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Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game)

 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game)
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TVTItem
 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game)
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Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game)
 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game)
page
DogsInTheVineyard
 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game)
comment
Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_1'); })Dogs in the Vineyard is a Tabletop RPG by D. Vincent Baker, who is also responsible for the games kill puppies for satan and Poison'd, as well as Apocalypse World. According to The Other Wiki, it won Indie RPG of the Year and Most Innovative Game in the Indie RPG Awards of 2004, and in 2005 it was nominated for a Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming.It can be described as a Western, set in a Fantasy Counterpart Culture to the Mormon-settled Deseret Territory of early Utah. The Player Characters are holy gunslingers known as "God's Watchdogs" or just Dogs, riding a circuit among various towns and villages of the Faithful. The Faithful believe in a controversial religion known as The Faith, properly The Faith in All Things in the King of Life, and heavily based on the historical beginnings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_2'); })Adhering to The Faith offers real, though somewhat intangible, protections from Demons. Therefore, if one of the Faithful sins, it's a major problem for the community at large; the town begins to slide towards sin, hatred and murder. The Dogs are sent in as preventive medicine, damage control and, of course, Exorcists.The thing about this game is that much of the doctrine of The Faith is deliberately left undefined. This means that the players invent most of the doctrine, and have authority as wandering prophets to reinvent and revise it. The Game Master is explicitly forbidden by the rules to second-guess the player's judgment: Only the players can do that, by gaining Fallout in the course of their struggles.Notable for having a system where your character's opinion could change as the result of an extended conflict, typically when you gain Fallout.Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_3'); })Compare Sorcerer and My Life with Master
 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game)
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2021-05-11T01:23:30Z
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2021-05-11T01:23:30Z
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Dropped link to CleanUpTheTown: Not a Feature - ITEM
 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game)
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DBTropes
 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_121865ac
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Noble Savage
 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_121865ac
comment
Noble Savage / The Savage Indian: Both tropes in play. The Mountain People are believed to be the remains of a former Faithful civilization. They are alternately feared & scorned or seen as a sign of hope. Dogs who are converted Mountain Folk are often put on a precarious pedestal.
 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_121865ac
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 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_17257125
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The Wild West
 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_17257125
comment
The Wild West: Mostly averted. The setting is more true to the historical Mormon territories than the saloons, gunfights, and general lawlessness of the typical Westerns. In terms of pop culture's view of history, it plays more like colonial America than a Western "shoot-out at high noon" game.
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Church Militant
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Church Militant: Your average PC when things get tough.
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Our Demons Are Different
 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_50ed1af4
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Our Demons Are Different: Demons in this game aren't physical monsters so much as a supernatural force of bad luck and misfortune. However, they can possess people and give them minor weird effects.
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Obliviously Evil
 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_51c70be6
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Obliviously Evil: Many of the people causing trouble in a community are doing something that seems pretty innocent but is against the tenets of the Faith and society, like meddling around in another family's affairs or acting outside of their gender role.
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Magic Is Evil
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Magic Is Evil: And often used unintentionally.
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The Teetotaler
 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_569a95e9
comment
The Teetotaler: Everyone. As pseudo-Mormons, they also don't drink coffee or black tea, and nearly no one smokes but the elderly.
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Screw the Rules, I Make Them!
 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_78c5ce7e
comment
Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: It's entirely within the Dogs' authority to rewrite divine law to suit the needs of a town.
 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_78c5ce7e
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 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_83adb272
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Crystal Dragon Jesus
 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_83adb272
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Crystal Dragon Jesus: The King of Life.
 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_83adb272
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 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_99390db0
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Saintly Church
 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_99390db0
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Saintly Church
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Judge, Jury, and Executioner
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Judge, Jury, and Executioner
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 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_b02f996a
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Town with a Dark Secret
 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_b02f996a
comment
Town with a Dark Secret: It's not uncommon to come across these, depending on how well the town's sin is hidden and how many people are in on it.
 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_b02f996a
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Film Noir
 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_b034d333
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Film Noir: Although set in The Wild West, the book mentions that typical games will be more like noirish mysteries than typical westerns.
 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_b034d333
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type
Genius Bonus
 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_b3d1b7e3
comment
It's a Genius Bonus if you know your Old Testament (or your Broadway musicals). Joseph had such a coat.
 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_b3d1b7e3
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 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_c011cd29
type
Path of Inspiration
 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_c011cd29
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Path of Inspiration: All beliefs other than the Faith. When a town gets too corrupted, they'll often sprout Corrupt Worship for the Dogs to contend with.
 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_c011cd29
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 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_cb70651c
type
Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane
 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_cb70651c
comment
Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Whether the Faith is true or just a vital social construct is left ambiguous; the game can be played with or without overt supernatural influence.
 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_cb70651c
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Lighter and Softer
 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_ce6555f0
comment
Lighter and Softer: Compare to Dead Lands, another Weird West TTRPG where the player characters battle supernatural horrors. A cowboy wizard who is empowered by demons is a Mook in Deadlands, and the BBEG in Dogs.
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 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_cedfd40a
type
Church Police
 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_cedfd40a
comment
Church Police: Players are "God's Watchdogs" ("Dogs"), who travel from town to town delivering mail, helping out the community and enforcing the judgements of the True Faith of the King of Life. This may involve anything from delivering new interpretations to the town's Steward to executing heretics.
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 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_d01cffbc
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Badass Longcoat
 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_d01cffbc
comment
Badass Longcoat: Each Dog has a colorful longcoat, hand-quilted by their family as a symbol of their station. It's a Genius Bonus if you know your Old Testament (or your Broadway musicals). Joseph had such a coat.
 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_d01cffbc
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 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game)
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 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_d7f21602
type
Holding Out for a Hero
 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_d7f21602
comment
Holding Out for a Hero — No town seems capable of solving their own problems... Justifiable, the PCs could be assumed to visit other towns that just aren't interesting enough to warrant a game session about them. In fact, most of what the Dogs do is deliver mail & news, preach, and heal the sick. It's just that the stories are about when things get tricky.
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 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_e0040f41
type
Start of Darkness
 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_e0040f41
comment
Start of Darkness: All towns in trouble follow the same pattern (until at some point the Dogs show up and hopefully put a stop to it all): someone's Pride leads to an act of Injustice, which provokes or descends further into Sin, which opens a town to a Demonic Attack (which is anything from natural disasters to human tragedy), whereas a town of faithful is protected from such harm. Over time, this leads to the spread of False Doctrine and Corrupt Worship led by a False Priesthood who can use Sorcery to command the demons, eventually ending in Hate and Murder. (whew!)
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Good Republic, Evil Empire
 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_e0f75086
comment
Good Republic, Evil Empire: Inverted. The Faithful live in US territories, subject to US territorial law, but most real authority and leadership comes from a benevolent theocracy. Conversely, "Back East" is pretty much a hotbed of apostasy, decadence, and persecution that the faithful moved west to escape.
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 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_e92841f
type
Talking the Monster to Death
 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_e92841f
comment
Talking the Monster to Death: Naturally, Dogs tend to solve the vast majority of their problems this way. To explain in more detail, the choice of how far to escalate any given encounter (from talking all the way to lethal force) is always in the hands of the players. You can often throw more weight behind a more dangerous encounter, but the consequences are much worse if you fail. It's often better to solve things with words.
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 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_fa6cd5d7
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Weird West
 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_fa6cd5d7
comment
Weird West: Depending on how overtly the supernatural aspects are portrayed.
 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_fa6cd5d7
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type
Badass Preacher
 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_fea42091
comment
Badass Preacher: Your average PC.
 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game) / int_fea42091
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Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game)

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 Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game)
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Badass Longcoat / int_723f3af4
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Dogs in the Vineyard (Tabletop Game)