Recent content by jmstar

Why on Earth would anyone participate in this? Self-publishing is a thing. If your work is good you can easily make $1000 and retain rights to what you create. Then you can make another $1000.

The Shab Al-Hiri Roach is a GMless game with an absurd premise and it tends toward gonzo play. Sex, violence and stupidity emerge like flowers after the rain. While it is totally capable of producing a creepy Lovecraftian wainscot game, few people play it this way. If you don't like...

OK, it sounds like you are arriving at the same place from a different angle. For me the hierarchy of sin allows me to build up towns really easily and quickly, and also helps the players in recognizing demonic influence, which gives me fat dice as GM!

That's cool, I'm sure everybody approaches the game differently. How do you build your towns, though?

You'll need to re-write the hierarchy of sin to fit the new setting. I have a weird feeling "hate and murder" is not at the top of the list like it is in vanilla Dogs in the Vineyard.

The things that I think are pretty cool about Dogs: "Roll the dice or say yes" Actively revealing the town in play - no secrets Initiations as a way to simultaneously teach the game mechanics and embed characters in the setting. The hierarchy of sin, and the formal path for building towns...

It's worth noting that you don't have complete character monogamy in Dogs - it's entirely possible to be persuaded, by the flow of the dice, to do something or believe something that you don't want your guy to do or believe. This is either the best thing ever or a kick in the junk, so know your...

As a player you could also take traits like "The King of Life does not speak through me" and "The Faith is broken", and seeing those tested would be super interesting. I don't get the objections based on player beliefs or dynamics, unless as a group you don't trust or care about each other. If...

I've run Dogs one-on-one a number of times and it is actually pretty fun, because the solo Dog really, really needs some friends and can be outgunned by Demonic Influence. You do lose the interesting back and forth and disagreement over key issues. That's why 3 Dogs may be best - you get those...

I think three players + GM is the sweet spot. I like to play with two as well. The way the dice work, if even three Dogs line up, they are pretty unstoppable. This isn't a huge deal, but if playing with a larger group, definitely have a backup town ready!

Yeah, that sounds like a bad idea. As a thought experiment, maybe. I can't emphasize enough that the game, as written, is really solid. The motivation to hack it often seems to actively avoid the game's ethical core, which is a mistake in my opinion.

Something that often gets missed, I think, is that the PCs are the direct mouthpiece of God. If they are in agreement, they can change the rules of society. If you have a player who finds the Faith's nineteenth century view of sexual roles abhorrent, he can change him by saying "The King of Life...

You can buy it here if you want. People hack Dogs all the time into other settings - it works for any setting in which the PCs have unquestioned moral authority (Jedi are popular). I think it suffers a little when you do this, since the game's hierarchy of sin is very elegant and it needs to be...

I've played Dogs for years and really enjoy it. The game is designed to present the players with difficult and sometimes impossible choices, so it is always fun to see how people approach their character's dilemmas. The juxtaposition of what are usually teenagers away from home for the first...