As the Cold War rages in the full glare of the world media, the Underground War is fought in ruined bunkers, dank tunnels, building sites, and bombed out apartment blocks.
In the divided city of Berlin, the Reserve Police Agency hunts down monsters left over from sinister experiments and twisted technology. Things from beyond our space and time, strange creatures altered by bizarre machines, the decayed corpses of undead soldiers, things that hide in the darkness.
But teh Reserve Police Agency itself is riven by suspicion, mistrust and political ambition. The four occupying powers of Britain, France, the USA and the USSR all see the need for the RPA, all contribute personnel, all have their own agendas.
The great batle may be over, but the war carries on.
Join the fight.
A game of hidden agendas, trust and monster hunting.
Berlin, 1950: While the Cold War rages, the secretive agents of the multi-national Reserve Police Agency creep through the shadows, hunting down the remnants of bizarre technologies and twisted wartime experiments.
But the RPA is riven by paranoia, fear and suspicion. Everyone works to their own hidden agendas, the different nationalities look at each other through a haze of mistrust. In the darkness, faced by horrors beyond your worst nightmares, will your comrades watch your back or treacherously stick a knife into it?
Cold City is written by Malcolm Craig (a|state) and illustrated by Stuart Beel (SLA Industries, Changeling, Werewolf and many other RPGs and CCGs). Graphic design is done by Paul Bourne (a|state, winner of the 2004 Indie RPG Award for Best Graphic Design & Layout).
The Cold City Companion offers additional advice and information for Cold City, the game of hidden agendas, trust and monster hunting in 1950s Berlin.
Based on experience and feedback since the release of the game, the Companion gives information on how to play the game according to different cinematic genres (such as noir, dark horror and black comedy), more in depth ways of creating and structuring games and how to run games in 'open' and 'closed' ways.
There's also a chapter dedicated to the different intelligence agencies at work in the shadows of Berlin, groups who might offer help or hindrance to characters in the Reserve Police Agency. Each agency also comes with a sample Hidden Agenda that characters associated with them might have.
For those who want to venture further afield, there's a chapter looking at twisted technology locations beyond Berlin and how they affect the work of the reserve Police Agency in that city.
Finally, there is a select bibliography, offering some informative and inspirational non-fiction, fiction and speculative sources.
