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07-03-2019, 07:03 PM | #1 |
Join Date: Oct 2014
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K9 enemies...
I'm wondering something about K9s and tabletop RPGs... Why do we almost never see K9s as enemies in published adventures? Hell, even computers games with enemy K9s are rare... The Fallout series, the Modern Warfare games, early Wolfenstein games (didn't play the more modern ones), the Splinter Cell series... The are a few strategy games where attack dogs are trainable units (the Red Alert series is the first that comes to mind), but dogs as enemies are rare...
It seems weird to me now that I think about it... |
07-03-2019, 07:06 PM | #2 |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Re: K9 enemies...
They had quite savage prison dogs in War and Remembrance. That one never goes light on authenticity in Holocaust scenes.
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"The navy could probably win a war without coffee but would prefer not to try"-Samuel Eliot Morrison |
07-03-2019, 07:23 PM | #3 |
Aluminated
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: East of the moon, west of the stars, close to buses and shopping
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Re: K9 enemies...
They're good dogs, Brent.
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I've been making pointlessly shiny things, and I've got some gaming-related stuff as well as 3d printing designs. Buy my Warehouse 23 stuff, dammit! |
07-04-2019, 02:05 AM | #5 |
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Alsea, OR
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Re: K9 enemies...
Domestic dogs (and domestic cats) are popular pets. Turning them to enemies is often a strong "ick" factor.
This is especially true of situations where killing them is requisite. |
07-04-2019, 04:35 AM | #6 |
Join Date: Oct 2014
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Re: K9 enemies...
Do attack dogs (that is, dogs bred and trained for combat by a military force) triggers that instinctive reaction too?
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07-04-2019, 06:42 AM | #7 |
Join Date: Jul 2006
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Re: K9 enemies...
I'm guessing that in most heroic fantasy, dogs make for quite a dull enemy. In a realistic setting, they are a lot more dangerous than a lot of people give them credit for (and surprisingly hard to shoot).
I suspect computer games tend to neglect them as it's hard to make the human opponents dumb enough to support the stealth mechanics without having to introduce dogs that might as well be deaf and anosmic. Although there are definitely dogs in the Fallout Games and Deus Ex had them in at least one mission. |
07-04-2019, 07:02 AM | #8 |
Aluminated
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: East of the moon, west of the stars, close to buses and shopping
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Re: K9 enemies...
When you see a dog, you see the dog, not the training, so yes. This is a cultural thing which has varied over time, but it's particularly strong these days. The first reaction to seeing any dog, in many people, will be to want to make friends with it. Any training it may have had is a subtle intellectual distinction which has to be taken on, and it won't erase the fundamental belief in dogs as, at the core, inherently friendly companions. They're seen as essentially benevolent, and if they're hostile, it's because they're legitimately defending someone or they've been misled by a bad human. On some level, many people see all dogs as good dogs.
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I've been making pointlessly shiny things, and I've got some gaming-related stuff as well as 3d printing designs. Buy my Warehouse 23 stuff, dammit! |
07-04-2019, 07:45 AM | #9 | |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
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Re: K9 enemies...
Quote:
But yes even attack dogs can trigger affection. It is a running gag in both Magnum's how Zeus and Apollo like everyone but Magnum (despite their affable nature they can be quite good security dogs at times but this is TV). VC counter-recon forces used to use dogs. American scouts had various disguises or distractions to keep their noses occupied and it was an interesting contest in wits. As a lot of PCs will be Americans, naturally they will find that an interesting role.
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"The navy could probably win a war without coffee but would prefer not to try"-Samuel Eliot Morrison Last edited by jason taylor; 07-04-2019 at 07:51 AM. |
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07-04-2019, 11:53 AM | #10 |
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Alsea, OR
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Re: K9 enemies...
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