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The Harnish
Germany
Duisburg
NRW
Cult of The Harnish Leader
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My first experiences with Gamma World was with the 3rd edition of the game, purchased at a game store in Quincy Market during a trip to Boston. What I liked about the original game was the quirkiness of the setting mixed with the random character generation. However, if I had to pinpoint the one thing that really drew to the game was the art – I loved the wacky art on the cover on the box set as well as the various adventures available at the time. Unfortunately the harshness of the game (characters died easily) and my high school gaming group's tastes meant we never really played more than a few games of Gamma World before moving on to the other games we had at our disposal. However, Gamma World still has a soft spot in my heart and so I was quite excited about the news of the new D&D Gamma World release (which is the 7th edition of the game), pre-ordering the game and anxiously awaiting it's arrival. Since then I've played it a few times and have finally decided to review the game.
The Box
The game's box is a large, square box with a bio-hazard green color and a lot of cartoonish art which doesn't live up to the original art I fell in love with. It also hints at the changes in the actual game inside which I'll get to later on. However, the main thing that needs to be pointed out about the box is that it's largely filled with air: it's pathetically oversized for what you get inside, with much of the space being taken up by a cardboard filler. I have to say that I'm really disappointed by the waste of materials, not to mention what seems to be a lot of false advertising in terms of the box choice. On the upside it's a well-constructed, quality box, which will actually fit both expansion packs inside it with room to spare, so maybe that was their original intention. 
The Contents of the Box
Aside from the aforementioned cardboard filler, the box contains a 160-page, soft-covered rule book, 80 game cards (40 Alpha Mutation and 40 Omega Tech cards), 2 color battle maps (useful but not very reuseable), 4 character sheets, and a couple of sheets of heavy duty, full-colored card stock tokens (pogs). The later are quite nice though hard to sort effectively. Perhaps what is most surprising about the box set is what's missing: dice. It seems odd that the box contains everything you need to play Gamma World, except the dice. The exclusion of them seems really odd, especially given the fact that there's plenty of room in the box for them.
The Game
Happily, the game is pretty good. The introduction describes a very weird default setting in which the Hadron Collider causes an apocalypse known as “the Big Mistake” which leads to multiple realities colliding. The result is a really odd hodgepodge of post-apocalyptic tropes which gives the game a very comic tone that was lacking in the original GW – sure the original GW setting contained some satirical elements, but at its heart was a pretty dark, nuclear, biological, and chemical war that devastated the globe. The new GW is far more wacky which is makes it far more flexible and lighter, but also tends to lead to a more comedic, pun-filled game.
The rules are a stripped down and simplified version of the 4th edition D&D rules, in which characters are built through a mixture of random rolls and a few choices. I like the wackiness of the random generation process, which essentially marries two archetypes together which the player then is free to interpret in any way they see fit. The result is a game in which character creation is very fast and colorful, but also quite erratic.
The Cards
Perhaps the most interesting, and controversial, part of character creation are the power cards. The game comes with 80 cards, divided in to Alpha Mutations (which are inherent powers characters have and from which they draw a new one from time to time), and Omega Tech (which represent powerful artifacts the PCs recover). Essentially, Alpha Mutations work like 4E's powers, while Omega Tech function more akin to magic items, though in most cases they are temporary in nature. What makes the cards cool is that like 4E's use of power cards, all the details of how the mutations & tech work are right on the card and they're drawn randomly from time to time. The randomness of the mutations is something I really do not like though: it leads to a really bizarre, and for me verisimilitude shattering, chaotic game. There's a quick fix though: just ignore the "pull a new card at the end of each combat" rule and all is fixed.
What makes them controversial is that the cards are divided in to common, uncommon, and rare types and additional cards for the game are sold in randomized booster packs, arranged in common, uncommon, and rare types. It's not a big deal if you're not a compulsive collector because nothing forces you to buy the cards (and there are downloadable alternatives to buying the cards). However, it is a real turn-off to me and actually resulted in me not buying any additional cards due to the nature of the way they were being sold.
The Rules
As I mentioned earlier, Gamma World uses a simplified version of the 4E D&D rules, the result of which is that the game is easier to learn and lot more open-ended. For example, specific weapons have been replaced by broad, generic weapon classes allowing players to use improvised weapons – say a parking meter – and moving away from optimized weapon choices. Another change is the elimination of healing surges outside of the “second wind” which makes the game a lot more lethal.
Taken as a whole, I think the rules do a good job of making a fun, easy to learn system. The book contains enough details, creatures, and advice for a GM to get started and run what a pretty wacky one shot or even a short-duration campaign. That said, I'm not really convinced the game is a great fit for novice GMs – the advice, creatures, and details provided in the book aren't necessarily easy for someone brand new to GMing to turn in to actual adventures. There's also not a huge amount of stuff to work with inside the book – the sample adventure is only eight encounters long and pretty light on actual story. Similarly, while there are a decent number of monsters included in the book, there isn't much of a selection at any given level (about 6-8 per level, up to level 5, after which the number drops off fast). While a GM could use monsters from other D&D books (i.e., the 4E Monster Manuals), most novice GMs aren't going to be familiar with the idea of reskinning monsters. While the follow-up box sets (each of which contains an adventure plus a bunch of monsters, powers, and tech) help, the game feels less complete than my original 3rd edition GW set and, at least for me, doesn't really inspire my desire to run anything but short-duration games – that's just fine since it's a good fit for a busy adult life, but may rub some purists the wrong way.
You might like this game if...
 you want an easy to learn set of rules.
you like random character generation.
you prefer a lighter, humor-based post-apocalypse where puns and satire run rampant.
you prefer more story-based, colorful rather than tactical combat, but one where tactical movement and minis are still used.
you want a compact, relatively easy to prep game that comes with everything you need to play...except the dice!
You probably will dislike the game if...
 you hate power cards, especially collectible ones.
the cartoony art drives you nuts.
you want to run a long campaign.
you want lots of published adventures.
you prefer a dark, grim, science-based, post-apocalyptic game.
Final Verdict
I like the game though I find it slightly overpriced for what you get inside the box. We've played a few sessions of the game and always had a good time, but nobody really wants to play the game long term. I also find the game works well with teens who really appreciate the wackiness but that it doesn't really line up very well with their preconceived notion of what the apocalypse is like (Fallout 3 is what most teens in my experience picture). In the end, I think Gamma World will appeal to a lot of people, especially those with a sense of humor, but it certainly isn't for everyone.
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Cracky McCracken
United States
Ohio
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Thanks for the review MJ. I was able to pick up the base game and it's two expansions for $40 at a local bookstore. The expansions fit into the base game box and still leaves room for dice and cards.
Together, the base game and it's two expansions feel like a game worth about $50 or so... But yeah, it's a box full of air without them.
I absolutely love GW's approach to char creation and wouldn't mind seeing it used for D&D. Want to roll up an Elven Fighter/Magic User? Go ahead. Want to roll up a Dwarven Cleric/Thief? Fine. Want to roll up a Human Fighter that's a pure fighter? No prob.
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Scott Roberts
United States
Southlake
Texas
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I don't care for the backstory and random changing powers. It feels like a a design made not to improve the game but rather to be able to get an income stream from selling collectible cards.
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Kevin H.
United States
Crescent City
California
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I would like to see a random power/tech table, d1000 or whatever is necessary to mirror the distribution of the card packs.
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The Harnish
Germany
Duisburg
NRW
Cult of The Harnish Leader
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I *think* there is a random table out on the net, somewhere. I seem to have seen one but don't ask me where.
The other thing I miss from this version are mutated animals as PCs - you can do this but it's largely left up to the players to simply skin their character that way (e.g., we had one PC who was a giant, sentient wasp) but it doesn't feel quite as satisfying as starting off as an actual badger...
The other thing I forgot to mention in the review is that players are encouraged to pull from their own deck of cards and the set-up and booster pack supplements strongly encourage min-maxing the deck. I think the collectible, randomized approach sucks, especially when the cards are not particularly ascetically pleasing - at the very least the omega tech cards should have an illustration of the item, especially given the price they're charging for the cards.
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John "Omega" Williams
United States
Michigan
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As stated elesewhere. This version isnt really Gamma World. Its not a reboot. Its some totally diffrent game and setting with the name Gamma World slapped on. Even less so than the d20 version. The Alternity version felt more like Gamma world than those two. yeesh.
But if you came into it from 3rd or 4th when TSR was trying to add in more goofball at the expense of the core setting. Then yeah, this kinda works.
The disparity between the rules, the goofball writing and the twisted freak art just doesnt mesh.
Such is how the GW pendulum swings. And sadly it hasnt stopped on the original GW since 2nd ed and kinda Alternity.
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Maurice Tousignant
Canada
Windsor
Ontario
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I think this is as much Gamma World as 4e D&D is D&D.
I personally don't have a problem with the collectable cards because you don't need them at all. You get more than enough cards with the game.
I've loved running this and had a great time. My only real complaints are a lack of Gamma World Dungeon Tiles (I use the Star Wars Galaxy Tiles) and the fact the game is done after the 3rd expansion with nothing more planned.
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