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Questions tagged [dogs-in-the-vineyard]

Dogs in the Vineyard is an independently published role-playing game based on the history of the Mormons in "The West that never was"

Dogs in the Vineyard is an independently published role-playing game based on the history of the Mormons in "The West that never was"

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Can characters in Dogs in the Vineyard have different escalation levels in conflict?

For example, if an NPC escalates conflict to gunfight, but my PC does not want to shoot him and tries to resolve situation by just talking while evading shots - can he not escalate and not roll dice for acuity+will, and consequently, still inflict…
Fixpoint
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How Different is Dogs in the Vineyard from more "Traditional" RPGs?

Our gaming group has got a lot of experience in playing more mainstream/traditional RPGs; we've played D&D (3.0,3.5,4.0) World of Darkness, Rogue Trader, and even a little L5R. However, after the recent implosion of a WoD campaign, we've decided to…
GWLlosa
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What happens when a Dog does something that is authorized by the Faith but against the law?

I got interested in Dogs in the Vineyard through this question and picked up the PDF. I'm wondering how you're meant to handle some things in the setting, for example on page 18 in the Territorial Authority section: It’s worth pointing out that the…
Colen
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I'm playing Dogs in the Vineyard. Can players escalate during Initiation?

The rules say "The GM always rolls 4d6+4d10 for Initiations." Doesn't that make it hard for the GM to win if a character escalates in his Initiation? For example, Brother Quint wants to "overcome his fear of demons." So I lock him in a haunted…
Soup
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"Escalate" the other way around

Can escalation go the other way around? such as from gunshot to melee or from melee to just talking? For example, two players were having a shooting contest, and I called for acuity + will, at some point the losing player decided to "escalate" and…
Nico666
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Give when you can't see a violent raise

I just have read the Dogs in the Vineyard rulebook, and I have a question regarding conflict resolution. If there is a conflict between two characters, and at some point one escalates from talking to gun fighting, adding the dice from the gun and…
Daniels
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What are the reasons for limiting number of players in Dogs in the Vineyard?

I picked up Dogs in the Vineyard this weekend, and I fell in love during the first read-through. I noticed these lines from the rulebook: "You’ll need a GM. You’ll need some players— the game works well with as few as two, and I wouldn’t go over…
Discord
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Why is taking a new trait considered Fallout?

In the Fallout lists for Dogs in the Vineyard, a lot of the options revolve around losing things: dice from Stats, belongings, relationship dice, etc. However, some of the options are something like "take a new trait at 1d4." Given that traits give…
Problematic
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Keeping dice after giving in Dogs in the Vineyard

In the revised edition there's a rule about keeping two dice if somebody gives in a conflict. Can anybody spell it out for me? What are circumstances, which dice, when who gives, who gets to use them and when? Thanks!
Jmstar
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How can I justify someone staying out of a conflict?

My players often feel weird about giving in prior to an escalation in a multi-way. They give prior to the escalation from talking to gunfighting, so I guess they're demoralized. But now their friends are being shot at, but they're feeling mopey so…
Daniel Paczuski Bak
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What is the impact of having many relationships among Dogs themselves?

I've just played a character generation session of Dogs in the Vineyard with some of my friends. During the Relationships step of chargen we had an idea to make some relationships between each other - and so we did, ending up with all three Dogs…
eimyr
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How do we make our verbal conflicts not fake or boring?

We've been playing Dogs in the Vineyard for some time, and while physical to gunfight conflicts are quite clear, the non-physical conflicts are still tricky. Every verbal conflict scene has seemed fake, with the characters saying nothing or boring…
Radioleao
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Multiple Players in a discussion

Would multiple players in a discussion/argument with an NPC all be affected by a raise that one player announces? Let's have an example: PC1 and PC2 try to convince NPC1 to tell them more about the bruises his child has. PC1 raises: "NPC1, please,…
Patta
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Flashbacks and atemporality in a scene in Dogs in the Vineyard

When running Dogs, I ran the "a possessed axe murderer tries to kill you in your sleep." In discussion afterwards, the players were trying to figure out appropriate escalations from the player asleep, besides simply giving. How would you, as a…
Brian Ballsun-Stanton
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Engaging the other players at the table in a small-scope conflict in Dogs in the Vineyard

As the opening scene of my Dogs in the Vineyard game, I ran the "an Axe murderer tries to kill you in your sleep" conflict. The conflict went fairly well, though the other two at the table were less engaged. What's the best way to engage…
Brian Ballsun-Stanton
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