Mongoose Publishing and Twilight 2000

[Raellus]

Originally Posted by StainlessSteelCynic

Tegyrius is right however and while his comment was short on words it shouldn't necessarily be taken that he was getting short with other people.
It's far too easy to interpret the wrong tone in something that someone writes as opposed to hearing/seeing them speak and thus is becomes far too easy to read the wrong intent in someones comments.

You're right and your points (and Tegyrius') are well taken. The tone of his post, however, was pretty clear. I don't want this to turn into sniping, especially given the posts surrounding the recent demise of 93 Games Studios and the reliscense. For my part, I will choose the high road.

[Legbreaker]

I believe there's two equally valid ways of approaching yet another version of T2K.
The first is to leave the timeline basically the same as GDW had it - world political relations fell apart in the late 80s and 90s before turning nuclear in late 1997.
The other is to completely rewrite everything with a point of diversion in 2010 (or thereabouts) and set the game about 10-20 years in the future. Obviously this wouldn't actually be Twilight:2000 anymore, but the general feel would be roughly the same (provided the background was written that way).

[Tegyrius]

This. You can see where Leg's used to saying what he means rather than worrying about getting paid by the word.

- C.

[Panther Al]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

I believe there's two equally valid ways of approaching yet another version of T2K.
The first is to leave the timeline basically the same as GDW had it - world political relations fell apart in the late 80s and 90s before turning nuclear in late 1997.
The other is to completely rewrite everything with a point of diversion in 2010 (or thereabouts) and set the game about 10-20 years in the future. Obviously this wouldn't actually be Twilight:2000 anymore, but the general feel would be roughly the same (provided the background was written that way).

I totally agree with the second point being the best of the two in my mind. A 2008 POD is actually quite workable considering you had a US election coupled with a war between russia and a nominal US ally. While I doub't the end result would change a more active US role would poison relations between east and west and could with the right spin slowly lead to a new cold war (military spending to "cure" the recession?).

[Legbreaker]

I believe Russia is making noises at the moment about the European missile shield. I don't know any details but that could be a viable point of conflict.
We've also got the current hostility from North Korea which potentially could lead to some ugliness. I know it's a bit of a stretch (but it is a game afterall) but the north, supported by China and perhaps Russia could invade the south. Given a serious breakdown in western intelligence estimates the north could be given a greater strategic strength than they do IRL and cause a second Korean War which might expand to other regions.
Who knows, Iran might get twitchy and attack the western forces in Afganistan while Iraq rises up as well. We might even see Israel attacked by it's neighbours (again!) and English football fans could go on a rampage across France...

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

...and English football fans could go on a rampage across France...

The War of the Soccer Hooligans...

Didn't Honduras and El Salvador fight a war over the outcome of a soccer game in the 1960s?

[pmulcahy11b]

At the risk of being heretical...

It might be more viable to have a more Merc 2000 approach, but with regular military troops instead of being focused completely on mercenaries. The game could therefore flow with the real-world news.

[Legbreaker]

I was just thinking a Merc:2000 approach might work better than a total rewrite.

[Snake Eyes]

Why does timeline matter anyway?

[Legbreaker]

That's like asking what's so important about history!
A properly written timeline is a vital foundation for a good game world. If you don't know how the world came to be the way it is, how can it grow and be believable?
Sure the players might not need to know the details, but the GM sure as hell does!

[General Pain]

Originally Posted by Snake Eyes

Why does timeline matter anyway?

I've never used and never will use anyone's but myown and/or the GMs take on timeline....I basically think it's cool that people write this and that and I enjoy tegerious' work and hope you guys continue...

For god's sake no more "this is canon"-discusions-----let's have more that's not a cannon this is a cannon

[Snake Eyes]

Originally Posted by Snake Eyes

Why does timeline matter anyway?

Seriously, I ask not only since timeline angst is a recurring centerpoint of conversation around here but also because I played OG 1st ed/ Twilight for years before I ever bothered reading Countdown to Armageddon. It was an entertaining read but not particularly germane to the core concept of "You're soldiers caught behind the lines of a nuclear war." All that stuff with Italy pulling out of NATO is interesting but it just ... didn't ... matter. Deep background, yeah. But it had nothing to do with why the characters were in Poland or solving the immediate problem of whether and how to get out of it. The 2.0/2.2 updates were just as entertaining and ultimately just as irrelevant to actual gameplay.

I understand players want to be able to integrate their characters into the story and the GM needs to know what's what but folks make it sound like opting not to include a detailed orbat and accounting for the month-by-month disposition of every brigade in the global arsenal is some kind of failure. And yeah, I want my guy to be a part of the story, but I can make him a farmboy from Iowa without having to pull out an almanac to research the average rainfall, mean low temperature and consumer price index in order to determine whether his parents could have plausibly produced the crop yield required to afford any siblings.