Title says it all mostly. I've heard a lot about Gamma World, but never played it. I wanted to give it a try, and then I looked it up and there were like 8 editions and the most recent ones were d20 and then 4e based, which seemed like it'd be potentially horrible.
So, if I'm new to Gamma World, what edition should I pick up and look at?
If it should somehow matter:
[*]I'm personally experienced with ADnD 2e and later, Earthdawn, nWoD, and SR4
[*]The rest of my group is only experienced with SR4 and Earthdawn.
Best edition of Gamma World for newbies?
Moderator: Moderators
First Edition. It's full of unbalanced powers and spotty rules, but it's still better than any other edition by virtue of being short (about 56 pages), and with fast character creation. To be fair, when I played I grabbed .pdfs of other editions and altered how stats were rolled a bit, but every edition after the first just tried to make the game more like D&D.
The best way to deal with the inadequacies of the system is to prepare to make spot rulings and enjoy the unbalancedness of the characters as part of the weirdness of the setting as a whole. Also, if you're like me, ignore what the book says about them and allow people to roll up sentient plants and androids.
The 4E Gamma World is exactly what you would expect from something that says "4E" on it.
The best way to deal with the inadequacies of the system is to prepare to make spot rulings and enjoy the unbalancedness of the characters as part of the weirdness of the setting as a whole. Also, if you're like me, ignore what the book says about them and allow people to roll up sentient plants and androids.
The 4E Gamma World is exactly what you would expect from something that says "4E" on it.
FrankTrollman wrote:Coming or going, you must deny people their fervent wishes, because their genuine desire is retarded and impossible.
Gamma World 4th edition is pretty much my favourite - its AD&D 2e compatible to a large extent, though with ascending AC 
Has classes and stuff; and uses a bunch of derived attributes for stuff like mental attack rolls, perception checks and so on. Not brain surgery.
1st and 2nd were IIRC quite D&D similar as well. 3rd ed was fairly freakish since it adapted Marvel Super Heroes' universal table system.
After those, the Alternity version is (of course) alternity which is a moderately bad system, the White Wolf version was I believe universally hated (this was a d20 Modern supplement but tries to reimagine the setting as more emo and with nanites causing mutations, rather than radiation), and finally there's the 4th edition version which I've only seen reviews of but despise on general principles. I may have missed one since I think that comes to 7 versions.
Has classes and stuff; and uses a bunch of derived attributes for stuff like mental attack rolls, perception checks and so on. Not brain surgery.1st and 2nd were IIRC quite D&D similar as well. 3rd ed was fairly freakish since it adapted Marvel Super Heroes' universal table system.
After those, the Alternity version is (of course) alternity which is a moderately bad system, the White Wolf version was I believe universally hated (this was a d20 Modern supplement but tries to reimagine the setting as more emo and with nanites causing mutations, rather than radiation), and finally there's the 4th edition version which I've only seen reviews of but despise on general principles. I may have missed one since I think that comes to 7 versions.
Last edited by CCarter on Sat Dec 11, 2010 3:30 am, edited 2 times in total.