WON BEST PRODUCTION in the 2004 INDIE RPG AWARDS

RUNNER-UP for BEST INDEPENDENT GAME OF THE YEAR in the 2004 INDIE RPG AWARDS

Welcome to The City...

A sepiatone world lit by guttering gas lamps and the flickering filaments of electric bulbs. A closed world, isolated and alone.

A world of contrasts and contradictions. The citizens live their lives in a tangle of technological obscurity.

A world of pain, fear, longing and hatred. Where the basest human emotions rise to the surface, where men will cripple each other for a dull shilling.

A world of superstition, folk tales, wild religion and rampant rumour. The Shift and The Bombardment are apocalyptic legends from the far past, feeding the nightmares and fantasies of current generations.

A world of strangers and beings who do not belong. The Shifted, strange entities, whispered about in pubs and taverns, lest the very mention of their name summon them from the dark.

You will never forget The City.

But The City will forget you.

a|state, the first release from Contested Ground Studios finally available as PDF! The game itself is set in The City. Isolated from the outside world, it is a place riven by horrors, plagued by inhumanity and crushed under the weight of its own population. Rotting concrete towerblocks and dank brick tenements house the millions who work, live and die in The City. Ghostfighters, Scops, Lostfinders and Flowghosts make their way along the winding streets and stinking canals. a|state is about hope in a dark place. It is about characters who bring hope to themselves, their families, their friends, even to the whole city.

"a|state is a Gothic horror feast. It also reaches into some very dark Cyberpunk and Science Fiction veins that can really be explored by a good GM." - d20 Magazine Rack

"The setting of this game is simply rave worthy and the language is phenomenal, with impressively rich language used throughout the fictional elements." - Gaming Report

" I want to play this now, dammit." - RPG.net