[Dogs in the Vineyard, Actual Play] New Gidea

[Paka]

Here is the town I've created as my group's second town with a problem. In the following posts I will have a game report.

Any thoughts on the town and its inhabitants are appreciated. New Gidea won't find Dogs on its doorstep until Thursday evening.

Thanks for reading.

Town: New Gidea

Pride: Master Printer was on his way to kill the man who raped his sister when the bandits attacked. Through fate he killed the leader and the rest surrendered. Then he killed the man and the man's wife.

He believes himself above the law, an instrument of God. He believes he is a Prophet of the Gun.

Injustice: The rape of his sister, the murder of the man's wife, vigilante justice, mobs hunting the typesetter.

Sin: Murder, heresy as he begins to worship the gun.

Demonic Attacks: An oppressive heat hangs over the town and it will only break when the town is either diffused or riots. Weapons and tools that can easily be used as weapons seem to be always within reach during moments of wrath.

False Doctrine: The Gun is the Lord.

Corrupt Worship: There aren't three yet but almost.

False Priesthood: The printer is printing a bible called the Book of the Gun.


Sorcery: Violence begets violence.

Hate & Murder: Every little grudge in town will turn to violence of the situation isn't seen to.

What do the people want? The people want justice and peace returned.

What do the demons want? Demons want the town's bible printing to grind to a halt so all holy books come from Back East.

What would happen of the Dogs didn't come? The town would erupt into riots as the Steward attempted to hunt down the type-setting to save him from the lynchmobs that have formed.

Townsfolk:

Seth Betheldon - Master Printer, educated Back East
Leah Betheldon - wife who is hiding her husband and enduring the townsfolk's disdain
Clarissa Betheldon - sister who feels the death is her fault (suicide?)

Elihu Steading - Steward
Amasina Steading - Steward's wife, former Dog but rendered blind, respected advisor

Kyle Richards - killed by Seth
Naomi Richards - killed by Seth, beloved in the congregation
Balaam Richards - Kyle's pa and foul-mouthed rabble-rouser

Absolom - apprentice type-setting, leading mercy posse to find Seth and save his life

Other players: Territory Regulators, lynch mobs, surrendered bandits

Notes: New Gidea is a burgeoning town on the eastern edge of the desert. If the town is successful it will be the first large scale Book of Life printing outfit in the territory.

Seth was a Printer, apprenticed and educated Back East. When he got a letter from his sister, saying that she had been treated roughly by Kyle, Seth made his way west thinking only of killing the man.

When he arrived in New Gidea he was to head up the printing operation but he had only violence in his heart. When bandits stood in his way to revenge he got lucky in a shoot-out and killed their leader. Then he stumbled into town in the middle o the night and killed Kyle and his wife in a rage.

Enter the Dogs.

Territory Regulators are on their way to pick up the captured bandits.

Lynch mobs prowl the streets in the humid night. Some want to kill the bandits before the Regulators, some want Seth hung and others want Seth safe. It is only a matter of time before the mobs begin fighting.

The Steward leads a Mercy Mob to find Seth and send him to safety until a Watchdog or an Ancient can be called to adjudicate. His blind wife, a former Dog, could be a nice role-playing opportunity.

[Old Scratch]

I always like to shake the assumptions that a game is pinned on.

That first assumption is that a man raped the Master Printer's sister. While I generally abhor assuming that a rape is a case of "Crying Wolf", what if the original act was more complicated. Take for example, the great Marquez story "Chronicle of a Death Foretold".

What if the woman was raped, but not by the man that the Master Printer killed, and thus he killed two innocents? There's your Pride and taking God's Will into your hands.

Instead, what if the woman was raped by someone else - the Master Printer's father? An important man in town, maybe the Steward or the Mayor? Perhaps it was an act of incest, and Leah, was the victim of a rape by her own family members or someone. Ashamed but conflicted, she admitted that she'd been assaulted, but lied about who had done the assault, instead picking on a man who didn't fit into society, a scapegoat.

It seems like a little bit more grey in a game that seems to fool about in moral absolutes could use a bit of this sort of thing.

[Old Scratch]

Actually, now you got me thinking a bit more about this? Is this going to be a one off, or a bit more extended?

Master Printer was on his way to kill the man who raped his sister when the bandits attacked. Through fate he killed the leader and the rest surrendered. Then he killed the man and the man's wife.

Who are the bandits? I'd like to see them a bit more complicated. Former soldiers?Angry at the world? Desperate? Are the bandits displaced Native Americans, displaced by the violence of the era? Men who've been disenfranchised from their land by the violence of the railroad? Seems like if the theme here is violence, perhaps they themselves should not only live by violence, but the bandits should be victims of violence as well.


He believes himself above the law, an instrument of God. He believes he is a Prophet of the Gun.

Is the gun going to be used symbolically here as the Snake was in the last game? It would be neat to see this motif about. People stroking their weapons obscenely when their mind wanders. Bringing their firearms into church with guns being everpresent. Reminds me of that Liza Lou art piece, of the Mobile Home and the Gun, forget the name of the piece.


Demonic Attacks: An oppressive heat hangs over the town and it will only break when the town is either diffused or riots. Weapons and tools that can easily be used as weapons seem to be always within reach during moments of wrath.

What about water turning to blood? In a simple way, it could be holy water in the church turning to blood or the bloody tears of a newborn baby, increasing up to the biblical scale.


False Doctrine: The Gun is the Lord.

What about this: The Gun speaks for the Lord. Whosoever is righteous, will be helped by the lord, i.e. Might Makes Right. If you Kill a Man, its because God wanted it so.

Hate & Murder: Every little grudge in town will turn to violence of the situation isn't seen to.

Playing off the theme of violence, how about a hog farm nearby. As the sins in the town culminate, things get uglier there at the hog farm. Pigs eat their young, and the scene can culminate in a bloodied orgiastic slaughter of all the pigs in a senseless act with people filling themselves with raw bloody meat as the pigs cry out in almost human voices.


What do the demons want?[/B] Demons want the town's bible printing to grind to a halt so all holy books come from Back East.

I don't own the game, but this confuses me, but wouldn't the demons want the Book of the Gun to be spread about as the word of God?

Sounds interesting. Looking forward to seeing how the game runs.

[Paka]

Old Scratch,

As always, your feedback and brainstorming is welcome. I've tried to PM you with thanks many times but your PM is turned off. So, please allow me to thank you for the always interesting posts that make me think about my games at a new angle.

A more detailed response in a bit.

Time to chew and digest this stuff for a spell.

[Old Scratch]

Old Scratch,

As always, your feedback and brainstorming is welcome. I've tried to PM you with thanks many times but your PM is turned off.

So... People actually use the PMs here, eh?

So, please allow me to thank you for the always interesting posts that make me think about my games at a new angle.

Well, I'm not to blame for this state of affairs! If your ideas weren't interesting in the first place, the little wheels in my head wouldn't start spinning.

A more detailed response in a bit.

Time to chew and digest this stuff for a spell.

Ah... another thing to consider, in respect to the players...

This is an opportunity for them to reflect upon violence as well as a means of solving problems. I'd really crank this up a bit, get them into situations where they would be tempted to use violence as a means of solving their problem. Now, I'm not suggesting everything be solved with hugs and smiles, there may be a couple of situations where the gun comes in hand, which works great at complicating the situation...

...but that said, it seems to me that a big chunk of the appeal is laying down the law while carrying a big gun. The ' Dogs probably got a bit of a gun fetish and a bloated sense of power. Use that against them, showing the PCs that they themselves are not above reproach.

Subtle though, is the key. I think it would be great for the players to suddenly realize that they'd been using violence, or the threat of it, to answer many of the town's problems when in truth that very violence is at the root of the problem.

[Paka]

Hey Old Scratch, here are some responses and thoughts to your ideas.

THanks for all of 'em. Even the thoughts you had that I didn't agree with made me really think about my feelings on comings and goings of New Gidea.


What if the woman was raped, but not by the man that the Master Printer killed, and thus he killed two innocents? There's your Pride and taking God's Will into your hands.

I really don't like this. It just irks me.

In the mirror thread of New Gidea that I posted on the Forge (check out the Lumpley forums) I had mentioned that I felt like the women in this scenario are either victims are ornaments. Emily Care chimed in and gave some suggestions on how to run the NPC's, particularly Clarissa Betheldon, to good effect.

Who are the bandits?

The bandits are former Territory Soldiers who deserted, after having to clean out a village of mountain folk in retribution for an attack.

Is the gun going to be used symbolically here as the Snake was in the last game?

I hadn't thought of it that way but YES, absolutely.

* What about water turning to blood? In a simple way, it could be holy water in the church turning to blood or the bloody tears of a newborn baby, increasing up to the biblical scale.

* What about this: The Gun speaks for the Lord. Whosoever is righteous, will be helped by the lord, i.e. Might Makes Right. If you Kill a Man, its because God wanted it so.

* Playing off the theme of violence, how about a hog farm nearby. As the sins in the town culminate...

Yes, yes and hells yes.

I don't own the game, but this confuses me, but wouldn't the demons want the Book of the Gun to be spread about as the word of God?

Yes, they do. They want the Book of the Gun to get out into the territory (and beyond) but their primary thought is they want this town on the edge of the desert, where the money from the Book of Life production won't be funding their Evil Businessmen Back East to fail in their business.

If this town is cleaned up roper, New Gidea could be a real bustling town on the go in coming years. This could be a place where the PC's come visit and say, "Look at those Holy Books head on out to fine Congregations all over the Territory." Or it could be, "Once the warehouse shut down, all that was left was the hog farms....or the hogs that was left after they all et each other."

I'm curious to see what the players do with this one.

[Paka]

Its looking like only Jerermiah and Cain will be heading to New Gidea this week but here are all four Dogs:

Name: Jeremiah Young

Background: Strong Community

STATS

Acuity: 3d6

Heart: 5d6

Body: 2d6

Will: 3d6


TRAITS

Good ol' Boy 3d6

New, YOUNG, Dog 1d4

Dead-Eye with the Winchester 1d8

Knows Bible Stories 1d8

Proved Daddy Proud in Training 1d6

RELATIONSHIPS

Dogs are the cat's pajamas 2d6

BELONGINGS

Dad's Winchester

Sonny, my Dapplegrey

Jar 'o Home

Mom's Family Bible

---------------------------

Name: Benny

Background: Complicated History

STATS

Acuity: 3d6

Heart: 4d6

Body: 6d6

Will: 2d6

TRAITS

Beat up every day of his life

Doesn't know his own strength

I don't know much but I know what's right

Didn't get the Dogs into Trouble 1d6

RELATIONSHIPS

Dogs keep me out of trouble 2d6

I hate bullies 2d8

Bunny is so smart 1d6

BELONGINGS

Horse - Bunny

Rifle - doesn't shoot it much, just beats with it

Consecrated Earth

Book

---------------------------

Name: Cain Gareth

Background: Complicated History

STATS

Acuity: 3d6

Heart: 4d6

Body: 4d6

Will: 4d6

TRAITS

2d4 Irresponsible

2d4 Brash

Quick and Agile 2d10

1d6 Tough

1d6 New and Interested in the Dogs

RELATIONSHIPS

3d6 Childhood Friends

BELONGINGS

Coat - with friends' patches

Revolver

Long knife

Horse - Equus

Consecrated Earth

Book

---------------------------

Name: Anadarch Keelson

Background: Strong History

STATS

Acuity: 4d6

Heart: 3d6

Body: 2d6

Will: 4d6

TRAITS

2d6 Quickdraw 2d8 Lucky

1d6 Good Looks 1d10 Sight of God

1d10 Outdoorsman 3d8 Hand of Righteous Fury

1d10 Hand of Light Protect the Innocent During Intiation 1d6

RELATIONSHIPS

1d4 Lt. Hates Me

1d8 Backing of Brothers

1d8 Packmaster (natural leader)

BELONGINGS

Coat - with slots to grab pistols

Father's pistol and 2 others

Tomahawk

Good boots

Book of Life

Horse - coudn't read the horse's name on his sheet, written too small

Consecrated Earth

Hat

[Paka]

GM's Note:

We talked about the game itself and I mentioned that I'd like this to be a five session game in total. I said that consider this a TV mini-series and the Serpent is the Big Bad (to use Buffy terms). They'll find him at the end of the series, but for now, just deal with the town in front of ya.

I'll write more later, including a purty short story with the game's going's on.

My players are beginning to get the style I'm using for this game.

It ain't a murder mystery. Even tonight they were looking for clues, checking for the plot twists.

No, Seth really DID got on a murderous rampage, obsessed with the idea that violence could solve everything.

Yes, his sister was really raped by Shem, making Seth's rampage problematic.

But he killed Shem's innocent wife too.

Dammit, everything we've heard has been more or less true. There are no clues to pick out.

Now what? Now we do our job as Dogs and judge the sins of the weak.

This game isn't about figuring out what happened or how it happened. It is about knowing what happened and judging how to deal with it. It is about acting with a Licence to Kill from GOD, knowing that your bullets have divine mandate.

It has changed the way I GM and the way we think about gaming quite a bit.

New Gidea is the second session of a total of five. The Serpent's out there.

I've got some questions about between game stuff, specific questions that I will post on the Lumpley forums later, when I'm less burnt out.

[U_C]

This game sounds fabulous Paka, you did enough on your original thread to sell me on the game as it was but if not then the write up would have convinced me that I wanted to play\run this game.

Oh and Old Scratch, your Charnel Gods thread inspired me to run that as well, if my group will go for it.

Just wanted to say I love to read your posts guys.

Cheers
Steve

[PTiKachu]

My players are used to me giving false leads and having them dig up clues, especially in Delta Green. This sounds like a very different style I'd like to try the next time I run Dogs. With very different personalities among my Dogs, I'm pretty sure fireworks will ensue.

One of my players, the guy who ran "Malachi" in my game, was giving lots of feedback about my Sunday Dogs game at lunch today. He is really anxious about the way one of the other players (running "James") is executing sinners. I hope to give them a real hum-dinger of a moral problem to judge in the next town they go to.

Will post a play thread whenever we get back to Dogs in the Vineyard.

[Paka]

Blood in New Gidea

“Every tool is a weapon if you hold it right.”
- Ani Difranco

Leaving Eden

The Dogs left Eden amidst fond farewells, gleeful children waved their hands keeping pace with their horses for a quarter mile and young ladies putting garlands of apple-blossoms around their necks. The sight of a pack of Dogs was always a relief to the Faithful but there was also a relief to seeing them off.

The Dogs had come to Eden and they hadn’t dragged anyone into the street and shot them despite problems, despite pride taking root, turning into lies and sin. The only mark the Dogs left was an impending marriage between the Steward’s eldest daughter and one of the Ibex boys. The wounded Ibex boy was being cared for by Benny, whose healing touch had so deftly taken the glass from Jeremiah’s shoulder. His gut shot was a terrible thing, though, and his life was held in a precarious balance.

Leaving Benny behind to see to the Ibex boy’s health the Dogs set out west, towards the white line on the horizon. Anadarch took a different route, hoping to find the Serpent who had gotten away.

Jeremiah and Cain traveled west for days. The scrublands and hills flattened out and any sign of green became more and more rare. Their skins were becoming dry enough and their horses dry mouthed so that Jeremiah began to worry when New Gidea came into view.

New Gidea was a growing town on the eastern edge of the flat desert region. The paper mills and glue factories could be smelled from outside of town along with the leather tanners and ink vats. New Gidea was a newfound town where the Desert Territory’s Books of Life were being printed. For the first time, the Faithful’s bibles would come from the west without having to travel across the plains while lining the pockets of some cabal of business-men Back East.

Jeremiah and Cain were greeted by an old man on the outskirts of town with a double-barreled shotgun, hammers pulled back, primed and ready to fire at the squeeze of a trigger.

Jeremiah put out his hand, fingers spread in the sign of the Tree of Life and delivered an official Watchdog greeting. “We are Watchdogs of the Lord. Tell us of New Gidea and any problems therein.” The stiffness of his delivery was still evident but some of it had fleeted.

The old man squinted. “Ye couldn’t be the Dogs we sent for, rider only left a day ago. No, ye were ordained by the Lord. Praise be. New Gidea’s got problems, Dogs. New Gidea’s got itself a murderer on the loose and if I find him first, he’ll meet both barrels of my shotgun here.”

DM's Note:

I was much more comfortable with the system with this game and really felt like i had my feet under me. The game was smooth and fast.

[Paka]

Balaam’s Sorrow

Balaam’s face was shrunken with age, as if his mouth was somehow slowly swallowing the rest of his wrinkled, bald head. The Dogs noted his unshaven face and exhausted eyes that had sunken into his face. He had been living out of doors for some time and it was showing its strain.

“Y’all are here to avenge the murder of my son and his young bride, no doubt.”

“If that be God’s will,” replied Cain.

“It will be or else you ain’t listening hard enough,” Balaam replied and Jeremiah nearly jumped.

“Sir, that is mighty prideful of ya to talk to Dogs like that.”

“Sorry, brother, I am sorry,” Balaam looked to the ground and let his shotgun muzzle drop down to the earth. “Seth killed my son and his beautiful wife. He shot ‘em in their marriage bed. He shot for no good reason.”

Cain asked, “Why don’t you tell us the whole story, sir.”

“Seth Betheldom is the Master Printer in town. He was schooled in some big-shot university Back East. He was supposed to help our town print the Book of Life and take it to the Faithful throughout the Territory.

“Day he come back we were making our first big shipment of the Book and bandits hit our town, runaway soldiers. He shot their leader four times and then went and then, drunk on violence, used the final two bullets in his pistol to shoot my boy and his wife.”

The Dogs exchanged looks. “We’ll look into it, sir. Rest assured of that.”

Balaam pointed towards the town. “The Steward’s easy to find. His house is attached to the Temple. Though he’s preaching mercy and the like. Don’t take his word on no lies about my son.”

Balaam watched them ride away. “Please kill the murdering bastard. Please Lord let ‘em kill him.”

The Good Ole Hoop

The Temple for the town was one of the four buildings around the town’s central well. When folk saw Jeremiah and Cain enter the town they nodded. Some yelled, “Hang ‘em high!” as they road past. Others just muttered to the person next to them, “Well, just in the nick of time. Praise the Lord.” The Dogs watered their horses first while children loudly played around the well, running and screaming.

“I shot you! I shot you!” one of the boys yelled, his fingers making the shape of an imaginary pistol.

“Did not!” another boy disagreed, falling to the dust anyway, preparing to die.

“Did too! You was the Seth and I caught ya and shot you for your sins.”

“I don’t wanna be the Seth no more. You be the Seth and I’ll hunt you and kill ya.”

Jeremiah looked at Cain and walked over to the boys who were to busy playing to notice the quilted trench-coats on the newcomers. Immediately their mouths gaped open.

“You here to shoot Seth, Watchdog, sir?” one of the boys asked, naked awe showing on his face.

“I’m here to do the Lord’s will. You said you didn’t want to be Seth in this game. Why is that? Why don’t you want to be Seth?”

“Cause if I was Seth, you’d come and kill me for doing murder and the like. I’d be a hunted man who had to leave his family and friends to live the life of a no-good fugitive.”

“Because if you were Seth,” Jeremiah corrected, “You would be a man who had sinned and made a heinous mistake. Your life would be complicated and awful. That’s what sin does, makes your life complicated and awful.”

The boys nodded, earnestly.

“Don’t you boys have other games you could be playing? When I was a boy I had this lovely hoop. So many good games a boy can play with a good hoop. Throw rocks through the hoop, take a stick and roll it around town. All kindsa games we played with that ole hoop.”

“We got us a hoop and a stick but we wanted to play something different.”

Jeremiah went back to horses after telling the boys, “Go play with your hoop and leave Seth to us.”

“Yessir,” the boys chorused, running from the town square to go find their long lost hoop.

Meeting Amasina

The Temple was of goodly size with a bell-tower and a fine porch. On the porch was an older woman with gray hair tied back in a neat bun and knitting needles on her lap. The boys could tell from her milked over eyes that she was blind.

They walked up the Temple steps with hats in hand just as horses rounded the corner. A slim older man with a neatly trimmed gray beard got off one of the horses and hitched it near the water trough.

“Go home and sup with your families, men. We’ll head back out in a half an hour. Those blood posses will be eating dinner on the trail so eat fast and be back at the Temple in good time. I know you won’t let me down, know that you won’t make me go out there to look for Seth alone.”

A chorus of promises met the Steward as he climbed the steps and saw the Watchdogs of the Lord. He smiled and touched the blind woman’s shoulder, kissing her on the cheek. “Thank the lord, brothers. I know you aren’t here from our messenger sent to the Watchdog’s Temple. He only left a day ago. You must be here due to good ole fashioned providence.”

Jeremiah responded, “What we hear, you could use some providence hereabouts. I’m Jeremiah and this here is Cain.”

“I’m Elihu and this here is my fine wife, Amasina. I’m going to get washed up. Amasina will make sure you get some cold water in ya. I know she will be a wise hostess, my wife.”

Leaving puzzled Watchdogs in his wake, Elihu headed into the Temple to wash up for his guests. Cain and Jeremiah were left with Amasina.

“May I be so bold as to touch your trenchcoats, gentlemen? I can’t see you but there is a lot I could tell about you from your fine, quilted coats.”

The Dogs gently laid their coats on Amasina’s lap.

“You’ve seen some action, sir,” she remarked to Jeremiah, whose coat had a rip in it and still some blood clung to the collar from their duties in Eden. “How long have you boys been off the mountain and in the Vineyard?”

“Not yet a week, ma’am.”

“We’re on the trail of a Serpent,” Cain remarked.

“I was a Dog before my vision was taken in the line of duty. I could sew up your jackets of any rips or tears. I’m a fair hand with a needle.

“This here town is ready to explode. You two are here in the nick of time.”

Cain asked, “How did you lose your vision.”

She grimaced, thinking back on those days with her trench-coat and pistols. “There was an explosion…a mishap.”

Jeremiah asked, “Could we ask you to appraise us of the situation?”

“You probably heard that Shem and his fine wife Naomi were killed. Master Printer by the name of Seth done the killing. Turns out he got off the carriage from his journey across the Plains. He walked into some bandits who were robbing our payroll of the money we had made from our first Bible shipment.

“He put four bullets in the bandit’s chest. Wish I had seen it or gotten a look at him. Sounded like he took the gun out of his bag, as if he had gotten the pistol Back East or perhaps acquired it on his journey to the Desert Territory.

“Some heard him mutter something about the bullets he had put in the Bandit weren’t meant for this work. He stomped off and shot Shem and Naomi in their beds. Plenty of folk had seen him walk into their house and walk down the streets with his pistol out.”

“Now we have one bandit locked up with four bullets in him, might not live the night. The other three are locked up in the Territorial Authority Lock-up. There are posses that are hunting Seth for the blood they say is on his hands and there are those who are calling for the hanging of the bandits.”

“Rough situation,” Cain remarked, still taking it all in.

“Get’s worse,” Amasina continued, “Rumor is that Shem raped Seth’s sister, Clarissa, and that’s why he shot him. Word is that Clarissa wrote him a letter about Shem’s having treated her rough while Seth was Back East. None are sure why he kill’t Naomi too. So there are also those who want Seth to walk away from this a hero.”

The Dogs Take Action

Elihu returned to the porch, having freshened up from his time on the trail. “I hope my wife was a good hostess.”

Cain nodded. “She was superb. Can you call the town to the Temple, Steward? Ring the bells, perhaps? We should talk to them all at once to avoid any confusion.”

“We could,” the Steward said, “but those that are hunting Seth won’t come in when they hear the bells.”

Jeremiah, a little shocked at the sudden calling of a town meeting, looked over at Cain, proudly looking at his brother dog with new eyes. “I’ll deal with the posse, Steward. You, Cain, deal with this town meeting.”

The bell began to ring loud and clear. The folk of New Gidea put down their dinner forks and gathered their families to make way to the Temple. Word had spread that two Watchdogs had ridden into New Gidea at dusk; everyone wanted to know what the visitors had to say.

Cain shook his head emphatically at Brother Jeremiah. “I thought you would talk to the people. I’m no good in front of crowds, Jeremiah. You’re the face.”

Jeremiah laughed. “You called the meeting, Cain. This is your meeting so you will arbitrate. I’ll go out and find the posses and get them to go home. You’ll do fine, I’m sure.”

Nervously, Cain watched the Faithful of New Gidea shuffle into the Temple. They all eyed the Dog with a mix of suspicion and awe.

Calm in his saddle, Jeremiah rode out into the night to meet these posses and send them where they belonged, home with their families.

Cain’s Temple Sermon

The people of New Gidea looked up at Cain, the Steward, Elihu, and Amasina sat before them.

Elihu approached the pulpit and the crowd hushed. “New Gidea has seen its share of blood these past days and thankfully the Lord has sent us aid. Here is Brother Cain to talk to us about the aid the Watchdogs can offer.”

Cain looked out and saw the fear in their eyes. The bloodshed had been hard on these folk. Balaam sat on the front pew, shotgun leaned against the wall. He could see Clarissa, Seth the murderer’s wronged sister, whom the dead Sheb was said to have raped. He could also see Seth’s bereft wife.

“People of New Gidea, we are going to see that justice is done,” Cain said simply.

Silence sat like a wool shroud over the congregation. Cain was done talking.

Murmers began, “What’s that mean?”

Cain replied, “It means that the Dogs are here. Seth will be found, the truth will be uncovered and justice will be done.”

“What’s justice?” someone asked.

Balaam, Clarissa and a host of other members of the congregation began to scream at the top of their lungs about their own definitions of justice.

Cain replied with his pistol, putting a bullet into the roof of the Temple. Holding the smoking pistol, a hulking piece of iron, brass and wood, barrel pointed to God to accentuate his point, Cain repeated his statement. “Justice will be done.”

Leaving the Faithful to decide what that meant, Cain holstered his pistol and walked out of the Temple.

Jeremiah’s Torchlight Sermon

The posse was easy to find. They were brandishing torches and making enough noise to rouse the Devil himself from a slumber. In the distance, the Temple bells were ringing, calling the congregation home.

Enoch, the posse’s leader, stood on a bail of hay with a rifle in his hand. Jeremiah waited outside the torchlight, listening to Enoch’s words.

“-think we’re stupid. Those bells are meant to call us back from our hunt. Rumors of Dogs in town…as if the messenger could’ve even reached the mountains by now.

“There is no fire and there is no emergency other than the murderer on the loose. We don’t hear no bells because they are false.”

Jeremiah rode into the torchlight, allowing the bright colors of his trench-coat to speak for the rumors of Dogs in New Gidea. “Don’t you boys have anything better to do? As if y’all are going to catch this man with your torches burning in the night. C’mon, now.”

Enoch locked eyes with the young Dog who was smiling big, as if this was a friendly discussion on a festival-day. The rabble-rouser knew this was going to be a battle of wills. If he lost, his hard-won posse would amble home. If he won they would hunt through the night until they saw the murderer brought to justice.

Jeremiah smiled. “Go home, gentlemen. If there is a murderer on the loose, shouldn’t you be with your families?”

Enoch spit. “Shouldn’t you be out here looking for this man lest you and your wives are next.”

Jeremiah countered. “The Dogs are here and this is our calling. We will see to the catching of this man.”

Enoch added, “More eyes is more chance to bring him. We aren’t working against you. We’ll bring him to ya once we’ve got the bastard.”

Jeremiah looked shocked. “The bastard? What would your ma say if she heard that kind talk?”

Enoch, despite it all, blushed. “She’d whoop me good, I reckon.”

“And whoop you, she should. She sounds like a fine woman. Shouldn’t you do her right and go home. I know your ma’s wouldn’t want you all out here. So go home for you ma’s sake. Go home to your wives and families. Eat supper with ‘em and think about the anger that brought you out here.

“It isn’t like you are going to find anyone while brandishing torches at night. If he is out here somewhere, he can see ya from a mile or two away. He will be gone before you ever get near him.”

Talk of mothers broke their will. Suddenly, the rifles in their hands seemed silly and the torches just plain foolish. Enoch’s mischievous eyes darted from his breaking men and the Dog. He considered charging the Dog and taking him off his horse. If the young Dog was whooped here in front of everyone they might stay. Despite Enoch’s considerable stones, he didn’t have the stones to jump a Dog just yet.

Enoch began to trot away before Jeremiah stopped him. “No, Enoch, not you. Why don’t you stay here with me.” Jeremiah grinned that good ole boy smile of his. “Ride me back to town lest I get lost on the way.”

Still to come in New Gidea:

Cain and the Lynch Mob

Enter Anadarch

Hellions Reunited

Boy’s Gotta Drink

Clarissa’s Sermon on the Porch

Jeremiah and the Prophet of the Gun

Cain and the Murder Flies

Anadarch and Jeremiah Have Words

Satan’s Own Pistol Takes a Final Shot

New Gidea Witnesses the Dogs’ Judgement

[DannyK]

Darn. That's awesome. Does that countrified talk come natural to you, Paka, or is it the gift of the Lord?

Edit: cursing seems inappropriate in this thread, somehow.

[Paka]

Damn. That's awesome. Does that countrified talk come natural to you, Paka, or is it the gift of the Lord?

It is a gift of having watched Firefly and Deadwood in their entirety within a period of a few weeks.

Thanks for reading. Glad you liked it.

[lumpley]

Nobody'll be surprised that I'm following this closely.

Cain's Temple Sermon kicks serious ass. Wish I'd been there for it.

-Vincent

[Paka]

Cain and the Lynch Mob

Cain left the Temple unsure if he had achieved the result he was looking for. He didn’t like talking in front of big crowds and this was his first time addressing a Congregation like that.

Down the street, in front of the Territory Regulator’s office was a lynch mob, plain and simple. They had ruck-sacks over their heads with holes cut out for the eyes. Their torches were lighting up the evening and a man was kneeling in front of them while they held the Territory Marshal, a young member of the Faith, at gunpoint.

The bandit, kneeling in the dirt before the lynch mob was crying. Snot and spit was coming out of his mouth as he bawled, begging for mercy. His cries for mercy were answered when one of the mob leveled their Winchester rifle at the base of his skull, cocking the lever action so a bullet was in the barrel, ready to kill.

Cain tried to reason with ‘em but he was through talking for the evening. When they gave him lip, their masks giving them bravery they wouldn’t have otherwise felt when confronting a Dog, he jumped on his horse and rode at them full tilt.

He knocked the one with a rifle to the ground and threw the soon-to-be-shot bandit over the back of his horse. The other members of the mob watched the Dog ride away, not quite ready to shoot a Watchdog in the back.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” the bandit pleaded.

“Give me some quiet or I’ll turn around and leave you back there.”

In quiet they road away, finding a nice alley to rest a while. The evening’s events had taken their toll on Cain and he needed a moment to catch his breath.


Enter Anadarch

Anadarch rode into town alone, just as the Congregation left after Cain’s sermon about justice and his plans to mete it out.

He caught bits and pieces of the town’s situation and wasn’t sure what to make of it all. He stopped an elderly couple walking home from the Temple.

The wife stepped up to talk to the newly arrived Dog. “You must be the other Dog we heard about. Heard there was two of ya.”

Anadarch looked down at the couple from his horse.

“Seems to me that this Seth fella deserves to die and its good and right that a Dog’ll be the ones to do it. That Clarissa ain’t nothing but a no-good hussy, talkinga bout the dead the way she is. She’s digging up trouble where there is none if you ask me.”

“I didn’t ask you,” Anadarch said simply. “I am stunned by your pride.”

“My pride?” the woman questioned. “I say things the way I see ‘em and tell no lies, son.”

“Son? Ma’am, it is my job to judge and not yours. Go home and think on that. Let the Dogs do their jobs and we’ll let you go on with your lives should they be covered in righteous acts.

“It isn’t your place to judge other members of the Congregation.”

Feeling chastised like a little girl and shooting her husband dirty looks for now defending her, the wife walked away.

Anadarch led his horse into town, looking for his brother dogs to hear the full story of the troubles in New Gidea.


Hellions Reunited

When Jeremiah told Enoch that Cain was the name of his brother Dog and partner the troublemaking rabble-rouser about fell out of his horse.

“We grew up together in Chariot Falls. We raised he-. We raised heck together as young-uns. He made it, huh? He’s a Dog now? Dang. Dang, but that’s just great news.”

They found Cain in the alley, with the almost-lynched bandit in front of him. Enoch rain over to his old friend and gave him a great big hug. Quickly, they fell into banter like when they were boys.

Anadarch joined them and got caught up on the going’s on in New Gidea.

Jeremiah started in on the bandit who broke so quickly under the young Dog’s questions that it hardly felt like work at all.

The bandit stammered out his side of the story.

“I was in the Territorial Authority Army but we deserted, y’see. Had to surround this village of Mountain Folk…slaughtered men, women and child. I couldn’t stomach it. None of us could.”

Jeremiah interjected. “So you took to thievin’?”

“Yessir, we did. We heard this town was well-to-do so we waited until we knew the payroll was good and fat and we struck.”

Jeremiah asked, “Ain’t no more bandits waiting for us, are there? Any who didn’t get caught?”

The bandit shook his head. “No, that greenhorn took the wind outta our sails.

“We had the money and were on our way out when he come up outta nowhere. He shot our boss in the chest…must’ve been four times and then told us the last two bullets wasn’t meant for us but he’d let us have ‘em if we wanted.

“None of us wanted to get shot. We backed down.”

“Where did he get the gun?” Anadarch asked.

The bandit shrugged. “I dunno. His bag, I seem to recall. Not sure where he got it before that.”

Jeremiah asked, “Are you of the Faith?”
“No, sir.”

“Have you ever read the Good Book?”

“No, sir. I can’t make out no words.”

Jeremiah shook his head. “That is about the saddest thing I ever heard of. Well, the Territorial Authorities will deal with you, son. Yes, they will but until then you are going to the Temple where you will listen to Bible stories and think about your no-good life and repent. Do you understand?”

Realizing that he isn’t going to get shot, the bandit accepted these terms and was led to the Temple by the Watchdogs of the Lord. Once there the Steward’s wife recited stories from the Book of Life from her memory and he sat at the foot of her rocking chair and listened as if his life depended on it.

It did.

[lumpley]

Talk mechanics to me, Judd. I can see them implied in the story, but I want to know what's working and what isn't. I miss your little GM notes, at least!

Jeremiah started in on the bandit who broke so quickly under the young Dog’s questions that it hardly felt like work at all.
I know that one! All those dice hit the table, I look at mine, I look at the player's, I look at mine, and I'm like, "aw man, I give. He spills, you don't have to barely scowl at him. Here's what he says..."

-Vincent

[Paka]

Vincent,

The group's really got a handle on the mechanics now. Some players take a little too long to figure out which dice to throw out in the beginng of combat and which to save for the endgame.

We have a few rules thoughts that I will compile and post over at the Forge for discussion because I don't have my notes in front of me at the moment.

The game's working well. We've run the third town, Jericho Flats and it went really well. Each game is a surprise, a pleasant shocking surprise.

I said that this mini-campaign was going to be five sessions long, so I'm looking forward to finishing it up and if we want, re-visiting it at a later date if we care to.

What I like is that there is no frivolous rolling of dice. When dice are rolled something tangible is at stake, something that matters and is worth fighting for. I sketch out my write-ups from listing the conflicts that take place.

Good game. More to come.