Yesterday, the 22nd of February, 2018, I finally had a chance to GM an episode of The Mutant Epoch (TME), using my recently released One Day Dig (ODD), “Baby Bupu”! I set up the game at my local RPG and CCG shop, Western Paladin Games in Walla Walla, Washington, and with their help put out word that I was going to be running this.
I had five outstanding players show up! Most of them were quite a bit younger than me, which was a bit awkward at first, but they were excellent players. Most of them weren’t familiar with the Post Apocalyptic Mutant Wasteland genre, but they caught on quickly and I couldn’t have asked for a better group of players.
The ODD went really well; it played actually better than I thought it might. The only wrinkle was when the group faced the Hell-Crawler. Try as I might to help them understand that it would be horrific to face off against that thing, they still decided to just go kill it. Fortunately, they had a change of heart before it was too late.
When they finally faced off against the protagonists in the story, their plan was a reckless, dangerous one, but they were able to pull it off. Heroes to the village in need!
This was the first time I’ve been able to GM The Mutant Epoch, and I’m happy to report it plays just as well, just as smooth, as I thought it might. The only thing mechanics-wise that threw me was ranged combat. One of the characters, as they fled the Hell-Crawler, decided to thunk an arrow into it’s disgusting hide, and I had a problem figuring out exactly how that’s done, at least at first. It was due to my not reading thoroughly and just looking for what I expected. We did get it all sorted out, though.
I hope to someday be able to run TME on a regular basis. Western Paladin Games went above and beyond helping me set this up and get the word out. I’m going to be a regular customer there now, and I’m going to get the word out as best I can about this place. Maybe I’ll start running a game there someday.
If you haven’t already gotten excited about TME through all the posts I’ve had here about it, please reconsider. Mechanically, aesthetically, and playability, TME really shines as one of the best Post-A games available!
EDIT: The problem I was having with the ranged combat was what exactly the benefit was for firing a called shot. Figured it out eventually, but at the time I was baffled.
Dice Mechanic 