Throwing In A Touch Of Home Brew

For our games of Gamma World and D & D 4e I've decided that I'm going to throw in a little bit of a home brew on the rules. Not sure exactly how well it will work but I like the idea so I figure I'll give it a shot and see what happens.  The first of these has to do with hit points.

I think this is one of the things that bugs people the most about D & D.  You hit somebody with a huge sword and they stand there, smile, and then return the favor.  Doesn't really make that much sense when you think about it even for a fantastic setting.  I mean come on, its a frickin' sword!  No two ways about it, that's gonna leave a mark.

What I've decided to do is take hit points in a slightly different direction so that they make a little more sense.  Instead of them representing purely how much physical abuse you can take, they are also going to represent fatigue in the battle.  If you think about it, parrying or dodging that massive sword is going to start wearing you down almost as much as being hit by it.  This isn't to say that the players lose hit points just for moving around or being missed; that would be a little too harsh in my mind.  No, instead this will represent them blocking or dodging the blows in the narrative though they'll still take some damage.  Only hit for 5 hit points?  Well, that's probably at best a scratch and might even just be a solid punch.

So the question is "Where's the house rule?" That comes into play when players (and monsters... gotta be fair after all...) take a massive hit, say equal to their bloodied value.  A blow like this is truly devastating and it makes sense that you're not going to be performing up to par after that. In game terms this is represented by a -2 modifier on all rolls except for damage (seems like that would be a little too harsh).  Of course its not too easy to inflict that much damage in one blow so I'm also going to apply this when a creature becomes bloodied as well.  To me the name says it all; you're bloodied.  You've taken a beating and while you're not ready to lie down and die, you're not going to be as nimble as you normally would.  This also helps the idea of the second wind make a little more sense.  It isn't some kind of magical healing that is flowing through your body, its you pausing in the fight to catch your breath for a second.

My other idea is a little more... dramatic.  Normally in 4e your character earns action points that you can spend to take another action on your turn.  I really like this mechanic as I think it really pushes forward the idea that the characters are supposed to be big damn heroes and helps them live up to it.  In addition to the regular action points, I'm also going to introduce drama points (though I might call it something else...).  

Unlike action points which have a limit on how often you can use them, the drama point is more open ended and can be spent to give you a re-roll any time you want.  Choke on a crucial to hit roll?  Spend a drama point and re-roll it!  Fail that diplomacy check and make an ass out of yourself to the dragon?  Pop a drama point and try again!

So what's the catch?  A free re-roll?  Heck yeah I'll take that!  The catch is that you have to earn them with role play.  It could be something as simple as a good concept in character generation or strong back story to some solid role play around the table later in the game.  This is supposed to be a role playing game after all so why not encourage it?

Of course the real question is how do these ideas work in practice.  Theories are wonderful things but until they're successfully applied they don't really mean much.  For that we'll just have to see what happens when we get back to the table.  Until next time...

Back To The Wastelands

Its time to hope on the role play tour bus to start looking at some of the ideas that I've got floating around.  The first stop on this little whirlwind expedition is Gamma World.

Though it's been months since my group sat down for our one (and unfortunately only) game of Gamma World, we have been looking at bringing it back to the table again with a few modifications.  When we first did it, the players had a really hard time with the completely random nature of the character generation system.  Random equipment is one thing but random everything made it really hard to get their heads around the characters so I've decided to make a few changes.

The first thing is the whole random origin system.  Not even being able to choose your origins made developing a character concept really hard for my players so I've decided to introduce some free will to the process.  Instead of using the random tables, I'm going to let the players pick their origins so they can get into the character's heads a little easier.

Next up is the rolling the abilities themselves. According to the rules you roll up most of the stats in order using 3d6 which is all well and good but it leave you with a really erratic bunch of scores.  Instead I'm pulling in the point buy system for abilities from D & D 4e as it gives the players more control and puts most of their scores at a minimum of 10.  The characters are supposed to be heroes after all so it only makes sense that they wouldn't have a bunch of scores that are below average.  How the origins relate to the abilities has been tweaked as well.  Instead of giving them an auto 18 in their primary and 16 in their secondary I've changed it to a +2 and a +1 for each so that it fits better with the point buy system.

I'm also not a fan of how the skills are handled.  According to the rules, you have a +4 in skills relating to each of your random origins and a +4 in another random skill.  Again its all just a little too random in my opinion.  Instead each origin gives a +2 bonus to their related skills and then giving the player eight points to apply as they see fit.

Last but not least (as far as character generation anyway...), we are going to choose the alpha mutations instead of randomly drawing them.  We did this in the other game and the players really like having control over at least that one aspect and really helped them start to develop characters a little.

Overall I'm really hoping this will help my players get more into their characters as I've got a few ideas for Gamma World campaigns that I'd really love to run.  Just what are these ideas?  Well I'm glad you asked!  Right now I have three different setting/campaign ideas that I kicking around.

1) The Wastelands Campaign: With the Kaiute tribes moving south into the United City States of Texas, its only a matter of time until the new south of Merica erupts into a massive bloodbath.  Preparing for war, the future looks grim until a lone wanderer staggers back from the wastelands to the west with stories of tombs of the Ancients.  Could this blasted land hold the secret to their salvation?
 

This campaign is actually the one that we had already started and is the most fleshed out.  Basically its a mix of wild west and post apoc all rolled into one.  Can't go wrong with that, right?  This gives the region a somewhat lawless feel while still having some semblance of  civilization.

2) The End of Times Campaign: Life is almost idyllic in the Dah-Koh-Tah territories of old Merica until rumors begin to circulate about an ancient menace coming from the north. Is it just idle chatter or have the evils of the End Times returned to finish the job they started all those years ago?

This was actually my original idea for our Gamma World campaign though I didn't get it as fleshed out as the Wastelands idea.  I was also trying to set it in the region of the published adventures so that I could easily pull those in if I wanted to.  Nothing like having a published adventure on hand just in case your feeling a little lacking in the creativity department.  Even so these are just fall backs as I've already got some pretty solid ideas for this one as well.

3) The Rise of Empires Campaign: While most of Gamma Terra struggles to maintain some kind of order, the self proclaimed Empire of Humanity has risen out of the ashes to the east. Is this a benevolent power that can restore order to the broken land or just another tyranny that will threaten the world with its grab for power?

I went seriously old school for this idea as I've pulled a lot of the initial concepts from the old After The Bomb supplement for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles RPG from years ago.  I'm definitely going to tweak it to give it my own flavor but this is a setting that has always been near and dear to my heart.

So which one will it be in the end?  Well, I'm not sure.  I've sent off the three ideas to my players and right now I'm just wanting on some feedback from them as to which one interests them the most.  Hopefully they'll let me know soon and then I'll be sure to pass along the good word.

That's about all the radiated goodness for now but there is more to come as the ideas just keep bouncing around my noggin.  Until next time...

Out Into The Wastelands

First Impressions Of The Gamma World 4e RPG

We managed to have two firsts this week in our gaming group. We finally got Gamma World 4e to the table and it was run by none other than yours truly! I've never actually GM'ed a game before so it was an interesting experience. There was a brief moment in the beginning when the three of them were just sitting there looking at me and it was like "Crap! Now what do I do?!?!?" After a brief moment of panic, I was thankfully able to shake it off and get things moving along.

As for the game system, it worked as smoothly as I'd hoped. I threw in a couple of skill checks early on but for the most part we just focused on the role play element for the first half of the game (and let me say that anyone who says you can't role play in 4e has never tried). As we moved into the second half we got into the crunchier part of the game with few combats and some skill challenges to mix things up. While combats are fully covered in the rules, the idea of incorporating skill challenges is something that they never mention. Overall I think they worked fairly well though they didn't seem to be too much of a challenge as the group passed them most of them with ease (might have to crank up the DCs next time...). Even so they are definitely something that I want to keep incorporating as they add something different instead of just having the group grind through combat.

The one thing that we really did notice was the need for a battle mat which I suppose isn't too surprising. I had decided to try to free form the adventure that they ran through and it worked fairly well for the most part. There were some moments that having things laid out on a map would have been easier though, especially since one of the characters is a pyrokinetic (burn baby burn!). Then again he really doesn't mind setting the other PCs on fire so that's one less thing to worry about (his quote of the night "I hate you all.").

The only other thing that I was kind of surprised by was how quickly the players can potentially level up. After one just one session the group is already up to level two which is what I was hoping for but with the way that the levels are laid out in the game it will be very easy for them to keep moving up the ladder very quickly. Definitely not a complaint as I want them to be able to reap the benefits of higher levels but it was slightly unexpected.

Overall, I'd definitely recommend giving Gamma World 4e a try if you haven't already. The system does work really smoothly and the setting is so wide open that can really do almost any take on the post-apocalyptic future that you want to use, be it something a grittier or just madcap hijinks, Gamma World 4e has the potential to cover it all.

I Didn't Mean Ta Bug Ya...

More Critters From The Desert Lands

In the scorching heat of the Desert Lands, various new species of insects and reptiles are some of the most commonly encountered forms of animal life. Most of them run wild but there are a few that have been domesticated in one way or another.

Kafer

Kafer are very large, very territorial insects in the wild. They typically travel in small groups and will attack virtually anything that enters their territory. To make matters worse, the fully grown kafers are extremely protective of the young and they will go onto a rampage if any young are severely injured near them.

Kafer Runt (Level 3 Brute)
Medium terrestrial beast, 150 XP

HP 36; Bloodied 18
Initiative +4, Perception +3, Dark vision
AC 20, Fortitude 14, Reflex 14, Will 11
Speed 6

Standard actions
Gripping mandibles (physical) at-will
Attack: Melee 1; +6 vs AC
Hit: Target creature takes 1d6+3 damage.

Str 16 (+3), Dex 12 (+1), Wis 10 (+0)
Con 12 (+1), Int 1 (-4), Cha 8 (-1)

Kafer Bull (Level 5 Brute)
Large terrestrial beast, 200 XP

HP 68; Bloodied 34
Initiative +4, Perception +5, Dark vision
AC 22, Fortitude 17, Reflex 13, Will 14
Speed 8

Standard actions
Rending mandibles (physical) at will
Attack: Melee 1; +9 vs AC
Hit: Target creature takes 1d10+4 damage.

Move actions

Trample (physical) at-will
Effect: The bull moves up to 6 squares and enters enemy squares. This movement provokes opportunity attacks and the bull must end its move in an unoccupied space. When it enters an enemy's space, the bull makes a trample attack.

Attack: Melee 0; +6 vs. Reflex
Hit: Target creature takes 2d6+4 damage and is knocked prone.

Triggered actions
Protect the young! (physical) at-will
Trigger: A kafer runt within 4 squares is bloodied or killed.
Effect (Free action): The bull shifts 4 squares while using trample.

Str 18 (+4), Dex 10 (+1), Wis 12 (+a)
Con 14 (+2), Int 1 (-4), Cha 8 (-1)

As dangerous as they are in the wild, it is fairly common to see kafer used as domesticated beasts of burden or even as mounts. Before they can be used in this capacity, however, they must be "spiked". This process involves driving a long metal electrical device into the back of the creatures head. Once inserted and activated, the spike reduces the kafer to a docile and compliant state.

Domesticated Kafer (Level 3 Brute)
Large terrestrial beast, 150 XP

HP 50; Bloodied 25
Initiative +0, Perception +0, Dark vision
AC 20, Fortitude 15, Reflex 11, Will 10
Speed 8

Traits
Gentle As A Kitten: A domesticated kafer is an incredibly passive animal due to the spiking process. Unfortunately this also means that they are completely useless in combat.

Str 18 (+4), Dex 10 (+0), Wis 8 (-1)
Con 14 (+2), Int 1 (-4), Cha 8 (-1)

So What's The Deal With This Place Anyway?

Expanding On My Gamma World Setting

So here I've made up a bunch of new and borrowed critters to populate my wasteland setting (one of which I showed you last week), but what exactly is going on in this place? Helps to know that part too, doesn't it? Lets take a closer look at it to see just what's going on.

In the decades since the Big Mistake things have changed. Anarchy ruled for a while but in the end Humanity always tries to give things order so he can make sense of it all. Sure random chaos can be fun but in the end there is that part of the brain that demands structure and order be imposed on the world, preferably with that individual at the top of that structure. It doesn't end that way for most people but some of them have got the knack to make it happen.

Even after everything was blasted away it was these individuals that started beating back the chaos and imposing their order on the world, or at least this corner of it anyway. The years ground by and some semblance of civilization started to claw its way from the ashes. Whether they were benevolent leaders or ruthless dictators, most people were just glad to have some kind of order to cling to.

Through all this time, Desert Lands stood as an impenetrable barrier between the Texas Territory of Merica and the far west. A blazing inferno by day and a frozen waste by night, it long served as a natural defense for the various powers of Texas. Few have been mad enough to try to cross it and none have returned to tell the tale... until recently. One lone survivor of a small group that set out to find a path through the Desert Lands came stumbling back, raving about forgotten tombs of the Ancients and the treasures they contain. Of course no one believed a word he said but then he showed them what he'd brought back.

Within weeks, the strongest powers of the Texas Territory had set up the first of the border towns and groups of fortune hunters were being recruited and sent out into the wastes. Most of them were never seen again, but enough came back that word got around and more came to take the place of those who had been lost.

At the same time, the Kaiute tribes from the Okayhome Territory to the north began pressing down into Texas, ravaging any human settlements they encountered. The various human factions tried to unite and stop them but overcoming years of distrust can't be done in a day and for now all they can really do is hope to slow down the advances of the tribes.

Months have past since the survivor returned and almost a half dozen border towns now sit along the eastern edge of the Desert Lands. They send out a steady stream of explorers into the wastes seeking lost technology that the might help turn the tide and stop the Kaiute advances or at least line their own pockets for a while. Do the Desert Lands hold the key to turning back the tribes? Will the answer be found by these ragtag groups of mutant bastards before its too late? Only time will tell...

I still need to work out some of the details pertaining specifically to the characters (such as the border town they'll be operating out of, some of the places they'll explore, things like that...) but I'm really excited at how its pulling together so far.

Welcome To The New West!

Developing My Post-Apocalyptic Setting

Ever since I first read the original Gamma World rulebook years ago, I've loved the setting. Exploring a world that's been devastated by technology more powerful than Humanity was meant to wield, picking through the detritus of a future society that was destroyed in ages past.

I was never able to get into a game all those years ago but when I heard about the new edition of Gamma World coming out I was excited at the possibilities. I finally had a group that I would be able to role play with again so exploring the ruins of Gamma Terra was at last an option!

For those of you who might not be familiar with the latest iteration of the game, it uses a variation on 4e for the game mechanics. Some aspects have been drastically changed (no feats, a very condensed skill list, etc.) but at its heart its still 4e which is actually one of the problems that I'd been running into.

Even though the basic rules have a wide variety of creatures to draw from to populate your world I have never been one to take the easy route for such things, plus I have some pretty specific things in mind as well. Unfortunately one of the things that GW 4e is lacking is a system to make your own creatures, at least in some kind of a balanced fashion. So how do you get past this rather annoying hurdle? In my mind there are two options that are available.

Number 1: Use the tools that you have at hand. Try to focus on the options that have already been presented to you and possibly re-skin some of them into something closer to what you have envisioned. This is all well and good but for someone as stubborn as I am the other option is more appealing. Can you guess what it is?

Number 2: Wing it! If all else fails, just make shit up!

To that end, I've decided to post some of the critters that I've concocted (or found) to live in the Desert Lands that are the American Southwest in Gamma World. Are they balanced? Hell no... but hopefully they won't be as completely out of whack as they could be. With all that said, lets take a look at what we can find...

Cactisaurus

A particularly nasty mutation of the Saguaro Cactus, these monster plants grow in a single column up to 20 feet in height, topped by a hideous set of gnashing jaws. The plant is surrounded by a network of tangle vines that grow just beneath the surface of the ground. When hapless victims blunder too close and become entangled, the main body attacks them with vicious bites. On top of all of this, the Cactisaurus Rex can let loose a sonic blast when it is wounded as it tries to stun those near itself. Every year the Rex releases small number of mobile seed pods which are called Squealers by the locals because of the weaker sonic squeal they make when they are wounded. While no where near as dangerous as the parent plant, even the squealers can cause some serious damage if left unchecked.

Cactisaurus Rex
Level 4 Lurker
Medium animate plant 175 XP

HP 48; Bloodied 24 Initiative +4
AC 17 Fortitude 17 Reflex 14 Will 15 Perception +5
Speed 0 Tremor sense 5

Traits
Hide in plain sight: The Cactisaurus Rex look like a regular cactus to the untrained eye. Players must make either a DC 20 Perception check or a DC 16 Nature check to recognize them as a threat. Otherwise the cactisaurus automatically gains surprise.

Triggered actions
Tangling Vines (physical) at-will
Trigger:Creature enters or starts its turn within 2 squares of the plant.
Attack (Opportunity Action):Melee 1 (triggering creature); +9 vs. AC
Hit:Target creature takes 1d6+2 damage and becomes immobilized (save ends).
Miss:Target creature becomes slowed (save ends).
Special:Any creature that starts its turn immobilized within 2 squares of the plant takes 2d8+6 physical damage.

Sonic Boom! (sonic) encounter
Trigger: Cactisaurus becomes bloodied.
Attack: Close burst 4; +7 vs. Fortitude
Hit:Target creatures become dazed (save ends).

Str 14 (+2) Dex 10 (+0) Wis 12 (+1)
Con 16 (+3) Int 2 (-4) Cha 10 (+0)

Squealer
Level 1 Skirmisher
Small animate plant 100 XP

HP 34; Bloodied 17 Initiative +2
AC 15 Fortitude 13 Reflex 13 Will 11 Perception +1
Speed 6 Tremor sense 5

Standard actions
Nom nom nom... (physical) at will
Attack:Melee 1; +5 vs. AC
Hit:Target creature takes 1d8+2 damage.

Triggered actions
Sonic Squeal! (sonic) encounter
Trigger: Squealer becomes bloodied.
Attack : Close burst 2; +4 vs. Fortitude
Hit:Target creatures become dazed (save ends).

Str 12 (+1) Dex 12 (+1) Wis 10 (+0)
Con 14 (+2) Int 2 (-4) Cha 10 (+0)

A quick side note... I must admit that the Cactisaurus (along with some of the other critters you'll be seeing in the future) is not an original creation from my diseased imagination. You can find the original creature at the Mutant Bastards New West page which I've mentioned before. New to you? Then go check it out! Lots of interesting ideas, some of which I'll be borrowing in the future, but more on that later...

Playing the Roles: More Radiated Seeds for the Garden

Hey everyone and welcome to a brain stormy installment of the Dispatch!

My grand plans of diving into the setting of Gamma World have been momentarily put on hold due to still more illness in Snowman's Land. Just gotta love it when the family just starts sharing the germs along with the love! Still, I've had a few other ideas pop into my melon and I figure I might as well throw them up here for your perusal.

Mutant Bastard Goodness

Years ago I first stumbled across the Mutant Bastards web page, a site dedicated to an old first edition Gamma World campaign. Really nice layout with beautiful illustrations, the site just rocked. Problem was 1) I didn't have my old copy of 1st. ed. Gamma World on me and 2) I didn't have a group to run a game for anyway. Still, it was pretty to look at and I really liked the more modern twist that they'd taken to describe the Big One. Instead of the rather dated "it was the big bad radiation" approach of 1st. ed., he modernized it into an engineered virus that went out of control.

Recently there was another post apocalyptic game released called (appropriately enough) Apocalypse World which has a much grittier and more realistic feel to it then Gamma World. Don't know if I'll ever play Apoc World but after listening to an actual play of it on The Walking Eye it got me thinking about the New West again and some of possibilities that are hidden away therein.

When I laid out my original campaign idea I had something of an overarching story in mind. I don't really like the idea of just having an endless campaign so I'm really trying to structure it with a definite beginning, middle, and end. That's not to say that we couldn't come back to it in the future and continue it with another "season" but I really like the idea of the having an ending to it.

In contrast I can see a campaign set in the New West being much more episodic. I can see it opening with the PCs riding into town, getting caught up in the local mess, sorting it all out, and closing with them riding off into the sunset. Sure, some of the scenarios might take more than one session to resolve but you get the basic idea.

Lost... In... Spaaaaaaaaace...

Another idea harkens back even further to the predecessor of Gamma World, Metamorphosis Alpha. Instead of being set on a futuristic Earth Metamorphosis is set on the long lost colony ship, the Warden.

One of the largest colony ships ever made, the Warden even carried massive ecologies within its hull. Unfortunately disaster struck the ship when it strayed too close to a radiation cloud. Large numbers of colonists were killed instantly while most of those who survived were changed by the radiation. Society collapsed within the ship and people gathered into small villages within the ecologies. Generations passed and gradually people forgot that they were traveling aboard a colony ship limping between the stars, trying to find them a new home.

At its heart this seems to be a typically campy early sci-fi concept but it on a positive note it is completely fictitious unlike the basic concept of Gamma World which has some ties to reality. There are definitely possibilities with this idea but its not one of my top choices. Still only seemed right to mention it though.

A Slight Case Of Mental Freezer Burn

The last idea borrows from the whole Warden concept but on a smaller scale. Instead of having the characters on a massive colony ship, I thinking just have them as the cryogenically frozen crew. The twist is that the overall setting is more of a space game (I'm thinking something like Firefly) but using the Gamma World mechanics. Probably no crazy physical mutations though those could be used as templates for various alien races. The skill system might be a little too stripped down to really carry off something like this but its still tempting to give it a try.

As for the mental freezer burn, I'm thinking have the whole crew suffering from some kind of cryo induced black out. This would really leave the whole thing wide open as you could introduce the players and the characters to the setting at the same time. Like I said, it seems like there are some possibilities with this but I'll have to see.

The Parting Shot...

And that does it for now. I'd love to hear what anyone else thinks of these ideas (good, bad, or indifferent) so feel free to leave comments here on the blog or you can shoot me an email at SinCitySnowman@gmail.com. Until next time...

Busting Out Of The Box: Taking A Look At Gamma World 4e

Hello everyone and welcome to an opening edition of the Dispatch!

For this one we are going in a totally new direction as we bust open the box on a recent purchase I made. Hang on tight because things are about to get a little random!

Mutant Bastards Galore!
Unboxing the Gamma World RPG

Long, long ago in a state about three thousand miles away, I borrowed an RPG rulebook from a friend of my brother. The whole thing was crazy and bizarre with radiation and mutations everywhere! What game was it? A first edition copy of Gamma World by TSR Hobbies. I never did run or play a game of it but it always struck me as kind of cool in a very Flash Gordon kind of way.

Flash forward to the present.

It's been years since I've done any role playing but its something that I really want to get back to and I've finally found some people to not only game with but also do some RP as well! The big difference is that this time I decided that I'm not just going to play but also try my hand at running some games as well. The real question is what would I run?

One of the great things about listening to a ton of actual play sessions like I do is its almost like have a demo of a game. You can really get a feel for how a game works mechanically very quickly. Does it bog down in combat or flow nicely? Are the challenges in the game smooth or cumbersome?

Originally I was looking at bringing 3:16 Carnage Amongst The Stars to the table just because of how smooth the system seems (very straight forward mechanics and nicely interactive RP elements) when I heard about Dungeons and Dragons Gamma World. I was really intrigued at this idea though when I heard about the collectible card aspect of the game I was pretty disappointed. I had planned to just completely pass on the game until I listened to some actual plays that made me change my mind.

Basically it seems like the new Gamma World is a streamlined version of the 4e ruleset. Reduce the total number of skills, speed up the combat, and the system really seems to run much more smoothly then Dungeons and Dragons 4e.

Don't get me wrong. I am not one of the myriad of 4e haters out there. Personally, I have heard enough good games of 4e to recognize the fact that it is not a bad system if it is run correctly. One of the main problems that I've noticed in listening to games is the fact that it can get overly crunchy and really bog down at higher levels as you have to break out the accounting paper to keep track of the hundreds of hit points that are being dealt with.

The new Gamma World avoids that problem by putting its lethal nature on the table right away. With virtually no healing available in this post apocalyptic setting, if you get shot with a gun a couple of times then you're going to wind up dead, no two ways about it.

Another common complaint is that it is not a role playing game but a roll playing game. While it's true that combat is where the 4e mechanics really excel, I still think that there are possibilities for role playing that you can explore if you look for them. Of course I might wind up eating crow soon as I plan on running this game later this month for my friends but only time will tell for sure. Until then, let's take a quick look at just what you get in the box.

Rulebook: One digest sized rulebook with full color throughout. Nice looking and the layout isn't bad either but it can be a little hard to find things sometimes. For example, some of the critters listed in the book have special movement rules but those are not described in the movement section. Instead, those are detailed at the beginning of the creature section.

Counters: 96 counters to represent the players and monsters plus another 12 oversized counters for large monsters. These are really well done and are comparable to the quality you'd find in most of the better boardgames out there.

Alpha mutation and Omega tech cards: 80 cards representing various random mutations and technology that you'll find as you explore Gamma Terra. In stark contrast to the counters these cards are what I'd expect to find in your run of the mill mass market boardgame. I would definitely recommend getting some card protectors these as you'll be shuffling them fairly regularly.

One booster pack of cards: One pack of eight new alpha and omega cards. Yeah, this is the collectible part. There are a total of 120 new cards in this set and while you don't need to collect them at all, they can add a little something to the game. Personally I'm not sure how I feel out these. Given the lack luster quality of the cards and the very steep price of the boosters, I think I might pass on these for now.

Poster maps: Two double sided maps of various locations from the beginning adventure. These are fairly typical poster maps but the artwork is pretty nice on them.

Eight character sheets: Four pages with a character sheet on each side. Now calling these "character sheets" is actually pretty generous. These basically summarize each step in character creation and give you a small space to put in the information from that step. There are much better sheets out there on the web but these are at least a starting point if you really have to get to the table without taking a few minutes to do a quick search on the net for something better.

And that's it! All and all, not too bad for the price though the vastly varying quality of some of the components is kind of odd. Full color glossy rulebook, very nicely finished counters, low quality cards, and bare minimum character sheets. Maybe they were trying a little too hard to capture the completely random nature of the game with this bit of game design. Note to Wizards; quality throughout is not a bad thing!

As I mentioned, I'm hoping to get this one to the table later this month so I'll be sure to do a follow up once we have actually gotten in some game time. The game does come with a full beginning adventure but its designed for five characters which is more than I'm looking at having right now so I've got some stuff I'm working on of my own creation. But more on that later...

The Parting Shot...

And that's the new Gamma World in a nutshell! It will definitely be interesting to not only get this game to the table but just get back into roleplaying at all. I can see fun and exciting things in the future... mwah ha ha ha ha!!! As always, if you have any comments, complaints, questions, you can either leave them right here on the blog or you can email me at SinCitySnowman@gmail.com. And I'm on Facebook as well (just like 90% of the population...) so click the link and like the Dispatch! Do it. Do it now!!! Until next time...