Dogs in the Vineyard

[jack]

There's a flash animation illustrating the Dogs in the Vineyard game here: http://www.browserbeware.com/images/dogs.html :)

That's the wild-west mormon troubleshooters game, hopefully someone will explain it will in the comments section, as I think it's cool, but haven't quite hit on a well-worded explanation yet :)

Comments

[scribb1e.livejournal.com]

pw201 posted about Dogs in the Vineyard here.

It does sound a cool idea, especially for the 'raising the stakes' mechanism that really fits with the Old West theme. On the other hand, it's fundamentally about forcing orthodoxy on other people. I find that a bit squicky.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that was one of the comments that reminded me about it. I loved the CU idea :)

On the other hand, it's fundamentally about forcing orthodoxy on other people. I find that a bit squicky.

Do you mean, on the players, or on the NPCs? I thought that was actually one of the most interesting things; roleplaying an alternate, strict, morality, and if anything, likely to reflect interestingly on the real world.

Most roleplaying games have an idea of alternate moralities in there ("I want to play someone honorable", "I want to kill orcs"), but not to the same extent.

[scribb1e.livejournal.com]

I liked the idea of the fashion police enforcing good taste on the population. That would be fun to play :-)

roleplaying an alternate, strict, morality

I suppose it's a matter of taste. I'd happily trick, seduce or manipulate in a game, but not kill or torture sentient creatures (orcs are people too!) or persecute those who think differently. A character who would want to do those things would not be fun for me to play.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

I liked the idea of the fashion police enforcing good taste on the population. That would be fun to play :-)

:)

I once envisaged a comic story where the grammar police actually existed, but as soon as I tried to write a few words, I discovered (a) it didn't work very well and (b) it immediately became extremely depressing :)

A character who would want to do those things would not be fun for me to play.

*shrug* Yeah, it's what you like. I do enjoy something like "kill puppies for satan", even though I always have a tendency to revert to something approaching my actual belief system if I have any leeway, but it's obvious not everyone would.

OTOH, DitV does seem designed to pose interesting questions; the sexism and racism inherent made me shudder when I first saw it, but it seems designed to examine those beliefs, not just enforce them.

And I know that if I played something like DitV without an external anchor of the beliefs that were supposed to exist, I'd just immediately try to convert everyone to atheism, which might be interesting, but is too much like real life :)