Mutant: Year Zero

Obviously this will vary from table to table, but here are some good places to start! If your game is played in person, most likely you will want to get a set of dice, something to write with, and paper to take notes. If your game is hosted online instead, you will probably need to make accounts on a few sites for things like character sheets, access to the Virtual Tabletop for maps and tokens, and sites like Discord or Zoom for video/voice calls during the session. You won't always need to have the rulebooks to start, but if you want to read through them to make sure you know all the rules, this might also be a good option.

Tabletop Roleplaying Games can cover an impressive range of topics and styles, including violence, horror, romance, and many many more! However, if there are specific themes or content that you’re uncomfortable with, let your group and GM know before the game, and have an open conversation about these topics. Any group worth playing with should be respectful and understanding of your concerns and the game can be adjusted so everyone is having fun. Many tables also use “Safety Tools” which help ensure that these conversations are handled easily, and everyone has a voice at the table.

Mutant: Year Zero uses regular six sided dice, or d6s, for its rolls.

Mutant: Year Zero has two major game environments, each with its own style of play: The Ark, your home in the dawnworld. A nest of intrigue and Lord of the Flies-style power struggles, it’s far from a safe haven. But it’s the only home you know, and just maybe the cradle of a new civilization. The game rules let you improve and develop the Ark in the areas of Warfare, Food Supply, Technology, and Culture. It is up to you, the players, to decide which projects to embark on. The Zone, wastelands outside the Ark. You will venture into the Zone in search of food, artifacts, other mutants, and knowledge – not least about The People’s own origin. The game includes two maps of example Zones; London and New York and a plethora of tables and other tools to let the GM populate its sectors with mutants, deadly monsters and bizarre phenomena. Where in the world the Zone and the Ark are located is up to you – why not play in a post-apocalyptic version of your own home town? The modular approach of this game lets you place all of the campaign material wherever you like.

Mutant: Year Zero is just the beginning. The first major expansion Mutant: Genlab Alpha expands the rules to cover mutated animals and exploring the background of these mutants in a full length campaign. Mutant: Genlab Alpha is a complete stand-alone game, you only need the book to play but can also be combined with Mutant: Year Zero. Mutant: Mechatron is the second major stand-alone expansion, covering robots and machine beings, complete with a full length campaign. Finally, Mutant: Elysium completes the quartet of stand-alone games in the Mutant universe, exploring the story of the humans of the Old Age who survived the Apocalypse in vast underground enclaves