Cold City

A Game About Hidden Agendas, Trust & Monster Hunting

Introduction

Cold City is a roleplaying game designed by Malcolm Craig and published by Contested Ground Studios. Cold City takes place in Berlin, 1950, where the character are members of the international Reserve Police Agency, with all the intrigue that carries with it.

Berlin, 1950: World War 2 has been over for five years...

...but another war carries on in the shadows.

Cold City is a very effectful roleplaying game, where the characters are put smack in the middle of a situation loaded for action. The game's setting is wonderful and the system well designed. My main complaint is regarding chapter 6, How to Run Cold City, which is essentially only 4 pages long, and does not provide enough structure on how to run the game. However, chapter 4, The System, is quite good and the two chapters in combination are more than enough if you have some prior experience.

House Rules

The Newman-Dempsey Variation

Negative Traits add to the dice pool (rather than taking away), but must be of a unique colour so they can be properly identified. If the negative Trait die is the highest number in a roll, then something bad relating to that trait must be narrated into the outcome, regardless of success or failure.

Steve Dempsey and Joshua Newman came up with this twist to the published rules. This rules twist ensures that negative traits can generate color, rather than just hinder the players.

The Draw Scene

After the player has decided on what drew him into the Underground War (i.e. his Draw), they then get to frame a scene and conflict related to this Draw. It could be right before, during, or even after the chosen Draw. The GM plays at least one NPC, while the other players can pick up other roles as necessary. If the PC wins the conflict, then they get another positive Trait based on how the conflict played out, while if they lose, they gain a new negative Trait.