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As before, this review format is not what most people have come to expect (Heavens forfend!), but please bear with me. I'll tell you a little bit about the book (critics of my previous review said that I should have included more "crunchy detail" in my review, which is probably a valid argument, so here you go), then list what i think are the 5 most outstanding good and bad points, then give my overall rating based on the weight I gave to the good and bad points. Some folks may see some points as weighing in differently, or even interpret a good point as a bad point, or vice versa.
A Few Introductory Notes:
A basic rule of writing, is to decide on your target audience before you write. This review is here to help prospective buyers of Machines and Mutants make an informed decision about whether to purchase this product. The D20 Gamma World Players' Handbook, of course, had some editorial and rules-consistency errors, which turned off a lot of people to that product, and probably this whole game line. That's fine; I liked the GWPHB a lot, but that just means those other folks rated the book by differently-weighted criteria than I did. Machines and Mutants is a different book, but if you hated the Gamma World Players' Handbook, no book, neither this one nor any other, is going to convert you into liking the D20 Gamma World line. If you are at least neutral on the GWPHB, though, please read on.
Gamma World is a property that's been around since the '70s, an outgrowth of Metamorphosis Alpha, which makes it one of the first sci-fi RPGs ever. It's a post-apocalypse game in which players may be humans, mutant humans, mutant animals (and some other critters as well, depending on the edition). Players spend their time scavenging for artifacts of ancient technology, fighting the mutated beasts of the wastelands, and aiding or opposing the Cryptic Alliances, conspiratorial factions that seek to mold or destroy this shattered world. Gamma World is a revered license, the standard post-apocalypse game (in the same way that Champions sets the watermark for super-hero games, or D&D sets the watermark for sword and sorcery fantasy). There's a lot of tradition and history to live up to, and even the fans of previous editions often disagree vehemently on which edition was best. Ah, fandom.
As for me, I am a long-time Gamma World player, playing off-and-on since third edition first came out. I was excited to hear that Sword and Sorcery Studios got the license to produce a D20 version of Gamma World, and I was happy with the Gamma World Players' Handbook when I got my copy, starting a webpage for my campaign and working up a campaign setting right off the bat.
The book was originally announced as "Mutants and Machines", but the cover says Machines and Mutants. The cover is very similar to the GWPHB cover, but in a darker, bluish green, and inside the lens thing is a robot from inside the book (an Encleaver); color-blind folks out there might not be able to distinguish the two books instantaneously. The internal chapter title pages, page borders, and other "incidental art" are the same as well.
A lot of folks seemed to have decided that this book would have lots of new mutations for their characters, because of its title; however, this is primarily a monster book, not a PC goodies book. PCs will find new ways to amp up their existing mutations, and new Advanced classes are here too, but there are no no new mutations. The folks at Sword and Sorcery Studios have stated that they realize the fans were expecting more mutations, and have stated that they are working on some to put up on their website and to print in a forthcoming book, so all is not lost. If your entire D20 Gamma World experience hinges on more mutations, though, and the cybernetics, psionics, and nanotech powers can't tide you over, I'd recommend keeping eyes peeled for that forthcoming book for now.
Book Layout and Contents:
The book is divided into four chapters, with a short introduction.
The Introduction explains a few of the differences folks had commented on between the creature stats in other D20 books, and this product line. The big item here is the explanation of creature types; D20 Modern sticks with the D&D labels for creatures instead of coming up with a more "generic" label where it might've been called for, although an "FX-beast" might've looked a little weird. Therefore, magical beasts become mutant beasts, etc. This section really should've been in the GWPHB, but it's nice to see.
Chapter One is about "Made Life", living things that were mutated by nanotech, genetically engineered, or otherwise tampered with by human technology. Most of the mutant beast types are in this section, which really makes it in some ways the highlight of the book. There are 48 creatures here (four are written up as PC races as well), and two templates.
Chapter Two is about "Machines", or robots. Here we have a few old classics like the Warbot and the Police Robot, and a lot of new menaces. There are 37 models of construct listed here, two of which are written up as PC races/models as well, and nine Templates here for constructs, as well as two that turn ordinary animals into constructs through nanotech (one, the "Familiar", could easily be used to generate PC animals as well, making it 3 PC races here).
Chapter Three is about "Natural Life", or creatures that don't sport mutations not seen in nature, that could have been in the real world had the evolutionary stresses been different. The chapter is divided up into Non-Sentient Life and Sentient Life, with an additional section for more Templates.
In the Non-Sentient Life section, there are a bunch of non-threatening plants here that seem pretty out of place in a monster book, but will help the GM describe the terrain of the Gamma World wilderness. There's also a bunch of diseases here, which always seem to be overlooked in monster books of this type; a nice addition. There are 20 lifeforms listed here .
The Sentient Life section was adequate, but nothing grabbed my attention overmuch. There are 12 creatures listed here, one as a PC race.
This section ends with a bunch of environmental templates, reminding me of the Alien Anthology for d20 Star Wars. A nice addition that lets the GM logically port creatures native to one environment into other environments. Total 8 such templates.
Chapter Four is a bit short, all about "Characters". For those wishing to upgrade their mutant character's mutations, there are 5 such feats here, their titles reminiscent of the metamagic feats from D&D. A short section spells out explicitly (in d20's generally didactic style) how to bring the animal races from this book into an existing campaign. Finally, this section has a selection of 6 new Advanced Classes appropriate for the Gamma World.
Good Things:
(1). Most of our old favorite Gamma World critters are back, along with a few of the more iconic robots of Gamma World. Among my old favorite mutants given new life are the Menarls, the Sleeths, the Dabbers, the Grens, and the Obbs. We're still missing a few, including my overall favorite the Orlens, but having these others back is great.
(2). Many of these creatures would fit nicely in other D20 products, making this book doubly useful. For example, my gaming group is nearing the end of the City of the Spider Queen campaign/adventure for D&D's Forgotten Realms. What with the side quests I've introduced, including the side trek adventure Spiral of Manzessine from Dungeon magazine, the party is now higher-level than they probably should be at this point. It's tough to make them afraid, even as they hunt Irae T'Sarran through Castle Maerimydra. I just might throw a Tesseract Spider at them, though; that'll make 'em sweat. :)
(3). People who fretted that all of the silliness was gone forever from Gamma World needn't have worried. There are some great silly monsters here with which to plague Gamma World adventurers, from the hostile penguin-derived Cheguin, to the annoying, almost indestructible advertising constructs called Advoids, the Doc Shadow template which produces a post-apocalypse super-hero from a willing subject, and the cute and cuddly and highly useful Watchcats.
(4). For players, there are a lot of new goodies. Several new feats in the back allow mutant characters to make their mutations or psionics better in different ways, which is probably an adequate substitute for the "mutation scores" of previous editions. There are also several attractive new Advanced Classes which are great for the setting, as well as one that is as weird as anything I can think of from Gamma World's past. The Agent is a spy for their community; the Hybrid Diplomat is a bizarre idea, a human who grafts mutant animal parts onto themselves to represent humanity to "uplifted" animal species; the Messenger is a driver and courier with nerves of steel, a la Damnation Ally; to help defend against all the constructs in the book we get the Robot's Bane class; for those field scientist types we get the Scrutinizer; and finally, the Trapper, who defends their community against organic, mutated creatures that threaten their safety. All of these could make for interesting characters. And finally, several creatures are given a full write-up as PC races, including Dabbers, Hissers, Serfs, Sleeths, and Newflesh. Plus, many of the sentient creatures have a Level Adjustment entry, and so do almost as many non-sentients, presumably for use as followers.
(5). Most of the artwork is pretty good, with a few pieces being downright outstanding. I liked the pic for the "Deranged" construct template, which depicts a hovering ice cream vendor robot. He holds a huge blade in one hand, and his grinning, smiley, innocent face seems to weep rust. Most of the previous editions of Gamma World recycled artwork from one edition to the next, and so to see a dramatic re-imagining of these critters is kind of nice, and fitting with the basic premise of this edition, a realistic remix of an old favorite gameworld.
Bad Things:
(1). The main problem that I had with the book was that in several locations, the text describing a creature didn't match the artwork given. One of the most obvious examples is the Chirplick, a mutant creature the text describes as a dolphin on long spidery legs. Sounds cool; the artwork, which is fine by itself, depicts something vaguely froglike, with stumpy, elephantine legs. Another one is the Blight, whose text describes a creature with an all-white body, and the pic shows a Blight with a white head and a black body. That's not a bar to usefulness of the book by any means, but it can derail the train of thought, is all.
(2). In this book also, there are a few places where the editing is still a bit off. There are fewer "Page XX" references than in the GWPHB, and only a few misspellings. The one that threw me off was a reference in the robot Oasis Machine, for their Special Quality Animate Objects. The end of that section reads, "Animated objects have the following statistics:" ... but no statistics follow, instead they are in a table at the bottom of the page. Like most misspellings, this won't stop anyone from being able to use this product, but it does interrupt the reader's concentration.
(3). There are some rules inconsistencies in the Gamma World Players' Handbook that have bled over into Machines and Mutants. For example, the GWPHB introduced a new psionics system, and then without explanation, made creatures in that book use the standard D20 Modern psionics. This would probably have been fine if PCs also had the option of using use the less-powerful but safer D20 Modern psionics instead, but that's not an option mentioned for PCs in the book. What if someone is using the D20 Modern SRD, or are using the Dungeons and Dragons core rulebooks without the Psionics Handbook, or are using the "FX-free" version of the D20 Modern SRD from RPGObjects? In other places, creatures referenced spells in D20 Modern, also a problem. If we're going to invent whole new systems for physical mutations and mental mutations/psionics, let's stick to them, guys.
(4). I would have really liked to have seen a few tables listing all of the creatures, broken down by terrain type, by CR rating, and so on. It wouldn't even have to be an actual random encounter table, just a bunch of lists for quick reference. Anyone can sit down and make a list like this, I guess, but it sure helps the GM when they're in a hurry to have that information handy. Maybe they can post something like this to the D20 Gamma World website. I have been rendered lazy by Wizards of the Coast, I guess, but a GM's job is tough, and every help is greatly appreciated.
(5). As stated, there are a bunch of templates in the book, both for Mutants and for Machines, but it always takes time to pull out a sheet, write out the base critter's stats, and then apply the template. I really appreciate the fact that, for example, most Wizards of the Coast products include a sample creature along with every template. Templated creatures are another thing that might fit well on the D20 Gamma World website. Again, WotC has lazified me.
My Summary:
In the end, I give the book a 4 on Style, and a 4 on Substance.
The book didn't have the in-game fiction that I enjoyed from the GWPHB that I thought added a lot of Style to that book. That, and the inconsistent creature descriptions knocked a point off of Style for me.
Mutants and Machines refers regularly to a lot of books that prospective users might not possess, and which will clutter up the game table anyway, making dealing with some of the creatures a rules hassle for the GM. This is enough to drop a point off of the Substance of this book; maybe once they release their mutations book, S&SS can release an update or patch that'll give consistent, all-in-one rules for these creatures' mutations.
Despite these problems, though, Machines and Mutants should have something for everyone. Even if you're running a different D20 game, particularly a sci-fi or post-apocalypse game, you should find many critters here that are interesting and valuable. That's part of the charm of monster books, I guess. My review can't list all of the nifty monsters, and it really shouldn't; you need to see them for yourself. For D20 Gamma World fans like myself, the book is simply indispensible.
