The fellow whose complaint T.L. Hayes imported from that other list certainly
had some valid points, as far as I am concerned. I picked up a copy of 2nd
Ed Twilight:2000 in August and haven't had much of a chance to sit down and look
it over. In fact, I haven't even tried to generate a character. Until today...
Friends, you know I can deal with complicated systems. However, the character
generator in 2nd Ed Twilight had me tearing my hair out in a few minutes.
Can you imagine: Numerous references to tables at the back of the book without
page references
4 year career increments (wonder where they got that idea)
that generate great characters like the cowardly Ranger who
was still a private after 16 years in the army.
Complicated character generation worksheet with spaces too
small to write in, and covering most, but not *all* things
that you need to track.
Hit points that allow an average character to take at least
4 shots from a .44 magnum pistol in the chest and another 1-2
shots in the head without being more than "slightly wounded",
which has little game effect.
College educations which do not increase your education
statistic, so that if you don't have enough education at the
age of 17, you'll never make it to grad school.
Ugh. If I am reading the book correctly, the average unarmed fighter would
have to kick the average character in the head 11 times to render him
unconscious.
I don't know about anyone else, but this is massively inconsistent with the
"realistic, gritty" flavor the game seems to be attempting to produce. The
typical character would only be slightly wounded by a hit in the chest from
a .50cal machine gun.
I have no intention of buying any further 2nd Ed Twilight:2000 products.
Rob Dean
(For anyone thinking about it, don't forget that GDWs two new rpg's,
Cadillacs and Dinosaurs (??) and Dark Conspiracy, will be based on the Twilight
2000 mechanics.)