Short News Post - Introducing "Rad Zone" (New Contest on the Juhlin Forum!)

As quoted from the post linked here:

This concept should be familiar to Traveller players and is borrowed shamelessly from the "Amber Zone" concept.

Ok, the way this is going to work is this. Please submit a maximum of 1500 words to this thread of a developed adventure seed (doesn't need to be a full adventure). The scenario seed must be at least 500 words in length, and it must have a developed plot line, potential ideas for complications, as well as suggestions to the Referee on how to use something in their campaign. The entry may be rules agnostic, or for a specific version of Twilight: 2000, be it 1st Edition, 2nd Edition, Edition 2.2, or Twilight: 2013.

All submissions must be original, and not published elsewhere, either physically, or electronically on the web in any form.

Extra points to someone using the "Amber Zone" concept of something ambiguous turning into something rather unpleasant indeed, or at least potentially so...

All submissions must be submitted by 0000 EST, Saturday, August 15. A poll of the board membership will then decide the winner. In case of a tie, the mod staff will cast the deciding vote. Voting will be held until 0000 EST, Sunday, August, 31.

Oh, almost forgot, I am putting up a comp copy of my recent miniatures scenario book "Red Star, White Lights" as a prize!

So, flex those creative muscles! I'd love to see what you all come up with!

An Interview With Chris Lites, part of the Free League Publishing Twilight: 2000 team!

I know it's been a while, but I wanted to have some more information on what's going on with the upcoming Twilight: 2000 4th Edition Kickstarter campaign by Free League Publishing! We've seen some interviews online with the design team here, I am not a big video person myself, having been told once that I had a "face for radio, and a voice for television."

But I digress, in any event, I have here the questions and responses from Chris Lites, who is part of the design team, and his thoughts on where the team wants to go. Chris was extremely responsive, and gracious considering the amount of development time he is putting into the release we hope will be sometime next year! (My thoughts, noone elses, please don't bug FGL about it!)

The interview is below, the questions were either formulated by myself, or submitted by readers. Chris's responses are in italics.

1.     Will Character Generation be limited to Army characters, like in the 1st Edition will it be more diverse like in the 2nd Edition?

You can play military or civilians from the start.

 

2.       Will there be setting sourcebooks that do more modern apocalypses?

I’m not sure what the future holds. We’ve discussed an option that might lead to a contemporary sourcebook...possibly.

 

3.       What can you tell us about the proposed mechanics?

One set of mechanics is a more detailed version of the Year Zero System. It includes a much heavier focus on combat. We are also playtesting an alternate ruleset. I can’t say more now.

 

4.       Have you brought anyone on from the old GDW team?

Marc Miller is involved.

 

5.       How many of you are fans of the game?

I don’t think anyone involved isn’t a fan of the old game. I started playing it in about 1986 as a kid. I was pretty obsessed with all things military. I memorized cyclic rates for NATO and Warsaw Pact small arms at one point. Twilight: 2000 was probably the third game I played after D&D and Recon. It was pretty much designed for kid me.

 

6.     What made you all decide to keep the game in 2000, considering younger players are, well, barely aware of the Cold War and all that came with it?

We kept the game where it is because it’s the most plausible scenario and the one fans are familiar with. I think the idea of apocalypse never gets old. Given our current world, certainly, “the end is nigh” is very much in the air. The specifics of what any causal factor were pale in comparison to what we, as a society, deal with mentally: the aftermath. We were perilously close to apocalypse in the Cold War and find ourselves in a different, longer apocalypse now. One that is multi-causal. However, the effects of a Third World War have most of the trappings of what we’d see if everything that can go wrong now continues to do so. While new players might not get the Cold War sense of doom, I think younger generations can relate to the feeling of a dark cloud over the world. Setting it in a recent era makes it realistic but still a bit escapist.

 

7.       Will you be re-issuing old adventures for the new system?

The old adventures serve as a road map. You’ll see the Poland campaign but, in true sandbox style, we present it in such a way that is can be set in the UK, Germany, Sweden, wherever you want.

 

8.       Miniatures, what scale and whom if anyone, have you approached? Or can you talk on that?

Miniatures have been discussed. I am a huge minis gamer. Nothing is decided. The RPG certainly does not require them.

9.       If there’s one thing you want to tell the fans, what is it?

 I’d tell the fans that I was a huge fan of Twilight: 2000, studied the Cold War as a kid while it was going on and both myself, and Tomas intend to do the old game right while making it mechanically modern.

 

10.    Do you think, with what’s going on in the world now, and the rise again of PA entertainment over the last few decades, has Twilight:2000’s moment in the sun finally come?

I think the current state of the world makes the return of Twilight: 2000 as timely as it was when it appeared in 1984. We live on the edge of a vast unknown, a very likely dark abyss, and it permeates our global culture. If you can turn that experience into an exercise for fun, you might find it cathartic. At least in our game, players have agency. In the real world, as individuals, we are very much subject to the agency of others save when we come together. If we’re going to get out of this era’s looming end times, it’ll require global movements from the people who will suffer the consequences. That said, it is a game at the end of the day and the object is to have fun. But, as a writer, I’m very aware of how close some of the scenarios in the game are to what might happen in the not too distant future. There is, for example, a virus in game as an optional plot thread. I wrote that prior to COVID. I hope other things we’ve put in the game remain conscripted to the land of “might have been.”

So, that is our interview thus far. I plan to do another one, hopefully before the beginning of the kickstarter in August! So, send me your questions care of the blog!

 

In other news, there's been quite a bit coming out via Battlefront Miniatures, including this curious development! 

Image taken from Battlefront Website

 Yes, reader, your eyes do not deceive! LAV-75s in 15mm! Yeah, I know, there must be a T2K player at Battlefront. It's the only explanation. They are due to be released in July, and I do my T2K gaming in 20mm, but I might get some for my 15mm Sci-Fi armies. I'll keep ya posted. 

 In other news, my 20mm projects have been slowly humming along. Well, not so much mainly because I have a literal ton of 15mm projects to work on in the sci fi realm, then some WWII, so I am doing the Twilight: 2000 miniatures projects as I can, when I can. But some progress has been made!

A Revell M2 Bradley, a Trumpeter LAV-25 (third one of these I have built) and a S&S GAZ-66 Flatbed, all in 20mm

Another view of the above pictured.

The completed Elhiem "Cover Stars" pack, along with the HMMWV that goes with. Need to weather the HMMWV, but they're almost ready. Good figures that paint up great.

For future installments, I plan on doing a review of Battlegroup: NORTHAG, and perhaps writing some ideas for T2K for it, as well as reviews of Spectre: Modern Operations, and Contact Front, two newcomers (relatively) on the block for potential T2K Miniature gaming fun. I also plan on showing off some of the moderns I picked up recently second hand, and from Butler's Printed Models. I'm also got an idea to doing some Twilight War orbats for Fistful of TOWs, as well as doing a series on where to get the miniatures! 

Ye Gods! It Has Been a Busy Newsday!

It seems the newest edition of the Fanzine "Good Luck, You're On Your Own!" is not only out, but up on DrivethruRPG.net!

Both issues can be found for free at DTRPG and are a good read, I highly recommend them (and I have contributions in both), but they've got some fun miniatures-related ideas we'll go into later!

NEW VERSION OF TWILIGHT 2000 Announced!!

Well, it's something we have been hearing rumors of, and now, they're confirmed.

I'll just quote the letter from Free League Games, the new developers:

A new edition of the classic roleplaying game Twilight: 2000 was announced today by Free League Publishing, makers of the ALIEN RPG, in partnership with Game Designers’ Workshop and Amargosa Press. The new edition goes back to the roots of the franchise with a boxed set for sandbox roleplaying in the devastation of World War III. It will come to Kickstarter in August, to be released in early 2021.

The new edition of the apocalyptic RPG Twilight: 2000 will be the fourth in the series, the first being released by Game Designers' Workshop in 1984. Just like the original version, the new edition is set in a year 2000 devastated by war – now in an alternate timeline where the Moscow Coup of 1991 succeeded and the Soviet Union never collapsed.

"The first edition of Twilight: 2000 was an iconic game for me back in the '80s, and we are humbled and honored to work with Marc Miller and Game Designers’ Workshop to bring a new edition to life. The original game was really ahead of its time. Our goal is to build on the amazing sandbox survival gameplay and develop it further, making it more accessible using the tools of modern game design," says lead game designer and Free League founder Tomas Härenstam.

"When I saw this proposal to revisit the Twilight universe, I signed on immediately. As I have seen the work proceed, I have not been disappointed, and I look forward to seeing this project become reality," says Marc Miller of Far Future Enterprises and co-founder of Game Designers' Workshop.

Also part of the project are Amargosa Press (who have recently announced the new Dark Conspiracy 4th Edition RPG), Polish RPG publisher Black Monk Games (who will act as a consultant on the Poland in 2000 AD game setting as well as publish a Polish edition of the game), and Far Future Enterprises (who publishes the fifth edition of the Traveller science-fiction roleplaying game).

The design team is led by Tomas Härenstam (ALIEN RPG, Forbidden Lands, Mutant: Year Zero), with setting and scenario writing by Chris Lites (Conan, Over the Edge), editing by Angus Abranson (Doctor Who, The One Ring), interior art by Niklas Brant (Forbidden Lands), cover art by Martin Grip (ALIEN RPG, Symbaroum), and maps by Tobias Tranell (Forbidden Lands). Several active and retired servicemen from the U.S. military are assigned to the project as consultants.

"Twilight: 2000 was a favorite of ours at school in the '80s, with many a lunch hour spent salvaging what we could as we traveled across the ruins of Europe trying to survive. I’m honored to be involved in a new edition, and being able to work with the Free League is a fantastic bonus!” says Angus Abranson of Amargosa Press.

Just like the original game, the new edition of Twilight: 2000 is set in a Poland devastated by war, but the game also offers an alternative Swedish setting, as well as tools for placing the game anywhere in the world.

In the game, players take roles of survivors in the aftermath of World War III – soldiers or civilians. Their goal, beyond surviving for another day, can be to find a way back home, to carve out their own fiefdom where they are, to find out more about the mysterious Operation Reset, and maybe, just maybe, make the world a little bit better again.

The core gameplay uses a "hexcrawling" system established in the post-apocalyptic Mutant: Year Zero and survival fantasy Forbidden Lands RPGs (both Silver ENnie winners for Best Rules, in 2015 and 2019), developing it further to fit the gritty world of Twilight: 2000. The core rules are built on the Year Zero Engine used in those games (as well as in the ALIEN RPG), but heavily adapted to fit Twilight: 2000 and its focus on gear and gritty realism.

More information about the new edition of Twilight: 2000 will be forthcoming soon.

For further information or interview requests, please contact pr@frialigan.se

I am personally quite happy with the news that Free League Publishing got the nod. I have their Alien RPG and well, I was happy, while it’s rules light, it’s got the gritty horror feel a game on that subject SHOULD have.

That said, I am talking to a member of their creative team about doing interviews and asking them what kind of direction they’re going with this? So, let me know through the blog email or in the comments if there is anything you want me to ask. Oh, and to the other T2K blogs and podcasts out there (I’m looking at you Podcast at Ground Zero, Savant’s Rants and Wayne’s Books! We are the T2K Blogosphere and we need to be working together on this! Also, with the editors of Good Luck, You’re on Your Own get in touch? I want to coordinate this!)

I promise I will have more content. God, there’s a lot of news to report of late. Battlefront’s making LAV-75s in 15mm soon, and I have some of the T2K Ehliem 20mm figures done! Well, almost done. And I am going to talk more painting and my own journey there.

So, TTFN!

Shameless Plug

Almost forgot, my new scenario book, "Red Star, Burning Streets" hit the shelves at Cavalier Books in February. I'm rather happy to finally get a book in print, and all I can say is, BUY THE BOOK!

I'd love to write more, but we'll see where this one goes?

So, what is it about? It's a miniature wargaming supplement set in an alternate 1983 where the Warsaw Pact and NATO came to blows. While it was written for "The Zone" skirmish rules, it would not be hard to adapt to any set of rules for the period. The book has 11 scenarios detailing the 2nd Battle of Berlin, as as information on the combatants, and suggestions for special rules for urban combat.

I promise, my next post will return you to your regularly scheduled apocalypse.

Where the Heck Have I Been?

A lot to explain, but I am back, and back to my work bench! Right now, it's all 15mm Sci Fi, as I have an event based on a certain short story I wrote, but it's becoming a life of it's own really. That said, what is going on of interest to you, the T2K gamer?

Lots, it seems.

First, NORTHAG is coming out! That's right, even with COVID cancelling Salute this year, and everything else, it seems the PDFs of NORTHAG are shipping. As I helped write the leadup to the war in the book, please go buy a copy when you can! The industry needs sales, and the product looks good. That said, I am probably going to game it in 6mm and 20mm myself. I just cannot justify gaming Cold War Gone Hot in YET another scale.

Looks good, doesn't it? (Taken from PSC Facebook Page)

But the models do look good for those inclined.

And they paint up well too! (Taken from PSC Facebook Page)

Yep, some eye candy even in these challenging times! So, I am also working on these figures from Ehliem. They are turning out quite well, and I am happy with the results. As soon as I am done, I will post them up here, along with the HMMWV, and they are quite faithful to the 1st Edition Box Cover!

Chico has done a successor to his Advent Crown document on the 1998 campaign which can be found here. We'll do a module suitability review soon, probably for our next blog post! 

Anyway, out here everyone. I am back and here to stay! 

HMMWV in 28mm

Apologies for my absence from this blog.

The US HMMWV is an iconic vehicle in Twilight 2000 (and I have a number of 20mm scale ones somewhere) but this is my first one for 28mm.

The Empress kit is mainly in a white resin with white metal 0.50" HMG, hatch and pintle.

This is the model dry assembled with William Killian for scale.

As we all know, vehicles in Twilight 2000 need to carry all the team's equipment, so they tend to be heavily loaded.

I looked through my collection of Crooked Dice, Debris of War and Empress Stowage items to load up the back of the vehicle together with Greenstuff soft stowage..