Gamma World Vs. Darwin's World

[Darrin Drader]

I think both books are very well done and actually compliment one another pretty well. I love the post apocalyptic genre and I like dark and gritty as opposed to 'wahoo!' There are things that I'm using from both books, but I have to admit that if forced to pick a favorite of the two, its definitely Darwin's World hardcover. There's just so much there. Its easy to believe that this is 3 Gamma Wordl books rolled up into one at only $10 more than the GW Player's Handbook. Besides that, the art's good, the new rules are excellent, and the world is well thought out (if you like dark and gritty rather than wahoo!). I would recommend that over many D20 books on the market in general these days.

 

[Kanegrundar]

My vote would have to go for Darwin's World. It's much more sound mechanically. That is not to say that GWD20 is unplayable, but it does need to be patched to be a solid game on it's own. I'm using both for my Rift-style setting and it's working out pretty well. If you have to choose just one, get Darwin's World, but getting both and using the bits you like from each makes for a better game all around, IMO.

Kane

 

[Gothmog]

Well, I got Gamma World about three weeks ago, and Darwin's World last week. After reading the majority of both books, I have to say Darwin's World is the far superior product. Its bigger, more campaign info, more interesting and believable mutations, and not as "wahoo" as GW. Plus, the rules are much more solid, and the general atmosphere of the world is incredibly cool. Prestige classes in DW are not just general themes like "Nanosmith", "Leader", or "Prophet" as you find in GW. DW has some generaic PrC, but also orgnaization specific PrCs like Bretheren Follower, Doomrider Zealot, Foundation Paladin, and Savant of the Plains Empire. Finally, a D20 publisher gets PrCs right!!! I don't know how many times while reading Darwin's World I thought "Oh wow, thats cool- I gotta use that in a game!" That never happened when reading Gamma World.

 

[Kanegrundar]

I didn't find as much utility in the DW advanced classes as they were way too tied to the setting. I wasn't going to use their factions, so those were a waste to me, but the generalized Advanced Classes in GW were much more to what I was needing. That's not to say that the classes are useless, there are a couple I may tinker with the backgrounds to fit my own tastes, but I don't have to with GW.

However, I have to totally agree that DW has a lot more setting detail. Granted, that supposedly wasn't the point of the GW PHB, but they blew that idea out of the water by adding in a lot of information that I felt would be better suited to the GMG. What do players need with information on how to manage a community with vague GM-based mechanics? I digress...

Kane