So we're waiting on Neaden before we can advance the scene, right?
Not anymore. I'm going to assume all he wanted to do was pass out more mail, and I ended the scene because it was just a way of saying, "Wow, look how bad things are. Also, these major NPCs have problems they want to talk to you about." You guys are like tiny gods walking around town, if you want to do something, you don't need to wait for a certain scene. You bust down someone's door and say, "We need to talk."
I think I'll take Shinyu's lead on that - unless we discuss what we want to do first? Not going to be able to make a post until sometime tomorrow, though. Heading to bed right now. (I'm up far too late.)
So if we wanted, we could just throw out a post about helping around town, then fast-foward to whatever interested us? Like either meeting Sharon at the Schoolhouse, or maybe holding a service in the barn to raise people's spirits?
I think I'll take Shinyu's lead on that - unless we discuss what we want to do first? Not going to be able to make a post until sometime tomorrow, though. Heading to bed right now. (I'm up far too late.)
So if we wanted, we could just throw out a post about helping around town, then fast-foward to whatever interested us? Like either meeting Sharon at the Schoolhouse, or maybe holding a service in the barn to raise people's spirits?
As long as you respond in some way to NPCs, yeah - you've got free reign. In fact, by all means, please post here and say, "No, instead, we want to go do this!" and I'll delete / edit / fast-forward, whatever to accommodate you. I follow you guys' lead. Remember: I don't know at all where this is going, I'm just throwing out scenes that involve NPCs who have problems. And, again, as long as you interact with those NPCs, there's no issue.
Well, my vote is to help around the town, and if nothing opposes us, head for the Barn and a service, then to the Schoolhouse to speak to Sharon and Paul afterwards. How's that sound, Shinyu and Neaden?
Sounds good to me. Question about the faith. Do they believe in any sort of purgatory or prayer for the dead? My understanding is that Mormons have some form of this in RL and it would change the nature of the service a bit.
Sounds good to me. Question about the faith. Do they believe in any sort of purgatory or prayer for the dead? My understanding is that Mormons have some form of this in RL and it would change the nature of the service a bit.
There's a common folk belief that the longer your corpse goes without being sanctified, each passing minute gives you an opportunity to become a ghost, tempts you, and that's a really bad mark on you when you go to Judgment. But the Faith itself holds no such doctrine.
So at the very least, your dead spirit goes to face Judgment once Sanctified, and either goes to Faith heaven or Faith hell. But this "waiting until sanctified" shouldn't last very long at all.
Feel free to bullshit in whatever you want.
Also, here's stuff that might come up at the service. It's official ceremony.
Anointing with Sacred Earth. Sacred Earth is consecrated river clay. You anoint someone with it by marking it on his or her forehead.
Calling by Name. When you call someone by their full,w hole name, with authority, their soul can't ignore you.
Invoking the Ancients. Declare your authority as a Dog and an office holder of the Faith.
Laying on Hands. Generally, you put both your hands on the top of someone's head, but any contact between the palm of your hand and someone's skin will do.
Making the Sign of the Tree. The Faith's most sacred symbol is a stylized tree, the Tree of Life.Hold your right hand at shoulder level, palm forward, with your fingers spread wide.
Reciting the Book of Life.
Singing Praise.
Three in Authority. Whenever possible, have at least two other Dogs or office holders of the Faith perform ceremony with you.
Here's some of the most common rituals of the Faith.
Name a Baby. Hold the baby on your left arm. Mark the baby's forehead with SAcred Earth. Say something like, "by the authority given me by the Ancient Prophets of Life, I name you..." and say the baby's name. If you want, you can give the baby a blessing or make some prophecy about its life.
To Solemnize a Marriage. Have the couple hold hands before you. Anount them both with Sacred Earth. Call upon the authority of the Ancients and recite a relevant passage from the Book of Life, declaring them wed. Call the wife by her new name.
To Heal a Sick Person: Lay hands on the sick person and anoint him with Sacred Earth. Call him by name, command him to health. If he's able, have him sing one of the healing hymns with you.
To Drive Demons out of a House: Make the sign of the tree. Declare the authority you have from the Ancients and command the demons to depart. Bolster your commands - and make the place less hospitable to them - by reciting scripture and singing hymns. If you know the demons' names, use them!
To Dedicate a Person to Office: Lay hands on the person. Call him by name. Give him his new office, call upon the Ancients of the Faith to give him their authority, and charge him to serve faithfully until such time as he is released from duty.
To Sanctify a Corpse: Mark the corpse's forehead with Sacred Earth, reciting the Passages for the Dead from the Book of Life. If you know the person's name, use it. According to the folk beliefs of the Faithful, after you've died, each minute that passes before someone sanctifies your corpse presents a temptation to remain on earth as a ghost, which is a sin and will count against you at Judgement. The Faith itself has no such official doctrine.
I didn't even think you guys might want to Lay on Hands during the barn scene - sorry, you can edit your posts to include it if you want, or just say it happened. But here's the entirety of it. This stuff is particularly effective against demons, also, just eff-why-eye.
Hah, I was getting ready to make a post glossing over the helping-around-town thing, then gearing up to start a service in the barn. After work, of course.
Hah, I was getting ready to make a post glossing over the helping-around-town thing, then gearing up to start a service in the barn. After work, of course.
Sermon scene's up. Figured I'd let everyone spout praise and work the crowd, and then after the sermon, interact with some of the people. Then we'll move on.
I don't think we've even -met- Hannah Lutz - unless she was one of the people in the Barn in the first encounter. I'm actually kinda weirded out by the 'healthy' people staying in different places - they don't think Frostbite is infectious, do they?
Okay, if I messed that up, let me know and I can edit something more appropriate in there. I don't have much experience in driving the plot forwards without being a GM, so I don't want to make any assumptions that mess things up.
I don't think we've even -met- Hannah Lutz - unless she was one of the people in the Barn in the first encounter. I'm actually kinda weirded out by the 'healthy' people staying in different places - they don't think Frostbite is infectious, do they?
Okay, if I messed that up, let me know and I can edit something more appropriate in there. I don't have much experience in driving the plot forwards without being a GM, so I don't want to make any assumptions that mess things up.
You never met Hannah, she was just in a cutscene. But since I mentioned her, I didn't want to say everyone was there, because she isn't. And, about the sick - that's all you need to know about someone, to give them enough room. "The barn is for sick people." Well, shit, let me go sleep somewhere else! They're not ignorant, they're just, well, representative of the times, let's say.
Nah, it's fine. In fact, I'd say you didn't take a stern enough hand.
I was meaning more about making assumptions on the plot - Caleb's not a very stern individual. He's very gentle and persuasive as opposed to stern, authoritative and aggressive.
Well, let's see what Shinyo and Neaden think. When was Neaden last in here?
Edit: Heeeeeey, I really like that interweaving of narrative between the two characters in that last post. That's some awesome writing there. A spot-check, though! What does the Faith have to say about pride? Because Joyelle is mighty prideful and Caleb's got a word or to to say about it. Deadly sin and all that.
I was meaning more about making assumptions on the plot - Caleb's not a very stern individual. He's very gentle and persuasive as opposed to stern, authoritative and aggressive.
Well, let's see what Shinyo and Neaden think. When was Neaden last in here?
That's what I meant, too. The plot only moves when you guys act. That's a big difference that most players have to adjust to when coming to Dogs in the Vineyard from other games - the GM just plans out characters, not actions. It's not possible for you to mess things up, like at all. I'm sitting back here with my little sheets that say what my NPCs want, and I'm just waiting for you guys to interfere. I truly, truly have no idea what will happen next until one of you makes the first move.
See how everyone's just coming right up to you and saying, "Here's my problem, please fix it!" That's how it goes. It's your job to root out sin and heal the town, so you get to healing - but pretty soon, you help someone, and that actually pisses someone else off. And this keeps happening until you've made a handful of people happy, and the rest really angry, and that's when they say, "Screw the Faith. I'm in this for me."
Neaden... a day or two, I think? I hypothesize that he found an actual bigfoot, and is reaping the profits from his discovery.
Edit: Heeeeeey, I really like that interweaving of narrative between the two characters in that last post. That's some awesome writing there. A spot-check, though! What does the Faith have to say about pride? Because Joyelle is mighty prideful and Caleb's got a word or to to say about it. Deadly sin and all that.
Hah! I was thinking I'd have to point that out before I got you guys to intervene. Pride certainly leads to sin, but itself isn't something you'll condemn someone over. More of, "Look, you're headed down a bad road, here." A prideful person will get yelled at and certainly paid attention to in an effort to turn them letting that pride grow.
But you still mean business - pride, unwatched, leads to acting on that pride, which means injustice against someone else, and that's a sin no matter how you slice it: you skirt your share of the work and make others work harder; you don't accept your given gender role, and so you can't be courted (yes, not being able to be courted is a no-no if you're a gal) or your husband can't be the "man of the house"; you enjoy luxury and put more attention to your appearance and status than your worship to the King, and as such, someone suffers down the line (maybe you don't work, maybe your kids don't get the learnin' they need, etc.)
Pride is the first step in all sin, in this game.
More than anything, though, she's showing off all this stuff and telling you about all these fancy, expensive clothes, while the sick and weary around her struggle to survive.
Sorry, I've been checking the thread but this has turned out to be a much busier week then I anticipated. So it looks like We've got the following problems.
1. Joycelle's pride and lack of sharing.
2. Steward Asher's failure to take command of the situation.
3. Sharon Burns taking too much authority.
4. William Lemmon's Hostility towards the faith.
5. Mrs. Lutz drinking and carrying on with the traders while pregnant.
2 and three are pretty intertwined and I think we'll have to solve them together. I think the Stewards needs to get more confidence and start taking more responsibility and Sharon Burns needs to move into more of a supportive role, otherwise she'll undermine the structure of the faith.
I have a feeling that Steward Asher has had something beyond his control fubar things - he seems like a sincere enough guy, and that nothing he tries seems to work. Sharon Burns seems to be on his side, if a little exasperated by nothing working out for him.
I don't think Sharon Burns is stepping outside of her gender role or taking on too much authority - I think she's trying to help out here as best she can, and she just has more confidence (and respect) than Steward Asher. I agree that we have to help Asher get more into a commanding role, and convince Sharon to step into a more supportive position though, and be -seen- to be supporting Asher. Though, to be honest, I'm tempted to put her in charge and have Asher as an assistant to her. Is this totally out of whack with the Faith's teachings/traditions?
William may be anti-Faith, but he's not telling us it's bad/wrong/stomping/fighting (yet) about it. I don't consider him a problem at the moment.
Mrs Lutz, well. From the narration? I don't think she's carrying on with the traders. I think the problem is with Mr Lutz, but we can investigate that further later. We don't know she's in a bad way, and I have a feeling that Sister Sharon can give us the lowdown on a LOT of things here.
I'm going to give Joyelle some holy righteous beatdown.
Oh, if I overstepped the mark in writing an action (however brief!) for Joyelle, let me know and I'll work around it. I'm still not exactly sure how much freedom we have in writing NPC actions.
Sorry, I've been checking the thread but this has turned out to be a much busier week then I anticipated. So it looks like We've got the following problems.
1. Joycelle's pride and lack of sharing.
2. Steward Asher's failure to take command of the situation.
3. Sharon Burns taking too much authority.
4. William Lemmon's Hostility towards the faith.
5. Mrs. Lutz drinking and carrying on with the traders while pregnant.
2 and three are pretty intertwined and I think we'll have to solve them together. I think the Stewards needs to get more confidence and start taking more responsibility and Sharon Burns needs to move into more of a supportive role, otherwise she'll undermine the structure of the faith.
A solid plan of action.
a) Samuel Lutz wants to talk to you,
b) Joyelle and Bradshaw Hudspeth want to talk to you,
c) and Sharon Burns and Peter Anderson want to talk to you.
All the while, we're moving closer and closer to the guns coming out! Awesome.
Though, to be honest, I'm tempted to put her in charge and have Asher as an assistant to her. Is this totally out of whack with the Faith's teachings/traditions?
100% completely out of whack. A woman can not be Steward. Makes things a bit more complicated, doesn't it?
I'm going to give Joyelle some holy righteous beatdown.
You totally rocked her shit. She's all pissy now, going to stomp off and sulk somewhere.
I'm still not exactly sure how much freedom we have in writing NPC actions.
Don't worry. The only way you'll get the feel of it is to just try. That, for me too, was the hardest thing, coming from a White Wolf and D&D background. There is a line, but it's hard to quantify it. It's a common sense thing, really - if it's not totally out of line for the situation, then go right ahead. Here, yeah, she reacted how she WOULD have reacted, and there's no problem. If you start making her do weird shit, then I'll say no. So, like, right now you know she's vain, so you can have her talk to you and say things about how vain she is, and that's totally cool - especially in Raises and Sees. If you want to say how she reacts to something you do, go ahead.
I only get to hold surprises so far as you haven't met the people and had the conversation with them to know certain things, but I am literally on edge here just waiting for you to go to this person, to talk about this thing, so I can throw all this shit at you and turn this town into a septic wound. Not saying you guys are slow or ineffective, not at all - you're actually taking charge and showing the town what's what! - but this will be a shit storm of massive proportions.
Oh oh oh! Okay, this is a point where I think Caleb would bring the full weight of his Word down on someone - will you allow me to roll my 'When he speaks, people listen,' trait? I'm thinking that's pretty relevant here. Or is it classier to only roll it if I -need- it?
Oh oh oh! Okay, this is a point where I think Caleb would bring the full weight of his Word down on someone - will you allow me to roll my 'When he speaks, people listen,' trait? I'm thinking that's pretty relevant here. Or is it classier to only roll it if I -need- it?
I'm intimidated with the concept of having to out-argue two people at once.
Tactics:
1) get one of them on your side
2) escalate, escalate, escalate
3) fight for a bit, roll a high die, Give, then come back later and tackle one of them one-on-one
4) just see what happens
In that case, I'll go for it. Though escalating things to punch him in the face seems a little... off.
I was wanting to use my trait dice in case I could get an 8 on one, Reverse the Blow, and JUMP DOWN HIS THROAT for trying to hide the food from the rest of the Company!
In that case, I'll go for it. Though escalating things to punch him in the face seems a little... off.
I was wanting to use my trait dice in case I could get an 8 on one, Reverse the Blow, and JUMP DOWN HIS THROAT for trying to hide the food from the rest of the Company!
You: "I escalate to Physical, but not fighting. I grab him by the wrist and thrust his hand up into the air, showing it off to everybody. 'THIS is the hand that touches sin, that breaks bread with demons! How many of you have starved while Brother Hudspeth grows fat and content! How many of you have been betrayed by THIS VERY HAND!"
Me: "Brother Bradshaw is escalating to the same. He jerks his hand back and shoves you, hard. 'Don't you DARE touch me! Watchdog or not, you haven't been here! You don't know how things are!"
You can almost use the list of escalation arenas as a timeline to an argument.
Just talking (bitching and screaming) leads to Physical, but not fighting (shoving and grabbing) leads to Fist-fighting (have at thee!) leads to Gunfighting (who's winning now, fucker?)
And it doesn't have to be that you fight and then pull out a gun. You can just use it to build tension, or sit back and let THEM escalate further, and at that point, you're just defending yourself.
============
Also, Neaden, Shin! I tried to put you guys in situations I thought your traits would kick in to. Brother Eleazar actually walking away and going to see Sister Sharon sped things up a bit in his favor, and worked out perfectly. Brother Jacob is perfect for the Lutzes, and Eleazar is perfect for the situation with Sharon.
Kay, here, fiery and preachey, was the obvious choice to beat down on the Hudspeths.
A question, if say, a conflict -starts- as a gunfight, is it possible to escalate it to Physical (by attempting to wrestle the gun away from them) or Just Talking (by attempting to talk them into putting the gun down)?
A question, if say, a conflict -starts- as a gunfight, is it possible to escalate it to Physical (by attempting to wrestle the gun away from them) or Just Talking (by attempting to talk them into putting the gun down)?
Yep! And that's only one possible interpretation. Imagine going from a fist-fight to Just Talking: ("Bloody lip and all, I just stare up at him as he wails on me, not even flinching. I say, calmly, Stop. This doesn't make you right. I can save your soul. (punch after punch) Stop...")
Or Gun-fighting to fist-fighting: ("I'm a servant of GOD, boy! WHAM! I don't need no gun to take you down! I sock him right in the mouth, then kick him to the ground.")
Gotcha. Hope I didn't overstep the marks in my FIERY PREACHER role there. I don't normally play characters so... bombastic? When I was working on the concept, Caleb seemed more calm, laid back, and 'now now, let's not argue,' but now he seems to be a little more... fanatical?
Also, if typing out the accent starts to get a little hard to read, let me know. I think it's safe to assume that all of the characters talk like old west movie stars.
How do I reason my way out of -this- one. Or more correctly, how does Caleb reason his way out of it? Okay, I need to roll my Body as she escalated, right? I'm definitely going to have to invoke my 'People listen' trait now.
(Holy shit a raise of 16 HERE COMES SOME FALLOUT.)
How do I reason my way out of -this- one. Or more correctly, how does Caleb reason his way out of it? Okay, I need to roll my Body as she escalated, right? I'm definitely going to have to invoke my 'People listen' trait now.
(Holy shit a raise of 16 HERE COMES SOME FALLOUT.)
Wait! That's only if you want to escalate in return! You can stay at Just Talking, or you can escalate to HER arena, or you can go to a different one all together.
The only real way I can think of escalating to Physical, not Fighting is to grab her wrists and push her away. Caleb's more likely to just hold her reassuringly, listen, and quieten down. I'll invoke my trait, I shan't escalate, and I'll hope like hell I don't lose too much face when I 'take the blow' with a vaguely shaky argument.
The only real way I can think of escalating to Physical, not Fighting is to grab her wrists and push her away. Caleb's more likely to just hold her reassuringly, listen, and quieten down. I'll invoke my trait, I shan't escalate, and I'll hope like hell I don't lose too much face when I 'take the blow' with a vaguely shaky argument.
Holding her like that is also physical. Like, you could be hugging her and stroking her hair, trying to calm her down. As long as it's meaningful physical contact (I think I pushed a bit much for the rough stuff in description and this might not have come through) - just FYI.
The option is yours, though, and there's no right way to do it. I am excited to see your next raise, though
Well, I've got this typed up, and Caleb does a fair bit of holding, and gentle guiding - so I should escalate to Physical, but mainly to help make my point and comfort this poor woman that I've been almost shouting at?
Also, I typed... quite a bit, but I was just Seeing - though I guess it does kinda come off as a raise. I guess I'll post, and if what I did -is- more of a raise, I can edit that part into a fresh post and change it up some after I see Bradshaw's raise, I guess?
Posts
Not anymore. I'm going to assume all he wanted to do was pass out more mail, and I ended the scene because it was just a way of saying, "Wow, look how bad things are. Also, these major NPCs have problems they want to talk to you about." You guys are like tiny gods walking around town, if you want to do something, you don't need to wait for a certain scene. You bust down someone's door and say, "We need to talk."
Go right ahead with the new scene.
So if we wanted, we could just throw out a post about helping around town, then fast-foward to whatever interested us? Like either meeting Sharon at the Schoolhouse, or maybe holding a service in the barn to raise people's spirits?
As long as you respond in some way to NPCs, yeah - you've got free reign. In fact, by all means, please post here and say, "No, instead, we want to go do this!" and I'll delete / edit / fast-forward, whatever to accommodate you. I follow you guys' lead. Remember: I don't know at all where this is going, I'm just throwing out scenes that involve NPCs who have problems. And, again, as long as you interact with those NPCs, there's no issue.
Yeah, that sounds good.
There's a common folk belief that the longer your corpse goes without being sanctified, each passing minute gives you an opportunity to become a ghost, tempts you, and that's a really bad mark on you when you go to Judgment. But the Faith itself holds no such doctrine.
So at the very least, your dead spirit goes to face Judgment once Sanctified, and either goes to Faith heaven or Faith hell. But this "waiting until sanctified" shouldn't last very long at all.
Feel free to bullshit in whatever you want.
Also, here's stuff that might come up at the service. It's official ceremony.
Here's some of the most common rituals of the Faith.
I didn't even think you guys might want to Lay on Hands during the barn scene - sorry, you can edit your posts to include it if you want, or just say it happened. But here's the entirety of it. This stuff is particularly effective against demons, also, just eff-why-eye.
Assuming nobody's got anything to say to Major Jeffries, then? (Or I could edit out the scene and have him come some time later?)
The sermon scene comes tomorrow!
what the fuck, where did my post about the major go
well shit, no wonder you guys haven't posted
Sermon scene's up. Figured I'd let everyone spout praise and work the crowd, and then after the sermon, interact with some of the people. Then we'll move on.
Everyone except Hannah Lutz.
Okay, if I messed that up, let me know and I can edit something more appropriate in there. I don't have much experience in driving the plot forwards without being a GM, so I don't want to make any assumptions that mess things up.
You never met Hannah, she was just in a cutscene. But since I mentioned her, I didn't want to say everyone was there, because she isn't. And, about the sick - that's all you need to know about someone, to give them enough room. "The barn is for sick people." Well, shit, let me go sleep somewhere else! They're not ignorant, they're just, well, representative of the times, let's say.
Nah, it's fine. In fact, I'd say you didn't take a stern enough hand.
Well, let's see what Shinyo and Neaden think. When was Neaden last in here?
Edit: Heeeeeey, I really like that interweaving of narrative between the two characters in that last post. That's some awesome writing there. A spot-check, though! What does the Faith have to say about pride? Because Joyelle is mighty prideful and Caleb's got a word or to to say about it. Deadly sin and all that.
That's what I meant, too. The plot only moves when you guys act. That's a big difference that most players have to adjust to when coming to Dogs in the Vineyard from other games - the GM just plans out characters, not actions. It's not possible for you to mess things up, like at all. I'm sitting back here with my little sheets that say what my NPCs want, and I'm just waiting for you guys to interfere. I truly, truly have no idea what will happen next until one of you makes the first move.
See how everyone's just coming right up to you and saying, "Here's my problem, please fix it!" That's how it goes. It's your job to root out sin and heal the town, so you get to healing - but pretty soon, you help someone, and that actually pisses someone else off. And this keeps happening until you've made a handful of people happy, and the rest really angry, and that's when they say, "Screw the Faith. I'm in this for me."
Neaden... a day or two, I think? I hypothesize that he found an actual bigfoot, and is reaping the profits from his discovery.
Hah! I was thinking I'd have to point that out before I got you guys to intervene. Pride certainly leads to sin, but itself isn't something you'll condemn someone over. More of, "Look, you're headed down a bad road, here." A prideful person will get yelled at and certainly paid attention to in an effort to turn them letting that pride grow.
But you still mean business - pride, unwatched, leads to acting on that pride, which means injustice against someone else, and that's a sin no matter how you slice it: you skirt your share of the work and make others work harder; you don't accept your given gender role, and so you can't be courted (yes, not being able to be courted is a no-no if you're a gal) or your husband can't be the "man of the house"; you enjoy luxury and put more attention to your appearance and status than your worship to the King, and as such, someone suffers down the line (maybe you don't work, maybe your kids don't get the learnin' they need, etc.)
Pride is the first step in all sin, in this game.
More than anything, though, she's showing off all this stuff and telling you about all these fancy, expensive clothes, while the sick and weary around her struggle to survive.
1. Joycelle's pride and lack of sharing.
2. Steward Asher's failure to take command of the situation.
3. Sharon Burns taking too much authority.
4. William Lemmon's Hostility towards the faith.
5. Mrs. Lutz drinking and carrying on with the traders while pregnant.
2 and three are pretty intertwined and I think we'll have to solve them together. I think the Stewards needs to get more confidence and start taking more responsibility and Sharon Burns needs to move into more of a supportive role, otherwise she'll undermine the structure of the faith.
I don't think Sharon Burns is stepping outside of her gender role or taking on too much authority - I think she's trying to help out here as best she can, and she just has more confidence (and respect) than Steward Asher. I agree that we have to help Asher get more into a commanding role, and convince Sharon to step into a more supportive position though, and be -seen- to be supporting Asher. Though, to be honest, I'm tempted to put her in charge and have Asher as an assistant to her. Is this totally out of whack with the Faith's teachings/traditions?
William may be anti-Faith, but he's not telling us it's bad/wrong/stomping/fighting (yet) about it. I don't consider him a problem at the moment.
Mrs Lutz, well. From the narration? I don't think she's carrying on with the traders. I think the problem is with Mr Lutz, but we can investigate that further later. We don't know she's in a bad way, and I have a feeling that Sister Sharon can give us the lowdown on a LOT of things here.
I'm going to give Joyelle some holy righteous beatdown.
Oh, if I overstepped the mark in writing an action (however brief!) for Joyelle, let me know and I'll work around it. I'm still not exactly sure how much freedom we have in writing NPC actions.
A solid plan of action.
a) Samuel Lutz wants to talk to you,
b) Joyelle and Bradshaw Hudspeth want to talk to you,
c) and Sharon Burns and Peter Anderson want to talk to you.
All the while, we're moving closer and closer to the guns coming out! Awesome.
100% completely out of whack. A woman can not be Steward. Makes things a bit more complicated, doesn't it?
You totally rocked her shit. She's all pissy now, going to stomp off and sulk somewhere.
Don't worry. The only way you'll get the feel of it is to just try. That, for me too, was the hardest thing, coming from a White Wolf and D&D background. There is a line, but it's hard to quantify it. It's a common sense thing, really - if it's not totally out of line for the situation, then go right ahead. Here, yeah, she reacted how she WOULD have reacted, and there's no problem. If you start making her do weird shit, then I'll say no. So, like, right now you know she's vain, so you can have her talk to you and say things about how vain she is, and that's totally cool - especially in Raises and Sees. If you want to say how she reacts to something you do, go ahead.
I only get to hold surprises so far as you haven't met the people and had the conversation with them to know certain things, but I am literally on edge here just waiting for you to go to this person, to talk about this thing, so I can throw all this shit at you and turn this town into a septic wound. Not saying you guys are slow or ineffective, not at all - you're actually taking charge and showing the town what's what! - but this will be a shit storm of massive proportions.
Depends - are you intimidated by his dice?
Tactics:
1) get one of them on your side
2) escalate, escalate, escalate
3) fight for a bit, roll a high die, Give, then come back later and tackle one of them one-on-one
4) just see what happens
I was wanting to use my trait dice in case I could get an 8 on one, Reverse the Blow, and JUMP DOWN HIS THROAT for trying to hide the food from the rest of the Company!
You: "I escalate to Physical, but not fighting. I grab him by the wrist and thrust his hand up into the air, showing it off to everybody. 'THIS is the hand that touches sin, that breaks bread with demons! How many of you have starved while Brother Hudspeth grows fat and content! How many of you have been betrayed by THIS VERY HAND!"
Me: "Brother Bradshaw is escalating to the same. He jerks his hand back and shoves you, hard. 'Don't you DARE touch me! Watchdog or not, you haven't been here! You don't know how things are!"
You can almost use the list of escalation arenas as a timeline to an argument.
Just talking (bitching and screaming) leads to Physical, but not fighting (shoving and grabbing) leads to Fist-fighting (have at thee!) leads to Gunfighting (who's winning now, fucker?)
And it doesn't have to be that you fight and then pull out a gun. You can just use it to build tension, or sit back and let THEM escalate further, and at that point, you're just defending yourself.
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Also, Neaden, Shin! I tried to put you guys in situations I thought your traits would kick in to. Brother Eleazar actually walking away and going to see Sister Sharon sped things up a bit in his favor, and worked out perfectly. Brother Jacob is perfect for the Lutzes, and Eleazar is perfect for the situation with Sharon.
Kay, here, fiery and preachey, was the obvious choice to beat down on the Hudspeths.
A question, if say, a conflict -starts- as a gunfight, is it possible to escalate it to Physical (by attempting to wrestle the gun away from them) or Just Talking (by attempting to talk them into putting the gun down)?
Yep! And that's only one possible interpretation. Imagine going from a fist-fight to Just Talking: ("Bloody lip and all, I just stare up at him as he wails on me, not even flinching. I say, calmly, Stop. This doesn't make you right. I can save your soul. (punch after punch) Stop...")
Or Gun-fighting to fist-fighting: ("I'm a servant of GOD, boy! WHAM! I don't need no gun to take you down! I sock him right in the mouth, then kick him to the ground.")
Also, if typing out the accent starts to get a little hard to read, let me know. I think it's safe to assume that all of the characters talk like old west movie stars.
How do I reason my way out of -this- one. Or more correctly, how does Caleb reason his way out of it? Okay, I need to roll my Body as she escalated, right? I'm definitely going to have to invoke my 'People listen' trait now.
(Holy shit a raise of 16 HERE COMES SOME FALLOUT.)
Wait! That's only if you want to escalate in return! You can stay at Just Talking, or you can escalate to HER arena, or you can go to a different one all together.
Holding her like that is also physical. Like, you could be hugging her and stroking her hair, trying to calm her down. As long as it's meaningful physical contact (I think I pushed a bit much for the rough stuff in description and this might not have come through) - just FYI.
The option is yours, though, and there's no right way to do it. I am excited to see your next raise, though
Also, I typed... quite a bit, but I was just Seeing - though I guess it does kinda come off as a raise. I guess I'll post, and if what I did -is- more of a raise, I can edit that part into a fresh post and change it up some after I see Bradshaw's raise, I guess?