Starfinder Starfinder Gamma World

[Knightfall]

Okay, I'm heavy into my DSF/AotS thread and I'm thinking of other ways to use Starfinder. Of course, Gamma World came to mind almost right away. Of course, when the new Alternity game comes out, I might use that for Gamma World instead.

Regardless, this thread will be where I post ideas about using Starfinder to create a Gamma World game.

Classes and races will be easier to figure out. Humans are pure-strain humans. The Pathfinder Legacy races could be used as mutated humans with some flavor/mechanical changes. (Half-elves and half-orcs would be the easiest to use, I think.) Androids wouldn't need any change. Lashuntas, Shirrens, Vesk, and Ysoki would be mutated animals. And the Pathfinder SRD web site has other races that could be mutated animals. I don't think there is a plant race on that site, but I might have missed it.

Classes wouldn't need much work other than to limit the amount of tech that is available to each class. The Mystic with Phrenic Adept archetype would be the ESPer. I'll likely use the info in this old thread to help me. The Soldier would replace the Enforcer. The Mechanic would replace the Examiner. The Operative would replace the Scout. Envoy would be added in but I would exclude both the Solarian and the Technomancer. (I could maybe see using the Technomancer in a high-level GW game, but with so little advanced tech, the class would be snake bit.)

For Equipment, I would say nothing above Level 10 exists. Anything above Level 5 is considered an artifact of the ancients unless the item is Analog. Cold iron and silver weapons are possible but not adamantine alloy. No weapon fusions unless the effect could be technological in nature. Armor with upgrade slots are considered artifacts. Powered Armor doesn't exist. Cybernetic Augmentations are allowed only up to Level 5. Biotech Augmentations are treated as mutations. All computers are treated as artifacts, but Tier 1 and 2 computers often exist as doorstops and flowerpots. No magic items above level 5 and such items are treated as being psionic. Hybrid items are always artifacts. Tier 1 and 2 Medicinals only but all drugs and poisons (even those above 10th Level).

Vehicles could be an issue all on its own. Anything that hovers or flies should be an artifact. Submersible vehicles as well. No starships. This is Gamma World after all.

Magic spells for the Mystic are treated as psionics. In a lower powered game, the max spell level is 3rd. In a standard game, use up to 6th-level.

Thoughts?

 

[Shayuri]

Hnngh...Gamma World...I loved that old game so much back in the day.

I do think the economy of Starfinder is kind of borked, but limiting equipment level should make it manageable. I'm a little curious about how the system would handle mutant characters at generation. Treating augmentations as mutations is fine in terms of mechanics, but how does one balance that at game start?

 

[Thomas Bowman]

Okay, I'm heavy into my DSF/AotS thread and I'm thinking of other ways to use Starfinder. Of course, Gamma World came to mind almost right away. Of course, when the new Alternity game comes out, I might use that for Gamma World instead.

Regardless, this thread will be where I post ideas about using Starfinder to create a Gamma World game.

Classes and races will be easier to figure out. Humans are pure-strain humans. The Pathfinder Legacy races could be used as mutated humans with some flavor/mechanical changes. (Half-elves and half-orcs would be the easiest to use, I think.) Androids wouldn't need any change. Lashuntas, Shirrens, Vesk, and Ysoki would be mutated animals. And the Pathfinder SRD web site has other races that could be mutated animals. I don't think there is a plant race on that site, but I might have missed it.

Classes wouldn't need much work other than to limit the amount of tech that is available to each class. The Mystic with Phrenic Adept archetype would be the ESPer. I'll likely use the info in this old thread to help me. The Soldier would replace the Enforcer. The Mechanic would replace the Examiner. The Operative would replace the Scout. Envoy would be added in but I would exclude both the Solarian and the Technomancer. (I could maybe see using the Technomancer in a high-level GW game, but with so little advanced tech, the class would be snake bit.)

For Equipment, I would say nothing above Level 10 exists. Anything above Level 5 is considered an artifact of the ancients unless the item is Analog. Cold iron and silver weapons are possible but not adamantine alloy. No weapon fusions unless the effect could be technological in nature. Armor with upgrade slots are considered artifacts. Powered Armor doesn't exist. Cybernetic Augmentations are allowed only up to Level 5. Biotech Augmentations are treated as mutations. All computers are treated as artifacts, but Tier 1 and 2 computers often exist as doorstops and flowerpots. No magic items above level 5 and such items are treated as being psionic. Hybrid items are always artifacts. Tier 1 and 2 Medicinals only but all drugs and poisons (even those above 10th Level).

Vehicles could be an issue all on its own. Anything that hovers or flies should be an artifact. Submersible vehicles as well. No starships. This is Gamma World after all.

Magic spells for the Mystic are treated as psionics. In a lower powered game, the max spell level is 3rd. In a standard game, use up to 6th-level.

Thoughts?

All that RPG "Geek Speak" that Starfinder creates gets rather confusing. A Weapon Fusion is just a fancy way of saying the weapon has a magical bonus and giving it a sci fi lable and calling it a "fusion". I know what the term "fusion" brings to mind in my case.

Now that's a fusion!

 

[Knightfall]

Hnngh...Gamma World...I loved that old game so much back in the day.

I do think the economy of Starfinder is kind of borked, but limiting equipment level should make it manageable. I'm a little curious about how the system would handle mutant characters at generation. Treating augmentations as mutations is fine in terms of mechanics, but how does one balance that at game start?

Perhaps biotech augmentations are high-end mutations taken later. Low-level spells could be used as mutations. Each mutant character gets two 0-level spells and one 1st-level spell while pure-strain humans would gain something else (more skill points or a bump in hp/sp or a feat).

And you do this for any aliens from the Alien Archive (or any creatures from the PF Bestiaries) that are appropriate for inclusion in Gamma World. Perhaps normal animals and vermin get one or two spells as mutations while other creatures without any SLAs get two or three. The more powerful monsters wouldn't need to be bumped up too much.

 

[Knightfall]

Hmm, I just noticed these rules on the SF 3PP Wikidot: Mutants.

 

[Shayuri]

Hm, that looks pretty neat actually. Could probably use some review and tightening up...but could be workable!

 

[Eltab]

One of the old Gamma World modules lets you ride along on a "space shuttle" -like starship. The PCs can't do anything with the controls - except maybe cause a crash if you have an evil DM - because the real adventure is placed aboard a space station. (Heck of a place to put a 'dungeon' that has no interaction with the rest of the world.)

Way back when, I created a table with "mutation chains", an effort to compare power levels. Alas that I no longer possess those notes (30+ years old). Some of the classic mutations sound like an evolved / grown-up /trained use of an earlier mutation that had lesser effect.

Also keep an eye out for NPC-only mutations (Control Weather), the kind of thing that is a BEAST to write rules for or employ to any noticeable non-narrative effect. (You: "I call up a tornado." DM: "Ok, everybody on both sides takes shelter until it moves away. About 10 minutes later it's safe to be outside again, and you can all come back out to resume the fight."

Look for synergy between mutations, and possible "I win" combinations: Death Field Generation + Life Leech. In my campaign, I adapted DFG so the user fell unconscious for a few minutes when used. The sole exception was the Serf race, and to demonstrate its power I added in-game lore: a Serf assassinated the Emperor Bonaparte and his retinue, to avenge a Ranks of the Fit raid on his home village.