So Paul and I actually played a solid 5 hour session of Gamma World on Monday, just the two of us. So really that’s the equivalent of like a 15 hour session with 5 players and 1 DM. We took turns DMing the basic adventure from the back of the book. It was pretty fun! Some thoughts:

1. Death!: It strikes us that death is probably a lot more common in Gamma World than in D&D. The primary reason, I think, is probably lack of healing. The only reliable source of healing is Second Wind, which granted only takes a minor action and restores your bloodied value in HP. This certainly helps, but probably doesn’t make up for the party cleric and multitude of potions in D&D. And when you die, you’re actually dead, since there’s no resurrection. The end result is that you probably don’t feel as attached to your character, which is fine, because the game is pretty silly anyway and doesn’t seem to have a huge focus on nuanced character development (Prove me wrong?).
2. No Healing Surges!: While we’re on the subject of death and healing, did I forget to mention that healing surges are dead and gone too? No healing surges? CRAZY! Except not so crazy. Healing surges are probably not the coolest mechanic of D&D. They’re sort of necessary if you can have as many healing potions as you want, but they aren’t the most interesting of resources. It’s a lot more fun to be in the situation of only having one really cool daily left than it is to be in the situation of only having 1 or 2 healing surges left. That just means you’re more likely to fall unconscious in a fight and stay that way. In any case, I did not miss their absence in Gamma World.
3. No Charging?: The Gamma World rulebook is a relatively slim trade paperback. As such the chapters on actual basic rules are relatively scant. It’s unclear whether leaving out rules on charging, readying, and delaying was intentional or was just a decision made to cut down on space. When we played, we kept rules on readying and delaying since they seem pretty essential, but we left  out charging since it favors ranged combat, which definitely seems to be a bigger part of Gamma World than in D&D. I’d be interested in seeing whether charging is brought back in with any errata in the future.
4. No Soft Cover: So a definite change from Gamma World to D&D is that there’s no longer any cover granted from other characters, even enemies. This is pretty cool as it definitely encourages more use of guns and other ranged attacks, which tends to make for more dynamic combats and fits the theme of a world filled with firearms and strange super tech.
5. Alpha Mutations: These were a bit of a let down since more often than not, they don’t actually fit with your character very well. If I draw an attack that uses charisma and I don’t have charisma as a primary stat, I probably won’t use that attack. Also, despite it being cool to change them out every encounter, it also meant reading (and remembering) a new power every encounter! Read the rest of this entry »