Has anyone heard much about Mutant: Year Zero? It the latest iteration of a classic Swedish RPG that has been translated into English and published through Modiphius. I believe it was the RPG from which Mutant Chronicles was spawned from.

I saw it on RPGnet and have been doing some digging. his led me to buying the PDF. I am impressed with what I have seen so far. There is a very cool trailer here.



The book is 270 pages long but the pages have generous white space (I think the Swedish version is actually graphic novel sized). The production values (in true European RPG style) are through the roof, with a single artist used throughout and many illustrations. His art is high quality and in the style of Mike Mignola and Charlie Adlard, which seem perfect for the game.

Page sample: http://www.modiphius.com/uploads/1/4/0/6/14062642/2220394_orig.jpg
Art sample: http://i.ytimg.com/vi/qElZu-nLfJk/maxresdefault.jpg

The set up is that the PCs are all mutants that are emerging from an Ark into the dangerous world outside called the Zone. The game is flexible to handle pretty much any post apocalyptic set up.  There is a metaplot (contained in the last chapter only) which can be used much like a Plot Point campaign in Savage Worlds. It also discusses other metaplots including those of your own making.

The system is simple - 4 attributes (with 4 damage tracks), 12 skills (and 8 calls specific skills), talents and mutant powers. You roll a number of d6s equal to attribute + skill and need a 6 to succeed. You can also push rolls, rerolling all dice that number between 2 to 5 to get more 6s. All 1s rolled on a pushed roll cause trauma and grant mutant points that are used to power mutations.

There are special dice which have symbols for 1s and 6s, but they aren't necessary. There are also cards for mutations, threats and artifacts, though these are all contained in the book and can be randomly distributed by rolling on tables.

PCs are from 1 of 8 classes. These basically grant a unique special skill (Bosses get Command, Enforcers get Intimidation) and access to three unique talents. The rest of the class information is similar to D&D5e's traits, providing guidance on the PC's relationships and goals.

Character Class sample: http://www.modiphius.com/uploads/1/4/0/6/14062642/343283_orig.jpg

There is extensive support for travelling the Zone. This is much like a hex crawl, with many random tables The game comes with a poster map for London and New York, though these are both in the end papers of the book too.

There is also support for the Ark's development. The players are able to direct how the Ark manages it resources and what projects it develops (hospitals, slave markets, statues, democracy etc). These resources are countered by the many on-going threats to the Ark. I really liked how artifacts grant the PC who owns it benefits, but it given tot he Ark for society-wide benefits too.

The end results seems to be superbly presented, mechanically simple post-apocalyptic RPG. It has a ready to run campaign (that can be ignored). The focus is on player driven sandbox play, reducing the GM prep load considerably. Mostly the GM has to just create special sector zones, being fleshed out places in the Zone. There are five of these in the book and they have some amazing imagery attached:

Map sample (in Swedish sorry): http://www.beastsofwar.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Mutant-Ark.jpg

I pre-ordered the game - the discounted pre-order bundle, which includes a map, dice and cards - and had a friend pick up my copy at Dragonmeet in London. I'll probably have it in my hands sometime in January. What I've read from the pdf - which unfortunately takes ages to load on my tablet - looks pretty good.

The slightly boardgame-like zone exploration - hexcrawl style - reminds me of the old Fallout games.

I skipped the bundle after reading the PDF, as I didn't think the cards and dice added much. But they are pretty cool and would be good for Con play.

I agree regarding Zone exploration. I really liked how the GM could focus on creating special zone sectors, but still get a lot of game play generated from the Threats (randomly generated opening danger to open the session), Assemblies (players deciding on Ark projects) and Zone generation mechanics.

I am tempted to pick it up after I've read some of the pdfs I have in my system cloggage, since my friend recommends the original Mutant. And yes, this is the "original" Mutant RPG, leaving way for later Mutant Chronicles (and to a small degree, Kult I guess).

Looks like the first major supplement has been Indiegogo'd in Swedish:

Cover: http://frialigan.se/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/omslags_MGA_mellan.png

The PCs are mutated animals (rather than mutants) and instead of expanding out from an Ark, the PCs are escaping from a massive prison-like enclosure.

I understand that Robots and non-mutated Humans will get a similar treatment.

Sounds very interesting. Kind of serious GW with serious Road Side Picnic/Stalker flavor. I like it.

Quote from: Ronin;805116Sounds very interesting. Kind of serious GW with serious Road Side Picnic/Stalker flavor. I like it.

Its somewhere between Gamma World and Darwin's World. Mad Max and Fallout seem good parallels (and yes there are vehicle rules and a seemingly  direct Mad Max homage in the book).

I'm getting an abstracted/narrative vibe about the campaign stuff (metadata tags and aspects, etc) with a lot of handwaved or papered over details in the name of genre emulation. You feel like breaking down the campaign rules the way you did with Atlantis, Skywalker?

Quote from: Skywalker;805118Its somewhere between Gamma World and Darwin's World. Mad Max and Fallout seem good parallels (and yes there are vehicle rules and a seemingly  direct Mad Max homage in the book).

Sounds good to me:)

Quote from: Ronin;805120Sounds good to me:)

Yeah. My interest in it was very much stirred by the recent Mad Max trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWNWi-ZWL3c, which it seems capable of doing.

Quote from: CRKrueger;805119I'm getting an abstracted/narrative vibe about the campaign stuff (metadata tags and aspects, etc) with a lot of handwaved or papered over details in the name of genre emulation. You feel like breaking down the campaign rules the way you did with Atlantis, Skywalker?

Sure. The system overall is not abstracted. There are no Aspects and all character traits are from an IC perspective. Equipment is itemised etc. There aren't even Fate points or bennies. However, there are a few narrative elements added to a traditional RPG system (that's what I enjoy as you know).  

The most narrative thing in the game is that the players are expected to advocate for the community, and not just their PCs, during Assemblies when determining Ark projects. This is meant to take place at the start of the session and then ticks away in the background.

The other stuff with a narrative vibe is:

- Character creation involves a player setting relationships, creating two NPCs and a big goal. There is a list of suggestions for each class, that give it an Apocalypse World vibe, but the list is not closed and none of these have any ongoing impact on the gameplay though (unlike Apocalypse World or Atlantis).

- Players can choose to spend extra 6s from a list for each task. Nothing like Discern Realities in Dungeon World which asks questions from a player perspective. More like what you see in Dragon Age i.e effects directly linked to the task attempted.

- There is a "social combat system" in that you can create doubt in others with social skills, and they can be "taken out" of a debate in that manner.

- Some of the language comes across as narrative. Player contributions are encouraged. For example, if a GM doesn't know an answer to a question, the  GM is encouraged to ask the players if they have an answer. Nothing mechanical though.

That's about it. I guess you could see pushing dice rolls as narrative in purpose as a central theme of the game, but they can be entirely described from an IC perspective i.e. the PC is deciding to push their mutant potential to succeed.

The metaplot material is 90s style like Savagae Worlds Plot Points, White Wolf or Tribe 8. So, it is a narrative, but not a narrative mechanic.

The use of random tables for generating Zones, Artifacts and Threats are purely random, so may seem a little gamey (as distinct from simulation or narration). However the GM can also choose these or create their own. This isn't that different from random tables in early D&D and other RPGs though.

Once the smoke clears from the holidays, I am definitely buying the deluxe print version.  I loves me some post apocalyptic RPGs!

I have the Swedish version and it is gold! I like how they have remade the brand this time around compared to previous editions were the world is more developed. I haven't tried out the system yet but it looks to be OK. Obviously in the Swedish version the maps are of Swedish cities. The cards are a nice addition but not necessary to play the game. The mutations are not too over-the-top so it is not a supers game,

I have been a fan of the Mutant world since 85 or so and have owned all versions at one time or the other and I feel this is one if the best. I am not too keen on the metaplot, but as stated above it is easy to ignore. I will probably pick up Genlab Alpha when it is released.

is this C7 who's publishing it?

Quote from: RPGPundit;805758is this C7 who's publishing it?

No. Modiphius (the English language version anyway) aka the other UK publisher