A Free Fanmade Setting Conversion for Dungeons and Dragons 5E Written
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a free fanmade setting conversion for DUngeons and Dragons 5e written by Emanuele Galletto Original Gamma worlD seTting by James M. Ward and Gary Jaquet RuLes conversion parTially based on Omega World, by Jonathan Tweet, Polyhedron Magazine #153 Wizards of the Coast’s D&D Gamma World line, by Richard Baker, Bruce R. Cordell and Robert J. Schwalb Disclaimer I do not own any rights on Gamma World, Dungeons and Dragons, or any of the creatures and/or characters, places and rules in this document. This PDF is and will always be available for FREE, and is nothing but a personal tribute to a great setting and an exciting rules system. TabLe of coNTeNTs CHAPTER or SECTION PAGE__ ✇ INTRODUCTION PAGE 3 - The Setting… What’s Up? PAGE 3 - The Rules… What’s New? PAGE 3 ✇ CHARACTER CREATION PAGE 4 - Summary PAGE 4 - Bios PAGE 5 - Mutations PAGE 8 - Gamma Wanderer Class and Level Progression PAGE 15 ✇ SKILLS PAGE 17 - New SKills Descriptions PAGE 17 ✇ EQUIPMENT PAGE 18 - Economy PAGE 18 - Armor PAGE 18 - Weapons PAGE 19 - Wanderer’s PacK PAGE 20 - Scavenged JunK PAGE 20 - Ancient Gear PAGE 22 ✇ RUNNING A GAMMA FIVE GAME PAGE 27 - Having Fun PAGE 27 - Terrain and Hazards PAGE 28 2 inTroDucTion Gamma World is a very special setting. First of all, it’s crazy, blending together sci-fi, fantasy, post-apocalypse, pulp narrative and humor. But there’s more to it than that. From its very beginning in 1978, Gamma World dared to thread on fears and anxieties that each and every one of us might face one day: nuclear conflict, radiation, aliens, the singularity complex. The seventh edition of the game, from Wizards of the Coast, based the (incredibly loose) storyline of the setting on an event Known as the “Big MistaKe”, an accident at the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva that shattered and then tied together all of Earth’s possible realities and timelines. I always loved how, in Gamma World, we can face these fears with laughter and an overall tongue-in-cheek attitude, and this little rulebooK will try its best to stay true to the rather whacKy feel of the setting. The seTTing... whaT’s up? The main goal of this document (simply called Gamma Five from now on) is to provide you with a set of rules to play Gamma World. It is short by design, and doesn’t spend too much time on the description of the setting. That’s because contrary to other RPG campaign settings, Gamma World’s looKs and storyline are largely up to the Dungeon Master (or maybe we should call it Game Master, or Gamma Master. Gamma Master sounds cool). However, it might be useful to establish a couple basic principles on which your play group can build its own campaign. ✇ A catastrophic event has merGed past, future, and alternate realities, forever chanGinG the planet. The default is a scientific accident gone wrong (such as the LHC accident mentioned above), but the possibilities are endless: maybe it was a failed terraforming attempt from antimatter-eating aliens… or maybe the gods are real and they decided to spice up things for mortals. It can be anything you want. Really. ✇ Various beinGs roam the wastelands, some civilized, some monstrous and cruel. Regardless of why things went wrong (or became interesting, depending on your point of view), the world is filled with mutants. Some are humans that experienced mutations as a result of radiation exposure or reality merging; some are animals (and even plants) that developed intellect and sentience; it is not uncommon to see robots or cyborgs around, since it’s now widely known that AIs tend to manifest personality traits after a while, and are often precise and even obsessive subjects. Some humans, called Pure Strain Humans (PSH for short), are the direct descendants of the Ancients (that would be you and me). While these creatures can usually be reasoned with, many are horrible monsters, waiting for reckless wanderers to end up as their dinner. It’s a tough world. ✇ There’s awesome junk everywhere! The post-apocalyptic landscape of Gamma World is filled with ruins of the Ancients’ settlements. Other than hosting dangerous monsters and being a real cradle for disease, these places often hide useful artifacts and relics from the time of the Ancients. These objects, referred to as Ancient Gear, are incredibly useful and usually priceless on the scavengers’ marKet. I mean, thinK of what a power generator can do. ThinK of what a nail gun can do. Think of what a toothbrush can do. OKay, maybe you can do without the toothbrush. The rules... what’s new? Gamma Five worKs in tandem with the D&D 5th Edition Basic Rules. However, it introduces new methods for creating characters and level progression, a setting-specific list of skills, simplified and versatile rules for equipment, and monsters. Whenever the contents of this rulebooK replace the ones in the D&D 5th Edition Basic Rules, either it’s pretty obvious, or the text will explain what gets changed and what doesn’t. Anyways, the following sections of the Basic Rules are not going to experience any changes: ✇ Chapter 8 – AdventurinG; ✇ Chapter 9 – Combat (however, this document introduces two new damage types: Laser and Radiation); ✇ AppendiX – Conditions. 3 characTer creation In Gamma Five, character creation worKs a little bit different from its Basic Rules counterpart. The contents of this chapter replace the mechanics presented in chapters 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the Basic Rules (note that there are no bacKgrounds or personality suggestions in this document; we’re still considering whether to add them or not). summary Gamma Five is not about heroics and optimization as it is about insanely fun and nonsensical characters. To embrace the endless possibilities of the setting, most of the character creation process is randomized. While it is possible to picK options as you see fit, that’s not as fun as rolling random mutations and ending up with a weird, three-armed ectoplasmic insectoid PC. And at the end of the process, if you really can’t wrap your head around the abomination that hatched from your rolls, by all means burn it at the staKe and roll a new character. However, given Gamma World’s death rate, it’s not liKe we expect anyone to stay around for too long. Here’s a quicK summary of the character creation process. You will find a detailed explanation of each step in the following pages (except for the equipment, which is described in its own chapter). ✇ Step 1: Roll to determine your character’s bio. In Gamma Five, instead of a race, your character has a bio, which is a loose indication of its appearance and genetic heritage (if any; you might be a robot!). Roll a d8 on this table to determine your character’s bio. d8 roll Character bio Short description 1 Avian You evolved from a birdliKe creature (hawK, eagle, pelican…). 2 Beast You evolved from a bestial mammal (ape, cat, dog, rat…). 3 Bug You evolved from an insectoid being (ant, cocKroach, spider…) 4 Human, Mutated You have human heritage combined with mutations. 5 Human, Pure Strain You are the same race as the Ancients, the original inhabitants of the world. 6 Plant You are a sentient vegetal life form. 7 Robot You are an artificial form of life, made of synthetic materials. 8 Saurian You evolved from a reptile creature (lizard, snake, dinosaur…). ✇ Step 2: Record your bio traits on the character sheet. Each bio determines the way you generate ability scores, your size, your speed, and gives you proficiency in a specific skill (or two sKills, if you are a Pure Strain Human). Some bios have special traits, such as the Robot’s Tin Man trait. Record all this information on your character sheet. ✇ Step 3: Mutations. With the exception of Mutated Humans and Pure Strain Humans, all characters gain some bio mutations. These are fixed mutations that the bio grants for free. Record these mutations and their effects on your character sheet. In addition, all bios except Pure Strain Human grant a number of random mutations to your character. Roll a d100 that many times on the Random Mutations Table. If you get a mutation you already have, reroll until all your mutations are different. Record these mutations and their effects on your character sheet. ✇ Step 4: Apply the Gamma Wanderer class. All Gamma Five PCs share the same class: the Gamma Wanderer. When you create your character, you gain your 1st level in this class. Your class determines your hit points (you taKe the highest number on the die at 1st level, as usual), your Hit Dice, your proficiencies, and a list of features that you will gain when you level up in that class. Record everything on your character sheet. ✇ Step 5: Grab some equipment. Your character gets a free wanderer’s pacK, some armor and/or shield, a melee weapon, a ranged weapon (plus some ammunition if the ranged weapon is a gun), and then you roll a d100 for 2d4 times on the Random Scavenged JunK Table to see what technological marvels (yeah, sure) you own. ✇ Step 6: Description. Now that you’re done with the mechanical part of character creation, find ways to describe your character’s goals, motivations, and overall appearance. And try to come up with a way to justify that horned flying plant you just rolled up. Jeez. 4 bios Each character in a Gamma Five game has a bio. Similarly to the role of a character’s race in the D&D rules, a bio determines the biological qualities of a creature (if you already guessed that, well congrats, have a cooKie).