Character Types There are four genotypes, or “races,” open to Gamma World player characters (PCs). Stock humans are the descendants of the survivors of the Final Wars, who have lived, bred and prospered in the aftermath of Armageddon. Pure-strain humans have managed to shield themselves from the social, environmental and biological ravages of the Final Wars. Mutants are the vast diversity of “human-like” beings that roam the Gamma World, though as often as not they are the products (or descendants) of intentional design rather than random mutation. Finally, by the end of the Final Wars humanity had gone beyond customizing life, to creating it out of whole cloth. Synthetics include everything from armored robots to passably human androids, and even hybrids of man and machine. STOCK HUMAN Stock humans are the most common characters. They are like us in nearly every way, though they are perhaps somewhat hardier than the people of the modern Western world, and possess the same infinite potential. Despite the competition from other races, mutants in particular, stock humans may yet reclaim their position as the dominant species. PURE-STRAIN HUMAN Pure-strain humans are those individuals who have, through technology and physical isolation, remained largely unmolested by the ravages of the Final Wars. Hailing from remote communities or protected environments built before the Final Wars, pure-strain humans are the oldest new members of the Gamma World. Though blessed with the technology and knowledge of the previous age, pure-strain humans lack personal experience and often even theoretical information about the environments of the Gamma Age. MUTANT In Gamma World, the term “mutant” refers to any and all non-synthetic, non-human creatures. When speaking of PCs, the definition is much the same, with the added distinction that they are intelligent, talking things. Despite the nearly infinite varieties of mutants, PCs will fit into one of these four basic groups. • Engineered Animals: These are some of the most common mutants in the Gamma World, and the most likely to breed true and create communities of their own. Final Wars era scientists designed these “moreaus” primarily as living weapons and hyper-specialized workers and soldiers, though some breeds were made for entertainment, pleasure and experimentation. Whatever a particular strain’s origins, many of them escaped into the wild during or immediately following the Final Wars and not only survived, but prospered. Almost any mammal imaginable, and a few reptiles and birds, have been elevated to this man-like status, and to varying degrees. • Engineered Humans: Engineered humans were almost as common as engineered animals during the Final Wars but served different purposes. In the case of engineered humans, certain advantageous traits were either enhanced from within or grafted onto the standard human genome. Far more valuable than mere animals, engineered humans served as spies, scientists, explorers, crusaders and super-soldiers. Only the strains of engineered humans that could breed true remain in the Gamma Age, but scholars suspect that a far greater variety of sterile engineered humans existed during the Final Wars. Their genetic material may yet remain in hidden laboratories, pure-strain human arcologies or similar locations. • New-Men: New-men are the result of accidental mutations caused by the rampant environmental damage of the Final Wars and ambient biotech pollutants; unlike true mutants, they breed true (at least one generation must pass on their mutated traits to earn the name new-men). Much rarer than engineered mutants and even true mutants, new-men represent nature’s ability to adapt in even the direst of circumstances. New-men make up a very small percentage of the mutant population, and are rarely encountered in groups larger than an extended family or small village, but nonetheless qualify as a species all their own — and may very well be the inheritors of the Gamma World. • True Mutants: These, the most numerous sub-group, are the result of random genetic accidents that occur because of the biotech soup floating in the air and water, the background radiation left over from the Final Wars’ final volleys, and the desperate attempts by nature to put things right. Degenerate humans, elevated animals and hybrids between the two: No two true mutants are alike. Most true mutants die shortly after birth, their bodies so twisted by defects that they cannot survive. Other true mutants are those who have been blessed even as they have been cursed, whose defects do not overwhelm their advantages. Stock humans and even other sorts of mutants who metamorphose further after exposure to mutagens during the course of their lives also fall into the category of true mutant. SYNTHETIC Even as one contingent of the world’s scientists was wrestling with the gamma subunit, others were pushing the limits of robotics and computer programming. No one can say when the line between “robot” and “synthetic” was crossed; but by the height of the Final Wars, these machines, intelligent and self-aware, were fighting alongside (or in lieu of) human and engineered soldiers. Efficiency was the rule of the day, and the same self-repair and ambient power subsystems that kept the machines out of the workshops and on the battlefields keep them running in the Gamma World. Though rarer than the other playable genotypes, synthetic characters represent an unusual roleplaying opportunity. Synthetics come in any number of shapes, types and sizes. Some were plush toys equipped with robotic endoskeletons and AI brains. Others were hulking chrome monstrosities, designed to inspire terror before laying waste to the enemy. Androids (synthetics designed to appear mostly human or at least pleasing to human sensibilities) were common as well, as entertainers, spies and articles of pleasure.