Sunday, June 5, 2011  Gamma World, Cover to Cover (Part IX)
Being an old school RPG, a significant portion of Gamma World's
ancient artifacts are weapons or weapon systems. There are six
different types of pistols, the most interesting being the slug
throwers (which fire rubber bullets for riot control and stun
targets for 1d6 minutes when they deal cumulative damage equal
to one-half their total) and black ray pistols (which instantly
kill any unshielded living -- but not robotic -- target with a
successful hit). There are only four rifles, perhaps the
deadliest being the fusion rifle, which blasts its target with
two beams of intensity 18 radiation, though it's not stated
whether the firer needs to roll to hit twice or just once.
There are energy-based melee weapons, too, whose unique
characteristic is that they deal flat damage (10, 20, 30, etc.)
rather than a range (1d10, 2d10, etc.). Of the six grenade types
described, two deal instant death and/or disintegration to
enemies caught within their blast ra