UNOFFICIAL GAMMA WORLD 5th Edition FAQ

Compiled by Dennis Payne (dulsi@identicalsoftware.com)

July 11, 2000


Contents

1)  Where are the Mutant Animals?
2)  Where are the Mutant Plants?
3)  Where are the Death Machines and other Robots?
4)  Where did the Sasquatch come from?
5)  How do you recover from stun knockout?  Stun Recovery (p47) and
Knockout Recovery (p48) disagree with each other.
6)  How does the Movement-trailblazing skill work?  They mention in the
Movement section (p50) and Skill section (p85) that it reduces the penalty
for movement in difficult terrain but don't go into detail.


1)  Where are the Mutant Animals?

The rules for humanoid mutant animals can be found in Dragon #272.  There
are no official rules for non-humanoid mutant animals found in the
previous versions.

2)  Where are the Mutant Plants?

There are no offical rules for mutant plants.  Neil Spicer developed
unofficial rules which will be appearing in the August issue of Action
Check.

3)  Where are the Death Machines and other Robots?

Robots were left out of the new Gamma World rules.  The Dataware supplement
for Alternity gives all the necessary rules.  The descriptions of the
technology use the StarDrive view of progress levels.  Wayne Shaw believes
Shadow Age tech to be about 7.5.

4)  Where did the Sasquatch come from?

The "Mutant Manual" in Dragon #98 contains a creature called "Mountain Men
(Squatches)" which is believed to be the basis for the new race.  Besides
the initial idea, the similarities are rather small.  The original
creature does fear technology but sufficiently to refuse to use any
technology.  Instead of claws they punched and had a poisonous bite.
They weren't even tough enough to warrant the durability.  They do however
have abilities remarkably similar to the Weren and Sasquatch found in
StarDrive and Dark Matter respectively.  There have been a few suggestions
on that a new species of mutant bears would make a better choice for the
race.

5)  How do you recover from stun knockout?  Stun Recovery (p47) and
Knockout Recovery (p48) disagree with each other.

The Stun Recovery (p47) rules match those given in the Alternity PHB.

6)  How does the Movement-trailblazing skill work?  They mention in the
Movement section (p50) and Skill section (p85) that it reduces the penalty
for movement in difficult terrain but don't go into detail.

Based on the description in the Gamma World rulebook, you would role a
Movement-trailblazing skill check.  An Ordinary success would reduce the
step penalty by one.  A Good success removes two steps and an Amazing would
remove three steps.  Keep in mind this only affects the penalty for terrain.
Step penalties for darkness, inclement weather, and other situations are
unaffected.  If the character rolled a Critical Failure, the step penalty
increases by three.

However, according to Neil Spicer this differs somewhat from the Alternity
PHB rules.  Here is what he wrote:

     Regardless, I think I remember seeing something in the original
     Movement-trailblazing description about reducing the amount of time
     it takes to cover distances over rough terrain...in addition to the
     Stamina-endurance check bonuses in resisting fatigue.  Essentially,
     this further interpretation allows> the hero to make a skill check
     and an Ordinary success enables him or her to find a better path,
     coming out ahead of folks that just blunder their way into> the
     terrain and out the other side.  Of course, Good and Amazing skill
     check results trims the amount of time down even further, and a
     Critical Failure actually leads the heroes off into a dead-end,
     causing them to lose time as they constantly double-back.

     There was no set figure about what time units should be used in
     rewarding successful skill checks.  I think that has to be defined
     by the GM in each situation.  I would probably go so far as to
     suggest that seriously rough> terrain might require a complex skill
     check of increasing levels of difficulty terrain might require a
     complex skill check of increasing levels of difficulty> to cross.
     The reasoning here would be that once you got into a deep, dark
     swamp you can more easily lose your bearings and become lost, even
     if the initial trailblazing skill check allowed you to make good
     time at first.  Your guide/scout would need to keep making skill
     checks to stay on the better path and re-evaluate the lay of the
     land as some new situation comes up over the horizon.