I'll say up front that I'm not completely sure whether this is the full version of the game. It says "quickstarter zine" in multiple places, and that has me thinking maybe these are the abbreviated rules of a larger project, but I wasn't able to say one way or another after a cursory search. So, for now, I'm assuming this is the full version of the game.
Anyway, in Dirty Town you play as pigeons.
The game goes all in on this, and your (extremely well-designed) character sheet tracks you HP as your "toes", character creation involves pecking at objects in the center of the table (with a bonus if you pick one up with your mouth,) and if your PC dies you become a bird ghost that has access to hidden knowledge but can only communicate via pigeon sounds.
This is lovely and fun and makes Dirty Town a strong pick for a casual one-shot or a convention game.
That said, I wasn't able to fully figure out the dice system. Players pass checks through blind bids of corn kernels, but the game gives just enough conflicting pieces of information that every time I thought I understood the mechanics at play, I realized I was missing a critical bit of info.
Here's the information the game presents:
The DM secretly sets a target number for each challenge, and then each player places a blind bid of kernels, trying to guess what that target number was. There are two tiers to the bid, low and high, and each one is limited by a minimum and maximum number of kernels that has nothing to do with the target number. Once everyone has bid, the bids as well as the target number are revealed, and then the player who bid the least suffers a consequence and the player who bid the most gets a reward. No indication is given for what to do on ties.
I get that it's maybe supposed to be sort of like a pvp Golden Sky Stories, but how does the target number factor in if everyone is graded on a curve? What are the tiers about?
I think an example illustrating the flow of play would help a lot here, but in the meantime here is how I would houserule things:
-The DM secretly sets a target number.
-Each player secretly chooses how many kernels to spend.
-The target number and everyone's spends are revealed.
-The players who spent the least suffer a consequence. The players who spent the most get a reward.
-If at least one player spent kernels equal to or greater than the TN, the group passes the challenge. Otherwise, everyone suffers a consequence.
Overall, unclear mechanics aside, I think Dirty Town is a clever, playful game that does a lot to connect its gameplay to the pigeon theme. If you're willing to sort of wing your own interpretation of the rules, I would absolutely recommend this as a one-shot, especially if played in person.