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I ran Dogs in the Vineyard at NC Game Day 7 this past Saturday.  As it happens I only had one player (who I hope will chime in with his own observations in this thread), but we pressed on and had a good time.  

I ran Fort Lemon (http://www.meekmok.com/sassy/dogs/resources.html), which had garnered some criticism for being a pretty harsh town in the Lumpley forum.  I chose it anticipating a handful of players and with a desire to showcase the full range of mayhem possible in the system.  Although tempted, I didn't change anything and it went just fine.  We played through the initiation and town in about four hours.  

A few things I observed:

Dogs works fine one-on-one.  The lack of fellow Dogs to bounce off of streamlines the conflicts somewhat and contributes to a linear feel of play, but it wasn't an impediment.  I felt the lack of other players most keenly during his initiation.  

I still have a lot of mental pressure to do more (and less) than just "play the town" - keep secrets, modify things on the fly, etc.  In retrospect I think my NPCs could have been even more forthcoming about their motivations and knowledge.  In contrast, the transparency during conflicts worked really well and added to the fun, I thought.  

The player didn't have a solid grasp of Dogs background or mechanics going in, but had absolutely no trouble "getting" any of it.  We were off and running immediately.  

The resolution mechanic really helps create satisfying conflicts - we had a great one with Hannah Lutz, the pregnant cannibal drunkard.  The Dog laid hands on her and urged her to forgive herself and love her baby, fighting against her guilt, shame, and revulsion.  It worked just as well with the subsequent bare-knuckle brawl with her abusive husband.  I think, had we known each other better or had more facility with the system, there would be a lot of potential for very resonant and emotional conflicts.  

Luck can play a significant role in conflict outcome, obviously - in the final showdown with the sorceress and her demon, which looked to be a very sharp fight, demonic influence had 4d10 and I rolled 1,1,1 and 2.  This took a little of the uncertainty out of it!

So, how did things turn out?  That's a heck of a lot of conflict for one Dog to handle?  I wonder if it was bloodier or less bloody than it would be for a whole posse.

Also,

Quote
Luck can play a significant role in conflict outcome, obviously - in the final showdown with the sorceress and her demon, which looked to be a very sharp fight, demonic influence had 4d10 and I rolled 1,1,1 and 2. This took a little of the uncertainty out of it!

This is a great example of why I love dice in narrativist games.  Everybody's set for a grand showdown with the sorcerer, and guess what?  The Dog prevails without breaking a sweat.

I'm hoping my player will chime in, but it was resolved pretty peacefully.  

He formed a good relationship with Lemon and a cordial but frosty one with the TA.  

The Hudspeths repented after an intense private conflict over their arrogance and greed.

The Lutz's were essentially saved from utter destruction in a series of conflicts.  I was really hoping that the Dog would get in a tough spot, because he had some good relationship dice put into these two and they could have gone to bat for him in a dramatic way.  

The Dog went out of his way to reinforce the (weak) Steward, and faced off with the sorceress successfully.  When it was all over he pretty much gave them a "go, and sin no more", ordering the sinners to finance and build the new temple wherever they ended up, and pay the debt to Lemon (I think).  He was a mellow sort of Watchdog.

Jason: I can't get to your site, but it may be my local network- is you server still up? EDIT: Nevermind, got it.  Reader please check out that above link and the "Fort Lemon" download, so that you can follow along.

Hey all, I was that Lone Dog, and here's my side of the tale.

First of all, MAD HUGE FUCKING PROPS to Jason. I only hope that, if I ever produce a game and try to run it at a Con, I have HALF as much enthusiasm, interest and passion in my own game as Jason does in DitV.  It was cool to be floored in such a way.  Each character he portrayed (some 10+) felt like a completely seperate person, based solely on tone, voice, moderation, accent, etc.  Great job, Jason, even though I already had a copy of the game you Re-sold me on it.

QuoteThe player didn't have a solid grasp of Dogs background or mechanics going in, but had absolutely no trouble "getting" any of it. We were off and running immediately.

Just wanted to clarify: I've had the book for like ever, since about 2 weeks past GenCon, but never sat down to read through it.  I found the base layout kinda jarring to my attention span. Playing a session, getting "hands on", was all the impetus I needed to learn the rules, then go home and read the book nearly cover to cover.

Anyway, there was just me at the table.  I was thinking of recruiting one or two people from upstairs to join in on this game, but said "Fuck it, you think this can be played with one player? Then let's go." And so we went.

I made a character from scratch (Complicated Past), basically a self-assured ("I am a Watchdog of the Lord of Life 2d10") heartful, quiet type. Rifle and pistol, but no gun-bunny ("Decent shot 1d6"). We portrayed the Initiation scene, which was cool that I got to set the conditions myself.

Couple points of note from the player:
First, the Town was a deathtrap. :-)  I didn't read earlier comments on it, but it was REALLY apparent that things were going to get tough as cold iron nails when I understood that, yes, the entirety of the scenario will be taking place in a town that is run by the regional militia. Because if something goes sour, and a LOT is set to go sour, "pulling out the gun and shooting" could basically change any conflict into a doomed encounter. "She had a deeeeeeemon in her!" doesn't work to a town full of armed unbelievers.  So that was a challenge.

In fact, I noticed myself "toning down" my character a little.  I intended to be a "charge in, full of fire and brimstone, looking and talking like Jonathan Edwards on a bad day, shooting anything that needed to be shot".  Once I tasted the implications of that, I think I played it Loud, but Very Carefully.

Some of the notable conflicts: Mister Lemon, the dodgy 'ol codger who demanded that I do something about getting these people out of the fort, NOW (in the middle of a harsh winter, and claims of "we WILL pay you" weren't holding), which I won in part by adding him as a Relationship ("Sure I know him, I've been through here a lot. I'm like a long lost son to him" Whammo). Hannah Lutz, where at stake was her faith, vs me wanting her to keep her baby and learn to love the Lord of Life again.  Her abusive husband, where the stakes were "I kick his ass", and then later in a second conflict I came back to talk to him and get him to break down, face his guilt, etc.  There was one conflict with the headstrong sorceress that I let slide since I knew I would lose (and not much was at stake), and then that final showdown, which I won primarily because:
* I stacked a 3rd d10 into "I am a Watchdog of the Lord of Life", which I think I pulled out in EVERY conflict (I needed to, cause, well, there was only one of me).
* The aforementioned shitty roll by Jason, and the subsequent awesome rolls on my side using Jason's blessed blue d6es.

A couple things I noticed about these conflicts:

1) Both Jason and I noticed that min-maxing your character in DitV is expected, allowed, and whatsmore it makes the character into a totally interesting, developed character. I felt cheap using that 2d10 in each conflict, but hey, it was my "Voltron's Blazing Sword", and also a big part of my character's conscience.  That was cool.

2) In other games, say PTA, when a conflict comes up with my character, I of course try to win it and play it out, but not too much: I know that either way, the result will be cool.

With DitV, though, FUCK.  There were times that I was literally shaking (twitching a little, at least), going "Holy shit, I must win this conflict, I don't care what happens" (as a player), and pulling every conceivable piece of crap out of the air to use as a bennie.  Especially that "Hannah Lutz, the young pregnant beer-drinking spousally-abused cannibal with a heart of gold" conflict.  I seriously would have been heartbroken as a person (A PERSON!) if my GAME CHARACTER didn't win that GAME CONFLICT. Read that sentence again, aloud, for maximum impact.

This is, I see now, the real power, and coolness, of this game.  This is a potentially scary thing, though, too.  I literally don't want to know how I would have felt as a person if I lost that conflict. I guess that one really hit me as a person (and I'm not "Pro Life" or anything).

Anyway, I think it was a lot of the "don't make too many waves in the heathen outpost" play of that town, but I tried to keep all my conflicts to verbal or physical (hugs) only.  In fact, Jason and I were joking at the end that the scenario became kind of the "Oxygen Channel's Hallmark Seasonal Movie" thing, where this wandering dude confronts people, and gets them to break down in tears, coming to understand how wrong they were, etc.

I'll post this, then chime in with some more answers to followup questions, and a little bit on the Relationship Map that Jason had.

Quote from: Danny_KSo, how did things turn out?  That's a heck of a lot of conflict for one Dog to handle?  I wonder if it was bloodier or less bloody than it would be for a whole posse.

Being in a Believer Town, I think I would have gone all "BA Barrakus of Sin" on these Jibber-Jabber fools, but as it was:
1) The town was an armed, unbeliever fort with a resident militia. And while not hostile to the believers, they weren't exactly cordial to me or them.
2) My guy is a 19-year-old Virgin.  He's got his head filled with stories of success and a heart filled with love for fellow man.  On his first mission, he meets people who all look like Auschwitz refugees. The ones that survived had hollow, sunken features, missing skin or fingers(!) from the trek... and here I was about to kick their butts for not sticking it out another two weekt to the Beliver terrirories.  That kind of caught in my throat, evn as a player- I'm like, "Yeah, this guy is full of himself and his belief is pretty much unwavering.... But he's not THAT heartless".  So he took to punishing them, keeping in mind the horrors that they went through.

I think that, more than "Only One Dog", was the influence for the way the conflicts were handled (without a lot of gunfighting).  However, I do sort of lament the fact that there were not other players to join, bounce ideas off, etc.

QuoteThis is a great example of why I love dice in narrativist games.  Everybody's set for a grand showdown with the sorcerer, and guess what?  The Dog prevails without breaking a sweat.

Yeah, but I was SOOOOooo ready for the spank.  I lucked out. But hey, you stick with the dice.  To be honest, even if I died in that last conflict, I (as a player) would have been OK with it, because I was able to help out the Lutzes.

Jason's descriptions on the Lemon fort description page don't do the characters justice, IMO.  They were really cool, and I think they each need another PP of possible play notes, "memorable lines they might possibly say", etc.  Like how Samuel's wife was missing the fingers on her hand (right when I was about to lecture him on trying harder), or lines like Hannah Lutz, after confessing to the cannibalism (of dead people) and why she hates her baby; "To be honest, I feel that it's made up of all that meat." Wow.

QuoteWhen it was all over he pretty much gave them a "go, and sin no more", ordering the sinners to finance and build the new temple wherever they ended up, and pay the debt to Lemon (I think).  He was a mellow sort of Watchdog.

Yeah, and here's where I was kinda hoping the bok would give out some more info on setting out punishments (they might be in there, I read most but not all of the book at this point).  Sure, the Dogs are free to come up with any sort of punishment they see fit, but the only things that I could think of off the top of my head were things like "Hail Marys" or "Execution", nothing in between.  Some ideas of "minor common punishments", "major common punishments" might have given me a better idea of how to mete out punishment, and yet give me some room to be creative. But, again, forgive me if they're there in the book, I don't have it in front of me now.

Jason was using a relationship map of sorts, which I think he should scan and post with the files on his site (it's VERY useful).  It was basically a SIMPLE chart of the characters in the town (not the Town Sheet, which listed their issues, etc), and their blood relationships.

This was extremely useful for me, as it helped me remember who was who, and it also later served as my Hit List.  I would put little "marks" next to the people who I "saved" through conflict, as if they were objectives on a battlefield (which they were). It was cool to be able to see this town, filled with crap and sin, and note that I was able to gain some ground in it.

Lots of RPG adventures deal with locations ("castle", "dungeon", "spaceship", etc), but this one had me going back and forth between people like in a small, tight Sorcerer scenario.  I used it to decide where to go and what to do next.  Very helpful, and kept me on target: I didn't just "go to the teavern (there was a tavern, BTW) and wait for something to happen".

-Andy

Dang, thanks, Andy.

The original Fort Lemon thread (The final version of the town is on my site mentioned in the initial post)

Good idea on the relationship map; I'll add that for each town when I get a chance.  I was using the same map, with little notes like "silk brocade vest", "missing fingers" and "made of meat" to remind me of cool features and ideas for each character.

That's quite a story. Thanks!

Quote from: Andy...even if I died in that last conflict, I (as a player) would have been OK with it, because I was able to help out the Lutzes.

That's pretty cool. And by pretty cool, I mean pretty fuckin' cool.

-Vincent