Holy Gunslingers in a West that Never Quite Was... Blood in New Gidea

[Paka]

The setting is inspired by pre-statehood Utah, the Desert Territory, in the early-mid nineteenth 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."

- Dogs in the Vineyard by D. Vincent Baker, RPG's home page linked in the quote from its introduction.

Meet Alvidechedezzar

Abiah’s coat was faded from years of service to God. She had served as a Watchdog of God for decades and now that her shooting hand had grown shaky, she taught young Dogs, made sure they were ready to execute the Savior’s will among the Faithful. She taught rhetoric and scripture, made sure that no devil would ever turn a Dog she trained with some silver tongued words.

Her star student these days was Alvidechedezzar. The children called him Al. The boy’s family had been heretics. They proclaimed one of their own the only True Prophet of the Lord, handed down from generation to generation. Alvidechedezzar had escaped from their mountain stronghold and found the Watchdog Training Grounds. Now he was being trained to serve the Savior Who Has Returned.

Abiah shook her head, thinking of her finest student, a former heretic. Mysterious ways.

Al was studying in his room, pouring over the Book of Life when the acolyte Abiah sent found him. “Al, you got a visitor,” the boy said, not yet ten years old.

“A visitor?” Al asked.

“I hear its yer sister, Al. Wasn’t your family heretics, Al? Is yer sister a heretic too?” the acolyte asked.

“Yes,” the future Watchdog responded. “Yes, she is.”

Abiah waited in the parlor of the Temple with Elspeth, Al’s sister. She claimed her family had sent her to retrieve her brother, heir to their prophet title. Abiah waited silently, waiting for her favorite student. It is time to test him, she thought. Time to test how he does when rhetoric fails, as it so often does.

Al walked into the room with her sister and his rhetoric instructor. “Elder Abiah, may I speak with my sister privately?”

“No, child you may not. She is here to retrieve you for your heathen family. Is she not?”

Elspeth nodded. “Ma and pa want their son returned to them. They know you’ve all brainwashed him with this nonsense about being Watchdog of the Lord.”

Al spoke up defensively, “I am a Watchdog of the Lord!”

Elder Abiah corrected him. “No, child, you are not a Dog yet.” She swept her quilted robe aside, colors faded from countless hours in the harsh desert sun. She took her pistol from its holster. It was an iron monster, a Colt Dragoon with the Tree of Life carved on the handle.

“Rhetoric is a powerful too but there are others. Your sister will stay with us having renounced her heretic ways or you will put a bullet in her brain-pan.” She laid the pistol on a nearby table, its cold, iron weight making a palpable thud on the marble.

Elspeth’s eyes narrowed like a viper. “These are the people you have sided with against yer own blood, Al. I came here because I missed my brother and they’re going to have me shot and they want you to do it. Nice people, Al. God’s people.”

Abiah nodded. “Cancers must be cut from the body or they can cause irreparable harm. Show her the Light or show her the barrel, son. You may begin.”

Al gripped his Book of Life as tight as a pistol in his hand and he argued his Faith with his heretic blood. He argued for his Savior and he argued for his sister’s life.

He was sweatier than at the end of the pugilism instruction when he was finished. Finally he slammed his Book onto the table next to the pistol when his sister had seen the light. He showed her the false pride of their uncle for declaring himself the Mouthpiece of God and she had seen the errors of her ways and repented sincerely. His words were bullets.

Before Abiah took the newly converted Elspeth to the Girl’s Dormitory she put her Colt back in its holster on her right hip both pleased and worried that the boy didn’t have cause to use it today.

GM’s Notes:

I love when a prelude is built into the game and Dogs in the Vineyard has Accomplishments, in which the player says something they would like their character to do during their training. This sets the scene for a pre-Watchdog prelude like the ones depicted here.

We used the amazing rules for social arguing here and they worked really well, with the players rolling and role-playing at the same time with one aiding the other. Great stuff.

Alex wanted his character’s accomplishment to be that he would solve a problem with only the Bible and no violence. I was pleased with the way I interpreted that and really made it a tense conflict.

This was a one-shot and we had limited time so in the preludes and in the adventure I found myself escalating every chance I got and it really made the game strong.

Al's player had to leave early in order to catch a plane which is just a cryin' shame.


Meet Jeremiah Elijah Young

Jeremiah’s pa had been a Watchdog and so he visited his Pa’s grave every chance he got. He could sense some movement in the graveyard. Sometimes old Dogs would be setting in front of a tombstone, crying or uttering prayers. Jeremiah knew to leave these folks alone, leave ‘em to their greavin’ and allow them to make their own peace with the Lord of Light.

On the grave of his pa were two Dogs in Training, just like him. Josiah was an older boy who should have either been made a Watchdog or sent home to find another calling. The Elders weren’t ready to do either just yet. Jeremiah’s eyes widened as Elspeth, a sister of a friend, and word had it, a recently converted heretic rolled her sleeve back up. Her arm had been bare clearly to the elbow.

Jeremiah had never seen such a thing before.

“What’re you doing?” Jeremiah’s young voice cracked.

Josiah smiled, towering over Jeremiah. “We was just talkin’, Jeremiah. No word of this ever need reach the Elders, y’hear?”

“She’s a heretic…a…a Bathsheba!”

Josiah looked puzzled. “Who?”

“Don’t you know yer Bible stories, Josiah?”

The older boy looked uncomfortable and his mouth tightened into a line. “No, not good.”

“Jeepers. I’ve got to tell the Elders. Gotta, Josiah.”

Josiah sneered. “No, little boy, you don’t.”

“If I tell a lie to the elder…I can’t tell a lie to the elder. Can’t. Lies let Satan’s snakes slither into your mouth. You was getting to know her Biblical like on my pa’s grave, Josiah. That ain’t right.”

Josiah sniffed, looking from Elspeth to Jeremiah. “Tell ya what I’m going to do. I’m going to bend your arm behind your back and pain you. When I pain you enough, you’ll swear to the Lord and Savior and on the grave of your own pa to keep your mouth shut tight.”

Jeremiah didn’t have a chance to say that he wouldn’t. He had wrestled with his brother but this was different. Josiah was bigger and his intent was terrible violence. Despite Josiah having told Jeremiah exactly what he planned on doing the bigger, older boy got behind him.

Jeremiah felt his arm begin to twist towards the sky, towards heaven. Josiah was whispering to the younger, smaller boy. “Swear; swear on your pa’s grave. Swear that you won’t say a word about none of this.” Just when the pain couldn’t seem to get any worse there was a crack, like wood splintering and Jeremiah passed out.

When he awoke he told the Elders what he had seen on his father’s grave.


GM’s Note:

This was an interesting one because the character lost the dice battle but won the Accomplishment. Jeremiah got his arm broken (healed by the time the game started) but the Accomplishment Mario asked for was to “Make his Pa proud of him.” We decided his Pa was a dead Watchdog and went from there.


Meet Anadarch Keelson

Newton was a teacher at the Watchdog Training Grounds, the youngest to have such an honor. It was well know that Newton and Anadarch, the oldest of the Dogs-in-Training didn’t get along and so the Elders assigned them to do their pistol shooting together. Newton hated Anadarch, hated that the other boys looked up to him. He hated that he had avenged the murder of his family at the hands of bandits alongside a legendary Watchdog of the Lord. He hated that Anadarch’s left hand was scarred in a fire while struggling with the bandit who had killed his pa and he referred to it as the Left Hand of the Lord. Most of all he hated Anadarch’s pride.

They had shot all of the clay pots they brought to the fields. Anadarch could shoot with either hand, the Elders already said he was well on his way to being a fine shootist.

“I know a brook over the next hill where we can freshen up before heading back. Let’s go,” Newton said curtly. Anadarch followed without comment.

Sprawled in the shade of a willow tree was one of the Mountain People. They were heathen folk who had lived in these lands before those of the Faith arrived. Despite their heathen ways, it was said the Savior had plans for them.

Newton looked the heathen over. “He’s hurt terribly. It’s no use taking him back to the Temple. Time for the Savior’s own mercy.” The Watchdog Instructor brandished his pistol. He would show this showboat, show him that he wasn’t afraid of some blood on his hands.

Anadarch shook his head as Newton leveled his gun at the unconscious man’s head. “No.”

Newton’s face pinched up. “What, what did you say?”

“You aren’t doing this. I’m not going to let you.” Anadarch spoke simply, making it easy to imagine that the Lord was speaking through his lips.

Newton was shaking with anger. “I am the Savior’s Own Instrument. My bullets are God’s Will. This heathen needs to be taken out of his misery. The way to hell needs to be sped up and it is my hand that shall do this.”

Anadarch’s left hand moved faster than Newton believed possible. He leveled his pistol at Newton’s face. “You aren’t doing this. This man is only sick. He will get better.” His voice was steady as the barrel he leveled.

Newton’s eyes focused on his student’s pistol in disbelief. Anadarch’s thumb pulled back the hammer, priming the Colt to fire.

Newton put his gun down and began to stammer as he stumbled back to the Temple. “The Elders will hear of this. You’ll be cast out. This is an abomination!” The Elders never heard of the incident and when Anadarch explained that he had nursed one of the Mountain People back to health beyond the Pistol Range his Elders were pleased.

GM’s Note:

Aaron told me he wanted a bad-ass gunslinger and I told him, Hell YEAH. But I asked that he give him something to hold on to, some twist. I liked Aaron’s take.

Aaron’s chosen accomplishment for Anadarch was to Protect the Innocent and on his character sheet (to be posted later) he had down that one of his superiors hated him. Nice.


Meet Benjamin

August, Watchdog of the Lord, asked to take Benny with him into town to get provisions because the boy was as big as a mountain and strong as an ox. Benny was touched in the head but somehow he knew right from wrong with a child’s clarity. Despite their initial disbelief, the Savior was showing the Elder Watchdogs that Benjamin would make a fine Watchdog some day despite the beatings that had left his head soft. August thought he would make a fine Watchdog exactly because of those beatings. “They’ve taught him violence to be sure but they’ve also taught him mercy of a kind.”

The lynch mob was forming even as they arrived. A weasel of a man led the mob, taking the condemned to a hanging tree. August called out, letting the crowd see his quilted trench-coat that marked him as a Dog. This town was under Territorial Law but most of its citizens were of the Faith and would listen to a Watchdog without question.

A brick was thrown before August could be identified as a Dog and he fell to the ground unconscious.

“ on a stick, you done knocked out a DOG!” someone from the crowd screamed.

Another voice rang out from the crowd, “The big ‘un with him must be a Dog too.”

Benny trundled up to the hanging tree, where the weasel was throwing a noose over a branch.

“Stop. No hanging.”

The weasel sized up his adversary with a quick glance. He smiled as he saw Benny’s simple eyes, without a hint of cunning in ‘em. Most of all he smiled when he saw that he wasn’t wearing a Dog’s coat.

“This big dumb jack-ass ain’t a Dog. I’m hanging this man here and now.”

The crowd began screaming, some for blood and some for mercy. None stopped the weasel.

Benny tried to argue with the man but the weasel’s words were winged. Talking was never Benny’s strong suit. The boy pushed the man away from the tree with mighty arms and the weasel fought back. The weasel threw Benny into a water trough and the wood broke, leaving the boy wet on the ground.

Benny got up and the Weasel moved in to finish him. Benny could see that his opponent was a bully and enjoyed preying on those weaker or less cunning than him.

The weasel was thrown over the crowd into a pile of horse . He landed with a sickening noise and skulked away, wind taken right out of his sails. With strong, loving arms, Benny cradled August and took him away from the mob, which soon dispersed.

GM’s Note:

Mateo asked that Benny’s accomplishment be I hope I don’t get the Dogs into trouble again. Mateo was really tired for this game and he was a large part of the reason I drove this game as hard as I did. He had been through a 12 hour day and yet was still gaming. Gotta love it.



Meet Cain Gareth

Cain and Virgil were doing their chores in the Watchdog’s stables. The horses were sleeping at this time of night. Virgil heard the disturbance first. “Cain, you hear that?”

There was a noise from inside one of the empty barns and the horses were growing restless. Cain wasn’t sure where the Elders would be at this time of night or what they would be doing. With a mischievous grin he turned to his Watchdog Brother and said, “Let’s see.”

They opened the door and Josiah, the big boy who had recently been punished severely, was writhing on the ground. It was only a matter of time before Josiah was sent home once the winter thaw melted.

Josiah’s mouth was open at an unnatural angle and past his jaws slithered a tremendous black snake. Cain knew right away it was a Demon, taking possession of Josiah’s very soul. Picking up a pitch-fork he turned to Virgil and ordered, “Go get an Elder, I’ll hold it.”

Virgil, nearly passing out from seeing such a thing, turned and ran head first into the doorway. He was knocked out cold when he landed in a pile of hay that cushioned his fall neatly. Now Cain was alone with Josiah and Josiah’s Demon.

Cain recited scripture as best as he could remember and the creature ignored him, continuing to slither down Josiah’s sinning throat. The sinner writhed on the ground, eyes rolled back, spine arched.

Cain made the sign of the Tree of Life and the creature continued its path to Josiah’s heart and soul.

In a desperate effort, Cain screamed, “Begone creature, I am Cain and I am a Watchdog of the Lord! I command you to leave this place and leave that boy’s body!”

Red eyes glowed from within Josiah’s heart where the serpent coiled. “You are not a Watchdog yet,” it hissed.

Cain woke up in the barn and was questioned sternly by Elder Watchdogs.

“Cain, you must not be so brash. Once you put on the quilted jacket of your eventual vocation your words and actions will be dictated by the Savior Returned but you must allow the Holy Spirit to move through you. Do five weeks penance and think on that.”

Among the Elders they spoke highly of Cain’s bravery.

Josiah was never found.

Until Cain, Anadarch, Jeremiah and Benjamin donned their quilted trench-coats, strapped guns to their hips and walked into the ghost town of Garden and the town of Eden just below it.

GM’s Note:

Cain's player wanted Cain to be wrestling with his brashness and his irresponsibility. He lost his conflict with the Demon and yet that wasn’t really the driving conflict of this story. The accomplishment had more to do with whether or not he went for help or tried to take on a Demon as only an acolyte.

Naturally Josiah popped up later. He is just one of those NPC’s who happens through play. It was a nice birth. Take ‘em where you can get ‘em I reckon.

Next: Eden’s Prophet

 

[Silver Moon]

Interesting story hour, I think I'll really enjoy this one.

Also great name for the Story Hour, I wish I'd thought of it first as it would have also fit for the Western Boot Hill/D&D Hybrid "Story Hour" that I started posting on Thursday.

 

[Paka]

Sunrise

Watchdogs are given a jar of consecrated earth for their rituals, a pistol or a rifle, a horse, the Book of Life and a quilted trench-coat.

Jeremiah’s trench-coat was made by his Ma back home. She and the other women in their congregation gathered and quilted it together. The jacket was so obviously a labor of love, modeled after the jacket his father had worn when he was a Dog. Jeremiah also carried his father’s Winchester with pride.

Cain’s jacket was also made from his congregation where he grew up but his family didn’t pay him much mind. They threw it together, despite the honor of having their own child achieve the rank of Watchdog. Before the coat was sent to the Watchdog’s Temple his friends and buddies had gotten a hold of it. They stitched on patches, to remind him of the mischief they got into as boys and the friendship he still had in them.

Anadarch’s family was killed but the Watchdog who had found him and helped him sneak into the murderous bandit’s camp and see that justice was done made his coat. There were slits on the sides so even while wearing the coat closed Anadarch’s Left Hand of the Lord could still retrieve his pistol. Anadarch’s qulted coat wasn’t a labor of love but was a functional tool. Tucked in his belt was a tomahawk, a gift from the Mountain Folk heathen he had nursed back to health during his training.

Benny’s coat was made by several of his Watchdog Elders. It was a bit too small for him in length and at the shoulders but he wore it with pride as he saddled up on his horse, Bunny, a draft who many said could outwit Benny nine times out of ten.

The Elders left them in front of the Temple, allowing them to choose their own path as the sun made the horizon blue with morning. The mountains ran north and south for as far as anybody cared to know. There were small communities of the Faithful in the mountains but not many. Mostly, the range was home to the heathen Mountain Folk.

East was a den of sin. To the east were cities of high society types not of the Faith. Cabals of business-men and railroad barons made deals with demons who could earn them more money. They bowed before golden calves and sucked at demonic teats.

West were the communities they were to serve and watch over. There were towns not of the Faith but they were the exception to the rule. Anadarch was the first to mount up and turn his horse west. With the sun on their backs, they road west towards the Faithful.

They road until dark until they reached the ghost town of Garden, population: zero.


Garden, Population: One

Garden had been a gold mining town but when the mines went dry and mostly collapsed the people moved on. The town’s sign had been embossed with gold or maybe some silver but it had long since been chiseled away, leaving only scarred letters. The sign had population tallies from the town’s golden days and scratched into the wood with a bowie was evidence of the exodus until Garden’s last soul carved an ominous zero.

Anadarch, being the oldest of the boys, took up a role as leader. Jeremiah set up camp and began heating up beans while Benny and Cain dealt with the horses. Anadarch got a lay of the land and saw the town in the hills where many of Garden’s folk had run off to. In the valley below, lay Eden. The town’s Temple bells were ringing faintly in the distance, letting town-folk know that someone had died and a funeral service would be held on the morrow.

Goats began to drift into town. They were kept together by a smart herding dog and a boy of 14 followed them. Benjamin Ibex III was the first of Eden’s populace to see the Watchdogs. He greeted Anadarch with slack-jawed awe. The other boys he greeted as heroes out of the Book of Life despite the fact that he was not much younger than Jeremiah and Cain, if at all.

“Howdy, Dogs. My name’s Benjamin, just like my Pa and my brothers.”

Jeremiah pointed out that they had in their Watchdog posse, a Benjamin of their own. Benny grinned.

“Call me Tres, though. Everybody does in these here parts.”

Jeremiah, never having done anything of the sort before stepped forward with his hand raised, fingers spread in an official Watchdog greeting. “Greetings, we are the Watchdogs of the Lord and I offer my official greetings to the town of Garden.”

Tres giggled. “Dang, mister, ain’t no people here but me, you and the goats. This town don’t have no problems. Its deserted. I just brought the goats up for the good grazing. No, Eden’s where you’ll want to go. That’s where trouble is.”

Jeremiah waved his finger at Tres. “Tres, now you have to watch that language of yours. That is how Satan gets in, by forcing his way past your Faith through cuss-words and the like.”

“Sorry, Dog, sir. I’ll watch that language.”

“Y’see, the Steward won’t come visit our homestead in the hills and we was in bad shape after ma died of the pox. Me and my brothers tried to go into Liztown and get the vaccine but we didn’t get back in time before her passing. The guilt was something terrible.

“My pa and the Steward known each other since they was boys in this town of Garden and they don’t like each other none at all.”

They gently asked him about the funereal bells.

“Probably Old Man Carson passing on. He was an old one, not yet ninety winters in him but certainly eighty. He’s been going for some days now. That’d be a good place to meet the townfolk, I reckon.”

After helping Benjamin Ibex III put his goats into closed off pens in Garden, they shared some beans with the boy and he shared some jerky. After their meal they slept in the town of Garden, population: five.

 

[Paka]

GM's Note:

I was driving this game hard. The players were tired and we had started late. After a weekend of tight Gen Con gaming, I wanted to run a fast and tight game.

I was not interested in making them look for clues but giving them the situation and forcing them to make decisions in how to deal with it.

The presence of a possessed Josiah changed things a bit and I knew I wanted him to be a part of this mess somehow.

At this point in the game, no conflicts had presented themselves.

Still to come:

Old Man Carson’s Funeral


The Ibex Homestead


Return to the Garden, Population: Four


Judgment in Eden


Thanks for reading. Thank ye kindly.

 

[Krug]

This sounds really good.

 

[Paka]

Old Man Carson’s Funeral

The Watchdogs were awakened by Benjamin Ibex II, who everyone in Eden called Deuce. He was walking through Garden with his rifle across his shoulders, yelling for his brother to come on out. Deuce didn’t know why his brother wasn’t sleeping where they normally made camp until he saw the Watchdogs.

He briskly sent Tres home because he thought that’s what Pa would want under the circumstances. “Pa wants to see you, Tres. You lost three more goats, I saw.”

Tres mumbled about wolves in the hills and went home, leaving Deuce with the Dogs.

“I just came up to Garden to get my brother. If ya want I could take you to the cemetery. Old Man Carson will be buried come sun-up. We can make it if we ride hard.”

They mounted up and the five of them road towards Eden while Tres made his way home. It was goodly ride to the cemetery and they talked to the eldest Benjamin boy of the Ibex clan.

He repeated much of what his younger brother had said. But he also mentioned the aid of a traveling prophet who had helped their family in their time of need after the death of their ma. When asked about this prophet, Deuce just said, “He died,” and didn’t talk much for the rest of the ride.

The folk of Eden were heading towards the cemetery in a stream of about three hundred or so. At their head walked the Steward and just behind him was the coffin, held by those who knew Old Man Carson best. Benjamin Ibex the First was among the pall-bearers.

Deuce soaked up the attention he got from being the one to officially introduce the town to the visiting Watchdogs. The Steward, a fat man with gray sideburns that fanned on either side of his plump face, wiped away sweat from his brow and asked if any of the Dogs would like to say a word over Old Man Carson’s casket. Anadarch declined, not wanting to speak over a man’s grave who he didn’t know but Jeremiah offered to say a few words. He thought such a thing would be proper, given his vocation.

The Steward spoke of Carson’s fine life and the even finer existence that awaited him in Heaven, where his wife and family awaited. He seemed nervous, an odd trait for a Steward in front of his own congregation. Babies cried and a man kept coughing throughout the sermon. Realizing that his congregation was not listening with their hearts, if at all, the Steward’s sermon came to an inconclusive and meandering end.

But the congregation listened to Jeremiah. He was a golden-haired boy who reminded everyone of some nice cousin or neighbor they remembered. And when he spoke he spoke with confidence and determination. His new coat shimmered in the sunshine.

Jeremiah’s eulogy ended with, “Old Man Carson died from sickness and now he is healthy in heaven. We must take this opportunity to remember to cleanse the sicknesses in our own lives.”

Once Jeremiah was done the Congregation looked at a neighboring hilltop, as if a third sermon were in order. Benjamin Ibex the First stood on that hilltop and eyes downcast he took off his hat and began to talk about Old Man Carson. They paid him the respectful silent attention they had paid the Watchdog.

Benjamin was funny and poignant with his words. He made people laugh even as he made them cry and talked about Carson’s good will towards the children of the town, teaching the boys to throw a baseball and always making nice comments on the girl’s hair and dress. He ended his speech with a steely glare at the Steward and the Watchdogs. “Mayhaps if Carson would have been re-married as the Prophet’s ghost had suggested to me, perhaps if someone had seen to that he would still be with us. I know more than anyone that no man is fit to take care of himself. We are in dire need of women-folk to aid us in the day and night. I hope he is with his wife now in the heavens, beside the Savior Who Has Returned.”

When Benjamin the Goat-herder was done speaking the people of Eden were openly weeping and the Watchdogs exchanged glances.

Anadarch stayed with the Steward but Jeremiah walked to the nearby hill where Benjamin Ibex stood among the people of Eden. He shook hands, knowing full well that the town’s ills somehow surrounded this man and he talked with him. Their conversation was watched by the entirety of the town.

One never knew what would happen when a Watchdog came to a congregation. Would he shoot Benjamin Ibex I? Would he swear him in as the town’s new Steward or create an office of the Faith just for him? When it became clear that Jeremiah was going to do nothing but decide for himself if Benjamin’s words rang with truth or falsehood, the Faithful of Eden began their walk back to town.


GM’s Note:

The first conflict of the game outside of the accomplishments was Jeremiah’s battle of wills with Benjamin Ibex I. Their discussion was a conflict that Mario (Jeremiah’s player) declared the goal as, “I want to know if he is lying.” In the end he knew.

It had become obvious at this point who the movers and shakers in the group were going to be. Mario, player of Jeremiah, was taking this adventure by the throat and going with it right along with Aaron, player of Anadarch, who had cast himself as party leader and was prepared to walk the walk. Mateo was playing Benny and having picked him up at ultimate Frisbee practice before the game I knew he had just gotten through his first day of grad. school and had been going for over 12 hours.

Kolja was playing Cain and I liked the character and the player but he was new to the group and the youngest to boot. I had contacted Kolja through the Burning Wheel forums because I knew he didn’t have a regular gaming group in these here parts. I think Kolja was still getting his feet under him and I drove the adventure so hard that I wasn’t giving people spotlight time and I think our newest player in the group suffered from my unrelenting pace.

Either they moved or they were left behind. I fear I left Kolja behind a bit. After the game I got the sense that he likes the way we game and wants to do so again. I think he will relax and enjoy himself more in future sessions and hopefully, he will play in a game I run in which I can ease up and enjoy a moment here and there. Nice kid and a good gamer.


The Ibex Homestead and the Princess of Eden

Jeremiah insisted that he, Cain and Benny discuss Eden's well-being in greater detail at the Ibex estate. He was firm, smiling, yet polite. Benjamin Ibex I tried to turn down the honor but Jeremiah just smiled politely and insisted.

Benjamin the First sent his sons ahead of them in order to get the house prepared for guests. “My late wife, Faith, Savior rest her soul, passed on and living with eight boys….I’d rather the place was tidied before such honored guests arrived. Set out lemonade and the like.”

Jeremiah knew this was only a half-truth and while Benjamin gathered his boys around him, the Dogs gathered. It was agreed that Anadarch would go into town and do some looking around while the rest of the Dogs rode with the Ibex family.

Anadarch walked in the opposite direction with the Steward, leading his horse while his comrades went with the Ibex family into the hills where their homestead awaited. From the Steward, Anadarch heard about his disdain of Benjamin Ibex and how the congregation took pilgrimages to his homestead in the hills after services.

“Ever since that Prophet passed away while staying with him he has been insufferable. He says the Prophet’s ghost speaks to him and the people believe. They often go to him for advice. It is insufferable. He must be stopped.”

Anadarch listened without comment but asked, “The prophet, where was he buried?”

The Steward looked puzzled. “I reckon he was buried on the Ibex land. Never saw to the body myself. I know I should’ve been there for him better when his wife passed but he is stepping over the boundaries, here. One of his no good sons was found in a glade at a barn-raising with my daughter. I kicked that boy into a state of proper respect with Ben’s help and blessing. But still, he don’t know his place.

“He’s a goat-herder and I am the congregation’s Steward. Am I not?”

Anadarch nodded in agreement. “Did he come into town to have a coffin made?”

“I’m not certain,” the Steward replied. There and then, Anadarch rode away from the Steward with a tip of his hat and a good day.

Meanwhile, Benny, Cain and Jeremiah rode with the Ibex boys. Jeremiah counted six of the Ibex boys with them. “Where are your boys, Benjamin? I only count six.”

“Deuce stayed up at the house to do some chores and I sent Tres ahead to see to tidying up of the house and some lemonade set out.”

Jeremiah stood among the Ibex family and could smell a falsehood thick in the air. Mr. Ibex wasn’t all lying but he was far from telling all the truth. Ever since they had talked back at the cemetery, Jeremiah was getting a feel for his style of fibbing. Like most good liars, Benjamin Ibex I surrounded his lies with truth in order to obfuscate their passage. Even Benny was getting wise to the fib’s comings and goings.

Cain just appeared ready to follow his Brother-in-Arms’ leads, not wanting to do anything foolhardy while hearing the Watchdog’s coat. He still saw his brashness as having allowed a Demon to abscond from Watchdog Temple in the body of Josiah and the guilt weighed heavily.

Jeremiah asked Benjamin what he thought was in the town that needed fixing and the eldest Ibex launched into a line about how the Temple was at the far end of town. “If the temple could be re-built, perhaps bigger and better it would be easier for me and mine to reach. Not to mention when the many folk who come to my homestead to pay respect to the Prophet’s grave-site and gather to discuss the Book of Life they’d have less to travel from Sunday services.”

Jeremiah smiled. “Why don’t you show us a good site for that Temple on the way to your place?”

On his way back from his walk with the Steward, Anadarch was just about bushwacked by a gaggle of young ladies from Eden. They were lead by the Steward’s daughter, a pretty young lady with two blonde braids hanging down her shoulders. She strode up to the Watchdog, bold as you please.

“Good day, Watchdog. Is it true you were ushered into town by one of the Ibex boys?”

Anadarch smiled as he nodded and the girls of Eden melted.

“I’m sorry they had to be your first impression of Eden. Please don’t always think of their stench when you think of our fair town.” The girls looked shocked at her boldness and one of them even stammered out her name, “Emma!”

Anadarch asked questions about the Prophet and the girls didn’t know much. Linea, the shopkeeper’s daughter, told him what she knew.

“He must’ve used the wood he used to build a shed he was keen on. He bought the wood from my pa’s store.”

The handsome Watchdog asked, “Was it enough to build a coffin with?”

“Sure, enough to build a slew of ‘em,” Linea responded.

At that, Anadarch tipped his hat and rode off hard. He was riding towards the hills towards the Ibex Homestead.

Jeremiah, Benny and Cain were being shown the site where Benjamin Ibex I thought the Temple should go when across the hills to the east they saw Anadarch heading into the hills hard, right towards the Ibex Homestead. Jeremiah tried to distract the Ibex family from their brother Dog making towards their home with speed but Benny broke into a smile and pointed.

“Anadarch!” he grinned.

Tight lipped and grim, Benjamin Ibex led his sons and the Watchdogs towards his home, knowing that the fourth Watchdog and some lemonade would await.

By the time they got there Anadarch had taken a look around and saw the second and third Benjamin’s trail of dust heading up towards Garden through the hills.

Benjamin said the Prophet had broken his leg the night before he died. They knew he was lying but the Dogs just stared at him over their glasses of lemonade.

“The next day he was dead,” he explained weakly over lemonade.

Anadarch was asking about the shed and the wood used to build the coffin and how a man with eight sons could leave a shed unassembled when the shots rang out.

The Watchdogs were trained in such matters. They were two shots, both from the same pistol and they were coming from the northern trail that led to Garden. Benjamin Ibex I looked scared and shocked. He knew in his heart that his lies had finally led to violence.

The Watchdogs spurred their horses into action, heading towards the ghost town of Garden with members of the Ibex family in tow.


GM’s Note:

The momentum had begun to die and once the players realized there would be no big revelation at the Ibex Homestead I could feel their energy deflate.

BANG BANG.

Off they went to Garden. It wasn’t subtle but it worked.

Like I said, I drove this thing hard.

 

[FM_Mario]

Judd's being too hard on himself with the whole driving issue.



Jerimiah E. Young


p.s. If you ever want to bugg the hell out of Judd, just ask him about "The Hag."

 

[threshel]

Very good! I like the re-imagining of gunslingers as revered warriors. Their training and interaction with the townspeople is strongly reminiscent of King's Dark Tower Series. There are clear differences which make this story it's own, and that adds to my enjoyment.
Thanks,

J

 

[Paka]

Very good! I like the re-imagining of gunslingers as revered warriors. Their training and interaction with the townspeople is strongly reminiscent of King's Dark Tower Series. There are clear differences which make this story it's own, and that adds to my enjoyment.
Thanks,

J

Thanks for reading.

When I bought this game at Gen Con and talked to the game's creator I mentioned how much it reminded me of King's Dark Tower series and oddly, he has never read it. Though his girlfriend had and she had also mentioned the similiarity.

When I read it I was reminded of the line from Talisman, "God pounds his nails. Yes, he does."

 

[Paka]

You stand between God's law and the best intentions of the weak.

You stand between God's people and their own Demons.

Sometimes its better for one to die than for many to suffer. Sometimes, Dog, sometimes you have to cut off the arm to save the life.

Does the sinner deserve mercy?
Do the wicked deserve judgement?

They're in your hands.

- back cover of Dogs in the Vineyard by D. Vincent Baker​

Return to Garden, Population: Four

The road to Garden was steep and dusty. They came upon a spooked horse and there Benjamin III lay in the dust, moaning. He was shot in the gut. His innards were making a hissing noise like a deflating balloon and the boy was letting out a moan that only a boy in the greatest pain of his life can let loose.

Anadarch was the first one to get to the shot boy and he paused only long enough to see that he would live until the others arrived. Jeremiah stopped his horse and told the others to go on while he tended to the wounded. Benjamin Ibex knelt beside his shot son and the Watchdog attempting to save his life and prayed to the Savior Who Has Returned to forgive his sins and shortcomings.

“Don’t take my sins out on my boys, Lord,” he prayed.

The goat pens in Garden had been opened and the herd was grazing. The goats could sense the tension and groups of them were circling nervously, kicking up a veil of dust. When the dust parted, Anadarch saw Benjamin “Deuce” Ibex II standing in the old town square with his hands up.

“He told me that if you come any closer he’ll kill the Prophet. He’s got him. He bushwacked me and my brother and I think Tres is dead and he took the Prophet from us. He said you’d know who he was. He had eyes like a serpent.”

Anadarch’s eyes scanned the rooftops, looking for the Demon in Josiah’s body.

“I am Anadarch, Watchdog of God, and I’ve come for you, Demon!”

There was no response but dust and goats.

“Are you a coward? Is one Dog too much for you?”

On a nearby roof he could see a shape. He still wore Josiah’s flesh and the clothes of a Dog-in-Training but something was different about him. Even the way he stood on the roof was inhuman. Then he slithered down the building as if he had no bones in his body.

Deuce pissed himself at the sight of the Demon and ran away to safety.

The Dog and the Demon faced each other for a pregnant moment before their pistols were in their hands. Josiah’s possessed body moved with blinding speed and his gun spit bullets at the Watchdog, tagging him in the shoulder. Anadarch’s scarred hand, covered by a black glove took out his father’s pistol and planted a bullet in Josiah’s chest, driving the Demon on his back at the same moment the Demon tagged the Dog in the shoulder.

Despite its prone state, the Demon slithered into a nearby saloon to nurse its wound, a bullet from the Left Hand of God. Anadarch spun with the force of the bullet that struck him from Josiah’s pistol. His brother Dogs entered Garden to find Anadarch on the ground, shot in the meat of the shoulder. Jeremiah had his pa’s trusty Winchester. Benny had an old rifle, holding it by the barrel for its use as a club. Cain had a pistol out and when he got down from his horse he took out his bowie knife.

Together they looked at the abandoned saloon and as one they ran in. Anadarch leaped through the doors, pistol blazing. Benny leaped through a pane-less window, ready to swing his rifle-club. Cain entered cautiously, remembering has former failure with Josiah’s Demon. He had his pistol out but his posture favored his knife. Jeremiah was behind a barrel outside, waiting to hit the Serpent with a shot from his daddy’s rifle.

The Serpent fanned Josiah’s pistol, causing the saloon to explode in a storm of bullets. None of the shots hit but they caused confusion and kept the Dogs off of his back while he slithered towards the back door. A broken panel of glass behind the bar exploded as the Serpent shot it and soon after a rusted chandelier fell, breaking the floor-boards but missing the Watchdogs.

In a final desperate attack the Serpent spat its venom at the Dogs. It was a spiritual venom, meant to harm souls weaker than the Dogs but none of their imperfections were great enough for the poison to take hold. When the Serpent spit its bile at them to no effect the Dogs knew they had him.

Cain’s knife flew true and pinned Josiah’s Serpent-possessed body to the saloon floor. Gun out of bullets, pinned to the floor the Serpent grinned through Josiah’s mouth. For a moment Josiah’s voice rang through. “Don’t shoot me, Dogs. I’m just a boy.” The Serpent smiled a wide snake-grin at his adversaries.

Cain began the exorcism and his comrades joined in. He called on Josiah to aid them. “You were almost a Dog, Josiah. Come and fight this thing!”

Josiah’s voice began sobbing as the Serpent left his body behind. “I’m covered in snakes. In a pit…covered…in snakes.” The demon slithered away and Josiah’s eyes turned from yellow slitted with black to his own baby-brown.

Benny walked outside and found Jeremiah slouched behind the barrel. A piece of glass had flown out of the saloon and taken him in the neck while he aimed his shot. He was split from neck to nipple. Gently, the giant Watchdog took the piece of glass from his brother-in-arm’s neck and miraculously the wound closed. It would take some stitching and he wouldn’t be able to ride hard for a few days but Jeremiah was alive and would soon be well.

Benjamin Ibex II, whom the people of Eden called Deuce, was gone. He had left Garden with the Prophet. The Watchdogs knew that a Serpent was in the boy’s body, coiled around his soul.

There was no indication of which direction the Serpent had headed towards with the Prophet as his prisoner and wearing Deuce’s skin. The goat-herder’s boy knew every trail and hill in these parts and the Serpent no doubt had put that to good use.

Once Josiah was situated and Anadarch and Jeremiah were on their feet the Dogs left Garden to deal out God’s Judgment upon the people of Eden.

GM’s Note:

Anadarch’s player, Aaron, is also rather new to our grou,p seeing how I’ve known Mateo and Mario for about ten years or so. I have played alongside Aaron in our weekly Riddle of Steel game for the past two weeks or so but had never GMed for him before. I am looking over this write-up and I wonder if I didn’t allow him to be first in line a bit too often. He seemed to be doing a whole lot, almost many places at once.

This could be the result of a player really rising to my pace and keeping up or it could be me being a lazy GM and letting an aggressive player be everywhere at once during a game. I don’t think Aaron was over-stepping his bounds but it is something I will watch for later.

The shootout between Anadarch and the Demon was one conflict that Anadarch lost but the Demon took more fall-out.

The final shoot-out, ending with Cain putting his knife in Josiah’s shoulder was a separate conflict that was between the Demon and the four PC’s. Mario tried to sit it out, saying that he was tending to the boy but I said that he had done all he could for now and should be there for the final showdown.

I’m not sure if we did the conflict right between 3 people. I need to re-read the rules now that I see how they basically work. Having done so, I see that we did a few things incorrectly but we all left having enjoyed how the die mechanics work. I am excited to play this game again with the rules firmly in everyone’s mind and the concept out of the way.

Judgment in Eden

The people of Eden gathered around the outside of the Temple and waited in the shade of the apple trees. The Steward waited on the steps too and the four Watchdogs of God were inside debating the sins they had found in this town.

The Dogs disagreed for a time and when the Steward and Benjamin Ibex I began getting into a loud verbal spat on the Temple steps, their different opinions coalesced into one strong feeling: something had to be done and now was the blessed time to do it.

When Cain tried to make it to the door before Anadarch the Dogs nearly went to fisticuffs to decide who would walk out the Temple doors first. Despite the tensions, the Eden-folk saw the four Watchdogs of God walk out of the Temple’s front doors together and to the congregation’s eyes four Dogs exited their Temple united in righteousness.

Benny looked at Benjamin Ibex I who was red-faced from screaming at the Steward. The towering Dog looked down at the goat-herder whose one son was shot and other son the puppet of a demonic Serpent.

“You lied,” Benny said simply, not knowing much but knowing what’s right.

The Dogs broke him down and by the time they were done he was sobbing his apologies to the town. They chastised his pride in trying to out-preach the Steward and they chastised his untruths that had allowed his pride to take root.

They decided the town needed both Benjamin Ibex I and the Steward. By the Watchdog’s decree, the Steward’s daughter had to marry an Ibex boy, of the Steward’s choosing to mend the breach of Eden. There were folk in Eden who were sure there was going to be righteous Watchdog bloodletting but they got none.

A local knitting circle had even placed bets on who would be dragged into the street and shot. Marjory Ellen Kline, sly mother of eight, won quite a length of gingham from the circle’s betting pool, saying that the Dogs would opt for mercy.

Having been mutilated, lied to, shot and spit on, the Dogs looked onwards where a Serpent traveled with a hostage Prophet towards unsuspecting congregations. The distant desert was a harsh white line on the horizon.


GM’s Note:

Dealing out their judgment is the most important part of this game and I wanted the players to make a decision. I think they don’t fully understand their power just yet. The game was running late and I was pleased with how it went.

We weren’t running conflict resolution, not understanding the back and forth of it but we’ll get it next time. I’ve re-read the book having played the game and I’ve got it now, clear as day.

It’s a great game, from the campaign shape suggested, to the conflict resolution that so beautifully displays the way conflicts escalate from words to blood and the wonderful implied world that is so rich and so danged wide open (excuse my language).

I tired to run a Deadlands game years ago in which the players were in a traveling circus and they traversed the west, going from town to town, putting on shows and helping local townsfolk. I realize now it is Dogs in the Vineyard that I wanted to be playing.

Real world epilogue: Aaron, who played Anadarch, was at his work on break and someone said, “That’s funny as hell,” and he thought a Watchdog thought. “You think Hell’s funny? Go find out!” *BANG*

It is my most sincere hope that we get to play this game again some time soon. Our schedules are all kindsa hectic. We'll see.