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The concept is a winner straight off. The post-war Berlin setting is charged with potential and atmosphere, and is ideally suited for horror. And the theme of twisted Nazi experimentation is endlessly fascinating. Cold City also adds the idea of the germination of the Cold War, bringing in themes of suspicion and conflicting agendas.
So at a deeper level, Cold City is about the tension inherent in bringing together the allies in Berlin, each with their own national interests and prejudices. The whole of the Cold City rule set is designed to highlight that tension, particularly the mistrust and uneasy cooperation. And the construction of the rule set is a fascinating example of game design. (The game designer, Malcolm Craig, posted drafts of the rules on the Cold City forum while the game was in development, showing how the rules evolved.)
The tension, which is so critical to the gameplay, comes through in the resolution mechanic. Dice are only rolled when a character encounters some sort of obstacle that could change the direction of the story. The dice are rolled as conflicts, where the opponents in the conflict set ‘stakes’, representing what the character wants to achieve in the conflict. (A pool of d10s is rolled. The pool containing the highest die roll wins, and the degree of the success is determined by the number of dice that are higher than the loser’s highest die roll.) Success then gives a character a degree of narrative control in resolving their stake. Important conflicts can cause a character to experience ‘consequences’, which represent the lingering effects the conflict has had on a character. Consequences are typically expressed as character traits, which add new dimensions to the character.
By the use of the techniques of stakes, narrative rights and consequences, conflicts in Cold City obtain a degree of significance that they would not have if they consisted simply of rolling for success against a skill.
However, it is the relationships between the characters that create the greatest potential for tension. Teams in the RPA are generally made up of a mixture of nationalities amongst the Occupying Powers, British, French, American and Russian, with perhaps a German or Austrian. The justification for this is that the Agency wants broad representation. For the game, however, this ensures that the national rivalries and suspicions are carried into the team, creating that all important tension. Cold City uses a trust mechanic borrowed from The Mountain Witch. Each character has a degree of trust in each of the other characters, based initially on national stereotypes. Trust can be very useful, as it provides positive modifiers when team members work together. A similar bonus is gained for betraying your team mates. Given that the bonus for betrayal is likely to be usable only once, it makes more sense for the team to always work together and gain the cooperation bonus. However, to force characters to ultimately betray their team mates, each character has two ‘hidden agendas’, major motivations that either dictate their actions and decisions or represent a goal to be achieved. One of these agendas represents the directions given to the character by their superiors. The other represents a personal goal, based on the character’s background and shaped by the extraordinary circumstances of the times.
The Influences and Inspirations appendix gives clues as to Malcolm Craig’s motivations when designing Cold City. Several innovative indie games are listed, including The Mountain Witch and Sorcerer, from which Cold City inherits some of its mechanics. Dust Devils is also cited as an example of how to match mechanics, setting and story. Craig has clearly paid careful attention to the example of Dust Devils and has carefully chosen a variety of mechanics to emphasise the themes of hidden agendas and trust to create a game about suspicion, intrigue and uneasy cooperation over a backdrop of monster hunting.
Assuming I have correctly judged the intentions of Cold City, I believe it succeeds in these intentions admirably. It is almost a model of game design, with the game mechanics supporting the setting and gameplay very strongly. I am particularly intrigued by the jigsaw puzzle approach to building the full ruleset, wherein mechanics are added to the game to increase its scope. I can easily see this applied successfully to other settings. Interestingly, I think it might have been applied to Cold City in a different way to invoke different themes. While the themes of hidden agendas and the potential for betrayal suit the noir mood of occupied Berlin, the game could instead have concentrated more on horror, for example, in which case the game could be built on mechanics for fear effects and perhaps sanity. (The ‘jigsaw puzzle’ metaphor is perhaps not apt however, as it is not necessarily the case that the full picture has been put together. For example, it might be possible to add a mechanic to encourage moral choices to Cold City. This could give rise to interesting conflict within a character whose beliefs and agendas clash, in addition to the conflict within the team.)
Almost as if to emphasise the importance of the gameplay over the setting, the treatment of the setting is brief. The twisted technology and the foes (creatures created by the twisted technology) are barely described, mostly left up to the GM to make up, though there are several example foes given for inspiration. There is certainly nothing like a bestiary. The treatment of Berlin is also very brief, consisting mostly of a short description of the city and a list of notable locations, with very little description of what it is like to live in Berlin or how the city functions as a divided city. To be fair however, one viewing of The Third Man will tell you as much about Allied-occupied post-war cities as a whole sourcebook might, which really is the advantage of using a historical setting.
In summary, Cold City is a very fine game, with a very well designed rule set. The game would be most suited to experienced GMs who are willing to do the research to fully realise the setting or to improvise, and have an ability to roll with changes as the characters’ hidden agendas take the adventure in unexpected directions. The players should also be experienced and keen to play a game with intense, involved gameplay.
