RPG Game Review: Cold City

A role playing game set in post-war Berlin, 1950, probably wouldn’t sound all that interesting, yes?  Well, this game would have tones of post-war tension between the great powers, and plenty of opportunities for conflict in the night shadows of the broken city as each power attempts to outmaneuver each other to gain that edge they’ll need for the future.  Sound interesting?  Still doesn’t sound like something you’d want to play?

Would it help if we threw in strange and horrible Nazi experiments?

Cold City is a gem of a game from out of the UK, where it would seem some of the best of the independent games have originated in the last few years.  It takes all the major powers of WW II, slaps them down in Berlin, puts them in a position where they are forced to “work together”, and then adds in the twist that everything you thought the Nazis were up to in secret—all their experiments with strange technologies and occultist things . . . well, there was a grain of truth to that.  More than a grain, it turns out, and you, as a player, may find yourself at odds with what you want to do and what others need you to do.

The character creation system is simple, yet brilliant.  You have three main attributes; you have five traits, both positive and negative; you have your hidden agendas, both national and personal; you have your trust with the members of your team; and you have the scene that brought you to this point in your life.  And that is it.  You have your character.

But don’t assume that because the character development seems simple that you are creating a bare-bones mug.  Attributes determine how well you do things, what sort of influence you have and how you are able to reason.  Your traits are the real center of your character, where one gets an idea about the sort of person they may be and how they act.  They are not skills, per say: more they are a detailed definition of the individual.  “Brave and noble” is a valid trait; “Speaks without thinking” is another.  Each character starts with five traits, and there will be negative traits in the beginning.  (Did you think you character would be perfect?)  These not only come into play during a conflict, but, depending upon the resolution of a conflict can vanish or even become polarized, going from positive to negative, and maybe back again.