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We started T2K the other night and it was great.

One question did come up:

When in the ruins of a city or suburbs, do the PCs need to spend a shift making camp? The argument was that given the remains of houses or buildings, it would be much easier to find a place to settle down for the night as opposed to out in the wilds.

How do people play this?

Thanks!

You could give a bonus to the roll or just treat it as an automatic success.

Like Fenhorn said, bonus is the way to go.
Keep in mind that a failed roll still means that the camp is made and can be used, but there is a mishap. (Some mishaps might mean no sleep but still the vamp is there.)

Vamp?!?!?! Did we suddenly breakout the Twilight Nightmares supplement?

Well I mean if it is a really botched roll…
Should only write to forums on a PC and not mobile on a train

You could reduce "camp" prep time from a Stretch to a Shift. I think at least a little time is needed, for example to sweep broken glass and other debris off of sleeping surfaces, make sure there's adequate ventilation for a fire- that sort of thing. One would also want to make sure that the ruin in question is structurally sound enough. The PCs don't want the roof or floor to give out while they're sleeping. If you add it all up, it could take up to a Shift, but I agree with the OP that it shouldn't take as long as a camp in the field.

Multi-edition T2k Discussion Forum:
https://forum.juhlin.com/forumdisplay.php?f=3

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Vamps nothing, then run into something much, much worst. Twilight the movie vamps that sparkle....

Having seen how the insides of ruined buildings look like in Ukraine currently, I wouldn't say it's easier to make a camp in a Ruin... just different.


After all, what's involved in making a camp?

• Set up a sheltered sleeping area: In the woods, that would be sleeping bags and a tarp. In a ruin, that would be clearing off some intact beds or sofas and setting up sleeping bags there, or putting them on the floor in a room that doesn't have cracks or holes in the roof.
• Set up a campfire for cooking: In the woods, that's building a fire with kindling and rocks. In a ruin, that means finding a place where you can light a fire without setting the entire place on fire. Maybe in a bathtub or sink?
• Set up a toilet: In the woods, that's digging a hole somewhat distant from the camp. In a ruin, that means finding an intact toilet or a hole in the ground that leads to lower floors that's still away from camp.
• Set up a lookout: that's pretty much the same for both environments.

For a more permanent stay, I'd say it might actually be harder in ruins, due to the sheer amount of trash you'll have to clear out to make the place livable for a longer period of time.

Having seen how the insides of ruined buildings look like in Ukraine currently, I wouldn't say it's easier to make a camp in a Ruin... just different.

I'd like to echo this. During the initial invasion of Iraq, we made camp both in the middle of nowhere and in existing structures. We definitely spent an equal amount of time setting up but with different tasks.

• Setting up in the middle of the desert/middle of the woods you have a lot less to work with but you can make do. Foxholes, hide sites, field latrines, etc. take time to dig and conceal.

• Setting up in ruins is very tricky because you have rubble/trash to clear out and potentially unexploded ordnance. I remember we occupied a former Iraqi army base and there were unexploded cluster bomblets all over the place. That actually might be a decent mishap to include.

• Setting up in still-intact buildings is probably the easiest but you still want to reinforce where you can, set up range cards, that kind of stuff.

I wouldn’t change the time needed simply because of game mechanics.
Now you have to use one shift to set up the camp and then you can rest. This takes two out of the 4 shifts of the day so it is a tactical decision players have to make. If you allow making of camp in shorter duration this changes ”time management” quite a bit.
Though it probably wouldn’t break the game but why make things easier to players? Your job is to make their lives miserable!