GURPS Dog Town

nicebrian · 02-20-2009, 05:26 AM

So I read through the Dog Town RPG (
http://coldbloodedgames.typepad.com/...town_products/) recently and was blown away by the setting, it's just so rich and detailed. I absolutely failed however to get my head around the system and thought it would run wonderfully with GURPS.

At the moment I'm recruiting for players to run a PbP over on RPG.net
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=438606
(I'm still looking for players if anybody is interested)

I was wondering what problems people think might come up, and what recommendations for advantages, disadvantages etc. people might have.

Thanks in advance.

The Benj · 02-20-2009, 10:08 PM

And here was me thinking this was going to be about skateboarding and surfing. :)

From what I can see on their website, this just looks like a crime setting with nothing supernatural, exotic, etc. As GURPS is based so strongly on this as a starting point, there aren't any problems with this.
Your biggest concerns are going to be what kind of tone you want to go for. If you want cinema, then some cinematic rules are called for. If you want gritty realism where anyone can die, just use the rules as written and don't pull punches; you get shot, you might bleed to death. It's straightforward, but a mode that a lot of players find hard to deal with.

nicebrian · 02-23-2009, 06:05 AM

Thanks for the reply.

The Dog Town setting itself is pretty gritty, so that's what I'm going to run with. I may cut a bit of slack to the players, as they're both GURPS newbies. I've put together a list of recommended advantages, disadvantages and skills to help them make characters that mesh with the setting, so hopefully that and using the associated films and Dog Town itself will guide the game tone.

Brevitt · 02-23-2009, 06:36 AM

read a review on Dog Town the other day and they layed into it pretty bad.

nicebrian · 02-23-2009, 07:27 AM

Quote:

read a review on Dog Town the other day and they layed into it pretty bad.

Yeah? In what way did they not like it?

Honestly, I've had problems with the system.... just unable to get my head around it... but as a setting book I think it's really rich and detailed. I did decide very quickly to go with GURPS for the system because it's what I' m used to and it fits well with the general gritty atmosphere of the setting. But all the Dog Town books are so full of story hooks that I don't think I should have too much work to do GMing it.

Brevitt · 02-23-2009, 07:56 AM

Mostly it was the system. Apparently it was written by a police officer. I would give you the link to it but cant find it now typically.

nicebrian · 02-23-2009, 08:10 AM

Ah, that kinda makes sense, it was the system that baffled me too. I'm kinda glad to hear it isn't just me who couldn't get it. :)

I was just asking in case there was any problems that the setting throws up that I hadn't noticed.

Brevitt · 02-23-2009, 09:42 AM

They did say it was a highly violent game. Settings rarely cause that many problems unless they have glaring incosistencies in. But if Dog Town had those I don't suppose you would be raving about it.

nicebrian · 02-23-2009, 10:14 AM

Quote:

But if Dog Town had those I don't suppose you would be raving about it.

Well, I'll reserve final judgement till I've ran it for a while, but it looks pretty good to me at the moment. Hopefully I'll have no nasty surprises.

Gold & Appel Inc · 02-23-2009, 02:51 PM

I'll second the recommendation of GURPS for a realistic crime game with lots of gritty violence. I ran one myself recently (though not in a contemporary TL 8 setting) and I thought it went quite well.

02-20-2009, 05:26 AM	#1
nicebrian Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Barcelona, Spain	GURPS Dog Town So I read through the Dog Town RPG ( http://coldbloodedgames.typepad.com/...town_products/) recently and was blown away by the setting, it's just so rich and detailed. I absolutely failed however to get my head around the system and thought it would run wonderfully with GURPS. At the moment I'm recruiting for players to run a PbP over on RPG.net http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=438606 (I'm still looking for players if anybody is interested) I was wondering what problems people think might come up, and what recommendations for advantages, disadvantages etc. people might have. Thanks in advance.

02-20-2009, 10:08 PM	#2
The Benj MIB Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Platform Zero, Sydney, Australia	Re: GURPS Dog Town And here was me thinking this was going to be about skateboarding and surfing. :) From what I can see on their website, this just looks like a crime setting with nothing supernatural, exotic, etc. As GURPS is based so strongly on this as a starting point, there aren't any problems with this. Your biggest concerns are going to be what kind of tone you want to go for. If you want cinema, then some cinematic rules are called for. If you want gritty realism where anyone can die, just use the rules as written and don't pull punches; you get shot, you might bleed to death. It's straightforward, but a mode that a lot of players find hard to deal with.

02-23-2009, 06:05 AM	#3
nicebrian Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Barcelona, Spain	Re: GURPS Dog Town Thanks for the reply. The Dog Town setting itself is pretty gritty, so that's what I'm going to run with. I may cut a bit of slack to the players, as they're both GURPS newbies. I've put together a list of recommended advantages, disadvantages and skills to help them make characters that mesh with the setting, so hopefully that and using the associated films and Dog Town itself will guide the game tone.

02-23-2009, 06:36 AM	#4
Brevitt Join Date: Dec 2008	Re: GURPS Dog Town read a review on Dog Town the other day and they layed into it pretty bad.

02-23-2009, 07:56 AM	#6
Brevitt Join Date: Dec 2008	Re: GURPS Dog Town Mostly it was the system. Apparently it was written by a police officer. I would give you the link to it but cant find it now typically.

02-23-2009, 08:10 AM	#7
nicebrian Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Barcelona, Spain	Re: GURPS Dog Town Ah, that kinda makes sense, it was the system that baffled me too. I'm kinda glad to hear it isn't just me who couldn't get it. :) I was just asking in case there was any problems that the setting throws up that I hadn't noticed.

02-23-2009, 09:42 AM	#8
Brevitt Join Date: Dec 2008	Re: GURPS Dog Town They did say it was a highly violent game. Settings rarely cause that many problems unless they have glaring incosistencies in. But if Dog Town had those I don't suppose you would be raving about it.

02-23-2009, 02:51 PM	#10
Gold & Appel Inc Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: One Mile Up	Re: GURPS Dog Town I'll second the recommendation of GURPS for a realistic crime game with lots of gritty violence. I ran one myself recently (though not in a contemporary TL 8 setting) and I thought it went quite well.

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