Hot War is now in the final stages of proofing and typesetting, ready to go to print in the very near future. Hot War is a game all about friends, enemies, secrets and consequences in a 1960's, post-apocalypse London that most certainly isn't swinging.

As part of our continuing endeavours to let people see what the game is going to be like, here's another poster and art piece from the game. And may I say that Paul is really outdoing himself with Hot War. The graphic design is outstanding, the artwork brilliant and it all comes together to really bring alive the world.

Hi folks,

I've lurked about her for a while reading with interest. I am mainly a main-stream RPGer, but the excellent Cold City has given me a real insight into RPGs with rules designed to evoke a style of play, and I've become more and more interested in indie games. I've picked up a few (Aeternal Legends, Mob Justice, planning on getting Duty and Honour when it arrives) and I had the pleasure of looking over Hot War, though I didn't get to playtest it as I intended as my employer (the Army) had plans involving me being a few thousand miles from home for the last few months.

I recently posted up the latest versions of the character creation and game creation sections of the Hot War text up on the Contested Ground Studios forum. I'm really excited about this, as I think that the game has come together excellently. Some polish required to be sure, but I'm thrilled by the evolution from a simple port of the Cold City mechanics into a set of mechanics that support what Hot War, as a totally different game, is all about.

Having played a few games from the indepenent publisher arena I’ve seen a trend with regards to play style. It seems that games are leaning away from a smooth story and breaking towards just acting out key or important scenes. Which is fine and dandy, but for me makes it feel more like a boardgame and less like a consistent story.

So there's lots of talk about different ways of playing and social contracts and multi-GM and no-GM games. But I need one. My lot commonly refer to them as Referees and similarly, "reffing" games.

Inspired by Ashs' threa dabout his playtesting experiences, I though that I would spin this thread off, regarding some discussion that was had regarding designing a game free from influences vs designing whilst taking advantage of other published games.