The new Gamma World - Thoughts/Questions

[Melkor]

So I picked up the new Gamma World box and several booster packs of cards today on my lunch break. I didn't have too long to skim through it, but I had a couple of observations and I wanted to see what you folks thought.

Character Origin - As mentioned in the Wizards preview, origin is determined by rolling 1D20 on a table two times. If you get the same result twice, you are an Enhanced Human. Otherwise, you can could end up being a Pyrokinetic Rat Swarm or an Empath Plant.

I don't know how fond I am of some of the options here, and was just wondering if it has been mentioned anywhere if there will be more origins included in the planned GW supplements?

Mutations and Artifacts - From what I remember, a player builds a deck of 7 Mutation and 7 Artifacts. Mutations are discarded after every encounter (or an "Alpha Flux") and re-drawn. Artifacts may have to be discarded, or might get to be used for a while depending.

Not sure I like that regarding mutations either. How much would it change the game if you didn't make your players re-draw after every encounter, and only made them draw for the "Alpha Flux?"

Cards & Boosters - Again, not a fan, and I had to grit my teeth to purchase the boosters I did because I know if they sell well, they might become a staple of WotC roleplaying products for the foreseeable future. That said, including the six boosters I bought, and the one that is included in the box, I only counted 4 duplicate cards (out of 56 total).

Since I am not a huge fan of 'fiddly bits' in games, I was thinking of just creating roll-based tables for determing random mutations and artifacts. Sadly, a released list of all cards and their effects would defeat the purpose of selling cards, so I will only have access to the information on the cards that my players and I actually purchase...and knowing my players, that means I will only have access to the cards I purchase.

That's all for now. Cheers.

 

[Festivus]

I am pretty sure that the two planned expansions will have more origins in them. I don't have a source for that but I could swear I read it somewhere.

Regarding the card aspect, I think that everything done with the cards could have been done with a table, or a non-random booster pack method... so yeah, I too am not a fan of this. I'll likely buy some boosters to have them available for people to borrow but not really wanting to buy a ton of them unless they dramatically affect the game.

I suspect we will see power lists and home brew powers pop up here and there at some point, making the need to purchase all the cards unneeded unless you want to draw from a deck.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

Having physical mutations appear and disappear at random every five minutes doesn't just break my suspension of disbelief, it shatters it into teeny-tiny pieces. No thank you.

 

[Festivus]

Having physical mutations appear and disappear at random every five minutes doesn't just break my suspension of disbelief, it shatters it into teeny-tiny pieces. No thank you.

I suspect it's going to be more like 45 minutes real time. Besides, there is a pretty good chance that before the game is done you would be rolling up a new character anyhow.

I haven't read the game yet, but I like the idea that mutation happen on a trigger, not at the end of encounters.

 

[(un)reason]

How compatible is it with regular 4e PC's and monsters? What would happen in terms of power levels and stuff if you did some crossovers in your game?

Having physical mutations appear and disappear at random every five minutes doesn't just break my suspension of disbelief, it shatters it into teeny-tiny pieces. No thank you.

I dunno. Gamma world has generally worked best when it was trying to be gonzo and fun, rather than a serious internally consistent setting. This may be pushing it a bit too far the other way, but it is interesting as an idea for what happens when radiation really goes over the top.

 

[tallyrand]

Wizards has confirmed that next expansion, Famine in Far-Go, out next month, will have not only more monsters and an adventure for levels 3-6, but 20 new character origins.

I don't care too much for the wacky random mutations bit, but the idea of player decks is the counter to it, allowing the player to cycle through as few as 4 different mutations (minimum deck size 7, no more than 2 of any card) and while I know that most of my players won't buy cards to build their own deck, I'm going to let them rat through the DM cards and whatever else I buy to build their own.

 

[fba827]

How compatible is it with regular 4e PC's and monsters? What would happen in terms of power levels and stuff if you did some crossovers in your game?

In a video podcast thing, WotC explicitly says that the mechanics behind Gamma is the same as 4e. And then gives the example that if you wanted to take a monster out of the MM, like the stone giant, and stick it in your Gamma game, you could. Or you could make Gamma PCs and then send them off on a D&D-style adventure as if that is what the world itself changed in to.

(source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MICziPncpU )

 

[RandomCitizenX]

What does the equipment situation look like? Is there a regular equipment section with firearms and whatnot or is all the tech handled via the artifacts?

 

[Melkor]

There is a regular equipment section.

Types of weapons are listed, not individual weapons...then there was a blurb on "what it looks like." In other words, you pretty much define what a Simple One-Handed Melee Weapon would be.

There are things like Explorer Kits and whatnot.

Seems like all of the artifact-type stuff is in the form of the Omega cards though.

At least that's what I remember from the quick look I had of the book.

 

[sjmiller]

I find the description of the game interesting. Funny thing is, nowhere on the Wizards site can I find reference to these card packs. Sure, they have Gamma World and list 3 upcoming supplements, but the cards are nowhere to be found. Is there someplace on their site/catalog that talks about them?