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This is the basis for Cold City by Contested Grounds Studios. The players take up the mantle of agents in the RPA and dig through the rubble of Berlin to find lost Nazi technology and fight the twisted wrecks of once humans that are left it its trail. It uses its own conflict resolution system that is all d10 based and revolves around character traits to get the job done. Rolling is encouraged to only be done when the story would change significantly upon the outcome and not for every last thing. What makes this game vastly different from the usual trait + attribute system is the trust mechanic. The team that is assembled are all from different nationalities whose governments no longer see eye to eye and have had agendas passed down to them from up high. These can range from the good (“Work together to build trust”) to the bad (“Plant evidence that the Russians are stealing Nazi tech for their own mean”) and since no one else knows what everyone else’s missions are, tension rises. Also, everyone has their own individual agenda to fulfill. Again, good or bad, no one else is privy to the information so everyone is just waiting for the betrayal that may or may not arrive. This actually has game mechanics for it all. You put trust dice that you can use for rolling into other characters so that the more you can rely on them, the better you two work together. Of course, if someone betrays you they get to use those dice against you. If you don’t trust them, don’t put any dice into it and you work less effectively together as you’re always watching your back in case they try to plant a knife in it. Not only does the trust mechanic inspire to-the-hilt roleplaying, it also allows the players to scheme against each other perfectly.
When I first read Cold City, I thought, “Okay, its adventure! with a good smattering of Paranoia and Delta Green”. I couldn’t be more wrong. That’s not to say that it’s a terrible comparison, it’s just that this game stands out all on its own as one of the more original settings that intertwines perfectly with its game mechanics.
There is no shortage of reasons to mistrust your fellow RPA agents either. Apart from all their dirty secrets and side quests, everyone speaks different languages that are exclusive to their nationalities. This means that a soviet can wander over to a group of Russian guards and rattle off a spiel in Russian and tell the rest of the party whatever he wants to tell them. Like I said, trust is huge in cold city. It works both for and against the PCs, but I can’t imagine anyone getting steamed over being expertly betrayed. It’s much more of a back-slapping “Wow, I can’t believe you did that” than a “I’ll slit your throat you lying bastard” sort of affair.
Taking damage is all up to the players. As the GM, if you toss a sleeping bag full of bricks down the stairs at the party and one of the unfortunate blokes gets the brunt of it, all you tell him is that he’s got three or so consequences to deal with. He then decides that he’s shaken (Influence lowers temporally), Scared of staircases (New negative trait), and has picked up a bum knee (Action stat is lowered). There are tons of things to choose from and it takes away the fear of your character being disabled in a way you don’t want your character to be.
The only thing I can’t find too much praise in is the layout of the book. Cold city does have an appendix full of historic facts and weapons, but nothing really useful when you’re knee deep in the game. No damages table (That’s in the middle of the combat chapter), no success table, and no quick break-down of the rules. Now, those things are absolutely necessary, but it would be nice to have. However, in a sea of greatness, these are but tiny islands of grumpiness. The game is a testament to good game design and how to integrate your setting and your mechanics fluidly even with these minor nitpicks.
Now, in my notes here I wrote last night, “This game is much cooler than I am” and although it was quite late as I wrote that, I still stand by it. Cold City draws you into its dangerous world of Post-war espionage with intriguing setting and holds you firm with its riveting gameplay mechanics. If you like running games where it’s 20% mystery and 80% character development check it out. It’s worth a day out in the cold.
