The Black Madonna

[Tegyrius]

Originally Posted by kcdusk

While i'm glad there is a T2K module in the works. I think i'd rather see a FL original module, than a re-make.

Its been a while since i read the original module, but its still available and i'm sure would still work with V4 rules if that's what you wanted. If FL have the time, i'd rather see new material.

I say this with zero heat or indignation: I don't think Free League is trying to cater to the game's 1e/2e legacy audience with this edition.* I believe they expect to get some nostalgia sales but are developing the 4e line primarily for new arrivals to the Twilight: 2000 universe. They know that one of the larger stated barriers to getting people to try (and buy) new games is having to learn a new rules set. Witness the plethora of threads out there on general gaming forums and subreddits wherein players and GMs bemoan their group's unwillingness to try anything because "learning new rules is hard."

Free League is rapidly building a stable of games that all run on variations of the Year Zero Engine. Their intent seems to be that once someone picks up one of their games - whether that's Alien, Mutant Year Zero, T2k, Tales from the Loop, or Bladerunner - that barrier to entry is more like a small speedbump. It's not quite a walled garden, but it's certainly a broad biome.

Regardless of whether or not that's actually their strategy, they gain precisely nothing by pointing their audience to a $9.99 PDF of a 1e module that only puts money in Far Future Enterprises' pocket and isn't written to align with their 4e timeline or setting. Reworking the very first T2k module with the original author on the writing team is probably a middle path for them. They'll get a few nostalgia sales from legacy players who've picked up 4e. They'll put out an adventure module, thereby addressing the "there's no starting adventure" complaint. And (before Mr. Frey's illness) they probably saw adapting existing material as a way to save development time.

- C.

* Free League is certainly not alone in this. Witness the Shadowrun edition wars... or the tortured cries of old-school World of Darkness players who aren't the target audience for V5.