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All the latest happenings from CGS. We endeavour to update this page as often as possible with news, events and all the latest goings on. There’s also a News Archive section from our old website available if you want to peruse the news of the past.

02 Mar 08: Book Bundle Bonanza!

We have been talking about this for a while, so after much discussion, we thought it would be a good idea to release bundles of our books. There are 3 bundles on offer, so here are the details:

'The Cold City bundle' 
(Cold City + Cold City Companion). You get both books for £18, a saving of £4.

'The a|state bundle'
(a|state + Avenues & Alleyways + The Lostfinders Guide to Mire End). You get all 3 books for £38, a saving of £4.

'The CGS Collection bundle'
(a|state + Mob Justice + Cold City). You get all 3 books for £48, a saving of £5.

All 3 bundles are available from our shop page here.

In other news, both Avenues & Alleyways PDF and a|state PDF are now available at Indie Press Revolution, as well as even more CGS bundles at great prices. As if this wasn't enough bundle mania, we have put some exclusive PDF bundles up on RPGNow, including a complete Cold City bundle (3 PDFs) and a complete a|state bundle (a massive 6 PDFs!) So why not drop buy and grab a bargain.

26 Feb 08: a|state now available in PDF format

We were waiting on the release of Avenues & Alleyways before we did this, but finally, a|state is available in PDF format. It is priced at $15 and comes in at 252 pages. The PDF is currently only available at RPGNow but will be available at other outlets soon.

To buy a PDF copy of a|state click here

16 Feb 08: Avenues & Alleyways now available

Well, after a bit of a wait and much anticipation, Avenues & Alleyways is now available. This bumper a|state supplement comes in at 112 pages and features 30 brand new City areas to explore and use in your a|state games, as well as a host of essays on a everything from health and disease in The City  to law and weather. The book is available in print and PDF formats and is priced at £16/$26 (print) and $12 (PDF). 

We've also uploaded a new free PDF A&A preview so you can have a look at what you're getting before you buy.

For more information on Avenues & Alleyways go here

To download the free 11 page preview go here

To buy a print copy from our shop page go here

To buy a print or PDF copy from Indie Press Revolution (US) go here

22 Jan 08: The CGS Forums

After much brain power and a bit of help from our web hosts, we have finally got the forums upgraded and back up and running. In other slightly cryptic news, we have just sent our next book release to the printers. All will be revealed soon...

12 Jan 08: Bumper Mob Justice New Years update!

Well it's a new year, and to celebrate we have added a whole host of new Mob Justice stuff to the site. The first is a 20 Minute Mob justice demo pack. The first of many support packs for MJ, it provide a short demo, 15 – 20 minutes, that shows off the strengths of the game. The pack includes, background, maps, pre-generated character sheets and a whole host of  info. To download the free MJ demo pack go here.

Next up we have some Mob Justice actual play links, so you can check out other people's MJ games, and maybe get some ideas for your own. To find the Mob Justice actual play links go here.

Lastly we've added some Mob Justice desktop wallpapers (4 in all), featuring art from the game. All are sized at 1280x960. To download the wallpapers go here.

16 Dec 07: Website and Forum news

We are currently in the process or changing our web hosting, so our forums and all our 'CGS' email addresses are currently unavailable. They should be back up in a day or two but, in the mean time, if you desperately need to contact as you can email us at paul.renengine (at) btinternet.com or contestedground (at) gmail.com

10 Dec 07: Mob Justice promotion ends

Well that's it, the end of the Mob Justice promotion. But if you missed it, never mind, we will be posting some new additions to the Mob Justice section, as well as some free stuff over the next week or so. That should take your mind off things!

02 Dec 07: Mob Justice Promotion

This week is the anniversary of the repeal of the Volstead Act. For those of you who don't know, the Volstead Act enabled the US Government to ban the manufacture and sale of 'alcoholic beverages', basically prohibition. We thought that this tied in nicely with Mob Justice, so, for this week only, we are giving a 20% discount on all copies sold. So if you want to pick up Mob Justice but haven't done so yet, now is the time. Remember though, this promotion ends on Sunday 9th December so you'll have to be quick.

To pick up a discounted copy of Mob Justice go here

20 Sep 07: Mob Justice character sheet upload and Cold City Resources

Well it's been a while since we did a website update, so here it is. We've uploaded a free PDF version of the Mob Justice character sheet. The Zip file includes both the Character sheet as well as the Boss sheet, so now you have no reason to take a pair of scissors to your copy of Mob Justice! To get the character sheet go here.

Also, we have added some new Cold City reviews and actual play threads. To have a look at the reviews go here, and to have a look at the actual play stuff go here

02 Aug 07: Cold City Companion & Mob Justice now available from our Shop

Recently we did a reprint of Cold City. Because we decided to use a different printer, we took the opportunity to update the text a little and make a few 'tweaks', Anyway, so people who bought  the first pressing don't feel like they are missing out, we have decided to PDF the changed pages and make them available as a free download. So, if you don't have the new pressing of Cold City and want the updated pages, you can get them here.

02 Aug 07: Cold City Companion & Mob Justice now available from our Shop

It's been a bit longer than expected but we have finally got our copies of Cold City: The Companion and Mob Justice through from the printers. Both are now available to buy from our shop.

Mob Justice is priced at £18 and The Companion is priced at £7. Go here to grab yourself a copy of one, or both if you're really rich!!

25 July 07: Mob Justice and Cold City Companion double release!!!

Well, as you may have guessed from the headline we have just released new books, both currently available from Indie Press Revolution and RPG Now

Mob Justice: 160 pages, Print (US letter) and PDF.
As members of one of these criminal organisations, players will balance their loyalties to the mob against their loyalties to those close to them, all the while trying to better their own position within their respective gangs. Vast criminal empires can be created, but the bigger your network and the more important you become, the harder you must work to maintain your position.

Mob Justice makes honour, loyalty, connections and enemies key to the characters and story, setting up exciting and rewarding games of criminality, corruption, betrayal and friendship.

The print version is priced at $30 and is available here

The PDF version is priced at $15 and is available at Indie Press Revolution and RPG Now

Click here for more information and here for a free preview of the game.

Cold City Companion: 48 pages, Print (8.5"x5.5") and PDF.
The Cold City Companion offers additional advice and information for Cold City. This Cold City supplement gives information on how to play the game according to different cinematic genres (such as noir, dark horror and black comedy), more in depth ways of creating and structuring games and how to run games in 'open' and 'closed' ways.

There's also a chapter dedicated to the different intelligence agencies at work in the shadows of Berlin, groups who might offer help or hindrance to characters in the Reserve Police Agency. Each agency also comes with a sample Hidden Agenda that characters associated with them might have.

For those who want to venture further a field, there's a chapter looking at twisted technology locations beyond Berlin and how they affect the
work of the Reserve Police Agency in that city.

The print version is priced at $12 and is available here

The PDF version is priced at $7 and is available at Indie Press Revolution and RPG Now

Click here for more information and here for a free preview of the game.

10 July 07: Mob Justice and Cold City Companion previews

In our last new entry, we mentioned that Mob Justice and the Cold City Companion had been sent to the printers. In anticipation of their imminent release, we've uploaded some brand new previews for both books for you to have a look at.

The Mob Justice preview gives you some background the the game, a glimpse at the world and two pages of quick start rules. And, at the back of te preview, you'll also find the full contents page from the finished product, just to give you an idea of what you can expect. The book will be available in print and PDF during the month of August.

The Cold City Companion preview showcases a few pages from the book. You'll find a list of the contents, and the first pages of the game advice, intelligence organisations and locations chapters. The book will be available in print and PDF during the month of August.

And finally, we have added a new Previews section to the website (find it on the top nav bar). In this section we have gathered together all the free previews for our games and all relevant links so you can find where to buy the full games or just read more about them.

05 July 07: New release news & links to Cold City reviews

Well, there are some exciting new releases on the horizon!

The finalised, fully artworked, complete version of Mob Justice has recently been sent to the printers and will be available from Indie Press Revolution and our own online store within a few weeks. The hardcopy version is a handsome, 160 page letter-sized volume packed full of quality game potential. Combining gritty, gangster themes with a set of mechanics that really enhance the themes of loyalty, betrayal and  honour.

The Cold City Companion has also been sent to the printers and will be available in time for Gen Con Indy in mid August. It's a 48 page, digest sized book that contains expanded advice for all participants in Cold City games, as well as details of various shadowy intelligence organisations at work in Berlin, new locations and select bibliography or useful and inspirational works.

We're also delighted to say that the main Cold City book has also been sent off for a third printing. This is very exciting news for us. The third printing will feature a few, very small changes to the game text. Owners of first and second printing books shouldn't feel worried that they are missing out on anything, however. We'll be making PDFs of any changed pages available for free download from this site.

And finally: We have added links to a selection of recent reviews of Cold City. You can browse them on the Cold City pages.

Cold City Dossier now available from RPGnow.com

Further to last weeks release of The Dossier for Cold City, you can now also purchase it from RPGnow. If you'd like to get your hands on a copy from there, then simply go here.

Cold City: The Dossier now available to buy.

As you've probably guessed from the title of this news posting we have released the first supplement for Cold City: The Dossier. The Dossier is based on a limited edition of 30 hand-made folios created for Cold City. The documents contained within these folios were distressed, aged and damaged to create an authentic period feel. The PDF package based on these documents contains scans of the original documents in colour, showing the aging and distressing. There is also a plain white PDF version that allows you to create your own documents from scratch plus an additional bonus PDF.

The full package comes in at $7.00 and is available exclusively from Indie Press Revolution. 

Click here if you want more information on The Dossier.

Click here if you want to buy a copy.