TTRPG Roll 23-29 – No urban blight in Twilight: 2000 – Urban Operations (Free League Publishing, 2023)

My deadtree copy of the Twilight: 2000 roleplaying game (RPG) expansion Urban Operations by Free League Publishing (2023) arrived this week. In TTRPG Roll 23-28 I gave you my first impressions of the product based on the pdf-version which were very positive. Now that I have the boxed set in hand a few additional comments are in order.

Big city, small box

Looking over the contents list of Urban Operations I had convinced myself that the boxed set was going to be big. I guess I imagined a 2-inch deep box. So I was a bit surprised when I hefted the shipping box and…almost threw it through the roof. I was even more surprised when I opened the box and took out the boxed expansion. A 1-inch deep box was not what I was expecting.

Opening the box of Urban Operations revealed it full to the brim. After listening to the comments of Jim Dietz at the Dietz Foundation and how they try to pack games into the smallest possible box dimensions to save shipping cost, I appreciate the effort Free League made here.

Navigating the T2K way

In my previous post on Urban Operations I focused on the rule book, which is certainly impressive. Now that I have the deadtree production in hand the rule book—as impressive as it is—is simply overshadowed by the maps.

Lots of maps. Large, double-sided maps. Smaller modular battle maps.

The fold-out maps for Urban Operations are printed on paper that is very similar to (if not the same as) the “plasticized” escape and evasion (E&E) maps that I used in the First Gulf War. Those maps were issued to aircrew in the event they were shot down. Those maps didn’t just help you navigate, but had many other uses such as collecting rainwater to help you survive. That small detail—a plasticized map that feels like my E&E ones—is probably never going to be recognized by many players of Urban Operations. Instead, they will probably groan a little less when that drink spills on the game table but never give it a second thought again. For me it is a welcome (and intentional?) nod by Free League to the Cold War and the World War III that I was trained to fight but fortunately never did—except on Game Night.

EN-vious

Speaking of maps, this past week, the nominees for the 2023 Ennie Awards were announced and one of the categories is “Best Cartography.” I note that High Guard Update 2022 by Mongoose Publishing for their derivative Mongoose Traveller RPG was one of the nominees. If that is the standard to be beat then I certainly hope expect to see Twilight: 2000 – Urban Operations on the list of nominees in this category next year!

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Feature image courtesy RMN

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