Aftermath! is definitely a gun fondler's wet dream. Lots of FGU games (e.g. Chivalry & Sorcery, Space Opera, Other Suns) suffered from the "more rules" syndrome. Most of them also suffer from what our group used to call "The Dread 3-Letter Abbreviation Syndrome". BTW, if you didn't know, FGU's Daredevils (pulp adventures) game is also based in the Charette/Hume system, rule-wise it's in many ways an Aftermath! lite, IMO it would make a great starting point to get familiar with the core system and then add on further detail rules from Aftermath! as desired. Give Mr. Schnoots a smooch for me.
Mr Schnoots kisses back! Aaaah, i haven't played 'Daredevils". But i do have it in the ol' PDF library. I shall take a look! "Gun Fondler" is a damned fine phrase!
@@LaceandSteelchannel I'm glad you like it, but I can't take credit for "gun fondler"; IIRC I originally encountered it on USENET RPG groups back in the 90s to describe games like Aftermath! and Phoenix Command that went with over the top super detail on guns and ballistics. BTW, have you had a look at the more recent Aftermath! supplements: "Technology!", "Survival Guide", and (especially) "Magic!"?
Never actually got to play Aftermath at all, but I do remember plenty of amusement at reading at least part of the rulebook back in the early 90s. And hey, no matter it's failings, at least it isn't the Palladium system! Re: The blasted ruins of Sydney: One of the (many) reasons I immediately took to Gundam (at least it's Universal Century timeline) when introduced to it in the early-mid 90s was that the start of the very first one (0083: Stardust Memory) includes as an un-examined and un-expanded detail, almost throw-away background stuff the existence of the Gulf of Sydney in that timeline. Because, it seems that somebody in the core writing team for the original Gundam had visited Sydney and shares my own opinion of the place, so they had it hit by roughly the front third of an O'Neill cylinder, dropped from L4. The impact left a crater 500km wide, meaning it very nearly reaches the (former) NSW/QLD border. (For anyone wanting to look up the relevant info in the Gundam UC timeline, the search term you'd likely find the most useful is 'Operation British'.) I'd say that's a good start on Sydney, but it's a bit of a shame about the rest of the state, Not to mention Canberra (ACT), Albury (NSW)/Wodonga (VIC), etc, etc.
If you watch the old movie "Wargame"" ('would you like to play a game?") you will see that in every scenario on screen, Sydney gets nuked out (even in nuclear wars on the far side of the globe). Apparently the effects team were all from Melbourne!
Going back and actually trying to figure the rules out (we played, but I never learned how the actual rules for any of the pre-Shadowrun Charrette/Hume games worked, I just left it to the GM to tell me what to roll; I do think it's worth pointing out that Charrette and Hume were later a significant part of the Shadowrun design team), I was struck by how it was very much an early "generic universal" game. FGU has since released supplements specifically for magic and future technology, making it potentially useful as such a game. It could still use expansions for things like superpowers or ghosts, and a bestiary of real and fantastical creatures would seem of obvious benefit. But I'm not FGU, so I don't make those decisions.
some of new works have incongruent art some bad and morally cringy by modern markets survivalist players love it - doesnt one ed tell you how to make a radiation detector?
I love how you dig in and find the gems in any system you look at.
Gleeeeeeee!
Aftermath! is definitely a gun fondler's wet dream. Lots of FGU games (e.g. Chivalry & Sorcery, Space Opera, Other Suns) suffered from the "more rules" syndrome. Most of them also suffer from what our group used to call "The Dread 3-Letter Abbreviation Syndrome".
BTW, if you didn't know, FGU's Daredevils (pulp adventures) game is also based in the Charette/Hume system, rule-wise it's in many ways an Aftermath! lite, IMO it would make a great starting point to get familiar with the core system and then add on further detail rules from Aftermath! as desired.
Give Mr. Schnoots a smooch for me.
Mr Schnoots kisses back!
Aaaah, i haven't played 'Daredevils". But i do have it in the ol' PDF library. I shall take a look!
"Gun Fondler" is a damned fine phrase!
@@LaceandSteelchannel I'm glad you like it, but I can't take credit for "gun fondler"; IIRC I originally encountered it on USENET RPG groups back in the 90s to describe games like Aftermath! and Phoenix Command that went with over the top super detail on guns and ballistics.
BTW, have you had a look at the more recent Aftermath! supplements: "Technology!", "Survival Guide", and (especially) "Magic!"?
Another excellent review! I particularly liked the discussion on setting which tends to get glossed over in some games. Thanks Pauli!
It's actually a very good guide to making your own post-apocalypse sandbox!
I loved the FGU games, and Aftermath! was my favorite of their offerings. I wrote a novella in my teens about the 2 sessions of it I got to play.
I run BRP as a d20 system since player love math rocks and percentile feels to academic to many
Oh, how very cool!
Never actually got to play Aftermath at all, but I do remember plenty of amusement at reading at least part of the rulebook back in the early 90s. And hey, no matter it's failings, at least it isn't the Palladium system!
Re: The blasted ruins of Sydney: One of the (many) reasons I immediately took to Gundam (at least it's Universal Century timeline) when introduced to it in the early-mid 90s was that the start of the very first one (0083: Stardust Memory) includes as an un-examined and un-expanded detail, almost throw-away background stuff the existence of the Gulf of Sydney in that timeline.
Because, it seems that somebody in the core writing team for the original Gundam had visited Sydney and shares my own opinion of the place, so they had it hit by roughly the front third of an O'Neill cylinder, dropped from L4. The impact left a crater 500km wide, meaning it very nearly reaches the (former) NSW/QLD border. (For anyone wanting to look up the relevant info in the Gundam UC timeline, the search term you'd likely find the most useful is 'Operation British'.)
I'd say that's a good start on Sydney, but it's a bit of a shame about the rest of the state, Not to mention Canberra (ACT), Albury (NSW)/Wodonga (VIC), etc, etc.
If you watch the old movie "Wargame"" ('would you like to play a game?") you will see that in every scenario on screen, Sydney gets nuked out (even in nuclear wars on the far side of the globe). Apparently the effects team were all from Melbourne!
@@LaceandSteelchannel 🤣🤣🤣
Great venerable game. I've rolled up far more characters for it than sessions I have played.
I was surprised to see how playable it is if you just skim away the fat!
Nice changing screen... Five panels?
Yes! It was a great find
Going back and actually trying to figure the rules out (we played, but I never learned how the actual rules for any of the pre-Shadowrun Charrette/Hume games worked, I just left it to the GM to tell me what to roll; I do think it's worth pointing out that Charrette and Hume were later a significant part of the Shadowrun design team), I was struck by how it was very much an early "generic universal" game. FGU has since released supplements specifically for magic and future technology, making it potentially useful as such a game. It could still use expansions for things like superpowers or ghosts, and a bestiary of real and fantastical creatures would seem of obvious benefit. But I'm not FGU, so I don't make those decisions.
Aaah, I'd forgotten they were on the Shadowrun team! (Which is odd, considering my Shadowrun history!)
This sounds like Morrow Project lol. The gun mechanics in that were wacky too. I might look at the blackpowder rules for my future Bushido game.
Aaah - I remember the Morrow Project. A strange game, but a very a cool scenario for a campaign.
If this is your jam, may I suggest mork borg?
Yes!~ I just dod a review of Mork Borg (and Pirate Borg). I think I haver the Punk Rocker Borg supported on Backerkit
When are you going to review Phoenix Command?
:)
some of new works have incongruent art some bad and morally cringy by modern markets
survivalist players love it - doesnt one ed tell you how to make a radiation detector?
I don't think Aftermath tells you exactly how to make a detector. But a lot of us 60's kids can! (Hint! You'll need a plastic comb!)