History TabletopGame / GammaWorld

The setting was licensed by Sword & Sorcery Studios (a subsidiary of Creator/WhiteWolf) and heavily revised for ''TabletopGame/{{d20 Modern}}'' in 2003. This new edition recasts the apocalypse as a war among post-[[TheSingularity Singularity]] civilizations, a horrific spasm of nanotechnological and biological warfare (with a few nukes thrown in for old time's sake). The old creatures and robots are nearly all retained, but given new and detailed explanations that are designed to elicit horror and awe rather than cheap jokes.

* AdaptationDistillation: ''[[D20Modern Omega World]]'', a tribute to the original game.

** The 6th Edition for ''{{d20 Modern}}''.

*** Bokshee is a man who guides the {{PC}}s across the AfterTheEnd landscape of ''TabletopGame/GammaWorld''. This is a reference to Creator/RalphBakshi, who led moviegoers through a similar post-apocalyptic world in his film ''WesternAnimation/{{Wizards}}''.

** Original 1981 rules booklet. The Treasure List at the end of the book had a number of references to other works.
*** A "pleasure globe" that gave the holder pleasurable sensations. The 1973 movie ''Film/{{Sleeper}}'' had such a device in use by a future U.S. society.
*** A "Mama" doll. Near the end of the original 1968 ''Film/PlanetOfTheApes1968'' movie, a doll that said "Mama" appeared as evidence that humans could once speak.

*** A tuba that had mashed flat by a steamroller. In the 1978 ''Series/{{MASH}}'' episode "The Smell of Music" Major Winchester's French Horn is crushed flat by a steamroller.

* SwissArmyWeapon: The Chameleon Rifle in module [=GW6=] ''Alpha Factor''.

* VampiricDraining: Adventure [=GW1=] ''Legion of Gold''. In the buggem lair, the parn embryots will jump onto victims' heads or shoulders, bite them and suck out their bodily fluids at a rate of 10 HitPoints per combat round.

* AttackReflector: The Reflection mutation causes damage inflicted by an opponent to rebound on that opponent. The fraction of damage reflected decreases during use. The first turn the mutation is used all damage is sent back at the attacker. The second turn only half the damage is reflected, and in the third and subsequent turns only one quarter of damage is returned to the source.

* TheWormThatWalks: One of the possible character origins. Depending on your primary origin and your secondary origin, you could be anything from a horde of cockroaches, to a [[GreyGoo mass of nanomachines]], to a horde of ''[[CuteKitten sentient, hive-minded kittens]]''.

* ArtisticLicensePhysics

* AtomicSuperpowers

* CollectibleCardGame: 7th edition has its powers and technology sold on this model; [=GMs=] and players have to buy more cards in booster packs for more fantastic stuff to use in their RPG, instead of buying them in sourcebooks. [[InternetBackdraft This has not been well received.]] However, the core game ''does'' include include a full deck of mutations and Omega Tech (Loot), so players aren't forced to go out and buy boosters. The boosters certainly don't have anything that's any more game-breaking than what you get in the core box.
* CrapsackWorld

* FantasticRacism: The Knights of Genetic Purity, the Iron Society, the Zoopremicists...the list goes on.

WizardsOfTheCoast has since released a seventh edition of ''Gamma World'', using the 4th edition ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' rules, in October 2010. The game is far more humorous, from character creation, to Omega Tech descriptions. The 7th Edition setting is one where "the Big Mistake" merged all possible worlds into one, and really leaves the door open for player interpretation.

''Gamma World'' is notable for one rather odd trend: usually, only a handful of books would be released before a new edition came out and rendered all the previous books obsolete. This reached its zenith with the ''TabletopGame/{{Alternity}}'' version, which had only a single, core rulebook released before being discontinued. Time will tell if 7th Edition will continue this trend. (Update: It did.)

* MST3KMantra: Just repeat to yourself, "I '''am''' a two-headed yeti beating robots to death with a parking meter, I '''am,''' I ''am,'''" until the desire to complain about silliness dissipates.

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A classic role-playing game originally created by TSR, the same people who made ''DungeonsAndDragons''. Centuries after a vaguely defined apocalypse, a radioactive and ruin-strewn Earth is inhabited by mutants, sentient animals and plants, and insane half-functioning robots, all of whom compete for influence as multi-species civilization begins its long climb to recovery. ''Gamma World'' was heavily influenced by TSR's earlier sci-fi RPG, ''Metamorphosis Alpha''.

The setting was licensed by Sword & Sorcery Studios (a subsidiary of WhiteWolf) and heavily revised for ''{{d20 Modern}}'' in 2003. This new edition recasts the apocalypse as a war among post-[[TheSingularity Singularity]] civilizations, a horrific spasm of nanotechnological and biological warfare (with a few nukes thrown in for old time's sake). The old creatures and robots are nearly all retained, but given new and detailed explanations that are designed to elicit horror and awe rather than cheap jokes.

WizardsOfTheCoast has since released a seventh edition of ''Gamma World'', using the 4th edition ''DungeonsAndDragons'' rules, in October 2010. The game is far more humorous, from character creation, to Omega Tech descriptions. The 7th Edition setting is one where "the Big Mistake" merged all possible worlds into one, and really leaves the door open for player interpretation.

''Gamma World'' is notable for one rather odd trend: usually, only a handful of books would be released before a new edition came out and rendered all the previous books obsolete. This reached its zenith with the ''TabletopGame/{{Alternity}}'' version, which had only a single, core rulebook released before being discontinued. Time will tell if 7th Edition will continue this trend.

* XMeetsY: D&D meets VideoGame/{{Fallout}}. (Although, chronologically speaking, ''Fallout'' is actually ''Gamma World'' meets ''Mad Max.''

* XMeetsY: D&D meets VideoGame/{{Fallout}}.

* AllTheMyriadWays: The seventh edition backstory features the Large Hadron Collider causing several different realities to intermingle and exchange places, in an event called "the big mistake". Furthermore, Dopplegangers create their doubles by pulling them out of alternate realities.

* HornAttack: Mutant characters could have horns as a mutation. The mutants known as Rakoxen (and Hoppers in 2nd Edition) had them.

* SuperSpit: Articles in ''Magazine/{{Dragon}}'' magazine #96 and #108 gave new mutations and mutants with this ability.

* AttackItsWeakPoint: Adventure [=GW1=] ''The Legion of Gold''. An amoeboid monster' body can withstand 1,000 HitPoints of damage, but its nucleus can only take 50 HitPoints before it's killed.

* VampiricDraining: Adventure GW1 ''Legion of Gold''. In the buggem lair, the parn embryots will jump onto victims' heads or shoulders, bite them and suck out their bodily fluids at a rate of 10 HitPoints per combat round.

* UniversalAmmunition: The 7th edition uses an abstract system of ammunition, where any weapon can use any type of ammo. However, using more than one shot per encounter will cause you to run out.

* YouFailNuclearPhysicsForever