Commentary On The Ruins of Pitzburke For Gamma World Second Edition and Your Old School Campaigns - Updated

 Let's talk Gamma World & Gamma Terra for a moment. Gamma World can take ordinary Dungeons & Dragons characters into a world of primitive saverage & sorcery. And my preferred poison for this rpg is the vaulted second edition of Gamma World with the Larry Elmore artwork. And while Mutant Future & Mutant Crawl Classics both have excellent emulations of the classic game. So last night I spent  on Gamma Terra thanks to a friend of mine out West with a Guinness and I've got some thoughts on these venerable tomes of post apocalyptic adventure. 

I did a bit of horse trading with a friend out West for some tables and campaign help for a bit of Gamma World stuff he wasn't using. What I got surprised me was the fact that I got a first and second edition Gamma World rule book and the Ruins of Pitzburke


The Ruins of Pitzburke is one of the most iconic and dangerous places you can send a group of PC's in Gamma World. This place is a mix of  ruins, death lands, mutants, madness, robotic horror, and more meant that your little party of adventures could be swallowed up by the ruins without even a second thought.



And if you think that your Mutant Future PC's would fair any better in Pitzburke, I took a party of Mutant Future rpg players through the ruins and the whole affair was a total party kill. The ruins were designed to keep the Gamma World game campaign going for a long time to come. I've taken Boot Hill PC's and Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 1st edition parties through those ruins and the though the results varied there were some interesting adventure campaigns.


What makes this such an iconic adventure is the fact that the Ruins of Pitzburke essentially teaches the dungeon master both the fine art of stocking the ruins, NPC encounters, NPC factions, and Cryptic Alliances. Not to mention the numerous natural and radiation hazards of the Pitzburke setting. But still this was for me an essential setting for post apocalyptic campaigning almost as much as Keep on the Borderlands and In Search of the Unknown is for B/X Dungeons and Dragons. In the past I've run this adventure and placed the whole thing in a valley on Carcosa just to mess with player's minds. They weren't amused by that turn of events especially when they realized just what this meant for their community in the long run. But that's another blog post.
There are several pieces of free gaming goodness that have made running the ruins easier and can spice things up for an experienced group of players:

• One is Kellri's 100 Gamma World Events available down the right hand side of his blog under downloads 
• The second is a break down of the various editions of Gamma World and conversion to Mutant Future available on the Mutant Future Wiki 
• A nice version of the Pitzburke map so if you already own this map it makes things very nice for a tablet or lap top. 
• This topic on Dragon's foot has some damn righteous 1/2 Edition Gamma World ideas and material 

I might also suggest downloading Mutant Future unless you've got collector's cash because Gamma World is going for one hundred and fifty dollars on Flea bay. Catch you all in the ruins until next time.

Playing In A Mutant Future/Gamma World First Edition Mash Up Game Featuring Tim Snider's Weed World A Free Mutant Future Adventure Part II

The second half of my Gamma World/Mutant Future mash up adventure using Tim Snider's Weed World free adventure. The DM threw us a curve ball by introducing several dangling adventure plots that were presented in the Famine in Fargo adventure.


During today's hex wanderings our party of adventurers ran into the cutest overtly large bunny men coming up over a rise. We didn't even stay around at all! The hoop warriors didn't spot us thank the Atom! We ran quite literally and didn't look back! We surprised the hell out of the DM who expected us to engage these mutant bastards!?! No way our tribe had dealt with them before during the events from the Famine in Far Go adventure's events as a random encounter! I had lost a character to these mutant rabbit jack holes after a pure strain human adventurer had become trapped in rubberized power armor and died! My party had lost a boat load of relics that were changed to rubber dog toys and we didn't stick around.


But we ran straight into a band of androids doing some looting of their own, these warriors and a thinker we recovering ancient relics for some nefarious purpose and we attacked with extreme prejudice for their loot and the XP's. They were tough and combat went on for a while and they were armed with slug throwers as well as some black powder weapons. There were eight of them and six of us.


Some of us got very lucky on our die rolls and it was rather interesting to find that they were recovering weird chests of the ancients, plus jewelry, a card of the Ancients for one of their sub monsters and a map of the legendary vaults. The androids were a hate of old times and thought of as a legendary monster of myth. We wrapped up tonight by taking our treasures back to our village. Our village elders told us that some of these relics may have come from the legendary temple of the Warden but that is a quest for another day my children.

Playing In A Mutant Future/Gamma World First Edition Mash Up Game Featuring Tim Snider's Weed World A Free Mutant Future Adventure

I'm finally back home and your Uncle Eric is back with some Gamma World's first edition's goodness. I have been drifting back to the wastelands of the post apocalyptic once again. I have been searching my memory of when I first encountered this wonderful science fantasy game. My memory falls back to a Seventies kitchen with an olive green refrigerator, a kitchen table, and this rules book has been burned into my back brain by a  radioactive cloud of mutation.Gamma World was my second go to game before Advanced Dungeons and Dragons's hard backs. Well today was a trip down memory land and a reminder that Gamma World first edition is a game to be respected.


Today I got a chance to crack some dice after work with some friends around ye old table with my friend Mike whose in Connecticut for the weekend handling his mother's estate. We got a chance to talk, BS, drink some beer and get out our Gamma World first edition PC's. Today's game adventure took place after the Famine in Far Go events which we had played through about two years ago.
Ward's Mutated Humanoid Gart The Wise 5th rank
Mike's Pure Strain Human fourth rank warrior Rick Number Five

My Mutated Plant Creature Alex Holland 6th rank (more Heap Then Swamp Thing)
Sarah's Esper mutant Hilda of the Pure Eye fifth Rank 

Jarmie's mutant Racoon Rocko fourth rank warrior

The village seemed safe but in reality a brand new threat had loomed its head as mutated nature took it upon herself to begin covering the village in weeds! Now one would think I'd have some sort of an advantage being a plant umm no because in fact I had worked on my guy as a warrior and mutated monster. The threat here came via Tim Snider's free Mutant Future adventure Weed World. We almost got our collective asses handed to us via some of the weird twists that this adventure today took.

GRAB IT HERE
I'm not going to give you a blow by blow but Far Go is safe but sadly we are now missing a mutated Raccoon. The plot of Weed World goes something like this;"Weed World: Within the last month, the growth of vegetation has accelerated, threatening to overrun your post-apocalyptic village. Does a children's story of 'The Devil's Greenhouse' hold the key to survival?"
I've still got to play through the second half of this adventure tomorrow after a rather nasty little encounter at night. But there are a few things I'd like to add about Gamma World first edition. This is a game to be respected and its still a nasty piece of work. Here's ten thoughts about Gamma World first edition:

1. Gamma World really gives and levels the playing field for the DM and there's lots of ways to die out in the field. 
2. Mutant Monsters with funny names are not nice at all. Gamma World gives the DM lots of latitude for expansion and DYI fun as needed. 
3. Gamma World first edition handles mental mutations and psionics better then Advanced Dungeons and Dragons first edition. 
4. God I wish we had a cleric. The crossover effort with AD&D 1st edition might have helped at certain times during the game. 
5. I almost blew the party away after trying to figure out that I had acquired a hand grenade or death egg as we called it. 
6. Plant monsters are the unsung bane of Gamma World sure everyone talks about the Hoops let me tell you they don't hold a candle to Gamma World plant monsters. 
7. The proto Advanced Dungeons and Dragons combat system is smooth for those who are used to the ins and outs of it. 
8. Maybe we should have played straight Gamma World, Mutant Future gives the damn dungeon master too many options. 
9. I loath being a player after so many years behind the DM's screen. I haven't played in a year and I find myself very rusty when it comes to the player pain factor. 
10. I really respect the tight design and system writing of Gamma World first edition. I will get Michael to have his turn at my table soon. Oh yes very soon indeed. I have a cunning plan in mind already.

Commentary On The Ruins of Pitzburke For Gamma World Second Edition and Your Old School Campaigns

 So last night I spent my Saint Patrick's day on Gamma Terra thanks to a friend of mine out West with a Guinness and I've got some thoughts on these venerable tomes of post apocalyptic adventure. 

I did a bit of horse trading with a friend out West for some tables and campaign help for a bit of Gamma World stuff he wasn't using. What I got surprised me was the fact that I got a first and second edition Gamma World rule book and the Ruins of Pitzburke


The Ruins of Pitzburke is one of the most iconic and dangerous places you can send a group of PC's in Gamma World. This place is a mix of  ruins, death lands, mutants, madness, robotic horror, and more meant that your little party of adventures could be swallowed up by the ruins without even a second thought.



And if you think that your Mutant Future PC's would fair any better in Pitzburke, I took a party of Mutant Future rpg players through the ruins and the whole affair was a total party kill. The ruins were designed to keep the Gamma World game campaign going for a long time to come. I've taken Boot Hill PC's and Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 1st edition parties through those ruins and the though the results varied there were some interesting adventure campaigns.


What makes this such an iconic adventure is the fact that the Ruins of Pitzburke essentially teaches the dungeon master both the fine art of stocking the ruins, NPC encounters, NPC factions, and Cryptic Alliances. Not to mention the numerous natural and radiation hazards of the Pitzburke setting. But still this was for me an essential setting for post apocalyptic campaigning almost as much as Keep on the Borderlands and In Search of the Unknown is for B/X Dungeons and Dragons. In the past I've run this adventure and placed the whole thing in a valley on Carcosa just to mess with player's minds. They weren't amused by that turn of events especially when they realized just what this meant for their community in the long run. But that's another blog post.
There are several pieces of free gaming goodness that have made running the ruins easier and can spice things up for an experienced group of players:

• One is Kellri's 100 Gamma World Events available down the right hand side of his blog under downloads 
• The second is a break down of the various editions of Gamma World and conversion to Mutant Future available on the Mutant Future Wiki 
• A nice version of the Pitzburke map so if you already own this map it makes things very nice for a tablet or lap top. 
• This topic on Dragon's foot has some damn righteous 1/2 Edition Gamma World ideas and material 

I might also suggest downloading Mutant Future unless you've got collector's cash because Gamma World is going for one hundred and fifty dollars on Flea bay. Catch you all in the ruins until next time.