Mutant: Year Zero CoreBook


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Description

Mutant: Year Zero goes back to the origins of the Mutant franchise: role-playing after the Apocalypse. In this game, you play as one of The People - heavily mutated humans living in The Ark, a small and isolated settlement in a sea of chaos. The outside world is unknown to you, and so is your origin.

Mutant: Year Zero has two major game environments, each with its own style of play:

The Ark, your home in the dawnworld. A nest of intrigue and Lord of the Flies-style power struggles, it's far from a safe haven. But it's the only home you know, and just maybe the cradle of a new civilization. The game rules let you improve and develop the Ark in the areas of Warfare, Food Supply, Technology, and Culture. It is up to you, the players, to decide which projects to embark on.

The Zone, wastelands outside the Ark. You will venture into the Zone in search of food, artifacts, other mutants, and knowledge - not least about The People's own origin. The game includes two maps of example Zones; London and New York and a plethora of tables and other tools to let the GM populate its sectors with mutants, deadly monsters and bizarre phenomena.
 
Where in the world the Zone and the Ark are located is up to you - why not play in a post-apocalyptic version of your own home town? The modular approach of this game lets you place all of the campaign material wherever you like.
The 272 page full colour hardcover core book contains everything you need for hundreds of hours of play.

Some of the contents:

- A fast and effective character generation system, using archetypal roles such as the Crusher, the Gearhead, the Fixer, the Dog Handler and the Chronicler.
- Unstoppable but highly unpredictable mutant powers, such as Flame Breather, Insect Wings, Human Magnet, and Pathokinesis.
- A skill and conflict system that makes you push yourself to the limit, and beyond. The rules system highlights two main themes: mutation and resource management. Every bullet counts.
- Rules for developing the Ark (base building) and exploring the Zone (gridcrawling).
- A rich story generation system, helping the GM instantly create threats to the Ark as well as locations and events in the Zone.
- An illustrated bestiary of humanoids, mutated monsters and Zone phenomena.
- An extensive collection of artifacts for the characters to find in the Zone.
- Five complete and ready-to-use Special Zone Sectors. These are scenario locations with NPC's, backstory and suggested events. These are scenario locations with NPC's, backstory and suggested events. These Special Zone Sectors, which each come with an illustrative map, can be placed anywhere in the Zone by the GMA campaign outline, called "The Path to Eden", including backstory, NPC's, handouts, and a campaign finale described in detail.

    A series of expansions are already in development. The smaller expansions, called Zone Compendia, will each contain illustrated adventure locations in the Zone, extra mutations, artifacts, rules, and more. The major expansions will each focus on one new playable class: mutated animals, robots, then unmutated humans. Each major expansion includes a campaign letting you play the origin story of the class, and then introduces the class into the game and into the Zone. We expect to release the first expansion for Mutant: Year Zero in early 2015. 

    Reviews:

    "Overall, I would heartily recommend Mutant: Year Zero. The book and supporting products are high quality and it uses unique, quirky mechanics that really bring its themes of desperate survival to the forefront. New DMs may be slightly intimidated by the openness of the Zone but the book does a good job of guiding and preparing them for play. 
    My players and I had a blast playing and can’t wait to get back to the Zone."
    - Brian Ennis from The British Fantasy Society

    “Probably the best post-apocalyptic RPG on the market. Full stop.”
    -RPG.Net Playtest Review
     
    Mutant: Year Zero blew me away on a personal level. I did not know of its existence, and suddenly I realise that I am holding a masterpiece, probably the best post-apocalyptic game on the market.”
    -RPG.Net Playtest Review
     
    “The book and supporting products are high quality and it uses unique, quirky mechanics that really bring its themes of desperate survival to the forefront.”
    -The British Fantasy Society
     
    Mutant: Year Zero works for me. I can’t think of a better and more communal way to warp and decay, to evolve and whiter. Death seems certain in this post-apocalyptic game but the story, the adventure along the way, will be interesting.”
    -Geek Native
     
    “The production quality of Mutant: Year Zero is definitely on par with Fantasy Flight Games or Paizo products.”
    -Stargazer’s World
     
    “If you are into post-apocalypse RPGs you definitely should give Mutant a chance!”
    -Stargazer’s World
     
    “Despite the number of post-apocalyptic games out there Mutant: Year Zero promises to bring a host of new ideas to the table.”
    -Life and times of a Philippine Gamer
     
    “It hits a nice sweet spot between the gonzo nature of Gamma World and the grimmer setting of Aftermath.”
    -DriveThruRPG User Review

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    Customer Reviews

    Based on 5 reviews
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    V
    Viacheslav Redkin
    Great in small details

    this is the great book, where interesting game is helping GM in all his tasks. I'd pleasure to play as a player and read both players and GM's parts. Our club was opened late and we'd lost 30% of planned paying time, so our GM was under big pressure and it was his first time playing the Mutant: Year Zero CoreBook, but all rules helped him to stay over the wave!
    This book is awesome in its care of the player and game master.
    5 stars, especially is you love to classical old-school mechanics mixed with modern requirements of player's satisfaction.

    N
    Normeo
    One of the best apocolyptic RPGs ever!

    I've been playing various rpgs for over the past 20 years and this is one of the best. I've ran two games, one with my kids (new to rpg) and one with my regular gaming group. Both games were well recived with only a few minor niggles.
    The combat is a little abstract and confusing, I changed using minitures and adding some homebrew movement (the standard move 5 squares did not appeal). Some of the players have found the all or nothing way the skill rolls work to be punishing, but because the game is so simple to understand it didn't slow the game (plus nearly all rpgs have a pass or fail state when rolling dice). The free resources on the web site are great too (character sheet, ark sheet, etc) and well worth downloading.

    H
    Harry Rothballer
    A Game Of Epic Adventure!

    You will not regret buying this game, me and my friends love it.

    N
    Nils Sommer
    Five Stars for a Reason

    So if you consider buying this game, here is a quick guide:

    Summary: The best postapocalyptic game I've ever played and I tested quite a few.

    The Book
    A beautiful, 271 page book with high quality paper, illustrations, a gorgeous map and a good weight. It will have slightly worn edges if you transport it in your backpack after a while, but that is quite normal with nearly all books without binder.
    5 / 5

    Cards & Dice
    I did not consider buying the dice, since I have a big pile of sorted coloured dice and they do not appeal to me with their neon colour and easy to mistake symbols.
    The cards are high quality, but lack an illustration that I expected for the price.
    3/5

    The Setting
    A new spin on the postapocalytic scene, as you try to manage your hometown called "The Arch" while exploring the wasteland at the same time. Character and places grow with time and develop a real binding to the characters. The Uberplot is nice, but not neccesary to drive the characters since they will have enough to do.
    5/5

    The Rules:
    Great rules that work with each other, well, most of them. We quickly developed some houserules to speed things up, but it is absolutely not neccesary as you get everything you need. Generating character, places and plots can be done on the fly without lacking quality or content.
    5/5

    M:YO is an extremely good game and no matter how much expertise you bring, it will be one of the best gaming experiences you will ever have. I strongly recommend this game.

    R
    Rob H
    GET THE STARTER BUNDLE IF YOU CAN, BUT YOU WANT TO PLAY THIS GAME!!!

    This game is genuinely astounding! We've played nothing else in our gaming group for all of 2015 and we're all still enthralled by Mutant: Year Zero. It is quite possibly my favourite RPG in twelve years of gaming.

    Note: My PDF dates to December '14 and lacks the character sheet, zone and ark logs that end the print copy. Find these in the free Player's PDF (character and ark sheets) and GM's PDF (zone log) within the shop.

    The cover is beautiful and drew me in straight away. And despite the interior art style not being my usual fare, I've fallen in love with it none-the-less.

    The post-apocalyptic setting was a sure sell at our gaming table. What surprised me though was how infectious the optimistic tone proved to be. With the Ark growing through our decisions and dice rolling, players really get a feeling for building the future and making the dawnworld what we want it to be. Despite the body-count. Despite the unending litany of threats to our survival. Despite losing each and every gun our Gearhead made, thanks to my Human Magnet mutation going haywire.

    The rules mechanics are elegantly simple, pooling dice for each task and needing just a single 'six' result to succeed. But oh how elusive a six can be, right when you need it most. The PCs of M:Y0 can be horrendously powerful at times but a single failure at the wrong time can upset the plan and start a downward spiral that you'll be lucky to survive. Life out in the Zone is hard and tomorrow never certain.

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