An Interview with Jonathan Ridd, creator of Dog Town

Anti-heroes and thugs, Dog Town is a roleplaying game of crime, money and violence set in the seedy underbelly of decadent and dangerous 1970s New York.

The Miner: Why did you decide to make Dog Town and its supplements free to the public?

Jonathan: My original intention was to sell the game to a publisher along with the supplements. No one was interested so I set up my own company, Cold Blooded Games. I work full time and the paperwork and the taxes became more of a hassle than it was worth, so I decided to make everything free.

The Miner: When I first looked at your website I was immediately hooked by the cover artwork for your core rulebook and the Grenson Park neighborhood setting. There is an immediate sense of grittiness, crime and the potential for violence. I knew exactly what Dog Town was about. So many publishers focus on great artwork, but very few realize imagery that is so visually immersive, conveying the exact nature of their game world. Did you get lucky with the artists you worked with or was there a lot of production involved to achieve the final result?

Jonathan: I did the later covers from Grenson Park onwards using photoshop to stylize and arrange photographs and Dog Town artwork. I spent quite a bit of money on the pictures and was quite specific with what I wanted because I wanted to capture the particular genre -- New York in the 1970s and a dangerous crime game where it is quite likely that it'll be the guy you associate with that'll be the guy that will put a bullet in the back of your head. I wanted to capture that vibe you get from from films like Good Fellas, the rawness and seriousness, the desperation.

Big props to Thom Scott, Gavin Hargest, Brad McDevitt, Jerry Mchugh, and a special mention to Robert Mansperger who did the covers for Dog Town and The Felon's Handbook as well as my favorite interior artwork. I'm very pleased with the artwork by Robert Mansperger and the others. For 20 Punks we photographed my brother and his friends in various get ups and they became the basis for the drawings by Gavin Hargest.

That's John Holmes on the cover of Stripped [the core rule book], his 1982 arrest for the Wonderland murders.

The Miner: Why 1970s New York?

Jonathan: I'm a big fan of films from the period like Taxi Driver and Death Wish; they attracted me to the time and the place. For New York, the 1970s was a time of decay, bankrupt government, corrupt police, and rampant crime -- the city was deteriorating. At the same time it was the heyday of the mafia. Criminals like Nicky Barnes were in control and major crimes like the Lufthansa heist and the Son of Sam murders were in the headlines as well as the terrible exploits of The Westies and Roy DeMeo's Crew that would later become infamous, were at their worst.

If the game were in a modern setting, that would have made criminality much tougher with forensics like DNA and the all of the surveillance technology that is available today.  

The Miner: You've created a gritty RPG where PC means Player Criminal. Why did you choose to focus on the darker side of humanity?

Jonathan: It was Grand Theft Auto and the films of the period that inspired me, like Hardcore with George C. Scott, Donnie Brasco, and Taxi Driver. Carlito's Way is probably my biggest influence. The film hits what Dog Town is all about -- someone trying to redeem himself and getting sucked back in.

In the game you begin fresh out of the joint, with nothing but $40 and a pack of smokes to your name. You've got 90 days to get your hands on $100,000 to be in on a deal that will change your life. It's an opportunity to explore the moral aspect. How far you will go and what lines you will cross. What type of criminal will you be? Ruthless, venal, noble? Can you fly under the radar of the Five-O and stay out of jail, escape the random and deliberate violence of the street and not succumb to the worst of your own vice and excess?

The Miner: I'm going to read you a description of a street scene from the Grenson Park supplement:

"A perverse parade of spikey heels, torn fishnets and bad wigs bathed in the amber glow of street lighting and the headlights of slow cruising cars." 

Did you write that flavor text or did you collaborate with others on that?

Jonathan: That's mine. In the rules and supplements I wanted to convey a strong sense of the genre, the time, and the place. Movies and books like Murder Machine and The Westies  inspired and informed me of the mechanics of crime as well as documentaries with imagery of street walkers bathed in red neon lights and all the weirdos, pimps, and pushers that prey on them. I love the language and the dialogue of the period -- street speak, jive talk, Italian-American slang. Including it in the books helps to set the scene.

The Miner: Tell me about your experience with self publishing. What was it like to produce your own material and publish it?

Jonathan: Nobody assisted me in putting it together; it was essentially a one-man operation. I did speak with some publishers like Hogshead Publishing and others who just gave me feedback and advice.

I was originally going to put it all together in one book, but it got to be too much. I put the extra material in The Felon's Handbook and the other supplements.

The process was very enjoyable. Something took me over and I was very, very obsessed with it.

The Miner: Do you plan to keep Dog Town free and available on the internet for the foreseeable future?

Jonathan: I do. I hope people enjoy it. 

Check out the gritty world of Dog Town here.