RPG Forums

Go Back   RPG Forums > Role Playing Game Section > Twilight 2000 Forum

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #1  
Old 03-28-2021, 03:30 PM
raketenjagdpanzer's Avatar
raketenjagdpanzer raketenjagdpanzer is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,261
Default Gary Con 2021 after-action report

Twilight:2000 went really well. There was a lot more role-playing than I thought there'd be, to be honest. I figured a Wandering Encounter would bump into the party and there'd be a protracted firefight, but no, they immediately moved out, had some good role-play in a settlement sized ville, did some trading, etc., then moved on.

They found an abandoned BMD-2 (airborne non-ATGM equipped BMP-2) that had taken a few LAW hits and had its turret disabled. The Soviets booby-trapped it and one of the team lost his arm trying to remove the anti-tank mine they'd put under it. They got him stabilized and tried to make it to a Polish city where they could (hopefully) get him some serious medical attention but the nearest "town" was held by elements of the 89th Soviet Cavalry Div., who defended fiercely, nearly taking out the Humvee with an RPG round. However, the team suppressed an enemy pillbox with Mk.19 and .50 fire from the Humvee and M113 respectively, and withdrew under mortar fire.


By then we were closing in on end-of-game time so we wrapped, I deemed they'd gotten out of the Kalisz encirclement and with some pluck were able to keep the injured team member alive and he eventually recovered, and over the ensuing months made their way back to Bremerhaven and found the remnants of the US Navy and Army Transport division swapping the US's heavy armor and armaments (artillery, missile batteries, tanks, APCs, etc.) for enough fuel to get a handful of cargo ships across the Atlantic and "home"...for whatever value "home" might have, in a Post-WW3 setting.
I think the players liked it, at least, they said they did 🙂
So tired now.
__________________
THIS IS MY SIG, HERE IT IS.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 03-28-2021, 05:05 PM
Gunner Gunner is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 55
Default

Very cool! Thanks for the AAR
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 03-28-2021, 07:01 PM
StainlessSteelCynic's Avatar
StainlessSteelCynic StainlessSteelCynic is offline
Registered Registrant
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Western Australia
Posts: 2,375
Default

Can I ask, what was the age range of the Players?
In light of recent discussions here about the Merc: 2000 alternate setting, I'm curious to know if younger people are attracted to Twilight: 2000, people who did not grow up in the Cold War era (or even, people who have no military experience).
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 03-28-2021, 08:29 PM
raketenjagdpanzer's Avatar
raketenjagdpanzer raketenjagdpanzer is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,261
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by StainlessSteelCynic View Post
Can I ask, what was the age range of the Players?
In light of recent discussions here about the Merc: 2000 alternate setting, I'm curious to know if younger people are attracted to Twilight: 2000, people who did not grow up in the Cold War era (or even, people who have no military experience).
30's, 40's, 50's.

I was slated to have 8 players, but only 6 showed up, so I don't know about the other two.
__________________
THIS IS MY SIG, HERE IT IS.
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 03-29-2021, 01:34 AM
StainlessSteelCynic's Avatar
StainlessSteelCynic StainlessSteelCynic is offline
Registered Registrant
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Western Australia
Posts: 2,375
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by raketenjagdpanzer View Post
30's, 40's, 50's.

I was slated to have 8 players, but only 6 showed up, so I don't know about the other two.
Thanks for the information. I find it very encouraging that younger people are interested in older games (it seems to replicate what I have seen with a lot of 20- and 30-somethings and music, not content with music of their era, they've been listening to music from their parent's era).
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 03-29-2021, 12:25 PM
raketenjagdpanzer's Avatar
raketenjagdpanzer raketenjagdpanzer is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,261
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by StainlessSteelCynic View Post
Thanks for the information. I find it very encouraging that younger people are interested in older games (it seems to replicate what I have seen with a lot of 20- and 30-somethings and music, not content with music of their era, they've been listening to music from their parent's era).
Whenever I run either Original D&D or 1st Ed. AD&D (the only D&D games I really enjoy, although sometimes Holmes or Moldvay edited Basic D&D scratch the itch), the games are enthusiastically received.

Now, I doubt I would run Twilight:2000 again as a con event - not because I didn't have fun (I did) and not because they players didn't have fun (they did), but because of the "scale" of T2k. It is a game that lends itself to weeks of exploring, hard-fought battles, etc., whereas D&D games can take place in a "dungeon" and the players can skate along the rails as it were. Although I suppose if I ran The Black Madonna, that's a dungeon crawl in T2k...

If the demand were there, though, yes, I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Some observations about the 1e rules for T2k that I'm sure have been discussed over the nearly 40 years since their release...80% of the game is easy-peasy. It's OD&D levels of role-vs-roll play, when interacting with the environment. Truly difficult things, the very easy to learn skill system (easy: your skill x2 is the target, average, your skill, difficult, half your skill) handles quite nicely.

The 20% that are fiendishly hard is: character generation (although I found an Excel spreadsheet that lets me generate characters, I still have to do the 4d6-4 and/or slight and favor stats but otherwise it does everything except buying skills for you), and combat resolution. I mean, goddamn the 1e combat system is obtuse. I like it - but it's obtuse.
__________________
THIS IS MY SIG, HERE IT IS.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 03-30-2021, 12:37 AM
Southernap's Avatar
Southernap Southernap is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: May 2020
Location: Washington State, USA
Posts: 83
Default Conventions and Character Generation.

Quote:
Originally Posted by raketenjagdpanzer View Post

The 20% that are fiendishly hard is: character generation (although I found an Excel spreadsheet that lets me generate characters, I still have to do the 4d6-4 and/or slight and favor stats but otherwise it does everything except buying skills for you), and combat resolution. I mean, goddamn the 1e combat system is obtuse. I like it - but it's obtuse.
When I was still able to go to events, I was at a local small gaming convention and they had a lecture for an hour about how to be a GM. One of the questions that came up was how to prep a game for running at a convention when you may only have a 2-4 hour gaming session. One of the GM/DMs there mentioned that if the rules were fast and straight forward to let folks roll up their own characters using a cheat sheet. Otherwise, if its complicated (and he called out Traveller for its complicated character generation) then you pre-gen some characters along some themes (the tank, the healer, the mechanic, the sniper, etc) or even potentially appropriate for the one-shot that will be run. Then allow the players to buy the gear they want off again a cheat sheet. Then run the game for some fun.
__________________
Hey, Law and Order's a team, man. He finds the bombs, I drive the car. We tried the other way, but it didn't work.
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 03-30-2021, 06:57 PM
Adm.Lee Adm.Lee is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Columbus, OH
Posts: 1,379
Default

I've been running T2k1 at Origins for years, and I keep re-using the same pregens, since I find making PCs in that edition pretty tedious. Over the years, I've subtracted 1 PC who died and added perhaps 6. I think that the group is up to 14 now, so there's a diverse group to select from.

I've heard one suggestion for games with complex chargen-- do nearly all of the work, but leave a little for the players to fill in, like a few skills or feats or edges. In the case of T2k1, maybe leave off two or three batches of skill points-- 25 or 50 points each?-- for the player to finalize the character?

Also, one could leave off name, nationality, background, etc., for the player to flesh out. One of my pregens shifted gender, when I had more women around the table than I expected, and Jack became Jackie.

Weapons packages could be another "final detail" to let the players select in lieu of full character generation. I've had several people ask not for a particular person, but "gimme the guy with the M60". Have some weapons & ammo packages on index cards, separate from the PC sheets.
__________________
My Twilight claim to fame: I ran "Allegheny Uprising" at Allegheny College, spring of 1988.
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 03-30-2021, 07:04 PM
Adm.Lee Adm.Lee is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Columbus, OH
Posts: 1,379
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by raketenjagdpanzer View Post

Now, I doubt I would run Twilight:2000 again as a con event - not because I didn't have fun (I did) and not because they players didn't have fun (they did), but because of the "scale" of T2k. It is a game that lends itself to weeks of exploring, hard-fought battles, etc., whereas D&D games can take place in a "dungeon" and the players can skate along the rails as it were. Although I suppose if I ran The Black Madonna, that's a dungeon crawl in T2k...
I've reduced my convention games to setting up a short mission (in or around Krakow, mostly)
- a bit of time for planning, shopping, and packing,
- some travel-- a minor encounter or two to show off the world
- recon the site and planning
- the usual firefight (assault, ambush, or defense)
- getting out (throw in another encounter if there's still lots of time left in the 4-hour slot)
- receiving rewards, chatting with players, getting their feedback, and packing up

Quote:
Originally Posted by raketenjagdpanzer View Post
Some observations about the 1e rules for T2k that I'm sure have been discussed over the nearly 40 years since their release...80% of the game is easy-peasy. It's OD&D levels of role-vs-roll play, when interacting with the environment. Truly difficult things, the very easy to learn skill system (easy: your skill x2 is the target, average, your skill, difficult, half your skill) handles quite nicely.
My rules cheat sheet is pretty simple for everything but combat. I have a game-opening speech prepared, covering setting and rules. I make a point that there is no Charisma stat or Persuasion skill, all of the interpersonal talking is almost purely between the people at the table.
__________________
My Twilight claim to fame: I ran "Allegheny Uprising" at Allegheny College, spring of 1988.
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 03-31-2021, 07:20 AM
Silent Hunter UK Silent Hunter UK is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 370
Default

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.
Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 06:22 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.6
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.