• Tactical combat in the style of D&D 4e
  
• Tongue in cheek humor
  
• Post apocalyptic settings
  
• The idea of being a sentient swarm of rats
  
• Badgers
  
• Laser guns
  
• Bullshitting with friends

• Rules heavy systems
  
• Trap character options
  
• Standard fantasy RPGs
  
• Modifiers for every-loving-thing
  
• D&D Standard Feat Bloat^TM
  
• Badgers
  
• Tedious combat

• Character creation is random. You roll a d20 to determine your character origins. You get two origins, a primary and a secondary.
  
• Ability scores are tied to origins. Each origin has an associated ability tied to it. You get an 18 to the ability associated with your first origin, and a 16 in the ability associated with your second. (For example, You roll Electokinetic (WIS) as your primary, and Plant (CON) as your secondary origins. You would then have an automatic 18 in Wisdom and a 16 in Constitution.) If both of your origins have the same ability, you get a 20 in that ability. All other ability scores are rolled 3d6, down the line. Don't like it? Cry to your DM.
  
• Modifier math is adjusted to d20+level+ability mod, meaning your attack, damage, defense, skill, and initiative mods all increase each level, rather than every other.
  
• Weapons use the better of your STR/CON or the better of your DEX/INT, meaning your high INT character isn't gimped with basic attacks.
  
• Weapons are generic templates. In the book they are described as "Light Two-Handed Melee" or "Heavy One-Handed Ranged" and it's encouraged to have the player flavor them as desired. One of my characters "Light One-Handed Ranged" weapons is a microchip thrown like a throwing star, while her "Light One-Handed Melee" weapon is a flail made of CAT-5 cables (Cat-o-five-tails).
  
• There are no Daily powers, and access to Encounter powers are limited to higher levels. Each origin comes with an At-Will attack power, using the same ability as associated with the origin. In place of Encounters and Dailies are...
  
• Alpha Mutations & Omega Tech. These two types of cards come with the box set and functionally fill a few different roles. Alpha Mutations are strange powers that the PCs can make use of by tapping into the diverse worldlines of Gamma Terra. Mechanically, they fill the role of Encounter powers, as they are drawn fresh at the beginning of each encounter, and discarded (used or not) at the end. Omega Tech are ridiculously powerful pieces of old world tech that can unleash devastation at the push of a button. Mechanically, they fill the role of both Magic Items and Daily powers. If a PC used their Omega Tech in an encounter, they check the charge at the end. If they roll a 10+ (on a d20) the item keeps its charge and can be used again. If they roll 9 or less, it is discarded to the smoking heaps. Some pieces can be salvaged though...
  
• Guns. Yeah, Gamma Terra has guns. Guns come in the same flavors as other weapons (Light, Heavy; One-Handed, Two-Handed) but are more accurate, have greater range, and do more damage. The drawback is the need for ammo. Gamma World resolves ammunition in this manner: If you use a gun more than once an encounter, you might as well keep firing, because you'll be out of ammo after the fight. If you only fire once per fight, you always have ammo. That's it. No tracking bullets shot by shot. (If you want to force realism on it, it kinda makes sense. Most fights don't ever last more than 5 rounds (30 seconds), and if you fire five times in thirty seconds, you're being amazingly reckless with your ammo.)
  
• There is very little healing. Gamma Terra is a deadly and terrifying place (when it's not painted in clown makeup and slapping you in the face) and heroes have a high mortality rate. The Second Wind is still here, but gone are Healing surges. Each second wind heals you your bloodied value, and few origins have the ability to heal during combat. If you manage to survive a fight, you'll be happy to know your HP goes back to max.
  
• Death is commonplace, and character death moreso. Because of the aforementioned lack of healing, combat is a very dangerous endeavor. Worry not! It only takes a few minutes to roll a new character while your DM chuckles to themselves.
  
• The rules only support play up until level 10. There are resources available for those DMs not merciless enough to kill their characters, though.

• The Gamma World rulebook. Everything you need to play, complete with bestiary and an adventure.
  
• Gridded terrain maps. These things are beautiful and covered in radioactive waste. Not as large as published D&D maps, but their uniqueness makes them stand apart.
  
• Sheets of tokens. There are tokens for every monster, as well as character tokens, done up in the standard 4e token style. Be aware that the monster tokens are double sided, while the character tokens have the same image on each side with a ring to indicated Bloodied.
  
• A deck of Alpha Mutation and Omega Tech cards. All the crazy crap you'll ever need to play.
  
• A booster set of random Alpha Mutation and Omega Tech cards. These are done in the same style as Magic: the Gathering boosters, with 10 cards (5 alpha 5 omega) per pack. You can always try to buy more, but remember this: YOU DO NOT NEED BOOSTERS TO PLAY.

Dr. Lunchables fucked around with this message at 06:09 on Jul 13, 2013