4E Gammaworld

[Jaxilon]

Anyone tried the new 4e GammaWorld game? I remember playing Gammaworld decades ago and was thinking about picking this up for a change of pace in my gaming group. Besides, it's 4e which might help me understand what sort of battlemaps are needed for the 4e ruleset since I play GURPS instead of DnD. If it's rubbish however, I'll skip it.

[tilt]

nope.. only play 4e D&D, don't think I've ever played GammaWorld, but I'm not sure, but any advice I can give you about 4e D&D maps or the game itself, just ask - or mail me

[deanatglobe]

penny-arcade.com has a couple blog posts about it in the past week.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/2010/10/13/

[Halo of Gnats]

Oh boy, thanks for the link deanatglobe. I played the old Gamma World and those postings
make me want to buy the new one right away. Gracias.

Namasté,
~Tim

[Jaxilon]

Hmmm, I'm not a fan of cards myself. Did he say you drew cards for your character's mutations at every encounter? In other words, you are never the same twice? That sounds goofy. I don't recall the original game being goofy. You could get some bum mutations yes, but it wasn't a comedy game like say Paranoia. (That was a hilarious game).

[mearrin69]

The original game was kinda goofy...but that was part of the fun. No rolling mutations, though. I have the original book, the "cyber-badger" edition, the Alternity edition, and the D20 edition. All of them rock in their own way. Have to say, however, that I'm little tempted by the 4E version. I have nostalgia for the older stuff but I guess the Alternity version is probably my favorite. It was a very good rules system and it came bundled all in one book.

I didn't dig 4E all that much for D&D...not so much for the way it played as that I saw where it was going: endless books and an expansion into "collectible" territory with power cards and so forth. I spent quite enough on 3E books (which fill a rather large shelf in my office) and minis (which fill four large storage containers).

That said, if it does turn out to be a stand-alone product I'd pick it up just out of curiosity. The things I've heard about it make me thing it won't be though. I don't want to bag too much on WotC but they are masters of the "gotta catch 'em all" vibe and, then, when you take that bait, they drop the product mid-way through (witness D20 Modern, Saga, etc. etc.) its useful lifespan.

I'd probably buy Gamma World "Dungeon Tiles" if they had them though. And minis...I'd buy minis! But, for rules, I'll probably stick with Alternity.
M

[Jaxilon]

Well, I looked around and found another post that talked about what seems to be the mutations changing on your character all the time. That pretty much kills it for me. I'm ok with giant chickens toting machine guns and wearing pilot goggles but they crossed a line there with the ever changing mutations. I supposed it does have a certain comic effect when you don't know what you will be armed with next encounter but I'm not willing to shill out the cash to find out. That and the idea of there being (albeit optional) booster packs for the cards says I'll probably be just fine skipping it.

That's alright, I've got mutations in my current game world anyway. My players are great and we almost always have a real gut busting laugh at some point. Hehe, got a Dwarf that can climb but every time he tries the player fails his roll and he falls. He's on the verge of developing a phobia

[mearrin69]

Oh, the other thing that broke it for me was the backstory. I really loved the backstory (the little intro narrative at the front of the book) in the original and it tied right into the existence of cryptic alliances. Some of the later versions (including the Alternity edition) I liked less well. This one is even more hinkey...seems like they went a little "Rifts-y" with it. I stick with the original story.
M