After the Bomb (2001)

[Tetsubo]

Is anyone else a fan of the After the Bomb (2001) game from Palladium?

I'm rereading it for probably the twentieth time. It has the best mutant animal creation rules I've ever seen. Not terribly well balanced I admit. But just so darn cool. I can spend hours just playing with all of the possibilities. The game is hampered by the Palladium system but the rest is just pure gaming gold.

I used the original version, which grew out of TMNT, in an old 3rd Edition Gamma World campaign. I used the mutant animal creation rules to make up PCs and NPCs in the game. It took quite a bit of "spin" sometimes to make it all work. But it beat the rules for mutant animals that were in the 3rd Edition GW core rules. Though I did love the resolution chart.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

I ended up buying it at GenCon last year. I wanted to buy it in order have plenty of options for mutant animal games and to serve as inspiration to reinterpret the rules for Mutants & Masterminds.

I also knew from one of the TMNT sourcebooks that ATB had rules for mutant humans, something which I had wanted to take a gander at for a long time before urchasing it. I have to say that I do love the book a lot. I imagine the next time I experience DnD burnout, I'm gonna try to stat up some homebrew stuff for a Palladium game at some point.

 

[Michael Silverbane]

The game is hampered by the Palladium system but the rest is just pure gaming gold.

I find this to be the case with most of the Palladium games. Love the fluff, hate the crunch.

Later
silver

 

[Princesskeyblade]

Thank you for making me aware of this.... I think we will have to check it out!

 

[breschau]

I was a fan of the original but haven't seen the new one yet. I've been checking the local stores, but nothing. I'm not up for ordering it as it's just to read over, but still.

Mutant animals. You can't go wrong. M&M. You can't go wrong.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Check out the average Palladium book and you'll find fantastic fantasy or sci-fi fluff and horrible mechanics. While I have played some of their games, esp. RIFTS, I'm much more inclined to mine their books for stuff to use in other games. For instance, I'm using Palladium's Wolfen in my next D&D campaign, strongly influenced by this ( http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=138099&page=1&pp=30 ) thread.

FWIW, GURPS is similar (IMHO): a series of truly great sourcebooks- especially the well-researched RW stuff- hampered by mechanics loved by but a few. Check out the Non-D20 threads here, and you'll probably find a lot more love for their sourcebooks than for the system itself. Even GURPS haters like myself will buy the occasional sourcebook or two...or five.

 

[Tetsubo]

I was a fan of the original but haven't seen the new one yet. I've been checking the local stores, but nothing. I'm not up for ordering it as it's just to read over, but still.

Mutant animals. You can't go wrong. M&M. You can't go wrong.

The second edition released in 2001 is a much better product. It is a single volume that covers all you need to really run a North American campaign. The system also introduces Purebred mutant animals. Animals that have a stable genetic structure and breed true from one generation to the next. The book is worth the cost for the Spider-Goats alone.

 

[Evilhalfling]

I have the orginal TMNT versions - rulebook, ATB, Road Hogs, and Transdimensional (which does have rules for devolved humans, basically you sell off your hands, speech, normal apperance and ability to walk for bio-e.) Transdimensional also has timetravel, featuring ATB time period events.

I was unaware of the 2001 version, ill have to look into it.
every once and a while I try and break it out to develop a one-shot, but the awful character generation usually sytmies me.

My wife did request a small telepathic turtle character if I get it rolling.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Transdimensional also has timetravel, featuring ATB time period events.

Sweet, thats shot up my radar to #1!

 

[Brutorz Bill]

If you like Mutant Animals in your games at all, then I highly recommend Palladium's After the Bomb second edition. It's jam packed with mutant animal goodness!
The Spider-Goats are especially cool! I'm such a fan-boy I toted my copy all the way to Gen Con a couple of years ago and got Erick Wujcik to autograph mine. It's a great book!!