Not a Review - Atomic Highway

[demonground]

This isn't a review. For one of those, you either have to read the RPG or actually play a game of it. This is neither. This is just my impressions of athe game as I flick through its pages.

Atomic Highway by Radioactive Ape Design
I've always been a big fan of post-apocalyptic settings, be they in roleplaying (Aftermath, Twilight: 2000, Summerlands, etc), computer games (Fallout, Wasteland, etc), solo gamebooks (Carwars, Joe Dever's Freeway Warrior series) or novels (The Jon Shannow novels by David Gemmell, the pulp of Axler's Deathlands, etc). There is just something about the destruction of humanity and its subsequent rise from the ashes that really appeals to me - any wonder then I grabbed this game, then?

• I only have the PDF, a printed version is due shortly.
• It weights in at around 130 pages, and has a clear layout and easy-to-read font.
• The art ranges from atmospheric through to not-so-good. I have to say that the character art is the best (although the cover also rocks), but I'm not a big fan of the other pictures and incidental art.
• The ' What is an RPG' section is highlighted by a great little cartoon.
• The setting seems nice and generic.
• There is a chapter on 'What is means to be a player', or advice on how to ensure you (as a player) help the game turn out fun.
• The V6 system seems very simple and easy to use (and explain to others), and I like the way that the first letters of the seven Attributes form the word MUTANTS.
• There is a highlight on vehicles (which makes sense given the subject material).
• However, there is also a section on scavenging (tables of things to find), which seems a little pointless to me.
• Divides up the Game system into three chapters, The basics, Personal Combat, and Vehicle Combat
• Nice section on GMing the system and creating your own setting.

Final observations - There is something about the V6 system that appeals, although at first glace (and reading various posts on forums)  their is a little too much mutant action for my liking (although this is no Gamma World). Still there seems like it will take very little to make it match the Deathlands setting (which is all about guns, mutants and teleporters - go figure) or run a game in the Jerusalem Man-type campaign (like my own Sanctuary campaign).