Gone to the Dogs

Well, we finally had our third and final session of Dogs in the Vineyard last Sunday, attempting to wrap up our first town. But our hearts really weren't in it... I had quickly become disillusioned with the mechanics after our second session.

The idea that social conflict flows right into physical conflict with the same mechanics is neat... but I'm finding I don't like rules to tell me how the social conflict goes. Maybe I'm just really bad at setting the stakes... much of the tension of the town went out the window when a three-Dogs-on-one-Steward conflict quickly convinced the Steward that what he had been doing was wrong. The rules work fine for three-on-one in the physical realm, but unless I'm playing the rules wrong, I don't like the way they work in the social realm... a group of Dogs can brow-beat anybody into agreeing with them, and the GM has to roll with it.

And I really couldn't get over the feeling that the conflict was decided the moment we rolled the dice, and that we were just going through the motions... with all the dice on the table, and a good idea of what traits might come into the conflict, it felt like there was no point in playing out the interaction. And it was especially awkward when the Steward had a perfectly good argument, but the dice said the Dogs had the upper hand.

We ended up abandoning the scenario before we even finished it. There just wasn't any tension in it. In part, I felt that the characters were a little wishy-washy with the shopkeeper... they wouldn't put their collective foot down and judge him. We got through a long in-character discussion and realized well into it that it had gradually become a conflict and we should have rolled dice ages before. And we really just didn't feel like continuing. Much of it was my fault... I just don't seem to understand how to make Dogs interesting. Maybe it's just that we (as a group) don't really care for the low-key social conflict of figuring out that the shopkeeper is sleeping with a 16-year-old girl and then making him confess. I think that must be why so many Dogs games seem to involve shooting sinners in the street... the game can be boring if all you do is get people to confess their sins and swear they'll be good in the future.

I'm kind of mixed up as to whether I like the whole premise or not... I think the mechanics have clouded my judgment. I've been thinking that with a few tweaks, it could make a more interesting western... instead of being God's watchdogs among the Mormon communities, let's make 'em generic Baptists. And instead of rooting out sin, they're really knights... sent forth by the church to watch over and protect the settlers of the West. Because demons are real, and there are many dangers out there. So the supernatural element is there, but the worry isn't that the town preacher is going to be possessed by a demon, the worry is the bandits who are unknowingly demon-influenced and "really bad men." It would be much like your "typical" western... good guys ride into town, discover the town needs their help, and they do their thing. Just with a little holy fire when it's needed. DitV style sin-uprooting could be part of individual stories, but it wouldn't be the focus of the campaign.

And you could put them in a town like Deadwood. Woo! Now there's some social conflict for ya.