5E Powered Gamma World: What Should It Look Like

[Reynard]

@Reynard
Hey, I also wanted to thank you for your work on the d20 era book! I did in fact get some use from it back in the day and it was indeed better than the Alternity edition.

Thanks!
I was just a worker bee. @Autumnal was the man behind the curtain.

 

[TheHand]

Thanks!
I was just a worker bee. @Autumnal was the man behind the curtain.

Thanks @Autumnal! Now I wish I still had my copy - I donated it some years ago.

 

[TheHand]

I have thought about doing GW based on 3e or D20 Modern/Future, but the problem with Gamma World is that I think I just can't accept the conception anymore. The universe of Gamma World isn't a post nuclear war setting. It's needs to be a post trans-dimensional rift war setting, something like Half-Life but more gonzo. It's really hard for me to get past the magic now the way it wasn't when I was twelve or thirteen. I don't like the unrestrained magic. As much as I enjoyed it as a kid, it would be sillier now than doing a Thundercats RPG. There is just too much kitchen sink going on.

Right, I think if you’re going for true post nuke apocalypse, things like Fallout and Darwin’s World do it better. I personally love Gamma World because it is so insane… I think only the Thundarr the Barbarian 80s cartoon captures the same vibe for me.

Whenever I’ve run the game, I inject the idea that humanity was in a race to unlock a “meta-human” gene called the Alpha Factor (yes, inspired by the module from 3rd era), and it was a result of its success that the powers of the world dropped nukes and future bombs(tm) out of fear. The radiation then caused the Alpha Factor to mutate and run wild… and voila, the madness that is Gamma World!

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Apocalypse World Third Edition!

Thread 'Apocalypse World to Get Third Edition, Kickstarter Launching Soon'

Sep 3, 2025

Apocalypse World is getting a new edition, with original creators Vincent & Meguey Baker running a Kickstarter to fund a new edition of the influential TTRPG. Over the weekend, Vincent Baker posted a Kickstarter preview page for Apocalypse World: Burned Over, promoting the "3rd edition of the groundbreaking original". No other details about the new game was announced, but the Kickstarter page has attracted 1,300 followers as of press time.

As its name suggests, Apocalypse World is an RPG based around surviving in post-apocalyptic settings. The...

• Christian Hoffer
• Replies: 17
• Forum: *TTRPGs General

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[Micah Sweet]

Apocalypse World Third Edition!

Thread 'Apocalypse World to Get Third Edition, Kickstarter Launching Soon'

Sep 3, 2025

Apocalypse World is getting a new edition, with original creators Vincent & Meguey Baker running a Kickstarter to fund a new edition of the influential TTRPG. Over the weekend, Vincent Baker posted a Kickstarter preview page for Apocalypse World: Burned Over, promoting the "3rd edition of the groundbreaking original". No other details about the new game was announced, but the Kickstarter page has attracted 1,300 followers as of press time.

As its name suggests, Apocalypse World is an RPG based around surviving in post-apocalyptic settings. The...

• Christian Hoffer
• Replies: 17
• Forum: *TTRPGs General

• 
• 
• 

To be fair, I can't think of a game more different mechanically from Gamma World than Apocalypse World in the same genre.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

To be fair, I can't think of a game more different mechanically from Gamma World than Apocalypse World in the same genre.

100%, my tongue was fully in cheek, although of course text is a bad medium to convey that