As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/
Gamma World Discussion.
azith28
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Gamma World.
This is a spinoff of sorts from 4th edition D&D. The basic premise of Gammaworld is summed up as "Every parallel universes kitchen sink filled with every other universes stuff".
Imagine that the Large Haldron Collider was activated and instead of forming a black hole, the earth was suddenly merged with an infinite number of other earths. each of these earths are parallel universe versions of your own, so basically anything that you can imagine is possible, because in an infinite universe, all things are possible.
The physical world has been damaged by this. The landscape is a mixture of futureistic cities and primitive establishments. Have a drink with an elf at the local ale house, then go next door to the empire state building, climb to the top and view mount doom from a set of binoculars made for beings with 8 eyes.
The peoples of this world are also affected...mutants, fantasy based creatures, monsters. little of this has full consistancy of any one world or peoples.
Character creation is Gammaworlds most obvious variation of dungeons and dragons. Its almost completely random.
Your first decision when playing gamma world is based on 2d20 die rolls.
Die rolls on the core rules of 6 and 16 (see below) would yield Felanoid (Cat person) and rat swarm. However very few things are taken literally in Gammaworld. The fun and humor comes from your imagination of how this is presented.
Lets say for instance that I've chosen to be a swarm of sentient cats based on these two rolls.
I could also be a pride of lions, or a Cat person that has tamed a swarm of rats that constantly crawl over its body to form a shield.
Core set :
1. Android
2. Cockroach
3. Doppelganger
4. Electrokinetic
5. Empath
6. Felinoid
7. Giant
8. Gravity Controller
9. Hawkoid
10. Hypercognitive
11. Mind Breaker
12. Mind Coercer
13. Plant
14. Pyrokinetic
15. Radioactive
16. Rat Swarm
17. Seismic
18. Speedster
19. Telekinetic
20. Yeti
And from the upcoming boxset.
1. AI
2. Alien
3. Arachnoid
4. Cryokinetic
5. Ectoplasmic
6. Entropic
7. Exploding
8. Fungoid
9. Gelatinous
10. Magnetic
11. Mythic
12. Nightmare
13. Plaguebearer
14. Plastic
15. Prescient
16. Reanimated
17. Shapeshifter
18. Simian
19. Temporal
20. Wheeled
(taken from Mostlyjoes post).
Weapons and armor are simplified. you basically have your choice of light weapon or heavy weapon, light armor and heavy armor. What form these weapons and armor take is up to you. The damage is the same for each type and the armor bonuses you gain are the same for each type. You want your armor to be boba fetts armor? go ahead. You want to wield as your weapon a giant shark? go ahead. One of our test group decided to wield han solo in carbonite as his weapon. (I didnt have the heart to tell him it really was just part of that coffee table replica and not the real thing).
Healing is much rarer. While you have the equivilent of some consistant 'at wills' and 'encounter powers' based on your roll choices you also get passive or dynamic abilites based on cards you draw at random. these decks can be customized for your character based on there various base type. (For instance the rat or the yeti is a biological, but there are other types as well).
Just remember, if you just play this straight then your probably going to be bored. You and the group you play with need to contribute imagination and roleplaying to really bring your strange characters to life.
Example of my first game:
Hiya,
A friend of mine is an official DM and gets alot of preview copies of rulebooks and games, and last night he brought over the gammaworld starter set. We played a game with some friends and i just wanted to share some impressions to anyone looking forward to this.
First and foremost, this game has one massive difference from D&D...the character creation. We all had alot of fun making our characters and giving ourselves backstories, picking out weapons and armor that suited our imaginations, but honestly once the game actually started theres not a ton of things that differentiate it from standard D&D except the theme and the cards.
I randomly rolled my character...my primary class was a yeti. My secondary was giant. So i was a giant yeti. My random bonus skill...oddly...was science. I was rocking a 5 int, so I decided my giant yeti was going to tool around in a multi-pocketed labcoat stuffed with copies of national geographics and encylopedias as his heavy armor. He also wore a monicle. My character (Naturally) as a young giant yeti discovered a book "By a 'Charles Darwin' that suggested the existance of a creature that was inbetween apes and humans. I vowed to one day to use my science skill to disprove this theory. My name is Link. Oh, and my gear was pretty awesome. I had a canoe, diving goggles, a laptop, a radio celphone, and a butane lighter. I also was wielding a lawnmower. (two handed)
My fellow players were 1) A giant rat swarm 2) a TK mentalist 3) A radioactive speedster 4) uhm...Some kind of golem robot i think.
Me and the rat swam had some issues. For some reason he didnt like it when i picked up one and ate it, but we persisted.
We played through a sample game and had a fight encounter. This was pretty standard D&D rules, the cards we had drawn were essentially encounter powers, some were usable once, like a burst effect that keeps people from attacking you, others were persistant effects like a resistance to physical damage (10) or so. Each of the cards gives you the option to overpower it so to speak...you make a saving throw, under 10 and the overpower fails, which is usually a negative effect, over 10 and its super effective. For instance, I had a card that let me grow wings and fly x spaces for one turn...if i overpowered it successfully, I got to keep the wings for another turn after use, if i failed then i would fly in a random direction and crash taking a good bit of damage in the process. We werent hesitant to use the alpha encounter cards because they would have been replaced at the end of the encounter anyway.
Each of your primary and secondary class traits has an at-will or encounter power that is permanent to your character.
I think this game is going to appeal most to a group of people that work to make the game funny and interesting through imaginative play. a few members of our group fall into the category of 'near-gamers' where they play and enjoy it as a gaming experience but the really dont get into the roleplay at all and those people didnt seem to enjoy it as much. My scientist yeti was constantly making very uneducated comments at every turn, and whenever he would attack he would attack FOR SCIENCE.
The card mechanism is interesting in that it gives you the option to use a different encounter power then one you would be locked into such as a D&D class would. I think it could be easily adapted for D&D to have a random set of encounter powers like this however I dont think gammaworld in this area is so worried about balancing the powers as much as they are making them fun and interesting so it may not fully work in a strict rule system like D&D.
I think if I were to find fault with gammaworld is that even with the cards making things a bit more interesting the gameplay just has not really been changed enough when it comes to combat. This might not be a problem for most D&D players, but I do admit that i expected more differences then i experienced.
Stercus, Stercus, Stercus, Morituri Sum
azith28 on
0
Posts
i wants to play it so bad
i hope the closest game store to me is having a gamma world gameday this month
it'd be worth the hour's drive
I don't even know why. I must have been in a bad mood. I think I misunderstood the card part to mean it was going to be like Magic or similar TCGs, which I don't understand the appeal of at all.
But now I'm tempted to go see if I can pick it up on my way home as it sounds awesome.
Like, the full deal? Or just an intro box?
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
basically: ...ppfft
It's amusing to see how quickly Gabe slid into full-on role-playing geekery once he got started. The man was a born junkie just waiting for his first hit of the sweet stuff.
Been out at game stores for a week. It hits the rest of the market next week. Gameday is on the 23rd.
This is brilliant.
You are brilliant.
Keep in mind this was from an earlier edition game of Gamma World. This time around I think he'll be Plant/Mind Coercer.
Did you all see the origin options from the core box?
- Android
- Cockroach
- Doppelganger
- Electrokinetic
- Empath
- Felinoid
- Giant
- Gravity Controller
- Hawkoid
- Hypercognitive
- Mind Breaker
- Mind Coercer
- Plant
- Pyrokinetic
- Radioactive
- Rat Swarm
- Seismic
- Speedster
- Telekinetic
- Yeti
And from the upcoming boxset.Thanks. I was afraid that was going to go over peoples heads...and while my group got the joke it was more of a *rolls eyes* kinda humor.
I'm hoping to get my first game in next weekend.
Character creation looks fun.
There isn't very much info out there, clarification would be nice!
It's 4e rules, the cards are like a bonus set of powers you get each encounter (and you draw new every encounter, I think), but are really a secondary part of the game.
Some elements from the game like items and powers ARE portable over into 4E and pretty much everything in 4E will port into Gamma World w/out breaking.
Azith, can you change the title of this thread to Gamma World Discussion? Since that's what this has become.
Just remember, you dont have to be a 'rat' swarm, even if thats your choice.
An electric / rat swarm for example could be a swarm of peakachus
A Gelatinous rat swarm could be a floating swarm of sentient pudding pops...fear the Cosby.
By the way, one thing i forgot to mention about the gameplay. There is very little healing in gammaworld compared to D&D.
There are abilites that will return hp (usually alot of it but they are one use per encounter things), but they are rare also no actionpoints.
I like the presentation of the rules, Its a nice errata'd version of 4e. The only differences come from the character sheet. No action points, every power is an at-will or an encounter power, no ammo counting, and your powers and powerful items come from your cards.
I am iffy on the card angle, we will either house-rule it away, make up our own, or all pitch in for a display box and be done.
Looking forward to trying it out, I'm sure we will be playing it soon.
Had an absolute blast.
Character creation was fun and quick, and for a party with some imagination the roleplaying itself is incredible. The powers are all wacky and different enough that even when you botch something you're still laughing about what just happened.
I look forward to picking this up myself when It hits this week.
As a GM, you will have to do some hefty legwork to make an entertaining setting. Thankfully, it's on earth so you can score some satellite maps to help scout locations for your mutants to play through. If playing a game in person, the obvious choice is to use geographical area directly around you. If you've played any Fallout game, you have a decent handle on what the world could look like. I'd play up vegetation a fair amount more though.
Another smart thing to do is to scan the 4E monster manuals, find creatures that fulfill the combat functions that you're looking for, copy the stat block and give the Kobold Skirmish or what-have-you a Gamma World coat of paint. It's a Platypus Spearwoman armed with a spear made of an ice skate attached to an oar now.
As for the card tie-in, I feel much like Gabe does, the price is ridiculous. Until I find cards at bargin prices, I'm using the Gamma World forums list of all the cards and their effects to get ideas for making my own mutations and techs.
I think that's what we were playing the other day. It seemed to go pretty well and the tokens and maps worked out pretty well. It was a fun adventure.
Reaper's got some cool stuff that would fit just fine into Gamma World in their Chronoscope line. You can adapt their fantasy stuff without too much work if you're comfortable with conversions, too.
Personally, I think that Massive Dynamic caused the Big Mistake, and as such I think things like bacon-flavored pudding and other Walter-isms will play a huge part in the cards for any game I run. I mean, he even says "We're all mutants. What's more remarkable is how many of us appear to be normal." It's fantastic.
Your overthinking this way too much.
This is gammaworld. Walk into your child/little brothers/sisters room or your attic.
Your gaming group tonight is fighting:
1d4 My little ponies
Zartan from G I Joe
Boba Fett
and 2d4 lego men.
They are lead by a giant cabbage patch kid.
*Bows*
Anyways. The basic quest is this: Your home village is getting attacked daily by single robots, who roll down the hill and shoot a single rocket at your village wall, then explode. After a YEAR of this happening your village elders decide to send a group of its most fit adventurer types to go investigate and STOP this... menace? You set off with one piece of "Omega Tech" and go find what to do.
The setting doesn't have any formal skill challenges, so the only way the book describes to gain XP is to kill monsters. There are only 10 levels to the game, and your life expectancy is very low. Expect to make new characters from stupid moves/leaping before you look. But, when you do so, you get to roll on the random item table.
Our party started with a Keelboat, a Wagon, 2 draft horses, a generator, and a few other random things (We would have had 3 boats, but we decided that was retarded), Through the encounters, while scavenging, you end up finding "useless" ancient items. Through our rolls, we've found : a sub woofer, 2 child safety seats, an 8gig flash drive, a working car radio, and a crap ton of other things, slightly car related. We're trying to find a laptop so when we're done with this adventure, we're going to travel from ruined city scape to crappy village, trading future tech with dubstep blaring.
Initial idea of the setting. EPIC.
After all, when the expansion comes, you'll probably get 80 more cards. And there's a third one coming in February. SO, buying cards is for those who CRAVE more variety. If players buy like... 3 packs each, with 5 players, that's what... 120 more cards? If they trade for ones they want with each other, then you're each out a total of what? 12 bucks? Less if they buy online/have a discount.
You get a free pack with the box set, so from what I saw from the cards, they're pretty much more of the same. Cool cards, but since the mutations are discarded after each encounter, and the Omega tech sometimes break, they can't really change the game much at all.
Has issues with IE, but Chrome and Firefox are fine.
Tried this out:
STR: 16
CON: 15
INT: 13
DEX: 9
WIS: 10
CHA: 18
Hit Points: 27
+2 to Psi overcharge.
Note: Engineered Humans get +2 to all overcharge but they are Secondary origins while the rules say only your Primary affects your overcharge bonus. Checking out what to do so for now I've left it off.
Fortitude: 16 Reflex: 12 Will:11
Skills
Acrobatics: 1
Athletics: 12
Conspiracy: 2
Insight: 5
Interaction: 5
Mechanics: 2
Nature: 1
Perception: 1
Science: 2
Stealth: 1
Gear
One armor (your choice)
One melee weapon (your choice)
One ranged weapon (your choice)
Explorer's Kit (Backpack, Bedroll, Canteen, Flint and steel, 10 days Rations (trail), 100 ft Rope.)
You received 5 starting gear rolls:
Gear #1: Rolled a 15: Generator (8 hours of fuel)
Gear #2: Rolled a 8: Tent
Gear #3: Rolled a 18: Pickup truck
Gear #4: Rolled a 2: Climber's Kit
Gear #5: Rolled a 5: Lantern (8 hours of lamp oil)
That's handy!
STR: 9
CON: 16
INT: 16
DEX: 10
WIS: 18
CHA: 14
Hit Points: 28
+2 to Psi overcharge.
Note: Engineered Humans get +2 to all overcharge but they are Secondary origins while the rules say only your Primary affects your overcharge bonus. Checking out what to do so for now I've left it off.
Fortitude: 14 Reflex: 16 Will:15
Skills
Acrobatics: 1
Athletics: 1
Conspiracy: 4
Insight: 5
Interaction: 7
Mechanics: 8
Nature: 9
Perception: 5
Science: 4
Stealth: 1
Gear
One armor (your choice)
One melee weapon (your choice)
One ranged weapon (your choice)
Explorer's Kit (Backpack, Bedroll, Canteen, Flint and steel, 10 days Rations (trail), 100 ft Rope.)
You received 5 starting gear rolls:
Gear #1: Rolled a 7: Riding horse
Gear #2: Rolled a 10: Binoculars
Gear #3: Rolled a 2: Climber's Kit
Gear #4: Rolled a 18: Pickup truck
Gear #5: Rolled a 14: Fuel, 5 gallons
Dresden Files RPG- Dumb Luck
Playing Phillip Hess in Motor City Blues
GM of Dresden Files Low Life
GM of Star Wars Sagas Into the Unknown
GM of Star Wars Sagas Lost Hope- Concluded
GM of Star Wars Sagas the Dark Times- Concluded.
GM of Star Wars Sagas Jabba's Palace- Concluded due to injury.
Bart Allen/ The Flash in M&M Metropolis- Concluded.
Koyi Disturbances in the Force- Concluded.
Jessup Owlbeard Forge of the Dawn Titan- Withdrawn due to injury.
Sal Mander In the Shadow of Zeus- Concluded.
Zevoto in Out in the Black- Withdrawn due to injury.
GM of Wyvern Watch
Berru Secune in Rise of the Jedi
Ancient junk rolls twice, should only be a single 2d10 roll, IIRC.
I don't think you have to buy them, from what I read they're giving them away to everyone that plays for free.
Doesn't look like the expansions will come with cards. I'll probably end up just printing them off from here.
I got this
STR: 15
CON: 9
INT: 18
DEX: 8
WIS: 7
CHA: 16
Hit Points: 21
+2 to Dark overcharge.
Note: Engineered Humans get +2 to all overcharge but they are Secondary origins while the rules say only your Primary affects your overcharge bonus. Checking out what to do so for now I've left it off.
Fortitude: 15 Reflex: 15 Will:13
Skills
Acrobatics: 0
Athletics: 3
Conspiracy: 5
Insight: 0
Interaction: 8
Mechanics: 9
Nature: 0
Perception: 0
Science: 9
Stealth: 0
Gear
One armor (your choice)
One melee weapon (your choice)
One ranged weapon (your choice)
Explorer's Kit (Backpack, Bedroll, Canteen, Flint and steel, 10 days Rations (trail), 100 ft Rope.)
You received 5 starting gear rolls:
Gear #1: Rolled a 20: +2 Rolled Items
Gear #2: Rolled a 6: Draft horse (no wagon)
Gear #3: Rolled a 3: Canoe
Gear #4: Rolled a 13: Heavy flashlight
Gear #5: Rolled a 9: Wagon
Gear #6: Rolled a 7: Riding horse
Gear #7: Rolled a 20: +2 Rolled Items
Gear #8: Rolled a 9: Wagon
Gear #9: Rolled a 11: Laptop computer
No idea if that's any good, but he's got 2 wagons, a canoe, a horse and a flashlight. That motherfucker's AI was probably based off of an old Oregon Trail game.
In fact...