RockyMountainNavy, 9 January 2026 In December last year, The Armchair Dragoons Regimental Commander Brant passed to me an article from the Journal of…
Thermonuclear Commentary on Not-My Twilight: 2000
Thermonuclear Commentary on Not-My Twilight: 2000 via The Armchair Dragoons
Rocky Mountain Navy Gamer 
Indeed. I do like a good RPG gunfight, but there is so much more to do in an RPG than a video game.
My favourite past RPG adventures played have been largely investigative, with the odd “action sequence” (very rarely combat) to add spice.
My first few RPGing years were very sheltered. Dragon Warriors, fighting Fantasy and Warhammer Fantasy RPG. It was only much later I began to be introduced to other games by new friends once I started working.
Star Wars (the original one) became a group favourite.
I’ve tended to play a lot of a few systems, but these days very little at all, sadly.
My current fad is Cold War stuff, so T2000 would be of interest if I had the time.
Form stories I’ve heard from gamer friends who have played, they moved away from it because of the realism, too easy to kill a whole party in an AFV if they were unlucky.
I guess this is the difference between wargames and RPGs. In the former you can afford and expect casualties, whereas in the latter it’s not so much fun if the character you’ve played for the last two years bites the dust.
Most of the GMs/DMs I’ve played with have tended to be pretty lenient that way.
I would argue that most every “modern” RPG has that same problem, i.e. powerful weapons that if not nerfed are too deadly. For those games that don’t nerf weapons I think they are trying to encourage players to find another way to solve the problem. There might be a time to go guns blazing—with proper preparation—but more often than not an alternative approach is encouraged.
If you want a FPS play a video game. If you want an ADVENTURE play a tabletop RPG!
To be fair a battle axe upside the head is just as bad for your health as as catching a 7.62.
Most of those games were around just before I started gaming. I saw the boxes in the shops, but never learned much about them until years later. Never played any.
Alas, being a young American kid back in those days meant I generally only saw US games so it was TRAVELLER and only a few others.
Fair enough!
An interesting read whichever way you look at it. Many thanks 🙂
Yes…very interesting. I wonder if Craig played any UK-origin dystopian or post-apocalyptic RPG like JUDGE DREDD or the like or simply wanted to play the “‘MERICA bad” card.
Interesting stuff!
RMNG 1, Brant 0
It’s not an RPG I have played, though I do have the original boxed set somewhere. I’m much more inclined to try it now 🙂
Cheers,
Frank
Let’s be clear here: There is no Brant vs. Rocky. Brant passed me the article based on my interest in T2K as an Adventure Wargame. I wrote up my thoughts and Regimental Commander Brant—who has editorial control—posted it. A shared, team effort to bring the article to your attention.
No doubt the ‘new inclusive history gamer Brant’ would have loved this article about toxic masculinity. As it highlights all the potential wrongs of the wargaming sub set.
At least you have the common sense and intellectual fortitude to read what this over wrought, sad little person wrote about T2k and see it for what it is.
Good news is masculinity is coming back, and will find its way past the Fem-Men trying to guard wargaming and RPG’s from such toxic notions.
The fact that these ‘intellectuals’ cannot displace mentally to a different time and culture speaks volumes about the indoctrination they received in their ‘higher learning’.
What a sad little man.