FREE Thundarr the Barbarian adventure!

The exemplary Mind Wizard Sniderman has put together a FREE RPG adventure themed to his popular Thundarr the Barbarian posts. It comes complete with pre-generated characters (play as Ookla!) and is written as a convention one-shot. Just the thing for your Saturday night mutant ooze and pretzels gaming!

The module is called Across the Dimensional Divide and is written for Mutant Future rules, but we all know that just means it can be revamped for your game of choice, yes?

I see heads nodding, so let's cut to commercial.

X-Plorers Now Available!

This is a repost from Exonauts, but I added a few clarifications. Also, a while back Brutorz Bill asked me if it was possible to use X-Plorers as the engine for a post-apocalyptic game. I'm officially throwing the gauntlet down for this challenge! I think it's totally possible, and while I'll keep my own Gamma setting stuff fairly neutral--I dare anyone to make it happen! (In this example dare = hope!). If you attempt it, please shoot me an email or post and link back.

Okay, on with the show....

CALLING ALL X-PLORERS....

X-Plorers is now available as a box set, softcover print-on-demand, or a no-art FREE download. You now have THREE WAYS to start conquering the galaxy--and you could be doing so as soon as THIS AFTERNOON while you wait for your box or softcover to arrive in the mail. Here's a look at the inside of the softcover....



The game is rules-light and can be played as-is, but it's REAL strength is in it's ability to be fiddled with under the hood. Personally, I like to tinker and I'm working on my own setting using the rules. If you're looking for more resources to help get started, check out the X-Plorers tab on the top of this blog.

On a side note, the venerable Space Admiral and X-Plorers Publisher John Adams is holding a new character sheet design contest. The winner will receive a FREE box set of the game! So submit your designs to Brave Halfling. UPDATE: the PC sheet size is 5.5 x 8.5" and John has not yet set a deadline. He also reports that there are approximately 50 Boxed Sets are left--but that was a few days ago...

More info:

• Here's a link to what's included in the box sets.
• What's new in this edition and what it's all about.

Anyway, go get your copy and start X-ploring!

Appendix "G": Inspirational Sources

Literature, movies, and TV have long served as inspirational sources for games (duh!). Fantasy games in particular have a well known list, created by Gary Gygax and co. that has been amended through time, but it's name has remained: Appendix N. Star Frontiers was among one TSR's early efforts at science fiction and they published a comparable list of sci-fi for that game as well.

It got me thinking that it would be nice to have an "Appendix N" for the Post Apocalyptic genre. And while there's no codified criteria, I think there are some easy ones to list, not to mention a few that I personally enjoy. So I've begun compiling a list, which also includes some of my own choices that may or may not be directly related to P.A. per se. For instance, I'm not sure Buckaroo Banzai counts as post apocalyptic, but it's certainly weird and wahoo enough that I find it inspiring. :)

I'm calling the list Appendix Gamma or Appendix G for short. I've had this on the blog for a while, but I've added several new links recently so it seemed appropriate to call it out. It's not a "complete" list (and that's also kind of on purpose since it's mainly stuff I'm looking to inspire this blog) but at least the "easy" ones are on there. Feel free to drop any other suggestions in the comments.

Gaming with Strangers and Observations About Gamma World D&D 4E

I'm a little late posting this, but I still wanted to capture my experience at the Gamma World Mega Event at the Source back on June 4th. The event had three goals: sign-up, roll-up a character, and then play a demo game. We had the opportunity to create characters from either the Gamma World box set, or the two supplements: Legion of Gold and Famine in Far-go. I rolled up a telekinetic yeti named PSI-Squatch.

I'm not one to provide overly lengthy play reports unless it was really outrageous (RPGs are definitely a "ya had to be there" phenomenon, yes?) but we played two encounters--a wilderness battle and another inside a factory. The overall goal was just to get novice players some game-time under their belts, and to get to know one another (more on that in a second).

Our GM was a nice guy named Tabor who provided all the materials we needed. I brought my own rule book (since the last time I'd rolled up a PC it took forever using one book among 6 players). He'd chopped his bindings in favor of wire-bound and I took mine to Staples office supplies to do the same. It turned out to be a GREAT help and it will be a lot easier on the book in the long run as I flip through the pages at the table.

As you likely already know, the 4E D&D version of Gamma World is big on tactical combat. It's a much lighter version, but it does rely on that engine to drive encounters. But there's still a great deal of bonus/penalty dealing, and lots of rule haggling when the booster cards come in to play (especially with newbies). Don't get me wrong--the cards can be a lot of fun--but they can also end up slowing things down. Maybe it's just an effect of playing with strangers. Though playing this version made me more hungry to play Mutant Future or an older GW edition. I'm chomping at the bit to play one of those (maybe 2E GW if I had to pick).

At our game, the majority of the players was learning to play these new rules AND we don't know each other. Yes, we make believe, but it's in a very stilted manner. So we concentrate on adding and subtracting and don't actually interact with one another.

As we get more comfortable with the game, we relax and banter a bit, but no one's settled enough to be themselves. And yet, that's the beauty of RPGs right there--get people to have fun and socialize, right?

I did have fun--which is all that really matters--and I think that I'll continue to do so. I'm hoping to get in some more games. I'd signed up for a couple, hoping to try out playing with different GMs at the helm, but so far work/life has kept me from the table. When I get to play again, I hope to spend more time getting to know the players, bone-up on the rules, and really--imagining the hell out of it.

X-plorers RPG now in a box set!

"Be careful, it could be a fossilgeist!"

Finally, X-plorers is back! And yes, I've bandied about the blog-o-sphere putting this up where I can because 1.) I worked on it and had a blast and 2.) I love the game--it's mega user-friendly. There's not shame in that, right? But there's only a limited run so get yours now.

It's old-school-esque and rules light enough to allow for any setting of your own design. Hmmm...that makes me wonder about using it for GWW......

Enjoy!

So which rules? Which edition?

When I started this blog, I wanted it to be centered on creative ideas--less so on the crunch. I feel like as I creep more towards fleshing out a campaign setting I've got to clarify (for myself at least) what type of rule structure this would operate under. While I expect I'll get to the crunch at some point, I decided immediately to avoid making anything edition-specific for now. Also, I've really only played the D&D 4E version of Gamma World (seventh iteration, if you're keeping score).

That said, I've got my hands on Mutant Future and the First Edition of Gamma World and I'd LOVE to play those--possibly even prefer it since they seem to be more malleable when it comes to creating a campaign setting. 4E is less so, because the rules themselves ARE, in sense, the setting, with the randomness mechanics providing much of the flavor of the game. This isn't bad, but it does make for a gaming experience that's wholly unique. Though it's worth mentioning that there are ways to reduce the randomness in 4E so that a homebrew setting could be more easily integrated. 

I don't want to make too much of 4E's randomness either. It's a fabulous game as is, and yes, you can add whatever flavor you want to it. But I think any Gamma-head out there will agree that the original version, along with the retro-clone of Mutant Future can better function as blank petri dishes from which to grow-your-own variety of Gamma Terra. I also considered spilling a little After the Bomb over the top of my Gamma Sundae, so who knows really what the final flavor will be.

So for now, GWW will try to keep it neutral, but I'm sure that I'll end up including stats, houserules, etc. at some point and I'll do my best to be clear what which rulesets would best apply.

My trip to Gamma Terra...

Following is a repost from Exonauts, October 25, 2010.

Here's a pic I took of the event poster, in where else? The bathroom (no lie).

Saturday, I attended the Gamma World release event at the Source Comics and Games (my FLGS) here in the Twin Cities. It's been about a year since I've played D&D 4E, and I have to say I felt really rusty. In fact, I'm sure I annoyed some of the other players, but in my defense I played the "newb" at the table so I ended up with several people helping me along with some of the crunch.

The Source held two sessions (11:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.) each running about four hours. Since I'd been offered tickets to go see the Gopher game in the morning (they lost--surprise!) I went to the latter. After signing up, I was placed at a table with four other players (three of whom who were pals) and another fellow. They all seemed like nice guys, the three who knew each other seemed to be regular--or at least non-novice-- 4E players and had things down pat. We all began as 1st Level PCs. Our little A-Team of mutants consisted of:

• Chitter-Chitter: a rat swarm in humanoid form that had psionic powers and wielded the Skillet of Justice™
• Catnip: a feline plant who later acquired a Heavy-lift Harness (think Ripley in Aliens)
• Frank: I misheard his origin, but I think he was an enhanced human of some kind with a hoverboard and and fantastically high mechanics skill
• Kenshiro: again, chargen was somewhat chaotic, but I think he was made out of rock or metal, he swung a brick flail
• Zeke the Beak: a giant hawkoid who swung a full-sized mailbox and a harpoon gun, and donned armor made of salvaged ironing boards

I played Zeke. Here's a rendering:

Zeke's stats (with modifiers:
STR: 18 (+4)
DEX: 14 (+2)
CON: 16 (+3)
WIS: 16 (+3)
INT: 10 (n/a)
CHA: 7 (-2)
HP: 28 / Bloodied: 14
Zeke had a Nature skill with a +4, which came in completely useless as he had a habit of rolling natural 1's. Oh, and being a hawkoid, he could of course fly his speed (6).

AC: 18
Fortitude: 14
Reflex: 13
Will: 14

The demo module, "Trouble in Freesboro" has five encounters. *Spoiler!* We started outside on a lonely highway and came across some porkers (humanoid pigs) and a swarm of radioactive birds which proved down-right tough to kill. That encounter lasted forever. Later we sauntered over to a research lab where we fought some bots on a rooftop and made our way into the main event (thus skipping two encounters).

There has already been plenty of reviews of the material included in the new set, unboxing videos, and plenty of discussion, so I won't rehash, but I will tell you my initial impressions. For ease, I'll just bullet:

• First off, we'd all purchased our own booster cards as required by WotC and the store, though the GM was a swell guy and I want to say he'd have been lenient and let us share or borrow a few from his deck.
• As we all know, 4E is heavy on the crunch, and that's not diluted in Gamma World, however it does play a bit faster and looser. For instance, stats on single and two-handed weapons are listed without going into every permutation thereof, my two-handed mailbox was just as as deadly as say a two-handed parking meter.
• I'll admit, I'm an idiot sometimes, but I was annoyed that the character sheet and stat blocks for powers (in the manual) are an overcrowded nightmare. Half the time I couldn't tell what I was looking at, let along what blank I had to fill in. Being an idiot in a rush to complete his character didn't help.
• We did roll quite a few skills that (if it were an OSR game) we likely didn't need to roll for. Frank's mechanic skill (padded through bonuses and some equipment he'd acquired) often ended up in the 30+ range. Yet the GM had him roll his mechanics skill at least three times--twice to defeat door locks.  After a while the GM did relent, again, in the interest of moving things along. I wish this were less a GM-style issue, and more encouraged by the rules themselves.
• Damage in GW is insanely brutal, with many rounds running like a live-action cartoon of carnage. While fun, we  were warned early and often that we may have to roll up new PCs.
• The prospect of chargen during the game seems ridiculous to me since it took so long in the first place. The GM had his hands full with the five of us rolling up shiny new PCs. Even with 4E players using a photo copy of the armor and origin tables, it took nearly 40 min. While it would go much faster once you knew what you were doing, each origin has it's own inherited powers so you'd better be familiar with the book if you want it go faster. I had my own solution.*
•  Apart from these, I'm actually a big fan of the random booster cards. They were definitely the stars of the show and made for an exciting game overall. Early previews of the game had criticized it with more power-boosting/munchkining, but since the game's main strength is its outlandishness (and frankly, it's point) I see this as a benefit.
• Alpha mutations make up not only your origin, but play a big part from encounter to encounter.  
• Omega tech is likely far too powerful for OSR tastes, being plentiful in the way of a deck each player can collect, and having the ability to be "overcharged" to enhance performance, but often limits it to single or limited use.
• All in all I had a lot of fun and I'd play again, though it's quite apparent that so much of the game is sucked up checking rules. This seems like it would be the case for anyone (GM or PCs) learning a new game though, so might not be a big issue in the long run.

Adventure-wise, I don't even know that it would be worth while to recap the whole debacle because it was insane!  Here I thought my giant birdman slapping people around with a mailbox would be the life of the party--but the scene stealer was Catnip climbing up the side of the lab building in the load harness by punching holes in the exterior wall. Even better was his descent down a stairwell that, uh, didn't go so well for the stairs.While we ended up with Catnip and Kenshiro down to 1 and 2 HP respectively, our claim to fame was becoming one of the few groups that day to have all PCs make it the end alive. Quite the feat when you figure that despite the harsh combat, the GM didn't pull any punches.

While all four of the guys playing were great roleplayers, Frank's player sort of became the default "leader" tracking initiative, helping move things along, and knew his rules (even helping the GM) and this made for a better, smoother game experience.

In the end, Zeke flew away with:

• 420 XP
• A downed robot's head, which he sported as a hat
• A kalidoscope that which he eventually traded with Chitter-Chitter for a pair of swim goggles

The Source received a few extra copies of the module and by the end of the night they gave a few to interested parties, such as myself, which was much appreciated! I'd ordered the game online and it arrived at home the day I played (fate!) so I was pleased as punch to dig into the material.

While it would have been nice to have them included in the box, I had the chance to pick out my own set of "irradiated die", pictured above with the Freesboro module.

In any case, I think any group could improve on some of the crunchiness. *To save time I snapped a photos of the powers for my giant (origin 1) hawkoid (origin 2) powers on my smartphone rather than write them all out in a mad dash (which I tried and ended up not being able to read my own scribbles). It was a handy workaround for looking up powers on the fly.

Zeke's favorite tactic was to "deliver the mail" using Brickbat.

Zeke was careful not to use the shriek too often since his buddies were often too close to enemies in combat.

If you've got any curiosity in checking out a 4E game, GW would be a great place to start. I'll reiterate what I've read from others that I can see it as a nice interim game between regular campaign sessions. Just be sure to roll up plenty of PCs beforehand--hell, that's half the fun!

Resources:
A list of the booster cards Alpha (mutation) and Omega (technology)
Overviews of origins and character generation
Overview of gear
Maps