Critical Miss Forums

[Jonny Nexus]

This thread is for discussion of the Issue 10 article, "Dog Town: A Review". To comment on the article, just hit the "Post Reply" button and type in what you think.
_________________
"...if you like your humour coarse and black, this will probably have you rolling on the floor with laughter."
Simon Collins, ENWorld Staff Reviewer, reviewing my Slayers Guide to Games Masters

[Darrin]

Very amusing. Yes, hopefully with another couple of conventions under their belt, they should be able to streamline their intro scenario. It's not entirely their fault that you spent so much time actively avoiding the main plotline, but it seemed like there was entirely too many false paths and dead-ends in there to really work as a polished convention/tournement scenario.

For example, the casino was obviously a dead-end... if the GM had just said, "you spend a couple hours searching the place, you find nothing interesting", you could have moved on to the nightclub, where the rest of the story clues were.

Jumping your character with the twin cops when you went back to your place... that sounds a lot like the GM thought you were getting way off track and was trying to herd you back towards the story. In fact, the twin may have been suddenly added because you dealt with the first cop so quickly, the GM got panicked or was trying to improvise something more challenging.

Ugh, I've made that mistake, though... using combat to try and herd or discourage the players away from doing something never works, because combat is almost always perceived by the player as a "Carrot" instead of a "Stick". They spend all these points on cool weapons and powers, and they want to use them... and whenever the GM throws combat at them, it's a chance to show off and do really cool things, or take gold from naked monsters. The players may even think that, since the GM is obviously throwing new challenges in front of them, then they must be headed in the right direction.

I think boredom is a much more useful cattle prod when you want to redirect or move the players away from something. If the GM had said, "Ok, you go back to your appartment. It's mind-numbingly boring there. Ok, whatever you needed to do is done now. What do you want to do now?" That probably would have moved you back towards the nightclub and the whole Eddie/Tommy thing.

[Cold Blooded Games]

The Missing Mafioso isn't suitable for a demo. Its basically a 10 hour game. I thought that just doing a 20 minute drug deal gone wrong or a bungled heist wouldn't display the depth of the game or give time for people to get into it.
I'm wrong on that, I saw Contested Ground studios turn around a number of people with quick demos with an eye to selling the game. I think the ideal length is about an hour though.

The bounty hunting Nilson twins are in the game and are actively seeking Ryan Sheehy (Nexus), they are looking to take advantage of the first opportunity he is on his own to bring him in.
_________________
www.coldbloodedgames.com

[Rich Stokes]

I like Dog Town. I bought the PDF a while back and think the idea and tone is great. I agree that the rules are a little complex for my tastes though. There's nothing wrong with them or stupid about them though.

I'm no DIY expert, but are you SURE there were cordless drills in the 70s?

[Guest]

I presume the drill in driller killer is cordless. I have never seen it, so I could be wrong. However a brief google and it would seem to be cordless.

"Sick - disturbing - and what a unique way (at the time) to dispatch of his victums but with a cordless drill. "

I couldn't vouch for the reliability of the source an amazon.com punter review. Certainly the spelling isn't great, victum?

Anyway that was released in 1979 so if it is a cordless they were about in the 70's

[Blah]

last post was me

I'll never level up if I forget to sign in
_________________
It is not about the winning; it's about the not-getting-stabbed-in-the-bollocks

[Jonny Nexus]

[PMStalker]

I have to say that though the subject matter of Dog Town isn't my thing, I love the slot system. Is Cold Blooded Games planning to put out any other games using that system which are less... uh... dystopian?
_________________
Okay, this is why evolution is bunk. You're not smart enough to have evolved from anything.

[Cold Blooded Games]

Yes there will be other games from CBG that use Split System slots. I'm developing a horror game called Snuff, which I'm hoping to get out early next year. From the website -

Snuff, a graphic game of survival horror in the bowels of humanity. Players are potential victims of a new breed of serial killers intent on a career of downloadable carnage in the sick phenomena of murdertainment. Will you survive being hunted on Cannibal Island a perverse homage to 70's video gorefest "Cannibal Holocaust", or avoid being a confirmed kill on 2minutemassacre.com, a gun worshiping spree kill site where three armed to the teeth maniacs film rampages through malls, restaurants and amusement parks.

Live! and fight back as part of a survivors group hell bent on bloody justice, or perhaps as a government funded team of specialists tasked with tracing and apprehending these media savvy maniacs that murder for both pleasure and profit.

Snuff - Roleplaying the video nasty.


I'm also looking to do some real light rules for Dog Town in the next supplement Stray Bullets for those customers who prefer less crunch.
_________________
www.coldbloodedgames.com

[dogstar]

Dogtown - Love it.

I am pleased to see its getting about out there, it deserves to

[Cold Blooded Games]

[Mad Meg]

[Cold Blooded Games]

[Gilles de Rais]

I can confirm, via your choice of world game, that you are indeed sick...or in need of a therapy. Please do not invite me for a long week end on a deserted island, i would be the guy staying awake in my room, bashing you if you get in...

And I thought that my nickname was perverse enough !
_________________
Life's a bitch; then, you die.

[Guest]