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Midnightplat
Posts: 60
Joined: Mon 13 Jun 2022, 09:48

Re: T2k Support and Publishing Plans

Sat 17 Sep 2022, 08:16

When T2K originally came out way back in nineteen eight-[mumble], I was an active duty soldier in the US Army.
It INSTANTLY replaced all other RPGs in my squadron's geek crew [squadron = battalion, I was in cavalry unit]. It was awesome! We got all the toys and none of the 'stupid shit' our commanders laid on us. Yes, I know now that there was a purpose to most [but certainly not all] the stupid shit, but 19-year-old me was wholly ignorant of that fact :lol:
And yes, it WAS surreal to think that the 8th Shock Army across the way could cross the line and that we'd all be stranded in Europe without a way home. That was the first reality check the game gave us. I was reading a bunch of the stuff one night on Charge of Quarters duty and got to talking to the staff NCO who was my boss that night. I told him about the Great Game [the GDW strategic house game that provided the bridge between T2K and 2300AD] and the strategies used by both sides. When I mentioned that 90 percent of the nukes targeted oil production, transfer, and storage facilities instead of the 'usual suspects' that most pundits thought would get hit, he thought about it for a second and said, "Damn... Given everything we know about their capabilities, that a pretty damned good guess as to what they'd do."
The next day, the squadron S2 [the battalion intelligence officer] asked to borrow the game to Xerox the canned history. And this was back when there was exactly THREE Xerox machines in the whole squadron... one each for Operations, Intelligence and Personnel. The cost per copy was something like 15 cents per page in 1985 dollars and the Army accounted for every single cent of it.
[The Star Fleet Battles guys were cutting their ship diagram books apart with X-acto knives and carefully putting the pages in document protectors so they could play the game using grease pencils]

So, yeah, T2K rang a lot of bells way back when. And as we dug into the rules it became clear to us just how easy is was to die from utterly non-combat related causes. One guy in the Bradley IFV gets a cough and all the sudden everybody in the crew has pneumonia and there isn't a vial of antibiotics within 10 square klicks.... And that's not even getting into the NBC [CBRN to Europeans] causes, or social breakdown problems [banditry, farmers being driven off the land so no harvests, even cannibalism].

T2K can definitely give you the hooah-gasm, and it should at times, but it should also have those dirt-level sobering moments that remind your characters are much a part of the problems Poland/Sweden is suffering as the Communists are. No matter how noble your intentions, the locals would probably be a whole lot better off if you'd never come there to begin with.
15 cents a page in 1985 dollars, for those keeping scores, issues of Marvel and DC comics were at their mid 80s price of 75 cents an issue, a jump from the 60 cents in the early 80s. Wonder how your unit's intelligence officer reacted to Team Yankee, though I don't remember if you get a broader understanding of the war besides the point of view units.

Did your T2K group's characters make it home? Mine did, the Going Home module was one of the few we actually played through as opposed to just me as GM using it for background. Even took the train. Then they played around with Armies of the Night. I read through Howling Wilderness, and that just exceeded my bleak threshold at the time.
 
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ottarrus
Posts: 192
Joined: Fri 15 Oct 2021, 14:11
Location: Tacoma WA

Re: T2k Support and Publishing Plans

Sat 17 Sep 2022, 12:24

@Midnightplat
I knew the author of Team Yankee, Maj. Harry Coyle. Team Yankee was a company level view of British Brig. Sir John Hackett's 'The Third World War'. That book predicted the 'war for oil' as both a causa belli and as a primary nuclear target if things got out of hand... in the book only two nukes were exchanged, one each. The Pact nuked Birmingham UK, and NATO retaliated by nuking Minsk.
In any event, 'Third War' was on every single officer's and most NCO's bookshelves and the smarter enlisted troops were encouraged to read it. I did at the time.
In my game group, none of us made it home. We finished the Vistula campaign arc and by then we'd all been PCS'd to other posts.
 
Midnightplat
Posts: 60
Joined: Mon 13 Jun 2022, 09:48

Re: T2k Support and Publishing Plans

Sat 17 Sep 2022, 19:53

@Ottarus, thanks; and those are cool anecdotes. Yeah I was foggy aware that both Hackett and I think Coyle's books wound up officer reading lists, kinda surprised GDW wasn't on their radar. I thought I had read back then that there was some synergy between the wargaming industry and DoD and affiliated think tanks own tabletop exercises. Maybe that's why the NCO and Intel officer were so quick on the uptake and moved in to get copies with the unit's Xerox assets.

The Starfleet Battles game sounds a lot like the way it was played outside the service too. I remember those players treating the counters et al preciously, and the grease pen technique is something I'm sometimes nostalgic for in gaming in general.
 
Vcutter
Posts: 133
Joined: Sat 23 May 2020, 09:55

Re: T2k Support and Publishing Plans

Mon 19 Sep 2022, 16:19

Urban Operations is almost finished, we hope to start a pre-order with immediate access to a PDF within about two weeks.
edit: and after that Hostile Waters and then Operation Reset and as soon as Frank Frey's health allows, Black Madonna.
This was about 4 weeks ago I believe...
Anyone have juicy rumours? PDF has grown so huge they need more time to upload it? :D
I just want to throw my money at FL, please catch!
 
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Fenhorn
Moderator
Posts: 4416
Joined: Thu 24 Apr 2014, 15:03
Location: Sweden

Re: T2k Support and Publishing Plans

Mon 19 Sep 2022, 16:25

Urban Operations is almost finished, we hope to start a pre-order with immediate access to a PDF within about two weeks.
edit: and after that Hostile Waters and then Operation Reset and as soon as Frank Frey's health allows, Black Madonna.
This was about 4 weeks ago I believe...
Anyone have juicy rumours? PDF has grown so huge they need more time to upload it? :D
I just want to throw my money at FL, please catch!
They said some days ago (on the Dragonbane KS of all places):
Pre-order soon! Just waiting for the final portraits...
I don't know exactly what this mean in time but I think that will count as "juicy rumour"
“Thanks for noticin' me.” - Eeyore
 
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Tegyrius
Posts: 22
Joined: Sat 13 Jun 2020, 03:20
Contact:

Re: T2k Support and Publishing Plans

Mon 19 Sep 2022, 16:43

In a Patreon update today, Twilight Maps (who is the map artist for Urban Ops) said:

It's been quite a while and I'm sorry about that. I had a lot of work lately and not much free time, but things should be a little bit better now.

That said, in the next few days, I'll release four generic snow maps (similar to the ones from the core set) that can be used for random encounters. This will count as a single release.

Then Urban Operations should be available, and I'll release two new maps that can be combined with the ones from the box set. The first one is a standard urban map, featuring a construction site with an undamaged-sniper-approved tower crane. The second is a scenario site sized map, featuring a flooded district.

As usual, thank you for your support.

That looks like further support for imminent launch in some form.

- C.
Clayton A. Oliver

Find my free Twilight: 2000 material and links to my published sourcebooks at http://www.de-fenestra.com/t2k/.

If you dislike change, you're going to dislike irrelevance even more.
- General Eric Shinseki
 
Vcutter
Posts: 133
Joined: Sat 23 May 2020, 09:55

Re: T2k Support and Publishing Plans

Mon 19 Sep 2022, 19:16

Those both definitely count as juicy rumours, thanks for the update guys!
It looks like all my stalling for the groups movement can finally stop and they can finally approach Krakow without being harassed by enemy forces constantly!:D
 
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Fenhorn
Moderator
Posts: 4416
Joined: Thu 24 Apr 2014, 15:03
Location: Sweden

Re: T2k Support and Publishing Plans

Mon 19 Sep 2022, 19:24

Tomas just wrote on a Swedish RPG forum:
Snaaaart! :) Inväntar sista sista bilderna och en karta bara.
In English:
Sooon! :) Just waiting for the last images and a map.
edit: There was a joke (in that Swedish RPG forum) that it was ok as long as it is out before next Monday when he was planning to play. Tomas said to this little joke "Next Monday, then maybe it can work :)"

Sure, it was part of a joke, but we are grasping for straws here, any straw, so.
“Thanks for noticin' me.” - Eeyore
 
Oddball_E8
Posts: 441
Joined: Sat 14 May 2016, 20:13

Re: T2k Support and Publishing Plans

Tue 20 Sep 2022, 10:43

In a Patreon update today, Twilight Maps (who is the map artist for Urban Ops) said:
Thank you SO MUCH for pointing me in his direction!

I am now a contractor-level patreon of his!

He makes great (and LARGE) maps for use with the game and they're perfect for use in Foundry VTT.
 
Raellus
Posts: 107
Joined: Sat 28 Nov 2020, 00:13
Contact:

Re: T2k Support and Publishing Plans

Fri 07 Oct 2022, 01:02

Although I'm excited for Urban Operations (pre-ordered!), I'm wondering when Kickstarter backers will be receiving the Black Madonna adventure that we were promised and paid for during the 4e campaign. Any word on a release date for Black Madonna?
Twilight 2000 discussion forum @ https://forum.juhlin.com/forumdisplay.php?f=3
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