Dogs in the Black: Characters

[daftnewt]

Here's the cast of characters from our VoiP game of Firefly (Dogs in the Vineyard rules). So far Aune, Moriarty and Kazimir have formed the core group, and are working out a solid relationship among themselves at the cost of only one gunshot wound, a concussion, and some bruising that will go away in time - it's been positively amicable.

THE CAPTAIN

Comments

[mneme]

Group feeling unclear = the group mostly likes them, but daftnewt doesn't. :-P

Mostly, the wings in concept serve a similar purpose to the psyshic stuff, with very different emphasis. (but a not-dissimilar arc) -- at first, they're a curiousity and signal to Lionel of what's been done to Ria (and utterly non-functional; possibly even incomplete; certainly the viewers don't get to know what the scabs covering her back are, though Lionel presumably suspects). Overall, they should be a detriment at best in early season 1, turn into a plot hook at some point midway through the season, and at a good point, we can have a shot with Ria, standing utterly bewildered, with the wings fully extended behind her, and go from there. Finale and Season 2, all bets are off; Ariadne starts off a bit more capable than River does, simply because of the needs of an RPG game and the plot differences, but functional wings kick that up a notch, even if they aren't usable for flight, just gliding and combat. (Hmm. That does argue for Wings 2d4 at start, though).

I'm a bit surprised that you're leaving 2nd season open for psychic powers -- as you describe it here matches my initial thoughts (particularly, in what would likely have happened on the show had it had another season or four; at the rate they were kicking it up, I'd have expected at least as much psychic stuff as they showed in the movie, and probably more), but your on-list take seemed more negative.

[mneme]

Hmm. Note that Lisa's comment about the Dogs experience rules punishing players for having infrequent-attendence-by-design characters is just as true for Ria (and Lionel). I can probably compensate for this by pushing for more trivial conflicts when I do show up (any would be an increase; I should have had the Lionel/Ria conflict be rolled as a sideline to playing it, but was avoiding for metagame reasons) and not holding back on how my use of conflict/fallout.

[daftnewt]

Group feeling unclear = I didn't like the (initial description of) psychic powers, Myles didn't like it, and no-one else spoke up on the subject (that I remember); I think the wings are cheesy, Myles thought the wings were cheesy; he was willing to give them a pass, I'm not without further persuasion, and no-one else spoke up on the subject :-)

My own problem in both cases is I don't feel these things fit the setting. If I'm running a game in the Bronze Age Aegean, you can't play a ninja. I think Firefly is emphatically not about tech or gadgets, and foldout razorsharp cyberwings are, well...cheesy.

Everyone should be happy; that includes me. Sell me on it. Tell me why it fits the setting, why it makes the setting better and the game more fun. Paint me a picture so cool I'll have no choice but to shout "yes!" Maybe there's some ninja-pirate equivalent that will look good on a pentekonter. :-)

I'm sorry if I appeared overly negative previously. I find it difficult to talk to you by text; your diction pushes weird buttons in my head. I do want us to have fun playing together.