Gamma World - First Impressions

After a (long) break we're finally back to the table - and diving straight into the awesome post-apocalyptic Gamma World.

Gamma World is also available as a setting for d20 Modern, but I was looking forward to bit of a change from the d20 system, so I plumped for the 5th Edition that runs under Alternity.

The setting itself feels similar to the Fallout games, Mad Max, etc. and is pretty standard post apocalyptic fare...

SpyCraft: Mission 1 - Annual training exercise

Our first mission in Codename: The Increment was standard training fare for our newly-created seasoned (5th level) characters.

We were tasked with infiltrating a Ministry of Agriculture laboratory near a sleepy rural town, and liberating some sensitive documentation stored in a safe. This was not a live fire exercise, but we were fully expecting the building to be a front, manned by other Secret Service employees. We had two days to get in, get the information, and get out...

Finally: Deadlands!

"Rockin'horse" McTire's in big trouble because of that big mouth of hers...

Having struggled to get all the survivors off the train - due to in-party dithering - the posse ran into a swarm of prairie ticks while trying to get to a nearby town. These little things are pretty nasty; they crawl down your throat, suck out your blood, and eventually burst you from the inside - and they got into five of the ten survivors!

Leaving Big John and Obadiah to move the wounded on to civilisation, Mary-Lou (that's Rockin'horse to you) rode on ahead to get help.

However, being the ballsy gal she is, she ended up getting drunk and shooting her mouth off at the town's stand-in Sherrif - who's the Texas Ranger I was trying to slip in for a later plot hook. Damn. Managed to steer her away from a duel, at least...

Having left the town "to go send a telegram," the Sherrif left things wide open for a gang of outlaws to loot and pillage. Luckily, the posse gave them a good kicking - although John nearly took a dirt nap in the process - leaving the town safe. What will happen when the Ranger gets back, however, is anyone's guess...

Descent Ownage

Thursday's Deadlands session was put off as we were missing a member, so we cracked Descent out instead for some good ol' fashioned dungeon crawling.

Mark elected to be Overlord, which meant I got to play the Heroes, for once, with Dave. Random selection netted me Silhouette and Sir Whatsit, Dave got Landrec and Ronan. I was pretty happy with my two, decking Valadir? out as "tank" with decent armour and a sword & shield, and Silhouette as "runner" with a shield & crossbow. Landrec drew the cards that gave him Command and Sorcery 1, making him an unofficial "leader" type, while Ronan ended up with Marksman and some miscellaneous oddments that didn't really affect gameplay.

It soon transpired that Silhouette was grossly overpowered; I'd drawn Rapid Fire and Crack Shot for her, which was handy, but I also got the card that gives +2 fatigue - cranking her up to a game-breaker. With her 5 move and 7 fatigue, the original plan was to run her around and take glyphs / chests, using her shield to keep her alive and the crossbow in an emergency. Ronan and Landrec were going to be crowd control, while Valadir duked it out with whatever was trying to munch on the party.

This soon changed when we figured out that Rapid Fire can be used multiple times in a turn - Silhouette was clearing out rooms as we discovered them with 10+ attacks in a turn before nipping off to town for more potions. Even when Mark revealed a room full of master skellys and sorcerors, the only reason it took two turns for her to beat them all down was because he was incredibly lucky with his Undying rolls.

He conceded - we had over 15 conquest points and a couple of gold items each, and he really couldn't see it getting any tougher for us. Disappointing, but we're having a rematch next week!

We may have to houserule it, in hindsight - anyone else had a similar experience?