ffutures | Another RPG bundle offer

Another system I don't know at all; the premise is potentially interesting, but it looks like it's mostly used as a springboard for combat which isn't necessarily everybody's cup of tea.

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/MutantEpoch

"On the "How Gonzo is the Apocalypse?" spectrum from Twilight: 2000 to World of Synnibarr, William McAusland's The Mutant Epoch is wilder than octaNe but stops short of Rifts. In the 24th Century, after prolonged wars, disaster, and chaos, "pure stock" humans struggle amid devastated landscapes against robotic mecha, bioreplica clones, bio-genetically engineered warriors and beasts, and rising nations of mutants. In free towns (Old West-style forts) engineered humans mingle with mutants, free-willed android mercenaries, and self-aware robots to trade food, power cells, scrap material, and relic treasures. "Excavator" characters form dig teams to uncover precious loot in the ruins of the Ancients. Through force of arms these independent factions survive against barbaric skullocks, warmorts, moaners, reptili, and bipedal rats, not to mention the imperial aspirations of androids and Aberrationist mutants.

With its ruined wastelands, its gunbunny free towns and infested malls, its crazed patchwork cyborgs with tentacles and shoulder turrets, its Tyrannosapiens and Walking Mouthers (oh brother, those Mouthers), The Mutant Epoch projects a gleeful B-movie, Heavy Metal brio and, more surprising, a weird optimism. Sure, ya got yer Holy Purist Empire race wars and yer androids bent on extermination; of course ya got yer hordes of mutants with Acid Spit, Bladed Limbs, Crab Pincers, Doom Spheres, Earth Thumps, Foul Flesh, Gaseous Discharge (eww!), and so on; life is cheap and power cells are really expensive; but hey -- there's nowhere to go but up! "For many intelligent beings, especially mutant humans, it is the beginning of the greatest age in history," reads the description on the Outland Arts website. "The former dominance of the pure stocks has faded, and the opportunity to seize power and territory is within reach of the fit, the brave, and the adventurous. 'No guts, no glory,' shout the former slave races, as they make their forays into the ruins to claim their inheritance from careless, arrogant forefathers."

We provide each ebook complete in .PDF (Portable Document Format). Like all Bundle of Holding titles, these books have NO DRM (Digital Restrictions Management), and our customers are entitled to move them freely among all their ereaders.

Ten percent of each purchase (after gateway fees) goes to this offer's designated charity, Doctors Without Borders.

The total retail value of the titles in this offer is US$89. Customers who pay just US$7.95 get all three titles in our Starter Collection (retail value $40) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks, including the complete The Mutant Epoch Hub Rules (core rulebook, retail price $13), Crossroads Region Gazetteer (retail $17), and Mutant Bestiary One (retail $10).

Those who pay more than the threshold (average) price, which is set at $17.95 to start, also get our entire Bonus Collection with five more sourcebooks and scenarios worth an additional $49, including Pitford: Gateway to the Ruins (retail $11), the Creatures of the Apocalypse Codex (retail $10), the adventures The Mall of Doom (retail $8) and Beyond Red Crater (retail price $8), and Excavator Monthly Compendium (retail $12)."

What I was hoping for, when I saw a very brief synopsis, was something like an "archaeologists excavating the ruins of Earth and getting it comically wrong" setting along the lines of books like Motel of the Mysteries and Victorian/Edwardian "Ruins of London" stories. On a closer look it's more about looting, pillaging, and gratuitous violence. I'm afraid I'm going to have to give this one a thumbs down, but if you actually want to play a two-headed mutant with a giant sword replacing one hand this may be just what you're looking for, tastes differ...