I was sent a free copy of Mutant: Year Zero to review for my blog. I haven’t had a chance to run a game of Mutant, but I did read through it. These will be my honest impressions of the system.
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The Book
The quality of this rulebook’s printing is expectantly phenomenal. You have a sturdily bounded book printed on high-quality paper. I have the PDF of Mutant: Year Zero, but nothing beats flipping through the pages and actually seeing the illustrations in person. I am a huge fan of the artwork, so I had a lot of fun flipping through the pages and admiring the illustrations. You don’t need the book to play Mutant, you can get by with the PDF, but it’s cooler with the book out.
The Story
The World as we know it has ended. War, famine, and illness have ravaged the land, leaving it a desolate and inhospitable place. Humanity’s only survivors have twisted and mutated to become unrecognizable to their ancestors. As the world falls into chaos, the Arc becomes humanity’s last remaining claim at civilization. Here, the lucky few have formed a community away from the brutality of the zone. But those peaceful days within the Arc’s walls are numbered. As supplies begin to dwindle, and tensions begin to rise, it is time to venture into the unforgiving unknown and search for salvation. What adventures await?
What is Mutant: Year Zero?
Mutant: Year Zero is a post-apocalyptic tabletop RPG that uses the award-winning Year Zero engine to tell its story. If you haven’t played a game that uses the Year Zero engine, it is a super easy system to learn that uses D6s to run. Players succeed based on the number of sixes they roll.
In the simplest terms, Mutant is a post-apocalyptic world filled with X-Men. Players start the game by picking a role, rolling stats, and rolling for a random mutation. Players can’t choose their mutation, but they can roll for a second ability at the cost of some skill points. Having a random ability is bound to spark some cool narratives.
The core book has everything you need to run a campaign in Mutant. It has an expansive lore about the world, abilities, and communities. While you don’t have a module to run, you do have access to a decent list of hooks and encounters. You’re going to need this rulebook to run a complete campaign of Mutant, but there are some prewritten modules if you need them.
What sets Mutant apart is its survival mechanics. Players will consistently push their limits as they fight to live another day. Food is scares, gear will break, and players will be forced to use their mutations. It is not a giddy dark survival that you would expect from Alien RPG, but isn’t easy either. If you’ve ever wanted to play a superhero campaign, Mutant: Year Zero is a fantastic place to start.
Free Starter Booklet
The best place to start with Mutant: Year Zero is the starter booklet. The booklet offers a streamlined condensed version of the rules, a prewritten campaign, and a set of pre-generated characters to run your first campaign. It is always a good idea to test if a system is a good fit at your table. You can get a copy of the free booklet from the official site, but I’ll leave it below for your convenience.
Impressions
I am a huge fan of the artwork. I love the comic book style of the illustrations, and I appreciate the amount of flavor that fills its pages. The jobs and mutations have some fantastic flavor. I am interested in seeing how my players react to their random mutation. I definitely see the potential for shenanigans.
This seems like an easy system to pick up with a solid amount of potential. Combat seems fine, but the fact that gear can break and players can use mutations is sure to keep things interesting. Ultimately it comes down to you enjoying the flavor and wanting to break out of the fantasy real. It’s going to be a while before I run a campaign of Mutant because my players prefer their fantasy, but I’m slowly getting there. I did manage to break away from D&D, so I’ll hold on to my faith.
If you’re looking for a new TTRPG about survival and superpowers, check out Mutant: Year Zero. You can pick up the Mutant: Year Zero core rule book on Amazon for $49.99 using my affiliate link.