Was your Gamma World not gonzo?

[Wednesday Boy]

When I first heard about the upcoming release of Gamma World I wasn't interested. Unless it's a one-shot, I like my games to not have much of a comical or camp bend to them. Very recently I've been becoming more interested in purchasing it--most likely due to the gift certificate that's burning a hole in my pocket.

Based on what I've read about it and the previews they've shown, it seems too campy and gonzo for my tastes but I figured I'd check with the experts (you guys). It feels like it could have a Fallout 3 feel to it (which I loved) but the thought of a hawkoid rat swarm teaming up with an android plant to fight the porker monster makes me wary.

So who's run a serious-toned Gamma World campaign? And does it work well or is gonzo the way to go for Gamma World? Thanks for the insight!!

 

[Plane Sailing]

I ran a serious gamma world campaign back in the early 1980's, but I've got no idea whether or not that could be done with these new rules in the same way - so much derives from the crunch in the game.

 

[Korgoth]

Gamma World has always been of two minds. Even 1e. It was extremely deadly and desperate. With rifle-toting fluffy bunnies. It was a weird world of strange plagues and abandoned starports. And a giant chicken. Etc.

 

[Corathon]

I only ran Gammaworld when I sent 1E AD&D characters there. My Gammaworld was less gonzo - but was not a gritty post apocalyptic game, either.

 

[Bavix]

Not a Chance in Hell!!!

From what I've seen, and especially the comments I've heard from the designers, there's not a chance in hell that I'll touch the new Gamma World. Not only have they created a slapstick, zany, ridiculous RPG, they're trying to sell booster sets of cards to go with it—which makes me cringe.

For a dark, serious, post-apocalyptic game, I'd suggest Darwin's World. Check it out at:

Darwin's World: Post-Apocalyptic Adventures

I'm anxiously waiting for the Savage Worlds release of the setting right now.

 

[Twowolves]

I ran several GW games (2nd and 4th eds) and never were they "wahoo" or silly. The goofier mutants threats never made an appearance, but the nastier ones did. It was very much a "death lurks around every corner" type of game (especially when your treasure could kill you).

As for Savage Worlds, someone put for a very nice (nearly professional grade) Savage Gamma World version. That would be the closest "current" version I'd use.

 

[Festivus]

I would think it wouldn't be too difficult to adjust the game to be something more along the lines of Book of Eli or any other post apocalyptic event and go for gritty over comical, but without the rules being out we won't know.

Most likely, I will be using Gamma World for 1 shot short adventures at my monthly meetups. When I am ready for a gritty world but want to keep the 4e engine, I'll probably house rule before looking at any of the other products that deal with this genre of game (I have a campaign in mind, the Gamma World as presented doesn't look like something one could run an extended campaign with the same characters in it)

 

[Cerebral Paladin]

All of my limited Gamma World experience was with the totally gonzo style of play--humorous misunderstandings of old technology that all the players recognize but that the characters are baffled by, humanoid animals with weird outlooks on life, and crazy mutants. There clearly is the other style of play, but I've never experienced it.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Gamma World had a lot of gonzo, like D&D at the time. It was rather inappropriate for a post-apocalyptic game, particularly during the Cold War. Dark comedy, like Paranoia, is fine but that wasn't GW's style of funny, it was just wacky. It had six-foot killer bunnies and flying fish with feathers.

Actually GW has about half-a-dozen varieties of deadly fish. Don't go near the water after a nuclear holocaust, that's the main lesson the game teaches.

The main lesson of D&D, incidentally, is to fear beautiful women - succubus, medusa, nymph. One of Arneson's first sessions featured a beautiful woman who seduced a PC and then transformed into a snake, crushing him.

 

[pawsplay]

Gamma World was always pure insanity to me. It's more in the "zombie cheerleaders from Mars" artistic vein than anything serious. Which is not to say it wasn't dark and horrible in its depiction of savagery, environmental poison, and racism. The whole thing was always a sick joke, and I loved it.

The S&S Studios version never grabbed me. "Serious Gamma World" is like, I hope I am not touching a delicate subject here, "Serious The Last Airbender." It's the wrong approach, period. It's not that it can't have seriouness in it, just that it shouldn't strive to be serious, first. Gamma World to me is Thundarr the Barbarian meets A Clockwork Orange, plus Mad Max and Easter bunnies.