Twilight 2000 v2.2 has quite a structured sequence of play - it is however not described as such in the rulebook and the organization of the rulebook does not help very much in inferring it, nor in carrying it out once you have got the hang of it. There are a couple of rules which simply don't work either, which I will refer to in the comments below. So I thought it might be useful to make that structure more explicit to help players new to the game actually run it in a relatively smooth way. I have added some additional notes and discussion to expand on some of the points in the final section.
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THE STRUCTURE OF PLAY:
1. Is the party moving, conducting an activity which implies movement (like foraging) or staying put for the next 4-hour period?
2. If moving, how far is the party moving? (remember to change base movement for burden, force-marching, terrain conditions); check for breakdowns of vehicles.
3. Roll for a random encounter on the relevant table (i.e. dependent on terrain type, modified by the area's political condition) - if the party is moving or doing an equivalent activity.
4. Generate the type of random encounter & the encounter range. You do need to have a fully generated encounter, because you need to know the Observation asset, the numbers of people and the number of vehicles in the encountered group.
5. Test for Disease. Roll on the chart appropriate to the encounter type.
6. Generate NPC Personality and/or Village Sentiment & Crisis. Draw two cards and check on the personality table; and roll on the Village sentiment and crisis tables if required.
7. Test to Spot. Each side tests to observe the other, unless the encounter is with animals in which case only the players do.
8. Roll for Animal Reaction. If the encounter is with animals, their reactions are determined by a dice throw.
9. Play out the Encounter.
10. If there is the time and opportunity for further encounters in the same period, return to step 3.
11. Deduct fuel used.
12. Calculate any resources gained if foraging, fishing, gathering etc.
13. Calculate any resources produced (e.g. alcohol, edible food etc.)
14. Carry out any additional activities requiring skill checks (making specific equipment repairs and modifications)
15. Record any maintenance work done.
16. Record any rest or sleep done.
17. Calculate current fatigue of each character.
18. On the last period of each day, deduct the food requirement for each character.
Even when there is a specific adventure going on, these will fit into this structure easily - typically the specific adventure will replace or supplement the encounter sequence in steps 4-9.
ADDITIONS & SUGGESTIONS:
2. The rules assume that everything can move just as quickly at night as in the day. Unless walking on paths in full moonlight, or with torches; or driving on roads with headlights on, this seems optimistic. I suggest reducing this to 3/4 of the rate with IR goggles or equivalent, or 1/2 without. These reductions are cumulative with the other reductions in 2.
3a. The rule as written here is terrible: a party rolls for one encounter if it is moving 20km in a swamp, and one encounter if it drives 200km in two UAZs on a main road. I suggest rolling for an encounter every 20km or part thereof.
3b. The rules say that static parties should roll for an encounter once per day, but gives no further guidance (i.e. when during the 24-hour period this should be rolled). My own suggestion is that static parties should roll a D6 in each period, with a '1' indicating an encounter.
3c. Another variation I have been experimenting with is to play T2000 as a hex-crawl, with each hex covering 10km. In this case, each hex has a 50:50 chance of requiring a roll on the encounter table; this may or may not take place in a hex with a keyed event or encounter in (depending upon the notes for that encounter).
4a. Obviously you can speed this up by having lots of pre-generated encounters ready. This applied to 5 & 6 too.
4b. You will notice that the Observation asset in the Encounter Statistics chart is given as a percentile. This is basically a copypasta error from earlier versions of Twilight 2000 which did use a percentile system. There are two simple options for converting it into a T2000v2 asset:
i. Divide by 5.
ii. Use the 'Type' column: V=14, X=12, N=8. Elites would be 16, if you substitute them for any reason.
4c. Why the difference in some of the numbers? Because the highest Observation asset in the group is used, and some groups in previous versions would have a Veteran leader or something.
4d. The rules don't give any indication of the allegiance of the encountered groups, which feels important. I use the following to help me determine that:
i. Patrols, military convoys and large units will belong to the dominant faction if the territory is Organized, Independent or Cantonment.
ii. If the territory is Insular, they will belong to the nearest large faction.
iii. If the territory is Terrorized, Anarchy ,they will belong to the Marauder faction (if that is situationally credible), otherwise the nearest large faction.
iv. If the territory is Disputed, they will belong to the factions in proportion to their presence (Comment: If not organizing this on a hex-by-hex or area-by-area basis, I would suggest for the areas around Kalisz it should be 1-2 US, 3-6 WarPac for the first week, 1 only for the US for the second week; after that the character of the region will change, probably to Cantonment).
4e. Earlier versions of T2000 gave some more granular details for the composition of the encounters, which might be useful.
Military units: Sections of 10, with 1 x SMG & Pistol, 1 x Sniper Rifle & Pistol, 7 x Assault Rifles, 1 x Automatic Rifle; 1 roll for Special Weapons (suggested ratings: 1 elite, 3 veterans, 4 experienced, 2 novices)
Military convoys: Sections of 9, with 1 x SMG, remainder Assault Rifles; 1 roll for Special Weapons (1 veteran, 3 experienced, 5 novices)
Stragglers: Groups of 3, with 1 x SMG & Pistol, remainder Assault Rifles
Marauders: Groups of 5, with 1 x SMG, 3 x Assault Rifles, 1 x Automatic Rifle; 1 roll for Special Weapons
Hunters: Groups of 1D6, half with sporting rifles, half with shotguns, odd numbered hunter has an assault rifle.
Merchants: Groups of 5, with 1 x Assault Rifle, 1 x Sporting Rifle, 1 x Sniper Rifle, 1 x Automatic Rifle, 1 x Shotgun, 3 x Pistols
Refugees: Groups of 6, with 1 x Pistol, 1 x Shotgun or Sporting Rifle, 1 x Knife, 1 x Spear, 2 x Clubs
The number of people in each sub-unit is sometimes different in the v2 encounter table but nevertheless, I have found this reasonably useful.
The earlier Encounter Equipment Table is also worth a look:
Roll Special Weapons Vehicles Military Cargo Merchant Cargo
02 Rapira-3 T-90/T-72 Mines Electronics
03 82mm Mortar BMP-2 Parts Scrap Metal
04 120mm Mortar BTR-70/OT-64 Medical Shell Casings
05 AT-4 5t truck Ammo Wool
06 RPG-16 3/4t truck Fuel Wood
07 PK MG 2&1/2t truck (still) Food Food
08 RPG-16 UAZ-469 Fuel Clothing
09 AGS-17 5t truck Ammo Ammunition
10 120mm Mortar BRDM/OT-65 Medical Hardware
11 82mm Mortar BMP-3 Small Arms Furnishings
12 D-30 Howitzer T-80 Radios Bicycles
6. The village sentiment table can be used more widely for the sentiment of encountered groups.
7a. I think there is an error in the rules here: I think spotting a group that is stationary and camouflaged should be Formidable: Observation, rather than Difficult: Observation as written.
7b. The results of the spotting test, in addition to the sentiment & personality & encounter type rolls, should give a fair indication of the shape the encounter will take.
10. This will only happen if the suggestion in 3a is taken, and will thus only apply to characters who are in vehicles or are otherwise mounted.
15. The advanced rules on maintenance, wear and repair are interesting but I have found them hard to get to work, and quite time-consuming; in particular there are insufficient mechanisms for working out which component had broken down against the overall wear value. You can't really test against each individual component without taking lots of time, and increasing the chances of failure significantly at any given point, but conversely reducing the chance of actually meaningfully failing at any point. I honestly don't think that these rules can have been sufficiently play-tested.
17. Done this way, characters will become fatigued after each period; but if you want more of a challenge, re-calculate between 9 & 10 (this will slow down the group a lot).
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