@Benoist: Is it a standalone game or would i have to purchase other D&D stuff to play the game?

Quote from: Phantom Black;412966@Benoist: Is it a standalone game or would i have to purchase other D&D stuff to play the game?

Completely standalone.  We didn't use or need any 4E D&D books to play it.

Makes it tempting somewhat, but i don'T know.

Quote from: Phantom Black;412966@Benoist: Is it a standalone game or would i have to purchase other D&D stuff to play the game?

Indeed, completely standalone.

I also think that home-made cards will be fairly easy to come up with - no real need to get on the booster pack treadmill.

Quote from: Benoist;412948No, it's not really like Paranoia. Bear with me: there's a completely different approach to mortality in the GW game. Basically your HP total (which does NOT represent Health at all but a combination of skill, endurance, and such) replenishes itself after each encounter in the game. So the PCs can get killed for sure, but more by really mishandling an encounter or really getting piled on than just not having access to healing or whatnot. The logic's just different.


At the beginning of each encounter the players are supposed to draw an Alpha Mutation card from a deck. The effects are stuff like adrenaline rushes, layers of carapace spontaneously thickening your skin, that kind of thing. It keep things dynamic and changes the circumstances of each encounter you face, so no fight against a bunch of Porkers will ever feel the same.

I think it can be fun to play the game that way, but then again, maybe you'll want to ration the use of Mutation cards just houserule them out completely, both of which seems completely fine in the game. That is, you can for instance state that drawing cards from the Alpha Mutation deck is triggered by specific mutagene zones in the game. If the PCs don't get close to the mutagene element, they don't draw cards. Or maybe the mutations are triggered by the players' emotions, like "HULK ANGRY" effects you judge on the spot as a GM.

There are different ways of handling it. Now the "draw a card per encounter" is the base paradigm of the game, but it's really not hard to modify this in the game.

OK this is all starting to make more sense already!  

If the game lethally punishes players as a consequence for poor/stupid play I'm ok with that.  I got the wrong impression as it sounded from what I've seen so far (until now) like characters could get killed just because it's Gamma World and it's funny!  Almost like a cartoon.

I think I'm also ok with the explanation you've given for the Alpha power changes.  In a gonzo one off you could go crazy and have it happen more often.  For longer in depth games emotions or enviroments can trigger it less often for a more dramatic unpredictable effect.

I don't like the price of the boosters but making your own cards would be pretty simple and it would be an interesting way to house rule.

Hmmm food for thought Benoist.  Thanks.

Quote from: One Horse Town;412973I also think that home-made cards will be fairly easy to come up with - no real need to get on the booster pack treadmill.

Oh yes, totally. I'm going to scan a couple of cards to show people, and indeed, it really shouldn't be too hard to get a sense of what's cool, what's not, and make cards on our own from there. We could come up with a card template or something, too, to make it even easier. I'll see what I can do.

Quote from: One Horse Town;412973I also think that home-made cards will be fairly easy to come up with - no real need to get on the booster pack treadmill.

And the game evens suggests doing so if you desire.

Seanchai

So...do the cards have new mechanics...or just add cards for mechanics already in the game?

I'm fairly unclear on this.

I think the whole power and card thing needs a little explanation. I was put off by the idea as well but some people I trust said there were interesting things in this box and the price is certainly right, so I bought it. I haven't played (fair warning) but have prepped a game for Thursday night and rolled several characters.

Anyway here's the schtick.

First, you have two origins, a primary and a secondary. You roll them randomly but you can pick them if you like (though the rules clearly state that this makes you a big chicken, and I pretty much concur). The origins lay down your stat distribution, some special traits, and you core (immutable!) power list. These powers you always have. They don't change. Full stop.

Now you also have some cards. You have Alpha Mutation cards and you have Omega Tech cards. The story is that the world is still unstable after the Big Mistake -- timelines still occasionally get crossed and people (and things) get ... revised. Most of this has died down, so the really big upheavals don't happen much any more, but it still happens occasionally. You draw a couple of Alpha Mutation cards from a deck to start with. Whenever you roll a 1 there is an Alpha Surge and you get revised a little. But, again, your core features never change. Rather some ancillary feature is changed to some other one.

If this sticks in your craw (and it does a little for me) you can build your own deck to draw from. Because the minimum number of cards in the deck is 7, it's very easy to build a highly thematic deck and get alpha surges that are consistent with your character concept. You can omit (or stock up on!) the Paranoia-flavoured (giant clown feet!) ones and you will never draw them. Now if your character suddenly grows a blood-sucking proboscis it's your own damned fault and presumably exactly what you wanted.

The other deck is the Omega Tech deck and it's even less of an issue. Basically this is your magic item set and it's filled with stuff that only works once and then burns out or you can try and salvage it with your science skills and then use it indefinitely at a reduced capability. Again, stacking these decks is central to building a theme and it's very easy to do. The GM will want to stack decks by encounter, I think, but the idea that the players can draw from their own deck and get treasure THEY WANT some of the time is probably a good idea, avoiding the "well no one wants a MACE so put it in the Value Village bin" syndrome. A firm grip on the distinction between player and character should keep this working without a lot of narrative strain. If you like, only draw from the GM's stacked decks and tighten the screws on theme that way.

Finally, the booster packs. These are wholly optional. This has been addressed adequately I think. What hasn't been well handled is the fact that I think they are highly desirable. You don't need a ton, but having a few to assist in stacking up some theme decks is pretty cool. No one is at an advantage having done so, but honestly as supplementary material goes, it's a pretty tight way to package crunch. And it all keeps fitting in the box, which is a big deal for me.

The book is ugly, printed in a fucking TINY typeface and the index is a new low. The organization is okay. The binding quality is ass.

Thanks a ton for the clarification.

I think you just unsold me on it, but I do really appreciate you clearing it up.

I really think this shouldn't be grounds to unsold someone on Gamma Word. There are a number of ways you can use or not use the cards if you want to, as I alluded to in the thread. Thinking you'd have a lot of trouble modifying the use of the cards and/or make up your own etc would be dead wrong. It's really easy.

Quote from: Halfjack;412991The book is ugly, printed in a fucking TINY typeface and the index is a new low. The organization is okay. The binding quality is ass.

This part of Halfjack's post I just completely disagree with. I guess it's a question of POVs.

Quote from: Benoist;412995I really think this shouldn't be grounds to unsold someone on Gamma Word. There are a number of ways you can use or not use the cards if you want to, as I alluded to in the thread. Thinking you'd have a lot of trouble modifying the use of the cards and/or make up your own etc would be dead wrong. It's really easy.


This part of Halfjack's post I just completely disagree with. I guess it's a question of POVs.

Eh, the set-up just doesn't sound like something I think I'd get too excited about in play is all.

It's cool.

Quote from: Benoist;412995This part of Halfjack's post I just completely disagree with. I guess it's a question of POVs.

Dude, it's in a 6-point condensed typeface, a very light-weight cover around perfect binding (with the cover-wrap already coming away from the cover pages), and the index is 3/4 of a page in a larger face than the rest of the book. I have NEVER YET found the word I was looking for in the index. And I was looking for "Armor Class", "initiative", and "burst". There are 62 entries in an index for a 160 page book.

I think the only genuinely subjective part about my critique of the book proper there is "ugly". I'll concede some might like the green, purple, and orange motif.