Contemporary T2K Background
 

Gents, I about to start a table top game where I have re written a bit of the T2K history to bring it up to our current timeline.

-Essentially the USSR falls, the Russian Federation rises
-Russia feels the effects of an expanding NATO, Russia wants more control -Russia and China fight
-Russia starts to bully satellite states into submission, with few exceptions they fall into line though either force of diplomacy, force of insurrection, or force of arms
-NATO gets nervous
-Eastern European Satelite nations with backing of Russia conduct skirmish operation in Poland, Germany steps in to support its neighbor, Russia invades Poland, The war starts
-NATO throws money and troops at Europe
-Back and forth, back and forth for a couple years, Nukes fly, back and forth again, more nukes fly, ect ect

Its pretty much the v2 timeline except that I wrote in the USSR falling and 6 years later it is essentially functional again for all intents and purposes (really just a tool to advance the timeline), and wrote in the global war on terror. The full timeline is something like 8 pages long.

Does anyone know of any similar projects? What is everyones take on working a more modern timeline?

V1 timeline is where it's at with me. Supplemented with Webstral's superb "Storm in Germany", RainbowSix's "Alternate UK Guide", and a few select others. I like the cold war era and don't have much interest in playing a modern, updated version... and V1 is the easiest timeline to swallow as well IMO.

Agreed to an extent. However I wanted Cold War with modern equipment. Now understandably the vast majority of the "modern" equipment is now either a pile of smoking debris or inoperable, but I have serve in the modern military and wanted something I was personally more familiar with. However the allure of fighting the Red Menace is irresistible, thus I made my attempt to combine the two.

Makes sense.

TicToc, I recommend you spend some time trawling through this forum's thread map (the link to it is a sticky near the top of the main thread list). There have been many threads on similar topics over the years and I'm sure you'd find lots of useful information.

Also, are you familiar with Twilight 2013? Not only is it an excellent gaming system, it has a much more contemporary timeline than any of the old T2K systems. Admittedly many people have a strong dislike for T2013's timeline but I think it would be worth it for you to have a look at it.

Thank you for the suggestions. I am familiar with 2013 but have heard (nearly) nothing but bad reviews. From its system to its background it seems to be flawed from rumor. In addition as I understand things it has been discontinued. All in all I prefer to simply do some maintenance to the timeline to change the date while leaving the flavor of the game the same.

As for the thread map. I have not only perused it but downloaded nearly everything I could find that I felt was useful....... there was a LOT of useful...... thanks.

You should look into T:2013 and form your own opinions. Generally, around here, the system is pretty lauded, though the background isn't thought particularly high of. I like it all if you ask me - I rarely use the backgrounds as presented, but use them as a framework to hang my own stuff on. I love the rules of 2013 though!

Like Cavtroop said, check it out yourself. While the backstory divides opinions, the system in itself is, at least in my opinion, a very good one and highly realistic. Also, the rules include far more options for your character, dropping the preset 4-year terms and replasing them with term of varying lengths.

Also, we have our resident specialists of the said system, some of whom have actually been creating the particular game and have more insight in it. So despite the discontinuation of the brand, the support for it might be possible to obtain through here.

And I, for one, am planning on supplements for it, unofficial as they may be.

Hmmm well I may indeed have to take a look at it with the support for it I am seeing here. The only down side is I start GMing my new crew in a week using the 2.2 ruleset. Has anyone taken a 2.2 character and transferred it into 2013 rulesets?

Not as such, but I've created both 2.2 and 2013 versions of the same characters and the 2013 adds more depth in to the character and enables things during the creation of the said character that would be possible in 2.2 only through house rules. The 2013 ruleset includes three layers of rules, ranging from quick and dirty to accurate and realistic with one layer balancing between these two.

Also, the thing I find rather nice in the 2013 is that weapons no longer give their range in meters but range bands, which makes sense. A round doesn't mysteriously vanish at some imaginary maximum range line. Shots beyond that are possible yet difficult. The realistic Stage III rules actually have damage listed for various calibers on various range bands, effectively enacting the loss of power behind the round.

All in all, if you want realism in your Twilight gaming, then go for the 2013 and the Stage III rules and you'll find plenty.

Directly porting a character (or anything else besides vehicle stats) is really kind of a pain. We didn't design with that level of system compatibility in mind. However, I haven't found a lot of character concepts from 2.2 that can't be re-created by going through an equivalent life path progression in Reflex.

- C.

I'm going to re-iterate my love for the 2013 Reflex system. I'm also going to reiterate my INCREDIBLE frustration in finding gamers that don't want to just play high fantasy games or only want to play the 'big popular' systems, LOL :)

Hear, hear. I've been looking for a local group for over three years now that is willing to play something besides D&D or Pathfinder.

I guess I'm more fortunate than I realize to have a bunch of writers and mechanics geeks in my local gaming circle. I can usually find a few players for a short run of just about any setting or system that doesn't suck. Scheduling and family responsibilities tend to kill most long campaigns, though.

- C.

I'm so desperate for a Twilight:[anything] game, that if you are within 500 miles of me, I'll walk to game nights if I have to... LOL

I start a game next week that Ill be running on what I plan to be a weekly session. Let me know where you are located on the slimmest of chances that you are within commuting distance.