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Let me start off by saying I LOVE Gamma World in all its incarnations.

I'm wondering how many here are currently running GW as a campaign or just one-shots between other games.

I am not nor ever was a D&D4e player/DM. I stopped at 3.5 and went back to Basic and AD&D for my fantasy. When this version of GW came out I was sketchy at best and not looking forward to the Card mechanic... However in the end I bought all 3 GW sets and have a full set of Cards also.

I ran a few combat sessions to get myself up to par with some friends, felt pretty good and set out to run a Games Day at my Local RPG store because they had never signed up for the GW Game Day and I had no clue about it. I ended up DMing for 1 player and it actually went very well. I made up everything off the cuff and used random monsters right from the book. Also I ran the Game Day adventure "Trouble in Freesboro" at Home for my regular group.

Now this is where I have major issues, and am wondering if others have had the same. Or am I just not getting the whole 4E thing!?!?!?

My regular group was 6 players and I did not alter the adventure in any way. I wanted to play it straight and we would all learn together. Now I have been in RPG's since '82 and so have all my players. I discovered that (and this may be because the group was too big) this version of GW turned into 1-1/2 to 2 hour long sessions of just tactical tabletop combat with each encounter! Players getting bogged down with what choices to make for everything from Quick or Powerful? At-Will or Encounter? Omega Tech or Alpha mutation? Did I add ALL the bonuses correctly?

I know some of it was all of our collective non 4E knowledge, but it took us about 8 hours total to complete that adventure over 3 seperate game sessions with very little role-playing involved. By the End I was wiped and we never played  GW4e again.

That session I ran for 1 player at the Game Store for about 2 1/2 hours was completely the opposite. The kid had no prior RPG knowledge, we rolled up a PC together for him. There was a ton non-dice rolling roleplaying and 4 encounters with different monsters. Now granted he did run from 2 of those encounters but still....

I am currently getting ready to dive in again with 2 PC's this time and see how it goes. I do NOT like the way the 4E system wants me to balance encounters to the PC's. I like to have what ever I want in an area and the PC's talk or battle it. If they start getting thier butt kicked they better run. I do NOT change or alter the monsters from the book either. Alot of times I noticed I forgot to have monsters do things because the Stat blocks were, well, too long.

Do battles (encounters) take this long normally in GW or D&D4E, is what I'm going through normal for this version of GW?

What have you guys actually expierenced in GW playability.
How many PC's do you typically have?

Thanks for listening.

Since 3rd edition (and possibly 2nd, but I never ran a game under those rules, so dont accurately recall the encounter design paradigm there) D&D has been geared for a DM and 4 players (one of each class group fighter/mage, cleric, thief). in fact in the CR system of 3rd and 3.5 it states that the CR rating numbers should be equal to the everage level of a group of 4.

Not sure if they kept that paradigm with 4th and GW but it would be no suprise.

Thanks guys,

I feel the game will flow better with between 2-4 players. I saw longer battle times with 3e as well it just seemed outrageous to me in GW. But, 6-7 PC's + monsters will do that....

I never agreed with the whole "1 of each class for best party results". I believe PC's should be what they want (or in GW case roll for Origin) and plan and play smart. Or at least as smart as they can.

As I stated above, I don't equalize enemies to PC's. If I think a monster is what I want in an area and it works in my adventure idea it's there. I play rather more Sand-box than railroad, so it works because they can always return later to fight a monster that had previously whipped the parties butts.

Do you guys always use counters and maps when an ENCOUNTER occurs?

I ask because I feel you could not use them and still have a successful ENCOUNTER. After all even D&D did not always have to use battle-mats and minis.

I did not use any counters or maps with the single player intro game I did and it went great.

Has anyone else NOT used the counters and maps for ENCOUNTERS? This is something I'm going to give a whirl in my upcoming game.

Dec 19, 2011 -- 3:14PM, mightyeroc wrote:

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Do you guys always use counters and maps when an ENCOUNTER occurs?

I ask because I feel you could not use them and still have a successful ENCOUNTER. After all even D&D did not always have to use battle-mats and minis.

I did not use any counters or maps with the single player intro game I did and it went great.

Has anyone else NOT used the counters and maps for ENCOUNTERS? This is something I'm going to give a whirl in my upcoming game.

Mightyeroc,

In my games I do not always use the map and mini's. I try only to use it for larger "more important" battles. Because I don't want my players I have devised a system that we use o have a quicker fight for just battling random encounters and mooks... You can still fully use your powers and what not, but it takes out the tactical sense movement and makes a more "magic the gathering" like feeling of combat.

We did this because in the beginning levels of a 4e game, we were able to run a group of 4 players against a group of enemies and complete it in about 30 minutes. But as we went up levels the encounters became more complex and some take 2 hours complete (at level 5+). Players just had more options to use. I shudder to think about DnD at level 20+.

Perhaps in the comming days I will outline this speed process.

Dec 24, 2011 -- 6:32AM, Finarvyn wrote:

...
I've been hoping that someone would publish a 4E-lite system (perhaps the boardgames will do) so I can play without all of the powers, etc, but I fear that 5E will be out before I see this.

Finarvyn,

Could you please clarify what you mean about "boardgames" will do?

Did you mean you hope that someone creates a 'Castle Ravenloft' type GW game? (Some did do so... but it does not exist anymore.) Search Gamma World & Castle Ravenloft on Google... You should find good information. I will try to email you the link....

Or did you mean something else?