thread: 2009-09-01 : Ninja vs Pirates vs Me - part 2
On 2009-09-22, Joel wrote:
I just got done listening to Part 2. The cool new Dogs nuance that jumped out to me: Relationship dice as disposable bennie points. It's obvious when you think about it, but I struggled forever with the dissonance of not getting to use those dice again once you leave town.
Vincent, there's an issue I'd like to discuss more deeply: You mentioned that though the book encourages group character creation, you never really see it happen—mostly folks just slump over their sheets scribbling away. You said that you're not really concerned about it, but for me, it's a fairly big pitfall in Dogs play. When the players aren't mutually bought in to each other's deal (bought in can range anywhere from "Ooh, secret witch? Then I'll be a zealous witch HUNTER—who's in love with you!" to "ooh, neat!")then play can be a bit lackluster and disconnected—"Oh, he goes there and does that? Eh, whatever. I'm going HERE and doing THIS!" I also occasionally run into disharmony of tone, like one guy playing serious while another's a clown, or one guy playing "thee and therefore" and another playing "howdy, y'all!"
I always thought that one of the (minorly) revolutionary things about Dogs was that it told you straight-up not to come to the table with your precious untouchable vision, or to sit around at home statting characters, outside the context of a group. I took it all very much to heart, but always had a bit of trouble actually facilitating the "group character creation" ideal. One thing I always tell myself to do, and usually forget, is to do the group character talk BEFORE handing out sheets—as you said, once everyone's furiously scribbling, all bets are off.
Any thoughts on how to facilitate this if you DO want it, or on why it's not a problem for you?
peace,
-Joel
