The original Gamma World 1e box set had three distinct printings during its 4+ year run. I’ve combed my photo archives for examples of each printing as an aid to collectors.
All my Gamma World for sale in the shop
Just want a classic GW 1st book to play, without paying collector prices? DriveThruRPG has you covered: PDF is $10, and a reprint book $16.
The Books



The printings conveniently spanned the time periods of three different TSR logos:
- 1st print has the old school TSR Lizard logo
- 2nd print the Wizard logo
- 3rd print the Face logo
TSR wasn’t concerned with keeping printings distinct of course. I have seen a 2nd print book in a 1st print box (single owner) for example. Also maps varied a bit. I have identified map types by printings, but I’ve seen plenty of exceptions too.
In addition to the logo variation, the books inside had printing notes on the title page (except 1st print, which had none).

The Box Sets



1st prints had the early TSR low impact dice. The box bottom had no printing, instead the promo graphics were printed on a loose sheet.


2nd prints switched to the smaller TSR dice. Gamma World sets rarely have their dice anymore.




3rd prints.
Edit: I’ve had a couple of reports of the old low impact dice being found in 3rd print sets. And I too have seen this once before. I reckon that TSR employees (ca. 1981-2) stumbled on a case of the old low impact dice, and were using them as they assembled some of the 3rd print sets.
See Also:
This is a great post. Thanks for these details.
Reblogged this on DDOCentral.
In the original version of Gamma World there were 10 modules that came out with the rule books and other stuff. Do you have a list of those 10 modules? Thanks
Hello. Yes, over on my Gamma World Reference pages, you’ll find everything published for 1st through 5th editions (1978 – early 2000s). Happy Gaming! -Wayne
http://www.waynesbooks.com/GammaWorld.html