[Dogs in the Vineyard Q&A] The River Cold, The River Deep

[Oythebrave]

Really great stuff. It’d be neat to maybe see the group ride out again in a few months or something.

Looking forward to Tuesday’s 8hrs of Rollplay.

[AdamKoebel]

I was so nervous people would think it was boring or too weird, but I love it to death so I am glad y’all did too.

[AdamKoebel]

Oh, well what was at stake was whether the demons were exorcised, so I guess Simon would have known they hadn’t been and then… I dunno, would they have drowned the baby?

[AdamKoebel]

What was it like running a one shot where more of the time was character-focused? [~2 hours as opposed to the usual ~30m-1hr]

I think that the character focus is what makes Dogs so compelling - character creation and the testing of the initiation is all a big part of getting to know the game and its rules and the characters. After that, the fire burns as fast as the players want it to. I was so happy that they were so aggressive with everyone in town!

What was it like having the amazing cast wreck up the town and the climax/resolution?

Perfect. Just so good.

[Coruva]

Very well done by the entire cast. To me, this is an excellent example of matching a game system based off of the strengths and wants of the players. I’m curious if that was taken into account prior? Did the players get a voice in choosing the game or did you already have an idea of the strengths and chose it before hand?

[AdamKoebel]

Watching Jerry’s reaction as he started to understand all the mechanics was absolutely delightful. Dogs is such a marvelously crafted game.

One of my favourite moments as a GM, watching that stuff click.

[AdamKoebel]

a few clips from the show

Oh, these are too good.

[Tb64]

Just want to say that was a great One Shot. Nice to see a heavy dialog game, which was perfect for the cast. The way the dice pool plays out is really interesting. Would love to see a second show of this! Get job to everyone on the show and a great job to DrumerBoy. That song is great!

Song:
https://soundcloud.com/drumurboy/chastity

[AdamKoebel]

@Olf_Himself

Only gripe I had was I kinda wished you would have made the characters before hand so you could have had an extra hour of story but that’s mostly nitpicking.

The trick here is that character creation is a part of the game, it’s necessary to understand the system and characters. I know it feels like it “shortens” the one shot but it’s all part of play!

[RolandHuxley]

Yeah at hour 2 of character creation I was thinking the same thing , having said that it played out nicely, wonder if Adam kind of fast-tracked them to the objective a little, played out beautifully anyway even if he did . Imagine it’s hard getting all these guys free at the same time on 2 different occasions.

[AdamKoebel]

@Ty_martinez

I swear i now want a gods in the vineyard show now because the way this went was probably the best way it could’ve. So Adam did you have other ways in going about the events if time had allowed it and if so what would you have done differently if at all.

There was a lot of stuff there, and for me, it was just about looking at the world and letting the players find what interested them. What would have happened if they’d been harsher on Ezekiel, or actually talked with Elijah or Eli instead of Zeke or the Preacher? Only the King of Life knows, now.

[AdamKoebel]

@AxillaryPower

Question: It was unclear to me what they were going to do with the baby after they saved it. Would they return it to the town (and if so, to who?), or is she to be raised at a priory or somewhere?

I suspect that little Hope is a Dog in the making herself. Saved from Demons? Perfect.

[AdamKoebel]

@thyL

Adam, do you think this game is playable in some sort of D&D way with grand schemes, great campaigns, hugely planned out worlds or is this best suited for episodic events like tonight?

The game is meant to be played episodically, as the Dogs grow travelling from town to town. You could absolutely build up over time, each town contributing to larger themes.

[Ty_martinez]

Praise be the King of Life and his eternal knowledge of all paths.

[AdamKoebel]

@RolandHuxley

What are your thoughts Adam on using this system more, seems like more of a one shot type system as opposed to a system you would use for a longer series of shows ?

The game is designed to be a sort of series of one-shots, stringing games together. A longer series would focus less on what’s going on in each town necessarily and more on what the Dogs themselves are thinking and feeling, how they’re changing.

[geooceanshaper]

One thing I find worth mentioning is that fact that Dogs has a step by step process of how a town succumbs to evil. Its a game which does thing, religious zealots purging evil out of a frontier town, really well. Once you add in tropes of other RPGs like overarching plots, recurring characters and huge locations then you get further and further from what makes Dogs great.

Not that it couldn’t be done. I’m sure there’s a gap in the world for someone to hack Dogs and make it about a continent spanning conflict.

[AdamKoebel]

@Coruva

Did the players get a voice in choosing the game or did you already have an idea of the strengths and chose it before hand?

We came to the players with the game in mind, but I’ve played with all these killers before and I knew Dogs would sing.

[sinderfell]

I’ll be honest, when I first looked into the flavor of the setting I was kinda going with the wait and see approach, but holy hell. I am ENTIRELY sold on cowboy paladins now. I love that the last step of character creation is also set up as a guided walkthrough of the mechanics, instead of just tossing you to the wolves once you roll up some PCs.

[geooceanshaper]

It was good to see Higgs back, or at least his ancient zealot ancestor.

[AdamKoebel]

@sinderfell

I love that the last step of character creation is also set up as a guided walkthrough of the mechanics, instead of just tossing you to the wolves once you roll up some PCs.

There are so many little things about Dogs that, from a design perspective, make it so amazingly good.