Gamma World 7e, or 'Valentine's Day for Gamers'

[Carthaginian]

So, boredom and the exquisite difficulties of trying to explain the Pathfinder RPG system to my wife- which was more enjoyable than dysentery only because it required fewer trips to the bathroom- I broke down and bought the entire Gamma World 7e set from Amazon.com this week. Yep... the whole thing, all three boxes, all $80 worth including 2-day shipping.

The box showed up yesterday and my wife read the core book while I was at work. I use the term 'core book' fairly loosely, because it's a grand total of 160 duodecimo-sized pages (including inside covers). It manages to contain all the rules for character creation, combat, equipment and about 30 monsters in this tiny little package (with the expansions adding more options) and even contains a short adventure as well (the ones in the expansion are longer and take up more of their books).

Character creation takes about 30 minutes writing the details down on notebook paper, and about 15 if using a pre-printed character sheet. I'm sure practice will shave this down a bit, but you can't really get much faster... unless you use an online character generator, which does it immediately. My wife was playing the game- and, miraculously, understanding what she was doing- in about an hour. This game, gentlemen, is D&D as it should be... stripped to the bare bones and simple to learn. The books are well-written and sufficiently specific in what is not allowed while remaining agreeably vague on what is allowed. Combat is fairly swift, if a bit cinematic for my taste.

Deeper investigation leads me to believe that there are very damn few of my favorite genre of RPG's that couldn't be handled by this particular ruleset. It's already tailor-made for a Superhero campaign, you just need to change the ability names around a bit and call them 'Superpowers' instead of 'Mutations.' Fantasy wouldn't be out of the picture as there are appropriate options for necromancers, fighters, hypnotists, etc. Pulp would be very possible as well, with similar creative name changes.
The biggest problem is that it stops at only Level 10, so any campaigns would be short ones. Also, the 'collectable cards' that you get for your character (which only had a single deck designed) are a bit pricy and you don't get the full 120 card deck when you buy the game- just 80 cards. You don't need to buy the whole thing... they just wanted the extra money.

All told, the purchase was well worth the money, and the first few fights showed me my wife is really understanding an RPG system for the first time. This makes me happy, because I can hopefully use this to bring her into the fold of the more complicated RPG's I play... Vampire: the Masquerade, Pathfinder and Star Wars Saga Edition.


Final review: A big game in a small package, which can be had fairly cheap at online discount stores. Lots of material in three small books. The books themselves are, unfortunately, rather cheaply made. I would imagine that they won't keep together more than a few months before I invest in putting them into hard-backed binders. Lots of color cardboard counters, which is handy but had to add $5.00 to the price. The fact that you get a map and counters in each set, though, is a nice touch.

[ctwaterman]

Nice Review....


Now for Super Hero I prefer Champions for the [Hero 6th Ed] as it is the ultimate Super Hero Gamming System.

My Newest Addictition is Hack Master...  Hack Master 5th Ed or Advanced Hack Master is still a work in progress but honestly the game flows and it has that low fantasy feeling where you have to work at becoming the hero you dont start as one.   

Mages dont come to dominate the game at mid to high levels simply because a mage suffers from spell fatigue after casting a spell and this leaves them very vulnerable.  The Spell Point system makes the mage versitile while transcription costs for spells, failure to learn spells and the need to cast memorized over non memorized spells means that a mage is a great class but doesnt dominate the game.  That and since spell levels go from 1 thru 20 and Lightning bolt is a 9th level spell. 

Anyway I ramble but the game is old school hardcore roleplaying with a system that rewards playing your character well both in alignment, class, race [Elves and Dwarves really dont get along well]  and you must defend your personal honor.   "Did he just call me a Coward???"

[Carthaginian]

Charles,

I've heard a lot about Hackmaster, and have thought about getting my RPG group to try playing it a bit. It seems to be the way that people would like the new edition of D&D to go- that's right, 4E is down the tube in only five years- many people on the WotC forums hint at it and some on the Facebook group I am a member of (which boasts no less than 2 WotC and 1 Paizo employees) mention it often.

How much of an investment in time and $$$ would getting and learning the whole core set in Dead Tree represent?

[ctwaterman]

Yes Kenzer and Co.   Is comming out with what I consider an excellent game.   Not High Fantasy where you slay dragons and everything all the time.  But the gritty game where the hero has to work for the name hero.  Where you use 3d6 to generate your stats and you spend [Build Points] BP if you want to move them to a better position on the sheet.

Weapon Speed rules when you attack after the first engagement, weapons reach is important and armor reduces damage but actually make you a bit easier to hit.  Shields aid defense alot but if you are using one well it tends to get hit often and a lucky hit might cause damage to your right thru the shield or cause the shield to break. 

So yes my Party was fighting so hill giants the other day and giant clubs even doing have damage from a successful defense still have a tendancy to break shields regularly.