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INTRODUCTION +
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK +
    Suggested Additional Equipment +
    Dice in GAMMA WORLD +
DESIGNING GAMMA WORLD +
    Settlements +
    Ancient Areas +
    Other Suggestions +
    The First Scenario +
CREATING CHARACTERS +
    Character Types +
    Basic Attributes +
    NPCs and Creatures +
    Hopeless Characters +
MUTATIONS +
    Physical Mutations +
    Mental Mutations +
    Plant/Vegetable Mutations +
    Creating NPC Mutations +
PLAY OF THE GAME +
    Time, Movement, and Turn Length +
    Combat +
    Encounters +
    The Creatures +
    Cryptic Alliances +
    Hazards +
    Artifacts and Equipment +
    Standard Devices, Units, and Materials +
    Trade, Value, and Exchange +
    Healing of Body Damage +
    Relatives +
    Languages +
    Robotic Units +
    Experience +
EXAMPLE OF PLAY +
    Sample World Design +
    Starting the Campaign +
    Example of a Referee Moderating an Adventure +

Note: A number of pages at the end of this booklet are designed as reference aids and are perforated for easy removal, if desired.
 

INTRODUCTION

Man, from Australopithecus africanus and homo erectus erectus to homo sapiens sapiens,
may have existed on earth for hundreds of
thousands, perhaps millions of years. During this time, one skill,
one particular talent has set him apart from every other creature --
the ability to conceive and create tools. Indeed, man has
been defined as the "tool-making animal".

From chipped rocks && polished bones to neutron bombs and
computers, man has constantly been redesigning, improving, and
refining his tools to meet his ever-changing needs. Some have been
toys for children. Some have improved his life style. Others have
been necessary for his survival. A few have nearly caused his extinction.

Early in the 24th century, mankind's existence was unparalled.
The rape of the earth's beauty and resources in the late 20th and
early 21st centuries had been halted and reversed, due to man's
tools.  Yet, in spite of these tools (or perhaps because of them),
the idyllic life of the 24th century came to an abrupt end.

Having conquered the rigors of simple survival, man was able to
turn his energies to more esoteric considerations -- theology,
political ideology, social and cultural identification, and development
of self-awareness. These pursuits were not harmful in themselves,
but it soon became fashionable to identify with and support
various leagues, organizations, and so-called "special interest groups."
With the passage of time, nearly all the groups became
polarized, each expressing and impressing its views to a degree
that bordered on fanaticism.
Demonstrations, protests, and debates became the order of the day.
Gradually enthusiasm changed to mania, then to hatred of those who held opposing views.
Outbreaks of violence became more frequent, and terrorists
spread their views with bombs && guns.

Reconstruction of the events from 2309 to 2322 has been difficult
due to the lack of intact records, but historians now generally mark
September 16, 2309 as the beginning of the period now commonly
known as the Shadow Years. On that day, some 5000 members
of the League of Free Men were staging a demonstration for the
purpose of promoting their concepts of a united world government.
At the height of their demonstration, a small neutron bomb was
detonated in their midst, killing most of the demonstrators. Rumors
held opponents of world government, a group known as the Autonomists,
responsible for the terrorism, but no guilt was ever proved.

The League of Free Men made no formal accusations, but three
months later, on December 23, several hundred known Autonomists
were assassinated in separate locations. In addition, the three
main offices of the Autonomists were the targets of the release of a
newly developed nerve gas. The nerve gas was responsible for approximately
3000 deaths, the majority of which were Autonomist
office personnel, but many of those killed had no connection with
the Autonomists. Blame for the killings was placed on the League,
but there was no proof. The failure of official investigations to
convict the perpetrators of these mass murders created a wave of
vigilante actions; retaliation followed retaliation. The problem was
compounded as the terrorism spread across national boundaries,
engulfing the world with bloodshed.

As the vigilante actions continued, various governments
attempted to prohibit and disband suspected terrorist organizations
, but these attempts only drove the groups further underground
and polarized their supporters. This led many countries to
declare martial law in a last desperate effort to control their populations,
but the warring groups had grown too powerful. They had too
many resources (both economic and political) upon which to draw.
Although there are no records to substantiate the accusations that
governments gave covert aid to certain groups in order to change
the balance of power, circumstantial evidence seems to indicate
that this did occur.

In the final months of the Shadow Years, a new organization
calling itself The Apocalypse, announced its xistence w/ the
now famous Ultimatum:

    Peoples of the world -- you appear bent upon the
    destruction of a civilization that has taken centuries to
    build, and the extinction of life on earth.
        If that is your will ... so be it!
        We, the Apocalypse, demand an immed. cessation
    of this insane violence, or we will end it for you
... with a force you cannot conceive.
    We have the power!
    The choice is yours!

    The exact identity of The Apocalypse was, and still is, unknown.
Some have theorized that the group was composed of scientists.
Some believe it was a special military group. Whatever its
constituency, few believed the ultimatum when it was issued, and
the fighting continued. Five days later, on April 17, at exactly 1200
GMT, the capital city of every nation in the world was turned into a
crater of radioactive slag.

The Apocalypse spoke to the world one more time:

    People of the world, you have been warned.
    We have the power!
    The choice is yours!

Again, due to the lack of records, it is not known how the location of
The Apocalypse base was discovered, or who initiated the attack.
Some evidence indicates the action was a joint effort by nearly all
the surviving terrorist factions and vigilante groups -- united for
the first time in the Shadow Years. In the end, though, a massive
attack was mounted against The Apocalypse base. In TURN, The Apocalypse
    retaliated with a fury     never b4 witnessed on the face of the Earth.
Oceans boiled,
continents buckled,
the skies blazed with the light of unbelievable energies.

Suddenly it was all over.

The civilization of man had been slashed, burned, crushed, and
scattered to the four winds. Whether The Apocalypse had intended
to completely destroy all life on the planet and had failed, or if they
simply had not enough power, is debatable. Some scholars
contend that The Apocalypse voluntarily stopped their promised
destruction when they witnessed the horror they had unleashed
and then destroyed themselves. At this time, and even now, the
question is moot.

What did matter was that man survived. The Black Years that
followed the Shadow Years were spent struggling to survive in a
suddenly savage and vastly changed world. The process was a
painful one, filled with nearly as much terror and violence as the Shadow Years.

The devastation wrought by The Apocalypse had changed
the very fabric of life on earth. The weapons and devices they used had
completely obliterated some forms of life. Others were mutated to
the point where they could not be recognized as what they had once
been. Man was not immune to these changes.

Through it all, the death, the pain, the horror, and facing the
prospect of an unknown future, man searched for his lost knowledge,
and struggled to regain his tools . . . to rebuild a self-destroyed civilization.

During the Black Years, those who held the tools, held the power . . .

* * *

The year is now 2471. It is nearly impossible to describe the vast
changes that have occured since the devastation of the Shadow
Years.

The weapons which had wrought the destruction were many and
varied. Targets were seared by lasers, blasted by fusion devices,
and razed by new and unfathomable energies developed in the final
months of the conflict. Only the most highly fortified areas (military
headquarters, spaceports, and the like) remained even partially
intact. Neutron bombs, unhindered by most forms of shielding,
decimated those who remained within even these strongholds,
leaving concrete and metal tombs housing incredibly complex
equipment, now stilled for lack of human guidance.

Many of the weapons used by The Apocalypse were of a
biomagnetic nature and nearly all life forms suffered some kind of
mutation. Perhaps the most prevalent and startling change was the
development of latent mental abilities (psionics) in nearly all
organic life, including man. This power could range from simple
emotional energy to the ability to control, even kill, other beings
with mental force.

The ecological balance of Nature was shattered as violently
and suddenly as man's civilization. The sudden extinction of some life
forms and the mutation of most others, coupled with the lack
of man's intervention and attention (except to his own survival needs),
generated a near world-wide wilderness inhabited by savage
creatures, who, like man, were struggling to survive.

The loss of so much of man's knowledge and records has
shrouded the world in ignorance and superstition. Areas containing
ruins of man's once great civilization are often looked upon as
taboo -- "Death Lands" -- and the men and women who once lived
there are referred to as the "Ancients," usu. with quasi-religious
overtones. Artifacts from the past may be simple curiosities or
objects of terror.

The pockets of humanity that have survived are few, scattered
throughout the world where a moment's lack of caution may mean
instant and painful death. Men are highly suspicious of strangers,
jealous of each other's possessions, and clandestine organizations,
known as cryptic alliances, plot and scheme against each
other. The smallest hint of the location of The Apocalypse base,
lost now for decades, creates intensive rival searches, for it is
rumoured that therein lies power -- power to survive, power to control . . .

It is now the Black Years. This is the bizarre and everchanging
world that you, the PC, are about to enter!

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

    GAMMA WORLD is a role-playing game. One (or more)
of the participants acts as the referee, creating a world in which the
players act out parts as in a book or play, parts scripted by the referee
but formed and finalized by all participants. The referee
presents the situations in which the players are to adventure. In
each adventure, the players gain experience, and hopefully,
valuable artifacts, which increase their chances of survival (they are
occasionally killed) in GAMMA WORLD. An interconnected series
of such adventures is called a campaign.

    Since "new" characters are, by game mechanics, relatively weak
and inexperienced, the referee should plan to present smaller risks
and correspondingly small rewards at the beginning of the
campaign, and increase the risks and rewards as the PCs
become more powerful and experienced.

    The players cannot begin the game until the referee has completed
his design work. Once the referee had made the necessary
preparations, the players create their game personae, called PCs,
as described under CREATING CHARACTERS. After a
character has been est., the player is responsible for keeping
records of his character's attributes and possessions, as well as
notes and maps concerning areas which his character has explored.

    While these rules are complete guidelines for conducting a
campaign, certain additional equipment is necessary or helpful for
play of the game.

zb
 

Kevin Hendryx: A lot of contributions were made at each stage and there was not always a clear division of labor. The amount of work required might vary depending on the nature of the project, the completeness (or lack thereof) of the original design, and format requirements or other marketing aspects. Development also helped to proofread bluelines when Production was swamped; and Design or Production would help Development playtest when required. Everybody pitched in with less formal playtest sessions in the off-hours. Sometimes Development would have to create extra material to flesh out an incomplete design; I remember Evan Robinson and I compiling the clerical reference charts at the back of Deities & Demigods one Saturday afternoon. I designed the town sections of AD&D module A3 for commercial release and Paul Reiche largely rewrote the Gamma World: Legion of Gold module from a Gygax early draft, including designing from scratch all the three mini-adventures; I then extensively edited the whole from the separate raw drafts. (My original edited ms. was sold to a collector on the West Coast in 1998.)

- Grognardia (Interview with Kevin Hendryx, Part I)
 
 

James M: 5. A lot of your TSR work was for the Gamma World game.
How did you become involved with it?
Was the game a particular favorite of yours?

Paul Reiche III: I love Gamma World because it didn't take itself too seriously, which has always been important to me.
In fact, in many ways Gamma World was more like our D&D campaigns that the official rules, because we were always mixing robots, laser guns, and mutants into the traditional fantasy ingredients.
Also, as the most junior designer at TSR, I jumped at the opportunity to edit and "fill out" a Gamma World module written by Gary Gygax and his son Luke.
As a reader and day dreamer, I probably spend equal time in science-fiction, fantasy and post-holocaust, so Metamorphosis Alpha && Gamma World were right up my alley.
Blackmoor too, I guess.

- Grognardia (Interview: Paul Reiche III)