N.E.W. I took the plunge. Now What?

Partially as a simple "Thank you" to Morrus for running En World for so long, and partially as the desire to own a new thing, I bought N.E.W. last night. After flipping through the PDF I like what I see, sort of a marriage between the old WEG d6 system and d20 from a system perspective and serious Alternity/Star*Drive vibes otherwise. (In fact, I think Star*Drive would be a perfect fit for the game, now that I think about it.)

But, as always, the thing I primarily want to do with N.E.W. is run a post apocalyptic game -- and probably publish some too. I worked on Gamma World d20 ages ago and love the genre and think it is a perfect fit for the WOIN open model. So, that said, what sources outside of the NEW hardcover would be good for that?

Also, is there a projected date for the OLD hardcover?

I'm glad you like it!

There's no post-apocalytpic stuff *yet*. I do have plans for it, but we're looking at late next year (so much to do!) That said, if somebody beat me to the punch using the OGL, I would not be upset!

As for OLD - I get asked that roughly every 0.62 seconds.

I don't give release dates (due to layout and printing being beyond my power to control, but me being the one who gets yelled at!) but we're currently doing an errata pass on the existing PDFs before compiling them into the hardcover. Technically, we could compile and release it, like, right now, but I want to do that errata pass first so the hardcover is the best version of itself it can possibly be.

Morrus said:

I'm glad you like it!

There's no post-apocalytpic stuff *yet*. I do have plans for it, but we're looking at late next year (so much to do!) That said, if somebody beat me to the punch using the OGL, I would not be upset!

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One wonders whether EONS would make a good place to begin the process...

As for OLD - I get asked that roughly every 0.62 seconds.

I don't give release dates (due to layout and printing being beyond my power to control, but me being the one who gets yelled at!) but we're currently doing an errata pass on the existing PDFs before compiling them into the hardcover. Technically, we could compile and release it, like, right now, but I want to do that errata pass first so the hardcover is the best version of itself it can possibly be.

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I figured it was something like that. Mostly I am trying to decide whether it is a long enough stretch to purchase the PDFs or just wait for the HC/PDF combo as with NEW.

Reynard said:

One wonders whether EONS would make a good place to begin the process...

I figured it was something like that. Mostly I am trying to decide whether it is a long enough stretch to purchase the PDFs or just wait for the HC/PDF combo as with NEW.

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If you have NEW to be going along with, I'd hang on, personally. Play around with NEW a bit and grab OLD when it comes out. Unless you urgently need some medieval fantasy stuff or magic in your game right now.

Morrus said:

Technically, we could compile and release it, like, right now, but I want to do that errata pass first so the hardcover is the best version of itself it can possibly be.

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You should have added #notWOTCstaff to this.

I don't see why N.E.W. can't run a post-apocalypse game. Just subtract the starships and electricity. The psionics and cybernetics seem to fit right in. And the skills are left open for you to add your own. For source material, try grabbing a game guide for any of the Fallout computer games.

I think the big thing for post-apoc would be vehicles. There's a draft vehicle rules system on the website, but it's unplaytested. It'll be in NOW, eventually.

Morrus said:

I think the big thing for post-apoc would be vehicles. There's a draft vehicle rules system on the website, but it's unplaytested. It'll be in NOW, eventually.

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Depends on the subgenre. Certainly Mad Max and Damnation Alley style games would need it, but neither Fallout nor GW rely too heavily on vehicles. Post Apocalyptic is often a veneer painted on top of a different genre -- it is trappings and costumes as much as genre.

Reynard said:

Depends on the subgenre. Certainly Mad Max and Damnation Alley style games would need it, but neither Fallout nor GW rely too heavily on vehicles. Post Apocalyptic is often a veneer painted on top of a different genre -- it is trappings and costumes as much as genre.

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That's my point. The only added rules support would be vehicles (if needed). NEW handles everything else just fine. There are plenty of 20th Century weapons already on the WRRD as well as futuristic weapons. There's not much else you'd need, other than fluff text.

Morrus said:

That's my point. The only added rules support would be vehicles (if needed). NEW handles everything else just fine. There are plenty of 20th Century weapons already on the WRRD as well as futuristic weapons. There's not much else you'd need, other than fluff text.

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Oh, I think it is perfectly doable at the table (and I plan on doing so soon, once I get my physical book) but I still think there is room for a PA specific sourcebook or article series. Both d20 Apocalypse and PA Hero do a really good job of presenting just how broad the genre is -- it includes everything from The Day After to Thundarr, after all.

I decided to create a character just to see how the process goes. WOIN has a fairly involved character generation system with a strong lifepath element (though without the randomness of, say, Cyberpunk 2020). Because it is a fairly crunchy system with lots of interacting elements, I feel like there is lots of potential for min-maxing and some potential for traps. That said, it is a fun process that also requires you think about your character as a person, a protagonist and an aspect of the setting (all good things, IMO).

I decided to create a treasure hunter in the vein of Nathan Drake or Indiana Jones. I started with a human from a city world and took the "Everyman" origin career. With this base, I chose college as the next career, then time as a scientist. This combination of careers game me a talented archaeologist, but something of a boring one. I knew I wanted to give him some less savory skills, so I decided to send him to prison -- maybe he was wrongfully accused, maybe not, but he isn't saying -- and chose "burglar" for his last career. that time in prison taught him how to survive in the worst way and sure did not do anything good for his moral compass. By the end of it all, I had a character with exception Intuition, Logic and Luck, a pretty wide variety of skills with a focus on archaeology and survival, and precisely no combat abilities. Rather than go back and change things up to let him be a badass, I decided to embrace it and chose Dodge as his free exploit. Our hero is better at running or sneaking his way out of trouble rather than fighting his way out.

One thing I will note: the list of careers in the N.E.W. core book definitely focus on the military side -- not surprising given Star Trek, Star Wars and BSG are all listed as primary inspirations for the game. I might try and recreate the character as a washed out or disgraced naval officer and se if anything interesting happens. Otherwise, I think I have some work ahead when I adapt this to a post apocalyptic campaign.