Gamma World: Our First Session

[TarionzCousin]

How much of the GW-esque stuff (mutations, tech) is portable into D&D?

If I bought a booster pack could I put some stuff on the cards into my Forgotten Realms campaign?

 

[MerricB]

I dare say you could.

The game is designed so you can use monsters from D&D in Gamma World, so the level of balance should be about the same.

Cheers!

 

[darjr]

I don't see why not. Some of it would need some work, but some of it might just work out A OK.

For instance the mutation 'Strong as stone'. It gives a bonus to athletics checks and a smaller bonus to Fortitude. The overcharge can make those athletics checks almost auto succeed and give a bigger bonus to Fort, or make the character 'weakend'-save ends.

I think that mutation could be handed to a D&D PC without to much trouble.

The radio head mutation might be rather useless... unless there are also radios and robots in your D&D.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Well, I'm not sure. One of the things in Gamma World is that the level bonus to all rolls is, essentially, doubled - rather than +1 every two levels, it's +1 a level. In a game with only 10 levels, this makes sense. In a game with 30 levels, it could get pretty hairy.

My impression is that they ditched stuff like enhancement bonuses, expertise feats and ability score increases. In D&D 4, these effectively lead to you getting a +1/level bonus overall to everything, just assembled from different, seperate bonuses you attain over the levels.
All (important) NPC modifiers scale at +1/level.

 

[blargney the second]

It was a ridiculously fun game - utterly gonzo from top to bottom. We will play again.
-blarg

 

[TarionzCousin]

The radio head mutation might be rather useless... unless there are also radios and robots in your D&D.

None... that we know of.

 

[MrMyth]

How much of the GW-esque stuff (mutations, tech) is portable into D&D?

If I bought a booster pack could I put some stuff on the cards into my Forgotten Realms campaign?

I think it would be doable. They are basically equivalent to extra encounter/daily powers (since that is somewhat the role they take for Gamma World characters). In terms of pure mechanics, they should work just fine for your D&D PCs - just be prepared for the slight power boost from them (at least for those who don't grow enormous clown feet). Be prepared for some to be silly, harmless or less than useful in a standard fantasy world. But those will likely be the exception rather than the rule!

 

[Rykion]

See this would be a problem stemming from familiarity of 4E. "Charging' exists there but it doesn't in GW. How do i know? It's not in the rulebook! Therefore there is no 'charge' attack in GW (and in a world with lots of guns who the heck would charge their foe anyways!?)

One of the origin powers in the Gamma World rulebook mentions that it can be used in place of a melee basic attack when charging. I believe it is a Felinoid power. So it is logical for someone to expect rules for charging in the book. Of course they might have cut the charging rules in development and forgot to remove it from the power.

Minions are mentioned in the rulebook as well, but I don't remember seeing the explanation of how to turn a monster into a minion.

 

[Neonchameleon]

My problem with GW is that some of the cards are seriously broken. I've got a Close Burst 5 Stun Alpha Mutation, one that can do 10d10 damage, and one that can teleport everyone in 5 squares of you in a direction of your choice every turn (as well as teleporting you 1d6 squares in a random direction).

 

[Piratecat]

My problem with GW is that some of the cards are seriously broken. I've got a Close Burst 5 Stun Alpha Mutation, one that can do 10d10 damage, and one that can teleport everyone in 5 squares of you in a direction of your choice every turn (as well as teleporting you 1d6 squares in a random direction).

That's the joy of it. Go big or go home; ludicrous, overpowered mutations and effects are one of the things that define this sort of "wahoo!" game style. There's no expectation of character survival, and either the beasties or the PCs can just plain get lucky. Very different from D&D, and for me very freeing.