Playing the Strategic Game in T2K

[ChalkLine]

Has anyone done without the actual role-playing and just focused on the strategic game of building, supplying and maintaining a settlement/canton?

Tell us some of stuff

[Slappy]

We did not. We got to the place once where we as PCs controlled a decent amount of territory. But it wasn't that rewarding from a game play perspective. There aren't a lot of RPGs based on being a mayor.

Now that I think of it though, a simcity mod based on T2K might be something that I would play.

[Cdnwolf]

I think Armies of the Night would give the characters the best chance to help rebuild part of New York, but Krakow and Warsaw are detailed enough that if the group seized power they could work as bases of operation.

[Olefin]

If any of them offer a real chance of continuing adventure while playing the strategic game I would say its Armies of the Night - especially if the players can either ally with or take over one of the major factions in the game. You still have all the remaining factions to deal with. And as opposed to what is in Howling Wilderness there is more than enough water in NYC to keep agriculture going no matter what level of drought would be occurring for at least a reduced population. The Hudson isnt going dry anytime soon.

Thus you could keep your hand in both aspects of the game easily enough and for quite some time.

[ChalkLine]

In one of our campaigns we turned up to a little Polish town with about five weeks to go before the first snows. Once I'd made it clear to the players that the chance of them surviving winter was virtually nil because:

- They had no food.
- Everyone else had little, if any, food.
- There was absolutely no possibility of them buying or trading for food no matter what they offered.

The players asked for a town map, worked out defences and set themselves up as the town Militia (the town had been taken over by marauders who they had 'disposed of')

So then they started working out schedules for the NPCs for cooking fuel, foraging and defence. They planned their own missions for seizing fuel off marauder bands. They drew up plans of fortifications for the town that they were going to over-winter in.

This is sort of what the question was about

[Hardeman]

If any of them offer a real chance of continuing adventure while playing the strategic game I would say its Armies of the Night - especially if the players can either ally with or take over one of the major factions in the game. You still need to try one of these standing desk chairs (https://www.villagevoice.com/best-standing-desk-chairs/) and have all the remaining factions to deal with. And as opposed to what is in Howling Wilderness there is more than enough water in NYC to keep agriculture going no matter what level of drought would be occurring for at least a reduced population. The Hudson isnt going dry anytime soon.

Thus you could keep your hand in both aspects of the game easily enough and for quite some time.

What you described sounds like a ton of fun, actually. Can you do stuff like this whenever you want to?

[ChalkLine]

After we first started doing this it became a regular part of the game

[Adm.Lee]

Never done it, but I've wanted to for years, especially in a Polish village. I'm sure I've mentioned that around here before.

What kind of rules did you use for the village & its survival? I've wondered if one could cobble something together using AD&D and Traveller.

[swaghauler]

Never done it, but I've wanted to for years, especially in a Polish village. I'm sure I've mentioned that around here before.

What kind of rules did you use for the village & its survival? I've wondered if one could cobble something together using AD&D and Traveller.

You need to get a PDF of Twilight2013. There are fairly detailed rules for Reconstruction and Farming in the equipment section. They are easily converted to other editions of Twilight2000.

One of my favorite lines in the book comes from this section. "a Detailed Strip" is the scrounging equivalent to the proverbial "plague of locusts," nothing is left in its wake.

[Adm.Lee]

After we first started doing this it became a regular part of the game

How many times do you think you've done that?

How much territory did your PCs end up controlling, over what period of time?

[ChalkLine]

How many times do you think you've done that?

How much territory did your PCs end up controlling, over what period of time?

To tell you truth I thought that was how the game was played, so every time .

The guys generally stay small because the T2k world is mean. There's barely any food, people and the resources tend to dwindle rather than increase. Just when you get it sort of under control cholera kills half of your trained NPCs

[Adm.Lee]

Something else I'd once read popped into my head last night. It was something about original D&D, and the way it was played. You may remember that D&D and AD&D characters stopped progressing as much once they hit 9th level.

Low levels were for parties of a few characters, and were about surviving to gain experience.
Middle levels were for larger parties including henchmen and hirelings, and resembled personnel management.
High levels were about building and maintaining strongholds.

... or something like that. I guess there could be a parallel in T2k, but I never ran a group that was interested or thought of the "middle" or "higher levels".

[Adm.Lee]

... And another thing! ;)

I remember the early 80s Vietnam War RPG, "Recon" was supposed to have a module for a team to live in a village, I cannot recall if it was a Marine CAP squad or a Special Forces A-Team. I saw the title "Hearts & minds" in some ads way back then, but never saw it in the stores.

Found it on Noble Knight for $75. Yeesh.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

... And another thing! ;)

I remember the early 80s Vietnam War RPG, "Recon" was supposed to have a module for a team to live in a village, I cannot recall if it was a Marine CAP squad or a Special Forces A-Team. I saw the title "Hearts & minds" in some ads way back then, but never saw it in the stores.

Found it on Noble Knight for $75. Yeesh.
You know, I always kinda liked Noble Knight for their ability to source old, out-of-print or rare gaming materials but they often did take themselves more seriously than they deserved when it came to pricing those items. That same module can be bought second-hand from Amazon at US$44.
Now I'm not saying that $44 for a second-hand game supplement is a good price but it's a damned sight better than $75.
I wanted to check it out and was really hoping to find a digital copy to buy but no such luck.

[Ewan]

I picked the Hearts & Minds module away back in about 83 or 84 (is that really 35 years ago :))
It details the activity of USSF A Team organizing and training a Montagnard village in the central highlands of Vietnam (think John Wayne in the first half of the movie The Green Berets). It included encounter tables and training routines, overall not a bad little supplement for the game.