Experiences with Dogs in the Vineyard

[Piratecat]

It's a decent game but, mechanically, I never got what all the hype was about. Really, when you cut through the high falutin' Forge speak, it's a pretty traditional RPG at heart.

It feels pretty special to me, especially with player vs player conflicts.

 

[deinol]

It's a decent game but, mechanically, I never got what all the hype was about. Really, when you cut through the high falutin' Forge speak, it's a pretty traditional RPG at heart. That said, I like rules-light games and I like Westerns. Dogs presses both of those buttons for me, so I play it whenever I get the chance.

The give and take narrative conflict resolution system is what makes the game unique. Sure, if you just put up numbers and don't say anything more interesting than "I hit him" it doesn't feel any different than any other rpg. But finding creative ways to integrate traits into conflicts, particularly the social ones, is what makes the game stand apart.

It is also one of the few games where social conflict feels as dynamic as combat, and is often more important.

 

[jmstar]

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 that grows out of it.

Escalation, and a die mechanic predicated on encouraging players to take conflicts farther.

Fallout, and character growth through failure. Using die size to connote problematic traits and relationships.

 

[Filcher]

I'm intrigued enough that I'm going to try a Dark Heresy weekend using DitV rules. Any advice/thoughts on 40k Vineyard?

 

[Cerebral Paladin]

40K Vineyard sounds like it could be really cool, but I'd want to make sure that some of the player characters aren't "nuke them all from orbit, it's the only way to be sure." It'll be fine if some of the players are, but you want some really sympathetic NPCs who might sorta kinda technically have found their way onto the Imperium's unclean list, so that you get the tough choices thing going.

 

[jdrakeh]

It feels pretty special to me, especially with player vs player conflicts.

YMMV. Like I said, I play it (or, more correctly played it - it has been a while now) fairly regularly. Systemically, it just never seemed too unique to me. Thematically, OTOH... that's a different story.

 

[jdrakeh]

But finding creative ways to integrate traits into conflicts, particularly the social ones, is what makes the game stand apart.

Yeah, but this is almost all on the players, IME. Again, systemically, I found that there's really nothing that drives this. If your players are dull as dishwater, your Dogs game will be, too (I lucked out and had pretty engaging players).

It is also one of the few games where social conflict feels as dynamic as combat, and is often more important.

I will give it that but, again, I think that has less to do with the mechanics than the themes of the game.

 

[jmstar]

I'm intrigued enough that I'm going to try a Dark Heresy weekend using DitV rules. Any advice/thoughts on 40k Vineyard?

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.

 

[Cerebral Paladin]

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.

FWIW, I don't find the hierarchy of sin to be as important to the game (or to a setting) as many other people do. As I've said when discussing plain-vanilla DitV towns I've run after the game was over, "If you like, you can understand this town's problems in terms of the hierarchy of sin--according to that understanding, blah blah blah. Or you can view it as actually being about the specific conflicts that are there on the surface without dwelling on the underlying theory." I do find the hierarchy of sins to be very useful for players trying to understand what the religious teachings are about, to understand how they've been trained to understand sin.

Obviously, other people disagree with me here, but I thought I should mention it.

 

[jmstar]

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