Toronto Dogs In The Vineyard:Lexicon

Lexicon is a group setting creation strategy. Players take the role of scholars and historians describing the setting where the players enact their adventures.

The rules for the creation of a Lexicon follow at the end of these entries.

Thanks to Neel Krishnaswami for inventing this game.

Set Up

"You are American historians from the late 20th century writing the 'real' history of the growth of your nation in the New World. Your focus is on the Territories, now called the State of Gilead, a prosperous and religiously conservative member of the United States of America. Some of you are conspiracy theorists writing revisionist histories of the fantastic events that took place in the mid-nineteenth century. Some of you are religious scholars recounting the birth and growth of a new religion in a new land. Some of you are skeptical or critical historians offering "rational" explanations of the fantastic legends that have been handed down in Gilead."

ROUND 1
So, Mark, Shawn and any other Indie RPGers.

• create a new entry under "ABC" that is followed up by citations of two other entries
• on the second round, pick up one of the citations created by someone else and fill out the details, and create a new entry that has 2 other citations

Lexicon Entries

(ABC)

The Abominations

The first settlers of this land encountered severe resistance from the native tribes. The "Mountain People," as the religious colonists called them, presented a hospitable front. But, secretly, a number of shamans and warrior societies conducted a fearsome campaign of terror. Mysterious disappearances, bloody sacrifices on the altars of the Departed Ones, and attacks in frightening disguises led to the creation of folk tales regarding the "Abominations." Members of the Faith spread stories of inuman monsters like fanged and tentacled demons, pale fish-eyed people, or sparkling clouds of deadly fog. These "Abominations" were used a pretext for strict measures by the Dogs for enforcing doctrinal adherence or punishing wrongdoers. Some of the tales of the Abominations have entered the folksongs of the region.

- Dr. Claude Henry Smoot, Professor of American History, University of Gilead (Bridal Falls Campus)

See also "Departed Ones," "Warrior Societies," & "Sacrificial Sites."

Anahiwa

At the time of contact, Anahiwa (his name means "Cut Arm") was the leader of the Drumhead band of Mountain People, whose traditional range included much of the central valley, including Bridal Falls City. Initially, the Drumhead welcomed the early pioneers and assisted them during the first deadly winter. However, as the Faithful began to plat Bridal Falls City and build permanent dwellings, Anahiwa came under increasing pressure to drive them from the ancestral lands. Although Anahiwa preached peace, there were a series of vicious raids against the Faithful sponsored by rival Tall Pine warriors, in which two men were killed and a woman - Patience Steese - was abducted. In reprisal, the Faithful razed two unguarded encampments of Drumhead and later killed seven braves. Even after this, Anahiwa approached the Elders and Ancients to seek a solution. He was immediately imprisoned, which sent his people on the warpath at last. Monish, Anahiwa's chief rival among the Drumhead and a formidable shaman, assumed command of the band. Word soon spread that the Tenskwatawa, the "Ghost Who Walks Through Doors" had arrived to assist them in driving out the Faithful, and many Mountain People rallied to their cause. Anahiwa converted to the Faith in prison. His son, Jacob, was called to be a Dog and served in that capacity with distinction.

- Dr. Carsten Lundegaard, Associate Professor of Anthropology, UG - Wahanish

See also "Monish," "Patience Steese," and "Tenskwatawa."

Rules

"You are cranky, opinionated, prejudiced and eccentric. You are also collaborating with a number of your peers -- the other players -- on the construction of an encyclopedia describing some historical period (possibly of a fantastic world)."

The game is played in 9 turns, one for each button of a push-button phone. 1 (ABC) 2 (DEF) 3 (GHI) 4 (JKI) 5 (LMN) 6 (OPQ) 7 (RST) 8 (UVW) 9 (XYZ)

1. On the first turn, each player writes an entry for any of the letters 'ABC'. You come up with the name of the entry, and you write 50-100 words on the subject. At the end of the article, you sign your name, and make two citations to other entries in the encyclopedia. These citations will be phantoms -- their names exist, but their content will get filled in only on the appropriate turn.

2. On the second and subsequent turns, you continue to write entries for DEF, GHI, KLM and so on. However, you need to make two citations. One must be a full explanation of an already-written entry, and one must a completely new, un-cited entry. (On the 9th turn, you can cite no phantom entries)

It's an academic sin to cite yourself, you can never cite an entry you've written. (OOC, this forces the players to intertwingle their entries, so that everybody depends on everyone else's facts.) Incidentally, once you run out of empty slots, obviously you can only cite the phantom slots.

3. Despite the fact that your peers are self-important, narrow-minded dunderheads, they are honest scholars. No matter how strained their interpretations are, their facts are accurate as historical research can make them. So if you cite an entry, you have to treat its factual content as true! (Though you can argue vociferously with the interpretation and introduce new facts that shade the interpretation.)

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