Fields of Fire - Character Creation
Hello and welcome everyone to a new campaign! Twilight 2000 4th Edition is a military survival RPG where you play a group of soldiers and civilians trying to survive in the aftermath of World War 3. Released by Free League a few years ago, this game is a bit of a hex crawl, a bit of survival, and a bit of a firefight simulator.
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Lucky for me, they’ve included solo rules in the box set, which is fantastic by the way. I’ve really fallen in love with this game and I’m excited to share my campaign and story with everyone. But first, I must create my little squad. Let’s get to it!
To create these characters, I used the Lifepath system ofcharacter creation, which takes a character through their life using a series of random rolls and choices. Let's see what we create!
1st LT Joe Diaz, Bravo Company, 1/61st Infantry Battalion, 1st Brigade, 5th Infantry Division
They said I could make a difference in the army, that I'd be off making the world a better place and protecting the free people of the world. They made it out like I'd be a hero scaring off the Soviet menace with our American technological firepower alone.
It turned out to be all lies.
I grew up well, some would even say rich. I spent lots of time playing sports. I was strong and fast, and I still am. University was a breeze, and then I wanted to fulfill my duty to the country by doing a stint in the army. I took naturally to being an officer. The soldiers liked me, and I liked them. I was working as the battalion intelligence officer when it all started.
Nobody believed the Soviets were actually going to do it. Sure, we trained for it, but we never really expected it to happen. It was only a day or two after the Soviets crossed the Polish border that we got our orders: Shipping out to Europe on the first set of transports available. I came over in the first wave in 1997. Little did I know I would never get a chance to see home again. I may never see home again. I didn't even have a chance to say goodbye to my parents.
The next couple of years were a blur. There were advances, retreats, battles, skirmishes, and artillery barrages. I lost soldiers in my command, which was something I had to get used to. I lost friends and fellow officers, especially those commanding combat units. I got my command when Captain Harris stepped on a Soviet mine and blew his legs off. But he got home, and last we heard, he was getting fitted with prosthetic legs. I hope he's alright now...
Everything changed once the first nukes hit. It happened in a different sector. I heard we hit them back with nukes. Or that we fired them first. It didn't matter. Things were calm for a bit, and then all hell unleashed. We got hit by several A-bombs, and there was nothing we could do about it.
We were a husk of our former selves, but orders came down for a final assault. Named Operation Reset, it would have been funny if we had any humor left. One. Last. Push. As the generals said. We would punch through the Soviet lines, connect up with some remaining pockets of Polish and NATO forces, and end the war.
We should have laughed because it was a joke. We punched a hole through the front lines, but we just found more Soviet formations. We fought them to a standstill, but instead of reinforcements and ammo, we got nothing. The battle ended with a whimper instead of a bang. Soldiers on both sides stopped fighting, they deserted, just walked off and left.
My company went from 50 soldiers, 6 Bradleys, and a smattering of civilian and military trucks to one Bradly with a hole where a Soviet armor-piercing round punched straight through, and a couple of commandeered Polish civilian cars.
Calls to battalion stopped being answered, as well as calls to Brigade or Division. I gathered the remnants of my company, barely a squad now. Sergeant Murphy suggested we retreat back to Germany. I agreed. But nobody told the Soviets we were throwing in the towel. We got caught in an artillery barrage just outside of Kalisz. I held Murphy as he died...
A Soviet squad advanced. Did they not know the war was over and this was all pointless? With a few men left, we held until dark when I gave the order to slip away. Before I knew it, I was separated and alone. I would have probably died if I didn't run into Sonja on the road…
Mechanically: I got incredibly lucky with Diaz's rolls, being able to add six (the max) improvements to his attributes. He has an A in strength, A in Agility, a B in Intelligence, and B in Empathy. He has lots of skills, but most of them are Ds, except for Command, which is a B. He has a few specialties that will be useful, such as Linguist, Computers, intelligence, and NBC.
Sonja Heisig, Student, University of Berlin
It is an interesting thing when a war breaks out in your home country. Nobody believes it is possible, then it happens. People still don't believe it is happening even as your soldiers march East and truck after truck of soldiers from a dozen countries follow. People only believe it when the first bombs start falling on them, or the first reports of sons, daughters, fathers, and mothers dying trickle in. Then it becomes real.
The whole thing started just as I was deciding which medical university to attend. My professors all told me I had a rare aptitude for mechanics and medical studies. I was going to study the use of robotics in assisting with surgery, a new and promising field. I was possibly going to study in America! Maybe at MIT. Well, soon after the war started, no more civilian flights were crossing the Atlantic, and that dream was dead.
I was working in a refugee center when the first atomic bomb hit Berlin. Luckily I was outside the main blast zone; otherwise, I'd be dead or dying soon after. I joined a refugee convoy heading West, but additional nuclear strikes and conventional bombing kept forcing us south and east.
Hungry, strung out, and desperate, our sad little group came across an American unit heading east into Poland. They offered us food and water if we would join them and do some work. Most said no, but my hunger got the better of me, and I offered my services as a mechanic.
And that's how I got involved in Operation Reset. A stupid, if not the stupidest military decision ever made. Countries were crumbling, and people starving, yet the militaries of the world decided to use our few remaining resources to kill each other. The whole thing was a disaster, and the unit I was with dissolved under pressure.
With some of the remaining soldiers becoming barbaric, I left one night. I found an old Polish car and got it running. I nearly ran over Captain Diaz on a back road. He shouted at me to drive and drive fast, just as a burst of bullets smashed the back windshield.
I slammed the accelerator and made a turn, straight into a group of ragged soldiers with assault rifles leveled at us.
Mechanically: I got less lucky with Sonja. I was hoping to take her down the medical track to become a doctor, but the war started before I got the chance. She has a D in strength, a C in Agility, a B in intelligence, and an A in Empathy. Her highest skill is a C in Tech. Her specialties are Runner, Linguist, Scientist, and most exciting Improvised Explosives.
Master Sergeant Eryk Gawlik, Alpha Company, 1st Polish Special Forces Battalion
It is an interesting thing to fight side by side with the people you trained your whole life to fight. But that is what happened in 1997. The shackle of the Soviet Union was thrown off for a few short years before the bear from the East woke from hibernation. We prepared as best we could, but for the second time in the century, Poland was turned into a battlefield.
I had trained for this my entire adult life. Entering the Polish army when I turned 18 and not leaving after the required term of service, nor the second or the third. I was strong, fast, and not stupid.
Things changed in the world. The Soviet Union was teetering, and Poland was looking Westward. A new type of unit was being set up, modeled on the US Special Forces. I joined and quickly rose through the ranks. What strength I lost over the years was offset by skills I learned.
Then war came. We did all we could, but the Russian tanks and armored carriers kept coming. The Americans and NATO joined with their advanced airplanes and missiles, but it did little but slow the Soviet horde down. What remained of the Polish army retreated into Germany in a weird irony that was not lost on us.
The nukes flew, millions died, and a last-minute all-out offensive was planned. What was left of the Polish army rolled back into Western Poland along with German, Dutch, and Belgian units. We had high hopes, I don't know why. It quickly ended in disaster, but this time there was no regrouping. The units just disintegrated.
I got mixed up with an American unit that had a commander who had become insane. He ordered us to attack a defended Soviet position in a kind of suicide action. I slipped out at night and went on my own.
Wandering around the back roads of Western Poland, I heard the sounds of automatic fire and saw a car screaming down a dirt road and a group of Soviet deserters blocking their path.
A burst from my rifle put the Soviets down, and the car slowed to a stop. An American and German girl waved me in, and I jumped in...
Mechanically: Eryk is a grizzled Vet, and it shows! His Strength is B, Agility B, intelligence C, and Empathy C. Where he really shines is his skills. His highest is Heavy Weapons with a B, and he has several Cs. He also has six specialties of various usage. He will be a versatile assistant to the squad.
And that is the squad! Be sure to check back in next week for the first true session of the Twilight 2000 Campaign, Fields of Fire.
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Check out Queenless today - Bee the hero you always were meant to be.
I've been seeing this being talked about. I'm excited to see it in action.
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