isn’t abstract or academic! This love, this
-sinner, this law — those are real people, real characters
-I mean, in real concrete situations. Create the people and
-the situations, don’t pose the question in some sort of
-theoretical way.
-Most importantly, don’t have an answer already in
-mind. GMing Dogs is a different thing from playing it.
-Your job as the GM is to present an interesting social
-situation and provoke the players into judging it. You don’t
-want to hobble their judgments by arguing with them
-about what’s right and wrong, nor by creating situations
-where right and wrong are obvious. You want to hear your
-players’ opinions, not to present your own.
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-ix: Creating NPCs
-A
-n NPC has to have exactly the things a PC has:
-Acuity, Body, Heart, and Will, all rated in d6s;
-some Traits and some Relationships, rated in dice;
-and some Belongings, rated in dice as usual (1d6 if it’s
-normal, 1d8 if it’s big, 1d4 if it’s crap, plus 1d4 if it’s a gun,
-etc.).
-Proto-NPCs
-H
-owever, you don’t make your NPCs the way you
-do PCs, one by one and with individual intention.
-Instead, you make ’em in batches of six semi-formed proto-
-NPCs, which you then flesh out when you need to, in play.
-Like this:
-. Copy the NPC sheet from the back of the book or
-make some boxes, lines and columns on a piece of paper.
-. Give your proto-NPCs Stats: roll 6d10. Each d10
-gives you one proto-NPC’s Stats. Don’t name the proto-
-NPCs, just give them Stats. Mix up which Stats get the
-high numbers and which get the low. Here’s the table:
-Roll Stats
-Roll
-Stats
-3 2 2
-4 4 3
-3 3 2
-4 4 3
-4 3 2
-5 4 3
-4 3 2
-5 4 3
-5 3 2
-5 5 4
-(Remember that Stat dice are always d6s.)
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-ix: Creating NPCs
-. Give your proto-NPCs Traits: for each one, roll
-d8. Each d8 gives your proto-NPC dice for one Trait.
-Don’t name the Traits now, just write down the dice.
-Here’s the table:
-Roll Trait
-Roll
-Trait
-d4
-d10
-d4
-d6
-d6
-d8
-d8
-d10
-. Give your proto-NPCs Relationships: for each
-one, roll 2d10. Each d10 gives your proto-NPC dice for one
-Relationship. Don’t name the Relationships now, just write
-down the dice. Here’s the table:
-Roll Relationship
-Roll
-Relationship
-d4
-d6
-d4
-d8
-d6
-d10
-d8
-d6
-d10
-d8
-In addition, each proto-NPC, like everybody, gets this
-Relationship: Blood 1d6.
-. Give your batch of proto-NPCs some Free Dice:
-roll 3d6. Each d6 gives you some dice to assign to a Trait
-or Relationship for some NPC in the batch, whenever in
-play you want to. Write the dice down in the “Free Dice”
-box at the top of your NPC sheet. Here’s the table:
-Roll Free Dice
-Roll
-Free Dice
-d4
-d8
-d6
-d8
-d6
-d10
-That’s it! Your proto-NPCs are made. Don’t do
-anything else to them until you’re actually in the midst of
-play.
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-ix: Creating NPCs
-An example of a proto-NPC:
-Name: ______________________
-Stats
-Acuity: 3d6
-Body: 2d6
-Heart: 5d6
-Will: 5d6
-Traits
-___________ 2d4
-___________ 1d6
-___________ 1d10
-___________ 1d10
-Relationships
-Blood 1d6
-___________ 2d6
-___________ 1d8
-All of the examples in this chapter are built on this
-proto-NPC.
-NPCs in Play
-G
-oing into a session of play, at one hand you have a
-town prepared with a list of named people, each one
-motivated toward or away from the incoming Dogs. At
-the other hand you have a list of unnamed proto-NPCs,
-each one with Stats and some undefined Traits and
-Relationships. In play, easy! Put them together. A named
-person plus an unnamed proto-NPC equals a whole NPC.
-Until a person comes into a conflict, you don’t need to
-know his dice a’tall. You can just play him along, based on
-what you do know: what he wants, what he’s afraid of, how
-he’s aligned with or against the PCs.
-Then when he does come into a conflict, scan down your
-available proto-NPCs and choose one that’ll do. Write his
-name in the space for it and pick up his relevant Stat dice.
-If it makes sense to name one or both of his Relationships
-now, do, and pick up those dice too. You can name his
-Traits now or when you need them. Give him Belongings
-(with their usual dice) if it’s called for. And if you need to,
-you can pull dice from your Free Dice to add to his Traits
-or Relationships.
-It obviously works just the same way for people you
-didn’t name when you wrote up the town, but brought into
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-ix: Creating NPCs
-play to meet the needs of the moment. Choose a proto-
-NPC and go to!
-If you run out of proto-NPCs, just call a quick break
-and make a new batch. It takes only a minute or three.
-An example of an NPC:
-Name: Brother Thaddeus
-Stats
-Acuity: 3d6
-Body: 2d6
-Heart: 5d6
-Will: 5d6
-Traits
-Well-read 2d4
-Wealthy 1d6
-Good Shot 1d10
-Argumentative 1d10
-Relationships
-Blood 1d6
-Sr. Hannah 2d6
-___________ 1d8
-Groups
-S
-ometimes the PCs will get into a conflict with a group.
-You don’t need Stats for each individual opponent!
-Instead create the group as one NPC.
-How many people are in the group? Each person in the
-group gives the group +2d6 to its Stats, divvy as you see
-fit. Go ahead and change them on your NPC sheet.
-Who are the people in the group? Write each one — or
-the notable ones if the group is large — as a Trait. First
-fill out the Traits you already have dice for on the NPC
-sheet. Then steal the NPC’s listed Relationship dice, unless
-the group needs them for Relationships (which is up to you
-to decide). Then you can pull as many of your Free Dice as
-you can spare, and after that each additional person gets
-d6.
-List people by their role in the group, not (just) by
-name. That way it’ll be easy to tell when you incorporate
-them into the group’s Raises and Sees, so you’ll know
-when you get to roll their dice.
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-Assign any Fallout the group gets to individuals in
-the group as plausible or, more likely, give Fallout to the
-players for follow-up conflicts.
-An example of a group:
-Name: Brother Thaddeus’ 7 farmhands
-Stats
-Acuity: 7d6
-Body: 10d6
-Heart: 8d6
-Will: 5d6
-Traits
-Clumsy 2d4
-Bully 1d6
-Steady 1d10
-Brick 1d10
-Ringleader 2d6
-Schemer 1d8
-Voice of Reason 1d6
-Relationships
-Br. Thaddeus 1d6
-When an NPC helps a PC
-When an NPC takes a PC’s side in a conflict from the
-beginning, it’s exactly as though the NPC were joining a
-group. Give the PC +2d6 to Stats, plus a Trait representing
-the NPC’s role. You choose which Stats. For the Trait, pull
-from your Free Dice or make it 1d6, it’s up to you.
-When an NPC comes suddenly to a PC’s side in a
-conflict in progress, treat the NPC as an improvised tool.
-See chapter 4 for the details.
-Possessed People
-A
-possessed person must be either a) a willing, knowing
-heretic, that is a believer in false doctrine, but possibly
-acting alone; or else b) a sinner within the false priesthood
-of a Sorcerer. In the latter case the Sorcerer has to
-perform a ritual to make the possession happen, but the
-possessed person needn’t be willing or informed.
-Anyhow, assign one of the possessed person’s
-Relationships to a demon. The number of dice in the
-Relationship indicates how chronically the person has been
-possessed.
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-ix: Creating NPCs
-Choose a number of Manifestations equal to the
-number of dice: Changes in body shape, changes in hands,
-changes in facial features, changes in hair nails or teeth,
-changes in eyes.
-Choose a number of Powers equal to the number of
-dice:
-— Cunning: Apply the Relationship to every social
-conflict.
-— Ferocity: Apply the Relationship to every physical
-conflict.
-— Preservation: When the possessed person Takes a
-Blow, take one fewer Fallout dice than normal.
-— Viciousness: The possessed person inflicts Fallout
-one die size higher than usual. Punches do damage like
-blunt weapons, blunt weapons like edged weapons, edged
-weapons like guns. It still maxes at d10.
-A Dog in conflict with a possessed person can use
-ceremony to See or Raise.
-An example of a possessed person:
-Name: Sister Hannah
-Stats
-Acuity: 3d6
-Body: 2d6
-Heart: 5d6
-Will: 5d6
-Traits
-Sinner 2d4
-Destitute 1d6
-Beautiful 1d10
-Black Hair 1d10
-Relationships
-Blood 1d6
-A Demon 2d6
-Br. Thaddeus 1d8
-Manifestations
-My hair moves even without wind.
-My pupils reflect light like a cat’s.
-Powers
-Cunning
-Preservation
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-ix: Creating NPCs
-Sorcerers
-A
-false prophet — that is, a believer in false doctrines
-who’s developed a following — is automatically a
-sorcerer, even if he or she doesn’t realize it. The demons
-attend to all false prophets and do their will. That being
-the case, sometimes you’ll use a sorcerer’s special abilities
-in a conflict, but have the sorcerer himself deny that
-anything non-normal is happening.
-Give the sorcerer a Relationship to a demon at four dice
-of your choice, above and beyond the Relationships listed
-for the NPC.
-A sorcerer can:
-— Call on the demons. Add the current Demonic
-Influence to his preferred side of any conflict, as though it
-were a Trait, by introducing demonic special effects into a
-See or Raise.
-— Become possessed at will (getting access, thereby, to
-all the powers available to a possessed person).
-— Perform rituals to invite demons to possess his
-followers.
-A Dog in conflict with a sorcerer can use ceremony to
-See and Raise.
-An example of a Sorcerer:
-Name: Brother Calvin
-Stats
-Acuity: 3d6
-Body: 2d6
-Heart: 5d6
-Will: 5d6
-Traits
-Patient 2d4
-Alert 1d6
-Aggrieved 1d10
-Imposing 1d10
-Relationships
-Blood 1d6
-The Dogs 2d6
-A Demon 4d8
-___________ 1d8
-Page 133
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-ix: Creating NPCs
-Demons?
-D
-emons don’t ever get Stats or Traits or anything.
-Demons act in the world only through situations’
-Demonic Influence and people’s Relationships to them.
-They contribute dice to conflicts in only two circumstances:
-Spiritual Opposition: Whenever a PC tries to
-accomplish something that calls for a conflict, but there’s
-no clear opponent, roll 4d6+Demonic Influence. This
-doesn’t really depend on an individual demon, it’s just how
-it works.
-It’s the same when a PC launches a conflict with a
-demon directly: 4d6+Demonic Influence.
-Sorcery & Possession: As I’ve described.
-In no case is any particular demon more powerful or
-more intent than any other. All demons are faceless and
-equal, except as empowered by a town’s sin or individual
-sinners.
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-Names
-S
-ome appropriate female names you might not think of:
-Abiah
-Cornelia
-Mindwell
-Adelaide
-Damaris
-Obedience
-Adelia
-Edwina
-Patience
-Adeliza
-Electa
-Permelia
-Alexanderina
-Eliphal
-Phidelia
-Almena
-Emeline
-Philomena
-Althea
-Fidelia
-Prudence
-Asenath
-Hester
-Relief
-Augusta
-Honora
-Submit
-Azubah
-Kesiah
-Sybrina
-Bedelia
-Lavina
-Temperance
-Bethia
-Louvina
-Theodosia
-Clementine
-Malvina
-Tryphena
-Cleophas
-Marilla
-Tryphosia
-Constance
-Mehetable
-Waitstill
-S
-ome appropriate male names you might not think of:
-Abijah
-Eleazer
-Micajah
-Archibald
-Elijah
-Nathaniel
-August
-Hamilton
-Newton
-Azariah
-Hezekiah
-Obediah
-Bartholomew
-Hiram
-Phineas
-Cornelius
-Jackson
-Pleasant
-Cuthbert
-Jedediah
-Thaddeus
-Cyrus
-Jeduthan
-Theophilus
-Derrick
-Josiah
-Virgil
-Ebenezer
-Malachi
-Wiley
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-Recap
-Before Play
-Create 6 proto-NPCs at a time. For each, roll 1d10 for
-Stats, 4d8 for Traits, and 2d10 for Relationships, plus roll
-d6 for Free Dice for the whole batch:
-Roll Stats
-Trait
-Relationship Free Dice
-3 2 2
-d4
-d4
-d4
-3 3 2
-d4
-d4
-d6
-4 3 2
-d6
-d6
-d6
-4 3 2
-d8
-d8
-d8
-5 3 2
-d10
-d10
-d8
-4 4 3
-d6
-d6
-d10
-4 4 3
-d8
-d8
---
-5 4 3
-d10
-d10
---
-5 4 3
---
-d6
---
-5 5 4
---
-d8
---
-In Play
-When you need dice for an NPC, choose whichever one
-fits best. Assign Traits, Relationships and Belongings as
-called for. Pull in Free Dice if you want.
-Groups
-Each person in the group a) gives the group NPC +2d6
-to Stats, and b) is a Trait.
-Possessed people
-Choose a number of Manifestations and a number
-of Powers equal to the number of dice in the person’s
-Relationship with the demon.
-Page 136
-Page 137
-x: How To GM
-Play the town
-Y
-ou made a town, right, you’ve got some NPCs, and
-each and every one of them wants something from
-the PCs. Right? So play them!
-Don’t play the PCs. Present the PCs with choices — by
-which I mean, have your NPCs come to them and ask
-them to do things, fix things, take care of things, make it
-right, make it better, tell them it’s not their fault, tell them
-they’re in the right, tell them not to worry — then back
-waaay off. “Sister Abigail comes to you and asks you to
-marry her to her lover, Brother Ezekiel. Yes, they’ve been
-having an illicit affair and he’s already married. What do
-you do?”
-Provoke the players to have their characters take action,
-then: react! Whatever the PCs do, your NPCs have to
-adjust to it. Figure out what they want now — it should be
-easy, they want what they always wanted — and have ’em
-work toward it.
-Don’t play “the story.” The choices you present to the
-PCs have to be real choices, which means that you can’t
-possibly know already which way they’ll choose. You can’t
-have plot points in mind beforehand, things like “gotta get
-the PCs up to that old cabin so they can witness Brother
-Ezekiel murdering Sister Abigail...” No. What if the
-PCs reconcile Brother Ezekiel and Sister Abigail? You’ve
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-wasted your time. Worse, what if, because you’ve invested
-your time, you don’t let the PCs reconcile them?
-You’ve robbed the players of the game.
-You can’t have a hero and a villain among your NPCs.
-It’s the PCs’ choices that make them so. The PCs are
-empowered to turn sin into goodness sake doctrine if they
-think it’s the right thing to do. How are you gonna decide
-up front who comes out on top?
-All I’m saying is, the PCs’ stories aren’t yours to write
-and they aren’t yours to plan. If you’ve GMed many other
-roleplaying games, this’ll be the hardest part of all: let go
-of “what’s going to happen”. Play the town. Play your
-NPCs. Leave “what’s going to happen” to what happens.
-How, though? Here’s how:
-Drive play toward conflict
-E
-very moment of play, roll dice or say yes.
-If nothing’s at stake, say yes to the players,
-whatever they’re doing. Just plain go along with them. If
-they ask for information, give it to them. If they have their
-characters go somewhere, they’re there. If they want it, it’s
-theirs.
-Sooner or later — sooner, because your town’s
-pregnant with crisis — they’ll have their characters
-do something that someone else won’t like. Bang!
-Something’s at stake. Launch the conflict and roll the dice.
-Roll dice or say yes. Roll dice or say yes. Roll dice or
-say yes.
-Actively reveal the town
-in play
-T
-he town you’ve made has secrets. It has, quite likely,
-terrible secrets — blood and sex and murder and
-damnation.
-Page 139
-Dogs in the Vineyard
-x: How to GM
-But you the GM, you don’t have secrets a’tall. Instead,
-you have cool things — bloody, sexy, murderous, damned
-cool things — that you can’t wait to share.
-There’s this interesting hump I have to get over every
-time I GM Dogs — maybe it’ll go away eventually. It’s like
-this:
-The PCs arrive in town. I have someone meet them.
-They ask how things are going. The person says that, well,
-things are going okay, mostly. The PCs say, “mostly?”
-And I’m like “uh oh. They’re going to figure out what’s
-wrong in the town! Better stonewall. Poker face: on!” And
-then I’m like “wait a sec. I want them to figure out what’s
-wrong in the town. In fact, I want to show them what’s
-wrong! Otherwise they’ll wander around waiting for me
-to drop them a clue, I’ll have my dumb poker face on, and
-we’ll be bored stupid the whole evening.”
-So instead of having the NPC say “oh no, I meant that
-things are going just fine, and I shut up now,” I have the
-NPC launch into his or her tirade. “Things are awful! This
-person’s sleeping with this other person not with me, they
-murdered the schoolteacher, blood pours down the meeting
-house walls every night!”
-...Or sometimes, the NPC wants to lie, instead. That’s
-okay! I have the NPC lie. You’ve watched movies. You
-always can tell when you’re watching a movie who’s lying
-and who’s telling the truth. And wouldn’t you know it,
-most the time the players are looking at me with skeptical
-looks, and I give them a little sly nod that yep, she’s lying.
-And they get these great, mean, tooth-showing grins
-— because when someone lies to them, ho boy does it not
-work out.
-Then the game goes somewhere.
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-Dogs in the Vineyard
-x: How to GM
-Follow the players’ lead
-about what’s important
-Y
-ou present an interesting situation to your players, a
-town. It’s got a couple few conflicts already present
-in it, each with at least two sides, some facets and nuances
-to the moral questions it poses. You’ve made this cool,
-interesting thing, this town and its problems, so you show
-it to your players like, “look! What do you think?”
-Then you step back and wait to hear what they think
-— and I shouldn’t suggest that you have to actually wait
-at all. The truth is that they start taking sides the instant
-you start showing them what the sides are. It’s immediate
-and visceral.
-If you’ve GMed other games, you’ve probably had this
-experience: You say, “...and the super villain reveals his
-plan, which is to use armored laser sharks to destroy the
-world!”
-Your first player says, “dude, Mr. Johnson didn’t hire
-me to save the world, he just hired me to find his brother. I
-go back and tell him his brother’s dead.”
-Your second player says, “I’m still talking to the pool
-girl, remember?”
-And your third player’s reading your old White Wolf
-magazines.
-It’s suck. But you’re not going to get that with Dogs,
-and here’s why: you haven’t created a super villain.
-There’s not a plot the PCs have to foil. You’re not providing
-judgment for the players the way you have to if you’ve pre-
-decided who the villain is. Instead, you’ve presented your
-interesting moral situation, the PCs can’t walk away from
-it, they have to cut through its knot somehow and leave the
-town better off. So, what do they think?
-They’ll surprise you. They’ll take sides you never
-expected. People just endlessly delight me and one of
-the reasons they do is because of their capacity to take
-surprising sides. Watch, you’ll see.
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-Dogs in the Vineyard
-x: How to GM
-Escalate, Escalate, Escalate
-D
-oes that mean that you just, y’know, sit? And
-watch? Not in the least. When the players take sides
-— from the first moment they begin to take sides — start
-complicating their lives.
-It works exactly the same as it works between towns,
-but moment-to-moment instead of episode-to-episode.
-The dialog of play is all “my character does this, your
-character does this, they find this, this person ambushes
-them and starts shooting, this person shifts her eyes
-sideways and you can tell she’s lying, what do you do?
-Where do you go now? What do you do then?” Just like
-any other roleplaying game. But if you take a step up from
-that, you’ll see that the conversation’s about something.
-It’s about the moral judgments the players make on the
-situations you present. In the midst of conflict, you should
-be thinking, “really? Even now? Even now? Really?”
-In concrete terms, this point and the point before are
-about setting conflicts’ stakes. The point before says: let
-the players set the stakes. This point says: then, you set the
-stakes harder.
-Here’s an example:
-I’m the GM. I present to my players a situation: Brother
-Cadmus’ little brother wants the Dogs to tell him who to
-trust, but not to tell him to stop drinking whiskey. Brother
-Cadmus and Meg, his player, have noticed that there’s
-something he’s not saying, but they don’t know what yet.
-Meg has Brother Cadmus say, “I can’t tell you who to
-trust until you tell me what’s really going on.”
-I say, “Sweet! Let’s roll some dice. What’s at stake is,
-does he spill?” Notice that even though I’m the one who
-said what’s at stake, Meg’s the one who chose it.
-We roll dice, Raise and See back and forth, and
-(unsurprisingly) Brother Cadmus is winning.
-Now it’s my turn to set the stakes harder. How badly
-do Meg and her character want to know? I say, “he says,
-‘y’know Cad, I come to you for advice and you grill me.
-Page 142
-Dogs in the Vineyard
-x: How to GM
-Page 143
-Dogs in the Vineyard
-x: How to GM
-Isn’t that just like you.’ He shoves past you. I’m escalating
-to physical.” I roll some more dice. Meg has to choose:
-does her character physically stop him from leaving, or
-give? How far is she willing to go for this? What if he
-throws a punch, will she still be willing to push him?
-Let’s say that yes, she’s willing to fight him for it.
-Then, what if he’s beating her? Will she have Brother
-Cadmus draw on his own brother?
-DO NOT have a solution in
-mind
-I
-f you have a solution in mind, the game rules are going
-to mess you up bad.
-I hope I’ve made that clear enough. If you’re GMing
-by the rules, you have absolutely no power to nudge things
-toward your desired outcome. It’s best for everybody,
-I mean especially it’s best for you too, if you just don’t
-prefer one outcome to another.
-Your job is to present the situation and then escalate
-it. The players’ job is to pronounce judgment and follow
-through. The solution is born of the two in action.
-Playing God?
-I
-n most RPGs with religious content, the GM arbitrates
-the characters’ morality. The GM plays God (or the
-gods) as an NPC, giving and withholding moral standing
-— whatever form it takes in the particular game: Faith
-Points, Alignment Bonuses, whatever — based on the
-characters’ actions. Not in Dogs.
-In Dogs, the GM has no opportunity to pass effective
-judgment on a PC’s actions. Talk about ’em, sure, but
-never come down on them as righteous or sinful in a way
-that’s binding in the game world. The GM can’t give or
-withhold dice for the state of a PC’s soul, and thus never
-needs to judge it.
-Page 144
-Dogs in the Vineyard
-x: How to GM
-Which is good! Which is, in fact, essential. If you, the
-GM, can judge my character’s actions, then I won’t tell
-you what I think. I’ll play to whatever morality you impose
-on me via your rulings. Instead of posing your players
-an interesting ethical question and then hearing their
-answers, you’d be posing the question and then answering
-it yourself.
-How dull would that be.
-Some Actual Play
-H
-ere’s how it works out. This is from one of the game’s
-very earliest playtest sessions.
-Setup: Brothers Artax and Cadmus are the Dogs,
-played by Tom and Meg, respectively. The branch
-Steward, Brother Malachi, is having an affair with Brother
-Cadmus’ 15-year-old cousin Avigail. Brother Artax’ aunt
-Elsa is best friends with Brother Malachi’s wife Judith.
-Sisters Elsa and Judith and Brother Malachi all feel
-that Brother Malachi deserves, because he’s such a good
-Steward, to be allowed by the Faith to marry Avigail.
-Avigail is having sex with him willingly, but becoming
-his trophy isn’t what she wants for her life — she’s in love
-with a boy named Jonas. But whether Brother Malachi
-deserves her as his second wife or not, they’re sinning and
-that gives demons access to the town. The demons want
-to maintain the status quo — inevitably, their affair will
-spawn some sort of false doctrine, probably where they’ll
-marry without the approval of the Faith and Brother
-Malachi will become a breakaway cult leader. Maybe,
-because he’s well-liked by the town, bringing the whole
-blessed congregation away with him.
-So that’s where we start and from that, I know how to
-play the NPCs. Brother Malachi is charming and effective,
-with just enough pride to make Meg and Tom suspicious
-but not enough to give him away. Sister Elsa will try to
-get Brother Artax’ buy-in on the whole “Brother Malachi
-deserves a second wife” thing, and in the process give away
-Page 145
-Dogs in the Vineyard
-x: How to GM
-that he has Avigail in mind. Sister Avigail will be willing
-to talk about Jonas but will try to hide her affair with
-Brother Malachi. (I improvised: Jonas is delighted and
-taken aback to hear from Brother Cadmus that Avigail
-has a thing for him, which I believe swayed the outcome-
-choices Meg and Tom made. If I’d made him a jerk, they’d
-have been a lot less sympathetic to her hopes, I think.)
-Outcome: Brothers Artax and Cadmus fend off a
-possessed attacker, confront the principles, spill to Jonas
-that Avagail’s in love with him, figure out (in a satisfying,
-shared “aha!” moment crossing two separate scenes) who’s
-having sex with whom, and then bundle Brother Malachi
-and Sister Judith up and send them off to Bridal Falls City.
-They tell a convenient little lie to the branch that Brother
-Malachi’s been such a good Steward that he’s being Called
-to greater duties. It’s important to Meg and Tom that
-Jonas not hear about the affair, to give Avigail the chance
-with him that she wants, so they can’t risk shunning
-Brother Malachi or making his crime public. (Funny how
-they thought of it as “his” crime, when there were two of
-them in the bed...)
-Later, Tom wrote me and said “Yeah, but your
-description implied that she was only doing it because he
-was the Steward and it was cast specifically as ‘Brother
-Malachi is abusing his position.’ So it was a pretty natural
-progression.” In fact, in my description all I’d done
-is emphasize that he wasn’t raping her. Meg and Tom
-between them had judged Brother Malachi so immediately
-and so viscerally that they thought his guilt was
-objective and foregone. And then they lied to the whole
-congregation to protect a possible future between Avigail
-and Jonas!
-Isn’t that fascinating? And unbelievably cool? Friend,
-that’s why I play this game.
-Page 146
-Page 147
-xi: Design Notes
-Resources
-I
-’ve watched, as you would guess, one million Westerns.
-You should watch a bunch too, plus some Samurai
-flicks. Most of them won’t be quite right, though: the
-protagonists usually want to be left alone, but get dragged
-into things despite themselves. Crime flicks are better for
-protagonists who come into a situation ready to pronounce
-judgment.
-The Quick and the Dead is an exception. Ellen’d make a
-Dog.
-Tombstone is interesting for the way the principle
-townspeople fall all over themselves to line up with or
-against Wyatt Earp. NPCs in Dogs act that way.
-You can’t go wrong with the Man Who Shot Liberty
-Valance.
-Or High Plains Drifter. Man.
-Good non-Westerns with Dogs-like stories: LA
-Confidential. Devil in a Blue Dress. The Untouchables.
-Definitely watch Green Snake for inspiration if you’re
-playing a high-supernatural game. A Chinese Ghost Story
-too.
-But of ’em all, Brigham City, a little indie flick by
-Richard Dutcher, is the most exactly right. When you
-watch it, consider that when Wes Clayton’s the bishop, he’s
-Page 148
-Dogs in the Vineyard
-xi: Design Notes
-the branch Steward, and when he’s the sheriff, he’s the
-Dogs.
-www.brighamcitythemovie.com
-The ideal Dogs in the Vineyard soundtrack includes
-some Johnny Cash, Slaid Cleaves, Dave Carter and Tracy
-Grammer, Alison Krauss, Lyle Lovett, the Stone Coyotes,
-and Cordelia’s Dad (of the later shaped-note sort). Strike
-a balance between spirituals and murder ballads, and be
-sure to include “the Man Comes Around.”
-If you’d like to learn more about the LDS church, you
-can visit its official site:
-www.lds.org
-For a (much) more critical picture, try:
-www.lds-mormon.com.
-And I’ve got a bunch of online resources going, from
-reenactment catalogs to old maps to landscape photos to
-“how a revolver works.” Surf to:
-www.lumpley.com
-Comment: Relationships vs.
-Traits vs. Things
-T
-he reason that the character background options
-aren’t balanced across Relationships and Traits is
-that the two things serve very different purposes in the
-game. Your Traits contribute to how conflicts go, but your
-Relationships contribute to what conflicts are about. When
-you take “I’m a good shot” as a Trait, you’re saying that
-you want to resolve conflicts by shooting. When you take
-a Relationship with a person, you’re saying that you want
-to be in conflict with him or her.
-You drive a conflict, moment to moment, toward
-your Traits. You drive the game, scene by scene, toward
-your Relationships. When you choose your character’s
-background, you’re prioritizing: do you want more input
-Page 149
-Dogs in the Vineyard
-xi: Design Notes
-into how conflicts turn out, or more input into which
-conflicts?
-Make sense? That’s why you get more Relationship dice
-than Trait dice across the board. Input into which conflicts
-is more important in the game overall.
-Belongings, then, are just super-narrow Traits. I
-like it when my players put big dice in their Belongings,
-especially their weapons — every die in a weapon is a
-temptation to hurt someone.
-Adapting the Faith
-T
-he Faith I’ve presented is based on early Mormonism.
-It may be that you want to play Dogs but the LDS and
-Utah flavor doesn’t do it for you. That’s fine; adapting the
-game to other religions is quite easy.
-The Faith has a pretty much normal set of moral codes:
-don’t do violence to one another, don’t sleep around, don’t
-lie, cheat, steal, break promises, conspire against one
-another, or profit from another’s misfortune. It has the
-standard religious ones: worship the correct god in the
-correct way, don’t turn to demons or false gods for favors.
-It also has a handful of “avoid the appearance of sin” and
-“separate people” ones: modesty rules, including who’s
-allowed to be alone with whom, who’s allowed to touch
-whom, what people are allowed to wear; consumption
-rules, dietary rules; and random conduct rules of the “no
-swearing” sort (although what’s “swearing” and what isn’t
-might still be working itself out, socially).
-The laws of the Territorial Authority are based on the
-same core moral code: don’t do violence to one another,
-don’t sleep around, don’t lie, cheat, steal, etc. The thing
-is, being made by the corrupt and decadent, the legal
-interpretation of the code differs from the Faithful
-interpretation in at least one key way. Maybe multiple
-marriage is allowed by the law but prohibited by the Faith.
-Maybe ritual tattooing is considered “violence” by the law
-but “correct worship” by the Faith.
-Page 150
-Dogs in the Vineyard
-xi: Design Notes
-So but within that framework, you can totally play
-around with the specifics. Does your Faith’s understanding
-of “don’t sleep around” permit or prohibit multiple
-marriage? Do its consumption rules permit or prohibit
-eating pork? What arrangements constitute “conspiring
-against one another” or “profiting from another’s
-misfortune”? What makes “correct worship”? When are
-the holy days and what do you do on them? Come to think
-of it, is “the King of Life” God (if so, YHWH, Jehovah, or
-Allah?), or Jesus, or the head of a Pantheon, or the Earth,
-or what? Are “false gods” gods who don’t exist, or real
-gods we oughta not be worshipping?
-If you want to play Dogs with some other religious
-flavor, simply rewrite the Problems in the Faith section
-in the town creation rules to suit your religion of choice,
-and change the Elements of Ceremony to match.
-Consider:
-— Seventeenth-century Massachusetts, with the PCs as
-witch finders.
-— Thirteenth century Europe with the PCs as
-Dominican inquisitors, the black and white Hounds of
-God.
-— A modern-day mob game, replacing the Faith with
-the Mafia’s codes of silence and loyalty, with the PCs as
-enforcers.
-— Or a game about the Untouchables, with the Law
-instead of the Faith, and the PCs as Eliot Ness and his
-people!
-Any of those sounds interesting and fun to me.
-Thanks
-T
-his game owes such a debt to Ron Edwards I can’t even
-tell you. I mean, it’d probably be a better game if it
-were a Sorcerer mini-supplement, that’s how much. It’s also
-heavily influenced by Trollbabe, as I’m sure you can see.
-www.sorcerer-rpg.com
-Page 151
-Dogs in the Vineyard
-xi: Design Notes
-I got inspiration for the dice mechanic from the Riddle
-of Steel: what would happen, I said to myself, if you were
-to roll the dice before you divvied them between attack and
-defense?
-www.theriddleofsteel.net
-Universalis inspired my approach to Traits and
-Relationships in a big way.
-www.ramshead.com
-I’m not the first guy to use poker terms in an RPG’s
-resolution rules. Neither was Matt Snyder, but I’d be
-remiss if I didn’t mention Dust Devils. If you’re after a
-straight Western, no religious emphasis, Dust Devils is the
-one.
-www.chimera.info
-I’m also not the first guy to quantify relationships as
-character effectiveness. Trollbabe does, My Life with Master
-by Paul Czege does, I’m positive that many others do, and
-I understand that Hero Quest is grandmother to us all.
-www.trollbabe.com
-www.halfmeme.com
-www.heroquest.com
-Without the conversations and game designs at the
-Forge, this game would never have existed.
-www.indie-rpgs.com
-Jared Sorensen demonstrated, and Tom Russell
-explained to me, the difference between growth and
-achievement in Character Creation.
-Luke Crane released me from an obligation so I could
-get this thing done.
-Brennan Taylor ran the first ever independent playtests,
-with Jason Ang, James Hall, John Hall, Michelle Malloy,
-Caitilin Taylor and Krista White.
-My local playtesters were Meg Baker, Carrie Bernstein,
-Emily Care Boss, Bruce Klotz, Jodi Levine, Joshua
-Newman, Tony Page and Tom Russell.
-Special thanks to:
-Page 152
-Dogs in the Vineyard
-Everybody who read and participated in conversations
-about the game in my LiveJournal, my soopaseekrit
-playtest forum, and the lumpley games forum at the Forge.
-Emily Care Boss for doing game design with me.
-LeEarl Baker, Lillian Baker, Ben Lehman, Scott
-Martin, Brennan Taylor, and Jonathan Walton for their
-critical comments on my earliest manuscript. Without
-them, the game would suck twice as bad.
-Jake Norwood for his insight into the Dogs’ initiation.
-Carl Rigney for taking a year’s worth of me saying
-whatever came into my head and catching out of it the few
-things worth repeating.
-Certain of my family members for their forbearance (I
-hope, I dearly hope) when they see the unpleasant use to
-which I’ve put their likenesses.
-Ron Edwards and Kieth Senkowski for a couple very
-useful conversations about illustrations.
-Kreg Moser and Darrell Langley for inspirational
-sketches.
-Drew Baker for the fantastic cover art.
-Ed Heil for his excellent interior art.
-Joshua Newman for the layout guidance and the puttin’
-up with.
-And extra special thanks to Meg, who is sleeping on
-the couch nearby right now, and who played mechanics
-with me before there was even a game, who read every
-word of this before anybody else, and who even wrote a
-word or ten too.
-Page 153
-Dogs in the Vineyard
-Rules Index
-—Resolving Conflicts—
-Overview
-Recap
-What’s at stake?
-Set the stage
-Roll Stat Dice
-, 60
-Non-physical: Acuity & Heart
-Physical: Body & Heart
-Fighting: Body & Will
-Gunfighting: Acuity & Will
-Escalating
-Roll Relationship Dice
-, 68
-With your opponent
-With what’s at stake
-Raise & See
-In best roll order
-Raise with 2 dice
-See with 1 die: Reverse the Blow
-See with 2 dice: Block or Dodge
-See with 3 dice: Take the Blow
-Roll Trait Dice
-When you incorporate the Trait into a Raise or a See
-Roll a Thing’s Dice
-When you incorporate the thing into a Raise or a See
-Giving
-Cut your losses
-Follow-up Conflicts
-Multiple Opponents
-Helping One Another
-NPCs helping PCs
-, 68, 129
-Page 154
-Dogs in the Vineyard
-Rules Index
-—Things’ Dice—
-Assigning dice
-Normal: 1d6
-Big: 1d8
-High Quality: 2d6
-Big & High Quality: 2d8
-Crap: 1d4
-Guns: +1d4
-—Elements of Ceremony—
-Description & Application
-, 73
-Anointing with Sacred Earth (d8 Fallout)
-Calling by Name (d4 Fallout)
-Invoking the Ancients (d4 Fallout)
-Laying on Hands (d6 Fallout)
-Making the Sign of the Tree (d6 Fallout)
-Reciting the Book of Life (d4 Fallout)
-Singing Praise (d6 Fallout)
-Three in Authority (d8 Fallout)
-—Fallout—
-When you Take the Blow
-, 64
-Roll Fallout Dice equal to the number of dice you used to See
-Fallout Dice
-Non-physical: d4s
-Physical: d6s
-Weapon: d8s
-Gunshot: d10s
-Ceremonial: per Elements of Ceremony
-NPCs’ Fallout
-If nobody cares, give the players the NPCs’ two highest rolled
-Fallout Dice for their side of the follow-up conflict
-Short-term Fallout
-Subtract 1 from one of your character’s Stats for your next
-conflict
-Take a new trait rated 1d4 for your next conflict
-Change the dice of one of your character’s relationships to d4s for
-your next conflict
-Have your character leave the scene and spend some time alone.
-Only choose this if no one launches a follow-up conflict
-Page 155
-Dogs in the Vineyard
-Rules Index
-Long-term Fallout
-Subtract 1 from one of your character’s Stats
-Take a new Trait at 1d4
-Take a new Relationship at 1d4
-Add 1d to an existing d4 Trait or Relationship
-Subtract 1d from an existing d6+ Trait or Relationship
-Change the die size of an existing Trait or Relationship to d4.
-Erase a Belonging from your character’s sheet.
-Rewrite your coat to include permanent damage. Reduce your
-coat’s dice appropriately
-Experience Fallout
-Add 1 to one of your Stats
-Create a new Trait or Relationship at 1d6
-Add or subtract 1 die from an existing Trait or Relationship
-Change the die size of an existing Trait or Relationship
-Write a Belonging on your character sheet and give it its usual
-dice.
-Reflection Fallout
-Choose once from Experience Fallout
-Choose one of these:
-Add any 2 dice to your Unassigned Relationship Dice
-Add 2d4 plus any 1 die to your Unassigned Relationship Dice
-Rewrite your coat to reflect repairs or replacement. Change your
-coat’s dice appropriately
-Choose again from Experience Fallout
-—How to GM—
-Play the town
-Drive play toward conflict
-Reveal the town in play
-Follow the players’ lead
-Escalate, escalate, escalate
-Don’t have a solution in mind
-Don’t play God
-Roll dice or say yes.
-Page 156
-Dogs in the Vineyard
-—Something’s Wrong—
-Overview
-Pride
-Enacted, creates Injustice
-Sin
-Allows Demonic Attacks
-False Doctrine
-Creates Corrupt Worship
-False Priesthood
-Is Sorcery
-Hate & Murder
-—Between Towns—
-Players: Reflection Fallout
-GM: Prepare the next town
-—Creating NPCs—
-Proto-NPCs
-NPCs in play
-Groups
-Possessed people
-Sorcerers
-Demons
-Names
-If you don’t know what to do right now, check the
-outline on pages 93-96.
-Page 157
-Dogs in the Vineyard
-Dogs
-Vineyard
-in
-the
-Name:
-Background:
-—Stats—
-{ }
-—dice—
-Acuity:
-Body:
-Heart:
-Will:
-—Traits—
-{ }
-—dice—
-—Relationships—
-{ }
-—dice—
-Blood: 1d6
-{ }
--available-
-—Belongings—
-Coat:
-{
-—Fallout—
-}
-—character sheet—
-Page 158
-{
-—Traits—
-}
-Dogs
-Vineyard
-in
-the
-—npc sheet—
-{
-—Relationships—
-}
-Acuity:
-Body:
-Heart:
-Will:
-Name:
-—•—
-{
-—Traits—
-}{
-—Relationships—
-}
-Acuity:
-Body:
-Heart:
-Will:
-Name:
-—•—
-{
-—Traits—
-}{
-—Relationships—
-}
-Acuity:
-Body:
-Heart:
-Will:
-Name:
-Page 159
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-���������
-ADVENTURES
-��������������������������
-Dog-
-eared
-Designs
-��������������������������������
-Page 160
-</nowiki>

Difference between revisions of "Full DitV Text"

Latest revision as of 16:49, 19 February 2007

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