It's been over a year since Contested Ground put out any products for their excellent A|State, two years since they put out a print product for it, and a similarly long time since the Avenues and Alleyways supplement was supposedly "almost ready".

Have Contested Ground given up on A|State? It would be a real shame if they have. I've noticed that Malcolm Craig's latest two games - Cold City and Mob Justice - have Forge-like systems coupled with very interesting settings. It seems to me that Craig got introduced to the Forge after publishing A|State, was impressed by what he saw, and now wants to produce Narrativist games... but at the same time still likes to make quirky, strange, and unusual settings, the exploration of which is usually regarded as "Sim" in Forge theory. Which is a shame: I'd be more interested in Cold City and Mob Justice if there was more of a focus on the weird setting and less Narrativist mechanics, and I suspect the Narrativist crowd would prefer it if they simply presented Narrativist mechanics for cold war espionage and Prohibition gangster stories (respectively) and didn't bother so much with the weird settings.

It's kind of sad, because while I think Cold City is an interesting little artifact, A|State was far and away one of the best "traditional" RPGs I've seen for ages; it'd feel like such a waste if Contested Ground never made anything else for it, and/or never put out anything with a similar approach.

Quote from: WarthurIt's kind of sad, because while I think Cold City is an interesting little artifact, A|State was far and away one of the best "traditional" RPGs I've seen for ages; it'd feel like such a waste if Contested Ground never made anything else for it, and/or never put out anything with a similar approach.

I agree, and think you've nailed it, Warthur. I loved A|State from the first time I read about it, and felt the same after playing it. Unfortunately, If I ran Cold City, I'd have to rip out the mechanics and sling in my own.

-clash

Quote from: flyingmiceI agree, and think you've nailed it, Warthur. I loved A|State from the first time I read about it, and felt the same after playing it. Unfortunately, If I ran Cold City, I'd have to rip out the mechanics and sling in my own.

-clash

Hold on a minute! How can you say that? Actually, I haven't seen the mechanics in Cold City. What are the mechanics like? While I found A|State to be ultra-cool, I didn't care much for the system, which is really no big deal since I can pretty much sit down and use any system for a game like that (probably GDi).

Quote from: pigames.netHold on a minute! How can you say that? Actually, I haven't seen the mechanics in Cold City. What are the mechanics like? While I found A|State to be ultra-cool, I didn't care much for the system, which is really no big deal since I can pretty much sit down and use any system for a game like that (probably GDi).

The A|State system isn't especially clever or innovative (it struck me as being a heavily BRP-influenced thing), but it does the job nicely and fades into the background - which is what you want in a game like A|State, where your main focus is going to be exploring this beautifully realised setting.

Conversely, in Cold City the mechanics are a) very much to the fore and b) not especially innovative (it seems to bear the influences of a dozen other Forge games that preceded it), and the setting details are slim and sparse - which is a shame, because the setting (post-WWII Berlin with monsters hiding in the ruins!) is, for me, the big draw. Mob Justice looks to have a similar situation: obtrusive system, intriguing setting ("What if Prohibition had never been repealed?") which doesn't quite get the detailed treatment A|State's setting did.

That's the thing I find frustrating about CG and Malcolm Craig: the settings are the big draw, but in the recent games they simply haven't been given the treatment they deserve. In fact, I'll just be blunt and say outright that CG and Craig just aren't very good at coming up with clever, innovative systems. That's not a fatal flaw - lots of people aren't good at that - but it does mean that (IMHO) they should concentrate more on their settings and just provide solid, reliable, tried-and-tested systems for their games as opposed to trying to experiment.

Update, for those as are interested: Malcolm Craig replied to my crosspost on the Big Purple, here, so if you want to know what the current deal is with A|State, check it out. (Summary: It's been on the back burner for a good long while, and CGS are trying to decide what to do with it.)

The A|State mechanics also have a noticeable CORPS influence...probably why I like them...  (When Malcolm was originally running the setting, he used CORPS before designing his own system.)