Gamma World: Childhood's End

The first session of GW has been played and world generation has occurred. Using the Red Box Hack version of world generation involving passing a sheet of A4 paper and filling in the relevant details on the map the world was created. This has led to some interesting (!) areas placed on the map but overall added a lot of shape to the campaign. World generation was preceded by character generation, so we have:

• Rubble/War/Claw - a tripartite character who is a Giant/Seismic in origin. The tank of the party.


• Tabbatha - a Felinoid / Telekinetic in origin, the mechanic who is the dodging character


• 'Red Hot' Zeb Jackson - a Pyrokinetic/Speedster, who seems to be a controller type character.

A party template of a team of scavengers, they combined their keel boats and pick up truck to make a salvage vessel of some size, basing themselves in Barter town.

Actual Play

The game starts with the party loading their 'boat' with various supplies ready for a short expedition to the Barter Town Zoo (the local prison for animal like mutants). They are waiting for a crate roughly 3' by 5' of unknown contents. As they wait, they spot the stone plinth on which rests a broken TV containing the necklaces signifying childhood's end. This brings back memories of their Rite of Passage and scene of the three standing before the alter. To see them off on their first quest, the parents of each character hand them an omega tech but more importantly the Queen of Dreams glides in to see them off. Dressed in a skin tight but flowing with a train dress and surrounded by her guards, kitted out fully in medieval armour, she condescendingly wishes them well and advised them to seek the cave in the hill.

The group travel for a day south, where we establish Tabbatha is a bit ditsy, more cat like than anything else and 'Red Hot' has a tendency to think quick, move quick and bore easily! Only Rock keeps them on track as a brief discussion of visiting the Church of TV, a low building connected to the mainland by a pier and its metal tower clearly visible from all around.

A days travel south, the group camp for the night only to awaken four Obbs, carnivorous flying fungi. With radiation blasts and wing claws, the Obbs assaulted the trio only to be rebuffed by Red Hot's light generation, Rocky's stomp and Tabbatha's bambfing and claws. It was touch and go at the start but the three worked together to bring them down, although Rocky suffered the first flux of the game changing into War. Searching the area the Obbs flew from, each found an Omega tech.

Proceeding south, the trio detected voices in argument and sending the fleetest and stealthiest to investigate, Tabbatha gave the broken report of 'pig things are arguing next to a big metal thing'. So the group, stealthing forward (all three succeeding in the challenge) they gained surprise and rapidly wiped the four Road Hogs out. Collecting the truck from articulated lorry and the directions to the 'ChikkiNobbs' factory farm, the trio proceeded on their quest.

At the journey's end, the three discovered the remains of a fair ground, including half a ferris wheel and a conical man-made mountain with fake stone steps leading to a small cave in the side. A wooden arch reading 'Guru's Grotto' allows them through the picket fence and onto the path. Climbing the hill, the three enter through an arch inscribed with 'Imagination or premonition ... or your inner most desire?' In the cave rest four pods, that open like clam-shells. Two are broken and contain the skeletons of two humans. Two work. The Rocky the giant squeezes into the pod and the lid closes. Ten minutes later (or and eternity to Red Hot) the pod opens and releases Rocky, three images whirling in his mind.

Dreamin' of the future:

Rocky saw himself returning to a fiery mountain to spawn and to give back from whence he came.

War saw himself chained to a wall in the robot factory and the robot king seeks something from him

Claw sees himself spawned in numerous copies of himself, then glimpses himself in the ruins of Barter Town eviscerating the Queen of Dreams.

Red Hot sees three images:

Huge waves crashing against their make-shift boat, bigger than it is currently being attacked by shark-men as a mysterious oil rig looms in the background.

Looking down on a stereotypical atomic bomb, the timer counting slowly down as he hovers between the red and blue wires, not knowing what to cut.

All of Barter Town being herded by robots into the Church of TV, whose screens display the robot horde being led out of the factory by the priests holding TVs on poles. A tele-Evangelist is shouting from the TVs.

Tabbatha sees:

The trio running across the ope plain being followed by the thunder of stomping feet. First Red Hot, then Tabbatha and finally Rocky runs over the hill followed by a large T-rex. The last image is of Tabbatha clutching an egg!

A dry and dusty crypt, a silver tea service and the three are sharing tea with a zhombie like creature. He is passing the sugar.

A big swirling doorway of darkness looms in front of the trio. The look at each other then step through.

In the distance

A shadowy bear like creature is creeping through a dimly lit area, bars visible in the background. Taking out a spray can the bear scrawls 'All animals are equal' on the wall before scurrying into the darkness.

Elsewhere, a hooded figure stands before a king sprawled on a divan, hidden in shadow. Bowing deeply it says, 'M'lord, the oinkers have not returned from I57 and I found the tracks of three who headed south. They went to the cave'. At this point the king sits up and grunts 'find them'.