C&C: The Gamma World Hack

Castles & Crusades can play classic TSR settings like the amazing Gamma World. Now, why do this? Gamma World has rules, and they work like a B/X system. What do you gain?

For one, a universal task resolution mechanic in the SIEGE Engine. You can just roll under attributes for task resolution in B/X style games; that isn't enough. Still, having a universal system that handles skills, saves, and attributes is excellent.

What really lures me in are Castles & Crusades' thematic classes. Gamma World doesn't have classes, and being able to play a fighter, rogue, or monk feels right in a post-apocalyptic fantasy setting. The magic you will need to decide on, do you "skin" magic as a Thundarr-style "sorcerer who wields ancient power from nanites, alien power sources, or some other source?" Or do you get rid of magic entirely? This is your choice, but I would lean towards the re-skin of this and make it a mysterious force. Even divine magic can be a sort of Mutant Crawl Classics style, "serving a higher power or sentient AI" sort of power granted, so it can be explained too.

Damages, gear, and mutations would all stay the same. Mutations are rolled and used like the mutation chart and used as-is. You select a character type when beginning, human, mutant, or mutated animal, and then pick a class. If your character type has mutations, roll for them as usual. Humans get +3 to CHR and the bonuses mentioned for interacting with robots and computers.

Hit points are a particular case since, in Gamma World, you start out with hit points equal to CON d6. For C&C Gamma World, I would start out with HALF of CON in the hit die for your class, so a fighter with a CON of 14 would start with 7d10 hit points. You then gain hit points typically as you level, 1d10 per level. The random leveling chart for Gamma World is not used. All the class benefits in C&C are used as standard.

For melee and ranged weapon damage, I would make it so every +1 of the ability modifier adds one die to melee and ranged weapon damage. In the old Gamma World, a longsword did 1d8+STR modifier, and melee weapons were always feeble compared to a laser pistol that did 5d6. With characters starting with 30 and 50 hit points, what good were d8 melee weapons? If our fighter had a +3 STR modifier, his longsword would do 4d8. For weapons without damage dice, assume a 1d6. Also this applies to energy weapons as well as primitive ranged weapons.

This is a high-damage, high-hit-point game.

Now here is where the hack gets interesting. Up until now, this is a standard conversion. Do you want more modern character types, such as bounty hunters, soldiers, private detectives, and gadgeteers? Pick up a copy of Amazing Adventures, and you have a sourcebook for classes that could come from more advanced, underground "survivor communities" like the vaults in Fallout. Since AA is more pulp/steampunk/Bock Rogers/classic B&W serial focused, the theme fits better with a retro-future Gamma World setting than a more modern interpretation of survivor classes. A gadgeteer roaming through Gamma World would be extremely fun, and playing a group of soldiers from a vault heading out to look for parts and resources would be a fun mission and clash of cultures.

Ignore the high-tech weapons in AA (and its sister game Starsiege) and use the Gamma World weapons and gear instead. C&C and AA are here to provide mechanics and classes; gear comes from Gamma World. Also, ignore the artifact chart unless you really want to use it; a simple INT save would tell you if you figure a device out with a critical fail indicating disaster.

Armor should be more like C&C, and you must convert old-style AC to C&C AC (10 - GW AC = C&C AC). High-tech armors may need to be adjusted (even doubled) or given damage reduction equal to AC (or higher) to be viable. I would be tweaking armor protection through the game as we played, and this is the more tricky part of the hack. My first guess is to keep AC values the same and give high-tech armor a damage reduction equal to 1-3X the AC, depending on the protection. When DR drops to zero, the armor could be broken (but still may provide AC protection).

So the best armor in Gamma World (AC 1 powered assault armor) would be +9 AC and give 27 points of damage reduction. Hits that equal or beat 50% of DR likely knock d4-1 points off DR each time (until repaired). Penetrating hits may be a d6. Given the higher damages, I may give all armors some form of DR; again, this is a "see how it goes" hack.

For the more low-tech communities and survivor towns, use the C&C classes. Let them be the ones who have learned to figure out "magic" while keeping the vault dwellers in the dark about the fantastic new powers the outsiders have developed. The vault dwellers will have the gadgets and technology edge.

That is all there is to this hack, and you have an interesting class-based version of Gamma World with options for vault communities and characters.

Gamma World Melee Damage

I love Gamma World, but...

The game using a 1d6 per point of constitution scale for hit points and keeping the original B/X level damages is a mess. With a laser pistol doing 5d6 damage, standard B/X style melee weapons were feeble. The STR adjustment to injury in the first and second editions was STR-15, or STR-6, for a negative modifier.

Vibro-daggers (10 hp damage) and vibro-blades (25) leveled the playing field, but still, there was very little threat from the primitive weapons. This pushes the "loot economy," where the first few rooms need a supply of high-tech armaments just to keep combat balance in check.

Part of me feels they did this to keep high-level AD&D parties viable. By the time an AD&D party is visiting Gamma World, you will need creatures with the 8-12 HD range to challenge the party. The artifacts feel suitable for that level of play too.

Mutant Future kept this hit-point scale for compatibility. It is still my favorite version of the Gamma World style game because of its interoperability with Labyrinth Lord. This game has that perfect mix of the low-tech world and the lost ruins of old that I love, and it is directly compatible with Gamma World, so all your favorites can return. It also has a strong encumbrance and gear system, and you get that low-level "feel" of adventure.

But still, the low-end damage problems with primitive melee weapons remain here as a legacy compatibility "feature" of the main game. You could argue that the world is so dangerous, "only the toughest survive," but I would still want melee weapons to do more damage. A dagger takes 14 successful hits to take out a CON 10 character with 35 hit points; with misses factored in, that is long combat. With 30-second combat turns and a 50% miss rate, that is a 15-minute battle and kind of boring.

There is a 10% chance per level of gaining one attack per round (Mutant Future), so that is a factor, but it still does not really fix the issue. Many D&D-style games try to balance high hit points and low weapon damage at high levels with multiple attacks, power moves, or other damage scaling tricks.

I would be sorely tempted to add a die of damage per +1 damage modifier and introduce a breakage rule on the low end of the 1+ damage modifier (modified by construction materials, which could be lowered to zero). So an 18 STR character is doing 4d8 damage with a longsword and has a breakage chance of 1-4 for a weapon made of ordinary materials. Now my Ookla the Brute character will pick up stop signs and break them over people's heads. With DEX, I would modify missile weapons that rolled dice for damage and leave fixed damage to high-tech guns alone.

Alternatively, I could award those extra hit dice on a per-adventure basis, start everyone off at 1 HD, and increase these up to CON HD at a rate of 1-3 HD per adventure as the characters get in fights, train, and "toughen up." Without messing with the base B/X damages the "bonus HD progression" seems like the best solution. keeps the original damage scaling, and would start most characters and noncombatants off at 1d6 hp.

Though instead of a hack, I wish the weapons and monsters were balanced for a more traditional zero-to-hero experience, where everyone started at 1 HD and leveled up normally. Then again...

Mutant Crawl Classics (MCC) gets the zero-to-hero right regarding damage and monster scaling. This is the standard B/X style progression, though the game does many of the Dungeon Crawl Classics standards, such as mutations being like DCC "spells" with charts and shamans who can access the ancient power of AI Patrons (like gods). This is much like Gamma World in terms of a high-tech destroyed world.

MCC's sister game Umerica also has the same B/X style damage scaling and exists on a lower-tech scale than MCC. Umerica also has a better gear section of weapons, armor, and other gear, so it feels like a more survivalist-oriented game, almost like an Aftermath or post-20th-Century ruin game, but still with the gonzo attitude.

All of these are great games, I would just like a few tweaks on the hit points and damage to the ones on the Gamma World side to get them in line with B/X and not have them make normal melee weapons so weak.

Can SIEGE Engine Do Gamma World?

Wow, what a question.

Can Castles & Crusades do a Gamma World game?

My first reaction is no because Gamma World is a game without classes or levels. You start with a considerable chunk of hit points (1d6 per CON point). Weapons are deadly. If you were to create a level one survivor, you would quickly die fast, like a Dungeon Crawl Classics level 0 funnel. While the melee weapons are D&D standard, every other energy weapon and monster attack in the game is deadly.

Our huge problem with the Gamma World game was this pile of starting hit points. This made traditional melee weapons worthless; a d4 dagger or even a d8 longsword will never feel like a threat to a CON 10 character with 35 starting hit points. You are talking 10-20 hits to bring down a starting character. The original game was incredibly cool, but we wished you could zero-to-hero the experience, start at level 1, and earn that pile of hit points.

As a result, the game's technological weapons felt balanced for CON 10, 35 hit point characters, and we never had a use for the traditional D&D style melee weapons. And also, all of the game's monsters are balanced for that 8-20 starting hit dice scale; there is no such thing as a 1 HD orc in the Gamma World game (an Ark has 8 HD); they are all starting out on the same hit point range of the characters. And there does not seem to be a direct 1-to-1 conversion between AD&D HD and GW HD; the content in Gamma World is anywhere from 1 to 20, with 8-12 being average.

This almost feels like a high-level AD&D adventure adapted into a role-playing game, and none of it is on that familiar B/X scale of hit points and damage. So any conversion needs to consider a massive issue with modifications and hit dice scaling.

And then I stop and think a moment.

Troll Lord Games publishes the adventure that inspired the Gamma World game, the Starship Warden. And oh yeah, they have their own sci-fi fun, the Amazing Adventures supplement called Starsiege.

Okay, it is looking a little more likely at the moment. This would be a strange Gamma World Game.

First, as Starsiege recommends, use the Amazing Adventures game for your character classes, renamed if needed according to the rules on page 20 of Starsiege. Gadgeteer becomes Technical Engineer, Gumshoe becomes Bounty Hunter, and so on. For more primitive cultures, you can use the Castles & Crusades classes like archer, fighter, etc. This is going to be a strange feeling game having classes here, but I guess a bit more interesting. So our classes are:

• Soldier
• Psychic
• Technician (AA gadgeteer)
• Plus all non-magic C&C classes:
• Fighter
• Ranger
• Rogue

Magic is banned, but psychic powers are a must-have. And remember, you can use dual- and multiclass like in C&C, so if your character concept goes across a few, start combining ideas. Another part of me wonders if this is too many classes. I got rid of knight, gunslinger, scoundrel, bard, archer, assassin, monk (pit fighter), and pirate (which could make a good raider class). Barbarian and bounty hunter (AA gumshoe) have also been removed.

The fewer classes I have, the easier this world is to imagine.

Mutations

Mutations are an issue, but according to the Gamma World 1e rules, roll a d4 for both physical and mental mutations and roll on the charts directly. Pure Strain Humans get their 3 primes, as usual. Humanoids and others get 2 plus mutations and then come up with other benefits as per Starsiege alien race templates. I would balance mutations using the "mana points" system on page 39 of the Castle Keeper's guide, with CON as the extra spell bonus instead of INT. I would also fix the effect or damage of mutations to 1d6 or +2 per mana/mutation point. Maybe. This would need to be play-tested.

Gear

Equipment, armor, and weapons should be on the lower damage and more play-balanced Starsiege and C&C gear. You can port iconic items as needed and put those on the Starsiege damage scale.

Monsters should probably follow a hit-dice generation method and be closer to Castles & Crusades' level of challenge and ramping up in difficulty. The hit dice in Gamma World will be way off because we are on the 1d6 per CON scale, and I would base these on similar C&C monsters.

Admittedly, this feels like more of a sci-fi and fantasy post-apocalypse Starsiege game than a Gamma World game.

And that is how I would start.

What Type of World Would This Be?

That is a good question.

You look at the classes alone, something more happening than primitive survivor tribes in a destroyed sci-fi world. There are these quotes in the original Gamma World book:

The pockets of humanity that have survived are few, scattered throughout a world where a moment's lack of caution may mean an instant and painful death. Men are highly suspicious of strangers, jealous of each other's possessions, and clandestine organizations, known as cryptic alliances, plots, and schemes against each other. The smallest hint of the location of The Apocalypse base, lost now for decades, creates intensive rival searches, for it is rumored that therein lies power - power to survive, power to control...

And this:

What cities there are will generally be situated on a coast or river, and are near the few remaining robot farms (explained later). City populations should range between 5,000 to 50,000 humans, mutants, intelligent plants, etc.

So I am feeling a conflict between groups restoring ancient technology and those wanting to go back to a more primitive way of life and destroy the technology that destroyed the world. So there are populations of "medium-tech" survivors with the technology and a semblance of modern life (supported by robot farms), and others who are more agrarian and Middle Ages.

I will guess the less advanced civilizations outnumber the advanced ones, and there is animosity between the two, with many feeling those who want to bring back the old ways will only destroy the world for good this time. Who knows, that legendary world-ending weapon from the Planet of the Apes (original 1960s) movies could be out there and end the world with a push of a button. The anti-technological types could be right.

So this will be less of a game about primitive types searching the ruins and figuring out loot and more of a story-based world with conflicts, NPCs, characters, and two societies trying to find a way to live together and balance the old ways and the new - without destroying the world again. And you could have secret factions everywhere, and even pre-ruin factions reactivated and causing trouble.

It Works, Kinda...

Thinking through this, the conversion would work, but it does not feel ideal. The most significant issues are the starting hit point and HD scale for monsters and the enormous weapon damage for technological items (and the weak melee weapons). I would love a low-level zero-to-hero game sort of version of Gamma World, some kind of like how Mutant Crawl Classics does things.

I would love a dedicated game that does this well and one based around the Starsiege rules. The classes need to be better focused; either this is going to be a "mystery of the ancients" sort of game (with lower starting technology levels) or a "politics of surviving factions" sort of game (with some factions at a medium-tech, and many at a lower-tech).

I want better mutation rules, and I don't want to rely on the Gamma World charts. I would like that integrated with the C&C mana system like I did, but with powerful mutations needing more mana. I would want all their effects and damages to be scaled for C&C-style games.

And the game needs a good monster list, balanced around the expected scale of creatures in a B/X or AD&D style progression.

The game could do it, but it is not ideal. If C&C characters stumbled into Gamma World, I would probably keep the hit point and monster numbers as they are and use it as a "high-level adventure" scaled up to be a challenge. This means "first-level" NPCs start with the 1d6 per point of the CON hit point scale, and if they ever level up, they get the "beyond 10th" level adjustment. The entire world is the S4: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks the Campaign World. This way, I am changing nothing, keeping the challenge level intact, and the base C&C rules work well with the world.

Everything here is OP back in a fantasy world, but that is how it always was.

Overall, C+ Grade, Duct-Taped

I give my efforts a C+, they work, but they feel like a taped-together mess. I would love a Mutants & Mayhem style set of rules that is more Castles & Crusades, more focused, zero to hero, mysteries of the ancients, has a random mutation, monster, and artifact generators, and has everything needed to play.

Mutant Crawl Classics and Mutant Future are better experiences than my mess of a hack and, of course, any version of Gamma World you prefer to play.

Mail Room: Gamma World (3rd Edition)

1986.

Chernobyl. The space shuttle Challenger. Iran-Contra.

Top Gun. Aliens. The second year of the Nintendo Entertainment System.

We were still crayoning the dice.

Gamma World 3rd Edition.

I got this one in the mail recently, and my preference for the pre-Wizards editions is 2nd, 1st, 3rd, then 4th. That said, this is a very complete version of the game (with errata) and recommended, and it keeps a good balance between mutations and gear. The artwork is often stunning.

A big addition is the action table - used for every roll in the game and a precursor to the simpler one used in Marvel Superheroes. A lot of the game feels shoehorned into using this table, and the rules bloat as a result - the damage section goes nearly six pages and gets into all sorts of detailed Aftermath style conditions and effects - burns, infections, radiation, system shock, stuns, sunburn, steam, frostbite, electrical damage, rotting, and all sorts of other effects where my mind shuts down and begs for a simple hit point damage system.

In the PDF there is a rules and errata supplement we never got, and this features the cryptic alliances missing from the book (years later I get these I know) - and some major clarifications for the action table's results. Plant mutations are given. We get a price list. A large vehicle and equipment list. Complete is an understatement here.

I like this version of the game, we played it, but this is where it started to decline for us. Again, our group was still big on Aftermath, and even that game felt more streamlined than this one with its d20 roll-under mechanic. Having to go to the d100 chart for every roll in the game felt cumbersome for us, it worked for a while but we grew tired of it quickly. The chart did provide for a lot of special results and levels of success, but Marvel Superheroes (MSH) did this soon after with a much more simplified table and mechanics. This (along with the Indiana Jones game) felt like the beta-test for the more unified and simpler tables later on.

That said, I wish the mutations could have been handled like MSH powers - they would have been much more powerful and usable, and honestly, mutations should be the superpowers that equalize the balance between the old age and the new. I like the fantasy elements, but the beginning of worshipping on the altar of the ancients begins here, and our losing interest because the conflict becomes a scavenging arms race.

All that said, this is probably the best reference guide on classic Gamma World out there, if you can forgive the bloat in the rules and the errata adding critical parts of the game that were left out. It does feel like some of the 4th Edition's "gear worship" is sneaking in here, as you look at what is highlighted in the art and theme of the game. Gear are the game's magic items, and those are your primary route to power and influence.

I wish they would have kept this to the D&D rules, which again is why Mutant Future is so appealing to me these days. I don't want to learn (or re-learn) a new set of rules to play this, and honestly, Gamma World is better off the similar it is to the current version of D&D on the shelf - just because this is a niche genre, and having rules that match what everyone plays makes it easier to find players. This is why OGR versions appeal to me so much these days, I am not asking five or six people to spend money, read hundreds of pages, and learn an entirely new game for a night of fun. There is the retro kitsch factor to this game, but for my tastes being able to play with a larger pool of potential players (and compatible material) is a huge plus.

Even back in the day I feel this would have been a better plan for the game. Make it an alternative experience, one rooted in and supported by the current version of the game, but keep the rules people know. I feel recently, Starfinder made a mistake like this in changing things too much, and you were forced to learn a new set of rules to play. Alternate games, especially from companies with hit games, should pull from standardized or current shipping sets of rules. More potential players is a good thing.

More on this one soon, and it is fun to have a printed copy in my hands again.

Mail Room: Gamma World (1st Edition)

When we first got the original Boxed set of Gamma World, it felt like a strange, new game. This version lacked the fantasy elements of the 2nd Edition and beyond, there were no elf, fairy, gnoll, or dragon equivalents, but it remained this strange offshoot of AD&D for us that felt like an entirely new experience and world.

Admittedly, the game did not really take off for us until 2nd Edition Gamma World, as the fantasy elements were familiar enough to create some interesting differences between "new world" and "old world" ways. This version felt strangely like the box cover, strange explorers in some strange technicolor land of danger and sinister mutants. There was this feeling of human descendants coning out of vaults and exploring the world, much like a precursor to Fallout by many years for us, and that pitted the new world versus the old and began that conflict in our Gamma World games.

The fantasy elements in 2nd Edition did solidify that conflict, and give the "new world" a familiar fantasy-style face. The fae-like lils were troublemakers, there were elf-like grens, talking animals, and many more of the fantasy tropes present creating a rich and interesting contrast between new worlds and old. The new world was a messed up fantasy world pulled into the ruins of the old civilization. The old world were thinking computers, humans, robots, and the way of living in the past.

Also worth mentioning is the first module Legion of Gold, which includes rules for conventional firearms, has some cool pieces of interior art, and features a campaign setting and a collection of adventures and locations. Including "normal" guns dials back the settings futuristic feeling just a tad, and I prefer the more sci-fi version where you can't find M-16 rifles and M1911A1 pistols lying around. By the time we get to Gamma World 4th Edition, we have nearly every Call of Duty style weapon represented, and I feel that game loses the feeling of "wrecked future society" once you put in Uzi SMGs and all sorts of other weapons. I mean seriously Gamma World 4th, why do they still have tasers when stun ray pistol and rifles are on the same list?

Wrecked future society! Please give up the modern weapons and simplify the gear lists! It is way too easy to fall into an Aftermath or Mad Max style feeling and play with these 1970-2020 weapons lying around.

Back to 1st Edition, and I hope Wizards puts out a 2nd Edition reprint soon, since that version is close to GW 1st while introducing the fantasy elements. No idea what is holding this up, but I am keeping my hopes up. As it is, I have the Fantasy elements in 3rd and 4th well enough, but I like 2nd Edition and that was the version that took off for us and captured our imagination. 3rd Edition is where it went downhill for us, and that felt replaced by Marvel Superheroes.

All that said, I would probably just play Mutant Future with the Gamma World creatures and special gear items pulled in. Nothing beats the basic, OSR feel and simplicity of that basic rules set. It works like most everything I know, and I am not sitting here trying to read and comprehend a set of rules that changed with every version of the game.

In my feeling, Gamma World should have kept close in rules to the current version of D&D - always. It felt like they chased unique mechanics to make the game fun, instead of putting that work into making the game fun. The setting as well, you cannot have a great game without a setting with a clear conflict, characters, and an overarching metaplot to drive interest.

If I were to pull in fantasy elements, I would probably use the Labyrinth Lord collection of creatures as my base, strip the magic off them, add mutations, and make the mutations and origin a random type with the start of every campaign. The fairies? Based off plants in one game, mutants in another, robots in another, cyborgs, psi-creatures, or any other origin I roll for the origin chart with powers rolled and tweaked to match. The psi-fairies would have a lot of standard mental powers, probably be incorporeal glowing purple things, and fly around at night.

And every game would be different, yet share the same fantasy-style elements with an unpredictable factor. The new world? A fantasy world come to life through the "new power" brought to the world. There are some things in Gamma World that feel like classics, but to tell you the truth, I could probably clone them, improve them, and make better versions inside of Mutant Future. Again, you want to be careful to not overshadow the new versus old fight, and balance those additions with that power struggle.

Part of the problem with turning Gamma World into a fantasy "paint by numbers" game is you lose the unpredictability that is a core attraction of the game. What is that fish and why is it swimming above the water? It can talk? Uhhh...I know the game and every monster in the book but I don't know this! And then, the inevitable "run back into the cave" statement with the fantasy Gamma World always comes up, "Why aren't we just playing fantasy?"

This is what randomizing the fantasy monsters powers, origins, intelligence levels, and other aspects brings to the game. The game is not supposed to be predictable. Players are supposed to poke, prod, observe, and try things. They are supposed to figure things out. Is that monster a possible friend or is it trying to eat us? Even the technology to a degree should be mazing and unpredictable. Why does this laser turn things different colors based on a color wheel on top and do no damage? What is that good for? That type of device? In my players' hands? Probably cause more damage than a Mk VII blaster. Players love this stuff.

Perhaps I need to create a book for my ideas and publish it. That is the beauty of OSR, to take what came before, and make it your own. And you are not forced to learn rules that kept changing, getting bigger and more complicated, and took away the focus from story to mechanics.

Mail Room: Gamma World (4th Edition)

So my printed copy of Gamma World 4th Edition came (with the Judge Dredd looking cover), and I can see the seeds of the "Wild and Wahoo" mood of the next (D&D 4th) version of the game. This version still gives you a serious play option, which is nice.

I also see a lot of gear, and so much when you toss in the Treasures of the Ancients book the gear almost feels like it takes over the game. We have page after page of gear in perfect working order, and while needed, it makes me feel that the pre-ruin world is more important than the one which came after. I feel this is a huge problem, I get this feeling that the player who creates a cool "dandelion person" mutant plant is going to see the power and usefulness of their mutations pale in comparison to having the best power armor, a Mk VII blaster, and a legion of death-bots following them around.

In my feeling, there has to be a conflict between the old world and the new one. The old world is civilization, technology, and ancient artifacts and weapons. The new world are mutations, new lifeforms, psionics, and powers that can meet or exceed the devices the ancients came up with. Here? It feels very old-world biased, like the only way to get better is to grab better loot, and thus - the ancients were right and your new world - mutations, intelligent plants and animals, and psionics alike - kind of suck.

I need mutations that can be developed and equal the power of those Mk VII blasters and micro-missile launchers. I need cyborgs trying to mix old and new worlds to disasters results. I need psionics that eliminate the need for old-tech, or beat it at its own game.

The game has artwork from previous editions, like the 3rd and missing 2nd, so it does have value if you wanted to convert these to Mutant Future or use it as a sourcebook. If I were using it as a sourcebook I would be very careful not to let "all this cool gear" overshadow how the new world is now, and take over the game by making it a loot collection game.

You risk solving the inherent conflict of these future-apocalypse worlds by saying, "everyone had it good before all this, scavenge junk until you rebuild that."

Also, the book is very, very dense. We have long two column solid text blocks for page after page, with some repetitive header art on the top of every page that is nice - but it gets old and it feels lazy to have the same image, page after page, when I would have loved this header mixed up. Maybe a robot-themed one, a mutation themed one, and some different headers to help visually separate the sections of the book. As it is, there is an eyeball with weeds on the top of every page, and it feels like 90's desktop publishing.

It is nice to have this book, it is nice to have this information preserved and collected, but I feel there are some problems here that need further discussion in regards to previous editions, and also the retro-clones of today - especially in direction and theme. More soon.

Gamma World Plus

If I had to replay Gamma World, and I know what you are thinking, just replay Gamma World - you got it! I am more thinking if I had to replay it with the rules I want to play it with, I would likely go with Mutant Future as the go-to game rules, and use the original Gamma World rules as a "stuff and monster book" for the game.

Primitive Tone

Well, for one, Mutant Future has the tone I want for the game. It begins with a feudal, medieval society. All the parts to make my idea work are there: retainers, sea travel, wilderness adventures, fully-stocked gear lists, and a monster list that would add a lot to the game. But that base level feeling of the medieval, feudal life the game captures is key - I want that contrast between the world that sank back into a more primitive time and the blasted hellscape of a high-tech society that no one goes to and the dangers of this insane wasteland are too great to comprehend.

Gamma World kind of lives on top of the ruins a bit too closely I feel, with groups seeking artifacts, rebuilding, destroying, and the ruins of the world very much a part of life. I want those ruins to be the mythical "forbidden zone" one-shall-not-go full of monsters, radiation, mutants, killer robots, hazards, storms, broken terrain, the spires of ancient buildings, flesh-eating plants, and all sorts of nasty encounters that keeps the primitive societies out. These places should be myths, locked in superstition and fear for good reason.

B/X Resources

Also, Mutant Future keeps the same hit point scale and relative balance, while still being a more modern B/X ruleset one can pull in all sorts of extras into the game with. All of Labyrinth Lord is there waiting to be mutated, changed, and recast as extras in your apocalyptic epic story. Take a demon or two, mutate them as rad-demons that live under an ancient reactor tower, and give them a thinking computer to spy on the area with. Use a giant beetle as a base monster, add mutations and color it purple, and go.

Gamma World (editions 1-4) is there for some of the things you can't get outside Gamma World. Death Machines. The iconic monsters. Micromissile launchers. Bubble cars. Some of those cool grenades. The gear. The borgs and robots. Maybe a mutation or two. I would probably convert these over as I go and enhance the list to be my own, but there are some things I remember about this game that I love that I want to see in the mutant Gamma Future game.

One exception are the more fantasy-inspired monsters introduced in the 2nd edition such as the lil and kodo dragon. These are currently in print with only the 3rd and 4th editions, and 4th looks easier to convert in from since the game is more AD&D 2nd than it is Marvel Superheroes, plus the art is there so it would be a handy resource. But the cover looks like Judge Dredd on Tatooine fighting a mutated vampire bat as he helps his anthro-dog friend out of a hole. But wow, those clouds are pretty.

It is a really 90's comic book style cover. I would have went more Heavy Metal with the fantasy elements; primitive warrior on a purple lizard holding a laser lance meets Thundarr broken future cityscapes with wild colors approach. Also, if I were in a hobby shop and this was on the shelf next to Vampire: The Masquerade? Yeah, this would be a little harder to pick up. Especially with Magic: The Gathering sucking the oxygen out of roleplaying sections during that era.

But it is your game, so change it up! Pull in other fantasy monsters and mutate away if you like those! Besides, nothing has to be as-is or was-written in a game like this. Things change. There are different models of bubble cars out there, and multiple types of Death Machines. If they are a little different, no one is going to know or well, maybe these were different models made for different reasons.

Unified Terminology

One thing I like about B/X is the terminology is unified. Gamma World was prone to shifting mechanics over the years to superhero color charts, to masses of code abbreviations, to card game mechanics, to Alernity, and to systems that were not B/X because the designers were chasing the cool factor through rules instead of the Gamma World experience. Rules alone never make something cool, and I can thing of dozens of games with great rules that are still relatively unknown - or worse, have been replaced by another clone of the original rules with a couple things changed to force you to upgrade.

If I go with a B/X sourced game, as all my base definitions and rules are on a single solid foundation. And theoretically you could use any B/X rules set (B/X Elements, DCC, and many others) to do this with the source material, I just like starting with Mutant Future because a lot of the work is done for most of what I need, and the Labyrinth Lord tie ins are strong and give me a lot to work with.

B/X = Best of Today with Yesterday

Having that base game that is compatible with today's B/X world is the key for me, plus that primitive, medieval feudal feeling. I won't have to expand Mutant Future too much outside of the rules in that book.

But for those iconic parts of Gamma World I love - I have them right over here now.

I love you B/X. You are the HTML 5 and Linux of gaming. A universal language or OS that allows everything to work together, and one that will never really go away or fade into history.

Mutant RPGs

So I was contrasting these two games the other day when I was talking about Gamma World style games, and there are two more to talk about now. I may be late to this party, but it is great to see these two (with the exception of 2nd edition, which is MIA) out and about:

Wow, welcome back, it has been a while. Of all the modern ones, Mutant Future is the most "like first edition" in this bunch. The Gamma World 3rd edition is kind of a strange outlier, sort of a mix of B/X with the original Marvel Superheros color action chart sort of thing going on, as well as a LOT of fantasy themed influences not present in the Gamma World 1e game.

It is just great to be able to get printed copies again and see people enjoy these. What a happy day to see some old friends back. Now if only Gangbusters and the original Top Secret would show up to the party we could relive the early 1980's with style.

And as a postscript, the more AD&D 2nd Edition Gamma World 4 is here too. This one I never got into, but it is an interesting mention when you are talking old-school, even though it is a product of the 90s and it feels a little heavier. The game also overuses abbreviations to the point of creating a new assembly programming language: MD, THAC, CH, PS, DX, CN, RU, MP, DM, AC...what is wrong with you 1990s??? And here I thought the "Use Artifacts" diagram where you could kill yourself trying to figure out a toaster was just used for things in the game.