I’ve been remiss in my play reports. I think it’s because I was a bit bummed after the session previous to the last. But last night we had quite fun, letting the kids stay up late (they have the week off) and played some more…Gamma World!

After my trip to Michigan two weekends ago now, where my son, nephew and I played Gamma World, my daughter immediately wanted to create a character. My son and I had barely returned from the trip when my daughter, hearing how much fun CDawg had, started the character creation process. She rolled up a Electrokinetic Mind Breaker. The process was one that really got me thinking about a better player sheet.

Tuesday night, I told the kids if they got everything done before dinner, then after we could play. They even goaded my wife into playing. So while they were getting things done, I started setting up.

I mentioned in another thread how my son had started to make a binder for his Gamma World stuff – as well as some artwork. The cover:

…and a small picture of his idea of The Mistake:

That’s a nuclear power plant with a small science building attached – and large meteor hurtling towards it.

Since my wife was going to have to create a character, after setting up, I went online to find a new character sheet. For the reasons why, see the second link above. But this started an hour long process of redoing the characters and getting all the information from the book onto the sheets for more efficient use during play.

In that picture, you can see the sheet that comes with the kit to CDawg’s right – the one with the green and purple. To his left, covering a portion of the map (and under a bunch of dice) is the one I found online. It’s a standard letter size one, so a bit bigger than the supplied one. It also uses both sides whereas the ones supplied use only one size. Between those two things, there’s a ton more room to put all the details on the sheet including the Novice Powers for each Origin.

My wife rolled up a Felinoid Hypercognitive. I have to say, so far the latter seems a bit underpowered. As we filled out the information, I was explaining the weapons. Here something really interesting (to me) happened. One of the neat things they did was abstract the weapons into broad categories like One Handed Light Melee or Two Handed Heavy Ranged. You choose one, and then pretty much decide what it actually is on your own (or in conjunction with the DM). My kids, excited about the game and the fact my wife was playing, were throwing all kinds of examples at her. It was choice overload. She couldn’t decide what to make the exact weapons. She literally said “Now I don’t know what to do. I want to make it something cool and awesome but I’m totally drawing a blank.” So I told her to let it slide and we could just make it up as we played. But I think it kind of flustered her and she got into an input/information/options overload that didn’t quite go away.

So after we got everything filled in (quickly and with a few errors I’m sure), we replayed the first scenario, since my wife and daughter had not played it. Our heroes started out from the village and made their way into the badlands, following the tracks of the robots. This, of course, led them to a tower nestled amongst the hills. The Badder and Porker guards tried vehemently to shoo them away, but Mew (Cdawg’s Felinoid Swarm), Christina (Storm’s Electrokinetic), and River Cat (My Wife’s Felinoid) were having none of it.

Christina, ironically more curious than the two felinoids, ran right for the green glowing pit – only to have he edges crumble and she tumbled in. It was only 10 feet deep, but it was full of radiation. Christina’s Omega Tech was a breathing apparatus so she thought she was safe only to discover the sad truth.

River Cat was at a loss. OOC, my wife said “I have no idea what to do.” This was, I think, a combination of not really wanting to play, being tired, and then being hit with the aforementioned overload. So I kind of talked her through some options. In the end, River Cat ran to the pit to see if she could help Christina. It was this point the guards had enough and attacked.

It was a tough battle. The Badders were using their crossbows to great effect. The Porkers, while not fantastic, were holding their own against the inexperienced adventurers. But then, as is often the case, the dice changed and so did the fortunes of the greenhorns. Christina figured out that her mind power – what the kids took to calling the Sucker Punch – had range and could, therefore, take out the Badders. Mew realized he was actually a Tank. Even though River Cat was hesitant and unsure, her Slashing Claws tore the Porkers to shreds.

When all was said and done, the four enemies were narrowly defeated.

It was late – so we packed it up as soon as the battle was over. Storm was not exactly thrilled with her experience. My wife was not thrilled. Even CDawg, who was so jazzed about creating the Felinoid Swarm, was not as happy as after his first game. I honestly didn’t think they would be clamoring to play again anytime soon…

Maybe I missed something, but which sheet did you end up using, Jim?

My apologies....

I found it using Google, which sent me to an RPGNet thread, started with a post from Random Code. There's a link there to a media fire download. I took it...

I still think it might be reorganized a bit to put all the combat stuff in one place to make it easier to reference. I'd also make the Defenses a bit easier to locate. But for the most part I like it...

Pretty cool! Thanks.

It's a very cool post, by the way. I like the binder!

PS: Ah-ha! And that's a Rules Compendium here on the table, if I'm not mistaken.

Get out of my family room!

Yeah...while I was in Michigan doing the deer fence, I rewarded the son for his fantastic help by letting him by the latest Warriors book. What I didn't tell the wife was that I also bought the Rules Compendium and the Heroes of the Fallen Lands. I've been reading the RC a little at a time so it's always lying around...

More to come. there have been two more session since! My wife is definitely a rules lite kinda girl...if you know what I mean and I think you do...

Oh yes, definitely. I've actually played with people like this (most of my RPG group these last few years was female, by the way). From what I'm getting here, she doesn't want to be bogged down by the rules minutia, and that's something you need to acknowledge. The fact she was tired and so on does explain a lot, so you shouldn't worry too much about it. Engage her later on with the game world, not the rules. Keep things moving fast and loose. Focus on the cool stuff that happens in the fiction. Not what it means in rules terms. She seems to like active, straightforward goals. She might like bashing in the door and get on with the ass-kicking. Quite a few girls (well, most if not all of them actually) were like this at my game table: they love the ass-kicking, and didn't care too much about the numbers behind the game. They would get excited about the dice rolling, mind you, but didn't care too much what it meant in terms of nitpicky rules beyond what was actually happening in the game world.

I'm guessing your wife might share some of these predispositions.

Great stuff! Thank you for sharing.

I think it's a mix - like you say. Anything that engages the rules too heavily and the overload begins. One of the things I've been able to do over the 18 years of being married to her is figure out how to "talk her down from the ledge." I mean, this would happen when we'd go to the mall to shop for clothes. I wasn't the guy holding the purse; I was the guy convincing her to take a deep breath and go back in before giving up and explaining that the choices really weren't that overwhelming.

Same thing - happened again last night, though not nearly as badly. In fact, she really got into the game near its end (more to be written up later) and I was teasing her a bit - being that she always claims she doesn't like playing. And she literally said, "It's just that I hate all the numbers and choices and having to find this or that piece of information over and over again." So I knocked off the kidding and reminded her how at the end, when she had made the decision to use the shotgun more than once (in GW, for those who don't know, ammo is abstracted - if you use the gun once during an encounter, you have ammo for the next; but if you use it more than once, "you might as well rock and roll because at the end of the encounter, you are out of ammo.") and was using it over and over, she didn't have to look anymore, she knew it was +9 versus AC and 1d12+5 damage.

The tough balance is that the kids, with minds like sponges and laser-like focus when it is something they care about/enjoy, I have to balance her preference not to worry about those things with their desire to know the details of every little transaction.

I'm still learning as well. I did some things wrong. When that happens, I usually tell them at the start of the session and explain how it will change this session. They seem OK with that at this point.

11/21/2010
The second session went much better.

Before I jump in, however, I should mention some things that I realized after the previous session. First off, we only have the decks that came with the set. I won’t purchase any more until I’m sure we want/need them. Who knows, perhaps maybe Santa will find a way to put them in the Stockings this year?

I do not like the rules about Alpha Mutations. That is, in the book it says that you should draw a new mutation after and extended rest or during a new session. There’s also a rule about drawing a new mutation when a d20 roll is a natural 1. In order to provide some consistency while these relatively new players get their feet under them, I decided to allow them to make a choice a level-up time. So there was no change to mutations.

Then I made a mistake with mutations. See if you can catch it when I get to details later.

On with the show…


We started late, but we didn’t have the sheets to go through. And one thing really got the stage set – trophies! Not realizing the kids, and even the Wife, would like to play again so soon, I had not bothered to hand out the fruits of their labor.

I set out the mat with something covering the tower interior. The kids kept saying, “Let’s get going! Let’s get going!”

“Just a minute; I’m getting everything set up.”

They pointed at the table and their character tokens on the mat near the door of the tower, “It is set up. We have our characters out.”

Then I put markers out for the Badders and Porkers they had just defeated. I described the scenario. “You’ve just killed the four guards and you stand panting over their stinking bodies.” At that point I moved the tokens of their characters from in front of the door to around the bodies of the fallen opposition. Storm, my daughter, ever the intuitive one, picked up on it immediately. “Can I search the bodies?”

And so it was they recovered, per the scenario in the book, three pieces of Omega Tech. I also rolled 1d6 and found they each also got 2 pieces of Ancient Junk. I later realized I gave them too much, but not until after I made the same mistake with the second scenario.

After familiarizing themselves with their new Omega Tech, it was a short rest and on to the doors. I described the doors and the ideas started flowing. Mew’s large two handed weapon is a Chain Saw, so finally the cat swarm started it up (some funny descriptions of how they would do so) and he went at the door. He decided to slice it down the middle, thereby cutting the wooden boards keeping them shut. So as the sound of the chainsaw died down, I described how, without the support the doors opened a bit, light streaming out. I also described and made a sound to imitate the wings of a large creature. They puzzled over it for a bit, but then decided to go for it.

They shoved the doors inward and Mew rushed in. I stopped him long enough to describe the interior…and for the two Badders who had readied actions to loose their cross bows. Mew was not to be dissuaded and he rushed one of the 10’ high platforms holding a Badder guard. Now Mew as a mutation that lets him turn rubbery (and gives an additional Resist 5 versus Physical) and extends his reach by another 5’. Now, I figured that given one’s reach extends to the next five feet horizontally, it also reaches to the 5’ above a character. Therefore, his mutation extends his vertical reach to 10’ as well. And therefore he could reach the platform. So he went after the Badder above him.

Meanwhile, the Yexil, who upon hearing the chainsaw had already risen from his nest in preparation, approached from around the columns to attack the intruders at the door.

He first attempts to hit River Cat with a Wing Buffet and hits! He wants to knock them prone in the Grab Grass (which the players know of due to successful Science checks). But he is not able to slide, only push. So I attached incorrectly according to the Tactics section. River Cat falls to her knees just outside the Grab Grass.

At this point, River Cat uses the new Freeze Ray she had found. The best part about hitting the Yexil is that it immobilized the creature, thus bringing it to the ground. Then Christina stepped up and used her Blinding mutation and hit both the Yexil and one of the Badders. So now the Yexil is immobilized and blinded.

These tactics continued, the only change being that after the immobilization wore off the Yexil flew upward. But Christina used her Blinding power each round to keep the opponents at bay while the other two used whatever weapons and powers available to knock them out. Only the appearance of one more Badder added a little wrinkle, but they overcame it pretty quickly.

This time they did not let me get away with not awarding trophies. So I drew Omega Tech cards, 3, as per the scenario. Ironically, they found two “eggs” in the Yexil’s nest. They also got a bunch of Ancient junk – too much. But I’m ruling that it’s because they were in the barracks of the Badders…so there!

Did you catch what I didn’t get right with the mutations? It had a significant impact on things.

11/23/2010
We started late again. I don’t know why this keeps happening except that the kids are off of school and with the holiday approaching we seem to be in a rut. This comes back to bite us a bit as the kids get that late night out of control thing going towards the end.

However, after last session’s great success, hey are eager to continue. Even my wife seemed in higher spirits. Expectations have shifted after such a rousing victory.


The piece of Omega Tech that Christina found in the previous encounter was a science device. Basically it gives her a bonus (+2) to science checks. She immediately wanted to use it on everything. Fortunately, my wife pulled the leash a bit by convincing her that it didn’t need to be used on everything. Ironically, it was about to come in really handy.

Mew found an egg in the Yexil’s nest – a device that warned of enemies, seen and unseen, for the duration of an encounter. He could not wait to use it. He showed restraint on his own; but it still didn’t stop it from using in the very near future.

River Cat also found an egg in the Yexil’s nest. Hers, however, was a photon grenade; very bad-ass, very handy, very soon.

I started this session by explaining how I had ruled incorrectly in the previous session and how mutations should work. Fortunately, it seemed to only really impact Storm’s character who was now limited to a single use of her blinding light per encounter.

(Storm reacting to finding out she can only use the blinding light once per encounter)

So the three, burdened with new tech and some ancient junk crept down the stairs. I covered part of the map as they would first have to deal with two Badder Guards behind an upturned table (the classics always deliver!) letting loose with crossbows. This did not dissuade Mew from storming them immediately, closing the gap to deal some heavy damage right away. River cat had little choice but to follow and attempt to do the same. Before the Badders could follow the tactics from the scenario (escape to the next room after a couple of rounds) they were dead on the floor – throats ripped out, minds torn asunder.

Mew paused long enough to activate his egg which immediately hummed to life and let out a beep for each creature within its range. Accounting for his friends, he now had an idea of what awaited him…or so he thought. So he wasted no time in rushing into the next room where the guards had appeared to be heading. He turned the corner, keeping a bit of distance between himself and the side of the opening away from the cage he could see. This saved him, I think.


In the center of the room was a large device/machine of some kind. There were also two much larger Badders and one about the size of the ones they had previously faced. Mew, of course, attacked the nearest, largest Badder, a Slaver. He was successful, but that put him in range of The Machine. I made a weird whooping sound, like something out of Start Trek back when it had crappy special effects, and informed him that the sound drove into his brain and that he took damage. This was the worst thing for Mew. He’s great against physical damage due to his Swarming. He’s also got the rubber skeleton mutation that gives him yet more Resist to physical. But Psychic Damage that doesn’t have to get past his high AC is like an Achilles heel.


River Cat moved up to help. She used one of the first pieces of Omega Tech she had received. It is essentially an ioun stone using radiation, and it’s a close blast attack. So she used it to hit both the Machine and the Slaver standing right around the corner. At that point the Badder slaver was bloodied, but I forgot that power for him. River Cat ended her turn within the range of The Machine, however, and so did not escape unscathed. She was not amused.

Now the Badders got their turn. The first Slaver used his Crippling Flail with great success against Mew. The other Slaver moved up and used his Fear Wave. He could not reach Christina, he missed River Cat, but he hit Mew. The last Badder, the guard, stayed put hoping to cover his bosses if needed.

Now it was Storm’s turn to have some fun. Her character, Christina, activated her recently discovered Science device. I described how the little holographic man appeared and asked how he can help. She described moving just far enough to shove the device around the corner to see The Machine. I had her roll and she beat the DC 13 the scenario provided. The little helper replied, “Oh yes – that’s the StupendiCo Model XR-971 Psychic Assault Vehicle!”

She held up her hand like she was holding a tri-corder and asked, “How do I shut it off?” I explained to her that she can ask next round and she gave me a quizzical look. So I explained how a round is really a short time – 6 seconds. So in that time she activated the device, it “booted”, she asked her question and got an answer. This made sense to her!


Mew was hurting badly, so he retreated as best he could. I let him know that the sound no longer drove into his brain like a rail spike. The group can essentially communicate telepathically using Christina as a central point (thanks to her Mind Breaker origin) and so they quickly pieced together that The Machine must have some kind of range.

River Cat decided it was time to use the shotgun, and let loose on The Machine. The damage was starting to mount, but The Machine kept whirring. And while the adventurers had moved out of range, the positive effects continued to aid the Slavers.

The Slavers moved up to block the door and swapped methods of attack. The Slaver attacking River Cat used his Flail (missing his recharge on the Fear Wave power) while the other Slaver used his Fear Wave on all three adventurers. This time, Mew was lucky and did not get hit with the Fear Wave. But Christina and River Cat were both hit.

Still being just beyond melee reach, Christina consulted her science device. However, instead of simply answering her question, “how do I turn it off”, it showed a complicated series of equations and schematics that she couldn’t quite figure out. This was the way I described a failed Science check.

Mew takes a deep breath (second wind) and plunges back to the front to help block the Slavers. He knows it could mean trouble, but he is the one with the best defenses.

River Cat was none too pleased about the state of affairs. She could not decide if she wanted to use her shotgun again, thus meaning she will have to find ammunition for it, use her slashing claws, or utilize one of the various pieces of tech. In the end she rakes the Slaver in front of her and then carefully backs away a bit.

Both Slavers fail to recharge the Fear Wave, and so must rely on their flails. Neither hits. But injured Slaver slowly but surely gained hit points thanks to the effects of the machine.

Christina finally received an answer from her machine, getting a handle on the schematics and calculations (she succeeded on the second Science check of DC 13). But she realized that she was not likely to get to The Machine so she telepathically transmits the information to her companions.

Mew uses his slashing claws, drawing the first blood on the second Slaver.

River Cat decided it was time to take out the Machine. She grabs the photon grenade and tosses it into the room. She specifically telepathically consults Christina in an attempt to figure out where best to place the blast to destroy one of the panels that could disable the device. The physical damage is done to both Slaver (she hit) and Machine (hits are automatic) and her aim is spectacular (a great DC 13 Science check roll, the third and final according to the scenario). Suddenly the machine shut down, whirring to a stop.

The Slavers looked at each other with a slight bit of fear, and then attacked with full fury. The first hits Mew with a nasty flail shot. The other regains his composure (recharges) and snarled at his opponents. River Cat and Christina ignored the growl and shrugged off its effects; Mew, however, was not so lucky. He was drained and hurt and on the ropes.

Christina, now finished with the Science portion of her show, moved up to help. She decided she wanted to try to grab one of the Badder Slaver’s Flails and beat them with it. Why? I have no idea. I made her roll a basic attack which she failed.


But then Mew decided this was a great idea and did the same. Why? I have no idea. But this time (since now I was experienced!) I made him do a basic attack against the Reflex of the Slaver. He succeeded. So then I made him battle the Slaver using a contest of Strength. Mew is really strong and the Slaver rolled horribly, so I let him grab it. But I ruled he’d have to wait ‘til next round to use it. This led to hilarity as Mew was then hit by the other Slaver and fell to the ground unconscious. So Christina finally got what she wanted because on her next turn she picked up the flail from the now unconscious Mew and used it to beat the Slaver in front of her. Hilarious.

CDawg failed his first two death saves. He switched dice, and while Christina was beating down the Slaver with his own flail, he “practiced his rolling”. Some things never change, eh?

Meanwhile, River Cat has decided she will have to deal with finding ammunition and starts unloading the shotgun on anything she can.

Even with just the two of them, Christina and River Cat defeated the Badders using the shotgun and the Psychic Sucker Punch. Even the second Badder Slaver’s Control Pain power could not save the mutated badgers.




Notes and other interesting things:
This is one of the things I love, love, love about random tables/cards/etc. It’s amazing how these things tend to fit or how cool the efforts to make them fit can sometimes turn out.
For example, when rolling for Ancient Junk Christina, the Electrokinetic, kept rolling for….electrical stuff that promptly would begin to work when she got near it. Or how after defeating the Yexil, Mew searches the nest and finds…eggs!

My wife is slowly getting hooked. Towards the end of the battle, with only one Slaver left, she was down to 1 HP. She had given up keeping ammo and was using the shotgun to stay alive. The Badder was due up after her – it was also at 1 HP. The sequence was to be Christina, River Cat, Badder. Christina went and rolled a 1 – epic fail. My wife rolled a 7. She thought it was a 1 (marbled dice, bad lighting). She threw up her hands and shouted “Oh!” thinking that was it.

When we were done and it was very late, I said some thing like, “We’ll determine what you find next time…it’s time for bed.”

My wife said, “Besides, I think for now we’re just going to stay put and lick our wounds.”

CDawg, playing a felinoid swarm, says, “Yeah, Literally.”

Incorrect Rulings:
I let CDawg stop rolling after succeeding in his death save. Not a huge deal because the fight was over in a couple of rounds. Once he succeeded, he wanted a way to get back in the fight. I give him a chance the next round to beat his Fort to get a second wind….just for the hell of it. He failed.

I missed the first Badder Slaver getting to the bloodied point and using his Control Pain power.

I always forget, not just in this game but since 3.5 in general, to take the Attacks of Opportunity/Opportunity attacks when adjacent to someone doing a Ranged attack. It’s a bit of a blind spot. The problem is that if I just start remembering, it might seem…odd. So I think next game I will go through the few triggering things of AoO/OA so everyone, including me, is on the same page.