Now, I'm very confused about it, because a lot of what I read in the rule book doesn't make sense, and I see there are so many different editions of Gamma World, I have no idea which one this is, or what's it's based off of. The character sheets that came with it, they are similar to the character generator they offer here on Wizards, but there's a few things extra on that that aren't on our character sheets, am I missing something, or was this designed to be some type of stand-alone version not related to other editions, or what? could anyone provide me with either a link or some info or something helpful to get me in the right direction, I wanna get a game going, but I'm at a loss, because I see so much confusing conflicting info reading the rulebook. I do not know much about DND as a whole, but I know basics, and even still I'm lost with a friend trying to explain it to me. Should I look into finding a book for one of the different editions or something?
was this designed to be some type of stand-alone version not related to other editions
Yes.
I wanna get a game going, but I'm at a loss, because I see so much confusing conflicting info reading the rulebook. I do not know much about DND as a whole, but I know basics, and even still I'm lost with a friend trying to explain it to me. Should I look into finding a book for one of the different editions or something?
Your best bet to learn the rules might be to have a friend (possibly one who has experience running 4e D&D games) run a game for you.
was this designed to be some type of stand-alone version not related to other editions
Yes.I wanna get a game going, but I'm at a loss, because I see so much confusing conflicting info reading the rulebook. I do not know much about DND as a whole, but I know basics, and even still I'm lost with a friend trying to explain it to me. Should I look into finding a book for one of the different editions or something?
Your best bet to learn the rules might be to have a friend (possibly one who has experience running 4e D&D games) run a game for you.
Okay, well, if I were to look for one of the non-stand alone versions, which would you recommend above others? Should I just grab up the newest edition I can find, or was one better than the others?
if I were to look for one of the non-stand alone versions, which would you recommend above others?
Do you mean other versions of D&D?
4e Redbox
If you mean other versions of Gamma World:
I couldn't recommend anything other than the version you have.
Folks tend to have a hard time quantifying what genre Gamma World is beyond "Post-Apocalypses with silly elements", and tend to cast it in a bad light — most people write it off as being too "cartoonish."
To most people, the "Post-Apocalypses" genre is a gritty, serious setting with lot of Mad Max and Walking Dead (sans the "Not-called-Zombie" zombies) elements and drama, but Gamma World is not that. The elements that are iconic to Gamma World, at least form the prospective of the classic editions, are the silly-looking mutants with weird mutations, the high-tech artifacts lacking in any "hard-science" — thus the old tagline of being a "Science Fantasy Role Playing Game" — and larger-than-life characters who can survive dangers that would kill most people (in the old games, you start off with a lot of Hit Points and progression can make your really powerful in combat). The best example that puts prospective to Gamma World as a genre would be the Silver Age of Comic Books. This was an era iconic for its strangeness and camp, with its teams of mutants with random oddball powers and mutations (The Inhumans, Legion of Super-Heroes, etc.), high-tech inventions that border on magic (Mr. Fantastic's Random-invention-of-the-week-inator), and larger-than-life heroes who are always ready to punish evildoers.
The point of Gamma World is not about just gritty day-to-day survival, serious life-or-death moral dilemmas or being chased by leather-clad bikers with big '80s hairdos and assless chaps (although, it is hard to play the last part with a straight face in any setting), but the point of Gamma World is about exploring strange environments full of weird new lifeforms and cool high-tech wonders, encountering strange new cultures and people, figuring out new-found artifacts, and surviving all that like a total badass! The game, regardless of edition, has always been deadly, and looses nothing by giving players more hit points to work with or any survival advantage for that matter. In a nutshell, it is about mindless, juvenile fun, and the enjoyment of novelty for its own sake.
The best examples of Silver Age of Comics that captures the spirit of Gamma World would be Kamandi, The Last Boy on Earth (not that stupid '90s reboot, but that Planet of the Apes on crack and dialed to 11 version by Jack Kirby), Mighty Samson (a barbarian from the ruins of "N'Yark") and the Atomic Knights (basically, Knights with rayguns, who ride large mutant dalmatians).
I leave you with this motivational that captures the craziness of it all:
That motivational is awesome, Malcadon. I draw a lot of inspiration for my Gamma World games from the old 80's cartoon 'Thundarr the Barbarian', myself. I'm just glad to see some people posting about Gamma World on here, in general.
I found an original box-set of Gamma-World when I cleaned out my dad's old room at my grandparent's house. For post-apocalyptic-settings, I like Cyberpunk 2020 due to the more realistic-rules; However, Gamma-World was an interesting read.