Character Creation: Dogs in the Vineyard

Arf, arf, grapes. Actually dogs shouldn't eat grapes.

The Game: Dogs in the Vineyard
The publisher: Lumpley Games, though it's not available anymore
Degree of familiarity: Some. I played in a one-shot, and quite enjoyed it. I bought the book at...GenCon, maybe? No, must have been in Oakland, because I bought it after I played it. Anyway, I own it.
Books required: Just the Dogs in the Vineyard book. It recommends that you wait for the group to get together for chargen, and obviously that's preferable, but only works if you have a group.

 
Last time, I played a very angry, spiteful violent Dog. This time, I'm going to do something different, I just don't know what, yet.

Step One: Choose Background. Last time I took Complicated Community. This time, I think I'll take Strong History. That's if you want "good education, lots of experience, or specialized training." I think my character was from "back East," the civilized part of the country, where the Faith hasn't taken hold and everyone's all corrupt and decadent and so on. I think my character is a Houdini-esque fellow, not a magician, but a debunker of myth and superstition. The faddish seances and Tarot readings that folks take part in back East aren't anything other than attempts to bilk honest folks from their money, and my character kept moving West, exposing such frauds.

And then somewhere along the way, he found a seance that wasn't a seance. This was no money-making scheme, there was actually something happening. But it wasn't what was supposed to be happening; this wasn't a "contact Uncle Harry to make peace," this was "allow something unclean into the world." And my character (named Arthur Stone) exposed it just as he always did, and got shot in the belly for his trouble. Fortunately, a group of Dogs was there as well (just a little late), and exorcised the demon as well as saving Arthur's life. For the first time, he found himself something he could believe in, and it was enough to make him join the Faith. The Steward in the next town over saw Arthur's potential, and sponsored his training as a Dog.

OK, numbers. Second Step: Stats. The four Stats are Acuity, Body, Heart and Will. I see this guy as having decent numbers in Acuity and Heart, but being all-around capable. I have to put at least 2d6 in each one. Divided evenly, that'd give me 3d6 with 1d6 left over. I think we'll do that, and put the extra in Acuity.

Third Step: Traits. I have to say, I really, really like games that arrange traits like this. With Great Power does it, My Life With Master kinda does it, Spirit of the Century and therefore Houses of the Blooded, too. Instead of (or in addition to) taking traits from a pre-assigned list or pumping numbers into skills, I get to tell my character's backstory in a way that has a direct and measurable effect on the game. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the challenge of coming up with a backstory and then explaining it in terms of the numbers (which is pretty much any game with a point-buy or random system, with the exception of D&D because the characters start so weak that backstory doesn't make much sense), but it's really nice to be able to just make shit up.

With that in mind, I get 3d6, 4d8, 3d10 to define Arthur's traits.

OK, right off, I'll take "I'm a converted Dog" at 1d6. I'll take "Doesn't miss a trick" at 3d8; that's an important thing for Arthur. I'll take "We don't use guns back East" at 1d8, and just to keep that outsider vibe going, I'll take "Unused to Western frankness" at 2d6 (he assumes everyone lies, or at least sugarcoats).

That leaves my d10s. I'll take "Man of the world" at 2d10 and "I can't stand to see people get swindled" at 1d10.

Step Four: Relationships. I have 1d4, 3d6 and 2d8 in Relationships, but I'm supposed to leave most of them unassigned so I can forge them in play. Since I have a d4 here and that's going to complicate Arthur's life, I assign it to "Doctor Wences, Traveling Charlatan." He's a salesman and "medium" who's a total phony, but he does make things hard on Dogs by tempting folks. I'll also give myself a relationship with Sister Sylvia, one of the Dogs that came to my rescue after the incident with the seance-gone-pear-shaped. Finally, I take "Family back home" at 1d8, and that leaves 1d8 and 1d6 available.

Fifth Step: Belongings. You can just assign these as you see fit, with some input from the GM and the other players, neither of which I have. So I'll take my Coat (which I'll talk about anon) at 2d6 because it's excellent, a revolver (1d6+d4, nothing special), a horse (1d6, nothing special), a jar of dirt, the usual. I reckon he's also got a book of tricks - he writes down the nifty cons he's heard and seen. That's significant to require dice, and I think the book is excellent, so it's 2d6.

His Coat was made for him by the family that almost got suckered by the demonic seance. It's not as grand as some other Dogs' coats, and it's nowhere near as colorful, but that's because those folks are a little farther East than most (but now very much part of the Faith, thanks). His coat is mostly black, while, silver and yellow, but it has bits of blue and red in it if you look carefully.

Sixth Step: Accomplishment. Now, this would normally be my first scene, which I can't do because duh, no GM, but I can at least make the statement that would start us off. So, I hope that Arthur learned to ride during his initiation, because he's not used to horses (not as common back East).