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Dog Town: Core Rules
Publisher: Cold Blooded Games
by Carl M. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/25/2005 00:00:00

A pure crime game with much originality set in 1970?s New York, players are recently paroled criminals hell bent on getting their hands on $100,000 dollars within 90 days to be in on a deal that could set them up for life.

Dog Town is the real deal, a hardcore crime game that doesn?t pull it?s punches. It models itself on classic gangster films such as Goodfella?s, Donnie Brasco and Scarface and if you like those type of films you won?t be disappointed in this book because it is a very thorough treatment of the genre written in an engaging street style that perfectly suits the subject matter, bringing the violence, greed and treachery of the ghetto to life. Though if you are sensitive about swearing and graphic descriptions of violence then this product and probably the aforementioned films won?t be for you. However as a devotee of all things gangster I thought the book rocked.

First off there is a chapter dedicated to setting the scene and explaining the ethos of the game. This is nicely done with some real life examples of New York Gangsters from the time, appropriate movie quotes and some really atmospheric art of car chases and bathtub dismemberment. (Yes I did say that). Next in this section are maps the nine neighbourhoods that comprise Dog Town. These are digitally produced and very detailed. They are not very artistic like traditionally drawn maps, but serve the function of providing both an overview of the streets and detail of building interiors.

The Creating A Criminal chapter deserves a special mention as it is packed full of goodies. It uses a kind of unisystem design with three levels of criminal, worthless Punk, cool Gangster and awesome Anti-Hero and associated levels of character development points to spread around 10 core attributes, which are Bulk, Power, Toughness, Reflexes, Sense, Brains, Control, Style, Experience and Luck. These then produce through combinations some neat derived attributes with my favourite being a criminal?s hostility rating, which is a measure of how much he p***es people off and how many enemies he starts the game with. Other interesting features are the ten criminal types, which are beautifully depicted in a realistic non-stylised way. You can play an Asshole, Broker, Runner, Thief, Pimp Heister, Thug, Hustler, Dealer and Racketeer or a combination of two of these types. Each type gets 20 points to spend on particular attributes, special talents, skills and specializations that the criminal would more likely have. There is a wide variety of criminal orientated skills which are added onto bases made up of different combinations of attributes. This can take a bit of time to complete working through the list of skills, but once it is done it produces an ability rating from ?10 to 25, which in future is all that needs to be referred to. The quick reference sheets at the back of the book simplify this to eight bases, which makes things easier for generating throwaway mooks. Other features include a way of generating criminal contacts, a criminal history, a name and rating a criminal?s influence and notoriety.

The next chapter is called Doin A Lil Somin and is devoted to explaining the Split System

I particularly liked the Split System because it is both complex and simple at the same time. Use it fully with all its options and charts and it is complex, use the shortcuts and alternatives given and it is quick and straightforward with most actions resolved on one dice roll. This is done by taking into account the opponents ability when forming a ratio on a d20. Dead even then it will be a 10 vs. 10 split with the need to get over a 10. If your character is 2 points better than the opponent the split becomes an 8 vs. 12 with the need to get over 8. The chapter goes into great depth explaining typical criminal behaviour like running rackets, playing cards, high speed driving, getting questioned by the cops and breaking into things. Suffice to say it is comprehensive allowing you to work out pretty much anything a criminal might get into from going on the lam to putting in a fix with a lawyer to bribe a judge.

Thug Life is the hand to hand combat chapter and gives the player a lot of options. It?s a good combat engine in that it can be reduced to a few simple rolls or expanded into something with a lot to it. I liked the action point system used to resolve initiative and actions with the tactical decision on how to use those points, quick small attacks or large point costing homicidal ones.

The system encourages the use of tactics like hitting first and sneak attacks because it is very deadly and unforgiving (like a real street fight) with every successful hit a type of critical, not all serious but all carrying some effects like knock backs, blooded loss and stun tests. These are compiled in several weapon injury charts and are very well done if you like graphic gore in your combat. My favourite has got to be the street fighting chart with all its dirty debilitating eye gouges and testicle wrenching. If you don?t like injury charts then I guess then you could just use the injury values from the roll, but it is a big part of the book. Perhaps if there is another edition a simple subtract hit point version could be included to save looking at the charts.

Shootouts deal with gunplay and does it in the same comprehensive manner, with lists and stats of guns from the time, plenty of .38 revolvers and no 10mm semi?s. The system seems accurate in that under the right circumstances a well-placed .22 bullet will kill though in 95% of cases it won?t. I like weapon damage in systems to be variable and realistic like this and not fixed like a constant 1d4 against something like 40 hits. Again there are some fun charts with the multiple gunshot ones being particularly nasty. To save time these charts take three shots as a burst so it is possible to take guys out with some cool injury combinations. The rest of the chapter is concerned with planting bombs, hit and runs, fire and involuntary falls off high buildings.

Lastly there is the ubiquitous GM?s chapter or The Director?s Chair as it is called in Dog Town. This does the job quite well with rundowns of types of games such as asset management, traditional story line and free form play, where the player lives the day to day life of the criminal meeting his associates, avoiding his enemies and sussing out scores. I liked this aspect of the game, it has a sort of grand theft auto style feel to it in that you are encouraged to wander through the neighbourhoods interacting with people and finding things to do, or typically as it is steal. The chapter then goes onto explain the kind of headaches that the GM could throw at the players when there is a lull in the action, which was useful and more than fight four muggers. A minor criticism of this chapter would be that there could be a little more on how to actually run and set up games with players and how to deal with problems if they arise.

At the end of the chapter there is the player?s rap sheet and five quick reference sheets, which break attribute bases, skills and combat down into an easier bullet point format. What I would have liked included is a one page mook character sheet using the eight base attributes to work the skills.

Play

A concept underpinning the game as I understand it, is that criminals like their real life counterparts are deeply flawed people mostly destined for jail or bottom of a shallow grave. Doomed movie gangsters like Frank White from King Of New York, Carlito Brigante from Carlito?s Way and Tony Montana from Scarface. Unless the criminal pumps in some points to have a high self-control he is going to have some vices like those guys, which can cause the criminal some serious problems, and be a blast to play. I ran a game with two friends of mine who played petty heisters, two Irish brothers from Jefferson Heights (a neighbourhood in the game) with a penchant for hard drinking and heavy gambling. Their compulsions soon got them into a heap of trouble and they had to resort to holding up a Mob run card game to repay their debts, which created a whole new set of problems and some interesting plot lines. The two of them also went in for the good gangster vigilante slant to the game, which encourages and rewards player criminals for beating up child molesters and old lady purse snatchers with the respect of the community.

<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Dog Town has a cool vibe about it, some killer art, a great system and is serious fun to play for the price.

<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Not Much.

<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Dog Town: Core Rules
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Creator Reply:
Thanks for the comment I'm really pleased that you are enjoying the game. Your idea of having a one page quickie rap sheet using the general skill bases is a cracking idea. I've created one and its now free for download along with some cool wallpapers on the company site www.coldbloodedgames.com. Jonathan Ridd Cold Blooded Games
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