Quote from: kregmosier;409273nice little tidbits posted over at a WotC community blog:

http://community.wizards.com/alphastream1/blog/2010/10/08/gamma_world_add-ons!

Thank you Kregmosier!

Here's some interesting stuff:

Gamma World Cheat Sheet:
1) No healing surges: you regain all your hit points during a short rest.
2) Second wind is a minor action that recovers ½ your original HP
3) If you use gun ammunition more than once in an encounter, you will be out of ammo after the encounter.

Hmm...so HP regain is super-fast, negating a need for healers most likely.  You apparently can't run out of ammo during combat, only afterwards.  However, there is certainly an impetus to switch weapons IF finding ammo isn't easy.

Skills       Key Ability
Acrobatics    Dexterity
Athletics      Strength
Conspiracy    Intelligence
Insight       Wisdom
Interaction    Charisma
Mechanics    Intelligence
Nature       Wisdom
Perception    Wisdom
Science       Intelligence
Stealth       Dexterity

I bolded the new ones.   I am most interested in Conspiracy.   I wonder what that means and how its used in play.   A Lore skill?   Are all monsters known by the Nature skill?

Interaction is an odd name.  Your catch-all social skill?

Basic attack:
Atk bonus=Ability mod.+your level+Acc.vs. AC
Damage=1[W]+Ability mod.+your level

Wow, so your level adds a full +1 to Atk and Dmg.  Most likely to skills as well instead of the 4e +1/2 level.   I guess that works fine for a 10 level game.


WEAPONS TABLE
Unarmed Attacks    Ability    Acc.   [W]
Quick attack    Dex/Int    +3     1d4
Powerful attack    Str/Con    +2     1d8

Light Melee    Ability    Acc.   [W]
1-handed weapon    Dex/Int    +3     1d8
2-handed weapon    Dex/Int    +3     1d12

Heavy Melee    Ability    Acc.   [W]
1-handed weapon    Str/Con    +2     1d10
2-handed weapon    Str/Con    +2     2d8

Light Ranged    Ability    Acc.   [W]    Range
1-handed weapon    Dex/Int    +3     1d8        5
1-handed gun*    Dex/Int    +4     1d8      10
2-handed weapon    Dex /Int    +3     1d12    10
T2-handed gun*    Dex/Int    +4     1d12    20

Heavy Ranged    Ability    Acc.   [W]    Range
1-handed weapon    Str/Con    +2     1d10      5
1-handed gun*    Str/Con    +2     2d6      10
2-handed weapon    Str/Con    +2     2d8      10
2-handed gun*    Str/Con    +2     2d10    20
*This weapon requires ammunition.

Hmm...I like how unarmed combat is either Quick or Powerful.  Also, the dual ability options are interesting.  Definitely there is a concept of trading Accuracy for Damage and guns get +1 accuracy, but do similiar damage to non-guns. Kinda odd since finding a techno-weapon was usually a big event vs. unpowered low tech weaponry.

Armor
Light: +3 AC
Heavy: +7 AC, -1 speed, no Dex/Int bonus to AC
Shield: +1 AC

So Heavy armor is only for characters lacking a DEX/INT bonus.

ORIGINS

I don't see a Pure Strain Human option.  Maybe its in the rules.  I'd love to hear what the PSH get instead of the Origin abilities.  

The origin selection is good - androids, animals, bugs, psi powers and plants.   Everything you'd want in a GW game.

I gotta say...I'm thinking about running Rifts with this.  Not the current canon where its all techno-city states, but the original setting which was lots of wilderness full of mutants, demons and monsters and you played a bunch of augmented humans, psychics and wizards who couldn't be allowed inside the safe havens so you had to live on the fringe.

CARD LIST

http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/26023881/Card_List

Isn't it bizarre that the text from the cards...the whole concept behind the anti-piracy hope...is being published on the WotC site???

Interesting stuff on the cards...at high levels, you can Salvage stuff which I would love to know what that means exactly.  

Overall, the tech on the cards are pretty badass.  But its clear that if you want more tech, you will buy boosters.

Engineered Human is the Pure Strain human option.

Conspiracy Skill is a bit like history and lore combined. You might use it to figure out artifacts in ways that Science wouldn't help with, for example.

The guns in the game aren't techno weapons, theyre just guns. The guns in the Omega tech however, are pretty bad-ass.

I'm combining Rifts with it as well.

Quote from: Abyssal Maw;409329Engineered Human is the Pure Strain human option.

I thought characters had 2 origins?   Does the PSH just get one?
 

Quote from: Abyssal Maw;409329Conspiracy Skill is a bit like history and lore combined. You might use it to figure out artifacts in ways that Science wouldn't help with, for example.

When would Science not help with artifacts?  

Quote from: Abyssal Maw;409329The guns in the game aren't techno weapons, theyre just guns.

What kind of gun tech is assumed to be the baseline?  Are we talking flintlocks?  Wild West revolvers?  Glocks?

For Gamma World (wer'e talking the TSR 1992 version) I had the house rule that character regained 1/2 their hitpoints between encounters.

The way I see it unless you are playing an attritional style game like a dungeon crawl in which the resource management aspect is important the only interesting thing about hit points is whether you survive the encounter. Once the encounter is over, you might as well reset your hit points because, frankly, unless you are fighting whether who cares if you are at full or half hit points.

If you want to justify it you can explain how in  hit point represent as well as health also luck and stress and happy thoughts, none of which require medical attention. But we all know that just a fudge - hit points are just a cheap way to keep track how well a fight is going.

That said, I think the "Hit Point Reserves" rule of Omega World is a slightly more elegant implementation. Omega World was very slick.

Incidentally my Gamma World house rules also contained a rule which  is very similar to what in D20  terms would become Massive Damage Threshold concept.

What can I say, I guess I was ahead of my times :-)

Quote from: Abyssal Maw;409329Engineered Human is the Pure Strain human option.

Ah, now that answers a question I've had and couldn't get answered. I can understand them changing the name, but "engineered" implies, at least to me, something that isn't like the original.

I hate to be the one coming up with the idea out loud but... what if Gamma World was a training grounds for a Fifth Edition of the game the same way Star Wars SAGA was to 4th edition?

Quote from: Benoist;409342I hate to be the one coming up with the idea out loud but... what if Gamma World was a training grounds for a Fifth Edition of the game the same way Star Wars SAGA was to 4th edition?

5E D&D = 4E Gamma World + even more stripped down 4E Essentials style classes + random cards

:pundit:

If the random cards mechanic becomes popular for 4E Gamma World and 4E D&D later in 2011, then it wouldn't be too surprising if random cards become an integral part of 5E D&D.  If the random cards turn out to be meh or a flop sales wise, then it will probably not be an integral part of 5E D&D.

Quote from: ggroy;409353If the random cards mechanic becomes popular for 4E Gamma World and 4E D&D later in 2011, then it wouldn't be too surprising if random cards become an integral part of 5E D&D.  If the random cards turn out to be meh or a flop sales wise, then it will probably not be an integral part of 5E D&D.

Well since WotC's main activity has always been Magic: The Gathering and CCGs, the company would wet itself if it could inject the CCG business model into D&D's once and for all.

Quote from: Benoist;409356Well since WotC's main activity has always been Magic: The Gathering and CCGs, the company would wet itself if it could inject the CCG business model into D&D's once and for all.

D&D becoming assimilated by M:tG in a "Borg" like manner.

Resistance is futile!  

Quote from: Benoist;409342I hate to be the one coming up with the idea out loud but... what if Gamma World was a training grounds for a Fifth Edition of the game the same way Star Wars SAGA was to 4th edition?

It's a reasonable guess. Nothing would surprise me when it comes to new editions of the game. I'll say this: if 5e does come in the next couple of years, and it consists of thick, hardbound, $35+ books, then I'm not going to take much than a passing interest in it. If it comes out and it's priced like Essentials and has a "light" version that can be added to, then I'll be much more interested.

By the way, speaking of speculation...I wonder if Gamma World will presage a "4e Modern"?

Quote from: ColonelHardisson;409366By the way, speaking of speculation...I wonder if Gamma World will presage a "4e Modern"?

The fact they call it a "genre supplement for 4th edition" would tend to support this type of speculation. Who knows? A priori, I wouldn't be terribly interested by 4e Modern, personally. Other genres? Maybe. Depends.

Quote from: Benoist;409342I hate to be the one coming up with the idea out loud but... what if Gamma World was a training grounds for a Fifth Edition of the game the same way Star Wars SAGA was to 4th edition?

Every game will be a "training ground" whether intentionally or otherwise.   If GW is a success, we will certainly see its concepts be integrated in future WotC RPGs.

D&D 5e is coming.  I just wonder if Shadowrun 4e or WoD 3e will come out first.

Quote from: ggroy;409353If the random cards mechanic becomes popular for 4E Gamma World and 4E D&D later in 2011, then it wouldn't be too surprising if random cards become an integral part of 5E D&D.

Dear Chicken Little, it's not 1997 anymore...

Seanchai