Has anybody played/perused?
What did you think?

I just aquired and it appears to be well done and thought out. Book is  fun to read and nice art. Very easy to make a character, seems to be a great rules light system!

And a mutant supplement is coming soon!

I've got it in PDF form, it is quite awesome. I've not read it all the way through yet however.

Quote from: Silverlion;393703I've got it in PDF form, it is quite awesome. I've not read it all the way through yet however.

 Definitely firing on all cylinders! It only took me 5 minutes to chargen. after one read.
How awesome is that!

man that looks neat.  I just can't justify $30 for an RPG book though, and I love print items - hate trying to game with a PDF.

Quote from: thedungeondelver;393708man that looks neat.  I just can't justify $30 for an RPG book though, and I love print items - hate trying to game with a PDF.

I agree. I initialy balked at the price but came back the next day with a bag full o' games that were gathering dust and presto *Atomic Highway*...had a hard time letting go of 'The Morrow Project' but I like the feel of AH better for post apoc. play and AH can model MP with ease without all the crunch.

Yeah, gaming with a PDF is a pain.

Would you posit that AH has stuff built in to run a super-gritty Twilight:2000 game (obviously skipping the Mutants supplement)?

The last time I ran T2k it degenerated into Big Damn Heroes versus Disposable Red Hordes and that's really not what I'm after: I want some grim grittyness, some real end-times feel to the game, sort of Cormack McCarthy's The Road by way of saving private ryan with a touch of Red Dawn thrown in.

Quote from: thedungeondelver;393797Would you posit that AH has stuff built in to run a super-gritty Twilight:2000 game (obviously skipping the Mutants supplement)?.

I'm not sure the mechanics are that gritty. They're solid but I think they lean a bit "heroic." The default rules also have a few mutants in the fluff and  mechanics for them. (Called Trogs.)

I think its grittier than some--certainly viable for the Mad Max style settings where the player characters are going to be important and area impacting in the long run.

ODDBALL Question here:
Is it possible that a hardcover or softcover version of Atomic Highway might be available at Gen Con?

I don't buy pdfs - but sometimes I have found POD/softcover versions of things available at Gen Con and ORIGINS that were worth purchasing.


- Ed C.

Quote from: Silverlion;393832I'm not sure the mechanics are that gritty. They're solid but I think they lean a bit "heroic." The default rules also have a few mutants in the fluff and  mechanics for them. (Called Trogs.)

I think its grittier than some--certainly viable for the Mad Max style settings where the player characters are going to be important and area impacting in the long run.

It can be very gritty with only a slight amount of house-ruling.  The base mechanic is you roll xd6 based on your stat and add a number of points based on your skill to get as many 6's as possible.  Natural 6's explode, but you can't spend points on the second roll to make it a 6.

Damage is based on a (weapon value + successes to hit) - armor, so you can dish out some serious damage very, very quickly against.

Healing is done strictly through the Heal check and natural healing.  If you wanted to make healing more difficult you can simply modify the skill or apply a penalty to the roll based on how wounded the target is.  So you have someone with 4 dice and 4 skill rolling to heal someone who has taken 8 damage (as an example).  They lose the 4 skill and have to give up four more points from the rolls.  If they roll 6, 6, 4, 1 then they'd be left with only two sixes (which can explode) and would miss out on the third success they would have without the penalty.

You could also eliminate Fortune (luck points, bennies, fate points, etc).

I don't know how gritty it should be, or if there is a specific mechanic that should be matched up with the system, but from our play experiences it is often a very brutal game.

Yeah...sounds neat but not what I'm looking for, ultimately.

Quote from: thedungeondelver;393797Would you posit that AH has stuff built in to run a super-gritty Twilight:2000 game (obviously skipping the Mutants supplement)?

The last time I ran T2k it degenerated into Big Damn Heroes versus Disposable Red Hordes and that's really not what I'm after: I want some grim grittyness, some real end-times feel to the game, sort of Cormack McCarthy's The Road by way of saving private ryan with a touch of Red Dawn thrown in.

Have you checked out The Marrow Project? Sounds exactly what you are looking for.

It seems to me that grittiness etc. is supplied by the style of play and genre conventions used in the game world as opposed to the mechanics of the rule set used as they are all provisional.I think that AH could definitely do what you want just set the proper tone and make sure the players jive with it!

cheeers!

Quote from: skofflox;393853Have you checked out The Marrow Project? Sounds exactly what you are looking for.

It seems to me that grittiness etc. is supplied by the style of play and genre conventions used in the game world as opposed to the mechanics of the rule set used as they are all provisional.I think that AH could definitely do what you want just set the proper tone and make sure the players jive with it!

cheeers!

Morrow Project is one of those things I've been meaning to have a long look at; perhaps I will.  I think AH is probably better suited to I ONLY WANT THE GUZZOLINE - I PROMISE YOU SAFE PASSAGE OUT OF THIS WASTELAND! sort of things (not that this and Twilight:2000 are necessarily distinct from one another, but T2k is more of a military kinda game...) anyway, that doesn't mean I'll never look at AH, rest assured.

Quote from: skofflox;393853Have you checked out The Marrow Project?

cheeers!

I'd totally buy that.

Quote from: thedungeondelver;393869Morrow Project is one of those things I've been meaning to have a long look at; perhaps I will.  I think AH is probably better suited to I ONLY WANT THE GUZZOLINE - I PROMISE YOU SAFE PASSAGE OUT OF THIS WASTELAND! sort of things (not that this and Twilight:2000 are necessarily distinct from one another, but T2k is more of a military kinda game...) anyway, that doesn't mean I'll never look at AH, rest assured.

A few points about TMP. In its latest version it is a % system with a military type feel to it so lots of gadgets. A chunky damage system and a few things to track such as reloads/ammo, encumberance etc.
The very basic premise is the characters have come out of some sort of deep freeze to help restore the world.Some group with a ton of cash set up the whole system of bases/personel before the end came and now they must recon and restore order...but who knows what they will really do! various factions challenge this of coarse.
It does have suggestions for some psionic type abilities and has some mutant creatures as potential foes but it does not stress these points merely gives ideas.

WOW,lots of TMP interest...I just traded my copy in with some modules as well. I got mine from Noble Night. I kept the patches with the section symbols though (they did not come with game). Really cool stuff!
An interesting set of novels by Wayland Drew called The Erth ring cycle could be a great source of inspiration. Interesting dynamics between the decendents of the survivors in the wild and those with the slowly failing tech. Awesome read IMO.

Quote from: skofflox;393872A few points about TMP. In its latest version it is a % system with a military type feel to it so lots of gadgets. A chunky damage system and a few things to track such as reloads/ammo, encumberance etc.
The very basic premise is the characters have come out of some sort of deep freeze to help restore the world.Some group with a tone of cash set up the whole system of bases/personel before the end came and now they must recon and resrore order...but who knows what they will really do! various factions challenge this of coarse.
It does have suggestions for some psionic type abilities and has some mutant creatures as potential foes but it does not stress these points merely gives ideas.

Oh I know all about the Morrow Project - how the founder (Morrow) was likely a time traveler who had created the project with the intent of being able to quickly reestablish society after the coming nuclear war, how a terror group had bombed Prime Base and instead of the "Bolt Holes" being brought back on-line 5 years after, it's 150 years after, etc.

The fluff text is fascinating (probably some of the best postholocaust gaming background I've ever read, it pares nicely to the white knuckle in your face this is now immediacy of T2k and the gonzo might as well be D&D feel that Gamma World offers.