Dogs Initiation Conflict
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
I’m in Canada, I’m working really hard to catch up on missed deadlines.
However, I wanted to take a moment to post a bit from an online game of Dogs that I played recently. The things I want to show with this are 1) the amount of OOC banter that went on, and how it influenced the game; and 2) the way that brainstorming as a gorup turned a vauge conflict into a nice directed one that led to some really good posing.
Now, it’s worth noting that for #1, part of the reason for the banter is the slowness with which you pose on a MU — this level of “banter to game” wouldn’t be normal in one of my TT games. However, even at the table I tend to have lots of talk going on around play, as people toss out ideas and swing in and out of scenes.
This scene is one of the five initiation conflicts we played out in the first game, bringing Brother Isacc into play. It isn’t a perfect example, watch me screw up at least three seperate times, but it is an honest reflection of what went on in play and pretty typical of the night.
Here is Brother Isacc’s character sheet:
Isaac
Acuity 4d6, Body 2d6, Heart 4d6, Will 5d6
My father put a devil in me, and I’ll never get it out 2d4
An abusive past that he refuses to discuss or even admit to; Mary, his true love, knows, and anyone from his hometown more or less knows it too. Everyone else just sees the symptoms. Details are left to the imagination for now.
I have a knack for violence 1d10
Just as it says. Not the same thing as him liking violence; quite the opposite, really. Part of his father’s legacy.
I will prove myself a worthy man 1d6
Almost entirely motivated by love; this thought had never crossed his mind or entered into his actions before meeting Mary.
I am faking it 1d6
‘It’ mostly refers to being a Dog. It might also refer to a number of other things.
Love is my salvation 1d10
Love brought him to the Temple, love is the reason he’ll be made a Dog…
Love will tear me apart 2d4
… too bad it’s not the love of God, but of a woman.
The Steward who called me 2d6
Isaac is convinced the Steward called him to the Temple get him away from his daughter, because the Steward thought he was a no-account, worthless boy from a bad family. He’s going to prove the Steward wrong, one way or another.
The Steward’s daughter, Mary 2d8
The only person he’s ever loved, but more importantly the only person he thinks has ever loved him. Despite his years at the Temple, Isaac considers himself Mary’s lover first, a Dog a distant second.
My father 2d6
He owes his father a lot. Or for a lot. One of those.
The Dogs 1d6
He has mixed feelings towards his fellow watchdogs, and the Temple at large: he’s afraid they might catch on to his motives, and toss him out; he wonders if he’s the only one with a ‘better’ reason for being here; he doesn’t really ‘get’ it, the whole thing; he thinks he’s unworthy, because of his past, and he spends a lot of energy waiting for somebody to notice.
Available: 1d6
A book of scripture given to me by my one true love 1d6
At first, he only read it because it reminded him of her. But after a few years, maybe some of it has finally started to sink in.
His Dog’s Coat 2d6: Mostly, it ain’t much to look at. Dull grays and blues in sharp, poorly-stitched patterns. On the left side, though, there’s a welcome interruption — a burst of colour and mindful quilting that begins at the waist and finishes at the end of the arm. Overall, a little schizophrenic.
His mother died when he was a kid, and his grandfolk don’t want anything to do with his father, but he has two sisters — they made the left half of his coat, with all the bitterness and stomped-down hope of convicts digging somebody else’s escape tunnel. At some point, however, Mary got her hands on it, and with the help of a few charitable townsfolk managed to fix it up a little. Even the dull parts won’t fall to pieces.
Now, for the rest of the document the following colors of text are important:
-**- This is out of character banter.
Blue Text is game mechanical stuff going on.
Red Text is the actual text of the game, the poses of the events that transpire.
Warning: This will be long. Ready?
-**- Brother Brand says “Who wants to go next?”
-**- Sister Josephine thinks Isaac should go because he knows the game well.
-**- Brother Brand says “Isaac?”
-**- Brother Adrian stands near the back of the line, still learning by watching.
-**- Brother Isaac will go, if no one else wants to, since he’s read the (1st ed.) book and such.
-**- Sister Josephine will go after Isaac.
-**- Brother Brand says “Okay, Isaac, what is your conflict?”
-**- Brother Isaac says “Er, sorry, game code confusing me. My conflict is something like ‘Will I learn to love being a Dog on its own terms, instead of because of what it gives me.’”
-**- Brother Isaac says “So I’m not sure how to frame that, conflict-wise — as in, who takes what side of what.”
-**- Brother Brand says “You’ll play your character, I’ll play some opposition. Just set the stakes to what you just told me, and then we’ll work out the scene framing together.”
-**- Sister Josephine says “Well, someone could be trying to persuade you one way or the other.”
-**- Sister Rebecca says “But doesn’t Issac take the side of Issac as he was, and Brand takes the side of Issac as he could be? Or am I misapplying?”
-**- Brother Brand says “Or something possibly noble and possibly selfish could happen, like do you do something hard but good, or something flashy to impress Mary?”
-**- Brother Brand says “We could also do that.”
Brother Isaac sets the stakes to “Will I learn to love being a Dog on its own terms, instead of because of what it gives me?”.
-**- Brother Isaac nods. “The book suggests that, so that’s what I wasn’t sure about.”
-**- Brother Brand says “You can play your noble impulse, I your evil. Or you the evil and me the noble, depending on what you want.”
-**- Brother Isaac figures Isaac tends to see everything in terms of his love for Mary, so anything that forces him out of that would be in conflict with his current obsessiveness.
-**- Brother Brand says “Maybe if there is a teacher that you want to impress, rather than doting on Mary?”
-**- Brother Isaac says “I figure I’ll play Isaac as he is, and your job is to try and turn him away from that?”
-**- Brother Brand says “Okay. Now, what might turn him?”
-**- Brother Isaac hmms. “Kindness from other sources, or to other sources. Something else that appeals to his heart in a positive way?”
-**- Sister Rebecca says “I vote kindness to, rather than kindness from.”
-**- Brother Brand says “Right. Okay, what about another student who is getting hosed in combat training, and you have a chance to help her out with your good at violence?”
Brother Brand rolls 4d6 for “GM Dice” and gets 1, 4, 5, and 6.
Your dice are now 1 4 5 6.
Brother Brand rolls 4d10 for “GM Dice” and gets 4, 6, 6, and 7.
Your dice are now 1 4 4 5 6 6 6 7.
-**- Brother Brand says “Isaac, that sound good? Other ideas?”
-**- Brother Isaac says “Hrm, okay, I’m seeing how that could work out either way — Isaac associates his skill with violence as a bad thing, though, so the student or someone would have to bring the kindness into it (he wouldn’t see helping someone being better at violence as helpful.)”
-**- Brother Brand says “Oh, good point!”
-**- Sister Rebecca says “Or your skill at violence could be the driving force in your mind as you explain why it’s necessary but not optimal.”
-**- Brother Brand says “Or we could focus on Love. He’s got lots of love on his character sheet. Maybe learning to love something other than Mary? Even if its platonic and thus not threatening to Mary love?”
-**- Brother Isaac says “We could use what you described as the beginning of the conflict, followed up by some sort of conversation about it (either with the student, or with an instructor, after they see how uneasy Isaac is about it?”
-**- Brother Isaac nods. “That’s what I was thinking of with the kindness.”
-**- Brother Brand says “Okay. So do you want to start out talking or shooting?”
-**- Brother Isaac says “In theory, the Faith is about love as well as shooting sinners; right now he just sees it as a means to an end.”
-**- Brother Isaac says “Start out on the shootin’ range, maybe? Your call.”
-**- Brother Brand says “Okay, let me set scene.”
“In this world” said Brother Hemesh, “there are people that have the will to take a man’s life and those that don’t. Then there are they who have the desire to take a man’s life and those who don’t. To be a Dog you’ve got to have the first and lack the second.” He’d say that every day before shooting practice, like a prayer almost, until every one of you could say it with him.
Of those that it was obvious had neither the first nor the second, the most blatant was Sister Relief, a tall willowy girl who always looked like she should have a knitting needle in her hand, not a hunk of blazing steel. Most of the boys, and a handful of the girls, told her as much each day. She wasn’t going to make it as a Dog, and that seemed damn obvious.
That is, of course, until the day she came to Brother Isaac and begged him to teach her to shoot better, all tears in the corners of her eyes and honest desire to make herself more fitting to the King’s service.
-**- Brother Brand says “Jebus, and I was trying to make that a -short- post.”
-**- Brother Brand says “Okay, Isaac, wanna roll Acuity+Heart for talking so we can see who gets first Raise?”
-**- Sister Alice says “You’re both a bad Mormon and scene setter.”
Brother Isaac rolls 8d6 for “Acuity and Heart” and gets 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.
———————————- Conflict ———————————-
The stakes are: Will I learn to love being a Dog on its own terms, instead of because of what it gives me?
Brother Brand - 1 4 4 5 6 6 6 7
Brother Isaac - 1 1 1 2 3 4 5 6
——————————————————————————
roll = - spend - gain - fallout
——————————————————————————
-**- Brother Adrian says “Brand, that’s an awesome set scene.”
-**- Sister Josephine seconds that.
-**- Brother Isaac says “That’d be you. And everyone knows there’s no ’short poses’ in MU*ing.”
-**- Brother Brand says “Yea, I guess. Damn fuck fuck damn. Bad Mormon.”
-**- Sister Rebecca says “How do you determine who gets first raise, now? o.O”
-**- Brother Brand says “Best high pair gets first raise.”
-**- Sister Rebecca says “Okie”
-**- Brother Brand says “Which I forgot in your scene. Sorry.”
Sister Relief comes up all quiet, watching Isaac shoot for a long time — four full reloads — before she starts talking. “Brother Isaac?” She stops at the banging of a gun, wincing hard away from the noise behind her. “Brother Isaac? I need a favor, Brother. I … I need your help please.” She’s all blue eyes, sincerity, and a sense of failure hovering about her like a black cloak.
Your dice are now 1 4 6 6 6 7.
Brother Brand spends 4 5 for a total of 9.
Brother Isaac is shooting the same way he always does — like bullets are dirty, dangerous things to be gotten rid of, as quickly as possible. Bad memories smash one by one into the target, splinters and sawdust falling to the ground. When he hears his name he turns halfway to look at the Sister, gun lowered in his other hand. At first he responds like any human would — a look of concern — but then his face tightens. “I’m shooting right now, Sister… I don’t know what your problem is,” here he reloads the gun, “but I don’t think I’m the one to help you with it.”
Brother Isaac spends 5 4 for a total of 9.
-**- Brother Isaac blocks.
Brother Isaac spends 3 2 for a total of 5.
-**- Brother Isaac and raises. “Same pose will do as my raise.”
-**- Brother Brand says “Oh, brutal nice.”
-**- Sister Josephine says “Mental note: Brother Isaac Is A Dick.”
-**- Sister Alice says “Heh!”
———————————- Conflict ———————————-
The stakes are: Will I learn to love being a Dog on its own terms, instead of because of what it gives me?
Brother Brand - 1 4 6 6 6 7
Brother Isaac - 1 1 1 6
——————————————————————————
roll = - spend - gain - fallout
——————————————————————————
-**- Brother Isaac is not! “Not if you happen to be my one true love, I’m not.”
-**- Brother Isaac says “Oh, I forgot… trait roll from that pose.”
-**- Brother Brand says “Do it”
Brother Isaac rolls 2d4 for “My father put a devil in me, and I can’t never get it out.” and gets 1 and 1.
-**- Brother Brand says “OUCH”
Sister Relief crumples like a nice white Sunday dinner napkin stepped on by a plow horse. She starts crying and turns away, her gun falling to hang limp in her hand as she starts to drag her broken hearted self away from the scene of her final failure. She needs help, it’s damn obvious, and without it she’s done. This isn’t even asking with words anymore, it’s asking with everything she is, asking beyond the point of faith.
Your dice are now 1 4 6 6.
Brother Brand spends 6 7 for a total of 13 – this is the raise, because Brand screwed up.
-**- Brother Isaac says “Aw yeah.”
-**- Sister Rebecca says “Ew.”
-**- Brother Adrian sighs. “I still feel nooblike. Is it a block because Isaac matches the number? Or was that just the minimum needed to make the block?”
-**- Brother Brand says “You got it — he blocked because he matched my number.”
-**- Brother Isaac nods. “I have to match to see. If I can match in two dice, it’s a block.”
-**- Brother Isaac says “If I need more, it’s a Take the Blow.”
-**- Brother Brand says “But then I missed my dice, I needed to take the blow first.”
-**- Brother Brand says “So…”
Your dice are now 6 6.
Brother Brand spends 1 4 for a total of 5 – and here he finally remembers that he has to see before he raises.
-**- Brother Adrian says “And Taking the Blow is what results in Fallout?”
-**- Sister Rebecca says “Yes, Adrian.”
-**- Brother Isaac says “Is that a raise with 5, because you’re trying to be nice to me? :P”
-**- Brother Brand says “No, what I did was block for 5 (I couldn’t take the blow because my dice were to good), then Raise for 13 — in the same pose. So now Isaac has to see or take against a 13.”
-**- Sister Alice says “So it becomes mental note: Brother Isaac is a dick who seems to get hurt a lot.”
-**- Brother Isaac says “Oh okay.”
-**- Brother Brand says “It’s because I’m dumb and did my dice in reverse order.”
-**- Brother Isaac was confused. “So, I have to see a 13.”
-**- Brother Brand says “Yes. Sorry about that.”
-**- Brother Isaac doesn’t mind! “So, I’ll pose in an attempt to bring some traits into this so I can see.”
-**- Brother Brand says “For the OOC note, because Patience blocked, rather than taking the blow, it means that at some degree her tears are crocodile tears — he didn’t hurt her that bad.”
-**- Brother Isaac says “Relief, psst.”
-**- Sister Alice says “Relief. Unless Rebecca’s horse is back.”
-**- Brother Brand says “Sighs and goes to get more caffeine before his brain totally shuts off.”
-**- Sister Rebecca’s horse is Prudence; my Trait is Patience. 
-**- Sister Josephine teaches Rebecca’s horse to shoot.
-**- Brother Brand says “Prudence, Patience, Relief, what the hell is wrong with these people and their names?”
-**- Sister Rebecca says “”I have a Ninja Black Ops Horse 2D8″”
-**- Sister Josephine says “That’s a BIG Ninja Black Ops horse you got there.”
Brother Isaac gets two more shots off before the tears sink in. He frowns and empties the rest of the clip, but the gun doesn’t get any lighter in his hand. He turns around, and holsters his gun this time. “Alrigh’, alrigh’…” he says, taking a step over towards the Sister and raising his hands in the universal gesture for ‘I ain’t gonna shoot you’. He crouches down. “Now what’s yer problem, exactly?”
-**- Brother Isaac will bring in his ‘I’m Faking It’ and his ‘I will prove myself a worthy man’ traits, since otherwise this scene will be over. 
Brother Isaac rolls 1d6 for “I’m faking it” and gets 3.
Brother Isaac rolls 1d6 for “I will prove myself a worthy man.” and gets 4.
-**- Sister Rebecca says “You can bring in more than one Trait at once?”
-**- Sister Josephine says “You can roll 2 traits because they’re one die each?”
-**- Brother Isaac is pretty sure you can. “Anyways, I’ll roll some more of the Take-The-Blowy-ness into my raise, since I didn’t push that as much.”
Brother Isaac spends 6 4 1 1 1 for a total of 13 and gains 5 Fallout dice.
-**- Sister Alice says “Yay!”
-**- Sister Rebecca says “And that is why 1s and d4s are ‘problematic’. :)”
-**- Brother Brand says “And yes, you can bring in as many traits as fit your narration at once.”
-**- Brother Brand says “Your raise, btw.”
GAME: conflict
———————————- Conflict ———————————-
The stakes are: Will I learn to love being a Dog on its own terms, instead of because of what it gives me?
Brother Brand - 6 6
Brother Isaac - 1 1 3
——————————————————————————
roll = - spend - gain - fallout
——————————————————————————
-**- Brother Brand says “Or would you like me to do a fill pose with her telling you, then you can raise back?”
After all, isn’t that what he’s here for? To do some good? Isaac couldn’t spot crocodile tears if they came from an actual crocodile — all he sees is a poor girl who looks about as lost as he ever feels. “Sister Relief… c’mon now, I can’t help you if you won’t tell me what’s wrong. We’re all Dogs here,” he lies, “ain’t nobody gonna turn you away.”
Brother Isaac spends 3 1 for a total of 4.
-**- Brother Brand says “LIAR!”
-**- Brother Isaac notes that the ‘raise’ is in the lie.
-**- Brother Brand nods, “Good use of dice.”
-**- Sister Rebecca says “Oo, clever.”
-**- Sister Josephine says “Wait, I don’t get it.”
-**- Brother Isaac says “The stakes are whether Isaac realizes that helping other people is good for its own sake. But right now he’s still just playing the part (since I’m playing that side of the conflict).”
-**- Sister Josephine says “Cool.”
-**- Brother Isaac says “So he’s just saying what he thinks he needs to, not what he believes.”
She sniffles, she stops crying, she finally smiles. “Thank you brother.” She looks down at her gun, “I know you don’t like to shoot. I don’t like to shoot either. But you can do it. I can’t. And I need to.” Up come those blue eyes, looking deep into Brother Isaacs. “Help me, please?”
Your dice are now 6.
Brother Brand spends 6 for a total of 6.
-**- Brother Brand says “That will be a Reverse”
-**- Brother Isaac nods.
Your dice are now .
Brother Brand spends 6 for a total of 6.
-**- Brother Isaac says “So that’s a 12 total?”
-**- Brother Brand says “And that will be the raise for a total of 12.”
-**- Brother Brand says “That’s what you guys were talking about earlier, when you can see with one dice. You use it both to block and to counter.”
-**- Sister Rebecca says “Wha bam bam!”
-**- Sister Josephine says “Riposte!”
-**- Sister Rebecca says “Actually, yes, exactly.”
———————————- Conflict ———————————-
The stakes are: Will I learn to love being a Dog on its own terms, instead of because of what it gives me?
Brother Isaac - 1
——————————————————————————
roll = - spend - gain - fallout
——————————————————————————
-**- Brother Brand says “And Isaac is sitting there with a 1, so he needs to escalate, bring in traits, or fold out.”
-**- Brother Adrian says “I get what’s going on with the numbers, but not entirely how it relates to the scene. Is she basically buying into his forced generosity, and now he has to deal with it?”
-**- Brother Brand says “Yes.”
-**- Sister Josephine thinks this scene is strengthening her and weakening him.
-**- Brother Brand says “Yes”
-**- Sister Rebecca says “She (very passively) called him on it, and is pushing him to make good on what he said because he thought it was the thing to say.”
-**- Brother Adrian says “Okay. I’m seeing it better now.”
-**- Brother Adrian says “Man, this requires a very acute sense of seeing the win and the loss out of any situation.”
-**- Sister Rebecca says “And it’s all, all, all, up for interpretation, Adrian. :)”
-**- Brother Isaac says “okay, even if I bring in my knack for violence and roll a 10, I still have to give. So give it is, but let me pose something.”
-**- Brother Brand says “Sometimes. Mostly it requires an acute sense of your character as a human being, with all the trouble that entails. If you can see the good and bad in your character, you’ll be golden.”
-**- Sister Rebecca says “You can also escalate, Isaac.”
-**- Brother Brand nods, “Take one more pose and then I’ll take closing pose. Unless you want to punch her….”
-**- Sister Josephine says “Because beating her up would fix everything!”
-**- Brother Isaac could, but isn’t gonna.
-**- Sister Rebecca says “Pow!”
-**- Brother Isaac says “Well, I could put a hand on her arm or something.”
-**- Brother Isaac says “But Isaac don’t much like touchin’.”
-**- Brother Adrian says “What does Sister Relief get out of this, as far as game mechanics are concerned?”
-**- Sister Josephine says “So Physical includes stuff like that? A kiss is an escalation?”
-**- Brother Brand says “Or try to escape and run out of the room.”
-**- Brother Adrian says “A kiss sure as hell seems like a physical escalation to me.”
-**- Brother Brand says “Yea. Physical is anything that pushes it out of the level of talking. So kissing could be physical.”
-**- Sister Rebecca says “I could certainly see a kiss as escalation.”
-**- Sister Josephine says “Neat, thank you.”
-**- Brother Adrian says “Does sex count as fighting then? ;)”
-**- Sister Alice says “Hee!”
-**- Sister Josephine says “And sex with weapons… let’s not go there.”
-**- Brother Brand laughs.
-**- Brother Adrian says “Someone had to go there.”
-**- Sister Rebecca says “I’d comment, but yeah. Bad mormon.”
Brother Isaac stalls when the ‘problem’ comes out — the mask of confidence on his face darkens, and nearly disappears. At first, it’s real sympathy — she’s right, after all, they have something in common — and then anger at the request itself. He stands, as though to withdraw, but then catches himself. “Sister, I don’t know… shootin’ ain’t ever done no good, far as I’m concerned…” He sighs. “But you’re right about what you said.” He looks back towards the targets. “I guess there’s things we all gotta do.”
-**- Brother Isaac needs to pose fastar.
-**- Brother Adrian BRBs. Catfight in backyard. Damn neighbor cat
-**- Brother Isaac says “Incidentally, in situations like this it almost seems like Brand could easily pose stuff involving Isaac’s reactions and feelings. Since we’re basically taking two sides of an internal conflict. Of course, this goes against all that players hold true and dear in RPGs. :P”
She stands watching him for a long moment, and then comes to stand even with him, looking at the target. “I know brother. I know.” She goes to put a hand on his arm, then stops and drops it back to her side. “I did not want to do this…” she gestures to the gun, “But the King has called, and I must answer. I do not do this for what I want, I do it because it is my calling.”
By the end of training, Sister Relief is the sixth best shot in the class. Brother Hemesh, the teacher, watches the whole thing and on the last day approaches Brother Isaac and says, “Congratulations son, you’re starting to figure the other thing you need to be a Dog. The one I didn’t tell you.”
-**- Sister Rebecca says “Oh nose! My absolute control over my character is compromised… except it never was absolute in the first place!”
-**- Sister Josephine whistles.
-**- Brother Brand says “I could, but I didn’t. If you lose on a conflict, you lose — and if the conflict was about your emotions that does mean you lose control of them.”
-**- Brother Brand says “Although I did strongly push an agenda there….”
-**- Brother Isaac nods. “Sure, I’m not suggesting it’s necessary. Gotta externalize that stuff.”
-**- Brother Isaac says “Besides, I totally wanted to lose that conflict.”
-**- Brother Brand says “You need to roll your 5d4 fallout dude”
-**- Brother Brand says “I figured. It’d have been a hell of a conflict to win”
Brother Isaac takes 5d4 Fallout dice.
Brother Isaac rolls its Fallout of 5d4: 1 2 3 4 4, totalling 8.
It gains an item of Long Term Fallout.
It gains an item of Fallout Experience.
-**- Brother Isaac says “Ooh.”
-**- Brother Brand says “Ouch.”
-**- Brother Brand says “So a trait about being a Dog for its own sake, a longterm fallout, and an experience fallout.”
-**- Brother Brand says “Okay, so Isaac that’s all in your court. If you want ideas shout out. If not, tell us when you’ve got what you want. Who is next?”
-**- Sister Josephine says “Me!”
-**- Brother Isaac okays. “Lesse. d6 trait will be: I can help people 1d6. Experience fallout will add another die to “Love will be my salvation”, raising it to 2d10. And then long-term fallout will be adding another d4 to.. hmm.. my Father Put A Devil in Me trait, which is stretching it but damnit I like that trait.”
-**- Brother Brand says “Sounds good Isaac!”
-**- Brother Brand says “Okay, Jose, what is your conflict?”