Sunday, June 8, 2014

Review & Commentary For Skirmisher Publishing's Creatures Of The Wastelands Habitats For Mutant Future Or Any Old School Post Apocalyptic Campaigns



Grab It Right Over
HERE


This is one title that I've been meaning to tear into for years and now its finally in my grubby little hands. Habitats is a twenty page book that breaks down some but not all of the possible places and environs to place your mutant monsters for Mutant Future or even Labyrinth  lord. The book is mostly system neutral in point of fact and could be with a bit of work used for a wide variety of post apocalyptic campaigns. There's lots of options here for the DM to really use. 
This title brings lots of options to the table for the DM to use. The book is written from a perspective of a biologist (which the author is) or a Gygaxian post apocalyptic ecology that there are all kinds of areas of environment  and pseudo biological logic for placement of monsters. In this regard the book reminds me of some of the older Dragon magazine articles. The early ones as a matter of fact.
The Drive thru Rpg site blurb: 

Creatures of the Wastelands: Habitats is devoted to some of the possible environments and locations that might exist in a post-apocalyptic campaign setting and how they can be used in role-playing games in general and Goblinoid Games’ Mutant Future in particular.
Life being what it is, most of these locations have since been colonized by a variety of mutant and non-mutant life forms. Following each of the 44 described locations is a list of up to four creatures each from three different books, the Mutant Future core rulebook, and Skirmisher Publishing LLC’s Creatures of the Wastelands and Creatures of the Wastelands: Mutational Evolution, both licensed supplements to Mutant Future.
Creatures of the Wastelands: Habitats is fully compatible with Mutant Future, as well as Labyrinth Lord and other games that use the familiar and easy-to-use “Basic D&D” rules introduced in the 1980s.
Author Derek Holland is an invertebrate zoologist who has brought his extensive training and experience from the field to this and other books in the Creatures of the Wastelands series of supplements to the Mutant Future role-playing game.

Using 
Skirmisher Publishing's Creatures Of The Wastelands Habitats
 For Mutant Future Or Any Old School Post Apocalyptic Campaigns
                             


This might seem like a very straight forward title, a few options and locations to place your monsters and mutants then your done. This book has far more uses. The book has the vibe of Dougal Dixon the gentleman who did 'The Man after Man' book and 'The After Man' book as well as 'The New Dinosaur book'  in some respects. That is the environment and location's biological conditions and pressures effect the organisms that will live in these environs. 
This really allows a DM to tailor the dungeon or mega dungeon location to the monster or even the reverse. This notation being part of those 'Ecology of' articles back in the halcyon days of Dragon magazine.
This book can also be used as part of a Mutant Future television episode adventure style of play campaign. The environs described could be used as set pieces and the monsters far more then simply things to kill but as problems to be over come as well. The book goes a long way to hammering this point home without laboring the point.
 Habitats brings a bit to the table and this title has from what I've seen been forgotten on the shelf because far more important post apocalyptic titles have pasted it by. Too bad there's lessons that can still be minded from this one and I'm glad its in my PA arsenal. 

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