Gearhead 2 has another beta release available. This version has character creation disabled, so you start with a generic character named Bruce. However, it does let you play around a bit with the story generator within a town.

Here's a list of planned features that aren't actually in this release:

• The play area will be greatly increased to include not only Earth but Luna, Mars, Venus, and the Spinner Colonies as well
• Mecha combat in space, underwater, and other new environments
• Hostile environments will be able to harm your PC, unless he has the right protective equipment
• Mecha for encounters selected by faction affiliation and terrain type
• The PC will be able to purchase a spaceship to serve as home base and transport between planets
• Improved core story, with new random generator and multiple endings
• Random content has been added to cities, dungeons, and other game locations
• Unique content that will not be repeated
• Conversation trees can be randomly generated
• Nonlethal combat will be added
• Ammunition caliber and energy weapon power has been reworked
• Shopkeepers now have more well-defined inventories
• Pet and robot stores
• Intrinsics will be added
• PC rescue system changed
• Chaotic reputation renamed to Criminal
• More opportunities for criminal PCs to steal things
• Improved character generator, allowing player to select history, faction, home town and personal goals
• ASCII interface now handled by FPC video, graphic interface handled by OpenGL/SDL
• Computers and software to be added
• Other new gear and weapon types
• Skill roll history
• Bones files to record winning PCs, who may later be encountered by new PCs

Here's a neat question. If your current character murders a past character, will future characters run in to the past character? If not, can your future character collect a bounty on your current character for killing your past character?

Thanks, pyrrho12!