Skip to the end if you just want to get the game. There is a small piece of bot protection in place.
Why am I doing this? Well, becuase not only did I find out that they've finally re-printed Mutant: År noll (Mutant: Year Zero in English, and yes, they made an English release), but they also have an active kickstarter for a standalone expansion for it (even if you don't understand Swedish, you might be drawn in by the awesome cover art. The original print run of the game ran out before I had a chance to pick it up, and the prices on ebay for it were just out of this world (I want the game, but I'm not paying twice the retail price for a used copy!).

Krater is an odd game. It's a game that I don't understand how it could even be made, considering how much it intentionally limits its own target audience.
To understand Krater, you need to understand where it comes from. Back in the mid 80's (84 to be more precise) a pen & paper RPG was released called Mutant. Mutant was set in a post apocalyptic Sweden, with intelligent mutated animals living side by side with mutated humans and regular humans. If you're from Sweden, and you played pen & paper RPGs during the 80's and 90's, you must likely came into contact with this game, as it was very popular. Even to this day, copies of it are easy to come by (despite it going out of print in 1989, this was several years before I started playing pen & paper RPGs), though prices indicate that it's an item that is still in relatively high demand. The box art for these games was not great, or at the very least it did a horrible job at setting the tone. In fact, one release of it has this wonderfully 80's .. thing.
Krater is heavily based on this pen & paper RPG. Not officially so, but the tone is close to it. It even had part of the song from the Swdish fan film Balladen om den Vilsne vandraren, which got a limited DVD release back in 2007 (a relatively rare, but not overly expensive item that I'm lucky to have in my possession), which also lacks the official branding, but even mentions some things from the RPG by name.
Everything in Krater is very Swedish. The architecture is stereotypical Swedish, there are places named after real Swedish places, and they even have a quest based around a popular Swedish brand of soda (the importance of Trocadero will be lost on anyone who is not from Sweden). Basically, if you're not from Sweden, many of the jokes will be lost on you. If you did not grow up playing Mutant, then many other jokes will be lost on you. Still, if you're interested in seeing what exactly a post apocalyptic Sweden would look like, it's worth giving the game a try.

Mutant as a brand has been in continuous use since 1984. You might be familiar with Mutant Chronciles, which grew out of Mutant (but in terms of setting & tone has almost nothing to do with the original game, and which sadly was the game that most of the world got to see, as it got an international release). Back in 2002 a new version of Mutant, based on the original game, was released. It was a great game, and became really popular, but sadly it did not remain in print for very long (due to this, it's quite expensive. My most prized geek possession is a copy of this game, signed to me personally by all the people who worked on the game, except for the person doing the illustrations). In 2007 & 2008, some Mutant Chronicles related things were released by FFG, and a movie was released set in this world. You would think that a movie like that would be done on a shoestring budget with mostly unknown actors, but this was not the case. And most recently, the above mentioned Mutant: År Noll (Mutant: Year Zero) was released, which is set before the first Mutant, just shortly after the apocalypse.

And here is the GA (Level 2)

View attached image.
9 years ago*

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Krater looks like a fun old school RPG, thanks for the giveaway!

9 years ago
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View attached image.
9 years ago
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The movie doesn't look spectacular but it might have a certain charm. Any thoughts on whether it's worth checking out?

9 years ago
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I did not find it very good. It was surprisingly nice looking, but it was not fun to watch. The few fans of the game that it was based on (none of which were from Sweden, over here Mutant Chronicles is almost universally hated) that I've talked to also said that it strayed very far from the source material.

9 years ago
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Interesting back story on the Krater game and nice highlight of the Mutant. Never heard of it myself, but there is never enough post apocalyptic stuff around, will remember that title in case I stumble upon it somewhere, sometime.

Glanced on Krater reviews and there seem to be a bit of ... unrest regarding the technical side of the game, unfinished development, stuff like that. You played it, so how is it actually?

9 years ago
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I had no issues with bugs, but from what I've gathered, the game was really buggy at launch. Gameplay got a bit repetitive though, which is why I never finished it. I do have a very low tolerance for grind & repetitive gameplay, lower than most, so you might not have any issues with it

9 years ago
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And if anyone wonders, the wonderful box art up above actually depicts a real place.

View attached image.
9 years ago
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Mutant : Year Zero

Searched youtube and gametrailers but nothing about gameplay !. There's just teaser trailer and developer's diary about it !

Edit : oh, it's a tabletop game !

9 years ago*
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Yep, Mutant is a pen & paper RPG. Mutant Chronicles was also made into a miniatures wargame, a card game, board games and a SNES & Mega Drive game (which was really bad).

9 years ago
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Bump

9 years ago
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That already exists: It's called the Swedish migration law.

9 years ago
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It's not the laws so much as the system that's broken. The system where the rich municipalities don't take on any immigrants, while the poor ones take in a lot. Anyone with a smidge of sense can see the issues with a system like this.

9 years ago
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Apparently the Mutant English player's guide is free through the publisher, so it's worth taking a look, even if you don't know Swedish! My brother is trying to learn Swedish, so I linked him to it; maybe he'll back it.

9 years ago
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I can only find character sheets & some handouts for free on their website.

9 years ago
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I think they have a preview too- I found the sheets and handouts but I think this is what would be a more complete view (I haven't looked at it yet)

9 years ago
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The characters could be extremely racist and xenophobics, specially with the characters from the south of Europe, black and/or muslims

9 years ago
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Isn't Sweden already full of zombies anyway?

(Oh i am just saying something, know little about swedish people)

9 years ago
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(haven't yet read the text) Do you mean "Malmo & Stockholm: The Game"?

9 years ago
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Looked nice and I think I might have heard of this Mutant pnp before. Thanks for informing and thanks for giveaway!

9 years ago
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Post Apocalyptic Sweden?

Isn't that just Sweden present day mate?

9 years ago
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