What are board members the most interested in seeing from the various writers here?

[Olefin]

Are you looking for more info on:

history of the Twilight War in areas not covered either by canon or by other contributors

Order of Battle for countries either at the beginning of the war or in 2001

sourcebooks for areas not already covered by contributors or canon (i.e. I have seen ones for Mexico, Eastern Africa, Poland, the Falklands and Czechoslovakia)

scenarios for play in areas not covered by canon - example Dutch Marines on a raid against the French in Europe or the Caribbean, Australians in Indonesia, Chinese marauders hitting a Soviet encampment, a raid in Alaska in the Spring of 2001 by the US forces on the Soviets in Anchorage

other ideas

Looking to continue writing stuff for the board and love to see what people are really interested in seeing from me and others

[StainlessSteelCynic]

All of the above.

[mikeo80]

I, for one, would like to see a treatment of a couple of areas.

1) Middle East, especially Israel, Egypt, Syria, Jordan

2) Ireland. There have been some mentions here and there. I would think that the Soviets would be provoking MASSIVE unrest in both Northern and Southern Ireland.

3) India and Pakistan.

My $0.02

Mike

[Cdnwolf]

More scantily clad photos of the writers

[cavtroop]

I'm a big fan of alternate timelines, or stories/backgrounds that are not necessarily cannon, but mesh with the timeline. Webstral's stuff about Ft. Hauchuca is excellent stuff, for instance.

Any kind of user created sourcebook for stuff that isn't handled, or just touched on, in canon is also great - Tegyrus' Czech stuff for 2013 is great for instance.

Modules/adventure ideas/hooks, all of that I love, too.

Basically, anything that gets my imagination going in directions it hasn't gone in before, or places I never considered before is great!

basically, anything

[kcdusk]

I hate (HATE!) orders of battle. I find them boring and unnecessary. Who cares if theres 51 or 55 of a particular kind of MBT' Its simply useless information as far as a gaming group goes. Having said that, lots of people are writing them so maybe i am missing something.

Source books are OK but i don't see any need for more. Once you've read one or two source books from other areas, you get a feel for what the worlds like and a good Ref can create their own localised area pretty easily - so a source book is not necessary and its also overkill, i'd think a smaller "local area description" would be better value.

I'd prefer to see a bit of creative writing.

Mostly, i'd prefer to see some small set pieces that a Ref or even a solo player could use. For solo play the set piece would look like a decision tree, solo player makes their choice and then its a die roll against a table to see which encounter comes up kind of thing.

I've got some examples of smaller set pieces that i will post up as examples, i've copied them from other T2K sites over the years, in some cases i don't know who the original authors were so apologies to those people. I don't mean to steal their work, i just wanted to illustrate what i think we need more of. Any group or solo player i think would get allot of milage out of this kind of thing rather than full blown "modules" where players only use or encounter 10% of the total module created anyway.

[kcdusk]

PRE-GENERATED ENCOUNTER:
SOVIET ATGM TEAM

We'd had to lay low for a week after shooting up that supply convoy from the 129th MRD, but we finally got enough fuel in the Bradley to make a dash for it.* Captain Williams thought we should try to scoot out south, then maybe curve over east, towards Krakow.* He picked a route that looked like we could keep in the forest a good long ways, except for one open patch a couple of klicks wide around some little village whose name had too many consonants and not enough vowels.

I was just getting comfortable in the back of the Bradley (and ain't there a trick to that . . .) when all hell broke loose.* I heard Marconi opening up with the twenty-five and the coax, and then the whole track lurched sideways about twenty feet.* By the time I managed to squirm out through the top hatch, it was pretty obvious somebody had rammed a missile through the engine.* Marconi swore he'd gotten the bastards, but I know I wasn't going to trot a klick and a half to find out.* We had more important things to do, like getting the hell out of there with what we could carry on our backs . . . 
*


Situation:* This is a small team of three men primarily armed to engage enemy armored vehicles.* They will not usually be found operating alone, except as an anti-armor ambush.* The equipment they carry, in the year 2000, is worth far too much to throw away on routine patrolling, etc.
This unit can be easily plugged into a larger force to beef up their anti-armor capability, as needed.

Mission:* The unit is equipped to fight enemy armored vehicles.* The small arms they carry are strictly for self-defense.* If they are attached to an infantry unit, they will rely on the larger unit to protect them from small arms fire.* If deployed in an anti-armor ambush they will fire their missiles and then retreat before enemy infantry can close with them. 
*

The Anti-Armor Ambush:* Typically one or more of these anti-armor teams will be entrenched in concealed positions, possibly supported by infantry or light machineguns.* They will be sited with good fields of fire (i.e. covering farm fields, large clearings, etc.).* Their goal will be to engage an enemy force with a single missile from their ATGM launcher, and then fall back to a secondary firing position.* A/A Ambushes will not just be set out randomly across the countryside, but will be placed deliberately to cover likely avenues of approach for enemy armor if the local military force is expecting attack buy armored vehicles.
Morale:* Varies, but these troops will usually be smarter and more motivated than the run-of-the-mill infantry from their parent unit.* They will also usually be of higher than average intelligence.* If they find themselves in an untenable position, and believe that they can surrender, they will probably do so, if escape is not an option.

Unit Basic Equipment Kit:* All soldiers are clothed in Soviet issue camouflage battle-dress (add winter clothing as necessary), steel pot helmets, flak vests, and LBE.* The LBE includes two canteens, a bayonet, and entrenching tool, and magazine pouches for six (6) AK-74 magazines.* Each also has a small rucksack containing ponchos, their rations, and other personal gear.* Other special equipment is noted below.

The Unit:
ATGM Team
Team Leader (a Sergeant), veteran, AKR (6 magazines), binoculars, 5/25km Manpack Radio, camouflage netting (3x3 meters) to conceal fighting position

Gunner, veteran, AT-4 launcher (1 missile), Makarov Pistol (2 Magazines)

Ammunition Bearer, novice, AK74 (6 magazines), 2 AT-4 missiles, machete

[stormlion1]

I like scenario's myself. Usually with enough backstory built in I can plug it into existing campaigns with little trouble. Local history, regional history, weapons of the area and write ups for NPC's are all something I enjoy.

[dude_uk]

Webstral's second part to "The Storm in Germany"

[pmulcahy11b]

Stories, for flavor. I love reading them, along with campaign progression notes (Web's stuff has been great).

I'm taking a stab at a short story, something I used to be good at, but it's been a long time.

[Webstral]

Cdnwolf, Ive asked my wife to take a few shots of me in my skivvies. Those of you who claw your own eyes out will have to have those of a stronger constitution (or weaker eyesight) read subsequent installments of Thunder Empire aloud to you. Alas.

[Webstral]

I dont have anything new for Thunder Empire, but I have been making slow progress on Silver Shogun. I have a couple of new characters and some other tidbits.

Paul Fazande is the head of security at Phoenicia, the casino partially owned by David Tokugawa, aka the Shogun in Nevada. In 1997, Fazande is 45. Hes a Vietnam vet with nearly 20 years of experience in private security under his belt. Fazande is Tokugawas man in more than one way. A Cajun born and bred in southern Louisiana, Fazande is Tokugawas hard edge in many ways. Hes also a voice of reason for Tokugawa when Tokugawa finds himself overwhelmed by events.

Chien Nguyen is the CEO of Phoenix Security, the private security company Tokugawa helped create. Nguyen is a former ARVN Ranger who fled the Republic of Vietnam in 1975 when the South fell. At 50, Nguyen is demanding, uncompromising, relentless, and completely loyal to his boss and to his people. He demands unflinching loyalty, and he gives it in return.

In many ways, Fazande is Tokugawas guiding hand during the first few months after the Thanksgiving Massacre. Fazandes guidance helps Tokugawa be tough when he needs to be tough, yielding when he needs to be yielding. He supports Tokugawas outlook that assets need to be cultivated with a balance of carrot and stick. He helps Tokugawa negotiate the period in Las Vegas when Tokugawa is trying to establish a stable relationship with the Nellis AFB command at a time when nothing is stable. Right around the time when 99th Wing pulls out of Nellis for California in March 1998 (another detail Ive changed), Fazande dies.

From that point onward, Nguyens influence waxes. Tokugawa hardens. He starts to become the Shogun.

An important fact is that in 1997, there are about 500,000 head of cattle in Nevada. Of these, about 250,000 are cows and calves, and 300,000 are beef cattle. (God bless the Internet!) At the risk of overstating the obvious, the cattle are grazed on lands that dont require much in the way of technology or fossil fuels. There are some irrigated pastures, but for the most part the cattle are grazing on lands that dont require much attention. In other words, the collapse of modern society doesnt affect them that much. Obviously, there are some effects. This is food on the hoof for a lot of hungry people. The federal government will claim some of them, but plenty will survive through March 1998. Half of the population of Nevada will have died or fled by that point, meaning that the surviving cattle can go that much further.

A dependency on cattle changes some of the dynamics of the Shoguns operation. I have to give this some more thought. Cattle ranching off feed lots means riding horses. I have to figure out how all the players and factors are going to interact.

Anyway, the important thing is that once the population of Clark County drops by about 90%, Nevada can provide its own food if human labor is substituted for fossil fuel in the fields and on the ranches.

Once again, I hope whichever one of you pointed out to me that Nevada is much more varied and interesting than the blurb in Howling Wildnerness indicates will step up and take credit. Truly, that one is as much the author of Silver Shogun as I am.

[.45cultist]

Scenarios using the supporting cast thread. Fleshing out the suggestions found there.

[raketenjagdpanzer]

I'll be done with school in a week or two, maybe I can put together a post-2000 USN Proceedings - half fiction, half usable game-info, that outlines where the USN stands in the Year 2000...

[mikeo80]

Cdnwolf, Ive asked my wife to take a few shots of me in my skivvies. Those of you who claw your own eyes out will have to have those of a stronger constitution (or weaker eyesight) read subsequent installments of Thunder Empire aloud to you. Alas.

I hope to God that your wife talks some sense to you. We do NOT need to see that. It was bad enough during the discussion of Targan in a Pink Tutu. I have tried to locate the thread, but I am really tired from work. My Google-fu is weak.

My $0.02

Mike