Hey all:
I am running a game that is taking folks through a romp in the shattered post-apocalyptic world of 2208. I am always on the lookout for interesting foes to spring at them. I am interested in some ideas of mutants/machines/weirdness that they can come across (they are in a temperate wilderness/mountainous region). Anyone ever do a D20 Apocalypse/Gamma World game and come up with anything cool? I'd love to see your input. If you have stats that would be even better! :)
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An idea that popped into my head last night, as I am planning to run a d20 gamma world campaign (I just need to get the last two d20 gamma world books that were published), was to use the "Howler Wasp" from MM IV...
I get a lot of my ideas from good old D&D (the "odder" creatures, such as the aforementioned Howler Wasp as opposed to say an orc)...
But I have not made up a mutant since the 2nd edition of GW...
-That One Digitalelf Fellow-
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Something I just thought of...
While not a foe per-say, but an interesting idea...
The use of those steam powered "mechs" from DragonMech...
I loved the idea of a steam powered mech, but just not for D&D (just doesn't seem "right")...
But in a post-apocalyptic world, they would have a better place (IMO of course)...
Sorry, just thinking "out loud" here...
-That One Digitalelf Fellow-
Actually the Big Bad Menace is a mildly-technophobic culture of Pure Strain humans determined to genocide their way back to the way things were. They abhorr all computers, and maintain a WW II -era tech level. Perhaps some sort of bizarro steam-engine death machine/tank/mech would work in this scenario. Thanks for the good idea DigitalElf!
Consider the ogres from Rise of the Runelords. Mutant humans.
Yeah. Considering they are travelling in the Appalachians, always an idea ... >;)
How about a centipede made out of 50 mutants all jammed together in a line? Maybe with psychic abilities, since all 50 of its brains would be connected in series.
How about arboreal mollusks that use brachiation with their tentacles, then drop down on the PCs like mastadons?
Carnivorous porcupines with giant razorblade tusks?
How about mutant caterpillars that possess the upper lips of men with mullets and make them get jiggy with it when they hear music from the 70's?
How about silicon-based lifeforms that evolved from breast implants that were also Lo-jacked?
Giant cockroaches that emit EMPs that disable electronic equipment?
Psionic plants.
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One of the best Gamma World games I ran in the 1980s took place in the post apocalyptic city of Yungztown. There, a small hotel the PCs take refuge in, is run by a small hostile group of androids that are programmed by a central computer that is really a juke box. A single record, a 45 is spinning on the turntable and the needle keeps resetting to play it over and over again.
The PCs are instantly treated to comfort, perhaps the only nice place in the city to get rest from previous hostile adventures. For dinner they are served the roasted large beast they'd seen slayn earlier with a steel knife. There are mirrors on the ceiling, and pink champaign on ice is brought to their rooms. In the middle of the night they are woken up by a welcoming robot that says, "Welcome to the Hotel California."
When the PCs decide they've had enough of the creepyness, they learn that all exits are blocked, and all robots are armed with weapons that will kill them if they attempt to go outside. When confronted, they respond, "You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave."
The interesting foes become the formerly nice robots that took care of them, and the PC must destroy the central hotel computer/juke box in order to leave.
In the last few seconds of the game, it might be fun to describe to the players, a needle dropping onto vynal somewhere... scratching at first, then playing...
*insert a different, but equally disturbing favorite song here*
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Actually the Big Bad Menace is a mildly-technophobic culture of Pure Strain humans determined to genocide their way back to the way things were. They abhorr all computers, and maintain a WW II -era tech level. Perhaps some sort of bizarro steam-engine death machine/tank/mech would work in this scenario. Thanks for the good idea DigitalElf!
A good place to look for more creatures would be the Darwin's World D20 rpg, very heavily influenced by GW. Plenty of horrific PA monsters that can be ported over to D&D or GWd20.
As far as the PSH Purist are concerned you could always have as sinister PSH geneticist who is trying to improve upon the GST change which made humans as tough as they are. He could be trying to convert mutants into humans by stripping out their mutations via surgery or drugs producing horrific monsters, or also the same scientist working for the Purist could also be modifying humans and thus turning them into super human/mutants or the rejects could be abominations (think Hills have eyes/Texas chainsaw massacre). The cast off failures could be kept interred or used as weapons guardians for their base. Or they could escape and be hiding in the mountains - maybe even the Purist don't know everything this nut case is creating right under their noses and would kill him if they found out.
just a few ideas...been running GW since 1980
Psionic plants.
HAH! Just for that I think I will, Cocaman. When your character fails his Will save and starts watering the glowing cactus in the corner with his own blood you will have only yourself to blame :P
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As far as the PSH Purist are concerned you could always have as sinister PSH geneticist who is trying to improve upon the GST change which made humans as tough as they are. He could be trying to convert mutants into humans by stripping out their mutations via surgery or drugs producing horrific monsters, or also the same scientist working for the Purist could also be modifying humans and thus turning them into super human/mutants or the rejects could be abominations (think Hills have eyes/Texas chainsaw massacre). The cast off failures could be kept interred or used as weapons guardians for their base. Or they could escape and be hiding in the mountains - maybe even the Purist don't know everything this nut case is creating right under their noses and would kill him if they found out.just a few ideas...been running GW since 1980
Excellent Ideas! I like the whole mad scientist under the radar of the powers that be angle. The Wreckers (the PSH culture) do have 'camps' for mutants, and an enterprising maniac could get away with a lot. He'd have to watch out for the rest of his culture though, for although they are mean racist thugs, but they also have a horror of 'abomination science'. Something like modification of sentients would probably drive them into a frenzy. Thanks Auxmaulous!
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Excellent Ideas! I like the whole mad scientist under the radar of the powers that be angle. The Wreckers (the PSH culture) do have 'camps' for mutants, and an enterprising maniac could get away with a lot. He'd have to watch out for the rest of his culture though, for although they are mean racist thugs, but they also have a horror of 'abomination science'. Something like modification of sentients would probably drive them into a frenzy. Thanks Auxmaulous!...
As far as the PSH Purist are concerned you could always have as sinister PSH geneticist who is trying to improve upon the GST change which made humans as tough as they are. He could be trying to convert mutants into humans by stripping out their mutations via surgery or drugs producing horrific monsters, or also the same scientist working for the Purist could also be modifying humans and thus turning them into super human/mutants or the rejects could be abominations (think Hills have eyes/Texas chainsaw massacre). The cast off failures could be kept interred or used as weapons guardians for their base. Or they could escape and be hiding in the mountains - maybe even the Purist don't know everything this nut case is creating right under their noses and would kill him if they found out.just a few ideas...been running GW since 1980
No problem, I love talking about GW or helping anyone else who plays.
One more hook to help out your Wreckers...while they could be very anti-tech (limited to WWII), why not have them either modify existing TIII groundcars (more or less hybrid/turbine cars) or make their own type of armored cars- in the likeness of Panzers, Armored sd.Kfz.222's etc. I love lower tech badguys, but they always need a hook....a group of bad guys who excel at making armor (even it is nothing compared to a real pre-fall tank) would be a major threat to all outlying communities.
Hell if I was an elder from a threatened community I would send in anyone I could find (mercenaries, youngsters up for their first rite of passage) to sneak in and "blow up" their yard so to speak.
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Hey all:
I am running a game that is taking folks through a romp in the shattered post-apocalyptic world of 2208. I am always on the lookout for interesting foes to spring at them. I am interested in some ideas of mutants/machines/weirdness that they can come across (they are in a temperate wilderness/mountainous region). Anyone ever do a D20 Apocalypse/Gamma World game and come up with anything cool? I'd love to see your input. If you have stats that would be even better! :)
Check out the Hiero books of Sterling Lanier. They're somewhat hard to find (although Amazon can likely help).
Also, check out the book Hello America! by Ballard. The premise revolved around a relatively intact las Vegas filled with reprogrammed celebrity androids (presidents, athletes, etc...) run by a madman with control of a few live nuclear missiles. Both can be great inspirations for a post apocalypse game.
also of interest for inspirational PA reading would be Gordon Dickson's Wolf and Iron, the book Alas Babylon, The Postman (nothing like the movie!), and The Canticle for Leibowitz. I've read quite a bit of PA fiction, but those were the standouts. All of them could be mined for great villains, settlements or NPCs
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A good place to look for more creatures would be the Darwin's World
Another source to mine ideas from is in Dragon Magazine issue #94. There is one of those Polyhedron (Poly #153) d20 "mini games" called "Omega World". Not the BEST of resources (IMHO), but has a few useful "nuggets" non-the-less...
-That One Digitalelf Fellow-
Check out the Hiero books of Sterling Lanier. They're somewhat hard to find (although Amazon can likely help).
These two books hold an honored place on my bookshelf. One of my PCs rides a morse named Bullwinkle.
Also, check out the book Hello America! by Ballard. The premise revolved around a relatively intact las Vegas filled with reprogrammed celebrity androids (presidents, athletes, etc...) run by a madman with control of a few live nuclear missiles. Both can be great inspirations for a post apocalypse game.
Haven't heard of this one, thanks for the tip! :)
also of interest for inspirational PA reading would be Gordon Dickson's Wolf and Iron, the book Alas Babylon, The Postman (nothing like the movie!), and The Canticle for Leibowitz. I've read quite a bit of PA fiction, but those were the standouts. All of them could be mined for great villains, settlements or NPCs
Got them all, but yes, excellent readings all! I also would throw in Folk of the Fringe by Orson Scott Card for an excellent treatment of a low-intensity apocalypse scenario.
Another source to mine ideas from is in Dragon Magazine issue #94. There is one of those Polyhedron (Poly #153) d20 "mini games" called "Omega World". Not the BEST of resources (IMHO), but has a few useful "nuggets" non-the-less...
Yup. I'm currently mining both for excellent nuggets. The Omega World in particular has some of the best illustrations of some iconic GW beasties like the Hoop. Great for battlemaps! :)
lots of juicy spoilered stuff
As always a pleasure to see a master of the PbP genre's brain at work :)
Great ideas
Some choice nuggets as well, thank you!
One of the best Gamma World games I ran in the 1980s took place in the post apocalyptic city of Yungztown. There, a small hotel the PCs take refuge in, is run by a small hostile group of androids that are programmed by a central computer that is really a juke box. A single record, a 45 is spinning on the turntable and the needle keeps resetting to play it over and over again.
The PCs are instantly treated to comfort, perhaps the only nice place in the city to get rest from previous hostile adventures. For dinner they are served the roasted large beast they'd seen slayn earlier with a steel knife. There are mirrors on the ceiling, and pink champaign on ice is brought to their rooms. In the middle of the night they are woken up by a welcoming robot that says, "Welcome to the Hotel California."
When the PCs decide they've had enough of the creepyness, they learn that all exits are blocked, and all robots are armed with weapons that will kill them if they attempt to go outside. When confronted, they respond, "You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave."
The interesting foes become the formerly nice robots that took care of them, and the PC must destroy the central hotel computer/juke box in order to leave.
In the last few seconds of the game, it might be fun to describe to the players, a needle dropping onto vynal somewhere... scratching at first, then playing...
*insert a different, but equally disturbing favorite song here*
Love it!
One more hook to help out your Wreckers...while they could be very anti-tech (limited to WWII), why not have them either modify existing TIII groundcars (more or less hybrid/turbine cars) or make their own type of armored cars- in the likeness of Panzers, Armored sd.Kfz.222's etc. I love lower tech badguys, but they always need a hook....a group of bad guys who excel at making armor (even it is nothing compared to a real pre-fall tank) would be a major threat to all outlying communities.
Hell if I was an elder from a threatened community I would send in anyone I could find (mercenaries, youngsters up for their first rite of passage) to sneak in and "blow up" their yard so to speak.
Yeah the Wrecker's one winning thing is they are highly regimented. They do use steam/Int. combustion machines, but anything with "soultech" i.e. computers in it is forbidden as an offense against God. They win battles not by high-tech but by organization and strength of numbers. They have zeppelins and tanks and APCs ..oh my!
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Excellent Ideas! I like the whole mad scientist under the radar of the powers that be angle. The Wreckers (the PSH culture) do have 'camps' for mutants, and an enterprising maniac could get away with a lot. He'd have to watch out for the rest of his culture though, for although they are mean racist thugs, but they also have a horror of 'abomination science'. Something like modification of sentients would probably drive them into a frenzy. Thanks Auxmaulous!...
As far as the PSH Purist are concerned you could always have as sinister PSH geneticist who is trying to improve upon the GST change which made humans as tough as they are. He could be trying to convert mutants into humans by stripping out their mutations via surgery or drugs producing horrific monsters, or also the same scientist working for the Purist could also be modifying humans and thus turning them into super human/mutants or the rejects could be abominations (think Hills have eyes/Texas chainsaw massacre). The cast off failures could be kept interred or used as weapons guardians for their base. Or they could escape and be hiding in the mountains - maybe even the Purist don't know everything this nut case is creating right under their noses and would kill him if they found out.just a few ideas...been running GW since 1980
No problem, I love talking about GW or helping anyone else who plays.
One more hook to help out your Wreckers...while they could be very anti-tech (limited to WWII), why not have them either modify existing TIII groundcars (more or less hybrid/turbine cars) or make their own type of armored cars- in the likeness of Panzers, Armored sd.Kfz.222's etc. I love lower tech badguys, but they always need a hook....a group of bad guys who excel at making armor (even it is nothing compared to a real pre-fall tank) would be a major threat to all outlying communities.
One thing to do with this concept is that the Purists use the mutants by first having them "pacified". Basically put, they lobotomize them, then put them to work in various fields that they wouldn't do themselves. Or, alternatively, pump them full of drugs and loose them upon enemies as a first wave assault. This is followed by the Purist Soldiers who kill the enemy as well as their own first strike meatshields.
One thing to do with this concept is that the Purists use the mutants by first having them "pacified". Basically put, they lobotomize them, then put them to work in various fields that they wouldn't do themselves. Or, alternatively, pump them full of drugs and loose them upon enemies as a first wave assault. This is followed by the Purist Soldiers who kill the enemy as well as their own first strike meatshields.
Actually I was thinking along those lines. The Wreckers allow mutants to live if they undergo sterilization so as not to pollute the genome. They are forever treated as slave labor and have no rights, but some folks will always trade liberty for life. The Wreckers wouldn't trust mutants with weapons though, too easy to forment a counter-rebellion. They'd rather force their womenfolk to produce as many children as possible (like any group many of the children are mutants, but these are euthanized).
The Wreckers (the Rectified Church of the Martyred Saints) is primarily a religious-based culture (think fringe polygamous old-school Mormonism with a hideous racial slant) so any drug therapy wouldn't be culturally acceptable. They rely heavily on machines, of the non-thinking variety, which are more reliable than mutants for upping the force level.