Let's Review: After the Bomb (second editon)

What is it?:

After the Bomb is a post-apocalyptic RPG from Palladium Games originally designed to be part of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game line but was spun off into its own thing when they lost the license.

The setting:

As I just said, this game begins some 80-100 years after the end of the world. The end of the world happens some hundred years in the future, so it’s maybe 200 years from now. If you’re hearing echos of Rifts, you’re not the only one. Anyway. The end of the world happens during a point in the future where most diseases and such have been eliminated and animals have started to be mutated to be better pets and the like. Well, some little jerk released a disease that just started wiping people out (which is way darker in the post-2020 present) which led to a limited nuclear exchange and the end of the world as we knew it.

Now, some decades (or century) later, humanity is almost gone. In its place is a full of mutant animals and insects instead. Of course, there’s group of human supremacists that have loyal mutant dogs (but without the coll skull motif on their equipment) in America, surrounded by several mutant animal nations. The core book is centered around the east coast, but other source books explore the west coast, the Yucatan, the UK, and Australia. There’s also a joint source book for Rifts and AtB that takes place IN SPACE!

The system:

The system is the typical Palladium system, with all the flaws I’ve already gone over. While this book doesn’t use OCCs, I’m sure you could add them. The one thing that this second edition of the game is make really good and unique mutant animals. There’s plenty of normal things you’d expect; things like cats, dogs, weasels, alligators, birds, and the like. Then, there’s “Chimeras” and “Purebreeds.” Chimeras are animals that are a blend of two (maybe more) animals we see in nature. Some of these are just made by having animals interbreeding but the more terrifying thing is that the majority were based on things we’re made in reality or would make, if given the chance. The most horrific of these is the “Spider Goat” Chimeras. Based on something we already do (splice in spider DNA into goats so we can harvest spider silk from their milk, look it up), these ones take the cake for the most extreme. Then, there’s flying pigs. Because you know someone would do that if they could. Meanwhile, Purebreds happen because of natural selection in this hard world and can only “bred true” (meaning both parents have to be the same thing). Some these are also stupidly powerful, like the Pixie Bobcat, who can teleport 1 mile. And then there’s the Pleasure Bunnies, which you know we’d do, if given half a chance…

Using the BIO-E system, you can make a mutant animal that can be anything from normal looking with massive mental powers to a mutant animal that’s almost impossible to tell apart from a normal, unmutated human. You can spend these points to increase the mutant’s size (or gain them by reducing size), keep vestigial traits both good and bad, give them full bipedal motion, hands, speech, and looks, and give them psionics. The original mutant animal rules are from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and were not nearly as in-depth as these, which carries over into the source books, as well as the mutant hero rules in Heros Unlimited.

The one thing this system also has is a very low key Psionics system compared to the others. You don’t have to keep track of Psionic “mana,” instead just having a limited amount of time it can be used or uses per day, at most. You could introduce the normal Psionics system into this game, if you really want to.

Is it worth it?:

As with all Palladium games, this is another “Maybe.”

If you already own Rifts, Heroes Unlimited, or even Ninja & Superspies, you might want this as a source book, just for the mutant animal character creation rules. Since it doesn’t have the typical OOC/RCC system, it fits seamlessly into one that already does, since you can make your mutant and then take a class of your choosing. If you don’t have those other games, you can probably skip it. While it is a playable game, the setting feels very bolted on, with very few details. You need to download the map pack online (which is free) to understand where things are. If you want to explore the world, you need those books, as well as some issues of The Rifter. And the source books are using the first edition rules, not nearly as comprehensive as the second edition ones, meaning you’re going to want to fiddle with them before playing.

And, yes, there’s a very strong element of furry stuff in here. I won’t deny it, there’s no point. If you’re in that community, this might just be the game for you. Just don’t try to force it onto others, okay?