Post originally by Joshua Kubli at 2003-12-23 11:58:23
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Not a bad review. It seems like this reviewer has tried to keep the good points in mind, even when the book has some obvious bad points.
(1). The reviewer hit on one important point, which may be a big part of what bothers a lot of detractors of this book. The "feel" of this book is in many ways more "generic post-apocalypse" than specifically "Gamma World post-apocalypse". Unfortunately, Gamma World was written originally in the '70s, when most folks learned about the effects of radiation from comic books, and it's tough to go backwards to that kind of blissful ignorance now. Trying to duplicate those forecasted beneficial-mutation effects, with a different sort of destructive-technology-gone-wild, could of course never be exactly the same. Still a good idea, but still different.
(2). "Many things are listed as being creatable with this book (mutant animals, etc.) are not actually described." ??? True, for mutant animals you're referred to the moreaus in D20 Modern, an obviously poor choice for those using the Modern SRD or D&D to play the game, but still workable by utilizing the flood of animalistic races like gnolls, lizardfolk, minotaurs, etc. listed in the Monster Manual. So that's not the same as saying you /cannot/ /play/ a mutant animal at all; besides, what other "many things" you can create are not listed?
(3). "Oh, wait. The vehicles are armed with weapons that aren't described in the book." Yes they are. The Plasma Cannon is the only weapon not listed in the Vehicle Weapons section, but it doubles as a stationary weapon and so is on Table 2-4, which has weapons for characters.
(4). Psionics: "you can expect to have the intermediate and advanced versions of the powers, and the latter's game-breaking abilities, within a few adventures." Depending entirely on how vicious the GM wants to be with psionic Feedback, which the psionic will eventually experience. From page 130: "The magnitude of the adverse effect is mostly determined by how powerful the psionic power in question is and how evil the GM wants to be." Even if the PC gains that coveted advanced power, their lifespan should get much shorter if a competent GM's internal munchkin alarm goes off.
(5). Improved Telekinesis: "Two points were lost from Style for this passage alone." Yeesh, that's steep. I've never had one sentence so totally turn me off to a game product before, that I can remember.
Yeah, the book has editing and rules problems, but let's not invent more than are already there.
Otherwise, like I said, a good review.
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