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Gamma World Module Gw1--Legion of Gold
RPG Adventure Book
32 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1982
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 3, 2023
Original review, 4/2/2017: This was the first adventure module published for “Gamma World,” TSR’s post-apocalyptic role-playing game, and it was the only one I ever read. So far as I can recall, I only ever ran one of the three “Mini-Adventures,” which reflects the short-lived nature of my GW games.
This module, co-written by Dungeons & Dragons creator Gary Gygax, seems to be an attempt to simulate the success of B2: Keep on the Borderlands, an adventure module that gave starting players a simple sandbox in which to begin exploring the rules without creating an entire campaign world for them. It establishes a “home base:” the city of Horn, which is the capital of the “barony” of Horn, the region of all of the adventures in this module. It gives a map of the region, including encounters of varying difficulty and rewards of varying power for the players to try their hands at, and it sets up a series of missions for them to accomplish, culminating in fighting off the mysterious “Legion of Gold,” a technologically advanced band of marauders.
In my review of “Gamma World,” I commented that part of the problem with the rules is that they don’t really give a clearly defined “world” for the players to enter, leaving a lot of the details of the post-apocalyptic society to individual GMs. This module suggests a solution to that problem: this Gamma World takes place in a feudalistic world pretty much like D&D, except that magic has been replaced by the advanced technology of the Ancients, and fantasy monsters by mutated animals with punny names. This might reflect the disposition of Gygax more than that of James Ward, the creator of Gamma World, but it’s hard to say. The city of Horn seems to have a pretty strong prejudice against mutants and no tolerance for mutated animals, which presents a challenge for most players, who preferred having cool mutations to the social advantages of the Pure Strain Human.
The one part of the adventure I recall running was the “Buggem Nest” mini-adventure, in which the players track down some giant intelligent insects to try to save some local farm children. I remember this being one of the more satisfactory games of Gamma World I ever played, so it’s likely that the module would still hold up for old school gamers who enjoy this kind of scenario.
Update 3/2/2023: This time around, I was even more impressed at how this reading of Gamma World reduces it to essentially a D&D scenario with mutations and gadgets in place of spells and magic items. I had also made the observation, in a previous review, that a more satisfying, if less logical, progression in Gamma World would be if character found increasing levels of tech as they became more proficient in the world. Gygax and his team seem to have emulated this – the Baron of Horn is producing flintlocks, for some reason, one can find shotguns and other modern technology in some of the dungeons, and then there are also blasters and powered armor – if you get far enough. It really makes little sense, and most players will only be interested in the “good stuff,” which actually does show up pretty early, but it’s also giving me what I asked for, so I should hardly complain. I rather like the way that the scenarios are half-written, to give a ref the chance to build on them and bring as much or as little character to the world as they choose. There are two more “treasure tables,” that suffer from the same technological myopia as those in the game. None of us could have predicted that a touch tone phone would hardly exist in 50 years let alone 300 at the time, but typewriters and ink blotters should have been easier calls.
This module, co-written by Dungeons & Dragons creator Gary Gygax, seems to be an attempt to simulate the success of B2: Keep on the Borderlands, an adventure module that gave starting players a simple sandbox in which to begin exploring the rules without creating an entire campaign world for them. It establishes a “home base:” the city of Horn, which is the capital of the “barony” of Horn, the region of all of the adventures in this module. It gives a map of the region, including encounters of varying difficulty and rewards of varying power for the players to try their hands at, and it sets up a series of missions for them to accomplish, culminating in fighting off the mysterious “Legion of Gold,” a technologically advanced band of marauders.
In my review of “Gamma World,” I commented that part of the problem with the rules is that they don’t really give a clearly defined “world” for the players to enter, leaving a lot of the details of the post-apocalyptic society to individual GMs. This module suggests a solution to that problem: this Gamma World takes place in a feudalistic world pretty much like D&D, except that magic has been replaced by the advanced technology of the Ancients, and fantasy monsters by mutated animals with punny names. This might reflect the disposition of Gygax more than that of James Ward, the creator of Gamma World, but it’s hard to say. The city of Horn seems to have a pretty strong prejudice against mutants and no tolerance for mutated animals, which presents a challenge for most players, who preferred having cool mutations to the social advantages of the Pure Strain Human.
The one part of the adventure I recall running was the “Buggem Nest” mini-adventure, in which the players track down some giant intelligent insects to try to save some local farm children. I remember this being one of the more satisfactory games of Gamma World I ever played, so it’s likely that the module would still hold up for old school gamers who enjoy this kind of scenario.
Update 3/2/2023: This time around, I was even more impressed at how this reading of Gamma World reduces it to essentially a D&D scenario with mutations and gadgets in place of spells and magic items. I had also made the observation, in a previous review, that a more satisfying, if less logical, progression in Gamma World would be if character found increasing levels of tech as they became more proficient in the world. Gygax and his team seem to have emulated this – the Baron of Horn is producing flintlocks, for some reason, one can find shotguns and other modern technology in some of the dungeons, and then there are also blasters and powered armor – if you get far enough. It really makes little sense, and most players will only be interested in the “good stuff,” which actually does show up pretty early, but it’s also giving me what I asked for, so I should hardly complain. I rather like the way that the scenarios are half-written, to give a ref the chance to build on them and bring as much or as little character to the world as they choose. There are two more “treasure tables,” that suffer from the same technological myopia as those in the game. None of us could have predicted that a touch tone phone would hardly exist in 50 years let alone 300 at the time, but typewriters and ink blotters should have been easier calls.
May 24, 2018
Legion of Gold isn't a book, it's a published adventure for the Gamma World role-playing game. I haven't played it since the 1980s, but it was fun, and even just flipping though the pages is a pleasant diversion. I love Bill Willingham's cover art as well.
The short Buggem nest part of the adventure is your usual D&D monster cave. The storage container/fallout shelter portion is a bit repetitive (just three or four of these would be fine, or have one show up when players need a challenge) and I remember players getting bored with it back in the day.
The underwater adventure and showdown with the Legion seem well designed, but we never made it to them.
The short Buggem nest part of the adventure is your usual D&D monster cave. The storage container/fallout shelter portion is a bit repetitive (just three or four of these would be fine, or have one show up when players need a challenge) and I remember players getting bored with it back in the day.
The underwater adventure and showdown with the Legion seem well designed, but we never made it to them.
November 2, 2021
This is the only module I ever DMed (or GMed) in the GW universe. It was okay as an intro, but my group went back to D&D afterwards.
February 8, 2024
glorious, wish i'd read this years ago. Whtter and Screamers. yes indeed
October 20, 2012
For this review, I point you to my blogpost regarding this very module.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews