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omnipus
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Re: Need advise for a new GM on preparation

Fri 26 Nov 2021, 02:51

For me it's the fate chart, but also the event focus table on page 14 and the randomness tables on 17.
Author, Central Poland Sourcebook -- now available on DriveThruRPG
 
leonpoi
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Re: Need advise for a new GM on preparation

Fri 26 Nov 2021, 03:00

Not at all. It’s page 49 and 50 - so one page double sided.

The only thing you need to remember, because it’s not on those pages, is the triggers for random events and event scenes. I have a copy of that printed out that I keep with my games and I use an iPad to keep track of things - so I have the pdf there too.

I’ve found that my players have really enjoyed the idea of the chaos rank / factor. It’s a meta concept but at the end of a scene when it goes up or down the players get all tense or relaxed. I originally kept it as a secret number but they find it enjoyable and so I keep it in the open now.

I find that the products in that line to be baffling. They have some of the single most useful things for a GM but the way things are explained are generally SO confusing. Eg I have the adventure crafter also and I cannot recommend it because it’s almost unusable. the random table is something like 48 pages long ……. The terminology is confusing, things are poorly explained. If you get the cards version and fight through the rules again then it really shines. BUT you have to work hard to understand it
Last edited by leonpoi on Fri 26 Nov 2021, 17:33, edited 1 time in total.
 
altos
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Re: Need advise for a new GM on preparation

Fri 26 Nov 2021, 10:02

Wow, these advises you all have given are just fantastic! Thank you, everyone!

So, is Free League working on a module? That would be nice!
 
Masse
Posts: 31
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Re: Need advise for a new GM on preparation

Fri 24 Dec 2021, 04:56

This is how I have understood the preparation of Twilight 2000 game sessions. Se explanation below.

Read page 31 in Referee Manual about preparing sessions and read page 70 in Referee Manual about scenario sites. Then use the tables at pages 99-101 to create two or three scenario sites. Use the moral code or the big dream of the player characters and add interesting elements into the scenario sites so that the player characters will be interested in visiting the scenario sites. Then use the Radio chatter and the Rumors tables at page 50 and 51 in Referee Manual to let the player characters get to know about the scenario sites. The scenario sites will be located 5-10 hexes from the hex the player characters i staying at when the session starts. Draw an encounter card during each shift when playing out the traveling from the current hex to the hex where the scenario site is located. Check if the encounter on the card will happened or not (depending on terrain and time of the day).

Prepare another two scenario sites and let the player characters hear about the sites by radio chatter or rumors. Let the players decide whatever their characters do want to go to any of the scenario sites or not (probably they will if the sites are interesting enough and in accordance with the big dreams of the player characters). Play out the traveling from the current hex to the scenario sites by drawing encounter cards each shift of the day. There are four shifts each day (typically morning, day, evening and night). It's not possible to prepare these encounters because they are dependent of the choice of travel. Do the players chose to travel by vehicle, by boat or by marching, on road or off road, in wood or in mountains, by day or by night? The players are also able to let their character spend shifts by hunting/fishing, resting, foraging, scrounging, building camp, exploring and so on (page 137-149 in Player Manual).

Let's say a player character is the archetype Civilian and has the big dream "Get the hell away from these battlefields. Find a safe haven, where ever it may be.". Create a scenario site that match the big dream and let the player characters pick up a rumor that says that there is a civilized enclave called "Heaven's place" where people live almost as the did back in the old days. The enclave is located 8 hexes from the current hex. Maybe the rumor also says that the leader of the enclave is a woman that the player character recognizes as a childhood friend. There will have to be a conflict at the scenario site though. The player characters will not know about the conflict beforehand. It will be a surprise at the scenario site. Maybe an evil group is planning to overthrow the leadership of the enclave and sell all the civilians as slaves to a gang of marauders. As a referee you will have to prepare this situation (page 70 and 101 in the Referee Manual). You will also have to prepare a countdown of the situation (page 70 in the Referee Manual), events (page 70 and 101 in Referee Manual), locations within the scenario site, NPC:s and so on.

Hopefully the preparation of the scenario sites will be enough material to get the game going for a couple of sessions. But don't forget to ask the players at the end of each session (or between sessions) what their player characters do want to go the next session. You will have to prepare other scenario sites (or better reuse an existing scenario site by modifying it) if the players want to go in a new direction. Otherwise you will steer the players to much. Twilight 2000 is a hex crawling game. A hex crawl game is driven by the choice of the players. Your role as a referee (game master) is to prepare interesting scenario sites, "trick" the players to go to the scenario sites (by radio chatter, rumors or just by coincidence) and then between the sessions tie the scenario sites, the encounters that has happened, NPC:s together into an exciting story.

Please correct me if I'm wrong!
 
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omnipus
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Re: Need advise for a new GM on preparation

Fri 24 Dec 2021, 05:44

That's certainly one way to do it, and as you've pointed out it's sort of the default hex-crawl mode as presented in the book. Personally, it hasn't been my experience of how the game has gone, generally speaking. Part of this has just been my own discovering that I just don't prefer strict hex-crawl, and I don't think my players do either. Giving a destination 80km away -- well, it had better be a really enticing place, because chances are it's going to take them longer than you think to get there. And playing it out RAW leaves the world feeling much too apocalyptic for my tastes -- it ends up feeling very empty and unmotivated unless you put a lot of work into defining the backgrounds and motivations and objectives of all the other groups you meet, towns you happen across, etc.
Author, Central Poland Sourcebook -- now available on DriveThruRPG
 
baldrick0712
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Re: Need advise for a new GM on preparation

Fri 24 Dec 2021, 16:36

A "Magnificent Seven" scenario would be a good one if you only have one or two players. Idyllic Polish/Swedish civilian settlement is being preyed upon by evil Marauder gang. The village elder comes to the PCs to hire them to defeat these bandits. The PCs have to recruit enough NPC fighters to stand a chance. Seven experienced men, including the PCs, would appear to be the sweet spot in terms of numbers vs. share of the reward. It would be a good simple storyline that would involve a climactic combat at the end.
 
Yskonyn
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Re: Need advise for a new GM on preparation

Wed 12 Jan 2022, 22:13

Excellent advise in this thread.
As a new T2K user don't mind me lifting along! :)

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