by Handiwork Games
In the divided city of post-World War II Berlin, terrors hide in the darkness. The legacies of war, suffering, and fringe science lurk beneath the surface, feared and desired by former allies and defeated enemies. Those that seek out these horrors are riven by suspicion, mistrust and political ambition. The four occupying powers of Britain, France, the USA and the USSR all have their own agendas. In Cold City, characters are defined not just by who they are and what they are like, but by the views of the other characters and the trust that they have in them.
Revised and reimagined from the first edition that appeared in 2006, Cold City keeps everything great about this critically acclaimed RPG while bringing fresh ideas to the texts and the mechanics. The book holds up a mirror to – and reflects upon – the real history of the Cold War era to help readers and players better understand the game and its setting.
Cold City takes place in Berlin in 1950, when the Cold War has fully emerged and trust is at a premium.
The game also grapples with the legacies of twisted sciences, occult experiments, and the reality-fracturing horror of war. Characters are thrust into secret worlds, taking on the roles of those whose mission it is to protect others from monstrous horrors.
When conflicts arise in the game, players create pools of ten-sided dice from attributes, traits, tools, hidden agendas, and trust/relationships.
Control (the GM) assembles a pool of dice from various thematic groups (external enemies, internal enemies, monsters, Berlin, and The Cold) to provide opposition.
Control and the players roll their dice, and for each die that’s higher than an opposing die, that side gains 1 “success”. The side with the most successes wins, and can spend those successes to generate consequences that alter the characters, the story, and Control’s dice groups.
Players and Control will consistently be making taut, meaningful, and challenging decisions with their dice as the game progresses and tension rises.
In Cold City the trust between characters is a key mechanical component, reflecting the wider, real-world nature of the Cold War era. No one knows on whom they can truly rely, or what their hidden agendas might be. You’re working together for now, but when push comes to shove, who can you trust?
The game mechanics reinforce the key themes of the setting: in Cold City the Cold War is ever present in the form of ‘Cold’ and Control can use this to make the characters’ lives increasingly difficult.
Cold War is presented as a hardcover, 176-page book in full colour.
Written by Malcolm Craig with art from Paul Bourne and Jon Hodgson.
Cold City Second Edition is available through DriveThruRPG in PDF.
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