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An Introduction to Cold City and Hot War Part 2

Catch Part One here.

Cold City and Hot War are coming to Kickstarter in early March (we want to let the Zinequest folks do their thing first!) In preparation for that, we bring you the second in a short series of compact videos unpacking the basics of what these two tabletop RPGs are all about! In part two we discuss who you play, and a little bit about the system that powers the game:

Here’s the transcript:
Jon: Your characters are the foreground, right? That setting stuff is the background. What do your characters do in both games?

Malcolm: Well, in Cold City, for example, you’re part of this secret agency set up by the occupying powers, the victorious allies, including the Soviet Union, in Berlin.

And you’re there to hunt down and deal with the legacies of, monsters and experiments and cracks in reality that emerged because of the suffering of the war. So you are essentially secret agents fighting an underground war, to try and paper over the cracks and conceal all this from, from everyone else in the world.

And then in Hot War, your characters occupy a very, similar role, but it takes place in London in the winter of 1963, 64. And you are again agents of the state. But it is a state that is turning horribly towards awful forms of government and is already there. So you are pushing your own hidden agendas, and perhaps you’re trying to do stuff that is against the interests of the state, whilst you’re dealing with all these monsters and horrors and the breakdown of society.

Very good, very good.

And what kind of system can we expect to see here? This is not 5e, right? What what kind of system is this? 

So it is at a simple level. It’s, based on, based on d10s, but it is very much focused on story, producing story at the table, the game situation in both games that you start off playing is created at the table by everyone.

It reduces the cognitive load on the GM, called Control, for obvious reasons harking back to spy fiction, and the dice, as with many other games, help you interpret the story. It emerges, what’s happening at the table. We can push it off in interesting directions make interesting things happen. The system allows you to mechanically bring in things like trust, relationships, the hidden agendas that the characters have. And all of that contributes towards the play at the table.

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An Introduction to Cold City and Hot War Part 1

Cold City and Hot War are coming to Kickstarter in early March (we want to let the Zinequest folks do their thing first!) In preparation for that we bring you the first in a short series of compact videos unpacking the basics of what these two tabletop RPGs are all about!

Find out more, sign up to playtest and be notified of the campaign launch


If you prefer to read rather than watch and listen, here’s the transcript:
Hello. My name is Jon Hodgson from Handiwork Games,
and we thought it would be a nice idea to make some little short videos explaining, to start off with, just the basics of Cold City and Hot War.
I am joined today by Malcolm Craig, the creator and designer of Cold City and Hot War, whose name I always get the wrong way round, and I’m trying really hard to not do that.

Malcolm, could you give us a bit of an introduction on who you are?


So I’m, Malcolm Craig in my day job, which I’m currently in, as you can probably tell, I am a senior lecturer in American history at Liverpool John Moore’s University, Liverpool in the UK. Remarkably enough. And by night. I am a games designer. A Has-been games designer of yesteryear! But now back, you know, like
a greying superhero with limited powers.


So. You say you’re back. This is the second edition of Cold City and Hot War.

Yes.


Some folks I know who will have already signed up at the campaign. There’ll probably be a link somewhere to do that. They will be well aware of these games. Could you give us kind of the elevator
pitch for what this is? It’s two games, right? What’s the elevator pitch for both games?


Well, they’re thematically linked games. Cold City is a game of, hidden agendas, trust, and monster hunting in Berlin in 1950, as the Cold War is really taking off. And Hot War is a game of friends, enemies, relationships, and the breakdown of society in the aftermath of nuclear war in London in the winter of 1963. So, they are both thematically linked by the history that they portray, but also by the fact that the they take a slightly alternative history, science fictional approach to the Cold War and that technologies were developed in 1939 and 1945 that still linger on in the present day.


I was going to say it’s really strongly inspired, obviously, by your professional-level
now knowledge of the history of the Cold War. But also there is a sort of that that element we might expect in games of a little bit of a more fantastical edge to things. If people are looking for that, it’s there.


Yeah. And, and otherwise it becomes unrelentingly bleak. Yes. I think the, the, your science fictional or cultish horror weirdly takes away from the bleakness slightly.


Yeah. It just cheers it up a bit.

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Cold City Hot War Slip Case

We know that the new editions of Cold City and Hot War will be presented in a handsome slipcase. We’re delighted to share the design of that slipcase by Paul Bourne. We all want one, and we hope you do too. Sign up to be notified of the campaign launch here.

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Cold City How War sign ups

You can now sign up to play test Cold City Hot War, and be notified of the campaign launch.
head to this link:

Sign up to be notified of the campaign launch and sign up for the playtest

About Cold City and Hot War

Cold City and Hot War second editions are twin RPGs that explore hidden agendas, trust, and relationships during an alternative Cold War and its terrifying ultimate conclusion.

Cold City

In the divided city of post-World War II Berlin, terrors hide in the darkness. The legacies of war, suffering, and fringe science lurk beneath the surface, feared and desired by former allies and defeated enemies. Those that seek out these horrors are riven by suspicion, mistrust and political ambition. The four occupying powers of Britain, France, the USA and the USSR all have their own agendas.  In Cold City, characters are defined not just by who they are and what they are like, but by the views of the other characters and the trust that they have in them.

Hot War

London. Winter. 1963. It is a year since the Cold War went hot. This was not just a nuclear war, as darker weapons with their roots in World War II’s suffering and fringe science were deployed.  Survival and re-building are all that matter now. But human nature and the breakdown of society mean that everyone has their own ambitions.  Into this maelstrom steps a motley band of women and men tasked with the jobs too dirty or dangerous for anyone else. They have to deal with relationships, loves, hatred, and hidden agendas in a collapsing, ravaged, horror-strewn Britain.

A new edition

Revised and reimagined from their first editions that appeared in 2006 and 2008 respectively, Cold City and Hot War keep all that was great about these critically-acclaimed RPGs while bringing fresh ideas to the texts and the mechanics. Both books hold up a mirror to – and reflect upon – the Cold War era’s real history to help readers and players better understand the games and their settings.

Designed and written by Malcolm Craig, now a senior lecturer in Cold War history at Liverpool John Moore’s University, with art and graphic design by Paul Bourne of Handiwork Games, Cold City and Hot War will be presented as two books in a beautiful slipcase. 

Previews

Grab 31 pages of insights and inspirations free on DrivethruRPG in the Cold City Hot War Reports.

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Maskwitches Mask Generator

To enhance your Maskwitches games we present the Maskwitches of Forgotten Doggerland mask generator! This free web app will let you generate random masks, and then customise them. It’s the first of several generators like this we’re bringing to Maskwitches.

Generate Masks!

Using the generator

Simple click the button to open the app in your browser.
Hitting random will generate you a mask.
Click the various buttons to change that one element.
You can also change the background display.
When you hit the Print button you’ll generate a PDF without a background and have the option to print it. Appropriately-scaled you can even print them as wearable masks for your table!

Required specs

The generator works in all major browsers apart from Apple Safari, where the print option does not work currently.

The generator was coded by Simon Proctor, to whom we confer the blessings of the giant invisible pitch worm.

Learn more about Maskwitches



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BEOWULF Annual 2024 – Pre-order opens, PDF out now

Hwaet!
The BEOWULF Annual 2024 collects all the written material from BEOWULF Digital Packs Fourteen to Seventeen, and the adventure The Serpent of Glinreddin into one handsome hoard of treasures!

Inside you’ll find:

• Old Ways temples and NPCs
• A guide to pre-Christian belief
• A guide to Followers in BEOWULF
• The Isle of the Warrior Woman
• Algaec the Troll
• Fisc-Wisc the River Troll of Plunnog
• The Serpent of Glinnredïn
And more!

The BEOWULF Annual 2024 is a must have for all players and GMs of BEOWULF Age of Adventures.

Pre-order the print book now and get the PDF free
Get the PDF on its own
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FiveEvil: Big Screamin’ Demons

Morgan Davie is the creator of FiveEvil, and he’s got some things to share.

# GOOD PLAYTEST

Hi all! I am buzzing after a really great bit of FiveEvil play and I just wanted to share the good energy!

As you know there are five scenarios in the FiveEvil: Fiendish 5E Horror core book, and this is the book’s closer. If this was a horror film festival this would be the Closing Night Special Screening, a crowd pleasing epic to send everyone out on a high.

The scenario is called Big Screamin’ Demons. It has a different tone to the others in the book. While horror almost always works well with humour laced through it, and most (but not all!) of the other scenarios will surely lead to hilarious moments at your table as you play, this is the only one that actively leans into comedic tones. It’s still a horror film, but it plays big and wild and encourages the players to meet it at that level. (FiveEvil, it contains multitudes!)

Here’s the summary:

——  

BIG SCREAMIN’ DEMONS

You said you’d go to hell before you’d play with them again. Well, life is long and billionaires are rich and now you’re getting the band back together for a one-off payday that could change your life. One concert on a private island, you can manage that without going to hell. So long as hell doesn’t come to you instead…

Big Screamin’ Demons is an over-the-top horror rock opera with blood, guts, and monsters. It sets a big stage and then spills blood and guts all over it, with tongue in bloody cheek the whole time. Watch out, this one goes up to 11 on every single dial. Horns up! 

Genre: Raucous bloody monster horror

Size: 3-6 players

Duration: 1-3 sessions

Play this if you like: Evil Dead 2, Cabin in the Woods, Brain Dead

—

We didn’t use pregenerated characters for this test, making our own from scratch. The players first came up with their characters as members of a rock band whose most popular song is called Big Screamin’ Demons. (They named the band ‘Creative Indifference’ which made me laugh and laugh) and worked out their personalities and relationships, all out in public with lots of cross-collaboration. 

Then we jumped forward to the present day, 20 years on from the band’s acrimonious split, and everyone added another layer to their character to say where they had ended up. This layer was kept secret so they could discover what became of each other in play.

(Quick rules aside: FiveEvil characters have two descriptions, which are like a combination of 5E’s character class and background. Every scenario in the book is a demonstration of some of the different tools and options in the game, such as different ways of using descriptions. Here, one description is your present day life, and the other is your youth, lying dormant within you, ready to be reawakened… It works really well!)

With characters worked out, and some idea of why the band split up, we started to play. The game begins with all these middle-aged characters given an offer they can’t refuse to reunite for a special one-night concert on a private island. And I won’t go any further than that in terms of spoilers – there are some big twists and turns in here! 

What I can say is that we’re two sessions deep, one session to go, and I am loving it. The first session was good fun and also informative (I see how I can streamline a bunch of early stages in the scenario and add some space for more fun action, which is exactly what a good test run can show you). But the second session, oh my gosh, that was a ride! It delivered everything I hoped for as all that character setup came roaring to the front of the action, and the players had an amazing time riffing off each other, enjoying the horror as well as the comedy, and just generally seizing on everything the scenario was built to do and making it sing.

One more session will bring this run to an end, and I am so excited! I expect Big Screamin’ Demons is going to get played a lot. I can’t wait to hear the name you give your band! 

(This run is also the official end of FiveEvil playtesting! Extensive testing of all five scenarios over the last few years has been a huge part of the project, not just to make sure the scenarios all work well, but also to make sure the FiveEvil rules do their job. It’s been a long-running process and this is the very end of it, and I’m incredibly grateful to everyone who has taken part along the way. One more session to go…)

Thanks to Mike, Barry, Paul, Stephan and Ziggy!

morgue

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Midgard Heroic Battles available now on our web store!

We were delighted to be commissioned by Reisswitz Press to do the illustration, graphic design and layout for Midgard Heroic Battles, by James Morris.

We’ve worked with James in the past on his Warhammer Historical titles Age of Arthur and El Cid, so it was a delight to revisit the world of war-games in his company!

To be really clear: Midgard is a standalone war-game – it’s not a part of our own game lines. The book is full colour and soft back, coming in at 136 pages. Our stock is limited, so grab one now!

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