Radioactive Review — 'Wisdom From The Wastelands' #6: Factions'

You couldn't have vintage Gamma World without cryptic alliances—essentially, post-apocalyptic Illuminati groups that served as antagonists and allies for the PCs—and issue #6 of Wisdom From The Wasteland introduces four analogous "factions" for your Mutant Future campaigns.  I could be wrong, but I believe this supplement marks the first official appearance of cryptic alliances in the Mutant Future canon.

Included are...

) The Gaians:  Aggressive plantlife.

) The Legion:  The Black Company gone atomic.

) The Uplifted:  Pre-apocalyptic intelligent animals, trapped in a world they never made.

) The Xenophobes:  High-tech exterminators of all things "alien".

—

Man.  This is a rough one.  

On top of the plentiful spelling and grammar mistakes, the material is just kinda...there.  And there's a lot of "there" there.

Take the Gaians section.  Two dense pages about militant plants bent on conquest (except the ones that aren't...sigh) and their crazy-go-nuts powers:  genetic manipulation, bio-technological mimicry ("I shot a plant with a laser...and a few months later, it shoots lasers!!!"), insect control and mutation, and human-into-plant-monster infections.   It reads like someone put every mouldering comic featuring Poison Ivy and/or The Floronic Man, some original 1962 Mars Attacks trading cards, and John Carpenter's The Thing in a blender...and while that reads like The Greatest Thing Ever, it's somehow not.

Then come the sub-factions:  Overlords (love technology, destroy other intelligent life), Returners (hate techonology, destroy other intelligent life...including the Overlords), and Changers (love technology, want to turn other life into plants).  And they collectively have very few members, because most non-affiliated plants want nothing to do with them...meaning the Gaians want to destroy them, too.

So, what do we have?  The first faction mentioned is essentially three separate groups, with divergent agendas and every superpower ever, united under a banner of self-directed racism and infighting.  It's a mess.

The Legion and The Xenophobes are harmless, although the latter really crank up in-game access to spaceships and the like.  That could be problematic in campaigns geared more towards the "stop signs as shields" aesthetic.

The Uplifted made my eyes glaze over, as like the Gaians, this section includes four dull sub-groups (Orwellians, Apes, Truebloods, Anthromorphs) with some permutation of "seeks domination / doesn't seek domination / seeks to live in Nature / seeks to live in society (and maybe mate with Humans)".  And all are wholly unnecessary because Gamma World already gave us The Ranks Of The Fit and The Zoopremists.

—

The authors specifically leave out any and all "crunch" for these organizations, so there's nothing on membership rites, key NPCs, benefits to joining, etc.  There aren't even any iconic symbols to identify the groups, as were seen in Gamma World:

I like that kind of stuff.  The little details jazz up the material.  And this supplement needs all the jazzing it can get...

...because even the few clipart stills managed to grate.

—

What good can I say about the supplement?

I like the the Gaians inspire plants as recurring NPC antagonists, and not just stationary hazards that try to eat your PCs with explosive seeds and tendril-vines and whatnot.  Plants are actualized as major threats.

The [Foreign] Legion is a campaign in and of itself.  Having your PCs start off as "lost souls in search of themselves" adds a certain mystique lacking in the typical "you are mutant teens who go on a rite of passage to Quests Mountain" scenarios.

The Xenophobes could make for an interesting Ghostbusters-esque / anti-Men In Black campaign.

—

How's this for a blurb:  "Too much muchness, and not enough razzamatazz."

"R" is for "Rad'shez"

Rad'shez

No. Enc.:  3d12
Alignment:  None
Movement:  0' (0')
Armor Class:  9
Hit Dice:  1 hp
Attacks:  See Below
Damage:  See Below
Save:  None
Morale:  None
Hoard Class:  None
XP:  7

Rad'shez are edible, phosphorescent root vegetables that grow year-round in even the most contaminated of soils.  And by "edible" one means "able to be consumed...but surviving the experience is another matter," for the plants are infused with intense radioactivity ranging from Radiation Classes 5-10, as determined randomly on 1d6 on the Radiation Class Table [p. 51 of the Mutant Future Core Rules].  Fortunately, eating a rad'shez is the only way to be affected by its overpowering energies.

Rad'shez are quite tasty, and assorted beasts—including molebears, javeleens, gruboceroses, iryxes, and spidergoats—find them particularly appetizing.  Any herbivores/omnivores encountered near wild rad'shez clusters are presumed to feed off the plants, and have a 50% of possessing both the Energy Ray (Radiation) and Reflective Epidermis (Radiation) mutations.

Some cryptic alliances cultivate rad'shez for their bizarre mutagenic rituals.

Mutations:  Reflective Cellular Structure (Radiation), Radioactive Emissions (Modified)

"S" is for "Skwirm"

Skwirm

No. Enc.:  1d6 (1d12)
Alignment:  Neutral
Movement:  45' (15')
Armor Class:  8
Hit Dice:  3
Attacks:  1 (bite)
Damage:  1d12 + poison
Save:  L2
Morale:  12
Hoard Class:  II
XP:  110

The hideous skwirms are wooly, caterpillar-like creatures that not only infest dank, dark environs (sewers, gravesites, caves, etc.), but also Ancient textile mills, for they possess rapacious appetites for meat, rotting vegetation, and fabrics.  They reach lengths of 3' long, and relentlessly slither after live prey. 

A skwirm's nasty bite injects potent venom, determined by rolling d00+20 on the Poison Class Table [see p. 50 of the Mutant Future Core Rules]...and their stinging hairs inject Class 4 poison upon contact.

4d4 weeks after hatching, skwirms spin silky cocoons, and emerge in 1d6 days in even more terrible forms....

Mutations:  Dermal Poison Slime, Increased Sense (Vision), Toxic Weapon (Venom)

Skwirmin

No. Enc.:  1d8 (2d8)
Alignment:  Chaotic
Movement:  135' (45')
Armor Class:  5
Hit Dice:  3
Attacks:  4 (2 claws, 2 bites)
Damage:  1d4 / 1d4 / 1d8 + poison / 1d8 + poison
Save:  L3
Morale:  10
Hoard Class:  VI
XP:  155

The abominable, ape-like skwirmin are the adult forms of larval skwirms.  They stand 3' tall, and possess primate-like builds (with the corresponding agility and brachiation capabilities) covered in purplish fur.  Their 4 eyes burn with malevolence...radioactive malevolence.

Skwirmin strike with such speed and savagery that they inflict two claw attacks and two bites per round, allowing for double doses of their toxic saliva (as determined randomly on the Poison Class Table).

Female skwirmin lay slimy clutches of 12d4 eggs, and many an incapacitated adventurer has died ugly by being dragged into a hatchery during breeding season.  It's fortunate that skwirmin are cannibalistic; otherwise, they and their horrid young could overrun the Mutant Future.

Mutations:  Increased Sense (Hearing, Smell, Vision), Optic Emissions (Gamma Eyes), Shriek, Toxic Weapon (Venom)

—

Designer's Notes:  I've been sitting on these guys for many, many moons because The Esteemed Sniderman revealed his own Skwirms back in November 2011.  I've been reshuffling the queue so as to not bite his style.

"E" is for "Easter" (or, "G" is for "Gallus-Gallus")

We here at A Field Guide To Doomsday have made no secret of our affection for all things Ol' School Gamma World.  And for me, nothing says "OSGW" ("osgwa"?) like the 1982 1e module, Famine In Far-Go.

FIF-G was the first module/supplement to an rpg I ever acquired (which was convenient, since my very first rpg happened to be the Gamma World 2e boxed set).  I can still remember the occasion:  it was a dreary and rainy Saturday, and instead of plopping down for cartoons, I was dragged way-too-early to my aunt-n-uncle's furniture-retailer-slash-Zenith-TV-repair-shack in Beautiful Downtown Willis, TX (which, at the time, consisted of a Dairy Queen, and not much else...hell, you had to drive over 10 miles away just to get to the Piggly Wiggly).  And if that wasn't bad enough, we then went to a lakeside timeshare presentation where my dad proudly received some Real, Genuine, 110% Authentic Faux-Gold Presidential Coins...enclosed in their own frame!  WITH REAL CARDBOARD BACKING!!!

At the end of that agonizing day, we stopped off at the longggggggg departed Gierspeck & Roper bookstore, where I could pick out one thing.  

Famine In Far-Go beckoned, and I read it all the way home...and re-read it about another half-dozen times that weekend.

I was a bit confused by the presentation, because the art wasn't as polished as my 2e boxed set, and the  rules parts were "off" (I didn't grasp the hows and whys behind different editions, you see).  And the new monsters seemed EXTRA FREAKY when compared to the core bestiary.

Albino buzzsaw-horned antilopes?  Purple bug-morphing bison?  Weather-controlling be-jetpack'd moose?

And nothing was weirder than the belligerent chickens known as the Gallus Gallus 5/13s. They were hideous AND hilarious, and possessed mostly detrimental mutations, and lived in an atomic robo-factory.

AWESOME.

I fell in love with those ridiculous chickens...but have never gotten the opportunity to do anything with them...

...until now!

I hereby present my favorite official Gamma World monsters, adapted for Mutant Future from the original text.  I claim no credit for their majesty.

Happy Easter, everybody.

—

Gallus-Gallus

No. Enc.:  1d6 (2d6)
Alignment:  Chaotic
Movement:  120' (40')
Armor Class:  7
Hit Dice:  7
Attacks:  1 (bite or weapon)
Damage:  1d4 or by weapon
Save:  L7
Morale:  9
Hoard Class:  VII, XIX
XP:  2,890

Encountered in Ancient automated hatcheries and food processing plants, the beings known as the Gallus-Galluses are corpulent, squat, 4' tall avians with cyclopean visages and patchy yellow-orange feathers.  They are cunning, deadly, and malignant, and bent on the total domination of all other life forms.  Pure Humans incur the greatest of the Gallus-Gallus' wrath, based on the treatment of domesticated chickens in The Time Before.

Gallus-Galluses lack depth perception, and suffer -1 To Hit in melee combat, and -2 at range. They make up for this deficiency with their chameleonic abilities, Surprising on a 1-4 on 1d6 and gaining +2 to Initiative.  They are also particularly vulnerable to all known toxins, suffering a -8 to Saving Throws Versus Poison.

Each Gallus-Gallus tribe has a suffix designation based on some arcane numerology known as a "batch number".  The mightiest and most infamous of these perfidious poultry-people are the 5/13s, who raid settlements and drag all Pure Human captives back to their high-tech lairs for "rendering"....

Mutations:  Chameleon Epidermis, Frailty ("No Depth Perception") [D], Intellectual Affinity (Tinkerer), Mind Thrust, Poison Susceptibility [D] (x2)

—

Not-The-Designer's Notes:  Famine In Far-Go was designed by Michael Price, and developed by Price and Michael J. Richie.  Illustrations provided by Jim Holloway, Jeff Easley, and Timothy Truman(!).

Not-The-Designer's Notes Addendum #1:  The text from FIF-G says the chicken-critters are 4' tall, but the illustrations clearly show them as being larger, based on the scale of backgrounds and furnishings.  I can only assume the pics depict bigger, badder versions....

Not-The-Designer's Notes Addendum #2:  I excluded the "Complete Mental Block" Disability from the original version, which prevented the Gallus Gallus 5/13s from perceiving a particular kind of robot...a robot which happened to be in their lair in abundance.  "Specific Robot Blindness" was just too goofy, even for me.  Feel free to add it in again.

Mutants In The News — The Dread Yetisaurus Edition

Yesterday, the dino-rific Love In The Time Of Chasmosaurs blog brought attention to articles in Nature and Discover Magazine about Yutyrannus, a feathered theropod that may have been the abominable snowman of the terrible lizard kingdom:  shaggy, carnivorous, and cold-loving.

Chasmosaur's creator David Orr's favorite bit mirrors mine, involving speculation that the "feathers might have been a winter coat...[as] Yutyrannus lived at a time when the average yearly temperature was a nippy 10 degrees Celsius.  Maybe it was the tyrannosaur equivalent of woolly mammoths and woolly rhinos, whose shaggy coats protected them during the Ice Age.

'The idea of woolly tyrannosaurs stalking colder climates in the Cretaceous is kinda mind blowing.'"

Yes, yes it is.

And just remember, folks:  no matter what the fossil record tells you, we here at A Field Guide To Doomsday did it first.

"N" is for "Needlewing"

Needlewing

No. Enc.:  0 (2d12)
Alignment:  Neutral
Movement:  3' (1')
  —Fly:  180' (60')
Armor Class:  0
Hit Dice:  1 hp
Attacks:  1 (peck)
Damage:  1 hp + poison
Save:  L1
Morale:  11
Hoard Class:  VII, VIII
XP:  6

Needlewings are tiny (3" tall), iridescent birds that feed on the nectar produced by the deadliest species of mutant flowering plants.  They dart and flit about, captivating onlookers with their dazzling beauty.

Much like Ancient clownfish and anemones, needlewings live in symbiosis with their host flora.  The birds nest in and/or around the plants, using them for protection and sustenance...and return the favor by attacking and subduing anything that approaches, for they inject venom (determined randomly on the Poison Class Table) with each and every stab of their beaks.

Some needlewings have developed a specialized toxin that acts as a contact version of the Fragrance Development Mutation.  Upon injection and a failed Saving Throw Versus Poison, their hypnotically-compelled victims march right into the clutches of the carnivorous host. Needlewings with this variant venom often stray far from their plants, actively hunting down prey.

A needlewing's Hoard Class represents the scattered/buried possessions of victims consumed by the host.

Mutations:  Toxic Weapon (Venom)

"S" is for "Sabre-Toothed Spiger"

Sabre-Toothed Spiger

No. Enc.:  1d3 (1d3)
Alignment:  Neutral
Movement:  150' (50')
Armor Class:  5
Hit Dice:  5
Attacks:  1 (bite)
Damage:  2d8 + acid
Save:  L3
Morale:  9
Hoard Class:  VI
XP:  650

When not prowling the grasslands (and Surprising on a 1-4 on 1d6) for prey, the 7' long sabre-toothed spigers lurk in their trapdoor-concealed burrows, pouncing upon anything that saunters past (Surprising on a 1-5 on 1d6).  Their massive 2' long fangs drip with acidic venom.  If injected with a successful bite attack, the acid does 1d12 continuous damage per round for 1d4+1 rounds...but if the spiger misses its To Hit roll within 3, the acid still splatters the target, doing 1d8 external damage per round for 1d3 rounds.

Sporting vaguely feline-like features, sabre-toothed spigers are more vocal than most mutant arachnids, and snarl and hiss when agitated.

Rumors persist that there are bigger, nastier breeds that reside in elaborate web networks instead of subterranean dens.

Mutations:  Toxic Weapon (Venom)

Mutants In The News — Nosferatot Edition

Completely by accident, it's been Halloween In April here at A Field Guide To Doomsday, what with the vehiculas and vampire trees and such.

And now comes news of a beautiful bouncing baby girl...born completely without blood to call her own!!!

(Some editing was required...because everyone knows vampires don't photograph.)

The phantom-pallor'd Countess Olivia Norton was born with "haemoglobin levels of just three out of normal level of 18...which meant the plasma...could not be classified as proper blood."

Boogity!

(I swear all of today's sanguinary silliness wasn't planned—it's just been a that kind of day at work.)

Radioactive Review — 'Wisdom From The Wastelands' #5: Domesticated Creatures'

After the relative savaging I gave Issue #4, I am quite happy to cleanse the ol' palate with one of my favorite kinds of supplements:  new critters.

Issue #5 features, and I quote from the intro, "10 new creatures that the people of the post-apocalyptic wastes have relationships with and make use of in various ways."  Clumsy grammar aside, I like the focus on "tamed" mutants that do more than try to devour the PCs.

Included are the following beasties:

) Big Teeth:  enormous 80' long, 28 HD(!) pinnipeds that serve as living submersible apartment buildings for seafaring types (one can build dens in their honeycombed tusks, you see).  I adore these guys, in part because I love walruses, and in part because it conjures some insane visuals.

) Dangling Gourds:  500' wide masses of levitating, explosive-fruit-dropping plants that serve as housing and transport for the adventurous.  Get several of these vine-islands going, and you have an entire campaign setting where the PCs never have to touch the ground.  (Reminds me of my own skoral entry, if I may be so bold.)

) Hydroroses:  water-generating thornbushes that get stabby if not cultivated.  These are cool.

) Jellybirds:  living, breathing, flying Marshmallow Peeps edible sparrows.  Gross and hilarious.

) Lemming Grasses:  I'll just let the entry speak for itself:  "a grain with kernels that are effectively small rodents."  Also gross, also hilarious.

) Monitor Serpents:  aquatic, 18' long, legless, lizard mounts that generate oxygen for their riders.  Perhaps the most tame entry in the book, and that's saying something.

) Philly's Stones:  rock-hard cacti that shatter weapons (including natural claws, fangs, etc.) upon impact.  Used as living barricades.

) Rana:  not-so-domesticated giant frogs that try to eat their ranchers before their ranchers eat them.  I wish I'd come up with these first.

) Leafy Sandstones:  carnivorous desert vines that essentially excrete sandstone.  Houses made from this material have to be fed, or they'll crumble.  Nifty!

) Tarry Maple:  24 HD(!) killer trees that shed blood-infused leaves.  Not really sure how these count as "domesticated", unless the word now means "useful only to draculas".

Rounding out the material are two new mutations, Alter Physical State and Alter Soil Consistency.  The former works as usable-3-times-per-day alchemy (but gives no details as to whether ranged or touch-based), and the latter gives plants the ability to change earth density from softer to harder.

Each entry gets its own public domain pic.

—

Aside from a handful of grammatical / editorial mistakes, this is a great little supplement, if for no other reason than six of the new creatures are plants.  Vegetation is always under-represented in sourcebooks, and it gets a chance to shine here.  It's an added bonus that the enclosed mutants interact in useful ways with the setting.

This is a good'un.  Buy it.

"V" is for "Vehicula"

Vehicula

No. Enc.:  1 (1)
Alignment:  Chaotic
Movement:  360' (120')
Armor Class:  4
Hit Dice:  15
Attacks:  1 (butt or trample)
Damage:  3d6 or 5d8
Save:  L8
Morale:  12
Hoard Class:  X, XXII
XP:  5,100

Resembling automobiles considered ancient in Ancient times, the metallic monstrosities known as vehiculas cruise the midnight highways and byways of the Mutant Future in search of the only fuel that sustains them:  the lifeblood of sentient beings.  Their frames and detailing gleam with impossible perfection, their headlamps blaze a baleful red, and their windowed interiors roil with brackish plasma; truly, the uncanny constructs are the stuff of a Restorationist's worst nightmares.

Vehiculas utilize drive-by maneuvers to bring low their victims, either by sideswiping (Charging, doing double damage) or ramming (Trampling, gaining +4 To Hit) them outright. Movement is key to their assaults; a stuck or otherwise immobile vehicula cannot attack. Only after its prey is dead will a vehicula siphon up the gooey remains with its "fender fangs". [Vehiculas can reach top speeds of 240 mph, as per the vehicle listings on p. 132 of the Mutant Future Core Rules.  These rates don't apply to combat, however.]

Vehiculas are utterly immune to all Mental Mutations, and conventional melee weapons and firearms only do half damage against them.

A vehicula's Hoard Class represents the salvage value of its parts.  The consequences of transplanting such unholy components into other conveyances are unknown...but probably catastrophic!

Mutations:  None

"F" is for "Fractyl"

Fractyl

No. Enc.:  1d4 (1d10)
Alignment:  Neutral
Movement:  18' (6')
  —Fly:  150' (50')
Armor Class:  4
Hit Dice:  3
Attacks:  3 (2 claws, 1 bite)
Damage:  1d6 / 1d6 / 1d8
Save:  L4
Morale:  10
Hoard Class:  VII
XP:  185

Fractyls are freakish, 5' tall, winged beasts made of living crystal.  They roost in the top floors of ruined skyscrapers (often perching like glittering gargoyles), and Dive to carry off over-sized vermin, toxic fish, and hapless adventurers.

Fractyls are immune to all energy attacks but cold- (suffering the appropriate -2 Saves against them, as per Epidermal Photosynthesis) and sonic-based.

Refitting an energy-based Advanced Pistol or Advanced Rifle with shards from a fractyl increases its damage output by +2 per die.  Doing so modifies the relevant Technology Roll by -15%.

Mutations:  Aberrant Form (Crystalline Body), Control Light Waves, Epidermal Photosynthesis, Natural Armor (Extreme), Reflective Epidermis (Electricity, Heat, Lasers/Light, Radiation)

Designer's Notes:  Edited to include a sonic vulnerability, which I woefully forgot.  Thanks, Mr. Trey!

"Y" is for "Yiyi"

Yiyi  ("Treeseer")

No. Enc.:  1 (1)
Alignment:  Neutral
Movement:  30' (10')
Armor Class:  6
Hit Dice:  2
Attacks:  2 (2 claws)
Damage:  1d3 / 1d3
Save:  L5
Morale:  10
Hoard Class:  VI, VIII, XIX, XXII
XP:  101

Eerie and elusive, the nocturnal yiyi (pronounced yī-yī) lurks in the densest, darkest jungles, foraging for grubs, fruits, and nuts.  Its bulbous, milky eyes—and extra eyestalks—seemingly see nothing, yet everything, at the same time.  A yiyi is never Surprised.

By tapping on the trunks/stems with their elongated claws, yiyis "speak" the secret language of plants, and they can commune with all vegetation (mutated or otherwise) in this fashion.  Anyone seeking out a yiyi for its prophetic abilities requires a Mutant Plant companion to translate.

A yiyi's grove is littered with precious artifacts and offerings left by pilgrims and disciples. But legend has it that robbing from or, worse, slaying a yiyi will incur the wrath of the entire planet's plantlife....

Mutations:  Increased Sense (Vision), Extra Parts (Eyes), Killing Sphere, Optic Emissions (Bright Eyes, Gamma Eyes), Possession, Precognition

"F" is for "Falkaiser"

Falkaiser

No. Enc.:  1 (1)
Alignment:  Chaotic
Movement:  18' (6')
         —Fly:  420' (140')
Armor Class:  2
Hit Dice:  4
Attacks:  3 (2 claws, 1 bite)
Damage:  1d4 / 1d4 / 1d6
Save:  L6
Morale:  9
Hoard Class:  XVI
XP:  300

The imperious, domineering falkaisers are raptors with egos inversely proportional to their 2' tall frames.  Their eyes pulse an unholy purple, and bony spurs ring their brows.

Falkaisers possess powerful hypnotic abilities [essentially, a tripling of the Fragrance Development Physical Mutation] that allow them to control up to 24 HD of creatures, or any single creature with less than 19 HD (or 19 CON), within 45' for 6d12 rounds upon a failed Saving Throw Versus Poison.  They lead their  armies in campaigns of conquest, targeting isolated settlements and townships.

Despising physical contact with their inferiors, falkaisers avoid combat, preferring to direct their thralls from the sidelines.  They will engage if forced, though, using Dive attacks almost exclusively.

All falkaisers vocalize in sneering, vaguely Ancient European accents.

Mutations:  Fragrance Development (x3)

Radioactive Review — 'Wisdom From The Wastelands' #4: New Races

Nasty, brutish, and short review:  Ugh.  New PC classes.  Power creep and utter needlessness abounds.

—

The five-page Wisdom From The Wastelands #4: New Races introduces 7 new PC races (synonymous with other games' character classes) for Mutant Future, along with some new Robot/A.I. interaction rules.

The additions include:

) Ancients:  Healthier, smarter, and prettier time-lost Pure Humans.  d8 HP.  Start with 1d3 non-defect Mutations justified as pre-Apocalypse cyberware.  Technologically savvy. Vulnerable to current diseases and poisons.

) Aquatics:  Pure Humans (not Mutant Humans, oddly) who've been all Patrick Duffy'd up, with various degrees of beneficial related mutations.  d8 HP.

) Body Masters:  Mutant muscleheads who've bred out the Mental Mutations and Physical Drawbacks from their line.  Can trade up physical stats while reducing mental.  d6 HP. Improved physical-ish Saves; diminished energy-ish ones.

) Exotics:  Body-modded, anime-styled Furries.  Still considered to be Pure Humans, but gain up to 4(!) at-will "cosmetic" Mutations.  d8 HP.

) Humans, "Regular":  Like Pure Humans, but weaker.  Mutation-prone.  Begin with d8 HP, but shift to d6 upon gaining Mutations in play.

) Insectoids:  Bug PCs.  Mutation-heavy.  Increased Strength and Willpower; reduced Intelligence and Charisma.  d6 HP.

) Mind Masters:  The inverse of Body Masters.  d4 HP.

After the new races come the optional A.I. Recognition rules.  They flesh out how Robots and/or A.I.s will interact with PCs, with a table listing modifications based on Mutations—the more freakish the PC = the worse the interaction.  Innocuous.

—

I get why players love new options.  More options = theoretically more chances for Fun-with-a-capital-F.  Who doesn't love Fun?

But this crusty GM doesn't see the need for the kind of options presented by WftW #4, as almost everything  is already embodied in the Mutant Future Core Rules.  

Want to play an Ancient or Regular Human?  Fine.  Tweak your standard Pure Human.

Want to play an Aquatic, Exotic, or Body/Mind Master?  Just ensure you roll well (*snort*) on the Random Mutation charts.

Want to play an Insectoid?  You already can, if you pick a buggy Mutant Animal at character creation.

And not only do these classes overlap with what's already available, but they are inherently "better".  Better HD.  Better Mutations.  Better modifiers.  Better odds at not ending up like these iconic UHDs ("Utterly Hopeless Dudes"):

So, sure, I understand why Players might want this material.  The new classes come with plenty of perks not available by rolling up your random Mutant the ol' fashioned way.  You get to streamline your character into something predictable and, even better, playable.

But my gut reaction to this supplement was the same as when I first read Unearthed Arcana wayyyyy back in the day:  Why would a GM inflict this on himself?!

Mutants In The News — "Well, We Know What To Feed The Pythons" Edition

Monkeypox-spreading, baby-eating, giant-sized rats are invading the Florida keys.

Florida is fast becoming the Australia of the U.S.  And by that, I mean every animal there wants to kill you.

But what, pray tell, could possibly stop them...?

"L" is for "Losk"

Losk

No. Enc.:  1d6 (2d6)
Alignment:  Any
Movement:  120' (40')
Armor Class:  4 (or less)
Hit Dice:  6
Attacks:  1 or 2 (1 or 2 weapons) (see below)
Damage:  by weapons(s) (see below)
Save:  L6
Morale:  8
Hoard Class:  XIV + see below
XP:  1,820

The Losk (both singular and plural) are a race of folksy, hermaphroditic gastropoids found in all but the driest climes.  Even the most sinister of their kind are affable and neighborly.  A Losk stands 4' tall, and possesses a coiled shell, bulbous eyestalks, and a glistening complexion.

Technologically savvy, many Losk bond Ancient artifacts onto—or into—their carapaces. Any given Losk has a 30% of having Advanced Armor, an Advanced Melee Weapon, a gun/rifle, or a grenade/missile launcher attached to its person.  Such armaments are usable simultaneously with handheld weapons.

Telling a Losk to "go salt itself" is one of the most egregious epithets in the Mutant Future.

Mutations:  Fragrance Development, Increased Willpower, Quick Mind, Reduced Oxygen Efficiency [D], Reflective Epidermis (Cold)

"T" is for "Thunderbug"

Thunderbug

No. Enc.:  0 (3d8)
Alignment:  Neutral
Movement:  180' (60')
Armor Class:  0
Hit Dice:  5
Attacks:  1 (gore or trample)
Damage:  3d6 or 2d12
Save:  L3
Morale:  9
Hoard Class:  See Below
XP:  800

After developing for 7 years as subterranean larvae, adult thunderbugs—ornery, armored, and bison-sized—claw their way to the surface in search of food.  They migrate in herds, stripping plains bare of plantlife and crops, and their distinctive chirping and bellowing strikes fear into farmers' collective hearts.  (If molebears and karkadillos didn't keep the thundergrub populations down, the Mutant Future would certainly be overrun.)

Thunderbugs do double damage after Charging.

Traders, armorers, weaponsmiths, and artisans pay hefty prices [as determined by the Mutant Lord] for thunderbug "hides" and "ivory".  And Yinsects have been rumored to utilize the creatures as mounts.

Mutations: Natural Armor (Extreme) (x3)