There was a kick starter for an updated version in 2020. Me and my friends played the 1st edition of this game, and enjoyed it! This game taught me about the names of the former soviet states!
Me and my friends started with Aftermath! which was a sort of precursor to TW2000, then we transitioned to TW2000 and continued playing it well after GDW closed their doors. The late Thomas F. Mulkey's 'New America' storyline is one of the most sophisticated and entertaining role playing scenarios I've ever had the pleasure of playing.
I followed the same gaming arc. Gamma World, then Aftermath, then saw the original ads for TW2K in Dragon magazine and bought the boxed set the instant it was released. Loved it and played the hell out of it through the end of the 80's. Great gaming memories. Aftermath and TW2K are two of the games Id love to play one more time.
I remember this game, making characters over the course of a few hours, starting on a patrol. Roll random encounter. Claymore mine. Roll up new characters.
Love this game! Got a copy of this when it was first published but lost it somewhere along the way. I lucked in to finding a good used copy of the original box set, and it even had several copies of all the sheets and equipment charts, character sheets, even the character creation sheets, some of them on card stock. Picked up a few of the original 'module' books, too. I agree, it is an unforgiving game and new players get surprised by how deadly it is. I've only ran a few one off adventures, but I'd love to do a campaign. I have the same feeling about how if you didn't really live through the cold war, you have a hard time getting the setting.
4th ed Kickstarter was a success. It is supposed to see retail in 2021 at some point. I do love the bit at @2:00 about running out of antibiotics. It sets the theme in a nutshell imo. ;)
Believe it or not, there have been new books for it in the original setting in the last couple years (Korea and East Africa sourcebooks, and an adventure module called Rook's Gambit). see drivethruRPG. Interestingly, the Korea book assumes version 2.2 for the rules, but version 1 for the setting - because frankly the 2.0/2.2 setting is far more forced to restart a conflict after the fall of the Iron Curtain.
Twilight: 2000 was a game that required a very adaptable GM to run, and to keep players alive during more mundane encounters. I recall disease/infection and vehicle damage rules being so cumbersome that it was often fudged/made up behind the GM screen. But the storytelling from some of our games was absolutely unparalelled. Day to day struggles were easy to inject into games, while maintaining whatever overall goal the group had steered itself towards. So much of the pivotal moments came down to NPC interactions, not necessarily combat. To this day, I still adore first edition modules and source materials.
Twilight 2000 and Paranoia Crossover was sweet. You going to do Rifts? Recon was awesome. Ninja and Superspies was fun as the first rpg to really have in depth martial arts.
I remember this game coming out. It was around the same time that the films "The War Game", "Threads", and "The Day After" were released. The game mechanics were good but the prospect of playing an RPG set in the months following a nuclear war in Europe was just too depressing. The world (of the game) is broken. Your supplies are limited and running out fast. Everything is trying to kill you. You are trying to return to a home that may not even exist anymore. Not exactly uplifting stuff... However, a game set long after a nuclear war when the world was getting back on it's feet (sort of) had more appeal so my friends and I played The Morrow Project instead.
Owned the first addition but could never get a group to play it more than once. I always wanted to be in a group that was into it and play a lengthy campaign. to me it seems like a great setup the mechanics in the first addition were rather difficult I thought but I have always loved the idea of the game itself.
now this is a game that brings back memories. A bunch of middle school military brats at the rec center plotting to take over and save Europe after our parents have all died in the war.
Would "play" this in jr high and high school but could never really get it started. Mostly since I owned it and was infatuated with the military I'd pore over the pages and make plans. Rolled a lot of characters but none of us had the patience to actually start a game for real.
Just found out that free league is coming out with a new version based on their year zero engine may be something to keep an eye out for once it comes out.
Hi, heard your interview on BlackPantsLegion’s channel and enjoyed reminiscing about some games you discussed. Back in the early-mid 90s I role played in a game set in the Blade Runner ‘World’ but for the life of me I can’t recall its name. Would you know of it or similar games names? Thanks.
I’m just watching your Cyberpunk vid. 👍🏻 I missed the board game era as a growing boy but caught up as a young serviceman on many on a boring day. I was Best Man to the mate who introduced me to that game. I’d seen BladeRunner just weeks before so role playing it was epic.
After Gygax was booted from TSR he started his own game company. Williams however didn't let him start over so when GDW published Dark Journeys (previously Dimensions) she sued for copyright violations.
I hate when the court system is used to squash competition. A lot of time it is used not to prove an actual infringement but to drain the opposition of finances. It's easy to do when your a company against a single upstart. You'd think that would be illegal. Thanks for the answer. GDW is a company I know next to nothing about.
It was a little more complicated than that. Gygax's game (DJ) was supposed to be a generic game system with different settings for multiple genres, and from what I heard from 3rd parties his departure agreement from TSR had some fantasy non-compete elements. However, either through SNAFUs (part of the lawsuit - TSR claimed it was deliberate, from what I heard), only the fantasy side of the "multi-genre" system got published, with no SF, hero, modern, horror, etc. material to be seen, and TSR's lawyers jumped on it as being a sign that the "multi-genre" bit was a sham, so that GDW could get around EGG's Fantasy restrictions a few years early. Someone I talked to connected to GDW said that they'd gotten close to final edits on some of the other genre stuff, just in time for the lawsuit to cause even more delays that prevented it ever seeing the light. Either way, TSR under Williams was known for being uber-litigious. In some ways, it seemed to be that they were looking for petty lawsuits where they could take others' intellectual property without paying for it, in order to cut corners (lawyers already being paid for whether they were doing anything or not, any assets they could bring in without paying development costs would offset some of the massive debt she was running up). One of the more interesting stories I've heard under the table, but never actually heard real evidence for, was that TSR had planned to do something similar to WotC just prior to MtG because of a set of system-to-system conversions they did (with the intent of taking the company's assets as damages), but a suit by another company ending with the offending product simply being discontinued/recalled established a ruling that would have made a damage award almost impossible.
Stan Bundy I know the book you are talking about I used to own it. Palladium actually sued Wizards over the book first they gave them a bunch of money for the rights of the book and then killed it. That was back in want to say 1990 because according to shadis magazine Wizards used that money for the first print run of magic.
That is some interesting stuff. If that TSR/WotC suit is true then it's kind of ironic TSR got bought out by WotC. I wonder if all those law suits being thrown around is what prompted WotC to create the Open Game License. Effects of the OGL move are still felt today. Fun Fact: I read in a book that Hasbro bought WotC not because they had D&D or Magic the Gathering but because they had the rights to make the Pokémon CCG. I imagine that because Hasbro wanted Pokémon and little else, WofC were left to their own devises which lead to the OGL and the 3.0 rules set. But that's only speculation.
I had it, there were problems. Characters never improved at all, if a character didn't start with at least 4 initiative they were worthless and the vehicle system was unplayable.
I suggest to get the PDFs and to copy/paste all needed charts in a new document. Having all charts you need in a single booklet really improves the game flow. From my experience, the 2nd edition has the more straightforward combat system. The 1st edition has this strange and counterintuitive “hesitation” and “shot” instead of ammunition system.
I don’t think this game is all that much of a tough sell, for a short campaign at least. I can see many people getting bored, frustrated after a couple of sessions. So a long campaign, no. But a short campaign in between two larger ones, I can see many people being on bored with that.
I remember playing this game and getting ran over by my own humvee while changing the tire....
There was a kick starter for an updated version in 2020. Me and my friends played the 1st edition of this game, and enjoyed it! This game taught me about the names of the former soviet states!
Me and my friends started with Aftermath! which was a sort of precursor to TW2000, then we transitioned to TW2000 and continued playing it well after GDW closed their doors. The late Thomas F. Mulkey's 'New America' storyline is one of the most sophisticated and entertaining role playing scenarios I've ever had the pleasure of playing.
Bruh, you've played Aftermath. I have the books from my dad. Never gotten a chance to play it.
I followed the same gaming arc. Gamma World, then Aftermath, then saw the original ads for TW2K in Dragon magazine and bought the boxed set the instant it was released. Loved it and played the hell out of it through the end of the 80's. Great gaming memories. Aftermath and TW2K are two of the games Id love to play one more time.
This was the game my shipmates and I played. Holds a warm spot in my heart to this day...even if it did have awful dice mechanics.
Props for the Space: Above and Beyond image in there!
I remember this game, making characters over the course of a few hours, starting on a patrol. Roll random encounter. Claymore mine. Roll up new characters.
Love this game! Got a copy of this when it was first published but lost it somewhere along the way. I lucked in to finding a good used copy of the original box set, and it even had several copies of all the sheets and equipment charts, character sheets, even the character creation sheets, some of them on card stock. Picked up a few of the original 'module' books, too. I agree, it is an unforgiving game and new players get surprised by how deadly it is. I've only ran a few one off adventures, but I'd love to do a campaign. I have the same feeling about how if you didn't really live through the cold war, you have a hard time getting the setting.
4th ed Kickstarter was a success. It is supposed to see retail in 2021 at some point. I do love the bit at @2:00 about running out of antibiotics. It sets the theme in a nutshell imo. ;)
There's a modern RPG like Twilight 2000 called Road to Armageddon. Might be worth checking out.
Believe it or not, there have been new books for it in the original setting in the last couple years (Korea and East Africa sourcebooks, and an adventure module called Rook's Gambit). see drivethruRPG. Interestingly, the Korea book assumes version 2.2 for the rules, but version 1 for the setting - because frankly the 2.0/2.2 setting is far more forced to restart a conflict after the fall of the Iron Curtain.
I totally agree with you. 1st edition has the better story. 2nd edition has the better system.
Me and the Boys love occassionally playing Merc 2000. Guilty pleasure action movie Tom Clancy kinda stuff.
Love it and I still play
Twilight: 2000 was a game that required a very adaptable GM to run, and to keep players alive during more mundane encounters. I recall disease/infection and vehicle damage rules being so cumbersome that it was often fudged/made up behind the GM screen.
But the storytelling from some of our games was absolutely unparalelled. Day to day struggles were easy to inject into games, while maintaining whatever overall goal the group had steered itself towards. So much of the pivotal moments came down to NPC interactions, not necessarily combat.
To this day, I still adore first edition modules and source materials.
Twilight 2000 and Paranoia Crossover was sweet.
You going to do Rifts?
Recon was awesome. Ninja and Superspies was fun as the first rpg to really have in depth martial arts.
Eventually. Rifts is one of the tougher ones because of the sheer diversity. GURPS is the one I'm truly dreading.
Mega Damage Capacity!
Oh the strange weird rules of Rifts.
I like using the old books as sourcebooks for newer systems. The d20 Spycraft or d20 Modern do it pretty well.
I remember this game coming out. It was around the same time that the films "The War Game", "Threads", and "The Day After" were released.
The game mechanics were good but the prospect of playing an RPG set in the months following a nuclear war in Europe was just too depressing. The world (of the game) is broken. Your supplies are limited and running out fast. Everything is trying to kill you. You are trying to return to a home that may not even exist anymore. Not exactly uplifting stuff...
However, a game set long after a nuclear war when the world was getting back on it's feet (sort of) had more appeal so my friends and I played The Morrow Project instead.
Owned the first addition but could never get a group to play it more than once. I always wanted to be in a group that was into it and play a lengthy campaign. to me it seems like a great setup the mechanics in the first addition were rather difficult I thought but I have always loved the idea of the game itself.
now this is a game that brings back memories. A bunch of middle school military brats at the rec center plotting to take over and save Europe after our parents have all died in the war.
Look like 2022 has came out with the update all in it own.
One of the few TTRPGs you can play in real life.
Would "play" this in jr high and high school but could never really get it started. Mostly since I owned it and was infatuated with the military I'd pore over the pages and make plans. Rolled a lot of characters but none of us had the patience to actually start a game for real.
For those really wanting this system, the Trove has many of the PDFs available in full. This includes version 2.2.
Amazing game
Loved the game.... played many times.
Love to hear your thoughts on the new 4th edition that just came out.
This looks very real in 2022...
Twilight 2000, 3 1/2 pages of A4 of dead characters, all mine.
played this in first edition, still have it and all modules, including the paranoia crossover as well.
Just found out that free league is coming out with a new version based on their year zero engine may be something to keep an eye out for once it comes out.
haha combat grandpa go bbbrrrrrrrttttttt.
Hi, heard your interview on BlackPantsLegion’s channel and enjoyed reminiscing about some games you discussed. Back in the early-mid 90s I role played in a game set in the Blade Runner ‘World’ but for the life of me I can’t recall its name. Would you know of it or similar games names?
Thanks.
Cyberpunk 2020 was the closest to Bladerunner, there was also Cyberspace but CP2020 was the most successful
I’m just watching your Cyberpunk vid. 👍🏻 I missed the board game era as a growing boy but caught up as a young serviceman on many on a boring day.
I was Best Man to the mate who introduced me to that game. I’d seen BladeRunner just weeks before so role playing it was epic.
Thanks for prompt reply.
I have dumb ideas for this...
You mentioned GDW was sued by TSR. Why?
After Gygax was booted from TSR he started his own game company. Williams however didn't let him start over so when GDW published Dark Journeys (previously Dimensions) she sued for copyright violations.
I hate when the court system is used to squash competition. A lot of time it is used not to prove an actual infringement but to drain the opposition of finances. It's easy to do when your a company against a single upstart. You'd think that would be illegal. Thanks for the answer. GDW is a company I know next to nothing about.
It was a little more complicated than that. Gygax's game (DJ) was supposed to be a generic game system with different settings for multiple genres, and from what I heard from 3rd parties his departure agreement from TSR had some fantasy non-compete elements.
However, either through SNAFUs (part of the lawsuit - TSR claimed it was deliberate, from what I heard), only the fantasy side of the "multi-genre" system got published, with no SF, hero, modern, horror, etc. material to be seen, and TSR's lawyers jumped on it as being a sign that the "multi-genre" bit was a sham, so that GDW could get around EGG's Fantasy restrictions a few years early. Someone I talked to connected to GDW said that they'd gotten close to final edits on some of the other genre stuff, just in time for the lawsuit to cause even more delays that prevented it ever seeing the light.
Either way, TSR under Williams was known for being uber-litigious. In some ways, it seemed to be that they were looking for petty lawsuits where they could take others' intellectual property without paying for it, in order to cut corners (lawyers already being paid for whether they were doing anything or not, any assets they could bring in without paying development costs would offset some of the massive debt she was running up).
One of the more interesting stories I've heard under the table, but never actually heard real evidence for, was that TSR had planned to do something similar to WotC just prior to MtG because of a set of system-to-system conversions they did (with the intent of taking the company's assets as damages), but a suit by another company ending with the offending product simply being discontinued/recalled established a ruling that would have made a damage award almost impossible.
Stan Bundy I know the book you are talking about I used to own it. Palladium actually sued Wizards over the book first they gave them a bunch of money for the rights of the book and then killed it. That was back in want to say 1990 because according to shadis magazine Wizards used that money for the first print run of magic.
That is some interesting stuff. If that TSR/WotC suit is true then it's kind of ironic TSR got bought out by WotC. I wonder if all those law suits being thrown around is what prompted WotC to create the Open Game License. Effects of the OGL move are still felt today.
Fun Fact: I read in a book that Hasbro bought WotC not because they had D&D or Magic the Gathering but because they had the rights to make the Pokémon CCG. I imagine that because Hasbro wanted Pokémon and little else, WofC were left to their own devises which lead to the OGL and the 3.0 rules set. But that's only speculation.
So... this took a twist
Tex sent me here
Tex sent me.
Time to bring this one back and set it in Ukraine.
Can't remeber the year but there was a video game, wasn't the greatest since it was only a small map and the rules didn't translate well.
I had it, there were problems. Characters never improved at all, if a character didn't start with at least 4 initiative they were worthless and the vehicle system was unplayable.
What parts of this game can use in other games? For example, how much of the cold war aspects could be salvaged in Thyatis and Alphatia?
I suggest to get the PDFs and to copy/paste all needed charts in a new document. Having all charts you need in a single booklet really improves the game flow.
From my experience, the 2nd edition has the more straightforward combat system. The 1st edition has this strange and counterintuitive “hesitation” and “shot” instead of ammunition system.
Wait, is this a tabletop game
You came here from Varg?
I don’t think this game is all that much of a tough sell, for a short campaign at least. I can see many people getting bored, frustrated after a couple of sessions. So a long campaign, no. But a short campaign in between two larger ones, I can see many people being on bored with that.
Welp, I guess the World War 3 jokes didn't age well.