Gamma World War timeline of events, Part I

PRE CATALYSM (P.C.)

Late 22nd Century Earth
Advanced technologies in just about every discipline have brought prosperity to the world. Most of these miraculous breakthroughs have afforded humanity the promise of off-world colonies to ensure the survival of the species.

THE GREAT CATACLYSM (G.C.)

The disaster to end all disasters happens. All civilizations perish from the surface of the Earth. No one quite remembers what triggered it. Whatever caused it has passed from the collective consciousness, but it left the world in ruins.

AFTER CATACLYSM (A.C.)

Earth is in ruins. Anyone on the surface of the Earth who wasn't killed in the Great Cataclysm, either survived in underground strongholds or remained topside but mutated away from their genome of origin.

100 A.C. 
Some sub-terra bunkers begin to form city-states deep under the Earth, through totalitarian rule. Meanwhile, the surface-dwellers are left to fight over scraps. Evolution has accelerated, and the first cross-fauna mutants emerge.

150 A.C. 
Subterrans return to the surface with small, short-trip scouting parties. Due in part to encounters with brutal Mechlok gangs and frightening Inhuma tribes, news spreads of the devastation and the "horror" of the mutated "monsters" above.

360 A.C. 
Several pure-strain cities join to form a new government based on their un-mutated purity, calling themselves the "Valids," which is shorthand for the only acceptable form of humanity. Raiding parties have ventured topside for regular cullings of mutants who are feared and hated by Valids. Strange lights in the sky have been reported.

520 A.C.
Though skirmishes had occurred in the intervening years, the first real full-scale battle between Valids and several bands of roving mutants takes place near the Michigan Wastes. There's no clear victor, but the conflict fuels anti-Valid sentiment above ground.

775 A.C.
After centuries of hard-fought war, a league made up of Valid city-states has committed to retaking the surface in order to win back the Earth. Several mutant groups have been hunted to extinction, but many more have forged alliances in order to keep the human threat at bay.

899 A.C. 
The first New Evolutionaries are spotted. They appear quite alien, having few humanoid qualities.

960 A.C. 
Dysponia, the first mutant government is established. Hundreds of mutant factions flock to join a centralized effort to combat the Valids.

988 A.C. 
Mutants and Valids alike are preparing for a large-scale war, but with resources scarce, raiding parties are sent by both sides to reclaim ancient technology and raw materials. Inevitably skirmishes erupt.

1015 A.C.
Raiding has led to larger open conflicts but both sides are still cautious about full-scale war, citing supply issues and fear about what could happen to their respective, fragile civilizations. In a relatively short period of time, many more New Evolutionaries appear and while still alien in nature, appear more humanoid sized and shaped.

1016 A.C.
Intelligence on a Wonder of the Ancients has leaked from the Valids and the mutant forces are looking to beat them to it before they're forced into a surrender worse. Raiding parties are sent and stumble into forgotten stronghold from eons ago. Blood is spilled and laserfire exchanged as they clash over the scene--but a NEW threat has arrived!

Close to midnight, on a hot and humid, midsummer night an onslaught of energy weapons begins tearing up the Earth around the fortress. A fleet of extraterrestrial battleships has arrived! A three-way conflict between humans, mutants, and aliens--and the war for the future of Gamma Terra--has begun!

More to come...


Note: All years are approximate. I may totally mess with this timeline and revise as needed!

Why do the aliens invade?

Any number of MacGuffins or standard scifi tropes would likely do, to serve as impetus from otherworldly conquerers. But this story gave me a pretty good idea as to why aliens in GWW might have reason to take over our planet--and not care if the surface was scorched clean by death rays. As it turns out, the Earth may hold up to three times more water reserves than previously thought--deep underground.

The V mini-series from the 80s was right all along!

From The Guardian:

The water is locked up in a mineral called ringwoodite about 660km (400 miles) beneath the crust of the Earth, [emphasis mine] researchers say. Geophysicist Steve Jacobsen from Northwestern University in the US co-authored the study published in the journal Science and said the discovery suggested Earth’s water may have come from within, driven to the surface by geological activity, rather than being deposited by icy comets hitting the forming planet as held by the prevailing theories.

“Geological processes on the Earth’s surface, such as earthquakes or erupting volcanoes, are an expression of what is going on inside the Earth, out of our sight,” Jacobsen said.

So the Earth is, in fact, an even bigger source for water in the solar system. Not to mention the fact that the reserves could be inspiration for the "great cataclysm" itself. It makes sense, from a narrative standpoint why the subterranean-dwelling valids would want to jealously protect the Earth's remaining, untouched resources.

What more can I say, science is cool!

Read more

REVISION: Cybornas vs. Mechloks

When I'd first written about robotic races in GWW, I'd called the overarching race/class (we'll get into that in a second) "Mechloks". One of the subraces--a group of anatomically altered beings, usually sporting crude mechanical components--was classified "cybornas".

But I've had a while to think on it, and that term is more appropriate to the parent group, since all are, in some fashion "cybernetic" in nature. Plus, the earlier cyborna race was more inclined to be mechanical in nature. The term actually derives from "morlock," the subhuman savages featured in H. G. Wells' The Time Machine. Mechlok sounds more in line with the Mad Max feel of that group.

Henceforth, Cyborna shall refer to the entire group of cybernetic beings, which now includes Mechloks (mechanized cyborgs), Syndrones (genetic androids), and Golthans (mute giants).

As for that earlier point on races as a class--yes, I intend to make the different races operate more like classes in the game. The intention is to create loose factions, based along racial cultures and characteristics. More on that later. For now, here's the revised entry...

RACES: CYBORNA

Cybornas are artificial or artificially-enhanced humanoid beings of which three are three distinct types: Mechloks (half biological, half  electromechanical), Syndrones (organically grown  androids), and Golthans (manufactured, giant androids).

Mechlok clans roam the ruins of fallen cities and industrial sites in search of tools, fuel, or tech to enhance their motley features. They can range from highly-sophisticated composites to hack-n-slash monstrosities (in the wilds, the latter are usually more prominent). About half of all mechloks have some sort of enhanced, if not totally, mechanical means of locomotion.

They are largely nomadic raiders, attacking small- to medium-sized settlements for food, fuel, and spare parts. Just about every clan is lead by a chieftain that's chosen by right of challenge, crewed by mechlok "claners" (junkers who cherry pick spare parts, and accompanied by some sort of ground-based war machine or juggernaught. They don't like outsiders, which can include rival clans.


Syndrones are grown from genetically spliced pods that act as spawning plants. After the cataclysm, their mental development seemed to accelerate, allowing them to form highly-advanced colonies. They're descendants of ancient androids that--in the quest for self perfection--began modifying their own manufacturing. The result is something akin to a humanoid made from organic-based polymers, filled with a densely-woven positronic network.

Syndrones typically live in agricultural communes, spending the bulk of their resources on cutivating new crops of young and acting as healers for all forms of cybernetic life. Some factions have been known to associate with Valids, providing intelligence in return for certain, hard-to-find resources found only underground. They appear as exceptionally graceful beings with an enlightened sensibility. Make no mistake though, they will do anything to acquire the resources needed to keep their birth/sleep pods in peak performance.


Golthans are giant, mute androids that range in size between 3 and 10 meters and appear in a variety of humanoid forms. They were built as artificially intelligent combat units by Goliath Robotics International in the late 21st century, but an attack by a radical sect of hackers turned Goliath's best-selling products into an army of curious, robot children.

The hackers uploaded a virus into a GRI server that provided realtime updates to all model types located throughout the world. The virus included an algorithm that would allow their positronic brains to develop highly-emotive personalities (originally intended by the virus authors to be passive).

Around the time of the cataclysm they all simultaneously lost the ability to speak. Whether by misunderstanding or the simple fact of their unusual size, Golthans are usually loners, living for centuries at a time in the wilds, where they can observe nature away from the rest of mutant society. As they tend not to comprehend their own size and strength compared with lesser beings, those that encounter them should exercise extreme caution.

Cyborna races are intended for use as player characters, NPCs, and as templates for monsters. 

VIDEO: Viral ads for Dawn of the Apes are great setting primers!

Need something to help set the scene in your next Gamma-esque game? Give players the heebie-jeebies as they watch civilzation fall into ruin in seconds! These timelapse clips from the upcoming Dawn of the Planet of the Apes flick should do the trick nicely:

LONDON



SAN FRANCISCO



NEW YORK

Gamma World War campaign idea

So I've been hammering on how to organize a Gamma World War campaign in a string of adventure's (okay, an "adventure path"). Basically this would take you step-by-step through the storyline. You'd get to play different characters representing different sides of the conflict, but it could also be written to include a storypath for single group (but where's the fun in that?).

In my mind's eye, I envision this to be sort of tournament-style play where multiple groups play each round and outcomes get reported back to a "master judge" who can then give results, story cues, and other details to the GMs to run the next round. So each round should build on the previous.

Players would likely generate a few different characters at the outset, namely a few pure-strain humans, several mutants, and a few alien characters. At least three of these adventures (currently, anyway) have alternate takes where players could play for the other side (I've marked them as ALT).

ROUND 1: MUTANT SNIPE HUNT

You're a member of an elite team of pure strain humans called "Valids" that is out to clear the surface world of mutant scum and make the Earth safe or habitation again. Your team is one of several culling squads sent to hunt, capture, and eradicate the mutated hordes.

The hunting parties are given profiles of which mutants are valued for scientific study (capture) and which are too dangerous to roam (kill). Take your crackerjack team of specialists to the surface in a mechanized drill tank along with your Mother May-bot (artificially intelligent chaperone/drill sergeant) to keep you in contact with other squads and central command.

Good luck and Mother's Blessings be upon you!

ALT: Mutant players must rescue their comrades from a the brig inside the giant drill tank before it dives back beneath the surface.

ROUND 2: ARENA ROCKED

You're a mutated survivor of the Great Calamity who's recently been captured by those pompous human under-dwellers. They tossed you into a holding area with a great many other mutants where you were shipped to a walled-in city. There's little food, but LOTS of weapon caches in this abandoned urban wasteland. It's been turned into some sort of gladiatorial arena and you'll have to fight your fellow mutants to survive. But wait--there's an active resistance growing! It's time to set aside petty differences and form a fighting force to overcome your oppressors and escape!

 

ROUND 3: WALKING DREAD

You're an outlander--a human or mutant wanderer of the Gammascape's furthest reaches. As you enter a small city strange happenings give you an uneasy feeling that things are about to change in a big way. You stumble upon a skirmish between pure strains and mutants. Before you know it, a horde of zombies arrive to feast on the survivors. Outnumbered and overwhelmed, now seems like a realy good time to stick together--humans and mutants alike!

ROUND 4: INCOMING TRANSGRESSION

You're part of a new breed of Gamma Terran--an allied band of humans and mutants, trying to restore order to the ruined chaos. Reports keep streaming in about weird weather and the reanimated dead. You've got to fight off the necrotic hordes--and make allies of former foes--before something even more terrifying from beyond arrives to take control!

ALT: Undead players must divide and conquer the humans and mutants. Feast alone won't do it--they've got to turn some of them in to increase their own numbers in order to overwhelm and claim victory.

ROUND 5: BATTLE GLOBALE

The invasion has begun! Alien aggressors want this planet--ruined or not--for themselves. Only you and your coalition of humans and mutants stands in the way. Make your way to the World Security Council's HQ and activate the World Alert Beacon--the last remaining scrap of global civilization that could be humanity's only chance to call all Earthlings to arms. It's an all-out, gamma-lit, firefight. Who will claim victory in the Gamma World War?!

ALT: Alien characters are trying to put down the Earth's remaining humans and mutants and stake their claim in taking the planet!


Five adventures (modules?) seems like a good number, being not too long but still hitting all the key plot points. Plus, there's still room for a robot uprising, weaponized kaiju, and cyborg raiding party or five that I'd like to sprinkle in. :)

Post-Apocalyptic Community Project: FROM THE ZONES!

Click image to learn how to participate! 

Prepare to Enter the Zones!

Madman of mutant mayhem John Till over at FateSF is leading the charge for new cross-blog extravaganza called FROM THE ZONE. This is an OSR community project to create material for a post-apocalyptic setting inspired in part by the Andrei Tarkovsky film Stalker (1979). 

If you've never heard of the film, he's written a great primer and set up some participation guidelines. This is open to anyone and you don't need a blog to participate. Best of all you can choose the rule system you love most, but it's perfect for that Mutant Future, X-plorers or old school Gamma World game you've got going.

It looks to be a blast so put on your thinking caps and get writing! 

From FateSF:

FROM THE ZONES is a cross-blog project. Here are the details:

1. Write something about the Zones for the system of your choice. Describe a specific Zone, or an artifact, or a location within the Zone, a strange threat or phenomenon found in the Zone, a Zone scenario, a table of encounters, a Stalker character class, or something else.
2. This project is cross-system. Write for a system you love. I'll be writing for Fate Core/FAE, but you may want to write for a different system, such as Labyrinth Lord/Mutant Future, X-plorers, Diaspora, Stars Without Numbers, WaRP, Open D6,  or something else. System-neutral is also fine!
3. Post your content to your own blog. You own whatever you write and post to your own blog.
4. If you don't have a blog you can write a document in Google docs. 
5. Download the Hereticwerks Zones logo; use it in your blog post or Google doc! We will post the link to download the logo HERE as soon as it is up and ready.
6. Leave a comment in the comments section of this post (see below) with a link to your blog post or Google doc. 
7. We will create a table with all the links and a brief/title description of each item here at FATE SF. 

We'll start the table collecting the links as Thursday's FATE SF post. This will be an ongoing project, so share a link to your blog post or Google doc whenever it is ready.

Note: This is a re-post from Exonauts, with a few minor tweaks. Seemed appropriate since this is a post-apoc blog, after all...

Try this setting for your next Gamma World game...

Every recipe begins with a good base...

Click image for publication info

Mix in some Mars Attacks miniatures from this upcoming game on Kickstarter...



Then add in a dash of background reading...

This post (skip to the bit on WW Doom)

...the first volume of the newly revived Mars Attacks comics.....

Click image for publication info

....a little pinch of the also newly revived Dinosaurs Attack! comic from IDW....

Click image for publication info

....plus a heap of James Stokoe's incredible Godzilla The Half Century War...

Click image for publication info

Then top it off with a little video* preview for your players:

Voila! A feast of post-apocalyptic mayhem--just in time for the weekend!

UPDATE: Gah! Apologies, that last clip has been yanked by WB. As soon as--I guess--the official one pops up I'll revise. Until then, here's a little something to tide you and your players over:




*Clip is a trailer for a movie coming out May 16, 2014 ;)

Classic Fallout games on sale at GOG

 

Gog.com is having a weekend sale (actually goes through Monday) on all their Fallout titles for a measly $4.99 each.

Thoughts about Zardoz

I've been trying to get back into the blogging habit and had this post rolling around my brain for a while. So it's at least an exercise in getting creative juices flowing again. A while back I found Zardoz on Netflix and it had been a long while since I'd seen it so I gave it another whirl. It's supposed to be (at least the way I've viewed it over the years) part action adventure/part intellectual experiment.

As an adventure, it has some really inspired moments, but kinda falls short of its potential. As an experiment it does well on grand scale, but the details get sort of muddled.

With movies like Inception, Dark City, and even something as wacky as 12 Monkeys, I think Zardoz could be remade and given a bit more gusto, perhaps fewer suspendered banana hammocks. Side note: I've tried to love the film, but in truth I've found it mostly boring with some good bits and an overall interesting--if sometimes shocking--premise.

Oh, and while the Book of Eli may have borrowed from ol' Zed, I'm talking more a straight-up re-imagining. So the characters and story details would be mostly intact beyond the overall concept. Sorry Singleton, we're not counting that one.

In Japan, Zardoz is in SPAAAACE!

So here's my pitch to re-imagine a new Zardoz:

PLOT
First, take a moment to familiarize yourself with the original plot. Done? Okay, we begin with a band of masked marauders known as Brutals sporting theme park mascot heads as helmets is laying seige to a seaside village. They take no prisoners and bow to a giant floating head, the god Zardoz. The most fierce of the bunch is Zed, whose curiosity leads him to discover the truth about their infallible, flying deity. His journey takes him to Vortex, a clandestine community of Eternals (psionic immortals) who yearn for the excitement that death brings--whether it's their own or the primitive villagers that make up the outer settlements. An artificial being known as Tabernacle rules as a beneficent adjudicator and administrator of Vortex's citizens. She has served humans for more than three centuries as a chorus of consciousnesses trapped in a single synthetic body. Over that time she has grown envious of her wards and planted the seed of their doom in a power hungry Zardoz pilot...Arthur Frayn.

SETTING
Let's leave the English countryside of the original behind and move to a beach on the California coast, dotted with ruined piers and broken highways. Since this is in the future, it'd be nice to see a few twists on the theme, maybe some mutated animals (carnivorous steeds for the Brutals) and evidence of a slightly more advanced civilization than our own (an upgraded Tabernacle that could neurologically control Vortex and its citizens). Zardoz itself is a remnant of a Wizard of Oz theme park erected in the late 21st century to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the film. The giant head really is the "wizard" as it appears inside a replica of the Emerald City--as part of the Wiz's main audience chamber. Vortex is a biodome commune that sprouted several towns over in a more rural area. Vortex appears similar to the Eden Project or Biosphere 2.

CAST

• Zed - Michael Fassbender (X-Men First Class, Inglorious Basterds)
• Arthur Frayn - Alfred Molina (Spider-Man 2, Sorcerer's Apprentice)
• Consuella - Marrion Cotillard (Contagion Inception)
• May - Rose Byrne (X-Men First Class, Damages)
• Friend - Tom Hiddleston (Thor)
• Tabernacle - Vera Farminga (Source Code, Up in the Air)

DIRECTOR
Probably the most important aspect since a quirky film like this is usually driven heavily by the hand of the artist in charge. Chris Nolan seems like an easy bet with his deft direction of sci-fi-with-a-message films. Overall, I think he'd be good to reel in some of the more muddled elements that weighed down the Boorman version and still be able to make it the thought-provoking action/thrillers he's known for.

Yeah, cynics may decry him for being a bit over-wrought, but I honestly think he's yet to put out a bad piece of filmmaking. Whom would you rather have, Zack Snyder? (As if!) Ten years ago I would have said Alex Proyas who directed one of my favorite-ever films, the aforementioned Dark City. But until he comes up with something to make up for I, Robot--I think Nolan is the guy to make Zardoz fly.

So what would your Zardoz look like?


Previously: Zardoz Video Game in 8-Bit, Intro

Secret Japanese Pyramid Base!

Click to embiggen

Everyone needs one. From Shōnen Magazine, circa 1967 for a Japanese TV program called The King Kong Show.

via Pink Tentacle.

A Valid Grudge

Valids are a sanctimonious lot that consider themselves the true heirs to humanity, but they believe they have good reason to think so--other than their un-mutated appearances.

After the Cataclysm, humans on the surface did their best to survive. The first generation of mutants that rose from the disaster were beastly and made the survivors their prey. Those humans who hadn't sought shelter underground and not yet succumbed to mutation would fall to one of two fates: mutation or gruesome death by those who had.

Feeling helpless, the now subterranean Valids could only watch quietly from their secure bunkers. They made sure that neither they--nor subsequent generations--ever forgot the horrible fate of their brethren topside. At least, the leaders of the pure strain humans made sure to use the atrocities to their advantage--crafting an impenetrable police state that gave them full power over the populous.

They focused their energies in building incredible underground cities and advanced technologies. In time they flourished, but they still needed resources from the surface so they organized salvage posses. When they re-emerged on the surface they quickly realized they'd technologically surpassed the topsiders and retained a "civilized society".

The Valids long buried their resentment underground, and now they finally had the means and opportunity to vest themselves of a centuries old contempt. Soon their salvage parties were bringing back mutants as prisoners. Valid scientists immediately saw the possibility of testing new advances on near-human subjects without impunity. All too quickly they began sending out more hunting parties, which reaped a bounty of prisoners--so many that they needed a place to stow them until needed. Eventually the experiment became entertainment. Word of the Valids' cruelty spread quickly amongst the mutant tribes and soon it would be their turn to bear a grudge....


Underground city illustration via Comic Book Cartography

Underground Outposts of Pure Strain "Valid" Humans

I've mentioned before that the pure strain "Valid" humans live in huge underground cities. But those cities had to start somehow--albeit modestly. I imagine that they began as communes or refugee stations camped out in abandoned bunkers and missile silos.

These aren't the Children of the Catalysm--no, those poor bastards were stuck on the surface. Valids were the rich kids with all the toys. They've insulated themselves from the world and built-up a keen sense of entitlement to go with it.

Today, those early hideouts that gave them their start are used as outposts (since they've long outgrown their original digs). But the bunkers and silos of old are still useful for launching mutant hunts and planning their nefarious schemes.

Several outposts circle the City of Mutants, and act as holding areas and serve as labs where Valid scientists are constantly splicing and dicing away in the dark....

More bunker art inspiration

Maps of Nuclear Reactors = Gamma World Mega Dungeons!

Oh yeah baby! Here are some great cutaways of nuclear power plants--they're practically Gamma World "dungeon" maps ready to go. Several of them even come pre-numbered!

Click to enlarge:

...and just so you can see how detailed these are (click to enlarge this one):

Have at it mutants!

You can find larger versions of the images that will be more useful as maps here:

• Biblio Odyssey, and more 
• Boing Boing
• U of NM

So what's the plan?

I'm far enough along with the initial conceit of Gamma World War that I have a few assumptions I'm ready to share "out loud", meaning, they've been rattling around in my brain and I need to write them down so I can think about/refute/or move forward with them. I've already mentioned a few, but just in case, here's the deal:

1. It's a sandbox setting. Duh!

2. It's a 3-sided war: mutants vs. humans vs. aliens. Mutants are the hard-luck underdogs and outnumber the other two forces. Humans are austere, subterranean living, better off tech wise. There are surface dwelling cousins, but we'll get to that in a sec. Aliens may be powerful and intimidating, but they're not invincible. Two factions listed under "mutant"could technically be split off for a total of five sides to the war:  artificial beings (not including cyborgs though) and undead. Zombies might actually be considered "mutants" though. I'll leave that door open for those at the gaming table.

3. In the beginning, there are no factions--those will grow organically through gameplay between PCs and the GM. Races are aligned mainly through simplicity and for survival purposes. Alliances and/or rivalries between species will be formed through exploring Gamma Terra. By encountering one another and experiencing the eventual invasion of the aliens, players will have to figure things out as they go.

4. Certain races and the aliens will be controlled by the GM. At least in the beginning. I guess I'm still not-quite solid about this, but to get the ball rolling I think the aliens should play the heavies. Things can change once the battle starts. Maybe this is more of playtest thing. I've created a few race/species categories, but I'd be open to others from previous GW or MF editions.

5. To be a true "world war" we'll need a little Player vs. Player. Another thing I'd like to experiment with, which is why I asked about it a while back is the PvP or Team vs. Team aspect of gaming. I've never done it, but it sounds like it can be really fun. I can see writing this into a ruleset at some point--giving everyone the chance to go at it, once everyone gets into building up alliances, armies, etc. Or maybe just as a cap to a long campaign.

6. Setting will likely be the "standard" two centuries after the current timeline. I'd like to give some time for humanity to grow into more advanced tech--which of course is lost to irradiated winds once the cataclysm happens. I spoke earlier about other possibilities. They could just as easily be shoehorned in. Maybe Gamma Terra blinks into another reality temporarily. Seems like a good enough excuse to run GW in a different setting for a one-off trial.

7. What is the cataclysm? Unlike Gamma World or Mutant Future, I'm not planning on defining it. Maybe it will come out in game play. I do like the latest GW excuse of using the Hadron Collider to rip open reality. But I'm not sure it's even necessary to get that into the setting early on. If radiation is out of fashion, we'll blame genetic "mutagens" (the catch-all used by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). An alien invasion that wiped out collective memory is another good one. If that doesn't work, reality rifting works just as well.

8. Which rules? TBD. Honestly, I've played Mutant Future based off AD&D rules and a few versions of Gamma World. I bought the latest GW based on 4E, after trying it several years ago. Frankly, I'm quite impressed. But I'm more impressed by simplicity. Once I get going on write-ups they'll likely use Mutant Future since there's an open license for that, and it can easily be converted to other systems. UPDATE: I've been using MF rules so far when I need to do write ups (seems like it's the easiest to convert, as well).

9. What about Thundarr and Warlord? Hmm. I'm not sayin' that they're not going to be hanging around--the sword-wielding-barbarian-hero-types, that is--but mutants are more fun. So are silver-suited killjoys who live underground. Aliens might even beat them out. If there are pure-strains living amongst the ruins, they're likely slightly mutated. Even if they look normal, there's something...different about them. Thundarr always looked a little stronger/more resilient than regular folks, I mean have you seen how far that guy can leap? That's not normal. And there's no way Warlord wasn't part cockatiel with that hair! ;)

10. So when does the first session begin? Don't know yet. I'm focused on other projects at the moment, but I hope by this summer to get a few games going, test out some concepts, write up play reports and see how the war effort progresses. 

More to come.

Post-Apocalypse...when is that exactly?

Good question! When I first came up with the idea of a world war in the Gamma-verse I figured it would be set in the standard 200+ years in the future that was the basis for the original Gamma World. But then it seemed like an infinitely swappable idea!

Remember that Gamma World War is made of (at least) three sides: humans, mutants, and aliens. Here's a few other variations on the theme that could easily be implemented for other eras:

Atlantis, Post-Sinking and/or Volcanopalooza

Mythological mutants, Atlantean centurions manning Archemedian Death Rays vs. Ancient Aliens! I'm thinking the E.T.s were the ones that destroyed Atlantis. Now the Atlantean diaspora (pre-Romans, Greeks, Mesopotamians, Sumers, everybody basically) has begun and the descendants are battling all manner of Greek mutant tragedy in order to survive while the ancient astronauts from Zeti Persei continue their raiding parties in an effort to reclaim their former colony world. Sword, sandal, and saucer epic in the making!

Weirdest World War

This one's obvious. US has the bomb. So does Japan. So does Germany and Russia. The Cold War never happens because it instantly went hot! Mutants! Giant lizards!! Roswell Aliens!!! A hot fudge sundae of WW2 battles, swirled in with the best parts of Indiana Jones 1, 3, and 4, plus Flying Saucer, Godzilla, and Ray Harryhausen films from the 50s and 60s.

Can't forget a heap o' The War that Time Forgot and Weird War Tales thrown in for good measure. Grease guns meet gamma rays. Call it "World War Doom!"

"High Doom" Meets the "Treasure of Gamma Madre"

Cowboys vs. Aliens vs. mutated miner-49ers who find uranium in search of a gold rush. A wave of irradiated zombies spreads just as invading wagon trains wielding gas-powered ray carbines are settling the West. Steampunky Thundarr-like techno-warlocks Edison and Tesla quibble from their electro-hoversleds, sending wave after wave of giant armored jackalopes into battle. Cowboy centaur Wild Bill Hickock fights off Planet of the Bison-like minotaur men! (Hat tip to One-eyed Bob!). Seeing their chance to claim jump the Earth's rich uranium, the aliens show up to set up their own mining operation--and put down those pesky humans.They of course are familiar to the native tribes, they're the original skinwalkers!

Irradiated Oni and the Robotech Ronin

A meteor strikes Mt. Fuji in medieval Japan leaving a wake of destruction. The mountain erupts and  spreads strange mutagen across the countryside and awakening the Gods of Old a la Princess Mononoke-style. All of the Orient's mythologies of Oni, animism, and spirits are made real, and wreak havoc on he remaining un-mutated humans. After the shoguns fail to protect them, the peasantry and remaining samurai make their last stand--when a Zentradi starship crashes off-shore.

What seems like a disaster-and-a-half is a blessing in disguise as the ship is empty but a windfall of alien tech. Can the humans salvage--and comprehend--the alien robotech well enough to fight off the mutants? And will they be prepared when the hostile giant-sized Zentradi come sniffing around for their crashed cruiser?

Far-out, Far Future

Think The Time Machine meets the Herculoids. Here, the Earth is older and returns to seed with newly evolved megafauna and mutant Morlocks feeding off the pure-strain human Eloi. It's also  got yer standard weird Herculoids planet Quasar of the barbaric far future. The aliens? Humans from the distant past!

For the aliens: hordes of lunar Nazi's (that have been hiding out in secret bases for eons) depart a broken moon to launch a blitzkrieg on the savage Earth. Can the canibalistic Morlocks, rayrifle toting Mutoids, and slingshot-lovin' Eloi overcome their food-chain issues long enough to turn back the 333rd Reich?

Arrak-a-pocalypse

So Arrakis--Dune [dramatic pause] desert-planet--is basically already a post-apocalyptic setting. Let's play with the knobs a bit and see what we come up with:

Fremen are mutants. They're former humans who were altered by spice. The more direct-spice exposure, the crazier the mutation. The more sandworms you wrangle, the more metal \m/ you become, dialing up all the way to full-on sandperson-from-Star Wars mania. They're suspicious of anyone trying to take anything from Mother Dune. They're full-on, crazy-in-love with the planet and consider themselves it's protectors and martyrs.

Valids/pure strains are House Atreides humans who are doing their best to mine the spice without incident. They're the survivors of the last mining colony that was abandoned here about a century ago. Most of their tech is broken, outdated, and considered "magical" by the Fremen. Pure humans stay that way by wearing stillsuits to filter out the spice. Yes, there's the potential to becoming a mutant if you don't keep yours intact or working properly. The Fremen mutants are not happy about any of this.

Aliens are faceless Saraukar assholes who are bent on taking over the universe. Under their masks they're a mass of plastic skin, tubes, and organic electronics. They believe in shooting first, second, and last. They have a spacefleet ready to hoist entire sandworms onto their space carriers and take them back to Giedi Prime where they'll be juiced like Florida oranges for their extracts. They'll kill a pure-strain just as quickly as they'd kill a mutant, so both have a reason to hate these dudes.



Anyway, just a few thoughts...

*I totally reserve the right to revise the post at my leisure!