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Before I continue, here is, in part, what the author put on the RPGNow page for this book:
This supplemental book is in regards to the shear lack of realistic mutations, and genetic engineering rules and abilities in most of the over 800 gaming books I have. They all seem to be super hero based, or super mutant based. I wanted something that would not over power a Modern, or Futuristic Gaming environment. The mutagenic defects that are associated with the mutant powers in this book are drawn from real world mutations.
So that makes me think that most of these mutations will be based on real world traits. Well, Darwin's World's mutations are not remotely realistic and the author did not try to bend them in the direction of real world mutations.
Okay now for what is actually in the book.
There is a three page introduction. Page one covers what evolution is, how mutations are not evolution (though they are the base of it) and explains parahomology (where similar organs have different functions).
Page two covers mutation. The author starts with
Mutation is the sudden change in the hereditary of an organism due to change in number of chromosome, structure of chromosome or change in molecular level of DNA. Mutation was coined by Hugo DeVries, a Dutch Botanist. He worked on Evening Primrose and observed 834 mutations out of 54,343 plants.
There are problems with this. A change in the number of chromosomes is somewhat common- in plants. Most animals die soon after birth if they have a additional chromosomes (Down Syndrome is a well known exception). I am guessing "change in ... structure of chromosome" means point mutations, deletions, additions, etc. Real world mutations in other words. "Change in molecular level of DNA." I don't understand that at all. It might mean genetic expression, but that is not mutation. That is epigenetics, something different.
As for the rest of the page, there are some other odd bits here and there but mostly gets it right. One thing that the author misses is that every living thing on the planet is a mutant. Unfortunately he chose to mention only genetic defects like hemophilia.
Page three covers genetic engineering. It is acurate as far as I can tell. The only problem I have with it is the art. It shows what I assume is a super soldier wearing so muc armor that the viewer can't see any mutations.
Now we get to the crunchy stuff. Performing Experiments is one page and has some very light suggestions on time and Difficulty Class for doing the research to see if a procedure will work. This would have been cool had there been a chart. Instead there is no modifiers of any sort, other than for "cinematic campaigns". Nothing about Progress Level, the actual genes of gene complexes to be altered, the method of engineering. Nada. Mentioning a DC of 20 and then "[the DC] can be as high as the GM prefers." does not provide a suitable basis for GMs who want realistic mutation and genetic engineering in their settings. When I got to this point, I started to seriously wonder if I had wasted my money.
Gene Therapy is two pages. Now we get some real gaming material. It covers what is possible at Progress Levels 5-7 and has what happens to those who fail Foritude saves while being engineered. Gene therapy is for post conception organisms so it should have different rules from basic genetic engineering. Still, the actual rules are a bit light and I hope that there is more explaination farther in.
Spontaneous Mutations and Induced Mutations are one page apiece. They are just listings of how mutation may occur in the wild or the lab. One line in Spontaneous Mutations really makes me wonder how much biology the author knows: Natural selection: These types of mutations arise from calculated breeding. There are two problems with this. One is that it is listed under wild mutations yet has breeding. Two natural selection is not the same thing as artificial selection (you know, breeding pets, lifestock and crops). The other 5 listed are environmental evolution and spontaneous evolution (under Spontaneous) and gene therapy, genetic splicing and exposure (under Induced). I don't want to get into the problems with these. Just take my word that they are problematic.
Creating Your Mutant Character is one page. It has a bit of art, photo of a shirtless guy standing holding his hands out. No horns, claws or any other mutations that I can see. Um, yeah. A mutant gets a number of Mutation Points and mutations depending on his Constitution score. Those with CONs less than 12 apparently can't be mutants. There is also something called Side Effect Points, but those are not described. There is 3 methods of mutation selection. This is pretty much the same three from DW, just described a bit differently.
Medical Incompatibility has some serious crunch on what happens when a mutant is treated as being a normal human. It looks like a slightly expanded version of DW's. In fact it is almost identical except for a couple instances of secondary damage. After reading this, I am very unhappy (see my comments on the OGL below).
Physical Mutations is 22 pages long. All the mutations have a description, prerequisite (huh?), benefit, penalty, advancement, useage (how many times per day if limited that way), point value and some have notes and specials. There are a lot of mutations here. Some adapted from DW (some almost verbadum) and some apparently new. As I look at the listing, I see Combanant Empathy and Increased Balance, which are obvious adaptations from Mutant Future. Again, I get very unhappy.
Remember this is meant to be realistic mutations? How is Photosynthetic Epidermis remotely realistic? Yes, there is that sea slug that uses algae symbionts and has taken some of their genes. But large animals, such as humans, are not see slugs and can not be powered by sunlight. How are multi-faceted eyes possible in large vertebrates? Or producing enough power to recharge batteries? Or two other version of electrical production (one from DW and one being a plant mutation from MF). Or using one's brain as a radio emitter and transceiver?
Neural Mutations is 13 pages long. I count 3, maybe 4, that are realistic, at least in origin. The rest are psionic divided between telepathy and telekinesis. It uses a different system from DW so there is little overlap here.
Mutant Feats is 2 pages with a large piece of art of some kind of zombie like mutant. There are seven feats. Four of them are those from DW's mutations chapter and the other three provide bonuses to certain mutations (like additional armor or a skill bonus). Its okay, I guess.
Mutagenic Defects is 12 1/2 pages long. Some realistic, some not. Much taken from DW and I think I see one or two from MF.
Then there is the long version of the TOC. Every mutation and defect is listed here.
And, finally the OGL. The licence where the section 15 is blank. Completely blank. Authors, if you are going to write under the licence, gain some basic understanding of it. Oh, and there is no designation of open content either.
So my final word on this product is avoid it at all costs. It doesn't look bad, but the content is mostly scavenged from better sources and it doesn't have the realistic rules and mutations mentioned in the advertising. You want realistic mutations, spend the money on GURPS Bio-Tech 2nd edition (the one for the 4th edition of GURPS). For those people who want just mutations, realistic or otherwise, here are some suggestions:
* Darwin's World is a great resource for those who like post apocalyptic settings.
* Mutant Future is a free download. It has plenty of good to great mutations.
*d20 Future has basic rules and mutations.
* A good expansion of those rules can be found in The Game Mechanics' Future Player's Companion. This is about as close as d20 gets to the GURPS book and it is much weaker in that regard (still good, but covers other subjects and has a tiny fraction of the pages devoted to biotechnologies).
* The 3.X Fiend Folio and Lords of Madness have grafts and symbionts. Not quite mutations, but close. Dreamscarred's Flesh Crafting has a better version of grafts IMO.
*Gamma World. Though all editions have mutations, those who want rules for biotech should look at the 6th edition's Player's Handbook. Yes, it got bad reviews but the mutation section suffered because it was too short (and didn't mesh well with the psionic, nanotech and cyberware sections).
