First, almost all of the rules below are copied from Mahatatain's excellent 'A Modern Odyssey' game, modified for 'Heavy Metal' and I greatly appreciate him sharing this content with me.

This thread contains rules about player etiquette, formatting of posts and system house rules.  If any of this raises any question then please raise it with me.

Thanks.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:31, Fri 12 June 2020.

1. Please remember that this is a game and that we are playing this for our mutual enjoyment.

2. Please be courteous to other players in OOC posts - I will be very strict about this!  Should it be appropriate then you can be as rude to each other as you like in character!  But I do mean "should it be appropriate" and it may be a good idea to clarify in the OOC thread that your character is just being rude IC and that it's not personal, just to be on the safe side.

3. Please do not use out of character information in character.  I will also be very strict about this.

4. While many members of the Twilight 2000 community have military experience, for this game, players will be roleplaying members of an alternate history 1990's Soviet military unit.  As the Referee, I will be NPCing Chinese forces and groups that never actually existed as well.  So let's all be gentle with each other on the issue of SOPs, foreign military tactics, or other details that will inevitably emerge and may differ from actual Soviet or Chinese military doctrine and tactics.  If you find you have a major issue with how tactics are being handled, please raise it with me privately and we'll work to address it.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:38, Fri 12 June 2020.

Please try to follow these guidelines on message etiquette:

1. Please aim to post at least once a week, at minimum.

2. I'm fine with shorter, more frequent posts, but please know that responses will likely be a short post as well.  Let's all try to throw in a few good quality posts every now and then, just to keep everyone on their toes.

3. If you are going to be unavailable for a while then please inform me if at all possible so that I can NPC your character if necessary.  If real life causes you to suddenly disappear then I will understand so please contact me when you can and we'll work out how to bring you back in to the game.

4. Do not "over post" messages.  If you are in a thread with other people please do not post so frequently as to drown out the other players, i.e. give them a chance to reply.  As a rough guideline if you're posting more that three times as frequently as other players then you're probably over posting.

5. Do not write "extensive" actions or dialogue for other player characters or NPCs without first checking with me or the appropriate player.  I'm quite happy with a degree of narration of other characters in the story but please don't over do it without checking first.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:40, Fri 12 June 2020.

Please find below my expectations on the formatting of messages that I expect from my players.  Please follow these guidelines when writing messages.

1. Please highlight text as follows:

• Red - normal speech in Russian (the flag of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics during this time period has a red field)
• Blue - for those who find red text to be difficult on the eyes or have nostalgia for the old Russian empire - normal speech in Russian (the flag of the current Russian Federation has blue)
• Yellow - normal speech in Mandarin Chinese (the PRC flag has a yellow stars during this time period, as it does today)
• Brown - normal speech in Soviet Ethnic Languages (Armenian, Estonian, etc.)
• Green - normal speech in PRC Ethnic Languages (Mongolian, etc.)
• Other colors will be assigned as the game progresses
• Italics - personal thoughts.

Please do not use Orange to highlight any text - I will underline any important text and Orange should be used for OOC comments (see below).

1. If your character is not speaking Russian then please make that clear in your post.

3. If your character speaks a foreign language and you choose to write speech in that language then please provide an OOC translation at the bottom of your post so that the other players can easily follow the story and so that I can understand what your character is actually saying! <G>

4. If your character is speaking on a radio please signify this by formatting your speech in tt or mono as well as a color.

5. Please include some indication of the tone your character is talking in when writing speech as non verbal communication is important.  For example:


6. In combat please summarize your actions in Orange at the end of your turn post in a "Combat Tag".  A combat tag should include your character's location, stance, intended action and target (if relevant), the weapon your character is using, how much ammo your character currently has and any other relevant weapons your character has on them at present.  For example:


This message was last edited by the GM at 15:09, Fri 12 June 2020.

Some players like to resolve tasks themselves, i.e. use the Dice Roller themselves, and others prefer the GM to do it for them.

To ensure that this game runs as smoothly and quickly as possible however I will make all dice rolls in combat myself and will make all dice rolls out of combat unless I request you to make one yourself.  While this may seem rather authoritarian it does prevent delays where I request a dice roll and it takes the player a little while to make that actual dice roll.

Hopefully this is not a major issue.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:58, Fri 12 June 2020.

Initiative

Experienced T2k players will notice that I have removed the Initiative stat from the tweaked version of the rules I am using for this game.

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Combat Round Procedure

Combat rounds will follow a set procedure:

1. Players will post a "combat post" message IC stating what they wish to do in the round with a summary of their actions in an OOC tag at the bottom of their post (please see the Message Formatting Guidelines above).

2. When writing your combat post please remember the following:

  - A combat round is 5 seconds long - please use some common sense in how much you can say and attempt to do in that length of time.

  - Depending on the weapon you are using you may be able to make up to 5 attacks in a combat round.  The accuracy of each shot in a round will obviously decrease however due to recoil and the lack of aiming.

  - If your character is doing something risky in a combat round (for example charging a machinegun nest) then I will almost certainly make a Resolve + Coolness under Fire task check on your character's behalf to determine whether they manage to attempt this action or not.

3. Once all players have written up their combat posts I will then write up a "combat turn post" that details all of the actions that have taken place and their results.  I will also account for ammo expenditure within the combat turn post.

4. Players then write their next combat post for the next round of combat and so on.

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Recoil:

When shooting a firearm a character generates points of Recoil for each shot, the number of points being dictated by the weapon and whether they are firing a Single Shot or a Burst.  Please note that by Burst here I am meaning a controlled burst rather than firing fully automatic.

The total amount of Recoil points generated so far by the character firing in the round is then compared to the Strength of the firer with a modifier applied based on the stance they are in.  If the total amount of Recoil points generated so far by the firer is higher than their Strength plus modifiers then the difference is applied as a penalty to that shot, i.e. the Recoil penalty for the shot is calculated and then applied to work out whether that shot hit or not.

The Stance modifiers are as follows (please note that if you are using a weapon with a Bipod or Tripod then these modifiers do not apply but you will gain the benefits of the Bipod/Tripod in the Single Shot and Burst numbers):

 - Standing: 0 modifier
 - Crouching: 0 modifier
 - Kneeling: +1 effective Strength
 - Prone: +2 effective Strength

For example, a soldier with a Strength of 7 is firing his M16A1 (Single Shot 3, Burst 6) from a kneeling position.  He fires a series of rapid single shots at a target and the Recoil points are as follows:
 - Effective Strength: 7+1 (for Stance) = 8
 - Shot 1: +3 Recoil Points for a total of 3, 0 Recoil Penalty
 - Shot 2: +3 Recoil Points for a total of 6, 0 Recoil Penalty
 - Shot 3: +3 Recoil Points for a total of 9, 1 Recoil Penalty (as 9 is 1 higher than Effective Strength)
 - Shot 4: +3 Recoil Points for a total of 12, 4 Recoil Penalty
 - Shot 5: +3 Recoil Points for a total of 15, 7 Recoil Penalty

Unless you are at close range it is therefore often better to save your ammo rather than making your full allocation of attacks as you won't be able to control the recoil and will therefore have almost no chance of hitting.  Sometimes almost no chance of hitting is better than nothing though.

Please note that firing fully automatic and recoil is handled separately.

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"Short" bursts:

Just to be clear on how I adjudicate “short” bursts, they are only possible with a weapon that has a ROF of 5 or higher and I just reduce the number of rounds fired in the burst before calculating how many dice are rolled to see if they have hit.

For example if you are firing a Norinco Type 56 Assault Rifle (a Chinese version of the AK-47) that has a ROF of 5 so a “normal” burst is of 5 rounds.  If you fire a “short” burst then that will be of 3 rounds and I will follow the rules as if you were using a weapon with an ROF of 3.  Likewise if you are using a weapon that has an ROF of 10 (an RPK-74 for example) then a short burst will be calculated as if the weapon has an ROF of 5.

Please note that a weapon with an ROF of 3 is already firing short bursts and cannot further reduce them.

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Increased Damage Rule:

I am using the following rule for calculating the number of damage dice rolled when someone is hit.

• For each shot I calculate the Margin of Success (MOS) by subtracting the dice roll from the target number.
  
• I then divide the MOS by 3 and round down the result to give me the number of additional d6 to roll on the damage roll (i.e. these additional d6 are added to the base damage rating of the weapon).
  
• For example if the target number is 12 and the dice roll is 4 then the MOS equals 8 (12-4=8).  Dividing the MOS by 3 and rounding down the result gives you 2 additional dice to roll on the damage roll (8/3=2.67 = 2 bonus dice).
  
• Damage dice are then rolled as per the T2k v2.2 rules and the effects of damage are calculated in the normal way (though your hit capacity for each location incorporates your Resolve stat).

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Other House Rules for Combat:

• When working out the chance to hit a target when firing in combat I will use the highest out of your Agility and Strength stats.
  
• When firing an Automatic Rifle or a Squad Automatic Weapon like an RPK I will use the highest of your Autogun and Combat Rifleman skills when calculating your chance to hit in combat.

This message was last edited by the GM at 15:10, Fri 12 June 2020.

Encumbrance Rules:

Your character's Load attribute (in Kg) is calculated using the following formula: (Strength + Constitution) x3

You character's encumbrance state is then calculated as follows:

• Lightly Encumbered - Up to (Load /2)kg
• Moderately Encumbered – Up to (Load)kg
• Heavily Encumbered - Up to (Load x1.5)kg
• Very Heavily Encumbered - Up to (Load x2)kg

For example if you Strength and Constitution are both 6 then your Load attribute is 36kg and your encumbrance states are as follows:

• Lightly Encumbered - Up to 18kg
• Moderately Encumbered – Up to 36kg
• Heavily Encumbered - Up to 54kg
• Very Heavily Encumbered - Up to 72kg

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Movement Rates:

Depending upon your character's Encumbrance State he then has the following movement rate:


This message was last edited by the GM at 15:10, Fri 12 June 2020.