In MY Twilight:2000...what are your variants or canon-breaks?

[Targan]

I'm not a climatologist so I can't claim to have expert knowledge but I do have a pretty broad general knowledge. Also, I live in a country which, in recent decades, has seen crippling droughts that in all likelihood were the result of climate change brought about by human activities. I don't find the drought posited in Howling Wilderness to be so unrealistic as to be thrown out wholesale. In any case, in your campaign you could have the drought ending within a couple of years. That wouldn't see the US knocked back to the stone age.

As for US carriers roaming the high seas, I could maybe see a couple within a few years of 2001 being brought back into service. There have been discussions on this forum about US carriers and other major surface combatants being beached, docked or stranded for one reason or another that could be brought back into action. But a US carrier participating in Op Omega? Sorry, but that directly contradicts canon so for any campaign I would run, there's not a compelling enough reason for me to include it.

[Olefin]

Not if the carrier is basically a large cargo ship. Those hangar decks would be perfect for carrying a lot of vehicles and a ship like that can hold 5000 men or more. And remember its not coming to operate aircraft - if anything it may be a landing pad for whatever helos and planes can get enough fuel to land on it - i.e. AV-8, AH-64, etc..

And keep in mind - the US is supposedly powerful enough that in 300 years its the second biggest space power after the French. There is no way after an uber drought that kills off most of the remaining population and destroys almost all of its remaining military forces that happens. It would take hundreds of years before you had anything more powerful than horse cavalry carrying rifles with a loss of people and technology like that. There wouldnt be an America left - and a few thousand troops in Iran arent enough to rebuild the US all by themselves.

And I dont see the French and the UK rebuilding the US or offering much help to the pitiful few survivors - almost all of whom are sitting deep in the interior of the country and thus cut off from even the RDF guys doing anything.

As for directly contradicting canon - the canon also says every USN SSN is lost except one - I have talked to a bunch of guys about that including naval veterans and there is no way that happens. If a Soviet Boomer survived then a bunch of Ohios had to.

Especially since canon suggests (the Caribbean module for instance) that there are still operational submarines out there. Otherwise why do the French twice attack the Corpus Cristi - if all the subs are gone why are they looking for subs not just in the Med but in the Channel as well?

And really insisting on canon on a game that isnt being supported anymore is sort of like insisting that we all keep using card sorters and Commodore 64's instead of modern computers.

[Webstral]

Originally Posted by Olefin

And really insisting on canon on a game that isnt being supported anymore is sort of like insisting that we all keep using card sorters and Commodore 64's instead of modern computers.

That is certainly one view.

[Targan]

Olefin, if you and your players are completely disllusioned with parts of the canon material, and altering it to be more palatable results in you being able to run a campaign, more power to you. An altered timeline and changes to canon are small prices to pay for there to be more T2K campaigns in the world.

[Webstral]

I should clarify, because my comment above makes it sound like I am a canon defender. I don't think purists would save a place for me in their formation. The established body of material has to be adjusted to allow for the fallability of the GDW team. I have invested considerable time in revamping some of the areas they dismissed, like nothern New England, southern Arizona, and Nevada.

[Rainbow Six]

The canon Survivor's Guide to the UK was a huge disappointment to me. It had a number of out and out factual errors, paid no more than lip service to the Territorial Army (and completely omitted to mention the Home Service Force) and had a number of proposals that in my opinion were simply not plausible - DudeUK has already mentioned the gimmicky marauder groups, and as for the idea of the Queen abdicating...eh, no, don't think so.

Hence the reason I've spent the last few years working on an alternate version that currently runs to approx 105 pages / 45,000 words and still isn't finished (I really must get my finger out and get some work done - Dude UK, marauder groups will probably be the next section completed!).

To summarise the changes

• A considerably expanded - and hopefully more realistic - Order of Battle that includes a small number of surviving Royal Navy warships and RAF aircraft.
• The Queen remains on the Throne until the nuclear exchanges when both she and Prince Charles are killed so Prince William ascends the Throne
• More meddling by the French
• No invasion of Northern Ireland by the Republic
• Slightly amended nuclear target list
• Some changes to Scotland - basically the Separatists only control part of the Central Belt, not the whole country - HMG still retains an enclave in the North.. I also discarded the Royal Army of Scotland and gave the Separatists an alternative Defence Force
• Discarded most of the marauder groups listed to be replaced by my own creations (a notable exception is the Duke of Cornwall, who I retained and expanded on)
• A whole host of minor changes - different Prime Minister, that sort of thing

With the exception of the situation in NI, I have retained the overall "look" of the UK put forward by canon - i.e. HMG still only controls south east England, parts of Wales and Scotland have declared independence, and much of the rest of the country is in anarchy.

I would like to think that the changes I've made don't radically change the basic tenets of the game as far as the global situation is concerned - for example, I would hope that the small number of operational warships doesn't give the impression that the Royal Navy is going to rule the High Seas.

[95th Rifleman]

The biggest change we have in our T2k games is the date, we shift the whole thing to the 80's but keep the timeline going pretty much as V1 reads.
It works surprisngly well and there is no fuss sourcing rules and material to cover the kit.

There are a few changes to the UK. I don't think many UK gaming groups ever used the wacky gang crap from survivor's guide. The main domestic enemies for our version are an organised and armed National Front and a much more active IRA. Princess Diana and the boys have been evacuated to Canada to keep a secure line of succession, Elisabeth II dies in London, refusing to abandon the capital and Charles becomes king.

However we prefer to set our games in Poland so the domestic background is normaly a moot point.