Brilliantly in depth, thank you as I've been thinking about picking up these books for a while. Peace of advice though, if you can I strongly suggest a camera mount to showcase your books as it's a little nausea inducing with all the camera movement. Love your game room, you've got an amazing collection!
To start: Nice presentation! Mutant RPG..... A love for almost all my life....and I´m "old" aswell. It´t nice that you mentioned Gamma World. The writers of the first published Mutant in 1984 has openly stated that they were heavily influenced by Gamma World, so spot on. This summer, Free League has released "Mutant HIndenburg" (notice there is no year zero in the title), that kind of brings the mutant releses to full cycle spanning three publishers in 36 years. I am not sure they will release it in English... It relies kind of on the prior mutant knowledge in the Swedish RPG community, but if they added a lot of background pages they might. That setting is kind of a victorian/steampunk setting (minus the steampunk tech). Imagine a world where "zero" books has blended into one and reached kind of 1870s level of tech and civilisation (but ancient tech exists). Sidenote.... Regarding Genlab Alpha..... It is very oblious were the inspiration for that story came from: A short convention scenario for the original mutant game,,,that was called Genlab Alpha...Where the players played mutated animals in a "test lab" controlled by robots. I can hook you up with a scanned PDF of that one if you like, but it is in Swedish ;) Anyway Great presentation. Keep it up And for Mutant history; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutant_(role-playing_game)
Enjoyed this! Have actually enjoyed a few of your recent videos after stumbling upon the channel. Have been getting more interested in Free League games but hadn't checked out Mutant Year Zero yet.. will have to now, after this video! On a side note, another great post apocalyptic game that might be worth checking out just for interest is 'The Mutant Epoch'. All the best.
I love Free League. The system is quick, easy, and plays well in the theater of the mind. The settings and writing are amazing, focusing on plot over complex rules. I have been looking for this company for a long time. I highly recommend them. I currently play MYZ, Alien, Coriolis, Symbaroum, Tales from the Loop, and recently Vaesen. Check them out sir!
@@blandgaming6222 - The Mutant Epoch has more 'gonzo' to it's post-apoc setting, and is closer to the old Gamma World style. I'd say Mutant Epoch's greatest pros are the huge amount of content available, including tons of random tables for whipping up lots of sandbox and hex-crawl style adventuring, and the loads of great & evocative old school style line art from the creator William McAusland (who does a lot of art for other old school RPGs too). I really like MYZ for a little lower gonzo weirdness level as whims take me. I saw someone compare MYZ's mutants as being closer to X-Men types of mutants than the old Gamma World gonzo types, and that's a fair comparison. Both have their strengths, so I own both.
Thanks for the overview of the numerous books. Since Mutant Year Zero is one of their older products coverage has sorta fallen off. I'm very interested in the built-in campaigns that have a world changing status quo.
Awesome video, similar thing happened to me. Bought year zero on Xbox this week, love the setting and found out it is based on TT RPG. Played cyberpunk and DnD on the past and this seems very fresh to me. Thanks for the overview as I was getting overwhelmed looking up 30yrs of this game. I'll pick up the core book and try to play it over discord. Side note- I bet Genlab Alpha is sold out DUE to the videogame.
Thanks for the comment and for watching. I do recommend ALL the books here. They are a great read and tie in together. I do however wish starting with the core book first, rather than Genlab Alpha. The other books have great plotlines and epic stories, but the core book really has that post apocalyptic feel that you get from the video game.
I've read all the books and all the lore, all the locations and factions, I'm in love with the world but have never played Rpg around a table with others.... 😢😭😭
ther are 5 other mutant rpg tha come befor this even if calld zero it not the first one good to know the history of a game too 1 Mutant 2 Mutant 2089 3 Mutant RYMD tratlation space 4 Mutant Chronicles 5 Mutant: Undergångens arvtagare translation Heirs of Doom 6 Mutant: År Noll tralation year zero 7 Mutant: Hindenburg
I managed to get the Alchemy RPG Humble Bundle that had almost every Free League RPG product, trying to decide what to run first, and while I've usually looked at Mutant - Year Zero with indifference, videos like this and those by Dave Thaumavore have me more and more interested. Pretty sure I'll end up getting as many books as I can for their original products. Not so keen on their IP stuff like Alien, Dune, and Walking Dead.
I love Dave's channel, even though he and I don't agree on everything. I can dig you not being interested in IP games. To each their own. Try MYZ. My group loved it. Thanks for watching and thanks for the comment!
@@blandgaming6222 Yeah, don't always agree with him, but his reviews are solid and he occasionally provides tutorial videos for the content he particularly likes. He got me to hunt down the Coriolis books despite them being out of print thanks to the new upcoming edition.
@@twistedturns65 Coriolis is amazing. Probably my favorite RPG atm. (check out my review) They are in the middle of a MAJOR world changing event right now. Hence the new editions.
I'm a simple man of few catch phrases. However, anyone choosing to drink on my behalf is highly encouraged. Feel free to use my other lyrical sayings, such as "what not" and "and everything." Prost!
We played all the TSR titles growing up. DnD, Gamma World, Star Frontiers, Marvel Super Heroes... We also played Twilight 2000, Traveller 2300, and my favorite at the time, Call of Cthulhu.
Thanks for review from Russia (Moscow, Luhansk). Now we have only two books for mutants, but translate of other now in work. We have own official zone compendindium called "Marble swamps" about St.Petersburg. I hear about Gray Death, but cannot find any review about it. Maybe you have one?
NOW HEAR THIS! Free League has just reprinted GenLab Alpha and it now available for order! Get after it beasts! Order it here: frialigan.se/en/store/?product_id=8829697285&fbclid=IwAR30kx7OjWEVj0XLGAZuoyot_0xrfK2ldtwoxS_P8gsoa1VFVZJEztCaoP4
problem playing all the classes togehter thou is that the Animals are really weak compared to the others (humans have guns i guess). And the robots are really OP in comparison to all of them. But i guess if you dont focus to much on combat its ok
I personally think that's kind of the point. If you read the post-game content of say Elysium and the kind of projects they can add to the ark or how their jobs can only be applied for by Mutants and Animals AFTER some projects have been completed... It lends itself very well to roleplaying class and race relations. It's like the humans are a technological advantaged colonial power, the mutants a "native" culture who tries to make its own legacy, the robots the hardes mofos, but essentially slaves to humans and mutants... I'd love to play these games long enough that the organically player created lore has got so advanced that... Who knows? Maybe we'll end up reusing rebellion rules from Genlab Alpha in a mutant and animal ark with robots which has been taken over by chauvinistic humans and their customs.
It is MUCH less complicated. Gameplay is simple and streamlined. The skill list is very limited, allowing for each skill to cover a broad range of uses. I love how quick and easy it plays. However, some of the more math brained players and GM's may find it's skill and talent list lacking. On a side note, it is very hard for players to "break" the system and create overpowered or min maxed characters. I love it.
I'm sure there are but I don't use them. I'm blessed with a large cadre of players in my area, so I only run in person games. My experience with discord is getting on comms with my local friends as I get my butt handed to me at whatever Steam game they drag me into. :)
Decent enough for a bargain price purchase of no more than $15. The controls and depth of the rpg aspects are extremely dumbed down for the console market. The story is laughable in its obviousness so there is no "great reveal" since you figure it out in about 10 minutes if that. very limited character development. It does have some decent humor throughout the game though. At $15 it's good for about 15-20 hours of mild fun but i would've felt ripped off at full price. Wasteland 2 is far better on every level and also available for about %15. After i finish that I'm definitely getting wasteland 3 but i seriously doubt i would buy another version of Mutant year zero.
This was the first Mutant Year 0 video I've watched. Really liked your thorough walk through of the different books. Sounds like fun!
Brilliantly in depth, thank you as I've been thinking about picking up these books for a while.
Peace of advice though, if you can I strongly suggest a camera mount to showcase your books as it's a little nausea inducing with all the camera movement.
Love your game room, you've got an amazing collection!
Indeed. I bought a mount but it didn't work out. I'll see if I can findsomething else!
Exactly the kind of review I was looking for. There is a reprint campaign for the german Version at the moment. Very informative. Thank you
@@floriankirchner8796 thank you for the comment. And thanks for watching!
To start: Nice presentation!
Mutant RPG..... A love for almost all my life....and I´m "old" aswell. It´t nice that you mentioned Gamma World. The writers of the first published Mutant in 1984 has openly stated that they were heavily influenced by Gamma World, so spot on.
This summer, Free League has released "Mutant HIndenburg" (notice there is no year zero in the title), that kind of brings the mutant releses to full cycle spanning three publishers in 36 years.
I am not sure they will release it in English... It relies kind of on the prior mutant knowledge in the Swedish RPG community, but if they added a lot of background pages they might.
That setting is kind of a victorian/steampunk setting (minus the steampunk tech). Imagine a world where "zero" books has blended into one and reached kind of 1870s level of tech and civilisation (but ancient tech exists).
Sidenote.... Regarding Genlab Alpha..... It is very oblious were the inspiration for that story came from: A short convention scenario for the original mutant game,,,that was called Genlab Alpha...Where the players played mutated animals in a "test lab" controlled by robots. I can hook you up with a scanned PDF of that one if you like, but it is in Swedish ;)
Anyway Great presentation. Keep it up
And for Mutant history;
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutant_(role-playing_game)
Very interested in the Hindenburg. Thanks for the tip!
@@blandgaming6222 there is a mutant year zero ad astra coming aswell (space)
Enjoyed this! Have actually enjoyed a few of your recent videos after stumbling upon the channel. Have been getting more interested in Free League games but hadn't checked out Mutant Year Zero yet.. will have to now, after this video! On a side note, another great post apocalyptic game that might be worth checking out just for interest is 'The Mutant Epoch'. All the best.
I love Free League. The system is quick, easy, and plays well in the theater of the mind. The settings and writing are amazing, focusing on plot over complex rules. I have been looking for this company for a long time. I highly recommend them. I currently play MYZ, Alien, Coriolis, Symbaroum, Tales from the Loop, and recently Vaesen. Check them out sir!
@@blandgaming6222 - The Mutant Epoch has more 'gonzo' to it's post-apoc setting, and is closer to the old Gamma World style. I'd say Mutant Epoch's greatest pros are the huge amount of content available, including tons of random tables for whipping up lots of sandbox and hex-crawl style adventuring, and the loads of great & evocative old school style line art from the creator William McAusland (who does a lot of art for other old school RPGs too). I really like MYZ for a little lower gonzo weirdness level as whims take me. I saw someone compare MYZ's mutants as being closer to X-Men types of mutants than the old Gamma World gonzo types, and that's a fair comparison. Both have their strengths, so I own both.
As another old guy with kids who's into beer and gaming, I can relate. :)
It is not the years per se, but i am very high mileage sir.
Great content just subscribed!
Thanks for the video! Just picked up this game!
Thanks for the overview of the numerous books. Since Mutant Year Zero is one of their older products coverage has sorta fallen off. I'm very interested in the built-in campaigns that have a world changing status quo.
You will have it in spades here sir.
Awesome video, similar thing happened to me. Bought year zero on Xbox this week, love the setting and found out it is based on TT RPG. Played cyberpunk and DnD on the past and this seems very fresh to me. Thanks for the overview as I was getting overwhelmed looking up 30yrs of this game. I'll pick up the core book and try to play it over discord. Side note- I bet Genlab Alpha is sold out DUE to the videogame.
Thanks for the comment and for watching. I do recommend ALL the books here. They are a great read and tie in together. I do however wish starting with the core book first, rather than Genlab Alpha. The other books have great plotlines and epic stories, but the core book really has that post apocalyptic feel that you get from the video game.
Great video and overview. I appreciate that you informed me that they are essentially are in chronological order. I subscribed... and what have you 😉
I've read all the books and all the lore, all the locations and factions, I'm in love with the world but have never played Rpg around a table with others.... 😢😭😭
Have you tried getting a game going over discord?
Lets get a game going online!!
I had no idea this was a pen and paper RPG when I played the PC strategy game.
Oh man, I had a little too much Spaten Optimator in Leavenworth a few years ago.
Your a man of culture i see:)
ther are 5 other mutant rpg tha come befor this even if calld zero it not the first one good to know the history of a game too
1 Mutant
2 Mutant 2089
3 Mutant RYMD tratlation space
4 Mutant Chronicles
5 Mutant: Undergångens arvtagare translation Heirs of Doom
6 Mutant: År Noll tralation year zero
7 Mutant: Hindenburg
I managed to get the Alchemy RPG Humble Bundle that had almost every Free League RPG product, trying to decide what to run first, and while I've usually looked at Mutant - Year Zero with indifference, videos like this and those by Dave Thaumavore have me more and more interested. Pretty sure I'll end up getting as many books as I can for their original products. Not so keen on their IP stuff like Alien, Dune, and Walking Dead.
I love Dave's channel, even though he and I don't agree on everything. I can dig you not being interested in IP games. To each their own. Try MYZ. My group loved it. Thanks for watching and thanks for the comment!
@@blandgaming6222 Yeah, don't always agree with him, but his reviews are solid and he occasionally provides tutorial videos for the content he particularly likes. He got me to hunt down the Coriolis books despite them being out of print thanks to the new upcoming edition.
@@twistedturns65 Coriolis is amazing. Probably my favorite RPG atm. (check out my review) They are in the middle of a MAJOR world changing event right now. Hence the new editions.
Drinking game: anytime he says “What have you” take a shot
I'm a simple man of few catch phrases. However, anyone choosing to drink on my behalf is highly encouraged. Feel free to use my other lyrical sayings, such as "what not" and "and everything." Prost!
i could never get enough friends to play star frontier with me, but i loved it either way :)
We played all the TSR titles growing up. DnD, Gamma World, Star Frontiers, Marvel Super Heroes... We also played Twilight 2000, Traveller 2300, and my favorite at the time, Call of Cthulhu.
@@blandgaming6222 i live in a very rural area. finding other nerds back then was a hassle for me
Thanks for review from Russia (Moscow, Luhansk). Now we have only two books for mutants, but translate of other now in work. We have own official zone compendindium called "Marble swamps" about St.Petersburg. I hear about Gray Death, but cannot find any review about it. Maybe you have one?
I do have Gray Death but I have not read it yet. I will post a review after I read it!
I loved Gama World and love Mutant Year Zero! Great comparison.
sounds like your kid is about to go on a bike ride and get into a mystery involving robots
I tried to get him into Tales from the Loop, but since he is the actual age of the characters, it did not peak his interest.
NOW HEAR THIS! Free League has just reprinted GenLab Alpha and it now available for order! Get after it beasts!
Order it here:
frialigan.se/en/store/?product_id=8829697285&fbclid=IwAR30kx7OjWEVj0XLGAZuoyot_0xrfK2ldtwoxS_P8gsoa1VFVZJEztCaoP4
problem playing all the classes togehter thou is that the Animals are really weak compared to the others (humans have guns i guess). And the robots are really OP in comparison to all of them. But i guess if you dont focus to much on combat its ok
I personally think that's kind of the point. If you read the post-game content of say Elysium and the kind of projects they can add to the ark or how their jobs can only be applied for by Mutants and Animals AFTER some projects have been completed... It lends itself very well to roleplaying class and race relations. It's like the humans are a technological advantaged colonial power, the mutants a "native" culture who tries to make its own legacy, the robots the hardes mofos, but essentially slaves to humans and mutants... I'd love to play these games long enough that the organically player created lore has got so advanced that... Who knows? Maybe we'll end up reusing rebellion rules from Genlab Alpha in a mutant and animal ark with robots which has been taken over by chauvinistic humans and their customs.
30:21 the one only count on reroles right?
Exactly
How complicated is this game - compared to lets say D&D or maybe other free league games ?
It is MUCH less complicated. Gameplay is simple and streamlined. The skill list is very limited, allowing for each skill to cover a broad range of uses. I love how quick and easy it plays. However, some of the more math brained players and GM's may find it's skill and talent list lacking. On a side note, it is very hard for players to "break" the system and create overpowered or min maxed characters. I love it.
Great preview of these but you say “what have you” very frequently
I am unfortunately a creature of verbal habit. Thanks for watching!
It's called the Grey Death.
You keep your games in your garage... what’s the weather like where you’re at? I’m always afraid the heat of Texas will destroy my game
I live in the PNW. The temperature is pretty mild, but I'm sure the moisture is not good for my games. :(
Is there a discord for this game? I know there are some dedicated servers for other games like open legend.
I'm sure there are but I don't use them. I'm blessed with a large cadre of players in my area, so I only run in person games. My experience with discord is getting on comms with my local friends as I get my butt handed to me at whatever Steam game they drag me into. :)
Anthropomorphic animals are a turn-off.
Decent enough for a bargain price purchase of no more than $15. The controls and depth of the rpg aspects are extremely dumbed down for the console market. The story is laughable in its obviousness so there is no "great reveal" since you figure it out in about 10 minutes if that. very limited character development. It does have some decent humor throughout the game though.
At $15 it's good for about 15-20 hours of mild fun but i would've felt ripped off at full price. Wasteland 2 is far better on every level and also available for about %15. After i finish that I'm definitely getting wasteland 3 but i seriously doubt i would buy another version of Mutant year zero.
Did you watch the video? It is about the tabletop rpg not the video game.
@@artursantos2715 I was watching several on it and this is not the one i intended to post this under. Dunno how it ended up here...