What's at Stake in Dogs -- who leads?
Paul T:
I have this intuition, and it's really just a guess, that the game plays better when the players are naming the "What's at Stake" in a conflict. Like, "Does the Steward agree to give up his second bride?"
It seems that the game would be a bit awkward if all the conflicts were initiated and pressed by the GM: as though the Dogs were being pushed this way and that.
How do you name What's at Stake? Together? Whoever does it first?
If my intuition is right, how can a GM encourage the Dogs to initiate those conflicts?
Or does this always tend to emerge happily in play, no special techniques required?
Filip Luszczyk:
Interesting. I've just opened my book to search for the piece of advice on asking the players to reduce the scope of too broad stakes. I'm sure it was there, but can't find it now. Instead, what I've suddenly bumped into is the "Drive play toward conflict" section (p. 138) which, as I'm reading it now, seems to say it's the GM's job to launch a conflict. Given that the "How To GM" chapter appears to address the GM specifically, I guess the players are not the ones to invoke the conflict procedure.
Which is totally not how we used to play it. The way we used to play it, anybody could initiate a conflict.
Stakes, however, are another thing. Most often it was not as much about deciding what's at stake as identifying that thing, and it generally emerged naturally from the already established circumstances. So, it didn't really matter who named it, as most of the time it was rather obvious.
(Oh, I've found the rule I've been looking for, right in the conflict procedure itself - oddly, where I expected it the least. P. 54, "The Simple Case", the first point, and the "GMing Conflicts", p. 76-77. The way I read it, it seems the players can suggest the stakes, but in the end, the GM has a final word. Also, now I can see some examples where it seems like it's the player who launches a conflict. Still, I fail to locate an explicit instruction for that in the procedure, other than that p. 138 rule.)
lumpley:
The game plays best if anybody and everybody launches conflicts and names the stakes, whenever they want, all willy nilly with no set procedures. Sometimes the GM should absolutely set stakes, but sometimes every player absolutely should.
Everybody has to agree to the stakes before you roll dice, that's the only rule about it.
By the time you're actually playing, you've been through 3 or 4 initiations, so everybody's perfectly accustomed to collaborating on launching conflicts.
-Vincent
Filip Luszczyk:
So, if I understand you right, the correct procedure that should be in the game text is "anybody is allowed to launch a conflict, anytime?"
Great.
lumpley:
Nope. The rule is on page 54, first full paragraph, first sentence. No individual player launches conflicts, the group does.
Who should set stakes is also on page 54, point 1 of the simple case.
-Vincent
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