Classic Tabletop RPGs: What Is Gamma World?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ส.ค. 2024
- #rpgelite #gammaworld #sciencefantasytabletoprpg #classictabletoprpgs
In Part 1 of our Gamma World series, I give an overview of the first popular science-fantasy tabletop RPG, in all editions.
Check out the Gamma World Series Playlist - • Gamma World - The Comp...
Looking to get into classic tabletop RPGs? Start with Gamma World. Check it out over at DriveThruRPG. Show a brotha some love by clicking on the affiliate links below. They have all versions of the game in PDF at reasonable prices:
• Gamma World 1st Edition - tinyurl.com/d9...
• Gamma World 2nd Edition - tinyurl.com/52...
• Gamma World 3rd Edition - tinyurl.com/ye...
• Gamma World 4th Edition - tinyurl.com/49...
• Gamma World 6th Edition - tinyurl.com/yv...
A hearty thanks to the people over a bensounds.com for providing the music tracks Better Days, Epic, and New Dawn, for today's video.
Artwork for today's video was provided by the following talented folks over at Artstation. Go and check out their stuff. It's top notch:
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What kind of classic OSRs have you played? What was you experience with it and what are the things you liked or disliked about the game?
Star Frontiers would be a great one to cover too! Another TSR classic from the same time. Aliens, spaceships, different worlds, 2001/2010 movie tie-ins! Even one space tank found by a primitive tribe adventure. Had it all.
@kylania Hey, hey!
Star Frontiers! That is on the list. Great minds think alike 😁. Eventually (not sure when) I will do Star Frontiers. I have several classic OSR games I plan on covering. When I cover one, it will be in a series of videos. I will do a deep dive into each. I just finished writing out the rough schedule for the Gamma World series, and it has 11 videos (good grief). Maybe 12. Interspersed in there will be other videos. However, since you mentioned it, we'll cover that one after this series. 👊😊
Traveller, Gamma World, Blue book DnD, Star Frontiers, Villians and Vigilantes, the ol Marvel Super Heros, Top Secret, James Bond, ADnD, those are the OSR types I've played off the top of my head. I am currently bored of fantasy RPGs, really wanna play Traveller, or Gamma World.... So thx for the content, I subb'd! Can't wait to hear more!
@@felixecho That's what I'm talking about. Variety is the spice of life.
Happy gaming! 👍🏿
I started with the Holmes Blue Box in 1978, and played a whole lot of OSR games back in the day, including Gamma World 1st Edition. Over time, I began to lose patience with clunky and complex rules, and favoured games such as Tunnels & Trolls (and its companion game, Monsters! Monsters!), The Fantasy Trip, Traveller (especially the MegaTraveller edition, with the nice UTP system), Star Wars (the West End 1.5 edition), Marvel Super Heroes (FASERIP), 2nd Edition Paranoia, and eventually FUDGE.
Sense of wonder (the whole hobby was less than five years old when I started!) was what I loved; clunky mechanics (acres of tables and charts, and high prep for each session) was what I loved less. But there are some good OSR choices that are non-clunky, while still bringing that wide open sandbox feel with little or no railroading. Another thing that was lacking in some early games: advancement was tied specifically to combat and treasure, and not to RP, so stopping a war counted for less than robbing a dungeon did.
Later on, I started to figure out some of the inherent flaws in the traditional dungeon fantasy setting: it's racist AF, it's illogical (why are all these powerful creatures just standing around waiting for the PCs to encounter them?), and it encourages extremely amoral PC behavior but still labels them as "good." To its credit, T&T (and especially M!M!) figured that out right from the beginning, and the distinction in the default T&T setting between "good kindreds" and "monsters" is purely political, and doesn't restrict who the PCs can play.
Finally the algorithm gave me a good channel to follow
Don't forget about Metamorphosis Alpha, which Gamma World was developed from, mostly being just a new setting for the mostly identical rules.
Heck Yeah, GAMMA WORLD!
I love me some Gamma World!!! GW really opened up my mind as to what a tabletop RPG could express. Fantastic game that I wish would make a comeback!
Just found your channel and it's right up my alley...I dig it. Thanks for sharing, and looking forward to binging your vids!
Hi! Gamma World 1st edition, is the best version of the game, every edition after slowly lost elements that made Gamma World so great and unlike anything else in tone, setting ect, and in my personal opinion is the only version of Gamma World one needs. Being that the 1st edition is just one huge open ended sandbox, you are given all the rules/info you need to build a cast of mutant misfits and the crazy, gonzo post apocalyptic world that they will inhabit, what more dose a creative mind need?, Thanks for the GW 1st edition coverage, a great rpg that should never be forgotten.
Thanks for coming by. More Gamma World coming through, so keep it locked in. 👊
@@RPGElite Cool!
I started my RPG career with 2e Gamma World in 1984. Shortly after starting the GW game my DM introduced us to Star Frontiers and then 1st AD&D. Through playing AD&D I realized that fantasy was my sweet spot, but the science-fantasy play of GW was awesome too! I will carry a nostalgic torch for 2e Gamma World.
Are you my clone? I had a very similar experience in my early RPG explorations acquiring my first RPG of my own in the form of the Red Box. Gamma World 3rd edition, with those great modules, was what was available when I had a little money to buy things for myself, and I picked up the older modules later. The art from 3E was amazing.
This is the first video from your channel I've watched, and it was exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!
Glad it was helpful!
Good video! Well-worded and concise, especially for gamers who have never dived into Gamma World before. Thanks, RPG Elite! =)
I’m excited as a first timer to the channel to see gamma world played. Excited!
I'm so glad I found your channel! Great job!
Yay! Thank you! Let me know if there's something you'd like to see that falls into me specialty and I'll see if I can't put it on the list of my myriad things to do.
Great narration. I recall that before the fall of civilization in the first edition, it was preceded by the social wars. Kind reminds me of right now just thinking. Also I believe Metamorphosis Alpha inspired Gamma World. If you haven’t heard of that one you might like it also. Thanks for your time.
I’ve never heard of Gamma World & this looks amazing to me. Thanks for this.
Guess I am showing my age, but I am stunned by how few have heard of Gamma World. It was Gamma World that had 7 editions, and was a direct inspiration for the Fallout series and many other tropes. Wish there was more love for it, but it could be a little oddball with talking ducks and suchforth. (BTW the rules never said your games had to be silly. Talking ducks become a LOT more serious when their backstory was as a genetically engineered employee for a major Florida theme park ...6th edition Gamma World lends credence to this).
P.S. Symbiotic Plant/Animals for the win. Man, I'd love to play in your game. You should come up to UCon in Ypsilanti/Ann Arbor Michigan some day.
Just found you! This is awesome!
Gamma world was the second ttrpg I played and I loved it!
It was one of my early ones as well. 🙂
Gamma world is still one of my go to games! Nice job!
Thank ya! Oh we got SO much more. New video in the series on Friday. Check it out.
Happy gaming!
Gamma World was my intro to rpgs. Absolutely love it. Also unjoy Numenera...aka...fancy gamma world.
Oh Mylanta! Someone else who saw the same thing I did with Numenera. Great minds think alike. I told my players when we were playing Numenera that it is Gamma World brought into the 21st century done right.
Happy gaming!
Tbh, I am a bit jealous my first experience was with d&d 3.5.
I thought Rifts was fancy Gamma World.
I’m incorporating 30+ year old Gamma World in to my numenera campaign.🤯
@@fredmonroe6042 Which adventure? I used Beta Principal from 3rd Ed in Numenera along with a touch of epsilon cyborgs.
I just found this channel. Subbed!
Thanks for subbing and welcome aboard!
brilliant that you specialize in non fantasy games a nice change of pace from other channels lets people discover new and interesting things
Danke!
Great storytelling and voice!!
Thank you kindly. 🙂
Hey i loved this video!! I have never played a tabletop rpg like this, or dungeons and dragons etc. You made this game sound exciting and makes me look forward to playing with my friends this Saturday!! Great quality video!
I'm glad it helped. Now go save the world 🌎. 😉👊🏿
Will do
I appreciate your videos! lots of videos on Gamma World, and wasn't sure which edition I should jump into, so I went with 1st edition, and I didn't realize how rules light it was. it's definitely something I want to run in the near future.
Glad I could help! Let me know which one you decide to go with. I'd be curious to know.
Happy gaming! 👍🏾
You did awesome on this. I started playing in 83/84 too in junior high.
Cool channel that I just stumbled over. Quick note/clarification: GAMMA WORLD 5th edition (the Alternity offering) was in fact a stand-alone book. The core Alternity books were not needed.
Enjoyed the walk down Memory Lane. Played 1st edition in college.
You've got my imagination running. Now to pick an edition to try out. Guess I'll have to research that a bit.
The best intro for GW was 1E. So funny how spit on it is for today
I subscribed after listening to you talk about why black folks don't play RPGs, so I decided to poke at your other content. That fistbump you do at the beginning of this video? That right there tells me that subscribing was, indeed, THE RIGHT CHOICE.
I had a copy of 2nd edition when it came out, and didn't get to play it. I got to play 3rd at conventions here in Evansville, IN in the late 1980s.
"Anything other than fantasy. That's it" and that's when I smashed the like button.
I played this so much as a kid
My two novels are inspired by Gamma World
2nd edition was my first Gamma World experience, and it's still my favorite version of it; although, the giant rat cyborg on 3rd edition is my favorite cover. There was a Dragon magazine article back in the day that had an alternative backtory for the apocalypse. I don't recall many details but I thought of it during the covid so perhaps it was related to virus?
Oh, also check out Other Dust. By the guy that Made Stars Without Number, Kevin Crawford. Very cool sandboxing stuff in those games...
New subscriber , I love GAMMA World
Loved Alternity. Loved Gammaworld. Never had a chance to GM it.
The Keith Parkinson (sorry Keith, I credited that to Larry earlier) cover for 3rd Edition remains the coolest Gamma World Illustration over the past 40 years.
I want to play a superhero RPG.
I want to play gamawrold too! :((
My first gamaworld character (made but never played) was a thorn bush rambo. (a thorn bush with guns and a red headband. Gimme a break. I was young.)
Today if I made a Gamaworld character it would be a pure strain human. He'd be a soldier type, who perhaps awakens in an ancient cryogenics lab, with decent wilderness survival training, and a touch of PTSD. Still a Rambo type, but a bit more grounded in reality.
The oldest game I have played is Cyberpunk 2020. It was interesting; some rules were good, others clearly needed some changes. But overall, a good game.
Most games are like that. I play The One Ring bi-weekly which came out in 2014. I created a 30+ page addendum for it. Still love the game though, and I'm not a big fantasy fan. Love me some Tolkien though.
Happy gaming. 👍🏿
This is a great review. I played Star Frontiers as kid in 1982 but never tried Gamma World. I like how you said something about the different editions of GW. 🙏
Glad you liked it. Got a new installment for Gamma World 4th Edition character creation coming up at the end of the week, so keep it locked in.
@@RPGElite I am subscribed. 👍
So basically this is a Thundarr The Barbarian rpg!?....very Kool!
Servant of Shiloh,
Thanks for all the Gamma World love!
Please consider joining the discussions at the unofficial Gamma World Discord server.
Also, if you have a Discord server for this channel, please let us know!
discord.gg/WhgJjb3agH
Hey, hey!
Thanks for the invite. I’ll attempt to meander over there whenever things slow down on my end.
Happy gaming.
Gamma World for life.
Great video….just found your channel. Nice work 👍🏽
Thank ya, thank ya. Much appreciated.
Happy gaming!
1st edition. My 3 year older Uncle GM'ed. 7th edition comes too close to RIFTS game system & I don't like the randomness.
I played a lycan Wolfoid so much fun.
Every time Wizards of the West coast adds a new realm or Magical dimension, or Or D&D Beyond! heck I've Even Heckled Critical Role about. GIVE ME MY NUCLEAR POST APOCALYPTIC GAMMA WORLD!! & STOP stealing it's race ideas.. Fight for our right to melt under the Uncaring sun as the Radiation levels Kicks in!!
Happy gaming to you too mate.
Looking forward to the future GW content. Got to say; your overview has piqued my interest in the game.
The art in these books is great - at least from the covers you've shown
Been a long time since I've heard the name Gamma World.
I missed out on Gamma World back in the day, but I now have Mutant Crawl Classics, which is Goodman Games version of it, and I'm a big fan
Coolio. The PDFs are very reasonable over at DriveThru RPG if you ever wanted to get the original.
Happy gaming!
MCC rocks. Those guys are HUGE Gamma World fans and it was their love letter to the game.
@@Lustvig I absolutely love it
Thundar and THACO forever!! New Sub.
A twenty year cutoff date for something to be an "Old School RPG" makes D&D 3.0 an old school game. I don't think you're going to find many people in the OSR (as in old school revival/renaissance/rebirth, which is what OSR means to most people) community that would agree with that assessment, given that a lot of that mob regards any D&D past the TSR days as pure poison.
Still, be nice to see another channel talking about RPGs from the 70s through the 90s. While Gamma World and Star Frontiers certainly deserve a look, many other folks have done so already since TSR was so widespread back in the day. Perhaps you'd be better served to focus on some of the lesser-known games from publishers like (off the top of my head) Fantasy Games Unlimited, Mayfair, Yaquinto, R Talsorian, Stellar Games, Pacesetter etc. Assuming, of course, you either have or can get ahold of some samples of their work - thankfully DTRPG makes that easier than it used to be for that.
Technically, I call them classic RPGs of which some are OSRs. And just because many others have done something doesn't mean it can't be done differently or from a different perspective. This is why there are multiple channels talking about the same exact thing on TH-cam, and yet...
On another note, it's a little presumptuous to suggest how I would be better served. Only I would know that. Apparently, I think it is to focus on the games I have a strong passion for that are older and still being played but not getting a lot of love, as well as listening to my subscribers. It's clear you have a channel, so it if that's something you want to do, knock yourself out.
Peace. 👊🙂
Sweet video my good sir!
Could you make a video covering Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness?
Coolio!
Hi There. Thanks for your good eval of Gamma world. I'm going through your videos now. Can I ask, though, for my own youtubing purposes. How are you editing your videos? You seem to have gone to a pro level pretty fast and I was wondering how to get there with mine (old school dnd related content).
Aftermath
No computer role playing games can compare to a table with 5 devoted players.
No. There is one other. Metamorphosis Alpha preceded gamma world.
It’s all fantasy just not medieval fantasy like setting