Gamma World
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{{Infobox RPG
|title= Gamma World
|image= Image:Gamma World Book.jpg
|caption= Gamma World Basic Rules Booklet cover
|designer= James M. Ward and Gary Jaquet
|publisher= TSR
Wizards of the Coast (4th edition)
[[Sword & Sorcery]] (d20 edition)
|date= 1978 (1st edition)
1983 (2nd edition)
1986 (3rd edition)
1992 (4th edition)
2000 (5th edition)
2003 (d20 edition)
|genre= Science fiction
|system= Custom, d20 System, Alternity (4th edition)
|footnotes=
}}
Gamma World is a science fiction role-playing game, originally created by James M. Ward and Gary Jaquet, and published by TSR.
Contents |
Description
This post-apocalyptic game takes place on the earth of the late 24th-century, where advanaced technology, psionics, improbable mutations, and fantasy radiation mingle in a ruined world that has reverted to anarchy.
The game draws inspiration from the post-apocalyptic sub-genre of science fiction and fantasy. Later supplements and editions reflect later visions from the sub-genre, such as Mad Max (1979) and the Hanna-Barbera cartoon Thundarr the Barbarian (1980). Gamma World is descended from the earlier TSR game Metamorphosis Alpha (1976), which involved the mutated crew of a generation starship named Warden. A component of this starship appears in the old Dungeons & Dragons module "Expedition to the Barrier Peaks".
The mechanics of the first and second editions are similar to the original D&D game system. The third edition (1986) resembles TSR's Marvel Super-Heroes RPG, replacing the myriad resolution mechanics of D&D with a single percentile-based mechanic referring to a color-coded table. The Fourth Edition (1992) resembled second edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (AD&D). The Fifth Edition was based on TSR's Alternity system—a game line which was cancelled a month before the Gamma World book was released.
In September 2002, a version of Gamma World called Omega World written by Jonathan Tweet was published in the pages of Dungeon magazine issue 94/Polyhedron magazine issue 153, using the d20 system.
In late 2003 Sword & Sorcery (a White Wolf Game Studio label) released a new edition of Gamma World. This edition, like Tweet's Omega World, uses the d20 System adapted from the Third Edition of Dungeons and Dragons.
Books
The current sixth edition Gamma World line consists of six books, and no more books are scheduled to be produced:
- Gamma World Player's Handbook
- Gamma World Game Master's Guide
- Gamma World Mutants and Machines
- Gamma World Beyond the Horizon
- Gamma World Cryptic Alliances and Unknown Enemies
- Gamma World Out of the Vaults
Trivia
Some editions of the Gamma World rulebook include details of a racist militant organization calling itself The Knights of Genetic Purity, which exists solely and explicitly to be a mustache-twirlingly evil enemy for players of the game to fight. The science-fiction television program Andromeda produced an episode in its second season entitled Immaculate Perception which featured the Knights, using the exact name and having them play exactly the same role in the general scheme of things.