What a day to have Free League's Twilight:2000 dropped on my porch in a box filled with packing peanuts today. For those of you reading in the future, near or far, it is February 23, 2022, and I am listening to the slow motion Ukraine invasion news in the background as I write this. Planes are turning around from that country's airspace. Cyberattacks are ongoing. There are reports of explosions in cities happening. Politicians are saying the invasion is underway. Some livestreams have the sounds of gunfire on them, and the flashes of explosions. The military operation has just been announced.
Worse of all, people are dying. A game is trivial compared to the terror and suffering going on over there. I feel bad even bringing it up.
I know, what a day for this to arrive.
My first impressions on opening the box?
Okay, do I even want to open the box?
Pandora's box.
Might as well open it, as I would hate to have regrets later.
Wow, what a nice game.
Honestly, this box is heavy and packed with books, maps, dice, cards, SITREP guides, counters, and all sorts of cool stuff. You get a lot with the boxed set and this is an incredible value. I wish there was more to buy, as I would in a heartbeat.
My history with the game? My brother and I played a 20-year campaign using the original rules. This was one of our go-to games and sat alongside the greats of Car Wars, Star Frontiers, Top Secret, AD&D 2nd Edition, and Aftermath at our table. This was one of our great campaigns, and we loved the world and concept. Honestly, with my brother gone, it feels a little bittersweet opening this box, and I bet he would have loved this edition even though we were done with the game and the world.
We played this world to a satisfying end, one of hope and peace.
We were hopeful, and I still am.
And I can't fault the game's designers for the world this game was released in. This game was obviously a labor of love from true fans, and they poured their hearts out into this game. The art, presentation, and materials that come with the game are all top-notch, this is a high-end Euro-game in quality and presentation.
Then again, if you wanted to roleplay a side in a world similar to the one we now live in, I can't think of a better game. For some, they need to escape this world and I would not recommend this game if the subject matter upsets you. For others, you may want to roleplay a war movie or fantasy of being a hero on the front lines, and that experience provides a relief and way to cope with a world that feels strangely similar. In a great referee's hands this game could be very therapeutic to those worrying about the future and give players a sense of control and comfort about current events.
Face your fears by playing them in a game.
To the game's credit, it presents itself as a game of survivors and it does say the game is not a military game. I get it. For our original campaign, it did turn into a military game. One thing I love about this edition is they present the game in a manner similar to Forbidden Lands or Mutant Year Zero, they give you a map (Poland or Sweden), they give you scenarios and encounter cards, and they sandbox the entire world around you.
You can take this game in any direction you want. Rebuilding. Survival adventure. Drama. Humanitarian missions and peacekeeping (a theme I would recommend for players who stress about war). Heists and intrigue. Spy missions. The world is a lot like a traditional fantasy setting in modern times, as central authority has broken down and there are many opportunities for adventures of any kinds. This does not have to be a war game, and even in our campaign we had a lot of different things going on, even adventurous treasure hunting.
Don't let the war setting and bleak presentation intimidate you. What is beautiful here is a modern world that is very familiar to us and a blank canvas for you to craft adventures on. The setting is one of the greats in tabletop RPGs, very much on par with any D&D world or Traveller's Third Imperium.
Where else can you rewrite the modern world with your own adventures, conflicts, and stories? Unlike a spy game where the modern world and all of its politics and rules have to be accounted for, this game gives you a blank slate to change the world to fit any idea or adventure in your head. It is very much like a Car Wars type post-apoc world minus the armed cars, with more of a gritty survival and interpersonal focus.
Yes, you can still play this grim and gritty like a less science-fantasy Aftermath survival game as well. You could focus on crafting, exploring, and scrounging like a hex-crawl adventure game and forget the larger conflicts. You could do a kingdom-building and trading game of reconstruction. You could ignore all of the included SITREPS and lines of battle and just make it all up yourself.
Or yes, you could play this as a World War II type military adventure game with special missions, commando raids, a broken but still operational allied command, and all sorts of fun rescuing POWs, destroying enemy supplies, capturing plans, doing raids, and driving back the bad guys. The difference between this and WW2 is the future has not been written, and those in command (and it could be the players eventually) need heroes since they are in short supply. Also, since all the big hardware and weapons have been destroyed, the focus of heroism and changing the world takes place on a smaller scale where a single hero matters.
The above was our game. The one me and my brother enjoyed so much. It was both an homage to our favorite WW2 heroic movies and action serials as it was an escape from the paranoia of the 1980's and Cold War nuclear fears. We could take back the night. We could play Rambo or Chuck Norris. We could have moments of gritty survival. We could have tragic stories of loss, balanced by moments of hope and redemption.
The game is yours.
Free League went with the blank canvas model for this game and I feel it works very well. It gives you the freedom to rebuild the world for your adventures and stories, and your players a say in this new world as well.
Highly recommended, with a warning that the game may feel too real at times given current events. Know your players and talk to them. Don't force those uncomfortable with the concept to play, but if they are interested, offer them a humanitarian and peacekeeping option for a campaign. But give the game a chance if you are interested, and realize the power of conquering our fears through safe and play that lets us discuss the world we live in.
As for this world, I am hopeful we will avoid ending up in this reality. Hope springs eternal.
...Who sees with equal eye, as God of all,
A hero perish, or a sparrow fall,
Atoms or systems into ruin hurl'd,
And now a bubble burst, and now a world.
Hope humbly then; with trembling pinions soar;
Wait the great teacher Death; and God adore!
What future bliss, he gives not thee to know,
But gives that hope to be thy blessing now.
Hope springs eternal in the human breast:
Man never is, but always to be blest:
The soul, uneasy and confin'd from home,
Rests and expatiates in a life to come.
~An Essay on Man, Alexander Pope, 1734.
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