Free League Announces Twilight: 2000 4th Edition

Free League is fast catching up with Modiphius with its collection of licensed RPGs. They've just announced that the post-apocalyptic WW3-themed Twilight: 2000 4th edition boxed set will be coming to Kickstarter in August.

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Here's the full announcement:

 PRESS RELEASE


A new edition of the classic roleplaying game Twilight: 2000 was announced today by Free League Publishing, makers of the ALIEN RPG, in partnership with Game Designers’ Workshop and Amargosa Press. The new edition goes back to the roots of the franchise with a boxed set for sandbox roleplaying in the devastation of World War III. It will come to Kickstarter in August, to be released in early 2021.

The new edition of the apocalyptic RPG Twilight: 2000 will be the fourth in the series, the first being released by Game Designers' Workshop in 1984. Just like the original version, the new edition is set in a year 2000 devastated by war – now in an alternate timeline where the Moscow Coup of 1991 succeeded and the Soviet Union never collapsed.

"The first edition of Twilight: 2000 was an iconic game for me back in the '80s, and we are humbled and honored to work with Marc Miller and Game Designers’ Workshop to bring a new edition to life. The original game was really ahead of its time. Our goal is to build on the amazing sandbox survival gameplay and develop it further, making it more accessible using the tools of modern game design,"says lead game designer and Free League founder Tomas Härenstam.

"When I saw this proposal to revisit the Twilight universe, I signed on immediately. As I have seen the work proceed, I have not been disappointed, and I look forward to seeing this project become reality,"says Marc Miller of Far Future Enterprises and co-founder of Game Designers' Workshop.

Also part of the project are Amargosa Press (who have recently announced the new Dark Conspiracy 4th Edition RPG), Polish RPG publisher Black Monk Games (who will act as a consultant on the Poland in 2000 AD game setting as well as publish a Polish edition of the game), and Far Future Enterprises (who publishes the fifth edition of the Traveller science-fiction roleplaying game).

The design team is led by Tomas Härenstam (ALIEN RPG, Forbidden Lands, Mutant: Year Zero), with setting and scenario writing by Chris Lites (Conan, Over the Edge), editing by Angus Abranson (Doctor Who, The One Ring), interior art by Niklas Brant (Forbidden Lands), cover art by Martin Grip (ALIENRPG, Symbaroum), and maps by Tobias Tranell (Forbidden Lands). Several active and retired servicemen from the U.S. military are assigned to the project as consultants.

"Twilight: 2000 was a favorite of ours at school in the '80s, with many a lunch hour spent salvaging what we could as we traveled across the ruins of Europe trying to survive. I’m honored to be involved in a new edition, and being able to work with the Free League is a fantastic bonus!” says Angus Abranson of Amargosa Press.

Just like the original game, the new edition of Twilight: 2000 is set in a Poland devastated by war, but the game also offers an alternative Swedish setting, as well as tools for placing the game anywhere in the world.

In the game, players take roles of survivors in the aftermath of World War III – soldiers or civilians. Their goal, beyond surviving for another day, can be to find a way back home, to carve out their own fiefdom where they are, to find out more about the mysterious Operation Reset, and maybe, just maybe, make the world a little bit better again.

The core gameplay uses a "hexcrawling" system established in the post-apocalyptic Mutant: Year Zeroand survival fantasy Forbidden Lands RPGs (both Silver ENnie winners for Best Rules, in 2015 and 2019), developing it further to fit the gritty world of Twilight: 2000. The core rules are built on the Year Zero Engine used in those games (as well as in the ALIEN RPG), but heavily adapted to fit Twilight: 2000 and its focus on gear and gritty realism.

More information about the new edition of Twilight: 2000 will be forthcoming soon.
 
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I loved this game and the world was incredibly evocative. A great, grounded take on WW3. All the better for being set when the war had sputtered to a futile end. I'm hoping the new team sticks the landing.
 

HorusZA

Explorer
I'm Chris Lites, mentioned in the release. I will try to answer some questions. Thanks!
The MYZ system is pretty "lumpy" when it comes to weapons, meaning there is little difference between different types (there is no variation within types even). EDIT: On reflection that's not quite true for Coriolis, there are some minor variations within types.
In the new game, will there be a difference between an AK-47, M16 and a G3 or will they all be defined as "Assault Rifles" or maybe Assault Rifles (for AK and M16) and Battle Rifle for the G3?
 
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Fenris-77

Small God of the Dozens
Supporter
I think the strong rules FL manages when it comes to stress and trauma are a wonderful fit for this setting. The psychological element will be strong, which is a key for me. I'm less concerned about having a massive list of subtly differentiated modern firearms. Some detail there would be nice, but I'm not interested in pages and pages that amount to variation without much difference. (No offense to all the firearms experts out there, I know that sort of thing is very much your bag).
 

Mournblade94

Adventurer
Loved the game... but "Twilight 20 years ago". It needs a name change. I think it changes the feel of the game, which is fine. When I played it was "Oh man this could happen" (From a high schooler persepective).
 

darjr

I crit!
I think they should keep the theme and date. Though a game with the same kind of aesthetic, say based on the current situation extrapolated ten years in the future, might be cool.
 

I've read that the game is set in an alternate timeline in which the August Putsch of 1991 succeeds. However, by 1991 the Soviet Union was already extremely weak. Are there other earlier deviations from history or is 1991 the first point of divergence for the timelines?

There are some other divergences.

For those of us who played it while stationed in Europe during the cold war era it didn't feel far future since we actually were in the areas written about and using the exact gear and in military units serving in those areas. Personally I have no issues with playing this as an alternative time era setting.

We were playing it like that back then as it was. No one who served truly wanted to have history going down the path that it did in Twilight 2000, but the writers did do a solid, informed job at coming up with a believable fascinating alternative timeline that was fun to play in.

I was a kid back then but obsessed with the Cold War (and Vietnam) to the extent of memorizing small arms,, vehicles, slang, et. al. A true Cold War kid, I suppose. I played the original game starting in about 1986.
The MYZ system is pretty "lumpy" when it comes to weapons, meaning there is little difference between different types (there is no variation within types even). EDIT: On reflection that's not quite true for Coriolis, there are some minor variations within types.
In the new game, will there be a difference between an AK-47, M16 and a G3 or will they all be defined as "Assault Rifles" or maybe Assault Rifles (for AK and M16) and Battle Rifle for the G3?

G3, FN-FAL are battle rifles. The weapons drill down more than other MYZ games. Magazine counts are accurate to the period. Etc. We have former and current miliatary/intel consulting.
 

Flexor the Mighty!

18/100 Strength!
I'm Chris Lites, mentioned in the release. I will try to answer some questions. Thanks!

How deadly is gun combat going to be in this system? I'm hoping it is on the level of the 1e game, even if that was a pain to get shot an spend a month holed up recovering. Or get your brains blown out by a single shot. Rifles...fun to shoot, not fun to get shot with.
 


I am rather interested in this particular sentence taken from the announcement. "The core rules are built on the Year Zero Engine used in those games (as well as in the ALIEN RPG), but heavily adapted to fit Twilight: 2000 and its focus on gear and gritty realism." Would it possible to elaborate further on the highlighted portion for those in the know?
 

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