[DitV] Why are relationships so specific?
Neil the Wimp:
I like playing with new people: it gives me a refreshing new perspective on my play assumptions. The latest occasion what a play-by-mail game of Dogs.
One player posted a character with relationships like "Old men 2d10", "Dingy alleys 3d4", and "Polygamy 1d8".
My first thought was to cry foul on these, as relationships should be with a specific person, a specific place, and an concrete institution with members and hierarchy and all that.
But then I thought that having traits like "I get on well with old men", "There's always trouble in alleys", and "I understand the pressures and joys of polygamy" would all be fine. You get the same dice, but they're useful in many more circumstances.
So what's the difference between relationships and traits, particularly at character generation? Why are relationship dice so much more restricted in their applicability?
If chargen was modified to say "you have a single pool of dice for spending on both traits and relationships, you have some of each, unused dice become unallocated relationship dice", what would be missing?
(I get that there's a difference in play. In play, relationship dice can be unassigned and allocated to relationships on the fly, while trait dice need to be assigned to a trait as soon as they're earned through fallout.)
Neil.
Noclue:
Traits are quite versatile. They can be broadly worded or very precise, depending upon the players' preferences. But, they're defined up front. They make a statement about who the Dog is now, and as they change they continue to make those kind of statements.
Relationships are very constrained. They only come into play when you're in a conflict WITHyour relationship or ABOUT your relationship. However, they can be assigned on the fly, during a conflict and that is where their power lies. They make a statement about the conflict. Declaring a relationship and taking the dice makes a very powerful statement that this conflict matters to this Dog. "I'm blowing resources right now!" It's a powerful thing to say about your character and its a wake-up call to the table that something big is happening.
If you're just going to have a relationship with Old Men or whatnot, then it's just a trait reworded.
Neil the Wimp:
Thanks for that. It chimes with what I'm coming to think.
There's the other question about whether trait and relationship dice need to come from separate pools (they're already somewhat joined as the "I'm a Dog" ability can come from either), but that's a different question.
Ta,
Neil.
Paul T:
Right. Traits are "how your character acts in conflicts". If you have "I'm a good shot" on your sheet, you're more effective when you're shooting things. Relationships are "which conflicts do I care about?"
The difference comes in play: you roll the Traits' dice by narrating them into your Sees and Raises, but you get the Relationship dice without narration, whenever they are at stake.
Motipha:
Huh. Interesting. I actually have been playing as if you can have larger relationships. Of the examples you gave above, I would be fine with Old Men, and Polygamy, but would probably take issue with Dingy Alleys. It's hard to imagine a person having a conflict about Dingy Alley's, but I could see having relationships with the other two.
I recall reading a section in the book about how you can have a relationship with a philosophy or an idea, right? I thought I did. And if nothing else, you can talk about the relationship with the institution of polygamy.
As for Old men, well. Imagine a kid who while growing up spent a lot of time on the porch, listening to the old-timers recounting tales and talking about what went wrong. Or a trouble-maker, who used to make fun of the old-timers, pulling beards, etc. I could both these people having a unique perspective on old men, and what they say and do.
As for talking about driving the conflict, well. polygamy is easy, but then again it's pretty easy to ask questions about generational differences, or introduce ideas about age. Cultures treat their elderly in very different ways, older people have a lot of history to live up to/forget/regret, what purpose do they serve in the community (considering that frontier life is hard, and those that can't work can add weight to those around them).
I'll have to go back and read the section on Relationships, as I really don't recall it being that much more limited.
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