Atomic Highway (hereafter referred to as
AH) is a roleplaying game of post-apocalyptic adventures using the new cinematic style V6 Engine system, and emphasizing GM creation of the setting. Is it a Gamma World killer? Read on and find out.
Get on the Road – What is Roleplaying? (4 pages) We start with the classic “what is roleplaying” chapter, consisting of a short comic strip depicting a small part of a session and the usual advice to get paper, pencils, imagination, and dice (six siders exclusively in this case). Nothing ground breaking, but this chapter (and the rest of the book for that matter) has a tone that new gamers may find welcoming and appreciate.
The View out the Window – Setting (7 pages) Those unfamiliar with the trappings of the post-apocalyptic genre in general will find this chapter helpful. Rather than listing specific towns or NPCs or creatures, here we get a short broad overview of how societies might function and people live after the end. Again, nothing all that ground breaking, but a nice introduction for people new to genre.
Rock When You Roll – Player Advice (3 pages) This is a short chapter on how to role-play, geared towards people new to table top RPGs in general. While the advice is good and important (stuff like talk with the GM and group about what kind of game everyone wants to play, respect your fellow players, etcetera), it’s really basic and hopefully the sort of thing more experienced players already know and do.
Buckle Up! – Creating Your Character (4 pages) The process of character creation is covered here. Players come up with a character concept, divide 18 points between 7 attributes (Muscle, Understanding, Tenacity, Appeal, Nimbleness, Toughness, and Senses, or MUTANTS for short) with each getting at least one point and none higher than five points, calculate health and record default universal skills everyone has, choose a Rearing (the skills specific to a character’s childhood and upbringing), choose a Pursuit (his adult job and skills), and spend a few points to further customize the character with skills his Rearing and Pursuit don’t allow for. While skills from Rearing and Pursuits and customization are all added together, no skill can start at higher than 4, regardless of any combination. An advancement table and sample character round it out.
Born to be Bad! – Rearings and Pursuits (7 pages) Skills and gear for the various Rearings and Pursuits are covered in this chapter. There’s nothing too outlandish and everything is pretty mundane (in the sense that there are no cyborgs, or wizards, or aliens, or even mutants covered in this chapter). I did like how players mix and match the various packages, both from a “ideal build” approach but also from an odd-ball “how do I explain this combination” stance. The inclusion for various low tech characters (like the Beastmaster or Brave) with more “standard” post-apocalyptic options (like the Road Warrior or the Raider) I thought were good, and helped reinforce that AH goes for a more realistic feel than many other post-apocalyptic games.
Fuel Injection – Attributes and Skills (4 pages) I touched on the MUTANTS attributes earlier, so I’ll just add that (character) attributes range from 1 to 5 with 2 as an average. Also, broad descriptions are given for what different ranks of each attribute might mean; a Muscle of 3 means you’re “athletic” and can lift “a slim adult”, while an Appeal of 1 is an “unappealing” character. I really appreciate when games go to the trouble of actually explaining how a rating of X differs from Y in some useful terms, and the V6 Engine does a decent enough job at that. It doesn’t give exact numbers for anything (no IQ scores or how fast a character can run in meters), but I found it still did an okay job differentiating the various ranks. Skills (also rated 1 to 5) are listed as well, and are fairly broad and general. Firing a bow, or a rifle, or an artillery piece is all covered by the same skill (i.e. Shooting) for example.
Get Your Freak On – Mutations (4 pages) First things first, mutations are pretty optional. The book assumes a group will include them in their games, but other than the MUTANTS acronym they’re painlessly easy to ignore. Assuming players want to use mutations (and mutants) there’s a bit to get started with in this chapter. Eighteen different beneficial mutations are listed, along with possible traits that would mark the character’s mutation (like thick, scaly skin for a mutant with Armor). Ten harmful mutations are included as well. Neither set of mutations are exceptionally odd; everything is some sort of animalistic trait rather than something out of an X-men comic. Mutant characters can start with one free beneficial mutation (at the cost of being labeled a “mutie” by human societies); a mutant character can take a second beneficial mutation if they want, but must then take a harmful mutation as well. Tables are included to randomly determine both types of mutations, which is probably good when determining harmful mutations.
Crossbows & Carbines – Arms & Armor (5 pages) Armor, melee weapons, ranged weapons, and even a couple of pieces of military gear are covered here. Other equipment isn’t listed intentionally, and I have to admit that excluding entries for things like backpacks and ropes makes sense. Stats for the listed gear are all pretty generalized, such that a katana and a broadsword are identical just the same as an M16 is identical to an AK-47. I will point out however, that those hoping for stats for power armor and laser rifles will be disappointed as they don’t exist in this book. The tech level is firmly “modern world”, and those hoping for gonzo lists of gear and black ray pistols will be disappointed. The weight of items and their cost aren’t listed; weight relies on the players to use their common sense, and the cost of something would vary too much from area to area to assign any sort of value to an item (and there are too many options for payment or barter anyway).
Autogyros & Automobiles – Vehicles & Customization (11 pages) Vehicles are a biggish part of AH, and this chapter has a pretty good range of different vehicles. Like gear in the previous chapter, vehicles are broadly abstracted; all sedans are essentially same, as are all muscle cars, motorcycles, and so on. That said, there’s a couple of aircraft statted out, seven different automobiles, six cycles, three trucks, seven watercraft, and a tractor. It’s missing military vehicles like tanks and APCs (suburbanite H3 Hummers are covered, but they don’t count), but there’s still a good spread. Four pages of customization options follow. Like the mutations, nothing too weird is to be found here; armor plating and nitrous tanks are in, invisibility fields and anti-gravity thrusters are out. Fuel is handled in an interesting (possibly frustrating) manner; at the start of a session the GM secretly rolls a d6 and on a 1 result the vehicle will run out of fuel at an appropriate time. While it’s a decent gimmick to get PCs out of their armor-plated personal road forts and in keeping with the rules light nature of the rest of the game, I suspect most players will get tired of their vehicles running out of gas roughly 16% of the time (although the rules give a workaround, which I’ll get to later).
Digging in the Dirt – Scavenging (7 pages) To find the places we got hurt. No? Anyway…. One page of rules and six pages of tables for scavenging, and that’s a good thing. The next time your players try to rummage somewhere, you can roll on these tables to determine what they find. And what’s really nice is that the tables are broken up into various types. In a House you might roll on the Apparel, Foodstuffs, and Housewares tables, while a bookstore might generate rolls on the Library table. Taken at face value, this is perhaps the most gonzo chapter in the book, with players finding anything from a couple of beer kegs to a crate of toothpaste to fragmentation mines to a toilet seat (depending on where they scrounging at, of course). More practically, I hope GMs will find this more inspiring than anything, and use this chapter to trigger their imagination or quickly come up with an idea rather than take it literally. Although I am curious as to what kind of toilet seat would be so special that a scrounger would find it worth noticing.
Ignition – V6 Engine Basics (6 pages) You figure out what you want to do, come up with a relevant “Attribute + Skill” combination, roll a number of dice equal to your Attribute looking for sixes, and divide a number of points equal to your Skill to the dice to raise them to sixes. As an example, a character tries to lie about some bit of ancient history. This is deemed an Appeal + Lore roll. The character has an Appeal of 4 (he’s very convincing) and a Lore skill of 3 (he knows quite a bit). The dice come up 2,4, and 5. The character divides his 3 skill points between the 4 and the 5, raising them both to 6, and has two successes. It’s a pretty simple variation on an old way to determine task resolution, but I find it to be quick yet still able to engage the player a bit beyond simply counting dice. It also doesn’t seem to favor high attributes over high skills, which I like. Anyway, the rest of the chapter covers teamwork, competitive rolls (like observation versus stealth), “Bad Things” (also known as Critical Failures or Fumbles in other games), and Fortune. Fortune is a pool of points that characters gain through doing cool stuff in the game, and use to modify dice rolls or tweak the storyline (like making sure your car doesn’t run out of gas because of a bad roll by the GM).
Pedal to the Metal! – Action! (9 pages) How to hit things, how to take a hit, how to heal a hit. That sort of stuff. There’s a little bit of tactical options for combat, but not much, and it’s all pretty straightforward. It’s a good thing PCs have Fortune points because combat can be deadly; a single success from someone firing a shotgun can drive an average person to bleeding out on the ground. In a post-apocalyptic game I figure this is a good thing. The system kind of falls apart though in actually giving a killing point; apparently a character can go deeply (endlessly even) into negative health points and live as long as someone stabilizes them in short order. A small quibble, and easily house ruled. Honestly, I’m kind of surprised it was missed given the amount of attention the rest of the system received.
Anyway, hazards such as fire, drowning, and so forth are covered. Dehydration, diseases, exposure, radiation, and starvation are specifically not covered though. The book says that such ways to die aren’t heroic and are too slow to be fun to deal with, although penalties to Survival rolls are given as a passing suggestion for simulating such things. I respect the author’s stance in regards to his game design, but I’m not sure I agree with his logic. What I did appreciate though were the series of pictures depicting a one-eyed survivor used as an example of different weapon ranges, degrees of cover, and distances fallen. It’s a little thing, but it’s kind of comical to see him falling off of a skyscraper.
Burning Rubber – Vehicular Action! (6 pages) It’s combat, but with vehicles. And horses! Much like regular combat, vehicular combat is pretty simple and brutal. Speeds are highly abstracted, so jumping from a moving vehicle (like, say, a gyrocopter onto a horse) isn’t as impossible as one might expect.
The World in Your Hands – Game Mastering Advice (8 pages) Another chapter geared towards novice gamers, in this case GMs. Much like the chapter for players on how to role-play, this should all be old news to more experienced groups and is very general.
Blasted Wastelands – Creating Your Individual Setting (6 pages) There’s some neat stuff in here on designing communities, establishing the local tribes and raiders, and so on. But I think the chapter is a bit misnamed. You don’t make your own post-apocalyptic setting, but rather your own Atomic Highway setting. The impression I’ve gotten through the entire book is that AH is set in a near modern post-apocalyptic world with not too outlandish mutants (an oxymoronic statement on my part, I admit). Things like robots, zombies, angels, wizards, and other more gonzo elements found in other post-apocalyptic games don’t exist in AH. So when it asks how and when my setting came to be, I feel like it should be asking how my Atomic Highway came into being. It does win brownie points for encouraging groups to design their setting based on their neighborhood and area, after the bombs dropped.
Roadkill – Rogues’ Gallery & Bestiary (14 pages) Each of the Pursuits previously described is presented here as a generic NPC, along with a few surprises. Animals are included, along with five full blown mutant beasts. I really liked the five creatures in the “mutant horrors” section, but I wished the book had more. On the flipside, those wanting a more realistic game can easily ignore the handful of mutants.
Gas Gouging – Introductory Adventure (8 pages) I won’t say much other than it involves slavers, an old gas station, and a strong Mad Max kind of vibe. Nothing earth shattering, but a decent little intro to the game. I’ll add that there are mutants in the adventure, but if you want a more realistic game you could call them “slaves” and no one would ever be the wiser.
Appendix – Humanoid Animals (2 pages) Don’t want to play a human or a mutant? How about a humanoid animal? Other than lacking anything besides mammals, this isn’t a bad little addendum. Very optional for people who don't want to use it however.
Appendix – Psychic Powers (1 page) Telekinesis, telepathy, and remote viewing are offered. Honestly, they feel more like plot devices or NPC abilities, as using them in combat or under stress is exceptionally hard, and when aren’t PCs under stress? Either way, they’re an appendix entry and not referenced elsewhere in the book.
Rounding out the book are character sheets, an index, and a neat little probability chart showing all the success percentages for Attribute + Skill combos.
Who Should Get This: People new to gaming in general or post-apocalyptic gaming in specific should consider this book. Also, those wanting a “mundane” or “low gonzo” post-apocalyptic game, perhaps to emulate Car Wars, Jeremiah, Jericho, or Mad Max, might give this one a shot. Also, fans of mechanical design might find the V6 Engine interesting; its core is a clean and simple cinematic system, but it feels more fun and engaging than a lot of other systems I’ve seen.
Who Shouldn’t Get This: People looking for the next Rifts or Gamma World or Fallout should skip this one. It’s not that gonzo, and there’s not enough to idea mine for other games. Those wanting a gritty and realistic system can also move on. AH is firmly in the cinematic camp, and it overlooks things like radiation and hunger which (to me anyway) are part of a gritty post-apocalyptic game. Finally, those who simply can’t ignore the rules for mutants and mutations should pass; there’s nothing that can’t be ignored, but I also know some people can’t ignore any part of an RPG book.
Style: I’m going with a very, very high 3 on this one. AH is filled with some very nice art, including several full page spreads. It really reinforces a Mad Max kind of vibe. The writing is clear and well edited, and the layout is good and easy to navigate. Plus it has pictures of a one-eyed raider falling off of stuff, which made me grin a little. It’s not bad by any stretch I’d measure, but it’s just missing something for me to push it into a 4. It’s good, but it’s not so good that I’d crack it open just to read or look at the pretty pictures.
Substance: It depends on what you want out of it. As an introductory game with a new system for somebody wanting a Mad Max style experience, it’s easily a low 4 and maybe higher. Atomic Highway is easy to follow, with examples of almost every rule. It doesn’t give a lot of depth on any one thing, but it packs a lot of stuff and provides some stuff to help a group get started. Plus I think the system itself is pretty clever and fun. On the flipside, more experienced gamers and those already familiar with the post-apocalyptic genre may get less out of it, and I’d rate it a low 3 for them. The material is good, but you probably don’t need someone to tell you the more basic stuff the book contains.
Conclusion: This is a game that I think could really take off with some supplements. I liked the core mechanic, and there’s a lot of default Mad Max style flavor with the (unspoken) option to remove mutants. But I think it’s lacking quite a bit too. I can’t decide how serious or crazy it wants to be, and it feels like the game holds itself back whenever it really starts to get “out there”. I’m sure it’s trying to appeal to as many people as possible by doing so, but I think it hurts the game as a whole. As is it feels kind of sparse. I’d have liked to either seen more military gear and options if the game wanted to go more realistic, or more mutant beasts and mutations if it wanted to go more gonzo. Cutting back on the advice to new gamers (there’s at least eleven pages worth, so surely some of that could have been trimmed down) or removing the full page art spreads could have freed up space for this.
Anyway, Atomic Highway is not what I’d call a “Gamma World killer”. But it could be, and I’ll keep my eye out for supplements.
Review Summary