Wrapping my head around Gamma World - Part 1

Something working out in the back of my mind for a little bit now is where and how technology is recovering within Gamma World and what each group in the world would have access too at a given time. Before getting into the meat, this post is more stream of conciseness and very surface level thoughts than a tailored post with more thought and energy put into place. 

Image taken from: Fallout 4 Power Armor Wallpaper Hd (walpaperlist.com)

I know this is weird, but due to my training in the fields of STEM and History; I find the setting of Gamma world interesting since it is a cross between Science Fiction and Fantasy. In one area, you can have Fallout styled Power Armor stomping through ancient ruins and in another area you can have Conan and Red Sonja type characters battling monsters and plundering ancient treasure from the same kind of ruins that the Power Armored adventurer was combing through a few weeks earlier. 

Image taken from: Assis Leite - Conan and Red Sonja Color Sample 1 (artstation.com)

This sort of intersection of Technology and fantasy is interesting and had me thinking and looking at what this sort of world might look like. As mentioned above, there is basically these two extremes that can exist in Gamma World, you have Fallout standing beside Conan/Sword and Sorcery with each existing within the same general area within the larger world. What makes it interesting is that the middle ground honestly looks like something out of the Ring of Fire Series or from the film Wizards. 

Image taken from: Amazon.com: 1632 (Ring of Fire Series Book 1) eBook: Flint, Eric: Kindle Store

Image taken from: Wizards (film) - Wikipedia

What I mean by that is Gamma World is a setting where with enough luck, the Party can run across a working Pickup Truck or a set of working motorbikes in the middle of a cluster of Feudal Kingdoms, they can suddenly become some right off the cover of these novels. Alternately, the DM can set up the World to be a time after the world as recovered from the Shadow Wars with pieces of technology being reversed engineered and created again (to a much lower degree than prior to the Shadow War). 

I've recently been able to get ahold of Famine in Far-Go and I'm gonna read through that since just leafing through the Module has given some insights on what Gamma World is like as intended to be like by the writers and designers. If nothing else, it'll be a good read.     

  

  

Vault 49ers: Gamma World 1e Campaign Prep - The Basic Start

Running a Gamma World Campaign has been an idea I've been rolling around in my head for a while now, but with me getting a copy of the POD version of Gamma World I have really dug into prepping a full campaign. I want to talk a little about the premise of the game. 

Below is the basic Overview that the Players will see before the game will start. 

Basic Overview

Welcome to 2320, roughly 300 years since the world went nuclear and was blanketed in nuclear waste and ash. You are one of the newest students from the Pre-War days to be let out of the Freezer-chests, the world isn’t a whole lot like the one you remember. 

The world is a blasted wasteland now that is crawling with monsters, mutants and anything that wants to either eat your soft hide for breakfast, or turn you into their latest “Volunteer” to work their land. 

The whole reason why you’ve been let out is because your freezer timer is up and you need to be pulled out less you turn into a real meat-popsicle. Best make the most of your time here on this… brown earth now. Vault 49 had kept you alive long enough, time for you to do the rest.

In essence (and in my Fallout inspired beginning with the players waking up in the Vault), I hope this provides a summary of what Gamma World is like from my understanding that is presented within the original rulebook. I wrote this in the tone that basically the PCs are the players themselves (or at least a character similar to the player)  and they are having to be given a fast and dirty update on the world and is pushed out into it.  

Below is a look behind the curtain on my end of being the DM.  

Initial Start of Campaign

The campaign will kick off with the PCs waking up in Vault 49; a massive underground bunker built under UNCC Campus where much of the Student population and those living in the area around it were housed and placed into cryo-sleep. 

PCs will be greeted to a blasted out world filled with Monsters, Mutated Humanoids, and Mutated Animals crawling through the ruins of the Old World… Our world for those that decided to do a Self-Insert of themselves.

After being evaluated by Doctors and Medical Bots, the PCs will be asked if they seek to work within the confines of the old University Area or go out into the wider world to find Tech and fight monsters. The NPC they are talking to will stress that they have plenty of staff currently in the central compound and Adventurers (or Prospectors) are needed.

To dissect my thoughts, the central DNA of the game is ripped right out of Fallout 4 (and the Fallout Series in general) in that the PCs are start out inside of a Bunker and leave the safety of Cryo-sleep for the wider, stranger and much more dangerous world that our world has morphed into. The "Vault" that they PCs come out of is located under the grounds of the College me and my players go to. 

The choice to allow the PCs to be self-inserts (or at least mirrored version of the Players) is to allow the use of their basic knowledge of the local area which we all have traversed in real life. The choice will hopefully make things enjoyable since the players can call upon their own knowledge to work around given situations. 

In addition, the choice to set the game localized around UNCC (and thus the greater Charlotte Area) is also kind of fun since I get to turn everything in the area onto it's ear with Gamma World logic. 

In the next couple of posts I'm likely gonna try to get into the actual world and what is going on in the local area. 

    

 

Gamma World 1E Initial Thoughts

Published in 1978 by TSR and written by James M. Ward and Gray Jaquet, Gamma World is a Science Fantasy Roleplaying Game centered around PC surviving in a nuclear wasteland as they scrounge for technology from the ancients, use their mutant powers to fend off monsters, and try to keep the local Secret Organization off their backs. 

Before getting into my initial thoughts on Gamma World 1e, I would like to disclose that I purchased a Print-on-Demand copy of the rulebook and have not had the chance to run the system. I do not have system mastery and will likely overlook certain details that likely would meet certain issues or concerns I might have.

The first thing that greets you upon getting the book is a nice color cover featuring a team of soldiers in Astronaut gear wielding laser rifles and gizmos as they head into an overgrown and ruined city. Opening the 54 page book, the Gamma World rules greets you with the iconic, black and white image of the Mutant Monkey holding a pistol at the monster.  

The pages after the Introduction covers everything you need to know to build the world, make a character, run the game with examples of the game in action to help get started. Though, these 54 pages are fairly dense with blocks of small text only broken up by headers, a couple of piece of art, the matrixes used for combat and the tables of used for Artifacts, treasures and monsters depending on the terrain the PCs are currently in. In the back of the book are all the tables and matrixes that would be needed to be referenced during play.

Reading over through the rulebook, it's a fairly dense read, but once you've read a small paragraph a couple of time and been able to mull over the text for a little bit; the rules make enough sense that you can run a game with them. Though, like any rulebook from TSR, reading the rules over a couple times is always a good habit to make sure your own sanity is in-line with the sanity found in the rulebook. 

In these readings, the only thing I think I saw missing was a table for Modifiers from Ability Scores, but I might be missing something myself or it might be present in one of the two modules (Famine in Far-Go and Legion of Gold) as a late addition. Though, this isn't knock against the rulebook since (if memory serves), the AD&D DMG held rules for converting characters to and from games like Boothill and Gamma World; which means the Ability Score Modifier table could be ported from AD&D easily without breaking a whole lot. 

I hope to run Gamma World for my home group. Its a system that's been on my radar for a little while now and now it's likely going to chew at me until I get a chance to run it. 

For a more comprehensive overview of the rules, go take a look at the review made by capcorajus here. 

#NineWorldsWisdom Day 2: Three Customs of the World?

Day 2: Describe Three Customs in your World. Are there Guest Rites? Oath Swearing? Honour Dueling? 

Within the world of Kraina Smoków, the customs between members of society vary based on where they live, what level of society they are apart of, and the given occupation they are in. Below are Three customs that can be seen at each level of society;

Rite of the Traveler

The Rite of the Traveler is a Rite meant to protect travelers and foreigners either passing through Cosmic space or moving through the Disk-World of Kraina Smoków. Granting a Traveler lodging if they are without tent or space in the Inn, a day's worth of meals if they were to stop at any of Temple or be granted aid in the case of a horse dying or Magical Malfunctions.

Alongside the Rite of the Traveler providing protections to Travelers in the Draconic Union, the Rite of the Traveler also provides protections to those providing aid to the Traveler. Depending on the area and the nature of the aid in question. An example of these protections is that if the Host of a Home is giving a bed to a Traveler, the Traveler cannot attack his Host.

Rite of the Warrior

The Rite of the Warrior is similar to the Rite of the Traveler what instead of supplying aid to warriors/adventurers with places to stay or food; it is instead pertaining to ensuring that Fighters are armored with the basic equipment for going and fighting battles or defending a given area from hostile creatures. This also applies to gaining aid in the form Medical Attention from Church of the Divine Couple, but this is only can be invoked if a Warrior is seriously injured.

The only stipulation that this rite has is that a Warrior can only invoke this once every six weeks to ensure that an area (usually a Town or Farming Community) does not become economically drained. Individual Citizens can still provide minor supplies to aid Warriors, but massive projects such as the construction of Castles or conscription of men into mercenary armies.

A side thought to this is that the invocation of this Rite and how responsive local people are to the Rite is dependent upon both the relation the warrior has with the Community, but also how he wears his battle scars or if he has any. This being that because of the nature of this Rite and the benefits it has to offer to people; Individuals often ask the invoker in question if they have any scars from close calls or Duels to prove they are an actual Warriors and people looking for a handout.

Rite of Honor

The Rite of Honor -unlike the other Rites mentioned- is more abstract because it does not have a strict code of conduct that must be followed. This being that the Subject of Honor varies from person to person and from occupation to occupation; being that a Wizard's definition of Honor would be his Academic Credibility or a Warrior's definition would be how well he can conduct himself on the battlefield or in duels.

Because of the openness to interpretation that this Rite has, it is a common occurrence to see Rite of Honor contests occur on a semi-weekly basis in large towns and cities that provide interesting results for local onlookers. Alongside this, local Townships and Communities have placed certain guidelines on what can be done for a Rite of Honor; this being that at a University, Wizards would be unable to cast spells above a certain level or Warriors can only have their duels outside the Town in the middle of an open field.

This has been my post for the #NineWorldWisdoms Worldbuilding Event. The Customs outlines here will likely not be given additional posts, but more posts about other, new customs will be made to add to this list as a possible ongoing series of posts. 

#My30DayWorld Second Attempt: Day 2: World Name and What it means to Me?

Day 2: World Name and what it means. 

Below is my answer to why my setting is named the way it is along with Lore reasons from within the Campaign. A little out there and a long one (sorry for the length), but It is info I wish to share.

Name

Kraina Smoków is a polish phrase when translated back to English means “Dragon-land” or in my mind “Land of Dragons”.

Reasoning behind it

The reason why it is called this is mainly due to me wanting to have a setting about Dragonborn, Dragons and anything else related to the Draconic parts of the 5th edition of the Greatest Roleplaying Game. More often than not, it seems Dragonborn are often a player option shunted off to the side or played by only one or two people at a given table (often not at the same time) while the other player races are doubled up or often tripled up at the table. The same could be said when it comes to NPCs with Dragonborn either being simply left out or being given a major role in the story with little in between (in my mind).

When looking at the name from an in-game perceptive of the Named and Unnamed NPCs of the world. The name “Kraina Smoków” to the Dragonborn is there stamp on the world. When Spelljammer Captains look at their maps and see the region of the Cosmos and the Disc-world labeled “Kraina Smoków” they know that that is the place the Dragonborn call home. It is the place you go if you want to see how the Draconic creatures and people dwell and live. To the Dragonborn, Kobolds, and Dragons who live on Kraina Smoków, it is there home among the stars. It is the place they found among the stars away from their old slave masters and the Evil Gods that sponsor and give them the divine right to enslave the Draconic creatures of the Cosmos.

An Exert from an NPC

Taken from the journal of Homor the Red -a Cosmic Explorer and adventurer -;

"The Dragonborn, Kobolds, and Dragons who dwell on Kraina Smoków are of a different breed. Having freed themselves from the bonds of slavery, they sought no yearning to tie one another back into the chains of Slavery. The Dragons have lost their greed for gold and lust for power freed their Kobold minions while the Dragonborn leveled the field with one another and sought each one equal regardless of past actions or Clannish ties. The Kobolds -seeing that neither group sought to punish or enslave them anymore- began to lay down the basic building blocks for their own clans and societies seeking to dwell alongside both the Dragonborn and Dragons as equals. Many members of the other Races thought our Draconic Union would end with one group slaughter the others but it hasn't. Kobolds help build and maintain our roads and tunnels, the Dragonborn forms the bustling traders, workmen, and common citizen that drives society forward and the Dragons protect our most valuable resources and the Union from both internal and external threats. Each Creature from the Stars has their place here on Kraina Smoków and each member treated as equals to one another.

Now 500 years after the foundation of our Great Union, it is still that same case. I just hope it can weather the approaching storm."

This has been my resubmission for Day 2 of #My30DayWorld. 

#NineWorldWisdoms Day 1: How are the Gods Worshiped in you setting?

Day 1: How are the Gods Worshiped in you setting? Sacrifices? Great Temples? Orders? Is there a Religious Elite or do People Worship in their own way?

Within Kraina Smoków, the three peoples each worship a different God or a couple of different Gods in the case of the small folk.

The Dragon God; Brama- God of Wealth, Freedom-Fighters, and Liberty

Beginning at the top with the Dragons themselves, they worship Brama; God of Wealth, War, and Freedom. Brama was the right-hand to the First Alpha prior to the Enslavement of the Draconic Races. Thought to be a relatively simple Dragon in attitude, his followers simply pray when they rise for the day, stop to eat, and when it is time to go to sleep. No sacrifices are asked of by Brama with only "small" (by Dragon Standards) temples to be built with no need for a religious elite outside of a Priest and a handful of Helpers to ensure both the Temple is in good condition and available to aid people who come in seeking aid.

The Gods of the Dragonborn; First Alpha and the Birthmother

The First Alpha

Stepping down to the Dragonborn of Kraina Smoków, they worship two primary gods; The First Alpha and his wife; the First Birthmother. Each is worshipped together as a pair with First Alpha often being depicted together as King dressed in simple robes with a small lawbook tucked under his arm and a sword on his hip. Other depictions showcase the First Alpha as a War-Fighter armed with a mix of weapons, using a wide range of Fighting Styles or leading troops with a flag held high above his head.

The Priesthood of the First Alpha has (ironically) a loose hierarchy mainly based on a combination of how wise a priest is, how old said priest is, how much legal knowledge they have alongside if they had served in combat for the defense of either the community or the Union as a whole.

The First Birthmother and Temple Structure

Meanwhile, the First Birthmother being dressed and depicted as a midwife or nurse with either a Draconic Egg, a Nurse's Kit, or a babe in her arms (depending on where you are and who commissioned the Idol). Other depictions of showcase the First Birthmother tending to injured warriors, performing battlefield surgeries or helping to remove injured soldiers and fighters from battlefields.

When one steps into one of the large temples dedicated to the Divine Couple, they will find it dedicated to two purposes. In one part of the Temple, they will find the local leadership and bureaucrats' offices inside of a dedicated wing of the structure separate of the Worship area. On the other side of the Temple is a small hospital with wards for healing the sick and injured alongside Maternity Wards for both expecting Mothers, those Mothers going into labor and subsequent Wards for recovering Mothers with other Wards are devoted to tending to nested Eggs and tending to newly hatched or birthed Children.

The Priesthood devoted to the First Birthmother sits at the other end of the spectrum with a hierarchy that is strictly held too in most situations. A Priestess' sitting is based on; their age, medical experience, knowledge of medical practices and willingness to aid the helpless in bleak times. This is done to ensure that those leading the Priesthood are seasoned Doctors and Healers.

Worship for the Divine Couple

In between these two halves is a worship area with the layout of the area to encourage families and couples to be close together and worship together.

The God of the Kobolds; Tinky- Goddess of Engineering, Trickery, Fun, and Memes.

Wrapping up this shortlist of Gods is the Kobold Goddess of Engineering, Trickery, and Fun; Tinky. For the Kobolds that follow Tinky often worship her by challenging themselves with new engineering challenges, problems to solve and structures to build in her name.

Being the only God on Kraina Smoków to have an order; it is known as the Problem-solvers Guild. Her relious order serves the nation as providing a central authority for both Engineering Projects, but also on matters of "Life-Hacks" and a strange form of communication and joking known as Memes. Little is known about the inner workings of her Temples or her Religious Order, but everyone simply lets the crazy Kobolds do their work and leave them alone.

This has been my post for the #NineWorldWisdoms Worldbuilding Event. The gods mentioned above will have their own dedicated posts to fully ensure they are fleshed out to a much fuller extend. 

#My30DayWorld Second Attempt; Day 1: Elevator Pitch

In short, below is an elevator pitch for a Campaign World that I have had an idea for a few months now. Originally this began alongside Absolute Tabletop's Dragongrin Setting Kick-starter, but due to life I was unable to follow it through all the way to completion. So I am starting over with the intention of completing it.

To say the least, It won't likely be done in the 30-day time span, but I will make sure to write content for each prompt and have it posted here alongside other thoughts and ideas I come up with that will appear on this blog. Some of these Posts will be repeats of content that I posted to the Facebook Group Absolute Tabletop, while the rest of the content posted will be of original creation with the older content being edited with newer content spliced in.   

Now onward to Adventuring!

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Kraina Smoków -the home of the Dragonborn. Wrapped and wrecked by sandstorms and beaten down by the harsh sun; the Disk World is a small paradise in the middle of the Celestial Sea. Freed from the bondage of slavery some half a eon ago, peace prevails over the desert world. With mountains reaching high to grace the sky and with waters clear as the air, it is paradise.

But darkness pushes in on the edges of the disc-world and old enemies begin to move out from the shadow. Clerics, Oracles, Soothsayers and Mystics scream out in pain as images of blood, darkness and warfare are sere into their minds as thunder and lightning role across the skies. The Dragons are restless and the Darkness is coming again; few can stop it.

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