The Raise/See mechanic of Dogs

The other day, my wife asked me something that had been in the back of my mind, but I hadn't really examined in depth yet… essentially, "Is the whole Dogs Raise/See exchange unnecessary, because you can compare the two dice totals and see who is going to win?"

Normally, I'd look at a game like this and think the mechanics were wonky… on the face of things, I agree with her. But I'd heard so much about Dogs and how great it was, I was just ignoring that bit until I'd seen how the game plays out.

Of course, I did do a little fiddling with some imaginary dice to see if the guy on the bottom could finagle the outcome by careful maneuvering of the dice… something like Take the Blow now, even though I don't have to, so I can save my big die to Reverse the Blow, or force you into "overkill"… using twelve or thirteen pips to See an eleven-pip raise, for instance.

I think it's possible, but I have a feeling it doesn't come up very often. In my few random pools of dice, I could never get the guy with the lower total to come out on top.

Of course, that initial roll isn't the end… the characters can activate Traits, Things or Stats, and all those things can bring in more dice to shift the direction of the conflict.

But this brings me round to something I read on The Forge the other day. Essentially, the idea is that the Dogs can win just about any conflict they want… the point of the game isn't winning conflicts. It's about the authority and responsibility the Dogs possess and how they use that power. Yes, they can win the conflict… but should they, and what will be the end result when they do?

To put aside the issues of the Dogs power, I think the mechanics still have something more to offer. I touched on this yesterday… even if the outcome is clear, the rules force you to play through the events. They create story elements that may have never occurred if you'd just said, "Roleplay how you beat him." While you may know you'll ultimately lose, having to roleplay your See to his Raise may reveal something about your character or the ongoing story that wouldn't have occurred to you. It adds spice, and my scant experience tells me I want to try this a lot more before I discard it as being a overly complex for "roll your dice, the highest total wins."