5E Powered Gamma World: What Should It Look Like

Reynard said:

[DISCLAIMER: Way back in the day I worked on Gamma World d20. Despite lots of people hating on that version, I am proud of that work and think it was a good iteration of GW -- better than the Alternity version, worse than 1995 4E.)

If WotC decided to put out a new version of gamma world based on the 5E rules, what should it look like? Should it be a setting/genre book for 5E? A standalone game? How should mutations be implemented? Should it have a plant species? What about game balance and gonzo?

Click to expand...

THEMNGMNT said:

I have thought about this more than is healthy for a middle aged adult male.

The flavor should be similar to the third edition of the game, which I have fond memories of (despite being somewhat unplayable). A weird, unrealistic post-apocalyptic mashup...but not silly. Basically, if you can imagine it in a post-apocalyptic sci-fi story, it has a place in Gamma World.

The mechanics should be very similar to Rob Schwalb's Punkapocalyptic, if it used 5E as the base. Ten levels. Race should carry more mechanical weight than core 5E. Humans, mutants, mutant animals, mutant plants, robots, and extraterrestrials/extradimensionals. Three to five classes. Then gobs of subclasses that can be taken by any class, which is how you get lots of customization relative to page count. Again, Punkapocalyptic has a great take on this.

Feats which are basically dips into class/subclass features. They can have level requirements but no other prerequisites.

Obviously gear should be important, so a long list of gear ranging from stone age to medieval to modern day to futuristic. Some of which you can purchase, most of which you can't.

An 100 page bestiary. Cryptic alliances, factions, tribes.

A map of the United States and then a close up of a single region with a sandbox campaign that's 30-50 pages long.

Publish it all in one volume. Open it up on DMsguild. Launch it with an Adepts program so that there's some interesting expansions available as PDFs from Day 1. Then leave it alone for the next 20 years.

Click to expand...

The Soloist said:

Gamma World is Planet of the Apes human-mutants nuclear bomb cultists, Island of Doctor Moreau and many other influences all rolled into one Gonzo game. It should be humorous and very scary at the same time.

Logically, since most grognards are angry at WoTC for various reasons and they are now only 5% (or less) of the customer base, it should be based on 5e2024 but modulated to accommodate the wider spectrum of possible professions, backgrounds, equipment and 'tech-treasures'.

I'm 60 and played GW 2e, 3e and the D&D 4e version, but I wouldn't buy the new version because I invested in Mutant Year Zero by Free League, which does post-nuclear event with mutant human-animal hybrids very well. I'm content with that and the Mutant War skirmish wargame with the beautiful miniatures.

Over the last 11 years, WoTC did not take care of their wonderful catalogue of games. The customers moved on to other companies, which publish excellent products.

Click to expand...

Reynard said:

I love MYZ but is is only superficially like GW. MYZ is intentionally coherent, especially when considering all of the parallel games. GW is intentionally incoherent, much more Thundarr than Mad Max.

Click to expand...