After nearly 10 years, the post apocalyptic adventures of Gamma World have returned. This time around multiple dimensions of the Earth were squashed together in a great cataclysm when something in Europe’s Large Hadron Collider goes “bloop”. In an instant multiple Earths with different timelines collide with our own creating chaos and global devastation. Gamma World is a somewhat goofy role playing game set in this alternate future. Players take on the role of creatures like giant cockroaches, mind-bending teddy bears, or even a swarm of angry intelligent cats. Based off the popular, new 4th edition of the Dungeons and Dragons role playing game, Gamma World offers gamers a slightly simpler and zanier gaming experience in a single box set.

Right from the start, the game reveals its true nature. Rather than carefully designing a character from scratch, players roll twice on a table of 20 possible character backgrounds to determine their two starting backgrounds. Each background grants the character some basic bonuses, abilities, and powers so there is no need to go selecting anything additional such as a race or character class. The backgrounds vary from archetypes such as “speedster”, “seismic”, or even “swarm” to backgrounds tied to mutant species like “feline” or “cockroach”.

There is also equipment to be had, so characters can outfit themselves with anything from armor made from old street signs, the hide of some great mutant insect, or even an old fashioned Colt 45. Who wouldn’t choose a gun over some mamby-pamby compound bow and arrow? Well, guns use ammunition. Rather than tracking the details of ammunition, characters either have ammo or they don’t. Use your gun too much all at once and you’re considered to be “out” until you get a chance to find/buy/barter for more. Use your ammo sparingly and you won’t have to worry about finding more. This is just one example of several ways the game streamlines little details to keep the game focused more on having fun and less on preserving total realism. (And who needs realism when you’re a hawk-man running around with a laser gun?)

Now, some timelines are more advanced than our own (Area 51? – pish posh, Area 52 is where all the COOL stuff is at) and that brings in some strange technology into the whole mix. One of the more controversial parts of the game is the addition of two types of cards. The first is Omega Tech cards. Omega Tech is technology that is powerful, futuristic, and very rare. So of course player’s will seek it out any chance they get. As a common reward, players can draw a card from the Omega Tech deck which grants them a new futuristic “toy” with which to play. Typically, after a use or two they tend to go away so players are always gaining new ones, although the rules do allow players to try to rig up a slightly less powerful version they can then keep on a permanent basis.

The second introduction of cards comes from the Alpha Mutation deck. Every so often (typically QUITE often, such as whenever they encounter a conflict), players may exhibit some new mutation that just “appears”. They draw a card from the Alpha Mutation deck (to replace their old one) and then have to deal with all the drawbacks (typically slight) and advantages and powers granted by the card. These can even get downright silly such as giving a player big floppy clown feet, etc…

The controversy over the cards stems both from the implied randomness that they introduce, but also from their sale in randomized booster packs. The game box comes with a basic set of cards for players to use, but the game encourages players to go out and buy “booster packs” to use to create their own private, customized decks of cards to use. While I do respect the chaos and random silliness that the cards can introduce into the game, I’m not so sure I’m a fan of the whole random distribution method. Hopefully, since Gamma World isn’t a completive game, the cards won’t end up being used in some sort of power escalation where players buy many, many packs of cards just to build an especially powerful deck.

Overall, I’m impressed with the new Gamma World RPG. It packs everything you need (except dice) to play in one handy box. The game does a great job of taking a semi-crazy situation such as nuclear/mutant/futuristic Armageddon and using that setting to create a fun, fast paced, not-too-serious role playing game. I appreciated how even the rule book went out of its way to encourage a somewhat laid-back approach to the game by lampooning itself and encouraging fun over rules in every situation. The game master (the player who typically designs the adventure and plays all the opponents) is encouraged to take every-day places and situations (the local college or high school, a nearby small town, etc…) and re-imagine them into strange new situations (perhaps controlled by a local biker gang made up of mutated hogs?) The “fun” aspect of the game encourages more role playing by the players and diminishes the tendency of gamers who may otherwise simply get caught up in the rules of combat and treat it all as a strategy game. The game system is designed to get anyone familiar with the Dungeons and Dragons role playing game up and running quickly in Gamma World, it still manages to be fairly accessible to gamers who have never played a role playing game before. While it would be possible to pick up and play the game without any previous RPG experience, the game is best played with at least one player familiar with the basics of RPGs.

If the whole Gamma World discussion has piqued your interest, go online to the Wizards of the Coast web site and check out their Event locator. This coming Saturday, October 23, is a World Wide Game Day based around the Gamma World game. Look up a location near you and drop by the store to get a chance to play Gamma World in a special adventure just for the occasion. Everyone who participates even gets two free Gamma World “cards” to take home with them! Starting times vary from store to store, so be sure to look up the times for any location near you.

Even if you miss out on the big “game day”, Gamma World is a great pick-up-and-play style game that fills a nice niche of very short-term role playing games. Sure, you could play through long adventures, but where Gamma World really shines is in shorter adventures that can take advantage of each player’s situation and preferences. The crazy situations encountered in the game lend themselves well to shorter episodic adventures that could be played during breaks in a longer campaign or for groups that simply can’t commit to a long-term game.

Kid Factor:
This is a role playing game, so the person playing the “game master” role needs to be able to handle quite a bit of information and be able to help coach the players along. I’d recommend 12 to 13 years at a minimum. All that said, the players themselves could be quite young, particularly with an experienced game master who can be flexible with the rules to accommodate whatever the kids want to accomplish. Interested kids in the mid grade school age ( 7 or 8 ) should be able to muddle through with help and have a good time. While the game does deal with death and killing things (well, killing bad things), it is only as gory and violent as the players make it. The rulebook with its cartoonish art and humorous writing is a fun read and is nothing I would keep away from a young teen or tween.

Tags: Game Reviews, Misc, Unplugged