Aftermath!

Anybody ever play/GM the TTRPG Aftermath! from Fantasy Games Unlimited? If so did you like it and why?

It was very crunchy, we called it "After Math" though iirc, we played the one with the Presidents Limo scenario, and fought cannibals I think.

Played a one shot play back in 1986 or so. Morrow Project seemed easier, better, and had higher production values.

Played a short campaign of The Morrow Project.

I remember a small quadruped (like a dog) having 26 hit locations. I liked the ideas behind different kinds of post apocalyptic events, time span between time of destruction and the current aftermath. I had the yellow and black game book, but I don't think I ever actually played - I just owned...

I also have to admit that Aftermath was the only post apocalypse game I'd ever purchased (even though I never played). I never had Gamma World, nor any other game of that genre. That said, being a cartographer, I have created a number of post apocalypse encounter scale maps that I sell as products, because it is a genre that interests me, among many - game system agnostic, aside from using a square grid (or no grid for VTT). I recently made a 15 map set of street maps, though many interior buildings are shown the emphasis is on the street, and I'd say the current aftermath at the time of mapping is a little over a year post event. Weeds are growing in the cracks in the asphalt and the eroding sidewalks, but haven't completely taken over. A ghost town where wandering survivors might still find assets...

gamerprinter said:

I remember a small quadruped (like a dog) having 26 hit locations. I liked the ideas behind different kinds of post apocalyptic events, time span between time of destruction and the current aftermath. I had the yellow and black game book, but I don't think I ever actually played - I just owned...

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I liked the hit locations in Aftermath! since armor can be piecemeal and over lapping can stack. Example: Combat boots and shin guard could give a higher armor value for the shin.

I was never a hit location fan, myself, but that's just me, I suppose.

I ran not one, but two campaigns of it back in the day. It supplied an awful lot of tools for the job, especially if you were going for a more grounded setting with a lot of simulation elements. It never seemed excessively crunchy by my standards (though the hit location thing lacked commitment; it allowed you to do ad-hoc armor pieces and the like, but other than that there was no effect from one location over another in routine rolls, just criticals and special results if you rolled them). It also had the virtue is had a fair bit of guidance how to go with different kinds of apocalypses.

I ran one game of Afermath! and played in maybe a half-dozen campaigns throughout the 80s and early 90s. It is one of those 70-early 90s trad game that has a lot of complexity that at the time I really dug ('It's so realistic!' or 'It just makes sense that ____'), but now I take with a heaping pinch of 'does this really benefit the play experience?' salt. The level of detail varies from 'useful... if something is important to you,' to 'complexity that serves little to no purpose. Examples of the earlier include: each six-second combat round broken up into segments, so you know where everyone is when a given action occurs and the 'everyone moves and then freezes while someone else acts' effects are reduced to incredibly granular bits; reach and zone of control; rules for stopping a charge or other continuing-momentum issues, and the like. Examples of the later include things like: starting age (which influences how skilled your character is at the expense of attributes, not unlike Traveller) is determined by first determining a 0-5 age band, and then rolling <fixed # based on that band> + 2D5; guns do damage based on bullet used (honestly relatively realistic, the bullets have a listed Bullet Damage Group (BDG), and then the damage is Roundup(BDG/10)D10 + Round(BDG/10) -- so a BDG of 19 does 2d10+2, a BDG of 21 does 3d10+2, and 25 does 3d10+3 (any of this seeming better in any way than saying .44 ammo does 3d10+2 and leave it at that?).

Overall, I don't think Aftermath! is in any way a bad game (although I think an updated version ought definitely go through the rules and parse between complexity with a purpose and otherwise). It is, however, a game with a level of detail I don't see playing again (unless things radically change with my playstyle.

gamerprinter said:

I also have to admit that Aftermath was the only post apocalypse game I'd ever purchased (even though I never played). I never had Gamma World, nor any other game of that genre.

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I think Gamma World to Aftermath was definitely like Shadowrun to Cyberpunk -- a similar thing but also retaining some of the fantasy elements of the D&D with which most people started TTRPGs. Purists might scoff, but many gamers enjoyed the extra toggles that provides (different species to play as, magic as treasure or alternate build choice, etc.). Possibly a reason why Aftermath! wasn't more popular, but I'd say the complexity

Yardiff said:

I liked the hit locations in Aftermath! since armor can be piecemeal and over lapping can stack. Example: Combat boots and shin guard could give a higher armor value for the shin.

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That is a great example of complexity that serves a point (just not one I find important). This I can see keeping for a theoretical reboot/clone of the game, whereas other stuff I would clip immediately.

Aftermath! Magic was released in 1990(?) I think. Although my pdf only shows a copyright date of 2009.