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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 8358342" data-attributes="member: 27780">Polyhedron Issue 64: October 1991part 2/5The Gamma World Game Lives: Gamma World 3rd edition came out a few years ago, and didn't do too well, with more people still contributing articles using 2e rules than updating to the new ones. Now they're going to try again with 4e and see if they get any better results. As you would hope, this involves looking at what people complained about most in previous editions and changing things accordingly. The results turn out to be fairly predictable. More setting stuff, as that's what's in vogue in general for all their game lines, and a better advancement system, so you can actually play in said setting for a decent length of time without dying or getting bored. So they're adding a class/level system, and rejigging the mutation generation stuff so you can always have the powers of speech, movement and opposable thumbs no matter what base animal or plant you started out with. It all sounds a good deal more sensible and better balanced than a decade ago. The question then becomes if that's what people really want, or if in their heart of hearts they actually preferred the gonzo nonsense of the first two editions. I guess the real proof will be in the number of articles they get after it's published, not how much it's promoted, as the complete absence of Indiana Jones or Buck Rogers stuff so amply demonstrated. Short People: The adventure this month is, as the title implies, aimed mostly at halflings, with a dwarf and a gnome thrown into the pregens for a little bit of diversity. The village needs to sell the pipeweed crop fast and at a decent price, otherwise the Zhentarim will foreclose on the farm and use the lands to build their next evil base. You need to make it through random wandering monsters, thieves, and intentional Zhentarim sabotage attempts, get the money, and then get back before the deadline. Another one which is both goofy and railroaded, as no matter what precautions they take, at some point they will be knocked out and robbed, and then have to win a riddle contest with a dragon to get out of this mess alive and with the money. Still, at least this time you probably had an idea what you were signing up for just from reading the synopsis, so it won't come as a disappointment to people looking for a more serious challenge. But yet again, this reinforces that whether they're writing or just editing, Jean & Skip have terrible taste in modules. Is this stuff really what the average RPGA member wants to play? The older modules could be goofy at times, but at least they were serious challenges where you actually had to put effort in and make the right decisions to succeed. These just seem to be getting easier and more linear as time goes on, which is not a good trend at all.</blockquote>

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