The Business: The Unfortunate Mistiming of Twilight 2000's New Edition

When I was a youth back in the 1980s, one of the tabletop RPGs that showed up (and I would eventually play come high school) was Twilight 2000.

Due to the time of its original publication, this was a Cold War Goes Hot premise. You're meant to play US (or NATO) troops left behind as the United States collapses after the nukes fly, and what you did with yourselves was your problem- not the publisher's.

This was far more beloved by college-aged and older gamers, which I was not at the time, who were also the sort that still played Traveller or Gamma World then. Folks like me were into Palladium's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles post-apocalyptic setting (now a stand-alone game, After The Bomb) and later RIFTS with Robotech on the side.

In short, I didn't get much actual play time with T2K.

What I did not believe, come my later high school days, is that it would ever have any relevance ever again as the Cold War ended and with it the existential threat that T2K relied upon for its appeal. The publiers--Game Designers' Workshop--felt the same way, as the game dropped off hard after 1990 with the second edition and the Berlin Wall's fall.

Just in time for current events, a Swedish publisher has revived T2K. Free League's edition returns to the boxed set product design of old, with a price to match.

It is only unfortunate that it is being overshadowed by recent events that threat to turn this scenario into reality, as that threatens the viability of the game just as much as the end of the Cold War did formerly.

I cannot imagine that the discussions going on at Free League's offices are pleasant ones. Those printing costs are not cheap. That art isn't cheap. If they're hiring freelancers instead of doing themselves, that too probably isn't going to be cheap- and that's before accounting for other obligations. The decision to delay or cancel is, at best, a hard one and likely not a viable one. The tabletop gaming business is that unkind of an environment.

I know nothing of this company other than it is doing this game, and is using systems previously published in other post-apocalypse games of recent vintage. Free League is in a terrible position. I can only hope that they find a way out that works for their business, the game's long-standing audience of players, and the hobby as a whole.

Much like the T2K PCs themselves, as addressed by their (former) superiors, all I can say is this: You're on your own. Good luck.