Ruins of the Ancients

Considering my idea to run a Gamma World game set in the far future of the Marvel Comics universe.  Most of the potential players in any campaign I would run tend to read my blog, so I figure that cat's out of the bag and I might as well go full bore with this idea whenever I get around to running a game again (and I am in serious gamer withdrawal right now, but no relief in sight).

Now, if the players know that this is the future of Marvel Earth, here are a few of the things I think I'll need to do to pull off a game like this:

• No traces of anything "Marvel" in the post-apoc society where the PCs start, with the possible exception of religious figures or tales of legendary heroes of old
• Ruins, on the other hand, will typically have a theme based on some organization or power-center in the comics.  So S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarriers half buried in the silt of the river delta, Friends of Humanity fallout shelters, Oscorp research and development centers overrun with badders and obs, etc.
• I'll use artifacts from the book, re-skinned to match stuff in the comics when possible, and make up other stuff from the comics.  I'm not sure if I'll definitely figure out just what the "apocalypse" was, but it will probably be post "Marvel 2099" so there would be other high tech stuff than whatever Dr. Doom, Reed Richards, Tony Stark, Hydra, etc. had developed, and more common as well.
• Magic exists.  Does this mean I'll bolt on Labyrinth Lord classes to the PCs?  Probably not, but the Thundarr-esque "Wizards" and "Sorcerers" won't all just be relying on recovered tech and Clarke's Law.  There will be spells and magic items.

 Finally, I think I mentioned this previously, but for awarding experience points, I plan to create exploration based awards similar to the system developed by Jeff Rients.  There will also be XP for recovering artifacts and information; also returning "junk" for the tribe (XP for treasure).  I plan NOT to give out XP for combat.  So the game will focus on exploring the wilderness to locate ruins, exploring those ruins, and bringing stuff back home.  Fighting mutants, creatures, robots and aliens may be necessary, but the rewards of combat will be access to the things that provide XP (and surviving, if you're lucky).

I may make an exception to the "no combat XP" rule if the players get involved with the machinations of the Wizards, and decide to take one (or all) down.