Gamma World 1st Edition "Famine In Far Go" By Michael Price As Well As Gamma World Memories.

Far-Go is dying... the people are afraid... the animals are wasting away... the crops are withering the fields. No one, even Arx Skystone, the high priest, knows what has caused Far-Go's misfortune."



"YOU are part of a group of young adventurers about to begin the sacred Rite of Adulthood. The last hope of survival for Far-Go rests with your party. On your journey to the Forest of Knowledge, you must search for clues to the origin of the mysterious plague. This quest may led you into great danger... and great knowledge. As you travel through the savage wilderness, all you have are your companions, your wits, your strength... and your dreams!!"
 "Famine In Far-Go" by Michael Price remains a favorite Gamma World module from Eighty Two. And it still hits all of the high marks including referee notes, background information, maps, new creatures, mutations, robotic units and new rules for Pure Strain Humans. But what marks this module as different is the nature of the coming of age of the youth of Far-Go adventure. This module hits all of the high lights of a big numbers post apocalpytic adventure, "This module is designed as an introductory adventure series for 2-1 0 players, but a group of 5-7 players is best."
Did I happen to mention that its in print on Drivethrurpg?!! What makes  "Famine In Far-Go" is the coming of age aspect of the module & its vivid imagery from Gamma World. Walker P on the Rpg Geek site says it best in the comments on Famine in Far-Go; "An absolute classic and my all-time favorite module. Sure, it seems a bit railroady, but you can just strip that wrapper right off and let the players go wild in a crazy part of the world. The whole chicken processing plant gone wild is exactly the kind of thing you want to do in a Gamma World game. And what an awesome cover!" 
From the Tim Truman interior to the exterior artwork  "Famine In Far-Go"  works!  "Famine In Far-Go"  works as both a sand box or as a rail roady style adventure. The whole cloth adventure has far more potential as both module & as campaign jump off point for Gamma World. 

If   "Famine In Far-Go"  has any unresolved adventure plots then these can be solved by Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition rpg adventurers later on. This was major campaign point within my uncle's AD&D & Gamma World campaign crossover.  "Famine In Far-Go"  hits all of the classic Gamma World points from wandering monsters to mutant chicken warriors to artifacts from before the fall of man. When we think Gamma World's  "Famine In Far-Go"  we think badders! Mutant badgers are still loathed in this house folks. 

Anyone whose played "Famine In Far-Go"  knows the ins & outs of badders. And personally I've lost at least three or four PC's to the badders & Gallus Gallus 5/13! These cyclops chicken mutants were the worst! 

Gallus Gallus 5/13, gun-toting mutant chicken cyclopes, the hideous – yet in retrospect inevitable – result of running an experimental radiation laboratory inside a poultry breeding house  (Tim Truman and Jeff Easley, Gamma World module GW2: Famine in Far-Go, TSR, 1982). These things were horrid to face down in the post apocalytic wastes especially with a DM who knew you'd be dealing with a chicken factory full em! Make no mistake these are evil poultry & I can believe in gun toting mutant chickens! 

So does "Famine In Far-Go"  still stand up in 2021?! Yes no only is this classic a classic for a reason but the adventure plot points about, ""The Rite consists of traveling far from the community to find the Forest of Knowledge, where they must eat from berries growing around a certain tree." work. But this aspect of a party's quest is something lacking in many modern OSR modules today. "Famine In Far-Go"  is everything I expect in classic 1st edtion Gamma World adventures & Gamma World done right. 

You Can Pick Up A Print Copy of Famine In Far Go Right Here 

Appendix N & Deeper Reading Into The Lovecraft Circle of Writer's Creations for Campaign Creation

Sometimes going back to the root of your old school games is necessary to get into the right frame of mind for a game. I've written extensively about H.P. Lovecraft's Shadow Out Of Time & the works of the Great Race of Yith. There's something to be said for growing up with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons especially Kuntz's & Ward's Deities & Demigods. This wasn't my first exposure to the Lovecraft Mythos but it was my constand reminder of the Mythos when playing AD&D first edition. For a moment take a look at the Deities & Demigods stats on the Great Race of Yith. These guys are psionic bruisers.


I was going over my notes from the weekend & rereading several of the free "Fantastic Story Quarterly" pulps which I've blogged about before.  But what if the Great Race of Yith was operating across a multitude of time streams & epochs. Could even the gods stand against them?! It really got me thinking about Godbound & the Great Race of Yith. Back in 2017 I blogged about a Frank Belknap Long story called 'The Museum' ; 

' 'The Museum' by Frank Belknap Long is a whole other matter. This story services a perfect bridge gap between the Mythos and traditional science fantasy adventures. The concept is about a museum which alters its visitors and staff into alien life forms shapes ala polymorph spell technologies.  Perhaps your adventurers might work for the staff on a few expeditions across time & space. Again this sounds very similar to Great Race of Yith technologies. HP Lovecraft's 'The Shadow Out of Time' contains many of the technologies described in these stories implied or within the background of the novella.' 

Many of the technologies & things discussed in the Museum are very much in the fashion of the Star Trek especially the television pilot  "Assignment: Earth".  Certain details that were in the wiki entry on  "Assignment: Earth" made me think of the Great Race of Yith; Although not revealed in the Star Trek broadcast, according to "Assignment: Earth" researcher Scott Dutton's sources, "Gary Seven is a man sent back in time from the 24th century, the only Earth man to survive the transit."^[1] His goal in the original series proposal would have been to defeat the Omegans, a race of shape-changing aliens who have sent agents back in time to change Earth’s history so they can defeat Earth in the future.^[3]

Seeing humans and Vulcans together, Seven realizes that the starship has come from the future, while the crew suspect that Seven is also a time traveler.

Seven, assigned by his planet's agency as a Class One Supervisor known as Supervisor 194, has been sent to determine why two resident agents, colleagues Agent 201 and Agent 347, had stopped reporting to their superiors. When he discovers that they have been killed in a traffic collision, he takes over their immediate task of sabotaging the launch of an orbital missile platform by the U.S. to prevent nuclear war on Earth"

The whole thought experiment had me thinking about TSR's Gamma World & specifically the Famine in Far Go adventure from '82. The adventure debuted in 1982. But there's more to Famine in Far-Go by Michael Price then might meet the eye.



I remembered a comment from the Grognardia blog entry on Famine in Far Go by Reverend Keith; "What amazed me about the factory wasn't this coincidence, but the impact dropping a huge functional pre-apocalypse chunk of technology into your game. I mean, after decades of collapse, here is a fully operational building with a nuclear power plant, robots, food and guns all being managed by a non-homocidal computer you can negotiate with. Add in the fact that your PCs have literally saved the plant from destruction, you can see how it can impact the setting and should be taken into consideration if you plan on playing more games around Far-Go after the adventure is over. If anything, it sounds like great fodder for basing a campaign around it. Neighboring communities, cryptic alliances, and wanna-be dictators will be doing whatever they can do to get control of the La Prix Industries Automated Chicken Processing Factory."

The implications of the technologies of the the La Prix Industries Automated Chicken Processing Factory run amok are the stuff of dreams or nightmares of dungeon masters if they take the scenario to its logical conclusion. But what if this is being done on purpose?! A guiding set of hands if you will? What if the Great Race of Yith has been using time & dimensional technologies to move entire space time continuums to their advantage. What if First & Second Edition Gamma World's Gamma Terra is a broken time & planar setting? What happens if the Great Race of Yith has been lining up entire worlds, times, & dimensions to favor their own hyper cosmic racial consciousness & circumstances for thier contiued existance. What would happen if their living among us & they continue to poke & experiment right across Advanced Dungeons & Dragons campaign settings. Greyhawk might be a good example of this.


If we were to take  "Assignment: Earth" as proof of the continued experimentation & interference with Earth's affairs. We are left with the fact that the Great Race might be a god level cosmic set of intellects who could be using Godbound's words for many of the effects of their technologies. The word of 'Artificial Intelligence' might account for the beta five computer series.


The implications of a race of time manipulating advanced godlike alien intelligences guarding its own lawful neutral existence is indeed beyond scary. But do these intelligences know about the hungry lean things that exist at the edges & angles of time? The Hounds of Tindalos were also the creation of  Frank Belknap Long. One wonders if not only the gods but also others worry about the coming of such entities into the realms of humans. Perhaps its right that Great Race of Yith fears for its own continuing existence across time & space. The implications are very frightening indeed folks. 

Battle For Far Go - The 'Famine In Far-Go' Adventure by Michael Price War Campaign

"Far-Go is dying... the people are afraid... the animals are wasting away... the crops are withering the fields. No one, even Arx Skystone, the high priest, knows what has caused Far-Go's misfortune.
YOU are part of a group of young adventurers about to begin the sacred Rite of Adulthood. The last hope of survival for Far-Go rests with your party. On your journey to the Forest of Knowledge, you must search for clues to the origin of the mysterious plague. This quest may led you into great danger... and great knowledge. As you travel through the savage wilderness, all you have are your companions, your wits, your strength... and your dreams!!"

Way back down the annals of Eighty two, 'Famine In Far-Go' by Michael Price was the Gamma World adventure to really get into. This is a series of segment adventure encounters centered around the rite of passage bit in old school adventures. The PC's are part of  the agricultural community of Far-Go, preparing to embark on the Rite of Adulthood. They must quest for the Forrest of Knowledge and experience the One Truth after eating certain sacred berries. I never really cleaved to the heart and soul of the rail road plot line of GW2 and instead focused on letting the players wander from one hex to another. This is quite deadly module in its own right, add to this the meteor that's fallen from the sky which I think gave the whole adventure a weird Lovecraftian quality ala the Colour Out of Space. 
The alien mutant life form is in its own right a fully functioning faction/monster with abilities that could transcend time & space. 


Colour out of Space artwork by Virgil Finlay.

There are several factors to remember when dealing with 'Famine In Fargo' in conjunction with old school adventure campaigns. The PC's gain the advantage with a fully functioning Preholocaust chicken factory.  The  La Prix Industries Automated Chicken Processing Factory and its army of mutated machine gun wielding chickenoids are nothing to sneeze at. The fact is that the Egg of Coot could in fact be angling in its forces to take over the entire facility.


It will be a cold day in Hell when any faction on Gamma Terra is going to let a fully functioning Holocaust facility fall into the hands of a Stone Age level tribe of motley mutant humanoids. Arx Skystone, the high priest, might have more then he bargained for unless there are others aiding him. The Egg of Coots forces gated in from Greyhawk may be far more hassle then the PC's realize.

Warmachine Cryx Witch Coven of Garlgast
are a great stand in for the witches of The Egg of Coot. 

The big deciding factor that no one ever discusses about Gamma World is actually Greyhawk! Greyhawk is intimately tied to the events  world of Gamma Terra. There have been numerous adventure cross overs between my Greyhawk adventurers & the forces of Gamma World. The divine forces of Greyhawk pantheon are going to take a very keen interest in the goings on Gamma Terra. They are very aware of the disasters that befell Gamma Terra & have no wish for a repeat of the Time of Colorless Rain.


Mystara is another unknown to both St.Stephen of the Rock & The biomechanical/magical  forces of the Egg of Coot. The magics of both of these worlds are quite capable of moving the destiny of worlds. Blackmoor is both the past of Mystara & a world campaign setting in its own right.


The other factors that no one is going to be counting on is the fact that both St.Stephen of the Rock & the Egg of Coot have been spreading their influence to other worlds. Some of these worlds are in the midst of a Pulp & super hero era. The Amazing Adventures Book of Powers for the Amazing Adventures RPG is an excellent tool for using both super heroes & pulp adventurers into the mix without compromising the balance of play. 

The battle for human history is just heating up across the planes & the factions are starting to assemble their forces. The winds of chaos are blowing across the planes as horror breaths down the necks of a band of desperate adventurers. 

Commentary On Using EX2 'The Land Beyond The Magic Mirror' By Gary Gygax For AD&D 1st Edition As A Cross Over Mini Campaign For Your Old School Games

Welcome back readers, recently I wrote about using Gamma World's Famine In Fargo as a funnel for Crawling Under A Broken Moon's wasteland Dungeon Crawl Classics rpg campaign. But this afternoon after dealing with bitter cold temperatures and a very busy work schedule I decided to put down some thoughts on DYI cross over adventures. In this case crossing over your AD&D parties with Gamma World or your retroclone adventurers. There are several reasons why 'The Land Beyond The Magic Mirror' is a perfect vehicle for this sort of crossover adventure. First of all there is the fact that the Ex series is supposed to be retrofitted into an existing dungeon or adventure level or location. So this is an easy fit into an existing adventure location given the gonzo nature of Gamma World or many post apocalyptic wasteland locations this makes it an easy fit.



The blurb of the adventure is classic '83 era AD&D and basically applies the idea that the PC's have already played with and dealt with the monsters and NPC's of EX1 Dungeonland.
"Your adventures have taken you to strange places before, but in the eyes of your experienced party, few of these places are as unusual as the bizarre Land Beyond the Magic Mirror. Here the delightful and the light-hearted often hide great challenges and dangers; here you will journey through a landscape unique among fantasy role-playing scenarios."

The idea here that this version of an alternative setting Wonderland is in fact a demi plane of sorts is old hat and the various NPC's are quite deadly in their own right. A thought is that given the rite of passage style of Famine in Fargo its a pretty easy switch to have one of the locations turn into a gateway into the Dungeonland setting something that I recently did with Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea. But the Dungeonland setting could be used for far more then simply another exercise in deadly crawling and 'hack & slash'. Today a friend suggest that these modules were the perfect crossover point for introducing post apocalyptic adventurers and fantasy adventurers with little issue.
This points up the fact that Lewis Carrol's materials are perfect setting fodder to deal with just this sort of an issue, hell Marvel and DC comics  used both Alice In Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass for all kinds of super hero and villain hi jinks. This has me wondering if these demi plane modules couldn't serve as jump or mid points for campaigns where various adventure and post apocalyptic  factions might meet. Gary Gygax's did a damn fine job with these adventures and they're still reasonable easy to get. Because of the very nature of these modules they're easily used for placement within a ruin or other post apocalyptic location. According to Wiki this was indeed one of the intentions of the designer and writers;"
Dungeonland and The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror were designed to be placed as an extension of an existing 9th–12th level dungeon"


But it's more then just simply another module for fodder with retroclone  games such as Mutant Future and Labyrinth Lord out on the market. A Red and Pleasant Land could easily be used as a frame work for tying all of this material together. The Slow War presented within a Red and Pleasant Land might be simply one more facet of an ever growing cancer of dimensional weirdness that has infected any number of realities. The very natures of the factions, guests, and vampires makes it a very,very, dangerous option to present within a campaign.


Used as a trio of adventure and campaign settings folding within one another this makes adventuring a whole new set of challenges to any number of parties within a post apocalyptic rpg. The fact is that I think a DM should use this material piece meal with a part of adventurers. I can see using this sort of a campaign as a bridge point or as whole new expansion for a Crawling Under A Broken Moon.


Another option that I've already mentioned is taking the three adventure source books and using them with the Goblinoid Games Mutant Future and Labyrinth Lord systems. An optional that I'll be exploring in future blog entries.

Commentary On Using Famine in Far-Go Gamma World module GW2 By Michael Price As Post Apocalyptic Science Fantasy Adventurer Funnel For Dungeon Crawl Classics Crawling Under A Broken Moon's Fanzine

 Famine in Far-Go is one of the first modules for the classic Gamma World game that I've ever owned and its a perfect vechile to weed out PC's for post apocalyptic gaming especially for a Dungeon Crawl Classics style of game. Here's the low down and some ideas for using GW2 as as a funnel and mini campaign.

I dusted off Famine In Far- Go at about three am and began to dig through my notes for this classic Gamma World module, I bought this module down in Toys- R- Us back in the early Eighties when they carried such wonderful products of the imagination. I started thinking about this module as a possible funnel system for Crawling Under A Broken Moon's fanzine. The first half of the module is a perfect funnel system with full advantages for monster placement and it plugs right into the post apocalyptic nostalgia sweet spot. The PC's are part of  the agricultural community of Far-Go, preparing to embark on the Rite of Adulthood. They must quest for the Forrest of Knowledge and experience the One Truth after eating certain sacred berries. Sounds a bit like a Dungeon Crawl Classics funnel to me.

The back cover blurb gives the overview of the first half of the module and a bit of the over arching tone of GW2.
"Far-Go is dying... the people are afraid... the animals are wasting away... the crops are withering in the fields. No one, even Arx Skystone, the high priest, knows what has caused Far-Go's misfortune. You are part of a group of young adventurers about to begin the sacred Rite of Adulthood. The last hope of survival for Far-Go rests with your party. On your journey to the Forest of Knowledge, you must search for clues to the origin of the mysterious plague. This quest may lead you into great danger... and great knowledge. As you travel through the savage wilderness, all you have are you companions, your wits, your strength... and your dreams!!"
Far-Go is the perfect adventurer location and strikes a nice tone as an adventurer base and community. Far more interesting is the fact that it allows a DM to put his party of adventurers smack dab into the middle of for a Crawling Under A Broken Moon campaign is the rich pickings of 'Merica or to shift it around into the heart land near Pitzburke.  I never really cleaved to the heart and soul of the rail road plot line of GW2 and instead focused on letting the players wander from one hex to another. This is quite deadly module in its own right, add to this the meteor that's fallen from the sky which I think gave the whole adventure a weird Lovecraftian quality ala the Colour Out of Space. Add to this the badders that worship their former football mascot now turned god and you've got the makings for one hell of a mini campaign. Badders are nothing to fool with as any GW player will tell you.



The wastelands of  the Famine in Far-Go adventure module are a mini snap shot and preview of things to come for both Legion of Gold which preceded it and the Ruins of Pitzburke. This doesn't even begin to over the encounters within the  La Prix Industries Automated Chicken Processing Factory and its army of mutated machine gun wielding chickenoids. This is a straight up mutant crawl with all of the trimmings including wacko robots, nasty androids, a whole host of new weapons, equipment, mutated NPC's and more. All of this is perfect fodder for the Crawling Under A Broken Moon 'Merican vibe and materials. Issue #3 of Crawling Under A Broken Moon is going to come in handy for two reasons while running Famine In Far Go. One it can be used easily to generate O level PC's quickly and second the The Mall Maul can serve as a side quest for the PC's before getting to the main dance of death in the chicken factory.



Famine In Far Go isn't actually that expensive to get a hold of a used copy on Amazon clocking in at nine dollars and a bit for shipping. The module remains a classic for a reason and easily adaptable to any number of old school post apocalyptic games.