Mutant Epoch

The Mutant Epoch is a science-fantasy role playing game coming out from Outland Arts in early 2010. The game takes place in the 27th century where bio engineering, and contamination has caused plant and animal life to evolve quickly and in “fantastic” ways.
Mutant Epoch uses the Outland System Game Mechanic and while the system may be unique to Outland Arts it is still a traditional role playing system. From what I have read it is meant to allow “fast paced adventure action “ and still have “as much character to character interaction and story narrative as desired.” Like most games it is advised that the game master be familiar with the rules (a GM’s work is never done), but the game is designed to allow even a new player to catch on quickly, without worrying about a lot of reading or complicated math.
The game uses character types in place of races, as all the characters are assumed to be of human ancestry. There seems to be quite a variety of player character types such as Clones, Bioreplicas, Cyborgs, Mutants and unmutated humans. The Beta copy I have also mentions that there will be other character types available through the Mutant Epoch electronic magazine and expansion rule books that will be released to support the game.
Character generation seems like it will be fairly similar to most rpg’s and relatively easy to understand. Mutant Epoch uses the percentile (d100) dice for combat and character generation but all the standard polyhedron dice gamers are familiar with are used in the game. PC’s will have 8 basic traits in place of ability scores and as your PC goes up in rank (similar to leveling up) they will gain bonuses to their traits. They can also acquire permanent penalties to their scores in the event of serious injures or illness.
The main objective of the game seems to be more focused on survival in this harsh futuristic world than the old standard of adventuring for treasure; although I am sure you can do that too.. While I have only had glimpses of the world and the creatures that the characters will encounter I have to say I am intrigued by this game. The setting and character types seem to be flexible and varied enough to satisfy any type of gamer. I will definitely be sharing more information about this Mutant Epoch as I find it. In the mean time go to the site and check it out for yourself.
There are several nice downloads so you can preview the game on the site.