I'm a huge fan of fantasy gaming, but I'm an equally huge fan of post-apocalyptic gaming and all things "end of the world"
The other night I was watching The Road Warrior for the 83rd time and I kinda got in the PA (post-apocalyptic) mood as I sometime do, so I decided to break out my Aftermath! boxed set and browse through it. I've had this same boxed set since 1982, the year after the game was released. I was about 12 at the time, but I guess total world annihilation and the gruesome struggle for survival in a world burned to ash is ok for 12 year olds. Heck, I turned out just fine.
Anyways, I tried to learn this system in my naive youth and, lacking an engineering degree, somehow managed to fail. I can't possibly imagine how...
Modifiers for using "Muscle Powered Missile Weapons"
*Note: RF=Reflexe, BCS=Base Chance of Success, WDM=Weapon Damage Modifier that modifies the BDG=Base Damage Group
There were 131 different skills that a character could learn, including (but not limited to): 13 Melee Weapon Skills, 7 Muscle Powered Missile Weapon Skill, Breech Load Artillery, Dirt Farming, Nutritionist, Fermentation, Mathematics, Strategic Command and Production of Fuel-Hydride
A small example of melee weapon stats including: The utility value of a weapon (?), Survival Value for weapons striking each other, Format of the attack (thrust, strike, entangle etc) and the value of the item if it were to be bartered for.
Its a shame the system was so overly complicated because it had some real potential. I think the designers got to wrapped up in "realism" and forgot about game-playability. Every once in a while I like to read through the rulebooks just to remind myself how mind-numbingly stupid I truly am.
I should have stayed in school....
Beyond being a bit cumbersome, I found it poorly presented: Some character rules in the basic rulebook, others in characters, etc.
ReplyDeleteI still own a copy, and treasure it like loot recovered from a ruin. ;)
it's one of those things that you'll never use, but you can never part with either.
ReplyDeleteIf you're in to the post-apocalyptic genre, we'd love to have you join the conversation at our new forum, http://PostApocalypticForum.com.
ReplyDeleteNoted and Joined :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the invite @Bill
Played it before Gamma World came our way. What I remember, hours to make a character, minutes to kill one. While what we imagined to be "realistic", Gamma World was more fun even if more sci-fantasy.
ReplyDeleteIt was actually playable, we did several campaigns ranging from 20 years after to 200 years after, but awfully clunky at time. The stripped down version of the rules used for Daredevils (the pulp game running on the same basic engine) was much more fun as I recall.
ReplyDeleteThis is what happens when maths and hard science undergrads are let loose on games of imagination, mystery and wonder.
ReplyDelete"Combat Flowchart, page 2" - the very phrase is anathema to me.