Contested Ground Studios ^[1], the folks who brought us a|state ^[2] and Cold City ^[3], have a new RPG hitting the shelves in 2008.

In October of 1962, the Cold War went hot. But the war was not just a nuclear apocalypse. Other technologies that had been hidden from the public gaze, technologies developed in Germany during the World War Two and hidden away by Britain, France, the USA and the USSR. These technologies were twisted and esoteric, fusing science, madness and the occult together. They ripped holes in reality, created horrific monsters, drove men and women beyond sanity and laid waste to continents.

Hot War is a game about the aftermath of this horror, about survivors, factions, hidden agendas, trust and betrayal. All of this takes place in the city of London, England in the freezing winter of 1963, one year after the war. Life has been altered forever. The population is massively reduced, essential services are virtually non-existent, food and other products are subject to draconian rationing measures and both inside and outside the borders of the city, horrible things still happen.

Stepping into this situation are the characters about who you, as a group, will be telling stories. The characters belong to an organisation named the Special Situations Group (SSG). The SSG is made up of military, police and civilian personnel and have the unenviable task of hunting down monsters, those who created monsters, power crazed madmen, terrorists, traitors, infiltrators and all sorts of nests of enemies. Each person who takes on the role of an individual character is designated as a player.

However, the SSG, like London itself, is torn apart by factionalism, self-interest and bigotry. The military, the government, the police and dozens of others groups are all struggling for supremacy in the post-war world, fighting over the scraps, jealously backstabbing each other for the most important discoveries. So, each of the characters will belong to a faction and will have their own hidden agendas to pursue.

Drop by the Hot War Forums ^[4] for a look at the ongoing development of the game, information about post-apocalyptic London and more. Look for Contested Ground Studios RPGs at the Flames Rising RPGNow Shop ^[5].