Thoughts on Gamma World

4Jan/110

Thoughts on Gamma World

: Cover via Amazon

What is Gamma World?

It’s a fair question, I think. We’re told it’s a variation of the D&D game, and it uses very similar rules. But it’s not really compatible either- Gamma World PC’s scale up much more quickly, adding their full level to just about everything, even damage. Sometimes they even add a multiplier of their level to a game element!

The various origins aren’t really balanced- most do seem balanced against each other, but occasionally you see things that are obviously better or worse than the baseline. Given the random nature of the game, however, this does tend to work out fairly well- if your character is weak, you probably won’t make it, and it doesn’t take long to generate their replacement.

The characters also level quickly- the adventures in the first set will get you to level 3, and I’m told that Famine in Far-Go‘s encounters will get you to level 6, should you survive.

And that’s the real test of this game. Your characters seem pretty tough and powerful at first. But the game doesn’t kid around, and chances are, you’re going to die. A lot.

The game really feels like a throwback to Gygaxian-style design. You never know how awesome (or not) your character will be, and the challenges are nasty enough that you shouldn’t get too attached to your character. As you put character after character through the meat grinder, however, you’re guaranteed to eventually get a good character, or learn how to step up your game and play smarter.

Or both.

Gamma World is simpler to pick up and play than D&D. Character generation is quick, and a lot of fun. The rules are stripped-down as well, although the format of the rulebooks leaves a little to be desired- you’re going to spend a lot of time hunting down rules for how things work.

If you’ve played D&D, you can pick this up quickly, but as a jumping-on point, Gamma World has a few issues. A veteran player will understand when to use their second wind, how to best utilize their powers and tech, and be ready to handle the hard challenges.

A new player will just die until something clicks. Old schoolers will grin and probably say that’s the way it should be, but I’m not too sure. New players need to be encouraged, not punished for not having learned the finer points of play.

The Alpha Mutations can be a lot of fun, although sometimes they aren’t all that. Still, constantly being able to try out different powers beats spending an action point for an extra attack! Omega Tech is a lot of fun too, if somewhat difficult to rely on.

A Gamma World campaign practically writes itself, and the game is, by it’s nature, self-correcting. Anything that’s too weak or too overpowered will likely remove itself from play before too long. The downside, however, is the fact that the game quickly reaches it’s zenith- at level 10, your character is roughly analogous to a Mid-Paragon Tier character from D&D, and there’s really no room for advancement.

You can make the monsters tougher, but the characters have all their origin powers, a “Paragon”-style ability, and likely tons of Omega Tech devices. So where to go from there?

Gamma World is, as a I said, a lot of fun, but it just doesn’t feel right. It’s got too much going for it to be a ‘beer & pretzels’ game, and yet, there’s not enough here for it to be a full RPG. I think that if they had, instead of trying to make yet another flavor of ‘D&D Lite’, they could have made Gamma World a full campaign setting, and been fairly successful.

But there’s yet hope for the game. If enough people buy Gamma World products, perhaps Wizards will polish the rules, errata the rogue elements, and expand upon the premise to make this just as fulfilling of a game as D&D itself.

After all these years, Gamma World deserves to be more than a footnote in D&D history. If Gamma World succeeds, perhaps we will one day see new versions of Star Frontiers, Boot Hill, Metamorphosis Alpha, and Top Secret?

It’s a nice thing to dream about.