Atomic Shadows: Post-Apocalyptic Role Playing Game is
Gamma World updated for use with
ShadowDark, the retroclone inspired by both the
Old School Renaissance and
Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition from
The Arcane Library. In its modern updating, there is a dash of the
Fallout computer game too, but the influence of
Gamma World, First Edition can definitely be seen on the front cover. Unlike
Gamma World, First Edition, or even subsequent editions of the roleplaying game, there is no setting to
Atomic Shadows: Post-Apocalyptic Role Playing Game, beyond that of being a world which has suffered a nuclear, biological, and chemical meltdown, and in the remains of the destroyed infrastructure, Pure Strain Humans, Mutated Humans, Mutated Animals, and Sentiment Plants, pick over the ruins and scavenge the objects of the past, and perhaps build a better life. What this means is the Game Master can create a setting of her own or grab a scenario of her choice and run that using
Atomic Shadows: Post-Apocalyptic Role Playing Game.
What this means is that
Atomic Shadows: Post-Apocalyptic Role Playing Game, published by
Wallhalla Games, is a set of rules for the Game Master to do her thing. Fundamentally, it is an Old School Renaissance-style, Class and Level roleplaying game and will be familiar to many. A Player Character has six stats—Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma—and an Ancestry and a Class. The four Ancestries are Pure Strain Human, Mutated Human, Mutated Animal, and Sentient Plant, whilst the Classes are Gunslinger, Savant, Scavver, Survivalist, and Wasteland Warrior. The Ancestries will be familiar from similar post-apocalyptic roleplaying games, whilst the Classes are mechanically new, they will be thematically familiar. Thus, the Pure Strain Human has more Hit Points, gains an extra Talent, and does not suffer the mutating effects of radiation; the Mutated Human begins play with mutations and is also marked by his mutations; the Mutated Animal has a mutation and a natural characteristics such as claws, scales, or wings; and the Sentient Plant is mobile, has a camouflage, a mutation, and is also marked by his mutations.
The Gunslinger is good with ranged weapons being able to fire twice in a round at Disadvantage, can modify ranged weapons with Advantage, knows how to use cover, and a ‘Little Friend’, a preferred weapon with which he gains bonuses to attack and damage rolls. The Savant has studied lost lore and technology, and is a Hacker who has Advantage with robots and computers, as well as with ancient Lore, and as a Mentor can instruct and lecture others for various benefits. The Scavver is good with repairing, modifying, and crafting checks, at an Advantage when searching for Junk, and also for climbing, sneaking, and hiding, finding and disabling traps, and also picking pockets and locks. The Wayfinder has Advantage on travel and survival checks, on identifying safe food and drink, and areas of radiation as well as being able to make natural healing remedies. The Wasteland Warrior can carry more, does not suffer Disadvantage fighting from a mount or vehicle, gains Advantage when handling a vehicle, can deliver a Brutal Strike meaning that damage rolls of one or two are rerolled, and his Grit grants him Advantage with either Strength or Constitution.
Atomic Shadows: Post-Apocalyptic Role Playing Game lists two types of mutations, which are either benign or harmful to the user. There are fifty benign mutations, from Absorption, Acceleration, and Armoured Skin to Teleport, Transform, and Wall Walker. They each come in two tiers, a Tier II mutation being slightly more difficult to activate than a Tier I mutation, but having a greater effect. For example, ‘Electrical Generation I’ enables the Mutant to generate a pulse of electricity and inflict one four-sided die’s worth of damage to anyone in Close, which is doubled if the enemy is a robot or android. The Tier II version increases this to two six-sided dice’s worth of damage, again doubled if the enemy is a robot or android. There twenty Harmful mutations, such as Brittle Bones, Heat Susceptibility, and Toxic Blood. These are mostly gained in play, but with the right cocktail of anti-mutagens can be removed. A Player Character will start play with his benign mutations being Tier I, but this can be increased with a lucky roll either during character creation or when the Player Character is subject to radiation and mutates or when the Player Character gains a sufficient Level. Using a benign mutation is a simple check, but if the check is failed, then the mutation cannot be used until the following dawn.
To create a character, a player rolls for the six stats in order and then selects an Ancestry and a Class. He rolls for a background and if the character is a mutant of any type, his player also rolls for his mutations and his mutated appearance.
‘Fowl-Mouth’ Flapsy
Ancestry: Mutated Animal
Animal Type: Goose
Background: Entertainer
Class: Junker
Level: 1
Armour Class: 12
Hit Points: 12
Strength 11 Dexterity 10 Constitution 13 (+1)
Intelligence 15 (+2) Wisdom 08 (-1) Charisma 16 (+3)
Mutations: Wings, Psychometry
Languages: Beastie, Chirpie, Lingo, Scalee, Trade
Equipment: Scavenger Bag, Trade Bag, Sports Armour, Street Sign Shield (Mornington Crescent), Billyclub (1d4), Dart Pistol (1d4), Medspray
Mechanically, the
Atomic Shadows: Post-Apocalyptic Role Playing Game plays very much any Old School Renaissance retroclone. Actions are managed by a roll of a twenty-sided die and aim is to roll high, whether that is against an Armour Class in combat or Difficulty Class for anything else. The main change to the mechanics is instead of a Critical Hit roll as per the
ShadowDark roleplaying game, is that dice explode! And that is for everything—except rolling stats—including Hit Points, damage, the number of wandering monsters encountered, and so on. It is thus almost better to have weapons that roll smaller dice for their damage since there is a greater chance of them exploding.
Beyond the core mechanic, the question is, how does the
Atomic Shadows: Post-Apocalyptic Role Playing Game handle the various aspects of the post-apocalyptic genre al la Gamma World? Technology is divided into six levels, modern firearms rated at Tech Level 4, so initially out of reach of the Player Characters. All weapons have an Ammunition Die, which is rolled at the end of combat. If a one is rolled, then the weapon is out of ammunition until the Player Character can find some more. The equipment includes laser and plasma weapons, but not power armour. There are corporate and military access cards though.
The rules for scavenging cover both building condition and the likelihood of it collapsing as well as giving tables of junk and trade goods that can be found in various locations, including animal hospitals, corporate offices (good for staplers), religious buildings, and clothing stores. Scavenged items can be scrap, gear, or trade goods, and there are rules for trading too, but armour, weapons, modifications, and vehicles can also be broken down into parts and this is easier at a workbench. Parts can then be used to repair arms and armour, and then if a Player Character has the right schematics, crafted into gear or modifications added to gear. For example, armour can be ‘Muffled’ to eliminate Disadvantage on stealth checks or ‘Insulated: Rads’ added half damage from radiation. Similarly, the ‘Serrated’ Mod adds a bonus to damage, whilst a ‘Heated Coil’ adds fire damage.
One type of item that will definitely require repairs if not modifications is vehicles as they are extremely rarely found in an undamaged state. Multiple vehicle types are given and all have a fuel die which works in a similar fashion to the ammunition die, but of course, the Player Characters are going to want to add modifications like a Ram, Wheel Spikes, Supercharger, or Smokescreen, and then go racing across the post-apocalyptic landscape. And so are the NPCs! The rules for vehicular manoeuvres, chases, and combat are kept quite simple, more narrative in nature with the Game Master expected to run action on the fly.
The
Atomic Shadows: Post-Apocalyptic Role Playing Game comes to a close with rules for environmental hazards, including hunger, thirst, diseases, seasons—the seasons of
Atomic Shadows being divided between Blasted Summer and Nuclear Winter, weather, and radiation. The latter includes rules for further mutating from overexposure to radiation. There is a list of factions, but these are left for the Game Master to develop. Lastly, there is the means for the Game Master to create her own monsters as a lengthy bestiary itself. The list includes dinosaurs as well as a weird bunch of creatures befitting the genre, including the Gamma Moth, Hopsies, Rad Roachs, and Trippids.
Physically, the
Atomic Shadows: Post-Apocalyptic Role Playing Game is laid out in the same style as the
ShadowDark roleplaying game. So, it is clean, tidy, and easy to read, whilst the artwork is serviceable enough.
With an implied setting rather than an actual setting, the
Atomic Shadows: Post-Apocalyptic Role Playing Game is a toolkit more than something that is ready to play, perhaps something that the inclusion of a scenario might have countered. Yet as a toolkit, it is easy for the Game Master to use and tinker with it, whether that is with a campaign setting or scenario of her own, or one readymade. Further, those tools and the rules are really easy to pick up and play, with almost any familiarity with the genre and the Old School Renaissance meaning that the
Atomic Shadows: Post-Apocalyptic Role Playing Game is really both accessible and playable. As a generic—by that I mean genre-like—post-apocalyptic roleplaying game, the
Atomic Shadows: Post-Apocalyptic Role Playing Game is a particularly good choice.
Next to the Witches and Warlocks book, this was one of the ones I had read the most as a kid. I did not have access to a full set until the last few years, but this one always stuck out. A lot of the tales in this book found their (if you will excuse the pun) spiritual descendants in Ghosts of Albion. 
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