The Inside Scoop on Gaming

INTRODUCTION:

Never did I think copies of the 32 page pamphlet ,I purchased in the early 80s for $5, would be selling for $150 plus on eBay! I think there has to be 3 kinds of people bidding on this item, collectors, those who want it for nastolgic reasons, and those who just want to check it out and play the game. This review is for the latter, as the first 2 know what they are getting when they search out a copy of Metamorphosis Alpha.

I’ve seen this game described as many things in books and magazines, D&D in space, The precursor to Gamma World, a dungeon in space, a good one pop game, ect. I think the people who wrote these either never played the game, or missed the true joy of Metamorphosis Alpha.

I would describe the game as, a campaign world in a can. Probably not a glamorous description, but better than a dungeon in space, for that’s what the Starship Warden is, a complete campaign world. Endless adventures can be played in this world, if, the fact that you are on a vast lost starship is used as a background for the world, and not as the sole purpose of adventuring in it (as Metamorphosis Alpha to Omega, the Amazing Engine re-make emphasizes). Hopefully this last paragraph will make more sense after reading the entire review.

THE BACKGROUND:

By the 23rd century a great migration was spreading from Terra to hundreds of inhabitable worlds. Most of these ships made it, but for some reasons, many didn’t. This game is based on the fate of one ship that didn’t, “the fate of a colony ship which became lost...” (I really like that line).

The Starship Warden took 11 years to build, it was 25 miles wide, 50 miles long, and 8 1/2 miles in height, with 17 decks. The vessel contained complete terran environments, 1 1/2 million colonists, and 50,000 crew.

1/3rd of the way to it’s destination, disaster struck, the starship travelled through a cloud of unknown radiation. This killed most of the colonists, everything aboard had to mutate to survive. Forested areas seemed to have the most resistance, so the crew and colonists took to living there. The crew who remained to try and regain control of the ship failed.

Life became a struggle to simply survive. Over time the mission, and even the fact that they were aboard a space ship was lost, while the ships computers and robots maintained minimum operations. The ship regressed to a state of savagery (many generations later), with humans settling into a tribal lifestyle. Animals and plants mutated to the point where they could talk, ect. just like humans.

“ The vessel traveled on past its assigned planet. It is only a matter of time until even those almost perfect systems fail, and the ship dies. Until that time, life continues to flourish and the Warden travels on, much changed from what it once was.” (In the MA to O remake, the ship ends up orbiting the planet and terraforming it for colonization, I rather like the doom and gloom of the older version myself).

APPEARANCE OF THE BOOK:

The book is 32 thick stock pages of black and white, color cover, and saddle stitched. It is well enough organized, with sections and subsections labeled in larger print, but the main text is about half the normal size, so be prepared to squint while you are reading! The artwork is great for nastolgic purposes (to remind you of what gaming material was like in the early years) but for anything else it is pretty downright terrible! Even the cover is horrible.

THE GAME SYSTEM:

Unlike the impression most people may get, the system is NOT like D&D, although it’s roots are evident. I just wanted to point this out right away, more details will follow. The system (or mish mash) is actually pretty bad. Worst of all, there is absolutely no Character progression in the rules. This game was great fun “in the days” but to be honest, if you just want to play the game (And I think the game concept is great fun!) you would be better off using the rules from any version of Gamma World you like. The Metamorphosis Alpha to Omega Amazing Engine version (basicly percentile based) is also much more cleaned up and easy to convert to another system that you may prefer (and a lot cheaper to get hold of). While this isn’t a review of MA to O it is worth mentioning that the original MA is very sparce on detailing the Starship, while MA to O, is pretty complete. While I personally prefer designing my own custom Spaceship, GMs who want a more complete “game world” will prefer the MA to O version.

CONTENTS OF THE RULEBOOK:

After the introduction, comes 2 pages of very brief descriptions of the 17 levels of the ship, along with some even more vague maps. The descriptions are mostly, what the level contained and it’s purpose BEFORE the disaster, not what it is like now, that is left for the GM to decide. Again, it’s all a matter of preference as to how much work as a GM you want to do, wether you will appreciate this lack of detail, or not. The maps are kinda funny, since the grid used on them is crooked, ah, the high standards of the time!

The book then goes on to describe some things that can be universally found on the ship, such as color coded bracelets that open certain doors, hall monitors, engineering walkways, ect. There is then a list of “treasures” the players might find, robots, and weapons. A list of non-mutated animals completes the first half of the campaign world information. Strangely, the book picks it up again later.

Now we jump into character generation. The ability scores are, Radiation resistance, mental resistance, dexterity, constitution, strength, and leadership potential, determined by rolling 3d6. Then you choose if you want to be a Human, mutant, or mutant animal (mutants, and mutant animals get mutations, but don’t get the leadership potential ability score).

In explaining the ability scores, we get a bunch of tables of radiation effects, mental attacks resistance, poison chars, ect. Most are cross references and tell you what you have to roll on a d20 or die. There are also, immediate death results (a very annoying aspect of early games! Who wants their character to instantly die with no chance to avoid the peril!?).

Hit points are determined (like in Gamma World) by rolling a number of d6 equal to your constitution score.

We then go into the ever loved, description of physical and mental mutations and defects. As is generally known, these are silly, more like super powers, and less like actual mutations would be. To many people (myself included) these are what make the game so much fun. Of course, if you’re looking for realism, you might as well throw this book away right now! (just kidding, give it to me instead!!). Mutations are things like, carapace, radiation eyes, heightened smell, gills, wings, telekinesis, magnetic control, ect. They are all very briefly described. In the day, these descriptions were fine, but in this day and age, where people want details of every possible event, they are pretty sparce (again, you would be better of with MA to O or your favorite copy of Gamma World). This section is followed up by a few special mutations just for animals, and Plant Mutations (Plants are NPCs or monsters only).

The next section deals with the mutants (monsters) aboard the starship. These are not the same as in later versions of Gamma World, as you might expect. These are goofy things like Cougaroid, bearoid, woldoid, and such along with a few insects and some plants. Each has a few lines of description, Armor Class, Movement, and Hit Dice. Very Brief!

Our next section is Weapons and Combat. Every weapon has a weapon class, this is cross referenced against the Armor class on a small table, this gives you what you need to hit on a d20. It’s as simple as it sounds, and as stupid. You never really know what weapon is better than another, and since there is no character progression, you will never get better.

Now, we sort of jump back into GM section mode. We get a treasure list of little items of junk the PCs might find (some not described, and some described earlier, such as weapons and robots, ect.). We get wandering monster tables, and very brief sections on tribal ares, forested areas, the ships computer, and NPCs. Thrown in at an odd point (can you say Palladium) is a section on healing body damage.

Next we get one of those cool examples of play. I always loved these in old books, although this one is a tad more boring than most.

On the next two pages, we get samples of 2 levels of the ship. These maps are a little better, with brief descriptions of certain areas, and keys. Of course, there is nothing really here to suggest any adventures or anything.

The last couple pages have maps of the typical modular dwelling (house), and a cut-away of the Starship that is pretty funny (It looks like a giant egg). Finally we get some character sheets, and a tearout page of charts.

GRUBMANS COMMENTS:

Doesn’t sound like a thrilling rulebook? That’s because it isn’t. Being published in 1976, when role-playing was still very fresh and new, it’s an ugly little book! The book is bare bones, and sloppy. The system is piece-meal and loaded with charts (well, enough for a rulebook so short).

That said, I love the concept. Personally, my copy sits in a plastic storage bag, waiting for the day when it’s as rare as Superman #1. I use my own version of the rules that is a combination of MA to O and Star Frontiers. I pretty much ignore the MA to O deck descriptions (although the model of the Warden is really cool! as are the maps), and design my own ship, as I go. While I admit, I haven’t played much lately, My MA adventures only spanned 2 decks (and I ran a lot of adventures!). And the PCs were only starting to get the idea they were on a Spaceship, rather that a “world.”

I can’t say I know exactly what other people have done with the game, but my adventures tend more tword fantasy. Technology takes the place of magic, and the bizzare makeup (anything goes) of the world keep the players on their toes. My adventures are pretty much the same as any game, rescue, exploration, diplomatic, ect. The Warden, is just the backdrop, and a unique world. It allows for a great deal of freedom, especially for the creative and , sometimes, goofy GM. The focus of the MA to O re-make, is to take over the ship, and land it on the planet below. This makes the game more One-shot, and I think really takes the fun out of it. Of course, a reverse argument is, that unlike Gamma World, where the chief complaint of GMs is (never really a problem of mine personally) “what do you do with it”, MA has a backdrop that adds a little more purpose to adventuring.

So, in summary, I’m saying, If you just want a copy to play the game...$150 is way to much to spend for this little pamphlet! Get a copy or MA to O and convert it to your favorite system, or just use the concept in your Gamma World campaign.

Metamorphosis Alpha
Metamorphosis Alpha Capsule Review by Grubman on 07/04/02 Style: 2 (Needs Work) Substance: 2 (Sparse) Possibly the most collectable RPG, but, is it worth the money?? Product: Metamorphosis Alpha Author: James Ward Category: RPG Company/Publisher: TSR Line: Cost: $5 Page count: 32 Year published: 1976 ISBN: SKU: Comp copy?: no Capsule Review by Grubman on 07/04/02 Genre tags: Science Fiction Post-apocalyse	INTRODUCTION: Never did I think copies of the 32 page pamphlet ,I purchased in the early 80s for $5, would be selling for $150 plus on eBay! I think there has to be 3 kinds of people bidding on this item, collectors, those who want it for nastolgic reasons, and those who just want to check it out and play the game. This review is for the latter, as the first 2 know what they are getting when they search out a copy of Metamorphosis Alpha. I’ve seen this game described as many things in books and magazines, D&D in space, The precursor to Gamma World, a dungeon in space, a good one pop game, ect. I think the people who wrote these either never played the game, or missed the true joy of Metamorphosis Alpha. I would describe the game as, a campaign world in a can. Probably not a glamorous description, but better than a dungeon in space, for that’s what the Starship Warden is, a complete campaign world. Endless adventures can be played in this world, if, the fact that you are on a vast lost starship is used as a background for the world, and not as the sole purpose of adventuring in it (as Metamorphosis Alpha to Omega, the Amazing Engine re-make emphasizes). Hopefully this last paragraph will make more sense after reading the entire review. THE BACKGROUND: By the 23rd century a great migration was spreading from Terra to hundreds of inhabitable worlds. Most of these ships made it, but for some reasons, many didn’t. This game is based on the fate of one ship that didn’t, “the fate of a colony ship which became lost...” (I really like that line). The Starship Warden took 11 years to build, it was 25 miles wide, 50 miles long, and 8 1/2 miles in height, with 17 decks. The vessel contained complete terran environments, 1 1/2 million colonists, and 50,000 crew. 1/3rd of the way to it’s destination, disaster struck, the starship travelled through a cloud of unknown radiation. This killed most of the colonists, everything aboard had to mutate to survive. Forested areas seemed to have the most resistance, so the crew and colonists took to living there. The crew who remained to try and regain control of the ship failed. Life became a struggle to simply survive. Over time the mission, and even the fact that they were aboard a space ship was lost, while the ships computers and robots maintained minimum operations. The ship regressed to a state of savagery (many generations later), with humans settling into a tribal lifestyle. Animals and plants mutated to the point where they could talk, ect. just like humans. “ The vessel traveled on past its assigned planet. It is only a matter of time until even those almost perfect systems fail, and the ship dies. Until that time, life continues to flourish and the Warden travels on, much changed from what it once was.” (In the MA to O remake, the ship ends up orbiting the planet and terraforming it for colonization, I rather like the doom and gloom of the older version myself). APPEARANCE OF THE BOOK: The book is 32 thick stock pages of black and white, color cover, and saddle stitched. It is well enough organized, with sections and subsections labeled in larger print, but the main text is about half the normal size, so be prepared to squint while you are reading! The artwork is great for nastolgic purposes (to remind you of what gaming material was like in the early years) but for anything else it is pretty downright terrible! Even the cover is horrible. THE GAME SYSTEM: Unlike the impression most people may get, the system is NOT like D&D, although it’s roots are evident. I just wanted to point this out right away, more details will follow. The system (or mish mash) is actually pretty bad. Worst of all, there is absolutely no Character progression in the rules. This game was great fun “in the days” but to be honest, if you just want to play the game (And I think the game concept is great fun!) you would be better off using the rules from any version of Gamma World you like. The Metamorphosis Alpha to Omega Amazing Engine version (basicly percentile based) is also much more cleaned up and easy to convert to another system that you may prefer (and a lot cheaper to get hold of). While this isn’t a review of MA to O it is worth mentioning that the original MA is very sparce on detailing the Starship, while MA to O, is pretty complete. While I personally prefer designing my own custom Spaceship, GMs who want a more complete “game world” will prefer the MA to O version. CONTENTS OF THE RULEBOOK: After the introduction, comes 2 pages of very brief descriptions of the 17 levels of the ship, along with some even more vague maps. The descriptions are mostly, what the level contained and it’s purpose BEFORE the disaster, not what it is like now, that is left for the GM to decide. Again, it’s all a matter of preference as to how much work as a GM you want to do, wether you will appreciate this lack of detail, or not. The maps are kinda funny, since the grid used on them is crooked, ah, the high standards of the time! The book then goes on to describe some things that can be universally found on the ship, such as color coded bracelets that open certain doors, hall monitors, engineering walkways, ect. There is then a list of “treasures” the players might find, robots, and weapons. A list of non-mutated animals completes the first half of the campaign world information. Strangely, the book picks it up again later. Now we jump into character generation. The ability scores are, Radiation resistance, mental resistance, dexterity, constitution, strength, and leadership potential, determined by rolling 3d6. Then you choose if you want to be a Human, mutant, or mutant animal (mutants, and mutant animals get mutations, but don’t get the leadership potential ability score). In explaining the ability scores, we get a bunch of tables of radiation effects, mental attacks resistance, poison chars, ect. Most are cross references and tell you what you have to roll on a d20 or die. There are also, immediate death results (a very annoying aspect of early games! Who wants their character to instantly die with no chance to avoid the peril!?). Hit points are determined (like in Gamma World) by rolling a number of d6 equal to your constitution score. We then go into the ever loved, description of physical and mental mutations and defects. As is generally known, these are silly, more like super powers, and less like actual mutations would be. To many people (myself included) these are what make the game so much fun. Of course, if you’re looking for realism, you might as well throw this book away right now! (just kidding, give it to me instead!!). Mutations are things like, carapace, radiation eyes, heightened smell, gills, wings, telekinesis, magnetic control, ect. They are all very briefly described. In the day, these descriptions were fine, but in this day and age, where people want details of every possible event, they are pretty sparce (again, you would be better of with MA to O or your favorite copy of Gamma World). This section is followed up by a few special mutations just for animals, and Plant Mutations (Plants are NPCs or monsters only). The next section deals with the mutants (monsters) aboard the starship. These are not the same as in later versions of Gamma World, as you might expect. These are goofy things like Cougaroid, bearoid, woldoid, and such along with a few insects and some plants. Each has a few lines of description, Armor Class, Movement, and Hit Dice. Very Brief! Our next section is Weapons and Combat. Every weapon has a weapon class, this is cross referenced against the Armor class on a small table, this gives you what you need to hit on a d20. It’s as simple as it sounds, and as stupid. You never really know what weapon is better than another, and since there is no character progression, you will never get better. Now, we sort of jump back into GM section mode. We get a treasure list of little items of junk the PCs might find (some not described, and some described earlier, such as weapons and robots, ect.). We get wandering monster tables, and very brief sections on tribal ares, forested areas, the ships computer, and NPCs. Thrown in at an odd point (can you say Palladium) is a section on healing body damage. Next we get one of those cool examples of play. I always loved these in old books, although this one is a tad more boring than most. On the next two pages, we get samples of 2 levels of the ship. These maps are a little better, with brief descriptions of certain areas, and keys. Of course, there is nothing really here to suggest any adventures or anything. The last couple pages have maps of the typical modular dwelling (house), and a cut-away of the Starship that is pretty funny (It looks like a giant egg). Finally we get some character sheets, and a tearout page of charts. GRUBMANS COMMENTS: Doesn’t sound like a thrilling rulebook? That’s because it isn’t. Being published in 1976, when role-playing was still very fresh and new, it’s an ugly little book! The book is bare bones, and sloppy. The system is piece-meal and loaded with charts (well, enough for a rulebook so short). That said, I love the concept. Personally, my copy sits in a plastic storage bag, waiting for the day when it’s as rare as Superman #1. I use my own version of the rules that is a combination of MA to O and Star Frontiers. I pretty much ignore the MA to O deck descriptions (although the model of the Warden is really cool! as are the maps), and design my own ship, as I go. While I admit, I haven’t played much lately, My MA adventures only spanned 2 decks (and I ran a lot of adventures!). And the PCs were only starting to get the idea they were on a Spaceship, rather that a “world.” I can’t say I know exactly what other people have done with the game, but my adventures tend more tword fantasy. Technology takes the place of magic, and the bizzare makeup (anything goes) of the world keep the players on their toes. My adventures are pretty much the same as any game, rescue, exploration, diplomatic, ect. The Warden, is just the backdrop, and a unique world. It allows for a great deal of freedom, especially for the creative and , sometimes, goofy GM. The focus of the MA to O re-make, is to take over the ship, and land it on the planet below. This makes the game more One-shot, and I think really takes the fun out of it. Of course, a reverse argument is, that unlike Gamma World, where the chief complaint of GMs is (never really a problem of mine personally) “what do you do with it”, MA has a backdrop that adds a little more purpose to adventuring. So, in summary, I’m saying, If you just want a copy to play the game...$150 is way to much to spend for this little pamphlet! Get a copy or MA to O and convert it to your favorite system, or just use the concept in your Gamma World campaign.