Twilight: 2000 (4th Edition)

After a loose, story-first campaign had stopped keeping anyone on their toes, Twilight: 2000 was exactly the change of temperature we needed. Free League establishes the premise briskly: the Third World War has become mutual destruction, NATO's final offensive has gone badly wrong, and the old series line lands exactly where it should: “Good luck, you are on your own.” You do not need an encyclopedia of setting material to understand that everything has gone horribly wrong.

At its core is a very successful transplantation of Forbidden Lands into a dystopian military setting. The game does not ask you to watch a story unfold from a safe distance; it puts you in a wrecked world, makes you weigh risks, and asks what you will do when the next option is merely less bad than the last.

Combat is where the group starts watching one another a little more closely. There is enough tactical weight here for a fine introduction to squad-level hex-and-counter thinking, while it remains an RPG: you are not merely moving counters, you are trying to get your people out of a situation that owes them nothing. And yes, you will need to coordinate.

Our first outing filled a thoroughly enjoyable seven hours, and the setting gradually won out even over the inevitable military jokes that usually demolish disbelief in this sort of game. The core box is not bottomless, though: after roughly four or five sessions, the GM will need either to put in serious work or adapt older scenarios. Even so, as a grounded, carefully made and tense return to Twilight: 2000, it is a very good start.