v4 Alpha Run Query

Kilgs · #1 February 6th, 2021, 01:18 AM

Just went through the Alpha documents and I am really loving this... Anyone else have impressions?

AtlanticFriend · #2 February 6th, 2021, 07:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kilgs

Just went through the Alpha documents and I am really loving this... Anyone else have impressions?

Where can one get a look?

mike wightman · #3 February 6th, 2021, 09:46 AM

I think it is only available to kickstarter backers at the moment.

I got an email with the download links an the end of November last year.

AtlanticFriend · #4 February 6th, 2021, 03:51 PM

Ah, I see. Thanks !

How does the Twilight War go in this new edition?

mike wightman · #5 February 6th, 2021, 05:21 PM

I'll have to go and read it properly. A quick skim when I first received the link is that it is an alternative history that never happened - which is my least favourite type of sci fi. The Russian invasion of the UK also had me in stitches.

I intend to use my own backstory based on current events. It will still be Twilight 2000, but the 2000 will have a different meaning...

I'll read it again and give you a synopsis.

AtlanticFriend · #6 February 6th, 2021, 05:57 PM

Many thanks! Alt-history is one of my guilty pleasures. I liked T2000 1E's take on the war, but the 2nd edition and Twilight:2013 did disappoint in this respect in terms of geopolitical realism.

**aramis** · #7 February 7th, 2021, 05:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AtlanticFriend

Ah, I see. Thanks !

How does the Twilight War go in this new edition?

Pretty much the same as 2nd ed, but a number of small changes. Alternate history instead of future history. Divergence in 1992.

And yes, I am a backer.

HanleyTucks · #8 March 13th, 2021, 01:24 AM

The backstory thing is weird.

What I always find funny is how people agonise over the premise and background for a postapocalyptic game. The thing is: you don't need one. When the guys were fighting at Stalingrad, did they consider the particular details of how that came to be? How many people in present-day Afghanistan or Somalia would have an encyclopedic knowledge of the recent history of their countries?

"We're here in the shit. How do we get out of the shit?" The GM's job is to describe the shit, the precise details of the digestive process before the shit got dumped on the characters are not important.

"But how is that more nukes weren't fired off? And why isn't there a nuclear winter?" asks the annoying player.

"Interesting questions," replies the GM, "now how will your character Private Hillbilly from the 671st Infantry Regiment find out the answers to these questions? By the way, roll for wandering monsters - er, enemy patrols."

**aramis** · #9 March 13th, 2021, 04:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HanleyTucks

The backstory thing is weird.

What I always find funny is how people agonise over the premise and background for a postapocalyptic game.

Having a clue who you're fighting, why you were fighting, and for how long you have been fighting informs who you are, what you're equipped with, and whether you're trying to go somewhere or stay nearby.

It's not like a zombie plague where there's nowhere to get to that's really better than where you are, save by being more wild than urban.

Portions of the setting are still largely intact... not parts near the start point in polands...

Additionally, the setting backstory explains where alternate start points can be while sharing the setting. Knowing that it's Soviet Block vs NATO means one side is all slavic speaking - even if its not the mother tongue for many of the soldiers. Meanwhile, the NATO side will have most speaking some English... but knowing Polish, German, or Ukrainian can be of use outside of combat.

Part of the appeal of T2K is that it was, when written, a plausible (if unlikely) future. Part of it still is that we know bits about the real cultures there, and can break out the real maps, and some of us have been to the real places... which necessitates know where one is.

HanleyTucks · #10 March 18th, 2021, 04:03 AM

It suffices for the players to know that this area is unsafe, and that other area is possibly safe - but there are no certainties.

As for enemy, the essence of the setting is that it's postapocalyptic - which means all that has been forgotten, there are new groups and allegiances now.

I've had a look at the rules and background. That they secured AUD800k in backing is a measure not of their writing competence but of the popularity of the setting. They've had the effect of vastly building my confidence in my game writing, and reinforcing the old rule that in most case game writers get it as right as they ever will in the first edition.