Malcolm Craig

I feel a submission on twenty-first century RPGs and the use of the Cold War as a setting might be in order (So, Twilight 2000 4th ed et al).

"What's next, General?"
"Well, we've got Operation Blissful Marcel and then the following year it's Operation Cheery Eduardo."

Operation Lucky Alphonse has to be the strangest, though.

"Operation Epic Fury"? You are fucking kidding me. What next? "Operation I Have an Enormous Wang"? "Operation Toddler's Temper Tantrum"?

Dear god, these are such deeply unserious, childish morons with access t almost limitless destructive power.

TL:DR: Don't assume that the reader knows what you are talking about & will be able to conduct the analysis for themselves. In history this is especially true of quotes. I'm forever saying "Quotes do nothing in and of themselves. The quote does not make the argument, you must make the argument."

So, I would say to students "Don't just say 'the Grand Alliance' or 'the Atlantic Charter'. The first time you mention them, let the reader know what they are and why they matter." Likewise for people. An informed reader will know who Stalin was, but at least mention the position he held in the USSR

Assume the reader has a baseline knowledge, but do not assume expertise in a specific field. For example, writing about the Cold War's origins, they will have a rough knowledge of WW2, but not specific expertise in alliance politics, post-1945 geopolitics, who/what specific people/organisations are

Advice I was offered a long time ago - and which I now give to students ad nauseam - is "Write for an informed but non-expert reader." Simple and possibly trite, but it has seen results.

Congratulations! A great achievement.

Scene: No10 Downing Street.

Random Labour MP: "Do you think we might be making a mistake with our approach to the electorate?"

Starmer (for it is he): "No! As any fule no, the voters are wrong and we must redouble our efforts to alienate them!"

The Ghost of Morgan McSweeney: "Trebles all round!"

I would encourage you to follow @tacticalbacon.bsky.social's approach and buy, buy, buy! Many bargains, much cheapness!
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TBH, I would vote for Stalin just to keep Kid Rock away.

Unfortunately yes. On one hand, I can see her point (just), but it's a tragic attempt to drag victory from the ashes of a crushing defeat for Labour, losing a significant majority.

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Seems reasonable to me

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Great! That's fantastic to hear! Looking forward to more details.

Delighted that people are already playing #HotWar 2nd edition and - apparently - having great fun doing so!

4) But for commercial projects looking for free labour, you almost always get zero response or "We don't have the budget for that." (the latter even from obviously well resourced organisations - news media, I'm looking at you).

3) How often do you get a further response of "Oh that seems fair, let's proceed on that basis."? The answer is: Almost never. Again, if a state school asked "Can you come and talk to our A-level history pupils about the Cold War?" I'd be there like a shot, for free.

2) You sometimes get requests from those engaged in commercial projects, asking for a considerable amount of time and labour. For this, the usual response is "Well, my consultancy fee is XXX and I estimate your request will take XXX hours to deal with."

1) Academics frequently get requests for their help and expertise. This is a good thing - it's part of our jobs to share our knowledge and skills. And if a request comes from a charity, a state school, a non-profit heritage group, etc, then absolutely they will get my help pro bono. HOWEVER...

If this was - just to pick a random example - the steel industry, MPs would be crowding into the chamber to "do something". But it's universities, so it doesn't matter that we're seeing a slow-motion disaster for UK higher education.

There's a lot to like about Cold City/Hot War, mechanically. I think there are things about this style of dice pool which are well worth revisiting and updating for 2026. Which non-coincidentally is what @malcolmcraig.bsky.social has done. 1/2

Thanks Wil! Glad to see the mechanics are enjoyed.

Focussing on games of the 1970s/80s, I would say no, not exactly. That's not to say that people didn't play games that way (they did. I mean, my GMing of T2000 was pretty grim).

An absurd deal for my favorite-favorite FitD game. Honestly folks, don't sleep on this.

6) The way in which RPGs diverge from other nuclear age cultural forms is fascinating/instructive. For a summary of Cordle's position see

Daniel Cordle, 'Protect/Protest: British nuclear fction of the 1980s', The British Journal for the History of Science, 45 (2012)
www.jstor.org/stable/41809...

5) While these games do engage with the politics of vulnerability in terms of nations, states, and societies, the individual prevails and is prioritised and thus challenges the peril of the nuclear age.