Are dice pools public knowledge in Dogs in the Vineyard/DOGS?

Question

I'm gearing up to play Dogs in the Vineyard (or more specifically, DOGS, since that's what's publicly available these days), and I don't see it explicitly stated whether the game master or players can see one another's dice pools during a conflict. I think the answer is yes (due to the emphasis on "no secrets"), but I'm not entirely sure. Am I just not seeing the relevant text? or is it simply assumed?

In case this is an X/Y problem: the main reason I'm thinking about this is Counters. If everyone can see their opponent's available dice, then there's no point in ever Raising with a number that your opponent could Counter; you're giving the opponent free resources, after all. Maybe the threat of a Counter is mainly to keep characters from trying to use small Raises in the first place, and if they're never an option in play, they're working as intended?

Answer 1

Dice pools are public knowledge in Dogs in the Vineyard.

All told, you take up 6d6 plus 1d8, and I take up 8d6.

[...] We roll all our dice. Leave 'em out on the table where everybody can see. You can push them around into order if you want.

You roll: 1 2 2 3 4 4 7. I roll: 1 1 1 3 4 5 6 6.

-- 'Conflict and Resolution: The Simple Case', Dogs in the Vineyard p. 57 (italics original, bolding mine)

Yes, this means that most times you're deliberately presenting somebody the opportunity to counter. You might want to do it as a deliberate attempt to get rid of an outlier high die in your opponent's pool. You might want to do it because this is a conflict you can survive getting smacked in, and you want to Take the Blow because that's the only way you'll grow.

Answer 2

In DOGS, explicitly yes

When I first asked the question, I had been close-reading the sections relevant to conflict. I should have paid closer attention to the preface, which explicitly says:

Everyone’s dice pool (including the NPCs controlled by the GM) should be visible to everyone else.

Answer 3

From the GM at least, this is an X/Y problem.

You say:

If everyone can see their opponent's available dice, then there's no point in ever Raising with a number that your opponent could Counter; you're giving the opponent free resources, after all.

In DitV, getting what you want has costs, in the form of Fallout and bad narrative outcomes.

When players see NPC dice laid out in front of them, one of these conditions is true:

• the NPC has used only a few of their Stats, so they can still Escalate and nobody knows what they might roll when they do;
• the NPC has rolled all of their Stats, which means they are fighting at least, possibly gunfighting, and the stakes of the conflict are high because Fallout is going to be harsh, and players might want to Give before something bad happens to an NPC they care about (because Giving avoids having to roll Fallout).

Other than that, winning conflicts can be bad for the narrative if the NPC managed to drive the narrative in a direction where, sure, they will lose... but they will end up the moral winner of the debate. Again, the PCs might choose to begrudgingly let them win the conflict to avoid making a martyr of their opponent.