Keith Taylor Interview

Perhaps one of the most beloved role-playing games ever created is the post-apocalyptic nightmare know as Twilight 2000. First published in 1984 by GDW, TW2K seemed to instantly develop diehard fans the world over who eagerly embraced the game’s grim, Cold War gone hot survivalist scenario, a setting that served to set it apart from the many fantasy-based games that had come to dominate the RPG genre. Despite now being over twenty years old, many gamers can still be found reenacting their Red Dawn-fueled fantasies with the game’s robust core rulebook and its many supplements.

Fortunately, unlike old generals, great games rarely fade away but seem to be continually reborn - as is now the case with Twilight 2000. Thanks to 93 Games Studio, a new generation of gamers will soon get to experience their own survivalist thrills with Twilight 2013, the updated successor to the classic original. GameSquad was fortunate to be able to hunker down and share some bunker time with Keith Taylor, 93 Games Studio’s one man army.

GameSquad: Could you tell us a little about yourself and 93 Games Studio?

Keith Taylor: Living in rural eastern Kentucky there isn’t much to do, so in 2001 I began work on my first RPG (The Swing) as a hobby; something to fill my time and give me something to do with a buddy of mine. I never thought it would be something I’d actually publish. In 2003 I did just that as a PDF thru RPGNOW. After modest sales I began to expand my catalog and even venture into the OGL marketplace.

Through those projects I made contacts in the business and began to freelance for others, such as White Wolf. One of the most important contacts I made was Clayton Oliver.

93 Games Studio is a one man show…me. Until I began work on Twilight: 2013 I was the writer, editor, artist and marketer for all of my products save a few. For Twilight: 2013, however, I realized if I wanted this to be anywhere near as good as the previous editions, I’d need to bring freelancers for writing, editing and art. I still operate as a one man shop, but I’ve built a nice stable of freelancers around this product line.

GameSquad: The original Twilight 2000 was published by GDW way back in 1984. Despite it now being some twenty-odd years old, this post-apocalyptic game universe is still extremely popular with RPG fans the world over. Why do you think this is so? What sets it apart from other RPGs?

Keith Taylor: To be honest, I’m not sure. I’ve never sat down with my friends or fans and asked them why. I think with my generation though, the fact that a post apocalyptic world was a possibility while we were growing up in the cold war is probably why we can relate to it. Elves and dwarves are something of fiction and the past, but nukes flying and all but wiping mankind off the face of the world was something most of us thought would happen eventually.

There is probably some psychological aspect to it as well, about fantasying about being in such a situation; could you survive? How would you handle it? What kind of person would you end up being? I think as kids we all dreamt we were Jed or Matt [from Red Dawn] and then as we grew up probably the Vault Dweller. There’s something heroic about surviving the apocalypse and becoming extraordinary in a world of barely average. The fact that in a lot of people minds this is something that is both plausible and possible I think only adds to the fantasy.

Or maybe this is just why I like it!

GameSquad: How did 93 Games Studio acquire the license to the game? Was it a difficult process?

Keith Taylor: When I was writing The Swing, I used several other RPGs both as models and to judge my system against. The most important model for me was Twilight: 2000. I felt that its detail, rules and the excitement it generated was a great baseline for what I had in mind for my system. When I met Clayton (the lead developer for Twilight: 2013) a couple of years ago, we eventually ended up talking shop about writing, game systems, and the RPG industry. In those talks we both would bring up Twilight: 2000 and how it was one of the most memorable systems we’ve ever played.

By chance I ran across the information for the current license holder of Twilight: 2000 in 2005 [Far Future Enterprises] while doing a random internet. On a whim I emailed them asking if it were possible to license T2K for a new edition and what would it take for me to purchase it. Surprisingly, they replied back ‘yes’ and gave me very simple instructions on how I could acquire the license.

Right then is when I realized I had to have some of the best writers on board for this project. Before anyone else was considered I knew I wanted Clayton Oliver to head development; we share a similar (mostly) mindset in RPG design. Before I proceeded I made sure that Clayton would be on board as the lead developer.

After Clayton agreed to come on board (although I’m sure he was certain I’d never be able to get the license to begin with), I proceeded to purchase the license - it was surprisingly easy and only took 6 months (mostly because of communication delays). In 2006 we started work on Twilight: 2013.

Also, I was shocked at how easy the manuscript approval process was. I had an approval within a week or two of submitting the final product to them. To date, the license holder has been great to deal with and I look forward to dealing with them throughout the life of the license.

GameSquad: The original Twilight 2000 was inspired by the Cold War. Needless to say, the Cold War ended in 1989. How does this affect the setting for Twilight 2013? Will Twilight 2013 assume an alternate timeline where the Cold War did not end, or are you starting with a blank, post-Cold War slate?

Keith Taylor: When we sat down to hammer the back-story out, a large part of our consideration was the current state of the player base. Realizing that a good percentage of our purchasing demographic either didn’t live through the Cold War, or were too young to get the full experience of it, using the Cold War as a focal point would alienate this vital market. In addition we never approached this project with the feeling the earlier editions got it wrong. Quite the contrary, their approach to the Cold War was believable and more importantly playable. As such, there was no point it recreating the wheel.

With this in mind, we decided to deviate from the previous editions and their Cold War focus for Twilight: 2013. The new timeline begins with our current timeline and deviates from it in the near future. We focus on current world events, current tensions and existing wars. We then built on these to provide a modern justification for WWIII. Admittedly there are a couple of WTF moments, but to be honest there are facets to the Twilight War that we simply wanted to happen (such as France launching the first nukes, I personally wanted this in the book and we all were quite surprised when after we wrote it in that the French came out and declared their rights to use nukes against terrorists who attack France thereby backing up our writing).

We made two decisions early on regarding the time-line though: 1) That rather than focus on one area of the conflict, we’d expand the back-story events to include the entire world. The core rules now allow gaming groups to begin play anywhere they want in the world, not just Poland. 2) Is the lack of detailed OOB (Order of Battle or a listing of military units, including their size, type, equipment and any other relevant information, for non-grognards), as well as, an annotated listing of nuclear targets. The back-story and timeline provided are merely an outline. As with the rules, we want gaming groups to customize the Twilight War to fit their needs. Now they have the power to decide which cities got nuked, which units fought where and who survives.

We are very focused on allowing players to play the way and in the world they want to.

GameSquad: What are some of more significant changes being made to the core rules and why are the changes being made?

Keith Taylor: When we set about to create this edition, my goal was to do what the new Battlestar Galactica did for the series. Don’t get me wrong, the original series was great. The new BSG though refocused the series on the characters rather than the setting; space and other sci-fi elements became almost a backdrop. I feel the new series could have been done in almost any era using the exact same scripts and still would have been a phenomenal show.

So that was my bar for this edition. I wanted to add to the series by changing the focus onto the characters, their actions and the repercussions. Everything we changed or added had that facet in mind. Because of that, we placed a lot of detail on character creation; we wanted more detailed, believable and interesting characters. We also increased the lethality and realism of combat; hoping that this will cause players to be more thoughtful about their actions rather than "game" a combat session of hit point management.

We also wanted a system that fit the many different styles of gameplay that are emerging today; some groups prefer a rules-lite system, some are rules-heavy and yet others are in-between. The Reflex system is designed to take a group/players gaming style into consideration. It’s a modular rules system that provides for a customizable level of detail; gamers can play as rules-lite or rules-heavy as they want.

One of my favorite additions is the Team rules. Team rules are not something normally seen in RPGs since they are normally individual oriented. I've never seen an RPG handle team actions and command effectively and enjoyable to all parties involved. I’d like to think we've tackled this pretty creatively and as realistic as possible. Although we are not 100% military focused, there is a definite interest in playing military type characters. Military characters are supposed to act and behave as a unit, not as a bunch of individuals running around being their own chief. With the new Team rule, you'll now be able to play an effective military team with command, team orders, reaction drills and integration. We've also added similar rules in place to handle squads of NPCs (not only for the above reasons but to more streamline combat.

GameSquad: When GDW held the series, they issued a whole host of supplements (such as weapon supplements) and a Gazetteer, if I recall correctly. I realize it may be a bit early to ask this question, but what supplements are planned for TW2013?

Keith Taylor: I’m planning the usually equipment and weapon guides; the first of which is almost ready to be released (Pistol Caliber Carbines). These will mostly be small PDF releases with the intent of combining them into larger print releases once enough material is available.

Primarily for print, I’m planning to do region sourcebooks. These will detail the various factions involved in a given region; including listing faction specific equipment, Life Paths, Stage III rules and such. Each will also include a full length campaign based on the region.

Strictly for PDF release will be smaller town/city/camp/organization supplements. I see these as drop-ins for GMs to use in their various campaigns. I’m also releasing free supplements through our website; mostly small teasers such as adventure seeds, stated NPCs, small maps, etc. The first one is already up and I plan to release as many of these as possible.

GameSquad: The pdf version of the TW2013 ruleset has some very attractive artwork. Who was responsible for the artistic direction of the game? Was it difficult to establish the correct post-apocalyptic look, something that can be pivotal for a game such as this?

Keith Taylor: The artistic direction of the game was my doing. I have the philosophy of allowing artists a lot of freedom in coming up with their own images. Outside of the cover and a few interior pieces, I left the content of each image up to the artists themselves. The only direction I gave them was that the pieces needed to be post-apocalyptic, modern and should be gritty. On the whole I was not disappointed in what the artists turned in and even ended up with more art than was required for the core book.

GameSquad: Speaking of the pdf, what, if anything, will be different about the forthcoming hardbound edition? Will owners of the pdf version need to upgrade?

Nothing will be different between the two, except an index (which was not included in the initial PDF release). Other than that the two are identical. We do plan to add in errata to the PDF as it’s found and resolved. Eventually, we hope to do a second printing as well to include errata and other improvements as needed for the hardbound version.

GameSquad: When will the hardbound edition be available? Where will it be available for purchase?

Keith Taylor: As soon as I receive it back from the printer it will be available. The books will be available through both hobby and book retailers; some retailers such as Amazon.com already have a listing for the game. I believe the estimated availability date is mid-Feb. The book will also be available through out website – http://www.93gamesstudio.com .

GameSquad: Is there anything you would like to add?

Keith Taylor: One thing I was expecting (hoping for) was fan turnout; however, the level of fans and their dedication both to this edition and the previous ones has by far surprised me. Between Clayton and me we’ve been a little overwhelmed at the response to the game. We try to answer every question and respond to every forum post but we had no idea the amount that would be generated (and the hardcopy isn’t even out yet). But even though things are more like a flood rather than trickle we expected at this point (again the hardcopy isn’t even out yet), we are definitely excited that people are enjoying the game and responding the way they are. Twilight fans are unique and we love ‘em.

I’d like to take the opportunity to personally thank everyone; we couldn’t have done it without them.

That and to let people know that we do still have quantities of Pre-orders left!