To the Good German then. I'd read the book personally - you get a much better flavour for 1945 and there's an important character completely missing who might well suit Cold City given her personal situation and motivations.
I also recently noted that you can explore the Viennese sewers on 3rd Man tours again and have seen that Berlin's sewers are suitably labyrinthine...
Great, thanks for the recommendation. I'm sure one of the many second hand bookshops here in Edinburgh will have a copy. Gives me an excuse for going and rooting around.
I've never yet made it to Vienna, but would love to do a Third Man tour if I managed to get there. Great film.
Now that being said I don't personally care for the mechanics of the game. But man it is a fantastic setting. The detail and flavor the book conveys is as the thread topic says "Awesome". The book (Cold or Hot for that matter) is worth buying for the setting alone.
I'm a big fan of engaging settings myself, hence the stuff int he books. It's the part of games design that's really fun for me. I'm very pleased that you think the books are worth buying just for the setting, that really makes me smile. So, thanks!
If you like the Hot War setting check out Cold War. I personally like it more. But they are both really great settings. If I were to run them I think I would convert them to Unisystem (AFMBE), or maybe Savage Worlds. But reguardless of what system you use (Original or converted) they are full of possibility and awesome.
Just one small correction: It's Cold City, not Cold War. It's a common mistake. I knew that making the titles thematically similar would come back to bite me in the ass!
Are there particular parts of the settings that you found really engaging? I'm always fascinated to find out what bits people find really fun.
Cheers
Malcolm