best 1st scenario for newbie

[Michael Lewis]

Greetings,

I pulled Twilight 2000 v.2.2 out of my attic recently, having bought it when I was a kid and never having played it. Well, now I have a couple of players who are willing.

What would you recommend as a 1st module? I've never been in the military and don't know much about modern combat and such. I read the Escape from Kalisz and didn't like it very much, although I like plot of trying to get back to the U.S.


Thanks,

Michael

[Cdnwolf]

Going Home or Pirates of the Vistuala are pretty good beginner scenarios because it allows you play test different talents (ie armor combat - mass combat - driving vehicles)

[Tegyrius]

One thing to take into account is that almost all of the published adventure material was written for v1.0. Most of the plot points are still usable but you'll need to adapt any equipment or NPC stats. The community here can help with specifics.

It sounds like you want to run a classic "start in Europe, get home to the World" campaign. This sets you up for several of the original modules:

• Free City of Krakow introduces a large independent survivor community and focuses on espionage in the ruins.
• The Black Madonna gets into Polish history and has something of a "dungeon crawl" feel to it.
• Pirates of the Vistula is a travel and escort story which leads into...
• Ruins of Warsaw is a military aid and training operation aimed at eliminating a ruthless regional warlord.
• Going Home is a road trip with a time limit, which leads into a return Stateside.

I do feel compelled to ask, though: what sort of adventures do your players want and where do they want the campaign to go?

- C.

[Michael Lewis]

I havent discussed that with them yet
i havent decided witch system to use. V2.2 or Twilight 2013, which i recently picked up.
Have u played 2013? I cant seem to find a forum that supports it yet.

[B.T.]

Hi Michael,
when I started to play, most of my players had no idea of the background and no one knew the rules. But the rules are complicated (Not too complicated, but you have to bear a lot in mind. I personally think, the rules are not in a good order. I still have to flip back and forth through the book. I thought, it is better, to get to know the rules a little better, before starting with one of the modules.). Therefore I choose, to start a little earlier. Before the actual desaster at Kalisz, I gave my players 2 mini-adventures, to accustomize to the rules and the setting.
The adventures were like a Shadowrun without magic and Matrix, but the players got used to the rules and had the chance, to finetune their characters.

[Tegyrius]

Originally Posted by Michael Lewis

I havent discussed that with them yet
i havent decided witch system to use. V2.2 or Twilight 2013, which i recently picked up.
Have u played 2013? I cant seem to find a forum that supports it yet.

Nor are you likely to, I fear. 93 Games Studio, the publisher of Twilight: 2013, shut down at the end of 2010. The company forum went down when the domain registration and hosting contract expired. Your best bet for 2013 support is this forum.

- C.

[Cdnwolf]

Originally Posted by Michael Lewis

I havent discussed that with them yet
i havent decided witch system to use. V2.2 or Twilight 2013, which i recently picked up.
Have u played 2013? I cant seem to find a forum that supports it yet.

Yes Teg... have you played Twl2013 .... lmao...

[Michael Lewis]

Originally Posted by B.T.

Hi Michael,
when I started to play, most of my players had no idea of the background and no one knew the rules. But the rules are complicated (Not too complicated, but you have to bear a lot in mind. I personally think, the rules are not in a good order. I still have to flip back and forth through the book.

Yeah, the rules are not the best organized. An short adventure would not be a bad idea.

Any suggestions?

[Tegyrius]

Originally Posted by Michael Lewis

Yeah, the rules are not the best organized. An short adventure would not be a bad idea.

Any suggestions?

Effectively, what you need here is a convention demo game. Four or five hours, simple plot, just enough to teach the basic rules and give your players a feel for the setting.

My usual formula for such games has a briefing/introduction and three main scenes. Feel free to use or discard this as you see fit.

In the briefing, the PCs receive a mission. For a demo, make it easy and make them part of a larger unit, so this can be handed out by a commander. "Go reconnoiter our planned route and deal with any major problems" is always good.

In the first scene, the players engage in some preliminary investigation, which leads into the first of the session's two combat sequences. This should be a slow pitch - you don't want to outclass or kill the PCs, you want to use this as a low-threat learning experience so your players learn how the game mechanics work. (Example: the PCs encounter a patrol of local militia which initially acts friendly, then tries to backstab them.)

In the second scene, the players put together all the information they gathered in the first scene, do some more investigating based on that, identify the major obstacle facing them, and formulate a plan to deal with it. (Example: friendly villagers thank the PCs for taking out the militia patrol. The local militia is in the pay of a renegade Russian officer who rules this entire area with an iron fist. The local garrison is weak enough for the PCs' unit to take on, but an unrelated event has triggered a large-scale deployment. A large troop column is due to arrive in 18 hours, and it's more than enough to overwhelm the PCs' unit.)

In the third scene, the PCs go deal with the problem in decisive and violent fashion. This is the players' chance to come up with a cool tactical plan and to use whatever resources they managed to scrape together in the previous scenes. They also get to apply the lessons they've previously learned about how combat works in this game system. (Example: while the unit gets ready to move out, the PCs are tasked with taking out the local garrison to clear the path. How do they do it? Up to them.)

That help?

- C.

[Michael Lewis]

Somewhat.

[Adm.Lee]

Something to be aware of regarding the printed modules, is that they are more like campaign sourcebooks than "dungeons." The GM is given information on who's who in a given area, how much relative power they have, maps and some local rumors and encounter tables. Then, there is a mission for the PCs to accomplish against that background, and off you go. There's no timetable, no hard & fast goals. In fact, in a few of them (Krakow and Madonna), the PCs are given a powerful item they cannot use themselves, and set loose.

Pirates of the Vistula may be a good starter, as that's sort of linear ("You're at this end of the river, you want to go downriver, here's a boat. Go.").

Something else to keep in mind, and to tell your players, is that combat is nasty deadly-- it is far, far better to ambush than to be ambushed.

[B.T.]

Originally Posted by Adm.Lee

Something else to keep in mind, and to tell your players, is that combat is nasty deadly-- it is far, far better to ambush than to be ambushed.

Yes, yes, and yes. Combat in T2k is really deadly, although the PCs are much harder to kill than a NPC (At least in ver 2.n).

Still another thing:
I like, what Tegyrius said: Make them part of a bigger unit. When the players made their first experiences, they will have a better idea, how to equip the group. When they are part of a larger unit, you can "lend" them, whatever they need.

During the first adventures I did not equip the NPCs/enemies with explosives or heavy weapons (The heaviest weapons were PKs for the bad guys and a single .50 cal for the group's HumVee.).

My second adventure was a SWAT-kind adventure: The group was tasked with capturing or eliminating a kingpin, that was believed to act as a SPETSNAZ informer. I made a plan of the bad guy's home (an abandoned warehouse), the area around it, and gave the group a member of the MP as an NPC. The group had a clear target, but they could make up their own plan.

It depends a lot on how fit/experienced your players are with RPGs. All players in my group had been playing for 10 or more years. Therefore they had no trouble, to understand the mechanics of the rules.

I personally think it is far better, to start slowly. If you do it that way, your players are aware of the risks and have a better chance, to survive.

[Targan]

So Michael, you say you don't have military experience or much knowledge of modern combat. Do any of your players have that kind of knowledge? I recommend that before you run a T2K campaign you read some Cold War-esque military fiction or non-fiction (especially if the non-fiction is written with a focus on the men on the ground and specific events, firefights and such). And maybe watch some (less crappy) war movies (even ones set during the Vietnam War provide a vibe not dissimilar to T2K's). I've always found that if the GM has a good handle on the feel of a genre and especially some of the lingo they can bullshit their way past not having any military experience of their own.

Two books that I can definitely recommend with a T2K feel are Red Storm Rising and Sword Point (the former is probably still in print, not sure though). There are 2 good threads on this forum that might help in this area, recommending good fiction and non-fiction books.

[Michael Lewis]

No. I'm pretty sure none have. I'm probably the closest one having read Citizen Solider and D-day. I'm going to the beach in a few days and was going to bring We Were Soldiers Once... and Young but Red Storm Rising sounds good too. Sword Point doesn't have great reviews. I Bridge Too Far is one of my favorite war movies.

Thanks for the recommendations!

[Legbreaker]

I'm starting off a new group right now - played a couple of introductory sessions over the past two weekends with great results. Not a one of them has military experience, although one was an Army Cadet for a few years (boy scouts who do a little drill and fire a rifle once every couple of years).
As a primer, I had them watch the first three episodes of Generation Kill and will suggest a few other movies as well (Bridge Too Far, Platoon, etc) - basically anything with a bit of realism in them and little Hollywood claptrap.
I'll also be giving them handouts using my own old notes - section/squad formations, basic ambush and contact drills, etc.

It's definitely worth running the players through a few sample combats to get them used to how nasty bullets and explosive weapons can be. Try having the players deal with a single enemy throwing hand grenades from cover (perhaps the upper stories of a building) and see what they do. Chances are they'll all suffer badly first time around, but very quickly gain a healthy respect for area effect weaponry!

Something else to spring on them in the "orientation" phase is chemical weapons. Had a single nerve gas round fall in the middle of some "veteran" players a few years back who thought they knew it all. The survivors never took their NBC suits off again!

[boogiedowndonovan]

I kinda liked Escape from Kalisz myself. it set the tone for the game.

Check out this variant of Escape from Kalisz that I posted a while back.

http://forum.juhlin.com/showthread.php?t=2882

You might also want to consider Kings Ransom which is set in Iran. I liked it because it wasn't as open as the other modules, the players had a mission which could lead to bigger and better things. Plus gas and air support is available in Iran...

[Michael Lewis]

Thanks for that variation. It's perfect! That will be very helpful. I liked the idea of escaping but when I read the module it was very confusing. This division went here and that division went there and was pushed back to here and these tanks are here and are going there to push back that division who was here but is now there. Now what do you do? The only thing I got from that is that the Americans were kinda surrounded. I don't even know if that's right.

Does the map of Poland in the V.2.2 book show where the bad guys are? I'm assuming that's what all the blue ink is.

Michael

[Legbreaker]

Originally Posted by Michael Lewis

Does the map of Poland in the V.2.2 book show where the bad guys are? I'm assuming that's what all the blue ink is.

Sort of.
Although the units in and around Kalisz are basically correct, take the rest with a grain of salt. Some of the positions are shown as of before the Summer campaigns, some after, well after (like nearly December 2000!)

[boogiedowndonovan]

Originally Posted by Michael Lewis

Thanks for that variation. It's perfect! That will be very helpful. I liked the idea of escaping but when I read the module it was very confusing. This division went here and that division went there and was pushed back to here and these tanks are here and are going there to push back that division who was here but is now there. Now what do you do? The only thing I got from that is that the Americans were kinda surrounded. I don't even know if that's right.

Does the map of Poland in the V.2.2 book show where the bad guys are? I'm assuming that's what all the blue ink is.

Michael

well, I think confusion is part of the scenario. Your unit is getting clobbered from all sides and you don't know much besides "Good luck, you're on your own!".

I seem to recall a mention in the Escape from Kalisz booklet that the pc's start in a forest between two towns. Don't remember the names of the two towns at the moment...

-bdd