The new Gamma World

I am to young to be a granddad lol, and I started playing 2nd edition GW.

Seriously though, I knew they would need to upgrade the story somehow. I like how there was mention of space travel in the 2nd edition. I remember one module that started in Arizona at a space port, and ended on a space station with space zombies.

Fun times

I played for the 'game day'. I've played several different Gamma World editions, including the first, so I had to show up for the new one.

Races are random. You roll two origins and meld them together. If none of your origins suggest an animal, robot or plant background then you are assumed to be mutated human. If you roll an origin twice than you are an engineered human with certain advantages. There are no pure strain humans.

The initial gamebook gives 20 origins (which makes 400 combinations). An expansion is coming out soon with 20 more origins. I don't see why a GM couldn't take a monster type and make it into an origin also.

The mutations do not work the same way as previous editions. You get innate powers from both of your origins. You also get a deck of cards from which you draw random powers. You can customize your deck so that your powers fit the theme of your character. (I had a plant/electrokinetic, so I put together a quick deck of defensive, electrical, and tentacle-like powers.) The random powers change at the end of every encounter or if you roll a 1 on any 20-sided die roll. You find Omega technology in the same way, with a similar deck. It can get a little crazy, not knowing what your abilities are going to be from moment to moment.

The mutations and origins are fantastic. Radiation eyes and sonic blasts, actually, are two of the starter origin innate powers. Other mutations on cards or in origins include gravity control, fire wings, teleportation...you get the idea.

Note also that game balance is not a priority. Some origins are over- or under-powered. Some mutations are over- or under-powered. Balance doesn't matter that much; almost every character is a killing machine straight out of the box, and rolling up a character is fast enough that when one dies you can replace it quickly. This is a miniatures game, not a role-playing game where one gets attached to one's character sheet.

Nope. The only advantage humanoid characters have is in interacting with robots.

The new storyline might be the dumbest yet. The Large Hadron Collider was turned on and caused all parallel universes to merge together. The Gamma World is the apocalyptic landscape left over after thousands of bizarre universes were overlaid. The technology you find might be high tech, it might be alien, it might be extradimensional, it might be authentic magic.

I thought the game was a lot of fun. However, it is not a role-playing game. It is a stripped-down, streamlined variant of D&D 4th edition, and it plays like a miniature strategy game. I think I was the only player (out of 5) who even named their character. Role-playing and D&D no longer occur together at the same table. The concept of D&D role-playing is dead. Get used to miniatures.

But for what Gamma World is, it was a lot of fun and I wouldn't mind playing it again.

I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with you there. Maybe not in the games you've been playing but the games I run focus on role-playing, even in combat and whatnot.

If you want to play the newest versions of some of these games then yes, minis are becoming more important than they used to be. But the interesting fact about rulebooks for games is that they actually last for quite a few years if you treat them well. Nothing is forcing you to play the latest card/mini hybrid games if you don't want to.

If my friends and I want to roleplay we'll roleplay with a system that's geared for it. If one of us wants to play the latest "Magic the Gathering with minis" game WotC wants to foist upon us we'll first just laugh at that person, then play a real roleplaying game.

How do you handle skills that dissociate the players from the game world? That's the number one complaint about 4e D&D, and it's all over the new rules for Gamma World.

By 'dissociate', I mean an ability with a game effect that makes no realistic sense. At the beginning of each encounter, my plant-man has a 1/7th chance of drawing the Rubbery Skeleton mutation from his deck. Why doesn't have have a rubbery skeleton all the time? A fighter in 4e might have a parry ability that they can use once per day -- why can't he parry at will? It just makes no g-d sense, and things that make no sense break the immersion required for roleplaying.

You can fix these things with house rules, but then you're not playing 4e either, you're playing a system where you've edited out the bugs.

There are almost no immersive game mechanics in Gamma World. It's a terrific miniatures game. Not an RPG, IMHO.

Ironically, most of the people I know who hate D&D 4e for being too streamlined and tactically-focused love the new Gamma World. Which just reinforces my opinion that a lot of people who dislike 4e would have no problem with it if it just weren't called D&D. (Not that I'm particularly fond of 4e or D&D in general, but still.)

As for Gamma World, I'm strongly considering picking it up. My we-just-want-to-have-fun-and-kill-some-stuff group would probably love it, the rping-is-okay-but-we-just-want-to-fight group could play it from time to time between campaigns, and the all-rp-all-the-time group needs something to do one-shots of to unwind now and then.

Only at HasbroWoTCTSR. I can assure you that there are quire a few companies that still remember what RPGs were and are. Check out your FLGS.

Back to the OP: I've played since the first version. This new Gamma World is GW in name only. HasbroWoTCTSR, in their finite wisdom has pretty much turned it into a beer-n-pretzels game, with a 4th Ed Core and a random "not-collectible-but-really-is" card mechanic.

Oh.... And they forgot how to count as well... this would be Edition Number 8 (including Omega World). 8D

If you want to try it out, I'm sure you'll be able to find it on ebay in the next year fairly cheap. In the mean time... try Mutant Future, The free Hair-apparent to Gamma World (http://www.goblinoidgames.com/mutantfuture.html) or Atomic Highway (http://radioactiveapedesigns.com/games.php) for a little bit more Rules light Mad-Max-y kind of PA Fun.

No, and I assume you're referring to the Alpha Series modules from Gamma World 3rd ed. The humans weren't aliens... it was leading to the discovery of the Warden, the ship from Gamma World's Progenitor "Metamorphosis Alpha" what was intended to become a separate campaign setting for GW before the line got shut down the first time.

It's 106 miles to Grandville, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing faceless helmets

... Hit it ...

Yes, but in this thread we're discussing Gamma World and by extension 4e D&D. Even more to the point, I don't have any play groups, so I only play at these game events that WotC puts on.

I wish I could get a new job somewhere near civilization. Someday. Then maybe I'll find some gamers and I'll GM my old Gamma World setting, which focused on an E.L.F. (Extended Learning Facility). I think it will translate to the new rules with only some minor tweaks.

One deck has been good for my group of 7.